#is it technically fan art if its not a fan drawing it. idk. but still

[luxurystark-jackson]

hello people one of my lovely friends drew sam for me as a christmas gift and i’m here to show you all cause. it is beautiful

everytime i go into my camera roll i get lost in the sheer detail and beauty of the plaid. please enjoy my friend’s work she’s amazing and i love her

[moeblob]

Happy Birthday to Ferdinand von Aegir!

I actually made 33 emotes, affectionately known as Aegirglyphics to some, for my own personal use on discord. However, I figure why not share some of them! They're free to use for discord servers/icons/pfps or whatever. However, my only request is Do NOT use them as subscriber emotes on Twitch. You can make them free follower emotes but you are not to make them locked behind a paywall.

[red-dyed-sarumane]

i think it would be at least a little fulfilling to lean more into doing vocaloid art to maybe sell as charms & stickers. i keep thinking about conventions ive been to & will be going to & it would be kind of very cool to interact directly with people who like my art.....

[sonicsupastar]

Animaticlock is genuinely gonna eat me alive It's sooobad I love this ship too much I think the fact I can just easily draw it, Gijinka or not, makes it 10x worse there's so much to do with it but I can never think of it and that makes me a litte.upset.. but it's okay

IT'SALSO JUST They have technically two forms? Idk if that would be the right name ANDTHAT JUST ADDS MORE ONTO TO IT Ouuhfdb Animaticlock you drive me insane I think i also just really enjoy their characters in general There's a lot to do with them since we don't know their entire lore yet I love coming up with stuff for them That is so much fun I also really love seeing what people do with them too and that gives me inspo too sometimes:3 (No it always does)

May as well call me number 1 fan of Animaticlock Cuz i genuinely cannot go a day without thinking Hey...Animaticlock....... Time to draw! and ikeep looking so much for fanart of it constantly Like at this point I'll have to see Insta too Do people still use that? Idk I don't... like Insta........but just for the sake of art if it's there............. ITS ONLYBEEN A SHORT TIME But it's all that's ever in my mind I'm gonna puke I love them I hope they die Someone needs to put them in a blender and throw them out in the ocean (Me)

I hate them so much I hate Ihaaatteee them KILL!!!! THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aoouygggh I love Animaticlock they're so weird and stupid I don't need to be so attached to them but I am and i hate it a lot Happy stupid Pride month to them especially Okah I'm done

[kafus]

Ohoho its kinda strange but what is your favourite thing in your room?? Idk why but I always ask this question to people lol

no this question is awesome but i’m INCREDIBLY torn between a few different things so i’m gonna share like 3 things 😭 for the purpose of making this interesting i will not include plushies since i have a lot of those in here and that’s too easy of an answer

first off is this kaf/u keychain - technically it’s attached to my purse (my purse is also kaf themed btw lol) but i don’t leave my house that often and it’s usually in my room so i think it counts. it was a birthday present from someone extremely important to me - he made the art for it and had it custom printed and cut and everything! the kafu is specifically drawn to look like how i draw her (you can tell by the robot hands) and overall i am just extremely sentimental about this gift, it’s one of my favorite things i’ve ever received from anyone ever and has more meaning behind it than appears on the surface

following on the gift trend, my sibling got me this custom figurine YEARS ago - it’s handmade and it’s of an old pokesona of mine back when i was a more active pokemon furry. i don’t even use this guy as a sona anymore but it’s from my sibling and it was so thoughtful and it’s honestly just such a cool piece of art, like the style is super cool and it’s obviously unique to one of my characters and i just think that’s awesome

and lastly, right now it’s Still sitting in the envelope to keep it safe because i Still haven’t gotten a frame for it, but i have kaf’s signature in sharpie on this letter here - back when she graduated high school there was a whole virtual concert and celebration and you could pay a little extra on merch to get this signed by kaf (it’s a letter talking about graduating and thanking her fans and whatnot) and i just feel incredibly blessed to have been there for that and own this, i’m very sentimental about kaf in 2022

[thereareeyesinsidethetrees]

are you still taking asks? If so what’s your favorite (can be many if you want) Ford headcanon? No pressure to answer! hope you’re doing well :)

hi hello :) thank you for the ask! (im still working on the other one you sent- sorry its taking so long!)

(let me know if i need to tag any other warnings for this!)

my absolute favorite ford headcanon would probably be that he's got a ton of scars! it's something thats gotten me really confident with my own scars so i really like when people draw a bunch of scars on him

some other favorites are that he knows how to play piano (he makes up his own songs for it) and violin, and that hell play music for/with stan every now and again (stan plays ukelele). also that he helps stan get better at art and that they just draw together sometimes

theres some darker (? not entirely sure the right term here) headcanons that i really like, such as him struggling with eating and mental health. one of my favorite fics is about him starting to recover from his eating problem and i just like whenever other fics make note of it

my favorite headcanons that werent just stolen from other people are also pretty dark- and also directly tied to a headcanon that was stolen so idk

anyway, im a fan of the idea that ford died (probably more than once) during weirdmaggedon and was brought back each time by bill.

my personal headcanons are that he left behind a separate ghost for every death and that they stick around after weirdmaggedon, and that hes still technically dead by weird universe terms. so hes really cold all the time and vultures will follow him around sometimes.

recently ive added that ravens, crows, blackbirds, jackdaws, rooks, loons, and seagulls will also follow him around and even perch on him sometimes. birds a lot of people usually associate with horror, except theyre just hanging out around ford and keeping him company instead of doing anything evil. hes got bird friends :)

the seagulls are because i think itd be funny if stan was constantly having to shoo them off ford while they were sailing around the world

[viofficial]

Hello i am back for five seconds to talk abt that welcome home update bc WHAT !!! i have .. so many thoughts and the current speculation isnt rlly doing it or the source material justice. im not gonna add any links here, u can find those urself, ill just be going thru my very unorganized thoughts. anyway!

so while i cant make any confident speculation as we're so early into the project, however i think the new update confirmed my suspicion that wally Is the one sending the restoration project these letters. specifically in the staff only page, where on one of the emails, there's smth in white highlighted marker that reads "-wally darling" like a signature of some sort. i could be wrong but idk who else would be doing this yk? esp in the damaged state the restored materials are in? its also indicated by one of the staff having a dream abt wally lookng at them as a phone rings. its also clear bc of the many eye and spiral imagery throughout the page.

