#drawing characters with dwarfism

[iguanadonis]

concept art for my gay ww2 comic, rivets, about two bomber plane mechanics in new jersey who fall in love after a heated competition for the same job. they also beat nazis with baseball bats <3 robert cordero and natasza loumenny, callsigns rib and loum. rib has achondroplasia (dwarfism), loum is a butch transmasc immigrant. two overworked jocks who need a raise

the model sheet for this beautiful man <3

and here he is in motion <3

[saszor]

Hihi! I came from a couple of reblogs on both your tutorial on how to draw cleft lips and people with Down Syndrome, and both made me extremely happy, as someone who wants to focus their art on including as many disabilities and physical differences as possible. I was wondering if it would be alright to request a tutorial on how to draw the anatomy of people with Dwarfism? I have troubles nailing the proportions down, but i want to be able to draw them for fanarts for a fandom I'm in. Thank you for the great work, dude. Have a nice day/night and remember to eat a meal and drink some water!

Hi, I'm glad you enjoy them!

I could technically make one but there is literally no one "look" for people with dwarfism as there's hundreds of different kinds. The thing below focuses on facial features because that's more of my thing, but the same applies to body types - a person with achondroplasia and someone with Morquio syndrome will have different proportions despite technically having the same ("disproportionate") kind of dwarfism

You can check out Gary Parker's photography as it features a lot of people with dwarfism and is one of the better pose resources that I have found before. Especially the "Varieties of Dwarfism" gallery is really useful because it has exactly what I mentioned earlier; all these people have dwarfism and they look very different. So to actually nail proportions and features of disabled characters you need to know what kind of proportions you're looking for first (if a canon character has just Vague Dwarfism - research achondroplasia. it's the most common and has the most resources, reference poses, etc.), otherwise it's just gonna be difficult

[a-little-revolution]

hi elliot!! \'3'/ do you know of any LP models who do pose/stock work or sites that host LP pose refs for drawing? its really hard to find ones that arent a. fantasy dwarfs and/or b. limited in scope. ArtStation actually has a pretty big one (dwarf photo reference pack vol 2 for anyone interested) which is great, but it seems to only feature a single cis male model with one kind of dwarfism so. limited.

Hello!! ^^ Models with dwarfism certainly exist, though in my search I didn't find folks who specifically post for drawing references. Here's some models to check out! :

When I think fashion and modelling for little people I immediately think of Sinead Burke on the cover of Vogue - she's a fashion designer for little people and if you look her up there's plenty of clothing references!

Fatima Timbo has done modelling for Glamour - she's also huge on instagram!

Rosanna Rann has a template for LP fashion that can be helpful when tackling anatomy:

I will be sure to make a post soon dedicated to LP anatomy and references for artists/creators!!

[stra-tek]

Lots and lots of random spoilerific things about Star Trek comics

Gold Key's old run was written by people who had never actually seen the show. Later they involved fans like Doug Drexler to make things a bit more authentic

This however made them, IMHO, amazing

Blond scotty. Wearing green.

Voodoo planet, with papier mache versions of Earth landmarks which, when blasted with a death ray, cause the real ones to collapse

Spock learns voodoo to combat this threat

The Enterprise completely razes a planet of hostile plant spore things. Like full on extermination of all life

There's a locked room on deck 7 full of evil Vulcan spirits. A yeoman blunders in and all hell breaks loose

Kirk doesn't know what a god damn black hole is

Spock is kidnapped by aliens, has their entire knowledge downloaded into his brain which makes him into a bobblehead for awhile

The Enterprise is briefly taken from Kirk and given to Captain Zarlo, who is a total bellend

Spock forgets to have pointed ears sometimes

The old UK newspaper comic strips were even worse. The first few issues feature "Captain Kurt" and he wears a red shirt. Bailey is also a lead character, giving away which one episode they had knowledge of

Depictions of the Enterprise in their very first strip will shock and horrify you, but after that the art becomes amazing and maintains a very high standard

Marvel did a series following The Motion Picture, and it was a vast improvement, although they technically had rights to the movie and not the series, which led to a little weirdness. Tons of references still were snuck in, though

There's a series of Book and Records, which you can listen to on YouTube and are goofy fun. The Enterprise desperately needs a meal in the art, though.

They draw Romulans as green wizards

They didn't have the rights to Nichelle Nichols or George Takei's likenesses, so get ready for White Uhura and Black Sulu!

