#lumaaq
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My 44th Win A Commission story was the Tale of Lumaaq, or as it’s styled here, Lumaaq and Loon. If you’d like to see the rest of the pictures in context with the story, please
There once lived a blind boy, Lumaaq, with his very young half-sister and mother. Although blind, the boy was strong and could hunt and provided well for the family. Even so, the mother did not love the boy and treated him badly.
One day, in spring, when food was short and when the ice in the window was melted, a huge bear, smelling meat, attacked the ice hut. “Aaah,” shrieked the mother, thrusting the boy’s spear into his hands, “kill it, kill it.”
The boy did so and the bear fell to the ground with a terrific thud. “I got it!” he rejoiced.
“No!” yelled his mother, “You’ve shot the dog. You wicked boy – you shall be punished.”
And she grabbed him, pulled him far off to another snow house, and left him there. The hut was old and dirty, it was smelly and falling down; Lumaaq wanted to leave but could not find his way back.
He sat in the hut, thinking and thinking. “That was not our dog. The noise of it falling was too big and heavy for a dog. Why is she lying to me? Why has she left me in this horrible place?”
He felt very bewildered, very sad, very lonely and soon very hungry.
The mother and the sister skinned the bear and had a wonderful feast. But the sister loved her brother and was worried about him. The mother was busy preparing the rest of the bear meat for storage, so she slipped out and took some meat to her brother.
“I can’t stay,” said she, “or mother will miss me. But I will come when I can.” Her brother thanked her and hungrily bit the small portion of meat. He knew at once that his suspicions were true and that this was indeed bear meat. The weeks passed and the sister continued to smuggle food to her brother whenever she could.
Lumaaq heard the call of a loon and decided to find his way to the lake. He crawled on his hands and knees over the rough ground, feeling all about him until, eventually, his hands touched the softer earth of the lake’s edge.
Suddenly, he felt a soft peck at his hand and a voice said, “Why are you staring so with those strange eyes?” The boy lifted his hand and felt the feathers of a loon.
“I am blind,” he replied, “and cannot see the lake - only blackness. My mother hit my head too hard as a baby and so I was afflicted.”
One day, the boy heard the call of the yellow-billed loon and decided to find his way to it. The loon was so sympathetic that soon Lumaaq found himself telling all about his mother and how awful she was to him.
“We loons can see well,” said the bird. “Everyday we dive deep down into the lake. If you will trust me, I will take you deep down into the lake to wash away your blindness.”
The boy hesitated only a moment. “Yes please,” he replied, “What must I do?”
“You must hold onto me and make no movement until you are out of breath.” It grew in size, until it was larger than the boy.
Lumaaq clasped the loon firmly and the loon rose with the boy, flying out over to the middle of the lake.
Suddenly it turned into a steep dive and took the boy deep, deep into the waters.
When the boy could hold his breath no longer, the loon rose to the surface with him.
“What can you see?” asked the loon.
“I can see a greyness,” replied Lumaaq. The loon dived once more into the far depths of the lake and only surfaced when the boy had run out of air.
“What can you see?” asked the loon.
“I can see light and shadow,” replied the boy.
For the third time, the loon dived and surfaced.
“What can you see?” asked the loon.
“I can see mountains in the distance and clouds in the sky and huts way beyond the edges of the lake. Oh thank you, thank you. I never remembered the world was so beautiful.”
“Beware your mother,” warned the loon. “She will not be happy that you can see.”
Lumaaq made his way back to the dirty, ramshackle hut his mother had put him in and found it even more disgusting now that he could see. But hearkening to the words of the loon, he sat down amidst the filth.
Over the next few weeks, he did not tell anyone that he could see. Soon the food had run out, and his mother came for him. He heard her footsteps outside his hut.
“Get out here quickly,” she yelled. “We must go hunting."
Pretending to stumble and feel his way, Lumaaq followed her as she led him towards the sea.
“I will tie the harpoon line around my waist," she said. “That way I will be the brace and we can pull together to haul the whale to the shore."
She tied the line firmly around her middle. Lumaaq's heart sank. 'Would I ever be free,' he thought, 'to enjoy this beautiful world.' At least this time, as he could see, he would be sure to hit the whale and avoid punishment.
The boy stepped forward to the shore and threw the harpoon with all his strength towards the small whale but as he did so, the fluttering wings of a giant loon lifted the harpoon up over the little whale and into the side of the much bigger whale further out.