another thing i found interesting was in the 1-14 pages, how near the end, the characters look to wally for input. i think its bc in the show ur supposed to follow wally around as he's technically a narrator/observer of some sort, indicated by one of the scripts in an earlier update, with wally speaking to the viewer. but i wonder why it cut off so abruptly?? idk

so far my "theory" is that smth happened in the neighborhood that caused wally to lose his friends hence in the guestbook he mentions he cant find them or has no memories of them, that or ppl's lack of memories of the show causes his world (or the show itself) to fall apart, which would make sense. idk if they died or anything but idk smth happened. i also saw someone say that what could be happening is that two worlds exist, one where welcome home was a real show that existed in the 70s, and one without. we're seeing the world without.

i don't think wally or home is evil, or that home is behind anything or that smth is happening in home OR that wally is stuck in home. i dont think that clown would make smth so cliche, and while cliches r fine since everyone has a diff spin on it, i feel like itd be narratively unsatisfying. its clear that wally is desperate, he wants to be seen, remembered in some way. maybe its why he's always facing the camera, symbolizing that desire? idk maybe im delving too deep LMFAO dont blame me i literally spent Hours looking for clues and refreshing twitter. its also clear that wally isnt evil bc i believe its him apologizing for the letters/materials looking so fucked up and taking a toll on ppl. maybe it isnt him but itd make sense

wally can also see us. through our fan art, through our support, he can see whats going on in the outside world hence how he's able to break the fourth wall and send the restoration project the envelopes (specifically eddie's envelopes). i say this bc of this line if u type "/a" on the website.

“I have more eyes than I did before. You know how to draw eyes. You draw mine many times. I know it is thanks to you, neighbor, that I can see. But it is still… I can’t… See."

now that he doesnt have access to the guestbook, he's desperate for diff ways to connect to us and the restoration project. he just wants to be remembered. i dont think him breaking the fourth wall is too out of the ordinary considering he appeared in an interview, signifying he must know of the outside world, that his world isnt real, he's played by a voice actor, and so on.

[kiisaes]

Quick! Tell me about your OCs! (I just really like hearing about people’s OCs)

!!! WAAUAUAUSDUHUS OKAY!!!

and to everyone who doesn't care about my ocs, u can ignore this ask bc i'm gonna be like this for the remainder of this post

u have been warned.

my ocs that i mostly post about here belong to a future comic i intend to write, draw and post online called "chimera kingdom"! this is the tag on my blog -> #chimera kingdom <- it's comprised of art of my ocs as well as some miscellaneous stuff

it's a story that means a lot to me and one i definitely want to write in its entirety .. someday .. bc some of my oldest ocs are here!!! kimberly is my oldest oc i still use!!! she is a decade old!!! buzzer and ry are also almost as old, they were made like. idk. a week after kimberly ??? and fun fact but atticus is technically the oldest oc of the bunch but he's not technically my oc since i'm borrowing him from my friend. but i was given permission to write him my own way for this comic so YIPPEE!!!!!

it's a humble project with a lot of sentimental value, so i post about it occasionally even though this is mainly a fan art blog, i haven't illustrated it all, and don't know when it'll be done. not sure if i necessarily have "big dreams" for this thing, but it'd be cool to see it all come together ....... someday

BUT ANYWAY! some general lore and worldbuilding of "chimera kingdom" bc that's important!!!

the short synopsis: "in the near future, a government-funded lab/secret service/school conglomerate called the Chimera Kingdom experiments on humans. chimeras are the newest step in human(?) evolution, individuals with the added survival skills of a specific animal. they primarily exist to kill off monsters— dangerous, soulless creatures set to destroy humanity if not combated."

so basically chimeras are the merging of a human body and the strength, survival skills, and instincts of one animal. they still maintain their human body throughout unless their animal limbs serve as part of their survival (like bird chimeras with wings, big cat chimeras with claws, etc.). chimeras have to manually tap into their chimera states, meaning that under normal circumstances they're just regular humans. when a chimera's chimera state is active, a symbol on their inner wrist will appear and glow. that's what these are!

chimeras are like. fantasy science basically. they're definitely scientific creations in-universe but leave some breathing space for fantasy too, so u don't concern urself with the specifics. the further this story goes, the more reality will be suspended as well

so how does this relate to the characters ?!?!

i won't go tooooo in depth with the individual characters since that would make this ask way too fucking long and i doubt anyone would want to read that. so i'll just link this post and this post which have the basic run-downs for the 10 student characters. these posts are a bit outdated now but i haven't had the time or the luxury to remake them so ..... they'll do for now =v= i also don't have everyone's bios written, so there's more characters than just these 10. if anyone i draw catches ur interest feel free to ask me! i WILL scream about them

anyway all 10 of them are chimeras attending Chimera School, a part of the Kingdom. the 10 of them make up the elite class, aka the "best" class due to everyone's potential to be very strong and useful chimeras. this class ignores grades since it's more focused on chimera missions and other stuff directly benefiting the Kingdom, less on actual academics (though they still learn the basics, dw). so they're of different ages but still on the same level playing field

the protag is kimberly, she's a rabbit chimera and her goal at the Kingdom is to become the strongest chimera!!! she's been in her twin brother ry's shadow since she can remember, so she has a bit of beef with him though it's not inherently malicious. he's good at everything so she wants to be better than him in just one thing. like .. u know when siblings are a little fucked up? yea :D

she acts as the audience surrogate for a bit before more perspectives are introduced. everyone has their own goals and motivations, and develop as the story moves forward. i intend for "chimera kingdom" to delve into war, love, grief, vulnerability, reclamation of power, and what it means to be human. and what it means to be an individual being when u can't even feel like u're worthy of being anyone. ya feel ?!?!?!?!

every character deals with one or multiple of these themes! in some kind! so lmk if there's a specific character u're interested in !!! i will word vomit for HOURS. i just don't want to crowd this already-crowded ask when there's a good amount of characters in my comic. and again i implore u to check out the links above for some quick info :)

SORRY THIS IS SO FUCKING LONGGGGG

[beej-hunnicutt]

Okayyy, I grabbed a bunch of this year's (plus one from December, technically two) actually like "finished drawings" and ramble abt the good, the bad, and the ugly. I just watched an artists tier their art. So yeah lol maybe I'm in the mood to ramble abt mine lol. Below the cut because...so many pictures lol.