They didn't have the rights to The Animated Series either, so M'Ress is a human with weird face paint and Arex is substituted for just some guy

There's an unlicensed Chinese adaptation of The Motion Picture's novelisation (made with zero prior knowledge of Star Trek), which features an all-star cast like O.J. Simpson as Decker and James Brolin as Kirk. It's called The Star Trek, which is a better name than The Motion Picture, IMHO.

DC comics' first run is considered some of the best Trek ever. They're made with love and a deep knowledge of the source material

You know how Star Trek III takes place right after II? WRONG. It was several months later and the crew (with Saavik taking over from Spock) had tons of adventures in the interim. It just seemed like it was right after😂

Before Worf and long long before Ash Tyler, Kirk had a Klingon on his crew

He was a cowardly Klingon named Konom who fled the Empire

He fell in love with a human woman named Bryce

They adopted an albino Klingon/human child with dwarfism which they named Bernie

Kirk has an unhinged, insubordinate crewman on board named Bearclaw and they hate each other

Tension escalates and eventually there's a stabbing

Sulu/M'Ress happens and I don't think people knew what furrys were in the 80's

You know how Spock comes back at the end of III but isn't his old self until the end of Star Trek IV? WRONG AGAIN. He came back just fine, and lost his marbles following an incident months later that just happened to line everything up to make it all seem like it was right after.

After STIII, Kirk becomes captain of the U.S.S. Excelsior NX-2000 and Spock becomes captain of the U.S.S. Surak. We get a few issues exclusively focusing on Spock's ship and his band of merry weirdos.

The U.S.S. Surak keeps changing design, starting off as a sort of Oberth-class ship, then randomly becoming an Excelsior-class ship and finally ending as the warp sled shuttlecraft from The Motion Picture

The Surak's crew include a giant chicken man, a Vulcan hating racist lady and a balding man with a bicycle

They all die horribly and a massive reset button is pressed so everyone is exactly where they were at the end of Star Trek III

In order to make that work they had to bs that the Klingon Bird of Prey was hidden in Excelsior's shuttlebay all this time despite it being way, way too big for that

There's a full on mirror universe invasion

Kirk becomes a celebrity from saving the galaxy all the time

Mr. Arex comes back and becomes chief of security but doesn't really do much

HORTA CREWMEMBER. It's as amazing as it sounds

The first Next Generation comic miniseries was made with knowledge of the first 2 or 3 TNG episodes and nothing else

Everyone is hench as fuck. Picard has washboard abs and bulging muscles

Data is emotional and Troi feels the emotions she senses a la "Encounter at Farpoint"

Wesley is drawn as if he's 10

The B-shift con and ops team are a husband and wife who wear caped superhero versions of Starfleet uniforms with bare legs.

They argue. A lot.

The crew meet an alien Santa Claus and Q loses his powers years before "Deja Q"

The whole Q Continuum visits the Enterprise and they're all John De Lancie but in Starfleet uniforms of every colour under the sun.

After that initial miniseries, the Next Gen crew lose a lot of their muscle mass and start resembling their on screen counterparts a lot better

Picard had a brother who fell down a hole and died as a child. Q offers to rewrite history so he doesn't die. Claude Picard grew up to be Space Superhitler and turns Starfleet and the Federation fascist.

Before all this Q turned Jean-Luc into a goat for the lolz

Marvel's The Early Voyages was very literally Strange New Worlds before Strange New Worlds.

They have a pyrokinetic security officer named Nano and he's awesome

Marvel lost the Trek license quite suddenly, and so the series ends on a cliffhanger where Admiral April is up to something iffy.

Marvel did a Starfleet Academy series featuring Nog and its utterly fantastic

A female Andorian cadet tries to make Nog feel at ease by greeting him in the nude, but Nog fails to take it as an innocent gesture and she immediately sends him flying across the room

Romulan agents with split personalities in Starfleet Academy!

They visit Talos IV and get help from Captain Pike, who's still alive

IDW comics did a prequel to the 2009 reboot where Picard is an ambassador, Data is captain of the Enterprise-E and Nero has hair. It was co-written by the movie writers and was considered sort of vaguely semi canon ish for a time

They originally wanted the Romulan supernova to destroy a lot more, including Earth and have Nero kill the TNG crew. It was the Star Trek Online devs that got them to scale things back because they'd have no universe left to set their game in.

Nero's ship looks like it does because after Romulus was destroyed he took it to a secret Romulan base and had it equipped with reverse-engineered Borg technology

You thought DC struggled to keep ship designs correct? IDW's comics keep using traced fan art from Google Images, and fan art (sometimes with unique ship designs) has shown up on multiple occasions as the Kelvinverse U.S.S. Enterprise

In one IDW TOS comic, the bridge is totally covered with TNG LCARS graphics.