The huge whale began to thrash, and the whale pulled strongly towards the open sea. The mother found herself being dragged to water behind the angry, wounded whale.
The huge whale began to thrash, and the whale pulled strongly towards the open sea. The mother found herself being dragged to water behind the angry, wounded whale.
She screamed at Lumaaq, "You cannot hunt alone, you're blind, help me you fool, you need me." But a lifetime of cruelty had the boy stood still. From the shore he watched her being pulled further and further out to sea, until she was just a tiny dot on the horizon.
Lumaaq returned to his sister and to great celebrations. He became one of the greatest hunters that ever lived - a hunter that used not just his sight but all his senses.
As for the mother, it is said that, even today, fishermen still hear her cries over the water, as she is dragged around and around the oceans behind the white whale.
Art Explanation
Lumaaq & Loon Explanation
Lumaaq and Loon is an Inuit story from Puvirnituq, a village in Nunavuk, Canada. Meaning ‘Place where there is a smell of rotten meat’, Wikipedia lists two possible theories why it gained that name. One, that herd of caribou got caught up in a strong current upriver and washed upon the village’s shores, and they couldn’t process the bodies before rot set in. Two, an epidemic hit and people were so sick that the dead outnumbered the living. Honestly, given the details behind this story, I think it's the latter, but could even be both.
Traditionally, the Inuit had more fluid family dynamics than the idealized nuclear family of the modern United States. Survival of a family unit depended largely upon a two-parent household, but if a spouse disliked the other, they were allowed to separate - but not in divorce. While it was allowed, divorce was looked upon as a death sentence; both adults in a marriage provided important labor towards keeping food, getting materials, etc. So instead, couples would often switch spouses, and the children would generally stay in the same household.
Additionally, marriage wasn’t necessarily a commitment to your spouse (marriages were often arranged) but more like a commitment to raise children together. A lot of the time, nobody called such it a marriage until after the first child was born. And since it was less of a romantic pairing and more of a survival tactic, extramarital romantic relationships (and children) were not frowned upon, especially considering how long hunting trips could take. Occasionally, marriages between 3+ people would take place.
Put in the fact that if a family could not afford enough food to feed another kid, the kid was often adopted out, that makes this entire story very weird, and perhaps on a small scale, post apocalyptic. I’ve found two other versions of the story, one where the mom was a stepmom, and another where the mother intentionally blinded Lumaaq out of jealousy. But no matter the details, so many loose threads are left! Why is this youth providing for his family? Where is their dad? What happened to the rest of the village? Did the mom always hate Lumaaq, or was that just a manifestation of her guilt of blinding him? Was the little meat that the family owned the only draw for that bear? If this mother really did hate her son, why didn’t she try to find another family for him? I think it could all be answered by the reasons listed on Wikipedia - an epidemic.
If a disease killed his dad and a lot of the neighbors, it could’ve drastically changed the lives of Lumaaq and his family. And since Lumaaq was already blind, the mother might’ve been acting ruthlessly and looking to find someone on whom she could channel her misery. In any case, as ableist and thus disgusting as it may be, there’d be less questions from the community about your blind child mysteriously dying when they’re seriously afraid of starving. But I can’t ever be sure that this story is actually that deeply connected to the possible etymological history of Puvirnituq; maybe this little contextual tangent has been for naught. Nevertheless, it is interesting to consider!
Now, just one more “The curtains are blue” deep dive before I focus on describing the art: Lumaaq’s eyesight restoration. To some, this is a story that has been overtold; a disabled person must become abled in order to triumph. They want stories where disabled people can triumph while remaining disabled, or perhaps even using their disabilities to win! (Even before I knew I had ADHD, I loved the Percy Jackson series, where ADHD helped kids do better in fights!) However, other disabled people enjoy stories where their disability CAN go away. Some disabilities never go away, and will affect someone negatively for the rest of their lives. As such, it’s safe to say that this is a story where the protagonist did not keep his physical disability while triumphing over his problems. But to say that theme is all there is would do this story injustice.
