#meelo does art!

[meelo-does-art]

painting i made in art!!! my art teacher even put it in the display case!!! i hope y’all enjoy!!!

[dudeboyyyy]

Inspired by this post

[aprettyweirgirl]

Ursa has a bunch of random small talents that she wishes she could show more. She knows how to juggle, can fold almost perfect origami, and has amazing art skills but never gets the chance to show people. She’s worried about being annoying so when Mako comes along he assures she otherwise. Now she shows Mako all these talents and he will always act amazed.

yessssssss

when Ursa meets Tenzin's children and they (Ikki, Meelo and Rohan) are completely amazed by the things she does, or Mako asking her to teaching her something like origami and she's 🥺someone cares about this🥺

Lin and Izumi keep a painting and/or a piece of origami that she did in their respective offices/studios

[comparativetarot]

Five of Swords. Art by Camila Quintana, from The Jasmine Dragon Tarot.

Ikki is the Five of Swords! I chose her for this card because it means conflict, disagreement, competition and wining at all costs.

While she does have a good relationship with her siblings, she has the struggle of having a prodigy as her older sister and of course comparisons are bound to happen (from herself, I don’t think her parents would… maybe?).

There was constant competition with Jinora and Meelo, for you know, sibling stuff! But also from the pressure of being some of the last air benders out there. Ikki is rather impatient and this also clashes with the personalities of a lot of people around her. Thankfully, as she grows up we see her character develop and the reversed of this card (reconciliation, making amends) also applies to her!

[guiltysecretpasttime]

Blended - 3

Note: Why hello - thanks for staying tuned and being here to check this out. Leave a note what you think. :)

Title: Blended

Previous installment here and chapter one here. 

Legend of Korra, Lin/Tenzin, Modern AU, no bending

Blurb: A modern AU with no bending where Lin finds herself with three kids, where Tenzin is Mr Big Shot CEO, where Mako is an overprotective son, where Ikki endears herself to Lin, where Bumi is the cool meddling godfather/uncle and where Pema is out of the picture.

Multi-part, WIP

---

Another teenaged boy joined the first boy and Lin.

Lin ruffled the other boy’s hair in greeting.

Probably noticing Tenzin’s thunderous expression, Jinora turned around.

The first boy gave a half-smile then saluted her. The young girl rolled her eyes as she smiled back and saluted.

Ikki, to his surprise, gave an enthusiastic wave that the boy returned. “Is Mako joining us?”

Mako. Tenzin filed the name away for future review.

Ikki knew him? Just how close are they…

Jinora shrugged. “Mom won’t let him.”

“Oh?” Tenzin’s tone of practiced disinterest came into play.

Jinora rolled her eyes. “He could be quite overprotective.”

Tenzin frowned as both girls turned their attention back to their meal.

How dare that slip of a boy even presume that he was going to do something unsavory.

Lin slipped back into the booth, carrying a root beer float with two straws. “Mako sends his regards.” She nudged the drink towards the two girls. “Anyway, so thought of any questions, sir?”

Sir?

Tenzin cleared his throat as Lin waited with an amused smirk. “You can call me Tenzin, not… sir.”

Not awkward, not awkward at all.

“Okay then, Tenzin.” The emphasis on his name was somewhat derisive.

“Hmmm, yes �� I think Ikki would be in good hands.” He paused, thinking of questions to ask.

How is Mr Lin taking this? Where is he? Is he in the picture? Why isn’t he mentioned? Is he okay with having a sleepover at their house? Did he mind that there was a young pup hovering around his woman and child? Or, heaven forbid, is Mr Lin that boy?

He heard that plastic surgery does wonders, and some ethnicities do tend to age better than others.

“I take it you don’t have any questions?” Lin finished her drink by now. “Well, then. For tomorrow, we will be heading out anyway so I can bring Ikki to your house, or we can meet at the mall.”

There was a challenge there. After all, it was a conglomerate in the mall industry that was the root of the demise of their long-term relationship.

“Sure, let’s go to the mall.” And they agreed on a time and place to meet the next day.

Lin waved the waiter over and requested to have the leftover food of the girls to be packed home (“You’ll both remember your unfinished waffles later tonight when you’re finishing your project so best to take it home.”).

Tenzin motioned for the check.

“Already taken care of.” Lin nodded.

“You didn’t have to.” Tenzin mumbled weakly, putting his wallet back in his pocket.

He was met with a shrug. “Consider it as a belated welcome gift to this city.” Lin stood up once the leftover food was brought over by the waiter, and they all prepared to head out.

Tenzin was well-aware of the two boys from the other table following them.

“Mako, Bolin – please help Jinora and Ikki with their things while I get the car ready.” Lin walked over to where she was parked to turn on the air conditioning.

For his part, Tenzin led the children to his car, surreptitiously watching their interaction.

Ikki gave one of them (Bolin, was it?) a high five while Jinora was quickly exchanging words with Mako.

As he was pulling out the key from his pocket, a hand shot in front of him.

“I’m Mako.”

He shook the hand without hesitation. “Tenzin.” He clicked his key to unlock the car and opened the trunk, where the overnight bag of Ikki is as well as the other art supplies of both girls.

The other boy came forward now, extending his own hand. “Bolin here.” He grinned widely, a touch friendlier than Mako.

