[Please zoom in, there's a lot of detail! And a massive file size...ouch]
Hi guys, long time no post! Been working on Art Fight and life stuff, but I've got something kinda fun for you.
This is a compilation exploring how a mortal Bill may interact with our world if there were still some kinda Euclidean instincts buried in there. Y'know, before the Book of Bill ruins all my headcanons >:P (EDIT: IT HAS BEEN READ. YAHOOOOOO)
Also quite an experimental piece as you can probably tell. Lots of details on both said headcanons and the art stuff under the cut, but I invite you to study the colorful texture yourself beforehand and think about what it might be representative of, just for fun because I got some really cool answers from my friends when asked :]c
TL;DR: the headcanon is that Euclideans have exceptional eyes for geometry. They find things like symmetry, tessellating patterns, graphs and fractals very aesthetically pleasing. If pushed into our 3D world, they feel comforted by the familiarity flat objects/spaces bring, as well as high-contrast patterns. Shadows especially are a familiar dimensional reduction that may bring them much comfort.
Bill would surely not be happy about these inclinations, constant reminders of a past long gone, but I'm not sure he's even aware of them here :P I think his ego gets in the way to the point where he just views these interests as common sense, which, of course, us lame humans just don't understand because we aren't nearly as cool as him. Of course he likes perfectly symmetrical leaves and staring at the kitchen floor, it's called taste, look it up!
And yet, he can't seem to shake the strange sense of melancholy he gets from viewing his own shadow.
~ End of TL;DR, long version below! ~
🔺 Headcanon Development
So, the catalyst of this idea was in relation to my friend and I's AU ( @love-triangles-au ). TL;DR, Bill's brought back mortal, meets another triangle named Y.V. (it's his hand holding the paper in the piece, actually), at some point they fall in yaois together, you know how it is. And, in writing a pair of triangles (or, more broadly, writing from the perspective of a different species), something I've had to consider was that you really can't get much further removed from a human being than sentient geometry.
The anatomical aspect was mostly figured out (see my piece on Bill's eye-mouth), but I wanted to consider what psychological differences might be at play. I wanted them to be weirder, more alien, double-so for Bill. At first I explored these possibilities through the lens of Bill and Y.V.'s relationship, specifically the question "what might a triangle find appealing about another triangle?"
Well, really the only things that came to mind were straight lines and symmetry, anything related to the geometric form of such a creature. That's more-or-less where that ended until the thought struck me that there's no reason this aesthetic appreciation couldn't extend to the rest of the environment, and then further when I realized, "wait, this is a species that is designed to live in a 2D environment. Like, they should seriously be really weird. I need to push this like 200% more."
So...yeah! I did some thinking and brainstorming with others and came up with a pretty long list of things a Euclidean in our world may be inclined to enjoy or find some level of comfort in. It's worth noting again that in this piece specifically this is a mortal/powerless Bill, so he can't really escape this Earthly environment. IF he's aware of these instincts at all (and that's a big "if"; when have you last been cognizant of your own instincts let alone known where they were stemming from?) I think he'd have snuffed them out in immortality and/or purposefully gone against them; he doesn't take kindly to being told what to do.
In order from left-to-right, top-to-bottom, here's an explanation for each!:
Flat objects such as paper are something he may find particularly engaging. It's basically 2D!
Tessellations are especially fascinating, and our world has them everywhere in the form of tile floors. Symmetry and such a predictable pattern...as the infinity of the starry sky might for us, the infinite potential of tessellations might invoke a similar sense of awe in him. Add on the maximum contrast of black on white kitchen tiles and the forms are only even better defined! A sensitivity to contrast would be very helpful for a 2D being navigating their environment.
Fields are flat and open, much like Euclydia itself. Laying flat may make him feel a little more at home.
More tessellation in the honeycomb of hymenopterans (bees, wasps and friends)! It helps that pain is hilarious.
The city is an absolute treasure trove. Rectangular buildings, precise architecture, square sidewalks and straight lines abound...he may as well be looking at a rainbow or an art gallery! I think a Euclidean's brain is very fine-tuned to mathematics, especially in regards to trigonometry. What may appear to be a straight painting might appear obnoxiously crooked to him.