I think Lumaaq’s sight restoration is not just physical, but emotional. Studies have shown that if you lose a sense (sight, hearing, etc.) before the age of 5, you might remember it, but no dreams will be had WITH that sense - thus, you will gain no new memories involving that sense. Lumaaq was blinded at infancy, and would have no memory of sight. And perhaps, if his mother mistreated him since that day, he also had no sense of self-worth. Throughout the story, Lumaaq notices the injustices his mother commits against him, and even questions her on it, but doesn’t fight back. He never really fights back directly. Even when he regains his sight, Lumaaq is unwilling to show his mother that he can now see. An outsider may think that decision odd, as it was supposedly the source of their strife, but to an abused person, it makes sense. A change in a victim can seem threatening to an abuser; a change that would make a victim stronger than the abuser would ‘need’ to be immediately quashed. The mother took away his sight once; who was to stop her from doing it again? So Lumaaq continued to stumble, and would have continued to hunt for food for his mother. That’s why he originally went for the smaller whale - he was sure they both could pull it in to harvest.
But the loon made sure that the harpoon pierced the big whale - one big enough to drag the mother away. And Lumaaq let her go. When push came to shove, Lumaaq was able to see that he was worth more than all her cruelty. That’s an invaluable realization for a victim of abuse to have; especially a child. While we don’t get a true epilogue, we do know that he went on to be a great hunter, so I’m glad that he was able to move on from that terrible situation.
Alrighty, I’ve rambled long enough. Onto the art!
The title was the first one in a long time that I actually felt inspired drawing. When I started out (Check K’s first volume, it's different from yours, M’s and O’s!) I drew titles more consistently, but also more connected to the story symbolically than they have been recently. Each was my own half-learned version of cursive, with an apple or a mermaid tail or whatever attached. But I soon became restless with that and tried exploring word art and including the setting’s language in the title. Eventually, I lost passion for it. This was just a brief anomaly I think. As I write this, I have exactly two stories left to draw a title for, and frankly, I’m a bit burned out for them. But I’m glad I did that loon & eye combination - I think it's marvellous.
The symbols underneath are the Inuktitut (language of the Inuit in that part of Canada) way of writing ‘Lumaaq’ and ‘Loon’; I wasn’t able to find a definite source on the word ‘and’, much less how to write its letters. Thus, the ampersand that I ended up including in both the English version and the romanized Inuktitut versions as well. By the way, Tuullik is the specific term for a yellow-billed loon.
The second picture was what I drew first. I put a lot of work in trying to figure out how to draw the dog restrained, the sister surprised, and the position of the bear, and how his head shape would look on the ground like that - to be honest I think I needed a bit more practice. The spear going through the eye, while to some it might seem to be a symbolic choice, was largely because of something I once read in the book, The Hunger Games. The main character, Katniss, is able to fetch high prices for her kills because she shoots animals through the eye, thus leaving an unmarred pelt and showcasing her skills as an archer. I wanted Lumaaq to be like that. I do think the mom dragging Lumaaq turned out well though.
Everything about their clothes should be accurate. While I rarely found a verifiable old picture that was definitely of a Nunavut Inuit person, I based all clothing and adornment off of real pictures. In fact, I might’ve drawn them too simply! More checkered patterns and decorative fur ruffs were often worn. Note that Lumaaq has no decoration at all, and that his parka is a bit too short. Piercings were common, as were different hairdos than what we’d expect today. The sister in the background has hair-loopies, which I borrowed from a character called Katara from a show called ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’. The mom’s wrapped braids were common - probably to keep hair clean and off the face. And Lumaaq’s bald-at-the-top hairdo is actually accurate. According to an essay by an actual Inupiaq person, as their hair is often round and stiff, and parka hoods are incredibly warm, it was less itchy and comfortable to shave off the top of the head for a lot of guys, instead of growing it out (thus flattening it) like ladies.
The third picture was one I looked most forward to drawing, because of the interesting angle and fantastical theme to it. I borrowed the idea ⤵, though I think I gave it my own spin :). https://www.recordonline.com/story/lifestyle/2010/08/23/tell-me-story-gift-loon/51500822007/
I made sure Lumaaq had no pupils to show that he wasn’t seeing yet.
Last was Lumaaq watching his mom get yanked off her feet, into the sea. He has his pupils, so he can see her get pulled out to sea. I’m pretty good at portraits, so I’ll admit this one was a bit of a breather for me. But I had fun doing it! Never realized narwhal tails were quite that pretty - check it out!
Sorry for the ramble - it definitely held more words than the actual story. But I hope you had fun with it :).