Tenzin grasped it and introduced himself as well. He handed Bolin one of the heavier bags while Ikki and Jinora went forward to get their lighter ones. Mako, meanwhile, hung back and was sizing him up from the looks of it.

Only, he wasn’t sizing him up apparently.

Mako moved silently to pick up the bulkiest of the materials so that Jinora did not have to carry it.

The young girl beamed up at him, saying. “That’s why you’re my favorite brother.”

Brother?

“Hey!” Bolin grumbled from the other side as he swung on his back two duffel bags. “What about me?”

Correction: brothers?

“You’re my favorite brother-friend.” Ikki punched his arm.

Bolin laughed boisterously while they went off to Lin’s car.

Ikki turned to face her father quickly who was bringing up the rear. “Don’t tell Meelo.”

Tenzin raised his hands in surrender. “Of course not.”

“Well, technically, I’m not your brother so…” Bolin wringed his hands worriedly. Thinking that maybe Tenzin would say something about it.

So… brothers.

Tenzin had a lot of questions while Lin and her children loaded the things of Jinora and Ikki into their trunk. The boys were a lot older than Jinora. Much, much older… Something that did not quite sit well with him.

Before he knew it, Tenzin was left at the parking lot as they waved good-bye at him as the car sped off.

 ---

Pema settled herself at a quiet corner in the coffee shop. She placed down her bag beside her and let the waiter place the tea tray on the table.

She checked the time on her tablet.

It was time for her weekly call with her daughter.

Ever since the divorce, she and Tenzin tried to figure out a way to co-parent despite being a couple of countries apart. One of the things they agreed on is that they were not going to let their children bounce from one household to another a lot during the school year. Another is that Pema would continue to consistently remain in contact with the kids through a weekly video call. This also linked to their eventual agreement that Ikki was to have her own (child-locked and parental monitored) phone.

It was something that Pema looked forward to every week.

For all the differences that she and her ex-husband had and the reasons that they went into the marriage, Pema does not regret her children with him.

“Hi Mommy!”

“Hi Sweetie!” Pema found herself smiling at Ikki’s toothy grin. “How are you doing?”

Ikki, as she expected, launched into this enthusiastic story about what she had been up to since the last time they chatted. When she was in the middle of gesturing and talking about her big sister-little sister project, other voices wafted into the call - voices that Pema was unfamiliar with.

Pema leaned closer to peer into the screen, brows furrowing, only noticing that the background of Ikki’s call was different.

In the background, someone (a male someone) let out a loud whoop.

Ikki paused to take a deep breath and Pema interjected. “Dear, where are you right now?”

“Oh-oh-oh! That’s what I was going to tell you next, Mommy!” Ikki waved her hands excitedly in front of her. “I’m on a sleepover with Jinora! At Jinora’s house!”

Pema was surprised but did not let it show. She did not want to dampen Ikki’s delight. She would not be that mother (she would not be her mother). And, well, at the end of the day, she did trust Tenzin’s parenting decisions. “That’s great. How is it so far?”

“It’s fun! She has two brothers. Two brothers, Mommy! And not two Meelo’s too. They’re very nice. Her mommy is really nice also – not like Korra’s uncle. Korra’s uncle is grumpy at home but nice outside. Jinora’s mommy is nice both outside and at home.”

Pema had to bite back a smile at Ikki’s commentary. Having crossed paths with Unalaq during her marriage with Tenzin, she did not particularly enjoy spending time with the politician. Everything was mostly for show and behind closed doors, to family, the man could be quite cold and standoffish.

There was raucous laughter from Ikki’s side and Ikki looked to the side, to someone or something off-camera.

“That’s Bolin, Mommy. Jinora’s older brother.” The view shook a bit as Ikki was likely moving her phone around to show her mother the view of the room. “And that’s her brother, Mako.”

Pema could see that they were probably in some sort of study room. Behind Ikki, there were two computers set-up, each with a teenaged boy sitting in front of it wearing a headset.

“And here’s Jinora.”

The view moved again and a familiar girl who she has talked to in previous calls waved at her. Jinora was beside Ikki and was in the process of gluing something to a small card.

Ikki placed her phone steady again and went into detail about the project they were working on, and Pema could see the door at her side opening.

“Bolin, Mako – no yelling, you know Ikki will be on a call right now.” The woman who entered the room hissed audibly at the teenagers.

“Sorry, Mom -.” The stocky boy started to apologize then trailed off, inaudible to Pema’s ears.

What struck Pema most, however, was not the amount of glitter that Ikki and Jinora were putting on their projects, or the two boys punching each other’s arm when they probably get a point in their computer game. No, it was the woman who stood watching their game, hands at her waist.

It was a woman that she has never met but was quite familiar with.

Pema was left pondering how her daughter landed at a sleepover at Lin Beifong’s house.

 ---

“OMG – is that – is that a background image of the Fire Ferrets’ place?  Where did you download that?! Can you send it to me? Pleaaaase! Didn’t know you’re a fan of the Fire Ferrets!!”

Ikki read and reread the message of her cousin Korra at their chat.

It did not make sense to her.

What background was she talking about?

She scrolled up to the last picture she sent which was of her and Jinora holding up their project with their final touches completed.

Jinora nudged her, noticing her preoccupation. “You, okay?”

Ikki wrinkled her nose, showing her phone screen to Jinora. “What’s a Fire Ferret?”

