#i say i'm and observer because i don't spend a lot or post much online lol

[marshmellonew]

for better or worse it is interesting to see fans come together and get their complaints addressed. like the orbit boycott late last year/early this year was numbers i personally haven't seen before lol. but then you also have dream becoming a permanent unit or 127s whole trajectory changing because of the suhu boycott hh idk i'm really just an observer in most of this anyway

[alicenpai]

hi! ive been a big fan of your work for a while now, and i was just wondering if you have any tips or anything for selling merch online? :>

hi anon! so you want to be a con artist huh 👁👁 ...

^ a real con artist..

i’m not sure if you wanted online specific tips or general merch tips, but i compiled a bit of both! (also not sure if you're a beginner to art in general, there's a difference between a more experienced artist doing merch for the first time + beginner artists trying merch for the first time bc the risks involved are different)

i wrote more on the subject but i cut some out because it seemed too long.. and i tend to ramble ^__T it's hard to answer questions like these because they're so generalized, but if you had any more specific questions feel free to send another ask!

^ random image for visual interest

general tips for beginners(?)

merch can be fun, and it is! but in the end always remind yourself you're running a business, and it's real money you're going to be spending. it's good to take risks (on things like, new product types if you think your art is ready for it, or less popular series/more experimental designs, etc.) as you learn a lot from them, but always think over financial decisions carefully at the same time.

what helped me grow a lot as both a merch artist (and as a general artist) over 10 years is - a lot of reflection. and i mean a LOT of it. in terms of art in general i don't personally do a lot of studies (which is probably my downfall and i need to get back to it) but i think im pretty observant and introspective which helps me improve a lot. i often write my silly little blog posts on tumblr, I'll write notes on my phone if i have a train of thought i need to get down quickly.

i also often discuss merch things with friends and it really helps to get varying perspectives. (though i admit i should really share wips more, i used to but not as much anymore. blame the working life haha, not as many people have time to discuss non-work art anymore ;_;). all of these things keep me on my toes and weigh my strengths and weaknesses. if anyone is interested i could write more on the specific topics i reflect on after every con/shop opening.

stick to the tried and true 5-10 copies per design for beginners! this range sounds too little, but don't forget the big picture as well... you'll likely also have multiple different designs, across different product types.

e.g. 5 copies x 4 characters/designs, and let's say you do this for every product type (e.g. postcards, stickers, charms), 5 x 4 x 3 = 60 individual pieces of merch. that's a pretty solid number for a first timer!

i also personally print 5-10 copies of designs im doing for a test print run, or for characters that don't seem particularly popular.

15 is the average amount for me for a short run product (1 con season)

i certainly reprint often + go higher sometimes if i dont mind the product being in my catalogue for years.

15 is not too many in case the design is unpopular and doesn't sell, and it's also not too little that it won't be enough sales to break even.

promo images & taking photos (online specific)

i'm not a professional photographer and these photos might be absolute ass to some people. i will accept that, and honestly id agree with you. this is just my advice for straightforward, simple photos.

good quality and clear photos are best. it's great fun to use props in photos, and they can certainly turn your photos from plain to impressive. but it's easy to get carried away with props and fancy scrapbook paper imo, and i prefer to let the artwork speak for itself. honestly keeping it simple can be the best option sometimes. i used to take a lot more photos back in 2022 when i had less new products, but nowadays i find that i have too many products to take photos of, so i prefer to just keep my photos simple with a white piece of paper as my backdrop. i just. shrimply cannot be bothered taking out all of the props anymore...

above: the backdrop in this photo is bad, it's distracting and takes away from the artwork. (fe charms from 2016)

this are photos taken on a sunny day.

if you don't have a good phone camera (mine is ~5 years old), ive found that taking photos on a sunny day, either inside or outside, work great for me, as it shows off the natural colour of your product best. i either take it to the garden or i like to find a patch of sunlight filtering through the window. be wary of glare or too much light reflecting on your merch in photos though, because it can be distracting and take away from visibility on the product. but i can understand if a bit of glare ends up on one's finalized merch photos.

this is an example of utilizing light at a certain angle to show off the holographic film on this charm.

sunny photo vs cloudy photo.

taking photos inside on a cloudy day during daylight hours is also a popular option, especially if you live in an area where there isn't much direct sunlight/cloudy season, but for me personally i find cloudy day photos come out a bit dull and do take a bit of colour correcting. all of my cloudy day photos are tweaked and i find the colours to be a bit off from the original products, but that's just how it is with taking photos i guess.