Like, don't get me wrong, I loooooove this Frances drawing, but like. It's kinda just there. Like I feel good when I see it. But I WANT IT TO FEEL MORE AAAAA. Like I'm sure abt almost all of these, I just wish I had given it an atmosphere. I actually think this has a cute light palette it actually kinda works. But I wish I had actual lighting in it <3. Where is the vibe and scene?! I think I should go old photograph. Which is what I wanted to do, but I have no idea how. I still plan on expanding out this drawing, maybe changing it slightly, so hopefully, I will do that better!! I also kinda put this Andy with it. Because I feel kinda the same abt it. I think both lack shadows too, which goes with lack of environment. But I think the soft feel of Andy's is nice! I'm glad I colored it. And actually think I like how undefined the background it on this one. It does something for me! Oh didn't mean it, but love the contrast of the complimentary book cover! Didn't intend that, just picked a book I enjoy and think Andy would enjoy. But like that affect.

Despite really feeling like Andy is still not mixed with the background, I actually really like this one! I think toneally it has a vibe. And it's just like a portrait so I cannot complain too much!

I really enjoy this Mary and Frank piece! I love the colors and like how its kinda painterly but still heavily influenced by the sketch and it can still be seen. I like that I attempted more usage of different hues, not sticking to the main color. Like Mary's sleeve? LOVE THAT. Same with the sweater detail on Frank! I put the Kik one with it because for a quick sketch turned painting I think it is good. I like the vibe. I think I should either heavily fix it or redo it. I think if I keep going at it, I can make it a piece I am really proud of!

Okay, admittedly, I put these together because they're kinda the same size but lol. Andy; tried something new, think I heavily failed. But I DO like the colors and like I tried texture, though you can tell I didn't know what to do with it lol. The Lincoln, this piece is rlly old, AND IT WAS BADDDD. I think the half assed fixed version is 1000% better. It's by no means perfect. I rEALLY like the shadow of his head on the pillow. But aha, just wish there was more. But overall not terrible! I like it for what it is. And has a special place for being like my first Lincoln piece that wasn't just his fatigues one. :")

LOVE THE VIBE, I like Grayscale, like the intense shadow. I think the shadows on him could be a but nicer of course. And I do think his hair was kinda poorly done but oh well. I am not the biggest fan of his face? It's not bad, but I think I have done better John faces. I do know; I detailed his face in color and I think I like that better lol.

Lincoln, like, I like the face and coloring of that but it's just so meh. It's a figure like I always do. I like the coloring a lot more when I went back and added deeper shadows. But idk. It's okay </3. And oh!! I group a different Lincoln picture with this one, it has no background but the shadows on his uniform are SO good. It made me loooovve the drawing. And is still a fave. It is what inspired me to add deeper shadows here.

And I've never shared this version of this John drawing. It's a shaving cream prank. Dear God. Help me. I love how John's body turned out. I think his face is nice; its okay. I think I sucked at again giving him a shadow. I couldn't commit to the main shadow and I think it just kinda sucked all life from it. With the Lincoln drawing I don't like the background. With the John one I am torn. I think I should have detailed the ground more? Maybe? Idk. These two, Frank by the water and Andy reading, were all close together and done in January, and they all kinda have the same bckgrnd theme. Idk how I feel abt that choice. For the guys' anyways.

Actually seeing all of these were nice! Because I actually do like nearly all of these pieces! And I feel nervous but very inspired to keep trying to motivate myself to finally take that final step. And maybe try to play into that for the entire piece, not just adding it at the end...and not adding it. I rlly want to try to get a bit more creative too, like interesting things not just person standing there. But idk.

If you read all of this. Omg thank you sorry for rambling your ear off!!! 🫂💗

[sojrner-fishsticcc]

ok this isnt my normal art stuff but every once in a while i come across a weird little thing that i rlly feel like sharing with someone so im gonna put it here :) im a big fan of historical space stuff, in case you havent noticed (i dont think anyone has since i havent posted abt it before) so i sometimes go on little rabbitholes on random stuff and heres a little thing i found! so like, if you’re an astronaut, in a suit on EVA, you can’t really bring stuff with you. the gloves are too bulky to use fine stuff like electronics so like... what do you do if you need to remember something?

you use something like this! this is an astronaut cuff checklist! its a little spiralbound notebook with big ol tabs for manipulating with your gloves that has guides on procedures that are complicated and you’re bound to forget. this photo is of gene cernan from apollo 17 specifically, but these are still used today on the iss! cos there really isn’t a better option! ive seen a prototype for a digital one (which is kinda a big deal since normal lcd screens dont work in vacuums!), so until then we’re just gonna keep using lil notebooks with all your directions written on them :)

as a side note; for the apollo ones specifically, they were made by the backup crews for each mission as a guide for the main crew. they were pretty dry and mainly just step-by-step instructions on how to deploy surface equipment and such. they werent ONLY that though! they had some extra little tidbits of stuff in them for the crew while they were out there. specifically, the handbooks on apollo 12! which, alongside all the tutorials also had little sketches of dogs on the moon!

which is adorable!!! i love that!!! theyre so cute, i might draw something inspired by them cos god they give off such a cute little vibe. the handbooks also had some full-page photos of topless women which like ??? ok??? sure i guess. idk i dont really know what to think about those. anyway, these notes are so cool. i love looking at all them, i love poring over them and seeing all the technical notes (and dogs!).

alright thats all of this bit. ill hopefully go back to posting furry art soon, i have a rlly cool animated gif im trying to make and a few other ideas which im excited to put together. bye!