“My ears are tingliiiing - did someone say Fire Ferret?” Bolin jumped in between them, his hand cupping his ear. “You don’t know who the Fire Ferrets are?” At Ikki’s slow head shake, he clicked his tongue and placed his arms around the shoulders of the girls. “I can’t believe Jinora didn’t tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

Jinora rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “I don’t think Ikki would have been interested.”

“Don’t you put down her possible interest in esports!” Bolin flicked his sister’s nose with affection. “The Fire Ferrets is today’s up-and-rising, the ones-to-watch-out, most promising esports team!” He followed up with a faux-whisper, “At least that’s what eSports Unlimited.com says in their latest ranking article. Impressive huh?”

Ikki just blinked up at him.

Bolin did not let that deter him. “And, what’s more – you’re looking at one of them now!”

“Cut it out, Bo.” Mako sighed from his position at his desk, having taken off his headset. “I hardly think Tenzin would like Ikki to be exposed to the wonderful world of esports at her age.”

“And, you’ll be right at that point, kid.” All four of them faced the door, where Lin had peeked her head. “Tenzin would not be keen on prolonged screen time and neither would he appreciate if we bring his daughter back with darkened eyebags. Bedtime now, kids!”

The pronouncement brought a cacophony of complains.

“But, Mooom -.”

“Please Ms Lin – I-.”

“Mom, we’re too old to have a bedtime.”

“Kids – please, we’re going to need to wake up early.”

“We can still wake up early – our body clock’s fantastic.”

“No.”

“Yeah, we’ll even prepare breakfast for everyone.” A punch. “Ow! What was that for?”

A snort. “Speak for yourself.”

“I’m holding you all to that then. I’ll head on – good night, kids!”

A door closes and another punch. “What was that for, now?”

 ---

Little did they know, while Lin was having a smidge of trouble getting the kids to get to bed, across town, a certain businessman was having trouble sleeping.

After dinner and after tucking Meelo to bed (with two bedtime stories read), Tenzin found himself exhausted from the week (and day) he has had. And so, he had gone off to prepare for bed but was unable to find a comfortable position to sleep.

Who was he kidding – he had a lot of thoughts running through his mind.

Feeling restless still, Tenzin got back up from bed and went to pull out his laptop.

He scrolled through various folders until he found what he was looking for. His fingers tapped swiftly on the keyboard, the password a muscle memory. However, his cursor hovered over the ok button, unable to belie his hesitation and uncertainty.

Tenzin paused and asked himself if he really wanted to do this.

Eventually, he pushed through and out popped the window showing files upon files. Scanned documents, audio files, slide shows, videos, saved emails and photos.

One of the reasons why he managed to bring back the White Lotus Corporation to life is his tenacity, his dogged determination to see things through. Tonight, it is this same tenacity that brought him to go through his past as he started to go through old photos with one Lin Beifong. He went through the photos and emails – trying to see, trying to look for a clue at what point did Lin start showing or possibly start getting involved with the boys’ father, at what point in their relationship did he not become enough.

Tenzin would later come to wonder if he should have just let sleeping dogs lie.

---

Note: Dundundun. Misunderstandings upon misunderstandings – my favorite genre. Haha! Hope all is good with you reading from the other side of the screen. Just a note here – Pema won’t be a nasty bitch here, and no hating gonna happen. Trying to make this as light as possible, so no overly angsty~ plot lines. Crossing my fingers this experimental story works out fine haha.

Share your thoughts, theories, feelings, anything about this story with me. 😊 I am trying to get back to writing so this might not be up to my usual length or content. Happy to hear from you though.

[axolotl-druk]

pls i need to know about ecology major ikki and what do jinora and milo study in this au

(Ok the URL was me projecting) but Ikki is like THE ecologist kid. She has the Steve Irwin energy and love for animals, and she talked to the squirrel as most of us do when in the field. She can be really soft and peaceful with animals, so she doesn't startle them and knows when to give them space. Also, she loves camping and being in the field is almost like the nomad trips she did with her family. The info dumping at every time she can. The love this ugly animal and its my new best friend energy. The I dont care about mud I live in mud now  When she grows up she will either work on sky bison conservation and have little non airbender kids approach and pet them, another possibility is birds but I think sky bisons are closer to her, also dude, they like fly and have six legs, the projects are endless. I think there was a comic where people were scared of Appa, so she wants that people love them as same as her Jinora is a communication major, I feel she can write documentaries that really touch you, and also she is quite subtle in her narrative with very good camera images (also she reminds me of my sister so it's the duo of art and STEM that the world needs), she also does documentaries and history reviews about her family past, both SWT and air nomads.  Meelo I haven't think of think? I think he still is in his dinosaur kid stage, and there are so many possibilities (also i haven't seen the last season of LOK, so he doesn't talk that much yet, need to finish it and need to expand in this universe)

[princepondincherry]

Wish RWBY was better? Try ATLA

To start: Yes, I’m aware ATLA and even LoK probably have much larger fandoms than RWBY already. I think they also have more content and were produced with a larger budget, which means we have to give RWBY some slack. It doesn’t mean criticism isn’t valid.