Here are the more sketchy versions because i love them too
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Oi, eu só quero contar a minha história. Durante toda minha vida, não passei por nada realmente perigoso, nem nunca me machuquei de verdade, sabe, eu odiava o meu corpo, a minha vida, e nada nunca era bom o suficiente pra mim até este sábado (14/07/2012). Eu já tive transtornos alimentares, e minha aparência era praticamente tudo pra mim, eu acreditava que só iam gostar de mim se eu fosse bonita, e eu tinha uma auto-estima baixa, me machucava, pensava nas mais diversas formas de me matar, apesar de nunca ter levado nenhuma delas muito a frente. Mas neste sábado tudo mudou. Um cara vinha em alta velocidade, e num cruzamento a moto dele colidiu com a minha. No momento eu não senti nada, caí consciente e tudo mais. A batida foi muito feia, mas graças a Deus eu não me machuquei muito. Quando eu me sentei, ainda no local onde eu tinha caído pude ver muitas pedras atrás de mim, e eu senti que tinha rolado algumas vezes na calçada. Exatamente agora, eu tô com uma parte da minha cabeça raspada por causa de um corte na cabeça. E tenho um curativo no rosto, por causa de outro corte, boa parte do meu corpo está machucado, nada de grave. Quando eu cheguei ao hospital, eu chorei, não por dor alguma, não tava sentindo nada, mas por estar viva, e agradeci muito a Deus. Hoje eu acredito que eu nunca tive vontade de morrer de verdade, mas de acabar com minha dor emocional, e que tudo era futilidade minha, e minha morte não valeria a pena por falta de beleza, por quilos a mais, ou porque as pessoas não gostam de mim. As vezes, precisamos passar por coisas realmente ruins para percebermos o que realmente é importante.
- Luma Queiroz
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I just want to show off how my attention to detail has improved over the years ^_^
Mulan
The Frog Princess
Godmother Death
The Nose Tree
The Six Swans
The Snow Queen
Dealing with Dragons
Wildwood Dancing (the two above)
Lumaaq & Loon
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Aro/No romance fairy tales and children’s stories I’ve illustrated!* check under the cut to see!
*The books are only partly illustrated, because I’m not going to make myself hate drawing. Here’s a link to the full post of my illustrated fairy tales
Green is specifically aro, bold black is just no romance present in the story, and normal means there’s romance in a different part of the book or series but nothing in this part.
Mulan
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
The Princess Who Never Laughed
Gumiho: Story of the Fox Sister
Crystal the Wise
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Tarzan (Disney Version)(I did the part where he’s a kid)
Shrek
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
The Eyrie
The Man from Snowy River
Dealing with Dragons
The Wizard of Oz
Mary Poppins
Honeyguide’s Revenge
The Whale Rider
The Homunculus
Over the Garden Wall, Written Form: Song of the Dark Lantern
The Last Unicorn
Lumaaq & Loon
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
The Two Princesses of Bamarre
The Neverending Story
Napoleon (1995)
The Acacia Tree
Keep an eye out for more - I’m always adding stories!
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Win A Commission!
Every month starting on the 10th, I will post illustrations of a (not-obscure) tale/book/movie, a new picture every day. If you guess before I reveal the title, you win a drawing (or we can talk about other types of art*)! All commissions must be pg-13 or lower and non-discriminatory. Guesses, questions and comments are welcome, so please hit me up!
Examples are under the cut. Check out the ones with pride colors!
Here’s an aromantic/no romance list
Queer tales
Here’s the colored versions for the first twenty-two. More later.
The reason these are not colored or shaded (very much) is mostly because I am drawing some coloring books for my little cousins. Here is a link showing a filled out storybook.
(Even after my 366 art challenge I still post a new story on the tenth of every month.)
Repeat winners are welcome!