[smileymoth]

7, 8, 14

7. Who are some artists that have inspired you? This isn't a difficult question but it's hard to like... describe why someone inspires me. I think the 1 artist that has sort of guided me to find my art style is definitely godlyDescentUFO they mostly post on deviantart/twt of which i don't really use anymore. I still think about their art a lot, and often. The colour palettes they use and the composition and body language of the characters drawn... It's just special to me. I want to replicate it. One day. Again I feel like Ive been too sucked into fandom these past few years to really do what i want to but I'll... I'll explain that later .But yeah they've been my favourite artist ever since I found them. I feel like if you just go thru their gallery you can tell why I like them

Then there's clickbaitcowboy . He's on tumblr go give them a follow. he makes godly oc illustrations and his painting skills are so... so so so so AAHHH. Im in love fr I can't explain it. The shading makes me go insane and the way he draws out anatomy and muscles and fat and just bodies in general... god

supppe, another person who is on tumblr whose colour paletes bring me joy. He makes comics and his art style is super pleasing to the eye

And from current fandom I think everyone can agree that panidanya and wszczebrzyszynie are incredible artists . Panidanyas anatomy and painting skills kill me every time and wszczebrzyszynie has this really nostalgic(?) art style that my heart can get behind. It creates art with such passion and love, you know, you can't deny that. if you look at its art you just know

Other than that the main inspiration i guess comes from my friends, from my mutuals' art. It doesn't have to be something big. It can be as simple as a small detail in someones clothing or the facial expressions. God this reminds me I miss my friends art. Evan you need to make more art I miss you

8. How would you describe your art style?

Matured deviantart emo semirealism. I dont think semi realism really fits my style bc it still feels too cartoony to me. I dont think my art style is really all that well developed idk it lacks identity to me but Im also hyper critical of my art

14. Do you prefer to make fan content or original content? This is a tricky goddamn question I thought about this for like 5 minutes and now Im even more confused. I am an oc artist first. I don't like "original" art in the sense of those paintings that just exist in a vacuum with no character stories behind them. I want something you can follow, you know. I want there to be some form of a story. which i guess is my downfall sometimes. When i draw fandom art i feel like they're also my ocs. esp bc its... its mcyt... You kind of have to make it into your oc because you have 16x16 pixel canvas and someones 2010 kakashi skin to work with.

On the other hand, bc i'm an oc artist, Im making 'fan content' of my ocs. Technically. Do yuo follow. So me drawing my babyboy Daniel 400+ times in a decade is kind of like fan content but Im the only fan... So whats original content and whats fan content.

I do feel like being so intertwined in fandom content may have hindered my art development a little bit, since I completely stopped drawing my ocs for a little while. I didn't get to explore their lives through art as much as I would've wanted to. I haven't been drawing as many backgrounds because I do enjoy mostly drawing interiors and there's not much interiors to talk about when it comes to mcyt... And ive also just been lacking motivation for it.

All in all i think i enjoy "original" art more, because it gives me more, it gives more to my heart. It's not that i don't enjoy drawing mcyt, but I think I should maybe try to draw mcyt in a more personal? matter? Without too much fandomification? I want to make more art that has "meaning" per say, with backgrounds, a story behind them. (this is just for me and what i want to get out of art, this doesn't apply to anyone else. it's such a slippery slope bc i know saying these things may feel hurtful to others but i am only talking about myself.... okay T_T) I dont know if any of this makes sense. I'm always lost in my direction with art and going to art school didn't make it any better <3

I do think that because I've been going thru a lot of personal warfare in the past 3 years, fandom HAS helped me in the sense that it helps me with creativity, since i have been severely lacking in creative thinking, I just struggle with it nowadays, so if I can draw ethubs making out under a tree bc they did so in episode 402 out of season 194 then so be it, at least it'll help me create

[yourlocalnicknackkinnie]

Character Bingo: Nick Nack (HP:MS)

@dolly-royal @omggypsyesmeraldathings-blog (I know you asked for Riley too but I'm making it a separate post since its the same character :3 )

Alrighty lets begin (It's gonna be very long because I've got a lot of things to say about him)

They are so cool looking

I gotta admit, he looks very cool. Even tho some prople say he looks like James Charles (Which I STRONGLY disagree) I love his design. I personally like his clothes, the man has drip. Heck, I literally painted a white blazer for a cosplay but now I just wear it when I'm not in cosplay anymore. I also like his facial structure since it gave me a challenge to draw him before but now I've gone used too it. (I can go on and on)

Everyone but me is wrong about them

Ok, so this is just a little joke (I do believe in other people's headcanons about him) but I would make this joke of "As a Nick Nack Kinnie, he would defiantly do that" if there's something that I think he would do.

Wasted Potential

Ik hes in the prequel but he could have more potential in the first game too (Since his model was already made). I think that Nick could've been in the tea party with Mortimer and Riley at the end instead of Kathy. (IDK but stillll)

If they were real I would be afraid of them

Ok, maybe a little startled but still- I mean, he's a puppet that wants a human as his host. But I headcanon that when you say that he's your favorite, he'll stop, cry and just be nicer to you. (Since he doesn't want to harm a fan)

They are deeper then they seem

for some reason I feel like there's something more about Nick that we don't know. The fact that he might have the urge not hunt for Owen and his urge to do it is strange but maybe there's more context in the game when its realesed.

They got done DIRTY by fans

So one time I tried to look how far the fandom has got. So every fandom has R34 art so I decided to type it in on google and OH I REGRET MY DECISION. I found a Nick Nack one- (IDK if that counts tho but still)

Didn't get enough screen time

This applies for the first game. like- we only see him in the shadows and that's it.

I want to carry them in a handbag like a tiny dog

Well kinda, I don't own any handbags but I wanna put him in a back pack instead with him poking out of it. If i had a Nick Nack puppet i would put him in there, let him poke out of it and go out with him like that for aesthetic purposes (And probably comfort reasons as well).

Nothing I like about them is technically canon

Another joke one. I do like things that are canon but I like to come up with headcanons to make me like him more than usual.

Why do they look like that

I don't mean his Midnight show ver. I meant his model that was supposed to be in the first game. What happened to his eyes? Where his is little beard thingy? (I headcanon that the eyes are supposed to be a mechanism that was added in later. like Puppet contact lenses I guess. it was later added because it wasn't in the blue prints so it was just a last minute idea Owen came up with)

Im mentally ill about them

Help, my mind is all about him now- send help (JK)

Wow... they are LITERALLY me!