Since Avatar came out on Netflix, I watched both shows, and I can’t help drawing parallels with RWBY since they’re both animated shows I’ve loved about badass kids/teens with magic powers. And Avatar is SO MUCH better. For instance, inter-party conflict. The Gaang argue ALL THE TIME, and it’s just presented as the normal state of affairs, not some dramatic, crazy detail when one sibling has a slight disagreement with the other sibling. And as much flak as the Mako relationship drama gets in Legend of Korra, at least it had substance to it. We still don’t really know what the problem is with Ren and Nora. Oh, and The Last Airbender handled an unwanted kiss forced on someone who didn’t think it was the right time for romance SO MUCH better, with an immediate, “I SAID I was confused!” and the instigator having a scene right after where they called themselves an idiot, instead of the Renora kiss being presented as romantic or something.

Now I kinda want to write a list of things I feel Avatar does better. There’s a poorly-argued word vomit below the cut:

- The dead mother thing--Salem mentions Summer once with no details, and Ruby completely breaks down? What? Like, grief is fine, but this has literally no foreshadowing since the songs don’t count as full canon, and it made no sense given Ruby’s established (ha) character and the situation. Katara would have flown into a rage, and it would have been so much better.

- Arguments with adults on your side--Pakku was set up as an asshole teacher from the start, and he when confronted with the consequences of his misogyny, he changed his ways for the better. Zuko arguing with Iroh is never intended to have Zuko be in the right. Korra argues with Tenzin all the time, and usually they’re both right, but have to come to a better understanding of each other’s perspective that helps them grow as people. In fact, this conflict drives a lot of the story for the first two books of LoK. Unfortunately, RWBY seems incapable of this sort of nuance. Qrow is just drunk until he isn’t, but then later gets Clover killed, and Ozpin is supposedly just awful.

- Arguments with adults who should be on your side but aren’t--Long Feng SHOULD be on the same side as the heroes, defending the Earth Kingdom, but he isn’t for pretty stupid reasons. But, unlike Ironwood shooting people like a maniac, Long Feng is against the heroes for stupid reasons that (mostly) make sense in-universe: he wants to remain in power. (I still don’t understand why he didn’t just quietly explain that he had the real power in the city, not the king, and shuffle the kids off to whoever was running the military defenses that allowed him to pretend there was no war. I guess he thought if he just gave them the cold shoulder long enough, they’d go away?) Whatever problems there were with Long Feng’s storyline, at least he was consistently written as a bad guy. In contrast, Ironwood is inconsistently written as a good guy who has all the trappings of a tyrant but doesn’t act like it AT ALL, except when he occasionally does something extreme like shoot Oscar. He’s written (I guess unintentionally?) as a subversion of the military tyrant, except when he suddenly acts like one again. It’s like they were shooting for a Tarrlok (sketchy government official who’s both bad for the obvious reasons AND worse than he appears beneath the surface, even though he often works for the side of good) but actually wrote Suyin (someone who could easily be a totalitarian dictator, but decided not to be because of her moral principles, and is actually nice), except occasionally she attacks her allies for disagreeing with her.

- Costume design--I loved Ruby’s, Weiss’s, Ozpin’s, Qrow’s, and a few other original costumes, and Ruby’s had some very solid costumes. However, Volume 7 was terrible. The animation looked weird on Weiss’s braid, Jaune’s hair was awful, and a bunch of them weren’t really dressed for the weather. In contrast, the Avatar characters change outfits whenever it’s appropriate. You know, like real people. (If this is a “3D animation makes outfit changes harder than 2D animation” thing, then maybe 2D animation is just a superior art form when you’re on a budget.)

- Consistent power levels--Katara starts weak and gets stronger. Aang starts as only an airbender and consistently gets better at everything else. Toph invents metalbending and gradually gets more proficient with it. In contrast, RWBY’s Volume 1-3 feats are often better than their later feats, and Aura strength blatantly depends on plot. Yang’s gotten *slightly* better at fighting, Weiss learned a new skill and promptly got her butt kicked by focusing on it too much, Ruby supposedly learned hand-to-hand combat but really just did a headbutt, and RWBY SOMEHOW beat the most premiere team in Atlas after training with them for a few weeks. Sure, Toph, Katara, Azula, Aang, and Sokka are all ridiculous prodigies, but they’re established as such from the beginning. Katara still loses soundly to Pakku before he trains her. (Despite the memes about her kicking the ass of the patriarchy, he’s obviously going easy on her and still crushes her.) Aang gets beaten by Ozai without his OP special ability. Azula gets beaten easily the one time we see her go up against an adult (Iroh, on the ship in the beginning of book 2). And Toph is more like Pyrrha than anyone on Team RWBY. Honestly, this is one of my weaker points, but I still stand by the fact that the Avatar kids’ victories felt much more earned.

- Bad Fights--Yes, I know, heresy. I actually think the best of RWBY’s fights (RWBY vs. Torchwick’s mech, Ozpin vs. Cinder, Pyrrha vs. Cinder, RWBY vs. the Nevermore, Qrow vs. Tyrian) are somewhat more exciting, visually interesting, and (sometimes) emotionally charged than even the best of Avatar’s fights (Aang vs. Ozai, Zuko vs. Azula, Kya vs. Zaheer, Korra vs. Zaheer, Tenzin and his siblings vs. Red Lotus, Suyin vs. Kuvira). But my actual point is that RWBY’s bad fights are BAD, whereas I can’t even think of what the worst Avatar fights are. Sokka vs. Zuko in episode 1 was pretty bad, but that was more of a gag than a fight. Umm...Big Glowy Korra vs. Unavaatu was kinda cheesy, but I still liked it. Meelo fartbending vs. the Equalists? Idk. Meanwhile, RWBY has the Scuffle of Haven, that time Ilia seriously hurt Sun somehow, Qrow vs. Tyrian vs. Clover (visually impressive, but made NO FUCKING SENSE), Oscar landing a massively-telegraphed blow on Neo...well, okay. Maybe there weren’t that many awful fights. I still think I came away from more RWBY fights disappointed, but I can’t really argue my case very well.