May 2019 (no winner): Snow White
June 2019 (no winner): Cinderella
July 2019 (Winner: Slonker): Sleeping Beauty
August 2019 (no winner): The Little Mermaid
September 2019 (no winner): Mulan
October 2019 (no winner): Labyrinth
November 2019 (no winner lol): The Princess Bride
December 2019 (no winner): The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
January 2020 (Winner: boopboopboopbadoop): The Princess Who Never Laughed/The Golden Goose
February 2020 (Winner: boopboopboopbadoop): Beauty and the Beast
March 2020 (Winner: boopboopboopbadoop): Rapunzel
April 2020 (Winner: boopboopboopbadoop): Gumiho: The Fox Sister
May 2020 (Winner: boopboopboopbadoop): Alice in Wonderland
🏳️⚧️June 2020 (no winner): The Twelve Dancing Princesses
July 2020 (Winner: boopboopboopbadoop): Crystal the Wise
August 2020 (no winner): Swan Lake
September 2020 (Winner: boopboopboopbadoop): Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp
October 2020 (Winner: Lilbookworm1996): Coraline (the book version)
November 2020 (Winner: Lilbookworm1996 and boopboopbadoop): Brother and Sister
December 2020 (Winner: Boopboopboopbadoop): The Frog Princess
January 2021 (Winner: Boopboopboopbadoop): Tarzan (Disney Version)
February 2021 (Winner: Boop [just going to write that for short from now on]): The White Snake
March 2021 (no winner): Godmother Death
April 2021 (Winner: a-bisexual-teenager): Shrek
May 2021 (Winner: Hecho-a-Mano, from now on Hecho): Narnia
June 2021 (🏳️🌈 no winner this time): 🏳️🌈 The Nose tree
July 2021 (Winner: Hecho): The 🏳️🌈 Youth who went forth to learn the Shivers
August 2021 (it was late and released in September, 🏳️🌈 due to school. Winner: Hecho): Puss in Boots
September 2021 (no 🏳️🌈 winner): The Eyrie
October 2021 (Winner: Boop): Peter Pan
November 2021 (no winner): The Man from Snowy River
December 2021 (tortie-cat): Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
January 2022 (none): The Six Swans
February🏳️🌈2022 (Nobody🏳️🌈oh Well): The 🏳️🌈Snow Queen🏳️⚧️
March 2022 (Nobody this time): Dealing with Dragons
April 2022 (Boop): The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
May 2022 (Boop): Mary Poppins
June 2022 (Boop): Wildwood Dancing
July 2022: Honeyguide’s Revenge
August 2022: The Whale Rider
September 2022: The Homunculus
October 2022: OTGW: Song of the Dark Lantern
November 2022: The Last Unicorn
December 2022: Lumaaq & Loon
January 2023: The Second Symphony
February 2023 (Kim): John Henry
March 2023 (BMC and Gwen on discord) Nana Miriam
April 2024 (Answeringmysister): Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
May 2024 (amaros-system): The Two Princesses of Bamarre
June 2024 (joemerl, cat-with-no-name & dragonslayer303): The Neverending Story
July 2024 (pathetic-gamer): Bridge to Terabithia
August 2024 (Merphus basically): Napoleon (1995)
September 2024 (Answeringmysister [AMS]): 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ West of the Sun, East of the Moon
October 2024 (AMS): The Acacia Tree (or, the Millstone)
Extra Stuff
*I write and record audio for fanfiction.
Also some practice sketches I remembered to keep that I’m proud of.
Picrew Versions
Here is a post where I show the commissions I’ve done for the winners!
The text is colored according to pride flags applicable in the story ;) and more stories with queer characters are coming! White or Grey of the flag is represented as normal text, Black as bold. Orange stands in for yellow sorry. A queer flag emoji will be put between different flags if applicable.
Peter Pan has a trans character but it’s not really relevant and she’s barely mentioned, so I’m not putting the flag colors on that one.
Disney Princess Coloring Page masterpost here, because they also went into some of the coloring books, they’re somewhat popular, and this post is basically a general masterpost at this point lol.
OTGWtober 2020
ATLA Kuspuk Week 2022
Post about Holes
Derin Stories Fan Art Masterpost
The stealth-ATLA coloring book I helped to create (proceeds go to wildlife funds)
Art Summary 2023 (and the years before)
I have a description of my library shed in the tags here and I want to be able to find it easily
This is for me
List of upcoming stories to help you guess ;).
*Tatterhood (this version has a dog instead of a goat)
*Chantha Rasphone 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️(A sequel to the fairy tale Childe Rowland)
#guess the story#win a commission#once a month#wac#pinned post#queer fairy tale#queer fairy tales#pansexual fairy tale#bisexual fairy tale#gay fairy tale#wlw fairy tale#mlm fairy tale#non-binary fairy tale#nonbinary fairy tale#polyamorous fairy tale#genderfluid fairy tale#aromantic fairy tale#transgender fairy tale#trans fairy tale#transfem fairy tale#transmasc fairy tale#mlnb fairy tale
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