In another, an Orion ship is a gigantic Stargate sticking out of the middle part of Battlestar Galactica.

Wanna see Kelvinverse versions of TOS episodes? That was their first comics run, picking up after the 2009 reboot movie. They start off very faithful and as the series goes on things diverge more and more

To the extent some stories have very different backstories and outcomes

We visit 2 Kelvin mirror universes and a genderswapped universe too. No, Kirk doesn't do what you're thinking.

Q visits the Kelvin Universe and brings the crew forward in time to their version of Deep Space Nine

Nero's time in Klingon prison (from the Star Trek 2009 deleted scenes) and escape is fleshed out

Nero meets V'ger.

Nero mind melds with V'ger.

V'ger turns away due to the sheer force of Nero's hatred.

I wish I was making that up.

Klingons get their hands on Narada's technology and go to war

We get a Khan backstory where the Eugenics Wars are a full on nuclear conflict and "Khan" is the title that little Noon Sing adopts when he takes power

After being revived in the 23rd century, Admiral Marcus has Khan surgically altered to look like Benedict Cumberbatch as part of his John Harrison cover identity

They did a series of shorts called Waypoint, and in the first one Geordi is captain of a future Enterprise and his crew is made up of holographic versions of Data and it's a really sweet concept (this was several years before before ST: Picard brought Data back twice)

There's a prequel series centred around Number One where nobody manages to say her name before being interrupted. If you put the bits together it seems her name was Eureka Robbins. Of course, this is long before novels and SNW made her Una Chin-Riley.

[kevinweezhlewig]

CENTAURWORLD HERD AS HUMANS!! (Horse is above cut, everyone else is below.)

all of the characters I've seen (and correct me if im wrong on this) kimiko glenn voice are japanese, so I thought it wouldn't be too far fetched to interpret horse as japanese

I don't know why but Wammawink was definitely the hardest to catch the "essence" of, she still doesn't feel entirely like wammawink but i love this one regardless

since you can't really get rid of her portal tummy since it's important to her character, I thought it would be funny to just give her a GIANT backpack

I had original "concept art" for these designs, zulius is the only one who didn't change at ALL all the others changed in some way

I had a different original drawing for this one which was SO. UGLY. and it almost got posted, but eventually i just couldn't stand it and i redrew it.

this one took me the longest because i could NOT figure out what shoes to give him and I could NOT figure out how to draw his head in the new artstyle i was testing.

P.S. This is my first time drawing someone with dwarfism so constructive criticism and tips are appreciated!! I apologize if I did anything wrong, and make sure to tell me if I did.

[thegreatwicked]

Medical Writing Resources

I've been away for a while, and I've missed you all! I hope your holidays were fun and peaceful! While perusing my stuff to see where I left off, I browsed through my liked posts, and wow, I liked a lot of resources, so it's time to organize those for you all! And because we enjoy hurting our fictional darlings, I think it's time to make a new list!

If you've been tagged more than once, I apologize, I just want to make sure that credit is given where it is due. With that, enjoy these resources. Go show the original posters some love, and go write your story because no one else will.

Stages of Decomposition by @literaryvein-reblogs We write about death a lot and this is a great breakdown of life after life. Including descriptions of each stage and the proper names.

10 Non-Lethal Injuries to Add to Your Writing by @hayatheauthor I've hever had a broken finger but now that I think about it I have no idea how that works but I can't think of a more inconvenient injury, may as well get it right.

Writing Notes & References by @literaryvein-references This is a complication of a lot of resources but rahter than cut it up I'll probably just list it in a few resources. It includes things like color blindness, autopsy, bruises, drowning, pain, poison ivy. Go check it out.

How to Draw (Some) Burn Scars by @saszor and reblogged by @cripplecharacters. It is a drawing resource but sometimes visualizing it can help with descriptions.

Hospital Lengths of Stay by @macgyvermedical good references for simple things you might use in your writing if one of your character has to stay in the hospital. This is also an amazing blog.

Writing Tips - Fevers by @pygmi-says-hi Fevers are simple thing sbut if you're looking to make it more complex then you have this to help you know where to start.

Stop Doing This in Injury Fits by @pygmi-says-hi another good mention! Bleeding,s tab wounds, concussion, and symptoms!

The Anatomy of Passing Out by @hayatheauthor I've never written a character passing out and always wondered about it but here we are, maybe I'll have my characters pssing out more now that I know how to write it!

Addiction by @novlr Addiction is a disease and deserves better representation.