- LGBT representation, normalized to the time period--Yes, Korrasami never got past handholding in the finale, but somehow Yang and Blake haven’t either? Even though it’s 2020? Actually, this is a symptom of a larger problem:

- Romantic relationships being ignored--Why won’t RWBY explicitly confirm anything? The RWBY cast are closer in age to the LoK cast than the ATLA cast, but it feels the other way around. Kataang was both heavily present in ATLA the whole time and by no means taking over the plot. And, okay, there was Jaune/Pyrrha, but she’s dead now, so the most-developed ship is Renora. Who held hands, then didn’t talk about their relationship at all for a full volume, and then had a nonconsensual kiss handled worse than the Kataang kiss in Ember Island Players. I’m glad there haven’t been any Romantic Plot Tumors in RWBY, but something would be nice. Or just don’t bring it up at all if you’re never going to develop the relationships.

- Sibling relationships--Yang and Ruby were great as sisters in the early volumes, but lately it’s just been Yang deciding to yoke herself to Ruby’s judgement, until suddenly she’s not anymore. I feel like they barely talked in Volume 7.

- Villains--If Salem wants to kill everyone and collect the Relics, why hasn’t she? She’s invincible! Ozai at least was still human, but he left to handle things himself as soon as he got a power-up. More vaguely, I just find Avatar’s villains more interesting than RWBY’s most of the time.

I’m aware that some/most of these are unfair. It’s more intended as an incoherent rambling to get my views out of my head than as any sort of persuasive argument.

[makeusfreefromthisfandom]

Inspired by whatever beautiful Anon proposed a FREE! and ATLA crossover:

Natsuya’s gf has a lot of t-shirts that are large ish and baggy on her because they’re comfy. He will ocationally borrow a t-shirt of hers when he’s over at her place, just as she would one of his when over at his place. Btw, said shirts are baggy on her but very nice and form-fitting on him 🥵😏. Gf is watching tv in her living room and Natsuya grabbed one of her t-shirts and his jeans getting ready one morning after spending the night, doesn’t really think anything of it. Natsuya came out wearing THIS and had absolutely no clue why his gf is now on the floor, with tears, dying of laughter.

——————————————

Not related but also imagine the following:

Nao being Uncle Iroh’s underling - learning the beautiful art trifecta of Life Guidance, Perfect Advice, and The Best Tea in the City)

The minute Haru learns what water bending is, he just devotes his life to tracking down the original Water Lion Turtle and just keeps repeating how much he loves the water and never leaving said lion turtle alone until it makes Haru a damn water bender. (Maintained his perfectly stoic face the entire time).

Gou (it’s Kou!), Mikhail, and Sokka all run THE BOULDER’s fanclub. Gou and Mikhail obviously because of the muscles and Sokka... were we ever told what about THE BOULDER he admired so much?

Rin and Zuko are anger management buddies. Became friends over their mutual hot tempers and hearts of gold. Zuko taught Rin how to do a fire-nation top-knot hair bun.

To Rin’s dismay, Gou has the biggest crush on Zuko and not just because of... even with said crush, Gou wants Aang to be happy but still hardcore ships Zutara

Rei is always in the Jasmine Dragon trying to calculate how the bending of elements is even possible. He interviews other benders but no wisdom they offer can help further his research and understanding of how bending works or how it is So BEAUTIFUL! (even though this is FREE! & ATLA I’m going to quickly make 1 OHSHC & LOK reference... Rei stressing himself out trying to compute the possibility and beauty of bending, he’s nearly at his breaking point, and Meelo [LOK] just walks up to Rei’s table and says “be the leaf.” THAT’S IT! That Was The Breaking Point! After Meelo broke Rei. Rei just has a pouty-break-down-moment-in-the-corner-of-the-jasmine-dragon-like-Tamaki-Suoh-would)

Sokka never popped the question and never got married so I’m just gonna say it. Asahi and Kisumi both probably crush💘hard on Suki.

Also not gonna lie, I can kinda see Toph falling for Makoto. She loved tormenting him with pranks at first but she can tell when someone is lying and that boy doesn’t have an ounce of bad in him so she developed a pebble size crush. Makoto could never express how amazing he finds her ability to see with her feet and wanted to help her learn to swim a little better. He will always hold her when he tries to share the water with her. Even if Toph will never be able to see the sky (once Makoto taught her how to float on her back) he was able to teach her how to find him, even if her ears were full of water and her feet weren’t touching the bottom of the pool. Makoto taught Toph how to not be scared of the water (even if he still struggles with the ocean). He taught her to use her feet to kick and feel for other waves and ripples in the water to tell where he was in the pool. She learned to sense vibration in the water similar to how she does with earth; the picture may not be as clear but it’s something! Eventually, even if Toph’s feet weren’t touching the bottom of the pool, she could find Makoto before he even had the chance to say Marco. I went a little overboard on that one huh?