because i don't have a great phone camera, my personal alternative is to make graphics! i just think of it as a collage to use fun textures and PNGs! im obviously not a professional, and these probably look very bad in a professional's eye. but i think it's fun. i like to incorporate the aesthetic or visual style of the series into the graphic if i do make em. ^_^

store platform

each one has their pros and cons. many store platforms have trial periods/free plans for people to try out.

bigcartel is what i use and i'm familiar with, and i would honestly recommend it. (i'm too lazy to move or try another platform right now...) for big store openings ill pay for a month or two of the basic $15 plan. ill use the free gold plan on bigcartel if im only planning to open my store for a limited time and don't want to commit to a full monthly plan.

storenvy: i've used storenvy from about 2014-16. i moved from storenvy for issues such as charging customers fees for purchasing from storenvy's marketplace page (and not from your actual personalized storefront) and urging me to use stripe even though it wasn't supported in canada at that time. im not sure if theyve fixed these issues but they were pervasive issues at the time that honestly forced me to quit. it also has a kind of outdated UI (e.g. can't zoom into pics on mobile?).

i think storenvy is a very easy to use platform for beginners because it's very basic! but i wouldn't recommend it if you have a great number of products, or if you're looking for more advanced features.

tictail isn't available anymore, i couldn't recommend it for that reason. i used it from around 2016-18.

i don't have any experience on shopify or etsy. shopify i heard is great because of all of the neat features you can implement, which you can use to really make your store yours. etsy has a huge marketplace which helps discoverability, but i have also heard there are many fees, so a lot of artists unfortunately make their prices a bit higher on etsy.

ecwid is also one that i've heard pop up. some also host shops on weebly or squarespace.

shipping

if you don't already have a kitchen scale, it's a good idea to get one if you think you'll be using it a lot to weigh packages! a postage scale is probably better. i just have a kitchen scale because it's cheap. as long as the measurements are precise (don't use a bathroom scale with a dial like me when i started out lmao).

thermal labels are also a good investment if you think youll need em!! i actually don't personally use them, because i have way too much hand-me-down stacks of paper in my home, so i don't see the need to make an extra investment. the downside to printing shipping labels on paper is taking the time to cut and stick them on packages.

i'm from canada (surprising the amount of people who think im from the US T__T) so these tips will be canadian specific, but you can hopefully get the gist.

when i was starting out, i used canada post (usps is the american equivalent) to send out store orders. however shipping labels from your govt post office can be pricey. which is why it's a good option to join their small business program if they have one, where you'll receive discounts on shipping labels. i don't use canada post shipping anymore, but i will use them for countries that my shipping agent doesn't ship to.

also take advantage of their free shipping tuesdays for domestic packages in october!! i believe you can receive 2 free labels per tuesday, up to 4 or 5 tuesdays for the entire month = 8-10 free labels in october.

next step is shipping agents!! if you live close to a chitchats or stallion express facility, they're great, and they usually provide tracking on shipping by default. in my opinion, tracking on orders is a MUST, so customers can have peace of mind! (minus like sticker-only shipping because that could be sent with postage stamps)

they also do home pickup if you have a bunch of packages in bulk/can't get to a facility. i believe americans have pirate ship.

you print and stick on your shipping labels at home, then you just travel to the shipping facility and throw your packages in the right bins (e.g. domestic, US, international). that's it! easy as pie!

i personally use chitchats because that is closer to me. i had heard stallion provides better rates for international shipping, which i'll have to look at at a later date.

most of my orders come from the US and canada. (funnily enough it is unfortunately cheaper to send packages from canada to USA, than it is for me to send packages within canada.) international orders are a bit of a pain, and you will need to know tariff codes for your product types (e.g. prints have a diff code than buttons) while writing the customs form. people in some countries will get taxed on all imported packages (e.g. packages marked as "sold goods" and not "gifts"). an alternative to this is to use etsy, so that customers can pre-pay for the tariffs before the order is processed. this is something i'll also look into for the future.

posting

wow now you're now done organizing your shop and promo images and you're ready to post! a good strategy is to post across multiple platforms to see what sticks. it takes effort and time but it can have a solid turnout! (i forget sometimes, don't be like me)

i don't know if this is true, but a lot of keywords words such as "shop", "store", "link" and etc. are apparently suppressed on social media (particularly twitter). don't take my word for it however.