Yep, that's me (As my username says it) I relate to him a lot. from my interests to maybe personality. heck I made a list of it and there's a lot of things I kin him that its scary. Ex. liking arts, having mood swings, being a tea person, likes to sing (the difference is that I think my voice sounds horrible) and more things-

They've never done anything wrong in their life <33

Ok, Ok maybe he has done some thing wrong in his life but at least he has the urge to not kill us-

So that's all for now. I could make a headcanon post about him on here (Pls reblog or comment down if you want something like this cause I have a lot of headcanons for Nick and plus I love making this kinds of posts)

[pumpkinpaix]

Hello! Feel free not to answer this question if it is in any way too much, but I've been wondering about something concerning the "western" mdzs fandom. Lately, i have seen multiple pieces of fanart that use what is clearly Christian symbolism and sometimes downright iconography in depicting the characters. I'm a european fan, but it still makes me vaguely uneasy. I know that these things are rarely easy to judge. I'm definitely not qualified to do so and was wondering if you have an opinion

Hi there! thank you for your patience and for the interesting question! I’ve been thinking about this since i received this ask because it?? idk, it’s difficult to answer, but it also touches on a a few things that I find really interesting.

the short answer: it’s complicated, and I also don’t know what I feel!

the longer answer:

i think that this question is particularly difficult to answer because of how deeply christianity is tied to the western art and literary canon. so much of what is considered great european art is christian art! If you just take a quick glance at wiki’s page on european art, you can see how inextricable christianity is, and how integral christian iconography has been in the history of european art. If you study western art history, you must study christian imagery and christian canon because it’s just impossible to engage with a lot of the work in a meaningful way without it. that’s just the reality of it.

Christianity, of course, also has a strong presence in european colonial and imperialist history and has been used as a tool of oppression against many peoples and nations, including China. I would be lying if I said I had a good relationship with Christianity--I have always faced it with a deep suspicion because I think it did some very, very real damage, not just to chinese people, but to many cultures and peoples around the world, and that’s not a trauma that can be easily brushed aside or reconciled with.

here is what is also true: my maternal grandmother was devoutly christian. my aunt is devoutly christian. my uncle’s family is devoutly christian. my favorite cousin is devoutly christian. when I attended my cousin’s wedding, he had both a traditional chinese ceremony (tea-serving, bride-fetching, ABSURDLY long reception), and also a christian ceremony in a church. christianity is a really important part of his life, just as it’s important to my uncle’s family, and as it was important to my grandmother. I don’t think it’s my right or place to label them as simply victims of a colonialist past--they’re real people with real agency and choice and beliefs. I think it would be disrespectful to act otherwise.

that doesn’t negate the harm that christianity has done--but it does complicate things. is it inherently a bad thing that they’re christian, due to the political history of the religion and their heritage? that’s... not a question I’m really interested in debating. the fact remains that they are christian, that they are chinese, and that they chose their religion.

so! now here we are with mdzs, a chinese piece of media that is clearly Not christian, but is quickly gaining popularity in euroamerican spaces. people are making fanart! people are making A LOT of fanart! and art is, by nature, intertextual. a lot of the most interesting art (imo) makes deliberate use of that! for example (cyan art nerdery time let’s go), Nikolai Ge’s What is Truth?

I love this painting! it’s notable for its unusual depiction of christ: shabby, unkempt, slouched, in shadow. if you look for other paintings of this scene, christ is usually dignified, elegant, beautiful, melancholy -- there’s something very humanizing and humbling about this depiction, specifically because of the way it contrasts the standard. it’s powerful because we as the audience are expected to be familiar with the iconography of this scene, the story behind it, and its place in the christian canon.

you can make similar comments about Gentileschi’s Judith vs Caravaggio’s, or Manet’s Olympia vs Ingres’ Grande Odalisque -- all of these paintings exist in relation to one another and also to the larger canon (i’m simplifying: you can’t just compare one to another directly in isolation etc etc.) Gauguin’s Jacob Wrestling the Angel is also especially interesting because of how its portrayal of its content contrasts to its predecessors!

or! because i’m really In It now, one of my favorite paintings in the world, Joan of Arc by Bastien-Lepage:

I just!!! gosh, idk, what’s most interesting to me in this painting is the way it seems to hover between movements: the hyperrealistic, neoclassical-esque take on the figure, but the impressionistic brushstrokes of the background AAA gosh i love it so much. it’s really beautiful if you ever get a chance to see it in person at the Met. i’m putting this here both because i personally just really like it and also as an example of how intertextuality isn’t just about content, but also about visual elements.

anyways, sorry most of this is 19thc, that was what i studied the most lol.

(a final note: if you want to read about a really interesting painting that sits in the midst of just a Lot of different works, check out the wiki page on Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa, specifically under “Interpretation and Legacy”)

this is all a really long-winded way of getting to this point: if you want to make allusory fanart of mdzs with regards to western art canon, you kind of have to go out of your way to avoid christian imagery/iconography, especially when that’s the lens through which a lot of really intensely emotional art was created. many of my favorite paintings are christian: Vrubel’s Demon, Seated, Perov’s Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, Ge’s Conscience, Judas, Bastien-Lepage’s Joan of Arc, as shown above. that’s not to say there ISN’T plenty of non-christian art -- but christian art is very prominent and impossible to ignore.

so here are a few pieces of fanwork that I’ve seen that are very clearly making allusions to christian imagery:

1. this beautiful pietà nielan by tinynarwhals on twitter

2. a lovely jiang yanli as our lady of tears by @satuwilhelmiina

3. my second gif in this set here, which I will also show below:

i’m only going to talk about mine in depth because well, i know exactly what i was thinking when I put this gif together while I can’t speak for anyone else.

first: the two lines of the song that I wanted to use for lan xichen were “baby, I’m a fighter//in the robes of a saint” because i felt that they fit him very well. of course, just the word “saint” evokes catholicism, even if it’s become so entwined in the english language that it’s taken on a secular meaning as well.

second: when I saw this scene, my immediate thought was just “PIETÀ!!” because LOOK at that composition! lan xichen’s lap! nie mingjue lying perpendicular to it! the light blue/white/silver of lan xichen in contrast to the darker robes of both nie mingjue and meng yao! not just that, but the very cool triangular structure of the image is intensely striking, and Yes, i Do love that it simultaneously ALSO evokes deposition of christ vibes. (baxia as the cross.... god..... is that not the Tightest Shit) does this make meng yao joseph of arimathea? does it make him john the evangelist? both options are equally interesting, I think when viewed in relation to his roles in the story: as a spy in qishan and as nmj’s deputy. maybe he’s both.

anyways, did I do this intentionally? yes, though a lot of it is happy accident/discovered after the fact since I’m relying on CQL to have provided the image. i wanted to draw attention to all of that by superimposing that line over that image! (to be clear: I didn’t expect it to all come through because like. that’s ridiculous. the layers you’d have to go through to get from “pretty lxc gifset” --> “if we cast nie mingjue as a christ figure, what is the interesting commentary we could do on meng yao by casting him as either joseph of arimathea or john the evangelist” are like. ok ur gonna need to work a little harder than slapping a song lyric over an image to achieve an effect like that.)

the point of this is: yes, it’s intentionally christian, yes I did this, yes I am casting these very much non-christian characters into christian roles for this specific visual work -- is this okay?