Nagisa followed Aang on a trip to Kiyoshi Island to ride the elephant koi. Aang tried to warn Nagisa about the Unagi but Nagisa saw that as a challenge and rode the Unagi like a freaking champ, laughing the entire time. After coming ashore, the small town of Kiyoshi was happy to welcome back the Avatar and all in awe with Nagisa’s Unagi skills. They ran into one person that changed everything though... Nagisa COULD NOT FOR THE LIFE OF HIM contain his laughter the first time he met Foaming Mouth Guy (FMG). As an apology for laughing, whenever Aang and Nagisa leave Kiyoshi island, Nagisa leaves some Iwatobi Surprise Bread for FMG with a note saying how tasty it is and that FMG really should eat after passing out like that.

In the Earth Kingdom, I picture Momo (taro-Mikoshiba, not everyone’s favorite flying lemur) fanboying the f*ck over Bosco the Bear. Bosco is unimpressed.

Seijuro and Ty Lee would be an interesting couple.

Does anyone remember Song? The girl Zuko briefly felt empathy for when she showed her leg and said the fire nation hurt her too. She had a heart of gold and I can see her with Ikuya.

Hiyori secretly falls for Mai and her badass knives.

I’ve rambled on for so long that anyone still reading this is probably scared-smiling like Joo Dee.

Out of all of this, there is one thing I am sure of. At the end of the day, when all of our favorite characters from FREE! and ATLA get together for a massive pool party - a game of chicken fight will break out. And we all know what will happen if Chit-Sang loses a game of chicken fight... (probably uses sweet innocent Nitori because he was the closest)

ANON ANON ANON ANON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU HAVE MADE MY DREAMS COME TRUE!!!! THIS IS GOLD FREAKIN GOLD IF I COMMENTED ON EVERYS SINGLE LITTLE BULLET POINT THIS POST WOULD BE WAYYYY TOO LONG

So do I have your permission to make this into a separate post (I’ll still give you credit ofc!) that way I can go in and add my comments bc 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

[airbookworm]

Meta on Jinora's other hobbies besides reading and general airbender things.

send me a topic to write a meta about my muse on

[bruh, I’ve legit been thinking about this exact thing for like the past week and I have made zero decisions] […time to speedrun it!] [crap this got longer than I intended] [thank you so much for sending me this! i loved the chance to actually write down and think more about my girl, tysm!]

Honestly, I think Jinora would be a bit of a jack of all trades. We know she reads a lot, so I think she learns about a lot of different activities and skills from her reading, she remembers a ton of information, and from there she tries her hand at a lot of them. She doesn’t excel or find that she has any talent for a lot of the things she tries, but she has fun trying new things. She really does love just reading and learning and anything with her airbending, she’s a nerd ok?

Some of the things I think she’s tried and had some success with or that she’s continued doing are:

Writing: She likes writing letters; it started with sending letters to GranGran Katara when she was little, and she loved getting replies so she wrote to Kya and Bumi too. When Jinora starts traveling, she sends letters back to her family, and to other friends she might have elsewhere. It’s not the best communication method (what with phones being a thing and she can totally do astral projection messages), but I HC that she does end up travelling solo in true Air Nomad fashion, and writing helps fill the lonely hours, so she keeps writing. She also writes short stories at some point, but she keeps those private because she thinks they’re embarrassing. She saves all the letters she gets as replies, keeps them in a box and likes to look back at them every so often, to read the memories. Also during her travels (actually probably during the Air Temple Visitation Vacation in B2) she starts keeping her own journals.

Music: I think she probably picked this up from Bumi at first, and then just kept it going. She likes singing but isn’t that great, so she mostly sings for herself or hums softly. She also has a small flute (or ocarina or pan flute, idk rn) (ngl leaning towards the ocarina because mun loves LOZ but moving on) that she’s gotten pretty good at and likes to play. If she tried, she’d probably also get/be good at some simple string instruments and would like them as well.

Art: She doesn’t have artistic skills like Ikki or Meelo does, but once in a while she’ll doodle (perhaps more during her travels when she’s on her own). Most of what she doodles are simple abstract sketches or designs, nothing ever fancy or impressive, but she’s okay with that.

Being active: Okay, this does relate to her being a very good bender, but Jinora really does like being active and staying fit. It makes her feel good, about herself and physically. She likes running (stamina building, helps her control her breathing), climbing (check next bullet point), and working on her physical strength, like lifting and such. She’ll never get muscles like Korra, but Jinora is much stronger looking than she looks. I HC that she is strong enough to physically carry her siblings on her own (stemming from overprotective!Tenzin training her on how to escape with them when she’s little), and can decently carry most of anyone else’s weight if needed (like her parents, Krew, anyone else in the show we’ve met). Also I HC that she is fast and very agile. Another natural boost she has from being an airbender, but she really works to hone and get good at those skills, and it shows.