Zebras are high-contrast :]
Another flat surface, another relaxing space <3
I think graphs are about as high as high art gets to most Euclideans.
I've touched on shadows before, and for good reason; truly they must be something borderline magical to the Euclidean and perhaps bitterly nostalgic.
This one kinda speaks for itself. Dweeb.
🎨 The Artsy Stuff
Lately I've been trying to find ways to fit more color into my work, as color is perhaps one of my favorite things in the world. My wardrobe is rather garish; my dad jokes that you could see me from space. My fursona is obnoxiously bright for a reason -- I feel my soul is a very colorful one!
I also realized recently that I don't actually know the exact style that speaks to me. I could talk about the phenomenon of the "style crisis" that many artists have all day, but in my mind the best cure for this feeling is to go against it entirely and begin stealing as much as possible.
So, I've tried to keep an eye out for more sources of inspiration everywhere I go, physical and digital. I've tried to train my mind into making a habit of considering, "can I do anything with this?" everywhere I go, and it recently paid off!
The glittery rainbowy texture you see plastered all over Billiam is this one, a photo-manipulated set of fruit stickers. I must confess I've been obsessed with this image for the past 72 hours, and this seemed like a good excuse to try it out!
I worried throughout the process if it might be so abstract that it loops back around to being horribly deliberate, if that makes sense -- like each sparkle was not a piece of a whole but rather an object in itself -- but it seems like that hasn't been a problem, so I'm grateful for that :Dc
I hope it can dazzle and delight you as it does me, but as long as you find it fascinating at the very least then I consider it a success! I really enjoyed hearing my friends' interpretations while workshopping it, and got tons of amazing answers from opal to kaleidoscope to fossilized bone marrow! I truly believe that the best art has some room for interpretation and it really excites me to be surrounded by that kind of creative energy that follows said pieces. That definitely adds to my pride in this work. It's weird, it's colorful, it's detailed and yet ambiguous. I'm feeling pretty autistic about it
Alright, I think that's about it. Thanks for listening!
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My Brothers Keeper // A ToE Blurb
Summary: Rhett Abbotts eulogy at Robert Floyd’s funeral leaves not a dry eye in sight.
Warnings: Mentions of Death. Angst. Heartbreaking goodbye.
Ward Count: 0.7
Author Note: I couldn’t help myself. I was feeling so angsty.
-> Fall into the Terms of Endearment universe here.
“I'm not a man of many words.” Rhett Abbott stood tall with proud shoulders as he cleared his throat and held himself together. “But if there's one thing I know for sure it's that I'll never be the same man I was before I lost my brother Rob.”
You sat with your daughter on your lap. Odette wasn't old enough to understand what all this was about– all she knew was that the metal in her little hands was one of Toosters. He’d given it to her when she had started to squirm a little.
“There will forever be a melancholy in me that will never go away.” Rhett's voice sounded as raspy as you'd ever know it to be as he spoke through the microphone. You knew this was a lot for him–speaking at his brothers, his twins' funeral.
“I'll be fifty percent happy and fifty percent sad at any given moment.” It was never supposed to end like this. At the funeral of a man taken far too soon who gave his life being a better man than most could ever strive to be. “And the only advice I feel like I'm qualified to share with anyone who has ever lost someone like that is, is, is that you won't ever get over it.” Not a soul could be heard during Rhett's eulogy–quiet sobs only ever kissed your ears when gentle gusts of a warm breeze picked up around you.
“The more you know that and the more you embrace it, the better off you are.” You could see the way Bradley bounced his knee up and down with anxiety–with a gentle and ever so soothing touch, you placed your hand atop his knee to keep him grounded. Today had been hard, for everyone.
“I never want to forget my brother–what it felt like the moment I found out he was taken far too soon, because he deserves that.” Rhett's biggest regret in life had been he never had the time he thought he’d have to mend his relationship with the brother he really did love. Now he stood here, at his funeral, saying goodbye to the better version of himself. The version he had always been jealous of. The version Rhett lived in the shadow of.
“That's how important he was to me.” It was all Rhett wanted to say, it was all Rhett wished he could say to Bob. if he just had one more minute, one more chance to say what he needed to say he’d tell Rob he was important.