shop posts don't generally do as well as regular art posts for most artists. but disregarding censored words for a second, it can also be attributed to psychological reasons, generally people don't like to be advertised to. (e.g. tumblr doesn't have an algorithm and shop posts usually dont do as well here either. tumblr users are just not receptive to clicking on links apparently).

personally, writing alternate terms like "sh0p" just isn't for me, but no shade though, bc i do understand workarounds are hard and everyone needs to make a living somehow. ill instead use words like, "leftovers are in" or "new items are up!" something more vague, but with the accompaniment of merch images, will still be clear to people that it's a shop update.

sharing your shop promo posts in artist alley discord servers also help a lot, especially if you don't know too many artists when starting out. they're a great resource and community full of passionate individuals who will boost your art. if you're not familiar with them, you can find some public ones on google or maybe even artist communities on reddit. a big one is Artist Alley Network International.

if there are some topics you think i've missed, feel free to send em over to my inbox!! ill also think more about this in the coming days and edit this post as i see fit 🫡

[altschmerzes]

You’re such an amazing writer, I love how well you weave long drawn out character thoughts or observations with dialogue it’s so seemless. I feel like when I try to do that it gets so clunky and hard to read

Do you have any training? Because your stuff reads like a professional

And tips or recommendations? Ie books you’ve learnt from etc etc

Thank you 🙏

ahhhh gosh thank you so much!! i'm so glad you think so. that's something i've really had to work on balancing tbh - the long introspective parts with the dialogue. i can get distracted with the narrative and forget that nobody's spoken in a while and have to go back and fix it lmao. i wouldn't say i have any training! i took a creative writing course in university but it was a very surface level 101 class for one term and we didn't really dig into much. i think it's just time, probably, time and effort doubling down on what i think works for me and what doesn't. i've been writing and posting fic online for... fourteen years? going on fifteen? i was very young when i started, lmao, i think i was twelve, and i'm about twenty-six and a half now, and i've made a lot of progress since then.

a lot of how i handle it now is considering context!! i skim a scene and my notes/draft for it and i try to see if it feels like it passes too quick, or if it misses the point i'm trying to drive home in the mind/heart of the character whose point of view i'm in. if it does, i go back over and try and beef up the narration/introspection. if it feels like it lingers too much or isn't getting to the point quick enough or it just feels like a boring section, i try and clip from dialogue to dialogue faster. if i want it to feel disorienting or detached, i'll keep the paragraphs shorter. if i want the pov character to feel like they're spacing out or dissociating or caught up in their own feelings even if they aren't expressing them, i'll spend longer in their head. if you feel like it's getting clunky, take a step back. look at the clunky piece and go why? does it feel clunky because it's repetitive? is the dialogue not anchored to the internal thought enough when it should be? is it moving too much from thought to thought without spending time on what those thoughts mean, how they feel? those kind of questions can help you get to what needs fixing!

ultimately, it's mostly practice, like most things with writing, i think. take notice of what you like and what you don't like, how you think it fits together. i think in terms of books i've read that made me want to write more, my most recent picks would be the last unicorn by peter s beagle and the locked tomb series by tamsin muir - though tlt is like... probably not what i'd go to for a standard balancing of dialogue and introspection. those books are very stylistic so if that is not the specific style you're going for, it could be difficult to take cues from. in terms of just flat out good, mesmerizing writing, though? yeah. hot damn. highly recommend. and the last unicorn is some of the just, straight up best writing i've ever read.

this is seriously so flattering thank you so much <3 i'm beyond thrilled to hear anyone might like my writing enough to ask for advice from me!

[msviolacea]

Okay! Random thoughts and observations about Star Rail 2.2! Spoilers, obviously!

tl;dr - not as coherent as 2.1 was, story-wise, but SO MUCH LORE. SO MUCH. But honestly most of the below is random nonsense and shitposting.

I didn't think Xipe was the kind of god to go Catholic, but apparently they have confession? Huh.

Bravo to Hoyo writers for pulling off the "it was all a dream" gambit in a way that actually works.

I was willing to possibly buy that we were just getting a slightly disappointing easy-out right up until a) the IPC went "nah, we don't want the planet anymore" and b) Ratio and Screwllum were vaguely happy to work together. At that point, it was like "ahhhh, we're in a DREAM dream y'all."

Poor Sunday, radicalized by being an overly protective older sibling. Relatable, tbh. You know, except for the making yourself a giant supervillain mecha god. Though that's tempting some days, I won't lie.