I obviously thought it was because I made it. but would I feel the same about a work that was written doing something similar? probably not. I think that would make me quite uncomfortable in most situations. but there’s something about visual art that makes it slightly different that I have trouble articulating -- something about how the visual often seeks to illustrate parallels or ideas, whereas writing characters as a different religion can fundamentally change who those characters are, the world they inhabit, etc. in a more... invasive?? way. that’s still not quite right, but I genuinely am not sure how to explain what i mean! I hope the general idea comes across. ><

something else to think about is like, what are pieces I find acceptable and why?

what makes the pieces above that reference christian imagery different than this stunning nieyao piece by @cyandemise after klimt’s kiss? (warnings for like, dead bodies and vague body horror) like i ADORE this piece (PLEASE click for fullview it’s worth it for the quality). it’s incredibly beautiful and evocative and very obviously references a piece of european art. I have no problem with it. why? because it isn’t explicitly christian? it’s still deeply entrenched in western canon. klimt certainly made other pieces that were explicit christian references.

another piece I’d like to invite you all to consider is this incredible naruto fanart of sakura and ino beheading sasuke after caravaggio’s judith. (warnings for beheading, blood, etc. you know.) i also adore this piece! i think it’s very good both technically and conceptually. the reference that it makes has a real power when viewed in relation to the roles of the characters in their original story -- seeing the women that sasuke fucked over and treated so disrespectfully collaborating in his demise Says Something. this is also!! an explicitly christian reference made with non-christian japanese characters. is this okay? does it evoke the same discomfort as seeing mdzs characters being drawn with christian iconography? why or why not?

the point is, I don’t think there’s a neat answer, but I do think there are a lot of interesting issues surrounding cultural erasure/hegemony that are raised by this question. i don’t think there are easy resolutions to any of them either, but I think that it’s a good opportunity to reexamine our own discomfort and try and see where it comes from. all emotions are valid but not all are justified etc. so I try to ask, is it fair? do i apply my criticisms and standards equally? why or why not? does it do real harm, or do i just not like it? what makes one work okay and another not?

i’ve felt that there’s a real danger with the kind of like, deep moral scrutiny of recent years in quashing interesting work in the name of fear. this morality tends to be expressed in black and white, good and bad dichotomies that i really do think stymies meaningful conversation and progress. you’ll often see angry takes that boil down to things like, “POC good, queer people good, white people bad, christianity bad” etc. without a serious critical examination of the actual issues at hand. I feel that these are extraordinarily harmful simplifications that can lead to an increased insularity that isn’t necessarily good for anyone. there’s a fine line between asking people to stay in their lane and cultural gatekeeping sometimes, and I think that it’s something we should be mindful of when we’re engaging in conversations about cultural erasure, appropriation etc.

PERHAPS IT IS OBVIOUS that I have no idea where that line falls LMAO since after all that rambling I have given you basically nothing. but! I hope that you found it interesting at least, and that it gives you a bit more material to think on while you figure out where you stand ahaha.

was this just an excuse to show off cool (fan)art i like? maybe ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(ko-fi)

[embrassemoi]

(1/8) You're really out there publising new chapters in such a short amount of time and each chapter is better than the last one!   I'm seriously in awe of your talent! It's so difficult to pick a favorite chapter but this one might be one of my favorites. First of all, I loved what you did with the chapter title, whiskers literally taking padfoot's place in the order they were named on the map. It was sirius' worst fear and it happened. Also Remus and mc's chemistry is so great. I'm a big fan

I've had so much inspiration and free time this past week! and I'm going to start getting really busy this upcoming fall so I want to try and upload as much as possible!

(2/8) of how naturally their friendship and relationship grows and how different their dynamic is compared to mc and sirius. The way she was braiding his hair in common room and the way map practically flirts with her. Their little moment in the halloween party was so great as well, mc (who is dressed up as mcgonagall) drunkly playing with remus' (who is dressed up as FILCH) is probably one of my favorite moments in the sbtmas. Speaking of the costumes, I wish I was a good artist so I could draw

yeah! it's always a struggle to write two different dynamics when it comes to a love triangle because you don't want it to be:

a) the same

b) have it be unfair (although rn it's kinda unfair but hey, sirius will have a chance)

c) please both remus and Sirius stans (its been hard bc sirius stans are so mad with me rn LMFAO its kinda hilarious. I'm sorryyyyy! I SAID SLOWBURN DIDNT I? I WASNT LYING)

and oh my gosh - this chapter was literally so fucking fun to write and I think that really showed in my writing this time. the map - omg - since it's technically remus' magic for his little messages, the map is unable to insult her and I think it's just so cute :)

and I think dressing up as the professors would be so fucking cool! actually, fun fact - this idea was originally supposed to be for fifth year. Sirius was supposed to be McGonagall and MC was still supposed to be a cat but I obviously flipped shit around. for seventh year - I've had their costumes all picked since I started writing and I CAN'T FUCKING WAIT TO WRITE IT MY GOD

(3/8) a fanart of them. Lily as a 20s flapper, marlene as carrie, dorcas as dorothy (it's official, dorcas is the cutest person in this entire series) and sybill as the crazy cat lady (hands down best costume)! And of course marauders as teachers. Remus as filch was son unexpected yet brilliant! I almost died when marlene started flirting with mc for a grade and james called her hot (and also mcgonagall took a photo with her, minnie and marauders era students is always so fun to read about. Can

THE FACT that you would even think of making drawing fan art is literally the most ego-filling thing ever. woah. Thank you for even just mentioning that lmfao.

also, I love Dorcas. I love her. I adore her. the version of her that I created in my head - I'm obsessed. the same goes for Lily. omg I can't forget to mention Marlene! omg I'm a mess. I love them all.

(4/8) you imagine her keeping all of those memories in a box and looking at them after most of her students from that time period die in the war.) Peter had some really good costume ideas after all. But honestly, thank you for... giving peter a personality. In most fics he's just there, only eating in the background (similar to movie!ron). But in sbtmas he's so great and has a great sense of humor (he got his hands on a pen and chose to write "evans' bitch on james' face, an icon). I feel like

okay, that hurt my feelings. I can just picture McGonagall getting teary eyed as she stares at a picture of the Marauders after the second wizarding war, wishing she could have saved her students.