Disability Writing Guides by @whumpinggrounds Disability etiquette, wheelchairs, writing chronic pain, low vision. Great stuff here!

A Glossary of Medical Terms by @mylonelybraincell Invaluable! Absolutely invaluable!

Resources for Writing Injuries by @wordsnstuff Very comprehensive list of general information

The Writers Guide Authentic Wounds and Fatalities by @hayatheauthor check out this MVP here giving us these amazing resources.

Basic Sutures for Writers and Artists by @squidlife-crisis Never known how to describe these but seeing them is super helpful!

A Little Revolution's Dwarfism FAQs by @a-little-revolution Oh, now this is a gem!

Well, that's a good start for this new list! Go show some of these creators some love, and go write amazing things!

[cripplecharacters]

Mods

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Sasza

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Hey! My name is Sasza and I use he/him pronouns. I am a disabled artist who loves to write and draw characters like me. I am autistic, (mildly) intellectually disabled and have several physical conditions including dyspraxia, severe hyperkyphosis, cranial nerve diseases (causing double vision, chronic pain and a facial difference among other things), and HSD. Sometimes I use a cane. I'm very passionate about accessibility and disability representation in all kinds of media - books, comics, video games, and any other kind of art that's out there.

Bert

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Hello! I'm Bert (previously Mason), and I use he/they pronouns. I am a writer who loves to write plays and fiction with characters like me and my friends. I am autistic and have ADHD, I have psychotic PTSD and a DID system. Physical health-wise I have migraines, fibromyalgia, and a lateral lisp. I love talking about representation and ways we can make a kinder and more inclusive space everywhere we go.

Sparrow

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Hi, I’m sparrow, they/he for me. I’m a disabled artist who makes a lot of disabled characters like myself and probably like a quarter of the world. I have autism and ADHD, among other brain things, as well as chronic pain in both my jaw and my knee and ankle. I also have POTS and some sort of sleep disorder. I am a sometimes cane user as well. I really enjoy research and thoughtful art that makes people feel seen. Aside from that, I am a huge fan of historical fiction and really enjoy fantasy as well.

Rot

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My name is Rot, I use all pronouns including neo pronouns as well as any rot and insect themed nounself pronouns. I’m an artist who loves putting disability in my stories. I’m mostly undiagnosed due to medical neglect and have chronic fatigue, hypersomnia & chronic pain that ranges from mild to debilitating. My known disabilities are pots, ganglion cysts, nerve damage, autism (level unknown), asthma, GERD, anxiety and psychosis. I have a metal implant, use a cane and am mostly verbal and use aac infrequently. I have experience with temporary palsy, needing carers (family members who stepped up, not hired carers) and being in a wheelchair, though I currently don't have any of those.

Virus

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Hello! I go by Virus and I use She/Her but anyone can use any pronouns for me, have fun with it. I'm a writer—mostly fanfiction—who has been in fandom very long and used to be a classical musician. I have Hypermobile Ehler Danlos Syndrome along with it's fun co-morbidities (MCAS, POTS, Gastroparesis, Fibromyalgia, and Von Willebrandes). I also have Pan-Hypopituitarism which is the following: Adrenal Insufficiency, Hypothyroidism, Diabetes Insipidus, Precocious Puberty, Growth Hormone Deficiency, Hyperprolactinemia/galactorrhea, as well as High Estrogen and Testosterone issues. I have Pituitary Dwarfism/Proportional Dwarfism, Myoclonic Epilepsy, and a Speech Disorder. I used to have a Port-a-cath, Picc-Lines, and a feeding tube, amongst many other things. Phew, now that that's over. I love every art form with a favour towards music, writing and the fiber arts. I love seeing representation no matter how big or small especially in medias that rep is often glossed over!

Rock

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Hi! I am Rock; any pronouns are okay. I am a writer, mainly of sci-fi and fantasy, and I love adding all sorts of disabled characters. I am hard of hearing (mild-moderate bilateral hearing loss) and have profound auditory processing disorder. I have scoliosis, POTS, and lower-body muscle weakness so I am a full-time mobility aid user. I am also intersex; I have several hormone deficiencies among other conditions as a result of my intersex variation. I am excited to join the mod team!

Aaron

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Hey, I'm Aaron, he/him. I'm a writer of fantasy, science fiction, dystopia, utopia, and historical, and I like writing incorporating casts of disabled characters into all of them and reworking magic, technology, and science to accommodate them. I have a TBI, a lot wrong with my speech, cognitive issues, slight developmental disability, myofascial pain syndrome, medium support needs autistic but fully verbal, OCD, multiple types of anxiety, PTSD, depression, severe ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, articulatory initiation anomia, medically significant migraines, a chronic headache, chronic pain, and chronic fatigue. I'm also visibly disabled (one of those people who looks autistic) and transmasc. And I can't wait to see what amazing things you guys come u with.