On the other side of things, it did feel like a disappointing cop-out after spending SO MUCH TIME on his story in 2.1 to just be told "yeah, actually Aventurine just got rescued off-screen."

HOWEVER, kudos to Argenti for surfing into Penacony, immediately finding the forbidden dreamspace and rescuing an IPC ambassador, then rolling up to take 2nd place in an idol competition before fucking off to find more beauty or whatever. King shit. Bravo. Come back soon.

Speaking of the HSR husbando game, BOOTHILL. Who thinks pointing a gun in your face is a way to say hello and has a Plan C that's just "... guess we'll take hostages!" Stay forever, you insane space cowboy.

On a slightly related tangent, I loved the flashback exchange between Firefly and Blade, showing their relationship to each other as Stellaron Hunters. After all the Luofu nonsense, it's fun to see Blade as a weird older brother figure.

Another related tangent to the above: since I also watched some of the most recent Genshin patch on YT this week, shoutout to Daman Mills for having the "deep raspy voiced tragic murder hobo" to "ridiculous androgynous magician twink" range. [insert Patrick Stewart "Acting" gif here]

But back to Firefly, I think she had a nice showcase here, though I wish they'd given her more focus in the last bit instead of sorta-kinda-maybe-probably not killing her offscreen via a short Acheron speech. I assume she'll be back, given that she's dropping as a playable character next patch, but still. There was just a lot going on in this patch and not enough time to do everything they really needed to do.

However, they COULD have cut the idol competition, because that added absolutely nothing to the plot and only really existed because someone clearly went "huh, how do we fit more puzzles and trash fights here?"

We also needed more Robin. She was awesome, don't get me wrong, but again, I would have given up the stupid idol competition in favor of maybe getting more time to play her and not just Sparkle-as-Robin running around giving people ... doomsday buttons?

Speaking of which .. wtf? Like, those went NOWHERE. Maybe they're for later payoff, but given that she was explicitly telling people to use them during the concert ... it was weird.

Dan Heng: Listen my past life just cold clocked me over the head, I need time to process and not deal for a while, Imma stay out of Dream Disneyland and chill. Also Dan Heng: so, my friends are in trouble AGAIN, not like this isn't a "must be Tuesday" occurrence for the Astral Express crew, but my first instinct is to use this very important button to call the saner of my previous life's ex-boyfriends to bring an army to help.

Like, I'm CERTAINLY not complaining about the Jing Yuan cameo, even just as a dream, but that was a very quick response, Dan Heng. I see you. (PS: as long as we're giving VA shoutouts in this post, shoutout to Alejandro Saab for Jing Yuan's everything.)

Little detail I didn't catch myself, but saw someone online point out today - Welt gave the IPC the ammunition they need to take out the Dream Master. Early in the patch, he points out that the poker chip Aventurine gave us is actually a transmitter and recorder, and takes it with him to meet with Robin and Sunday and the Dream Master. At the very end, we see Aventurine playing with the chip, and Jade mentions that they obtained a recording "from your Trailblaze friend" that would help them on Penacony/with the Dream Master. So shoutout to Welt for ... well, deciding that space capitalism is preferable to crazy assholes who are trying to use innocent people to revive a god? I guess he's seen plenty of nonsense in his time, tbh, so I'm going to trust his judgement.

Speaking of Welt, Acheron's name drop was not the only Honkai Impact 3rd direct reference. It was an interesting touch for them to include Welt's "real"/original name in the credits sequences. Don't know if it's anything more than just an easter egg for HI3 folks, but still. Interesting.

Harmony Trailblazer is actually pretty strong. I'm definitely going to build mine.

All in all, I didn't enjoy this quite as much as the last patch, but it's the difference between like a 9.5/10 and an 8/10. Coherent self-contained stories mean a lot to me, but the lore and character stuff that was in this patch was A+, and I'm still digesting half of it.

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

The hate has been getting so much worse since 2020 bc of the pandemic 😭 I'm suffering from this in every Fandom/community Im in im so triggered hsskksusjs. Lemme tell you about this : i Stan Harry styles and istg in the pandemic era it was like a breakthrough out of a psych ward, like im not kidding the amount of delusional larries that came out of it is astonishing. They've always been deranged and delusional but the New larries? 20000x worse. Like the amount of fucked up shuti see from accs made in 2020 is.. 💀 I'm an anime fan too and istg the anime community's toxicity went thru the roof from the pandemic and on, like I can't go anywhere without people arguing about fictional characters here and then likepls leave me alone 😭 BP vs armys discourse? 10000x worse now 💀 Even in the fitness community ISTG I can't post my body anywhere online without people telling me to stop body checking or how I'm triggering their anorexia?? I'm sorry what??? I'm born like this and I can't gain weight for the life of me Pls leave alone 😭 even the views of tkklives and subs of such channels went thru the roof since the pandemic...