(5/8) this is going to make his betrayal so much better when it eventually happens. I mean, I was genuinely disturbed when james started to talk about how sneaky he was (famous last words). I loved all of the pranks they did in this chapter as well. The exorcist music and ballpoint pens were so creative (and they gave us that adorable scene with dorcas and nifflers) and also... funny. I feel like in a way, it showed how much marauders learned from "The Prank" and matured because of it. Last year

Peter was a marauder through and through. he was just as sneaky as the others, brimming with personality and just as smart. maybe not in academics, but the fucker had strengths in other areas. It was such a pet peeve of mine when they didn't include him in the fics I used to read. idk, sbtmas is everything I guess I wanted in a fic that I didn't get 💀 (I sound a bit egotistical here. If it comes off that way, I don’t mean it to)

(6/8) their halloween prank with spiders was a bit cruel. But this time, it's somethig that would make everyone laugh and maybe a bit annoyed, but still less harmless. Everything was funny and great and honestly, while I was reading this I was laughing the entire time... until I got to the "five years" part! Now that was cruel! You really did used costumes and pranks as a distraction and hit us with the angst! One second I was laughing and the next moment I was having an existential

oh definitely and I'm happy that you caught on to the change in severity from their pranks!

(7/8) how we have no idea about what future will bring and you can never know how much time you will have with your loved ones before it's all taken away from you. But I guess that's the appeal of the marauders era, we all know about the tragic ending they will have but still want to learn about their hogwarts years. And of course the song you chose perfectly captured that. It's halloween 1976, exactly five years before lily and james' death. And they have no idea about how they only have five

(8/8) years together. James and lily was laughing along with peter! There was something so beautiful yet disturbing about the innocence they have and you captured it beautifully. I can imagine sirius, sitting by himself somewhere, thinking about how he lost his friends and not having any idea about the tragic things that'll happen to him (or how he'll try to break into hogwarts on halloween 1993 to kill one of his friends). Okay now I made myself even sadder, I'll just shut up. -🌸

aw, sirius :(. I obviously didn't add him in this chapter but while writing, I imagine him to be in Padfoot form, silently watching the fireworks. just thinking. :((((( I just made myself sad again :( I think I even wrote a small blurb of that part but I can’t remember if I deleted it. If I didn’t, I’ll totally upload it to the outtakes eventually

[iknowiknowiknowtheend]

more shit lore because I legitimately have nothing better to do but sit here and type out all the weird shit I’ve come up with for this thing

anyway for the minx bit- I want her and schlatt to interact in present day comic bullshit and it will most likely result in her trying to rip out schlatts eyes but hey haha funny ammiright? yes. yes I am. I am the comedy god.

also dt does show up, its mostly them as the protags (by them I mean dream and george, sap shows up later but it starts with dream and George being criminals so) but I have so much fun with schlatt lore. like I would keep it as dt but I just love the random schlatt bullshit,,,

welp I guess I’ll also mention the fuckin sigil things. there’s supposed to be fire, water, earth, air- but I’ve really only got fire as something important rn. schlatt has fire sigil thingies on his hands and has a knack for burning stuff (ex. “don’t blame me if ur hand suddenly catches fire”) sapnap also has fire stuff. Fundy has water because his mother was a fish lady and that’s it. he saves himself, schlatt and George from drowning once: he is “practically impervious to water”.

bad and skeppy also show up eventually but it would probably be briefly and they’d be side characters. bad is a (semi corrupted) angel and skeppy is his bff and for some unexplainable reason they just roam the forest making friends and what not.

George and Dream are criminals and they sword fight people. Dream stole a small bit of money, and got framed for stealing a BUNCH more money but he’s like “yeah chill whatever” George gets roped into it and he’s just fine with it or whatever. worth noting that George is significantly better with a sword that dream is and dream is only so lucky because he plays dirty. Dream buys a sword from Schlatt for George.

it’s a good sword.

sapnap is an arsonist. the dream team in this au is literally just a bunch of criminals. if we expand to muffinteers bad is ALSO kind of a criminal (not to the degree of thieves and arsonists) but he is a corrupted angel and angels shouldn’t be that.

also worth noting being corrupted doesn’t do anything to bad he’s just not part of like an angel flock. his wings r dark though but I’m unsure if I should make that a product of corruption or just angels have a hue issue.

most of the non human characters have dark hands- fundy because foxes have black paws, schlatt because rams have hooves and also aesthetic reasons, and bad because I said so. well not actually because I said so- it’s because his Minecraft skin is black like he’s a fkcin star wars jawa and one of the general fanon fan art designs for him.

schlatt wears fingerless gloves because almost anything that comes into contact with his palm will spontaneously combust.

dream also wears fingerless gloves because I like drawing fingerless gloves.

sapnap has a fire sigil on his forehead and that’s why he wears the headband thing. sapnap is immune to fire intirely, schlatt is not.

fundy can’t water bend as much as he can be shoved into a river and just moana that shit out of the way (you know what I’m talking about- like that popular scene when she walks across the ocean floor to the fire monster who’s name I can’t remember. you know? yeah good just clarifying).

I wish I had a general time span for how long schlatt has been alive but I do not. minx and the rest of the god killer bunch would be about the same age as schlatt. the god killer bunch is a bunch of op immortals who’s only chance at death would probably be if they killed each other. minx also probably would have control over plant life because idk.

schlatt at least did have swords and went by blades at some point. does he still have them? maybe. does he go by blades? nope but if anything he might make a reference to it.

have I mentioned the majority of this crazy bs takes place in like a janky magic forest? schlatt has a shop in a tree.

dream fell in a river once. he also fuckin dramatically cut his hair with a sword at some point because george asked why his hair was so long.

if dream and george ever spar george would always beat dream but dream would technically win because he’d kick george in the shins and say he’d won anyway.