Zohar

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Hello everyone! I'm a new mod, and you can call me Zohar. I'm a writer of fantasy and sci-fi for the most part, and definitely prioritize disability, LGBT, and Indigenous representation in my work. I am Blind with a form of Albinism/strabismus/ptosis, along with some hearing loss. I am intersex/transgender with mixed gonadal dysgenesis (XO/XY Turner Syndrome) that goes hand in hand with GHD/pituitary dwarfism and affects my skeletal and hormonal health. I also have POTS and complex DID caused by RAMCOA and am comfortable answering asks about that. He or She pronouns is fine with me. I can't wait to help out here!

Icarus

[Large Text: Icarus]

Hello all! My name is Icarus (He/Him). I'm a new mod here and a writer of original work (Primarily contemporary short fiction and cosmic horror) with some fanfiction on the side. I have been diagnosed with ADHD, autism, PTSD, Tourette's Syndrome along with several other mental and physical health conditions. I also had epilepsy, asthma, and a heart condition as a child but have since grown out of them. I am currently seeking a diagnosis for something causing a few different symptoms including chronic pain, mobility issues, sensitivity in my joints/bones, progressive vision loss (Currently to the point where I have very little to no peripheral vision), and dizziness/fainting episodes. I am a full time cane user at the advice of my physio. I am also a gay trans man and in full-time university studies.

Jess

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Hey y'all! I'm Jess, and I use she/her. I'm 35, and I work full time behind the scenes in the grocery industry (in an office, designing shelf layouts!). I enjoy writing and reading slice-of-life stories mostly. I especially like exploring how certain magical elements can be parallels for disability. I also do art, including some 3D illusion chalk art. As for my disabilities: I have multiple sclerosis, and a few issues that have come from that, including severe permanent damage from optic neuritis. I was briefly 100% blind in my left eye, but a small amount of vision returned. The residual vision causes some hard-to-describe double vision, so I wear a completely opaque occlusive contact lens on my bad eye to help me see more clearly. I also had a period of time when I suffered from paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia, a rare movement disorder. I also have a body-focused repetitive behavior disorder (dermatillomania) and visible scars from that. I'm looking forward to being helpful!

[papermonkeyism]

Just some doodly nonsense while thinking with pencils again.

Not specific character stuff or anything, but more just pondering the people in Arcanth's setting, because genes are a thing.

Like, what would a dwarf with dwarfism look like.

Googled the most common form of dwarfism and found an answer: basically a hominid corgi.

Dwarves already have disproportionately short legs (though not arms) compared to humans, so cutting the limb length even further doesn't leave much to work with.

Well, at least one version, considering there's, like, 200 different types of dwarfism, but still.

Anyway, dwarves are fun to draw. They are very shape.

[theonceandfuture]

the stoneforged are my non-ableist replacement for "dwarves" (see here and here, i think bbc merlin has its own issue of ableism regarding characters with dwarfism) as a species in mythology. they are technically a type of elf (think lightforged = high elves, shadowforged = dark elves, minus the racism associated with the drow's writing)

hopefully, soon i'll have found the time to draw out my designs for some of the species prominent in albion, and i can reblog this post and add my personal designs for these species. keep in mind that i'll still have characters with dwarfism in this story! i don't think the solution to ableism is to erase the characters with dwarfism entirely (cough cough, disney's snow white), instead i've just been Normaler about it.

[yuriohni]

Please give me your wisdom on how the heck you draw ryoma. I love him. Ive been trying for so long but he looks either too tall or not bulky enought god.

i've also battled with things like that for a long time, to be honest i've been drawing him for almost 5 years now so its ok if he doesnt look perfect, i still have trouble with his proportions everytime i draw him. Anyway, past that i think i have something that might help

I made this reference sheet a while ago because he never looked the same as i drew him before, as you see i've decided a height of 4.4 or so heads for him this is VERY bare bones so i'll rework it and finish it and post it for anyone that needs it Of course the best thing will always be to reference actual people with dwarfism AND (not or) you can see how artists interpret shortness, dwarves and similars in rpg related series can be a good start

(by Ryoko Kui)

(Lalafells from Final Fantasy)

if you manage to get the proportions right his buffness will come easier to you, after all is the same process look at references of people and also how some artists portray it for example, i usually get in mind a pose i want to do and then draw it as if it was a cartoon character, not much detail and limbs are just cylinders focusing more on the pose and proportions than details (having the reference here helps a lot too,

(Kota Ibushi)

and then work from there adding details and fixing whatever needs it

You can also edit your references but keep in mind that it will not be entirely accurate

and also, just like with everything in art, be patient, as i said it took me almost 5 years to draw him like i do now so dont get too frustrated if it doesnt look how you want just practice and you'll get there

anyway hope this helps!