Anyway sorry for the word vomit but I'm so frustrated it seems like the pandemic made everyone go crazy/more intense.. Maybe the lack of social life and interactions made people (specifically teens) lack common sense? Being chronically online is a disease istg

I don't have much to say about this but I still think it's really interesting. I've only been part of the BTS fandom since 2017, so I can't talk about other pockets of the internet. And I also had a somewhat difference experience of the pandemic, because for me while I did spend a lot of time online, I also cut off on my ~~fan activities. Mid April 2020 or something I realized I was fed up with everything. Everything was bullshit to me. It's funny you mentioned Harry because he was one of the victims of my "fuck this" phase lol. His lack of commitment to a cause, his neutrality and evasiness to everything was bullshit to me.

My first moments of "I'm so over BTS" actually happened that first half of 2020. Then dynamite happened, and I was back to enjoying their content for the most part but I didn't like some of the members anymore the way I did in 2019. From dynamite on my ~feelings about the group kept losing intensity. It was really a slow process that has been dragging on since 2020. A lot of bullshit happened after dynamite onwards, and I was so over accepting it all and settling for things that I wasn't really okay with, so it was just a matter of time until I grew completely tired of the group.

It's an observation that's limited, because it's only your life experience; but it's still a good observation. I think it makes sense that people with maybe personal/emotional issues that were heightened (or triggered) by the pandemic, turned to the internet as a venting tool and outlet for those issues.

[kelvintimeline]

Have you ever left a fandom space because everyone was way too young and it made you feel old? Not necessarily stop watching or reading the canon, just stop your engagement with the fandom online. Like, I remember being in a Marvel subreddit a while ago and most people saying shit like "omgg I feel so old I'm 18 now" and I knew I had to leave lmao no way I'm spending my 30s arguing with teens about comics.

I'm not... really... in fandom spaces. Like I am, obviously, but... not... really?

Like I'll be in some subreddits but that's to get news or see fanart, not to really interact with people. I follow people (all of whom are 20+) here but not really for interactions or to be part of a larger community. I'm not really interacting with people much. So I'm not really encountering a lot of younger people, especially as more of my interests are focused on older characters/media.

I don't really talk WITH fandom people about shit. Like I'll make posts like 'omg this observation I had' but I'm not like... communicating with people outside of my rfiends/mutuals.

So... not really?

Though I guess I... preemptively avoid fandom spaces becaues I don't wanna be around young fandom people. like I don't do fandom discords.

[tinker-tanner]

I'm not mutuals with OP, but they have generously opened the floor to me, so I'm taking a swing anyway.

(As a preface, much of the analysis in this post will be vibes-based. So little actual research exists on transness and trans life outside the fields of HRT and gender-affirming surgeries that concrete evidence is hard to find without just spending lots of time in trans spaces, reading as much pertinent nonfiction as possible, and trying to learn what you can. I will do my best to remain objective and keep an analytical frame that everyone can learn from, but at the end of the day, I'm one specific trans woman writing based on her own perspective.)

In terms of specific possibilities anon pointed out, none of them seem like major factors:

I have no idea what the "IQ correlation" means here, so that will be set aside, and maybe anon can follow up later if they'd like.

The autism correlation is relevant but not transfem-specific. From my experience, trans people of all sorts are much likelier to experience autism (and other closely-related phenomena such as ADHD) than the general population, i.e. not just a girl thing.

The programmer stereotype is not exactly wrong, but tends to get overblown by environmental factors. Programming can be a relatively lucrative career that requires less direct social interaction than many others, and it's masculine-coded without the overt machismo of something like the military, meaning it's safe to pursue both pre- and post-transition, so a lot of transfems do pursue something of that nature. However, the people who spend time on OP's blog tend to be fairly online and rationalist-adjacent, both of which are positively correlated with being a programmer anyway. Many transfems (such as yours truly) are terrible at programming, but we just don't talk about it because it doesn't feature much in our lives.