Climbing: I HC the Jinora loves heights and likes sitting near tree tops, on cliff edges, tops of buildings or mountains, you get the idea. She finds these areas very peaceful (a good place to find her meditating or relaxing when she’s stressed), but she’ll also use the height as sort of a fun training tool. She’ll climb trees and cliffs, giving herself different challenges or rules and times herself to see how quickly and efficiently she can get to the top.  Also I’m just now remembering that climbing a cliff was probably used as a training tool for the Harmonic airbenders but idc I don’t wanna rewrite all this and YES Jinora is a nerd who loves her airbending and her training, she just likes it ok, MOVING ON

Dancing: Again, training with the spinning air gates and having natural agility is probably helpful for this, and again it’s probably not something Jinora really focuses on, but Jinora likes dancing. She likes listening to the music and moving her body to the sounds, the beats, the swells of it all. She likes dancing with a partner best, but doesn’t mind dancing on her own. I think she, Pema, and Ikki would occasionally take control of the family radio and just have a little casual girls’ night dance party. When Korra moves to the island they invite her, and Asami too later on.

Puzzles: Puzzles, riddles, games of that sort; Jinora loves the challenge they give her. She also really likes Pai Sho and is a pretty decent player.

And because I can’t help myself, here are some hobbies I think Jinora would have in her modern!verse (but much less detail, because idk about all of these):

Computer science/programming: it just seems like coding would be something she’s good at and enjoys, idk

Piano: I’ve had this thought for a while not, but could never make up my mind if modern!Jinora would be more into a piano or her normal whatever-flute instrument but this post makes me love Jinora playing the piano even more

Track/yoga: I feel like these are just a given for modern!Jinora, that’s kinda all I got. Maybe not track (she likes running, but I don’t think doing track&field competitions would be her thing). Yoga is a def given for her imo.

Gymnastics and/or figure skating: I feel like gymnastics is also kinda a given, but idk for sure. As for figure skating, I just really like the idea of Jinora ice skating (and mun likes Yuri! On Ice, so there’s an influence) (also the Ice Princess movie because I love it and wow I feel like the MC is very much like Jinora)

Trivia: Jinora reads a lot and she remembers a lot. Ikki and Meelo probably hate family game nights where they play any sort of trivia game, because Jinora always wins them. But if they go someplace, like a restuarant, and are competing as a table, they love having her on their side. As a young adult, i can see her attending college events and winning trivia games, or going to a bar trivia night with friends and just slaying. She likes trivia :)

[meelo-does-art]

we did a gouache unit in my art class!!! we had to choose a fruit to paint!!! i chose a pomegranate!!! i’m ngl i kinda gave up on the peel/skin after i finished the seeds lol!!!

[scorrigan]

The culmination of ‘The Art Joke’

Ok, so theres a damn solid running gag about art in Avatar the Last Airbender and Legend of Korra. As you know, the one area Sokka does NOT excel in is art.  He’s hopeless! Its a great running gag.  So when we get to Legend of Korra, we meet Toph’s grandson, who is the typical stereotype of the brooding artist.  Serious, scoffing, abstract metal works, outlandish appearance.  Then in the fourth season, it turns out that Aang’s grandson Meelo is a pretty good artist.  He draws a realistic picture of Korra when he needs to look for her.  Finally, after 8 seasons, we see Toph’s grandson spending time with Aang’s grandchildren.  He critiques Meelo’s sister’s normal child painting (in what looks like acrylic or water color): “Stunning work Ikki, it hurts my eyes with its raw emotional power” He moves over to Meelo, who has produced a masterwork oil painting of himself in a generals robe, brooding in mood lighting.  The critque “Ah, pedestrian.  I already know what you look like on the OUTside. I want you to show me the INNER Meelo” I am guffawing over here. 

[aquadestinyswriting]

Character Introduction: N3BD

This is the third character for this year’s Nano. N3 is a silver coloured protocol droid, who originally served as Snrll’s translator. His primary functions have changed a bit since then, but he is incredibly snarky.

Name: N3BD

Race: Protocol Droid

Job: Mercenary (currently working for Clan Anjelic)/ Coffee Maker

Current Age: unknown

N3 was a droid rescued and repaired by Snrrl several years before they met Captain A’ashe. His memory circuits were damaged, so the droid cannot recall anything before meeting with the Wookie, though his personality protocols did remain intact, which means that N3 has quite a lot more of it than other protocol droids.

As a Protocol Droid, N3 is able to translate all known languages in the galaxy and was Snrrl’s translator before the crew ended up in Hutt space as part of a job they had taken on, and it turned out everyone and their mother could understand Sher’Wook ( a thing which made him very upset for a while). These days he spends his time making coffee for the crew and their guests, and ensuring that ‘Master Meelo’ follows the advice of the medical droid on board to avoid excessive amounts of caffeine (following an incident during which Meelo consumed far more of said coffee than was medically advisable in a very short space of time).

Several things do make N3 a much more unique individual, however. He is capable of actually sneaking, rather than just bumbling around, when the situation calls for it and he can run at a rather astonishing speed when he needs to. On top of this, N3 is more than capable of utilising weaponry and has a blaster built into his chassis (which was originally a blaster pistol) as well as a vibro blade, both of which have been used in multiple fights to great effect. 

After taking some severe damage to his main circuitry, resulting in the droid shutting down entirely for half an hour, Snrrl repaired N3 with some old, random parts he’d found midway through a firefight. As a result, N3 has a secondary brain that was taken from an HK droid which hadn’t been entirely wiped clean. This secondary personality is usually suppressed, but can come online when N3 himself takes enough damage to shut down.