[lycanthropixx]

I've been drawing furry headcanons for inanimate insanity characters and this is my absolute fave so far besides suitcase

plain text under cut

Taco (she/they Lesbian flag, evil autism flag, genderqueer flag -literal sparkle dog -wolf with sheep wool -was bi-curious before reveal -has proportionate dwarfism -(forgot to write this down) permanently blind in right eye

[punkitt-is-here]

Hey uh you seem cool and I’m sure you mean well but. You might want to watch this video bc some stuff w/ the shrudler is. Uhh. Not great.

https://www.tumblr.com/a-little-revolution/718626820182982656

I do genuinely completely understand where you're coming from with this, but I'll say a couple things; the Schrudler is not meant to represent the dwarf/little person population, he's not meant to be someone with dwarfism at all. If I were to draw the Susan Taxpayer characters as IRL people, he would not be a little person, he would just be a particularly short man. Secondly, he's not the only character with those proportions in the Susan Taxpayer universe, so he's not meant to represent all folks with those proportions anyway. I understand that the link between physical features and morality is very annoying and a consistent problem in media, so please understand that he wasn't designed with this in mind nor are all the very-short-folks in the game "evil", he just happens to be a short man who is also a dick. The ability of Susan to pick him up and throw him is not a reference to any sort of dwarf-throwing sport (which is very bizarre and unjust, having just heard about it) but is instead a throwback to Mad Scienstein, or Arewo Shitain-hakase in Wario Land 4, who is an archeologist whom you pick up and throw to solve puzzles. In Wario Land 4, he takes on this role to show that Wario is kind of a dick to others to get what he wants, and he's shaped this way likely so that the player has to be precise considering he's a 1x1 block and not a 2x2 one like other throwables in-game.

The Schrudler's in-game design is that way so that he works better proportionally for this reference and so that he also more resembles the items the players pick up in-game (roughly 32x32px for the most part).

I understand your concern that this might seem to be an issue with the character, but I'm going to stick with him and his design intentions with consideration of what I've previously stated in mind. I hope this helps quell some of those feelings, and if not, I do apologize!!

[a-little-revolution]

A-Little-Revolution's Dwarfism FAQ

Hello there lovelies! I've finally written up and FAQ to make my blog more accessible! Feel free to send me asks related to these posts, but do take a look at my prior responses!

Dwarfism 101

Dwarfism 101: Some Misconceptions

Dwarfism 101: Common Misconceptions Pt 2!

Cass Huff's "The M Word is a Slur" (with video description and transcription)

Accessibility

Car adaptations and pedal extenders

Making public spaces accessible for LP

Advice for healthcare professionals

Medical

Dwarfism and it's causes: medical resources

A brief on my leg surgeries

Representation

Rating Little characters in animation

Rating Little characters in film

My stance on fantasy "dwarves"

My stance on Snow White and adaptations

Writing/Drawing Characters with Dwarfism

What to avoid when writing characters with Achondroplasia

Common stereotypes for LP

Including dwarfism in fantasy

Drawing little people

Ways I'd love to see LP portrayed in media

Dwarfism hand reference

Resources

Little People of Ontario

Little People of America

Mini Documentary: The Stigmatization of Dwarfism in Art by Perspective!

Documentary: Being a Little Person in America: We're Still Treated as Less Than Human by Cara Reedy

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

hello, would you have any suggestions about dwarven body proportions? I wanna design a dwarf character with gigantism and I’d like some help in how that would be like?

sorry for the delay! I'm trying to empty my inbox now.

dwarf proportions are not a universally defined thing, so it very much depends on how you choose to draw them! here are a few varieties of dwarf for reference:

(image description: three examples of fantasy dwarf designs. the first image shows a labeled comparison between a neanderthal and a homo sapien, with half their skeletons exposed and the differences between them all pointed out. a handwritten note at the bottom says "my dwarves are based on neanderthals". the second image is the same as the first, but now I've drawn a very simple sketch of a dwarf between the human and neanderthal to show the similarities.

the second image shows two screenshots of art from other sources. at the top, Ryoko Kui's depictions of a fat human, a dwarf, and an orc show their skeletal differences to display how their anatomy and proportions work. at the bottom, official art of dwarves from the 3.5 edition of Dungeons and Dragons shows both a woman and a man of the dwarf race from the game. this one also has a handwritten note that says "DnD 3.5 e has the best designs for player races, fight me." end description.)

all these designs have their own differences. the DnD dwarves here have very long arms relative to their bodies, and very squat squarish head shapes. Ryoko Kui's dwarves are very broad and stout but most of their shortness comes from the length of their legs. My dwarves are basically just neanderthals but a little more short and chunky.