In fact, elaborating on point 3, I'd say that being highly online is one of the major predictive factors for transfem clustering as commonly observed. Social media, unless it's something like Facebook, selects for people who share interests, hobbies, taste in memes, and whatnot. This results in a particular, rather insular Transfem Online Culture which extends into the offline world to variable degrees depending on where you live. Where I live, there are an awful lot of outdoorsy hippie transfems who mostly date men, which doesn't match up particularly well with the programmer socks archetype.

Another significant factor is safety concerns. Even if most people don't outright wish us harm, many do consider us kind of weird and disturbing to be around, which tends to nudge us away from places we suspect we aren't welcome (unless we consistently pass as women in those spaces, but that's its own can of worms). Safety in numbers makes it much easier to do things where there are already other transfems to back us up in case something goes wrong. Goodness knows I've done plenty of things I would've been too scared to try if another transfem hadn't invited me to join in.

That's about all I have to say on the topic. Please do feel free to ask questions or add commentary!

why do you think transfem people cluster the way they do? and how legitimate are eg the autism correlation, iq correlation, programmer stereotype, etc

i'm not touching this one but my mutuals are welcome to take a swing at it

[yuraimi-lee-bunny]

Warren and silent bullying

Bullying was one of several topics Life is Strange touched on. We saw that the characters who suffered the most bullying were Kate and Daniel. However, there is also evidence that Warren suffered from somewhat constant bullying within the school. Each character at different levels suffered from bullying, Kate and Daniel were the ones who showed us such acts in a more graphic way, while with Warren they handled it in a hidden way, almost silently, which although it was not shown to us with such constancy , still there was the evidence. And even as with Kate and Daniel, we were shown how this affected Warren's self-esteem. As Warren at the same time suffers from being the "outcast" type that doesn't fit anywhere, they ignore him and call him weird. Showing up next the proofs:

In Ep.1, when you first meet Warren. If you choose "Daniel posted it online?" Max is surprised that Daniel has uploaded his portrait. Warren jokingly tells her that she is now welcome to Daniel's "museum". Max tells him not to be jealous, that at any moment Daniel will ask him soon. Warren replies "Oh you're a wit, Max." From the tone of voice in which Warren says that phrase, he doesn’t seem convinced at all, since by spending more time in Blackwell than Max, he knows his position as "outcast" and he knows that will never happen.

In Ep.2 there is a Grafitty on one of the lab tables where it says "Warren master of my ass" (Unfortunately in my last gameplay I didn’t find it, and a few months ago someone published the image here, but I lost it.)

In Ep. 3 There is graffiti in the boys' bathroom that says "I <3 Warren Gayram"

Ep.4 is the one with the most evidence regarding bullying and its "Outcast" situation. Max finds a scratched photo of Warren that says "Beta Fag Alert" where Max thinks it was Nathan from such an act (obviously he was). Then the moment you meet Warren when you get to the party, Warren says interesting things like "I know, I know, I'm a pain in the butty", "I never hit anybody like that before… I was always the one getting my ass kicked", "He won’t. I know how to be invisible here…"

Also funny is that Warren wears a simple white shirt, not one with a geek theme as he usually wears them. Since as he said "Sorry… I just wanted to feel like normal student…" In itself, because of how he behaved with Nathan (hit him or not) he felt weird, and at that moment like never before, the least he wanted was to be seen as a outcast.

Ep.5 and one of the moments that goes very unnoticed but uniting all of the above that I have been mentioning, makes a lot of sense what Warren says to Max: If you choose "you believe me?", Warren will tell her "I know I can be a pain in the ass... and... and you've always treated me like a person, not... not a beta nerd. I told you before that I'll always believe you..."

In a moment as ugly as the tornado and everything Max revealed to him, Warren revealed his feelings a bit too, his feelings of appreciation to Max 'cause she treats him as a person, not a mockery.

It's believed that Warren hangs out and talks more with the girls at school because they don't bother him like the boys do, with the bullying that I already left evidence. He considers himself a "pain in the butt" because he knows that it bothers a lot sometimes, but in reality he's someone who gets too excited when he meets a person with the same tastes, interests, and who treats him as a person, because really it hurts him to be treated with nerdy prejudices, as if he were nothing, as he said "invisible".