[revengerevisited]

i found this vanqua fic the other day, it’s only a couple chapters but i like it so far. :3 it does have a ‘creator chose not to add warnings’ label though, so please be cautious. also baby-xemnas aka kotbysleep (nsfw) aka nekokat42 (also nsfw) is a much better vanqua artist than me so please check him out. X’D (heads-up those twitter threads are way longer than you think so make sure you see eeeverything~).

anyway, more wip art below the cut, plus my endless rambling (i talk about 18+ topics, just a warning)—

i’m still working on venqua week and i’ve got 2 more prompts to go, one i haven’t started yet and one i’m halfway done with—

~aaand yeah i’m re-using it for a vanqua pic too... X’D am i lazy, or just resourceful? you decide. ;P

but yeah, both of these pics will have an 18+ version as well. i admit i’m super anxious about posting it next week, as i’ve seen just how absolutely toxic fandom is on twitter. like, you thought tumblr was bad? i’ve spent the last few days preemptively blocking literally hundreds if not thousands of antis just so i can feel a little safer posting my content without some asshat calling me a pedo or telling me to kill myself over cartoons. XU i somewhat worry that i’ve accidentally blocked some people who were just joking around and weren’t actually harassing anyone, but it’s just so hard to tell sometimes. if i’ve accidentally blocked anybody here, just let me know so i can unblock you. :3 (idk why that sentence came out so sinister sounding but i’m legit being sincere X’D).

but seriously, idk when fandom suddenly got such a stick up its ass (around 2016-17 from my guesstimate) and decided aging-up a fictional character by a year or two is such a crime, but i guess that’s just the state of things. :T i could draw vanitas as a centaur or make him blond or whatever and no one cares, but aging him by one year? suddenly big problem! yeah, right. XP like, i know i said every character in kh is 17+ as of khmom (ignoring any weird timeline retcons of course), but heck i could make an honest case for the wayfinder family all being adults. hear me out—

it’s been 13 years since bbs, right? and for 12 of those years, aqua was in the realm of darkness, terra had some awareness while being possessed by xehanort, ven experienced some of sora’s life when he was in a coma, and vanitas was almost certainly in ven/sora’s heart as well, so all four of them could be said to be 31, 33, and 29 respectively. it’s not like their character models were any different when they were young teens as opposed to older teens, so can we really be sure they’re not all 30~ by now? heck, since ven is from the age of fairytales i could say he’s 1000 years old if i wanted too! (psst, it’s almost as if these are all fictional characters living in a fantasy world with time travel and whatnot and their ages are completely arbitrary numbers nomura made up on the spot, numbers which he has retconned before! :P).

now i don’t actually think they’re that old, but if people are gonna hassle me over a goddamn 2-year age difference, i might as well say fuck it and have fun with it, right? ;P it’s not like antis even know what the canon character ages even actually are, like when they try to say that skuld is underage when (assuming she’s subject x) she’d be around 28~ by now, or axel and saïx’s age. (maybe i’ll draw some saïx x skuld art and watch the antis lose their minds. ;P it wouldn’t even have to be nsfw to rile them up).

anyway, i do admit i’m feeling a little burned out on art recently. XP i’ve been trying to get one art piece out per week plus venqua week, and yeah it’s kinda taken its toll. i know this really isn’t anything anyone wants to hear, but i’ve been kinda thinking of moving away from fandom projects to work on my own original work. now, i’m not saying i’m abandoning a heart and a half nor anything as drastic as that! but i have spent like 2 years of my life on it just to get to the halfway mark, and i’m not sure i can spend 2 more doing only that.

i’ve got an original story idea that i’ve been working on-and-off on for the past 7 years or so, and i’m thinking of going back to it again (it does need a pretty big re-write). its main pairing is actually pretty vanqua-ish, now that i think about it. like, imagine the realm of darkness but instead of the heartless it’s infested with demons, and the main characters are the demon-slaying duo of a serious yet kindhearted half-angel and a feral, snarky half-demon. i even aged them up from 14 to 18 so none of my potential fans have to suffer the same anti bullshit that i have. XP

what else can i ramble about... oh, i got these super cute pins for christmas! :D the heartless is by xkirakira, and vanitas and aqua are by maxxmerch. they’re just so cute! X3 i hope everyone had a merry christmas and a happy holiday! i’ll see you guys later. ^3^ 

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*looks around sheepishly* ó3ò alright... confession time. spoilers for a heart and a half for the rest of this post—

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sooo~ i’ve kinda hinted at this before, but yeah i’ve always planned on adding a sex scene to a heart and a half; when i started writing back in 2018 i hadn’t realized how hostile fandom had become compared to only a few years ago, and it worries me that some readers might drop the fic because of it, or be angry with me over the underage aspect. :(

idk, i could go on about how i just wanted to explore every aspect of a romantic relationship, or how other disney/square enix characters married or had kids young (ariel, sarah hawkins, héctor, claudia strife, possibly jasmine), or how attempting to apply real-world rules to a videogame fantasy setting is inherently silly and pointless, but really it’s just ‘cause i love vanitas and aqua to bits and i just wanted to write a cute and funny mild sex scene between them (this fic is rated mature, not explicit, so much less graphic than confection affection), and at the end of the day they are just fictional characters, after all.

i guess all i can hope for is that i’m a skilled enough writer to pull it off in a believable way, and that my audience won’t be too put off by it. >_> i know vanitas and aqua have technically only known each other for about 2 months so it might not be ‘realistic’ for them to go so far into a relationship so soon, but i think it’s important to remember that ultimately this is a romantic fairytale, and other canon disney couples haven’t seen nearly as deeply into each other’s hearts as vanitas and aqua have (and this video also helped me feel better about it).

i also wanted to finish that nsfw venqua fic i started a few months back, it’s set just before the mark of mastery so yes ven would be 16. i suppose it’s a way of testing the waters to see what kind of reception i’d get (hopefully positive) before i get to that part of a heart and a half. i was also thinking of including some of the uh, ‘keyblades as erogenous zones’ aspect from this terraquaven fic as well... w-why are you looking at me like that?! it’s funny! *sweats nervously* o3o’

in all honesty, i’m probably just overthinking all this (which, knowing me, is almost a guarantee >_<) and i should just *ahem* let my heart be my guiding key, and just write what i want to write without worrying about it all the time. i just get so anxious so easily... buuut that’s not really news to anyone, now is it? ;P well, i think that’s the end of my endless ramble, thanks for reading if you got this far. X’D and i really hope i didn’t actually upset anybody about a heart and a half. ;_; i just felt like i needed to vent a little, but don’t worry about me, i’m doing fine. anyway, i really should stop typing and get back to work on venqua week, sooo... bye! X3