Despite this, there are some clear details that most dwarf designs take their cues from. fantasy dwarves are short and stout, having broader and more muscular bodies than standard humans. They tend to look a bit square compared to other humanoids.

gigantism is not something I'm super well educated on. frankly, neither is dwarfism, a very real condition that should not be conflated with fantasy dwarves and which has its own unique effects on the human body. but I assume if you're asking, you've already done some of your own research on the matter.

essentially, gigantism (and a similar condition, acromegaly,) is a condition where the body overproduces growth hormones. From what Ive been able to find in my quick searches on the matter, it doesn't affect the body proportions too much? mostly just makes everything bigger, but since it affects the entire body it probably won't make your dwarf with gigantism look too different from other dwarves. just bigger.

that said, it can also come with things like chronic pain, joint problems, and other health concerns, especially depending on whether or not your fantasy world has healthcare capable of treating the root cause of gigantism, which is typically a growth or other problem in the pituitary gland.

hopefully that gives you a good jumping-off point to figure out their design! anyone who has more experience and knowledge on gigantism is welcome to add their thoughts!

[tiredsn0w]

I have a few questions about Kepler’s(is that the correct way to say that, or is it Keplerians?) cardiovascular systems, if you have the time to answer them :3 /nf

•Do they have high blood pressure than humans? Actually, how big is one of anaverage Kepler’s hearts?

•Are the aortas and vena cavas of the two hearts connected, or do they run separately?

•Since they live on a planet with less oxygen in the atmosphere, does that mean that they don’t need it as much? Do they have less of their equivalent of red blood cells? (Blue blood cells?) Or do they have something else altogether?

•Since human veins look blue under our skin, do the Keplers have something equivalent to that?

Also, how’re you doing?

Anywho, have a good rest of your day/night! :]

ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ

This is glorious because I was actually just studying the anatomy of the human heart and thinking about these exact things.

Keplers have higher blood pressure than humans because on Kepler the gravity is roughly 1.5g, which means that it's 0.5x higher than Earth's gravity. Therefore, the CV system has to work harder in order to pump blood up to the head. I don't have exact numbers of how high it would be, but it would definitely fall into the hypertension range for a human.

I would say that on average the heart of a kepler is slightly smaller than one of a human, but combined their volume exceeds one human heart. I'm again not very good with exact numbers, but it's enough to have a larger stroke volume.

For the aorta and vena cava ... I think it's best if they have a set of each, otherwise it would be too easy to have an aneurism. (Now that I think about it, it makes me wonder if 6118 would be prone to aneurisms upon first arriving on Earth? The art I posted the other day was supposed to be of an an aortic dissection [while still on Kepler, it's part of a one-page comic I drew], but I don't plan on actually writing that, I just had a strong idea of it and wanted to draw it. Also since dwarfism affects the bones and cartilage I had a moment of going "what if the kepler version of this disorder also includes connective tissue issues" ...) Anyways, I think it would be that the left heart is dominant over the left side, and the right heart is dominant over the right side, but there is also a lot of crossover. Such as, if 6118 had an aortic dissection in the right heart, the blood pressure on the right side of his body would drop considerably, and somewhat on the left, but the left would be stronger. Don't know if that makes sense.

Kepler actually has an oxygen-rich atmosphere, but it's not so much higher than Earth's that it would have considerable affects on a kepler who went to the latter. What would bother them more is that Kepler's atmosphere is very humid and Earth's is usually so dry.

I never thought too hard about what their veins would look like, hmm ... cyanohematoic blood is clear when deoxygenated, so the veins would not be visible (or only faintly visible) but I can see arteries being pretty bluish under the skin depending on skin tone. Of course on darker skin tones they would not be as visible. I haven't thought about how this would complicate a blood draw but maybe it could be done by the vein popping/raising from the skin alone instead of by colour. (Isn't that how they normally do it? I don't know, I always get complimented by nurses and phlebotomists on my veins since they're very visible. My own family member looked at my arms when I was a child and said how easy it would be to do an IV haha.)