I think that with what I have said, it is a little clearer why he talks too much to Max, besides that he would like her to be his girlfriend, Warren appreciates Max because he treats him well, as a person and that they exchange tastes, that he can fully trust her, as Kate and Alyssa do too (and I want to believe Dana too). He is a boy who apparently suffers from bullying but tries as much as possible so that this does not affect him. It hurts him to be treated like someone who doesn't exist, just for being geek tastes and smart, and yet he tries to take it the best he can and move on. Another curious fact is that Warren shows that he has problems, but he's the only character who doesn't tel tol Max so that she can help him, on the contrary, Warren is the only character who listens to Max and he helps her. (Almost all the characters tell Max about their problems and she helps them, of course, depending on the options) I have been observing for years, analyzing this and more about Warren, and that is why I appreciate him very much, because he's the most mature that can be low all that bullying and sometimes aggression that he suffers. In truth: Warren Graham is brave and very mature, and that, he is the youngest on all Blackwell.

Finally, I can add that while Kate and Daniel were the characters who are bullied in person and it was shown to the player, Warren and Alisha are bullied in silence.

Thanks for reading! And Happy Birthday Warren Graham! <3

[portraitoftheoddity]

hello! i hope you don't mind me asking this in case you've answered similar things somewhere before, but: i want to start sketching and drawing, particularly people and plants, and i'm not sure where to begin. is it okay to use a lot of references? is there a certain amount of time i should practice every day? should i take a class? how do i avoid the inevitable frustration of not liking how certain sketches turn out? thanks for reading this! you're one of my top fave artists!

I do not mind at all, and I am delighted! (and also aaaaaaaah thank you ♥ )

First off, I highly recommend you get an actual sketchbook. It doesn’t have to be a super fancy sketchbook (I actually prefer the cheaper ones because I don’t get so intimidated or anxious about filling them with crap drawings), but don’t just draw on a college-ruled notebook. Get some drawing pencils, a sharpener, a good white plastic eraser, and a kneaded eraser. You can find these at pretty much any craft/art supply store. 

ABSOLUTELY use references!! The most important part of drawing is learning how to actually look at things -- so to start, definitely draw from photos or from life if you can (a mix of the two is great). Training yourself to draw what you observe, rather than the idea your brain is condensing that observation into, is going to help you become a better artist and draw more realistically. I talk about it at some length, with examples and exercises here. If it helps -- I almost always use a variety of references when I draw.

(Also I haven’t updated in a while, but I did a series of introductory art posts on a side blog here that might be helpful for you.)

How much time you practice every day is gonna be up to you and what’s reasonable in your life and schedule. I have days I don’t draw at all and days I spend 5 straight hours at my tablet, depending on when I have free time and the capacity to concentrate. I’d say trying to get a minimum of 30 minutes a day will be good for practicing most skills, though the more you practice, the faster you’re likely to start seeing results. Carrying a sketchbook around with you and drawing stuff in your environment whenever you have down time is a great way to get practice in without disrupting your schedule too much. 

As far as taking classes -- if that’s an option for you, I do recommend them. Getting real-time feedback and critique from an instructor as you’re working is really valuable, and a classroom environment with collective critique means you don’t just learn from your own mistakes, but from everyone else’s as well. Not to mention classes often come with access to materials and figure models, and can pose challenges you might not force upon yourself if left to your own devices. That being said, if a class isn’t something you can afford, there are free alternatives. Look for online communities where you can get feedback on works in progress and honest concrit. There are a lot of online tutorial series out there that are great, too. Though I recommend focusing less on “how to draw a _____”-style tutorials, and ones that instead concentrate on skill-building and technique.  

Dealing with frustration is difficult. It’s especially hard, since the artists we admire only seem to produce perfect work after perfect work. But it’s a bit like that whole iceberg analogy, where you only see a fragment of something that has a larger, hidden whole. You might see an artist post ten gorgeous pieces, and not realize that what you aren’t seeing are the 100+ absolute garbage sketches they threw out in the process of making those ten good drawings. And literally thousands of drawings they did just to get to that point. 

The thing to remember is even your bad drawings have value. Hold on to them, wait a day or two for the disappointment to ebb, then take them out again and look at them. Try to pinpoint, with the benefit of some distance, what isn’t working. If you can identify the problem, (ie, “oh, the left leg is totally jacked up because I made his kneecap higher up than it is on the right”) then you can work to avoid it next time. Try to adopt the idea that there are no failures; just learning experiences.

I wish you luck, I’m delighted that this is something you’re interested in pursuing, and if you have more questions or need feedback, feel free to shoot me a message! :)