He never did get that chance–by the time Rhett and Natasha were finding out about what had happened it was already too late. Bob was gone. Rhett never did get that beer.
“So if I have to suffer and if I have to be sad for the rest of my life and if I have to be alone without him, without his particular things, his sense of humour, what he brought to life with his mannerisms and all the things that made Bob–simply Bob.” You couldn't hold back your tears any longer as your bottom lip quivers and you held onto your daughter a little tighter.
Jake sat beside you, sandwiching you between the two men who cared the most about you. Bradley and Jake himself. They both saw shadows of bruised still–memories forever beaten into their skin.
“Then uh–yeah, that's the way I'll honour him.” Rhett choked as he took a moment to regain his composure. This was the most he’d ever spoken in public. Natasha Phoenix Trance had not moved from beside Bob's coffin with her head bowed the entire eulogy, ready and waiting to present Rhett with Bob's wings.
“You know, I'll be sad and melancholy about that forever and I know it. I accept it and I'll live with it because forgetting a guy like Bob?” Rhett paused as he looked up to see you and Odett sitting in the crowd amongst what felt like a million people who loved his brother and knew there wasn't a single thing Bob would have done differently knowing the two of you were safe. That you were finally free.
“That would be Impossible.”
***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~
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seeing ppl hate on gil and say that they hope they completely change gils personality/storyline makes me feel like ppl did not understand him, both as a “person” and as a character. like gen 1 had VERY obvious racial commentary in it and though its debatable how well they handled it, its one of the biggest themes in the show so i think gil and lagoona’s relationship was pretty important.
most of the complaints ive seen about gil are about him being racist. personally, i cant really remember any instances of him actually holding racist views [i have only seen the web series and a couple of the movies, so maybe im missing out on a huge thing that happened]. i can only remember him being worried about what his parents, who were racist, would think about his relationship with lagoona. gil is, what, 16? his parents are a HUGE part of his life still, so i dont blame him for being scared of them and what they think. i mean, if his parents get pissed off at him enough, he could not only lose his parents—who, at that point in his life, are likely huge pillars of both his financial and emotional support systems—but also get kicked out, which are both terrifying prospects for a teenager. no matter how wrong you know that your parents are, telling them that can feel like a life or death decision [and sometimes CAN BE a life or death decision depending on how shitty your parents are]. but you know what else gil does? he becomes confident enough to actually tell his parents off! as a person, i appreciate that gil is a teenager who is in a tough situation and may not yet feel safe to stand up to his parents. this doesnt mean that i think lagoona was wrong for feeling upset or that gil wasn’t being shitty. imo, the situation was VERY unfair to lagoona and i think that breaking up until gil was ready to be open about their relationship would’ve been the best course of action. i just think the situation and the characters involved are more complex than “gil is MEAN and BAD for NO REASON AT ALL” like how some people seem to see it.
as a character, i appreciate gil and his storyline. i think that this kinda thing is believable and adds some depth to the conflicts, characters, and the world of mh. it would’ve been easy to lump all water monsters together, but its interesting and realistic that there is fighting within species/between similar species*. i also appreciate when topics like bigotry are addressed in ways that dont deal with people as Good or Bad. i think its important for kids to see characters who are discriminatory in some way or who are hesitant to speak up against discrimination since that is a very relatable flaw to have. like i said, gil DOES build the self confidence to speak up against his parents. he grows as a person, and its important to have that kind of growth in media. i think that the current view that a lot of ppl on the left seem to have that being A Racist inherently makes you an irredeemably bad person makes it harder for people to recognize and challenge their own racist biases bc no one likes thinking of themselves as A Bad Person. if bigots are solely represented as cartoonishly evil people, then people will think “but IM not a bad person! therefore i cant be racist!” and not challenge their own bigoted ideas.
i actually hope a similar storyline is carried over to gen 3, if with a little more grace, because i think its an interesting and important story to tell. i think the main problem with the storyline in canon is that gil’s arc took so long to resolve. i know if the show was being realistic, this kinda thing probably would take a while to resolve. but also, this is a kids’ show so it would be more effective to deliver that message in a shorter time frame and with a little more focus on it
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