How I'm doing, well, I've been feeling very sick this past week, I seem to be doing a bit better now, but my poor favourite characters have been going through it in my sketchbook. Though it's given me a lot of opportunities to practice sfx. But there aren't very many good resources online to learn sfx without reading things that make me want to rip out my eyeballs with a blunt fork ... oh well.

[berrypass-de-murdler]

2 - 68 The Chess Commune Killing

I'm not gonna lie, things have been pretty bad recently, and this episode kind of served as a coping mechanism.

I forgot to post him yesterday, but I got a new character out

God this drawing makes me upset it looks exactly like the cringe bird OCs I spammed when I was younger

Cardinal Cinereous is six inches tall, making him by far the smallest character. He poses as Father Mango's pet bird, but is actually a fully sentient mastermind of his own, easily able to steal money for the church without being noticed. While he usually has his feral disguise, he's actually an anthro bird with dwarfism.

DON'T READ THE EPISODES WITHOUT READING THE BOOKS!!

The train took him to a commune, similar to the one on the mainland. With one crucial difference - instead of killing people over religion, this one kills people over… you guessed it, chess. And this makes Irratino excited. There are few things Logico loves more than chess, so it must be fate he was brought here.

The leader is dead of course - Irratino can tell just by looking at him that he was Russian. The inevitable Grandmaster Rose is nearby, playing a match against Taupe. Meanwhile, Brother Brownstone is deep in prayer to the board, and Aureolin is just… lurking.

IRRATINO: Aureolin, what are you doing here? AUREOLIN: Why is that any of your business? IRRATINO: It’s not, I just… happen to see you at a lot of chess-related places recently.

Auree loudly rolls her eyes. She kneels down to pray with Brownstone.

BROWNSTONE: The greatest piece in the game is the queen.  AUREOLIN: How can you tell? BROWNSTONE: The Chessbook told me. The Chessbook knows all.

And the other two…

ROSE: Why won’t you make a move? Are you afraid of my genius? TAUPE: [shuffles]

It explains its next move in morse code, and Rose has to do it for it. One move later, the person with arms won. Taupe is quite sad.

Irratino isn’t paying attention to any of this, because he needs to solve this murder as soon as possible to get to Logico. He notices something curious - the journals of all the cult’s members were confiscated. And it’s a horrible thing to do for sure, but he has to look. For clues. Not for any other reason.

He checks Brownstone’s first. Complete mumbo-jumbo about the chess gods, as one would expect. Grandmaster Rose…

“I played such a good match, no one would have ever guessed! Here’s how it went.”

It’s a bunch of numbers and letters, and Irratino doesn’t understand in the slightest. More useless info. Taupe… has a journal, but it’s just an empty smashed book. So only Aureolin’s could provide an answer.

“My favourite chess piece is the tricky knight. I find it honourable, someone who is so underwhelming as a presence but then bam - destroying everyone else in their own way… 

I can’t believe I went straight from champion to this, I don’t have anywhere else to go, and they promised they had a burrow for me… I pray to god they can’t take my kids, or do anything to my kids. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to be here anymore…”

Irratino has a flashback of the murder. He envisions the innocent rabbit going insane, strangling the cult leader… and when he snaps out of it, she’s staring right at him.

AUREOLIN: He was going to kick us out! So I had to kill him… IRRATINO: Why was he going to kick you out? AUREOLIN: Because I was going to kill him. I’m so sick of this! I’m so SICK OF BEING EXPLOITED! IRRATINO: A…A- AUREOLIN: OHH, ARE YOU GOING TO BRING UP MY ‘PERFECT RECORD’ THAT LOGICO WANTED ME SO BADLY TO KEEP? LOGICO ISN’T HERE ANYMORE! Maybe when you’re treated like SHIT by EVERY PERSON YOU MEET, YOU DON’T GET A PERFECT RECORD!

She slips and falls to the ground. Her breath is shaking, and tears are falling. Irratino gently kneels in front of her and reaches out his hands. Auree collapses into him, sobbing. 

AUREOLIN: …you’re going to get him out, right? IRRATINO: It doesn’t matter what I have to do, I will.

Taupe and Rose are suddenly standing over them. They want a hug too!

Irratino is more determined than ever to find his baby and bring him back, not just for him, but for everyone.

The end!

I'm not projecting I'm not projecting I'm not-

heeeEEEEEYYY a squishy eminence!!

The power of Goat Lord compels you!

See you next time murdlers!