N3 himself has mastered the art of sarcasm and he is often the one making witty remarks, though sometimes he masks them in a veil of extreme politeness. He has a dry sense of humour and is very much not afraid to speak his mind whenever he pleases. While A’ashe can sometimes find this frustrating to deal with, she likes this aspect of the droid’s personality since it keeps her and the rest of her crew on their toes and provides a useful gauge of the relative stupidity levels involved in any plans the crew makes to get out of sticky situations.

The HK personality is much more simplistic, dealing more in absolutes and a desire to go shoot the ever loving *bleep* out of everything it can find. It does, however, have a measure of respect for the Captain, and by extension most of the crew. It calls all biological persons around it ‘meatbag’ and is far less patient than N3. It also doesn’t appreciate being relegated to being a back-up power source to keep the protocol droid’s main functions running when his battery is damaged, but has grudgingly come to understand that, for the most part, N3 is the better choice of personality to lead, as many of the functions of the protocol droid’s systems are just too advanced for it to utilise. A’ashe is always somewhat wary when HK comes online because of how kill-happy it can be, but she understands the necessity of keeping it around for when things get messy.

[whoslaurapalmer]

For the ask meme: The Last Airbender, Kataang, Azula! And if you're up for it: Legend of Korra, Korrasami, and Korra herself.

oooo!! thank you!!!! 

so i have previously done last airbender and azula, and i still have such absolutely boring kataang takes, so -- 

KORRA TIME

Favorite character: JINORA, zhu li, kya, ikki, eska, korra, bumi  

Least Favorite character: okay.........meelo grates on my nerves, often, i feel bad about that but he does, and i like Get zaheer as a character but i’m very ‘meh’ about him, really, same with unalaq 

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): i am just as boring in my ships with korra as i am with last airbender so it really is just, korrasami 

Character I find most attractive: ....asami’s hair flips are so pretty 

Character I would marry: tough call. not really any of them?? 

Character I would be best friends with: god you know what it’s probably still katara only now i get old badass katara. 

a random thought: i think the show is better watched binged straight through from beginning to end than it was watching it in real time, with the space between books, because i remember being really irritated by korra especially in book 2, but when i sat down to watch it straight from beginning to end after it was all over i liked the pacing a lot more and i liked korra a lot more. 

An unpopular opinion: back when book 1 first happened i thought it would be better if korra could still only airbend at the end of book 1 and spent the rest of the books getting the other elements back but in retrospect i don’t know how that would work (although i mean given wan and the lion turtles? that could’ve actually worked.) but i still get a little Irritated about her just regaining her bending like that. sometimes i feel like the writing in korra, as good as it is OVERALL, is kind of, uneven because i think bryke weren’t ever sure if they’d get the next season???? oh this is not unpopular i’m really bad at unpopular 

okay this is probably the true unpopular opinion, i don’t think pema should’ve been pregnant in book 1 solely because in general (but not always) i Do Not like pregnancy plots because they’re mostly used for certain dramatic moments and then afterwards you have a baby to deal with that usually isn’t ever talked about again because no one has the time to bother with them because now it’s not an optionally angsty plot point i mean seriously what do we really see of rohan after he’s born and if we see him he’s just passed around like a lil potato and not that we HAVE to see character in A NEWBORN but YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN i am of the firm opinion that if you write something you have to deal with the repercussions and that means Dealing With New Baby Character and rarely do i see that happen 

My Canon OTP: korrasami! 

My Non-canon OTP: ..........honestly like the whole cast/happiness 

Most Badass Character: IT’S STILL TOPH 

Most Epic Villain: the thing about korra was because there’s a different villain for each season they all have sort of......an Epic-ness about them, i think? they definitely have a finality about all of them, but they’re all, fairly well-written, but in terms of BEING EPIC i think zaheer is epic in terms of grandeur and kuvira is epic in terms of her whole side-character-to-accidental-villain thing 

Pairing I am not a fan of: is there anyone who’s a fan of mako and korra, at this point? okay probably but. no 

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): okay it’s not that like, i think they screwed up here, but like, what i would’ve done for more info about izumi and just like, zuko as a parent, OH but at (my usual) a passing backwards glance over the series, maybe mako could’ve been, written better, idk, there’s a thin line sometimes between ‘a character rightfully changing over time and making mistakes and other important character stuff and i’m just rightfully irritated at some of the stuff he did cause like the audience is supposed to be’ and ‘a character should’ve just been written better’ 

Favourite Friendship: su and lin do become better friends, right?? (it’s been so long.) and i specify ‘friends’ because i think their relationship has to exist as them being friends compared to them being sisters (not because they’re half-sisters but because of just how they were as sisters) 

Character I most identify with: it’s korra because of The Depression Arc like damn 

Character I wish I could be: yeah it’s still jinora, even before last airbender happened i was always super-fascinated (in the way that children are with the idea of magic) by the idea of controlling air so when the show happen i always wanted to be an airbender, just in general, and i always really liked jinora’s wholehearted belief and confidence in her abilities and how take no shit she becomes (and also “i will make no such promises.”) 

korrasami!

When I started shipping them: the finale happened and i was like ‘well there’s no way i’m not gonna ship them’ 

My thoughts: i really wanna rewatch the show (i haven’t since......when did pokemon go come out, it was that summer. 2016????? really????? fuck.) and really pay attention to their relationship because memory tells me it could’ve been a little more consistent, but in general they have the most genuine, heartfelt chemistry built upon actual respect and admiration for each other and they get each other in a way that mako clearly did not get them. also goddddd the fact that asami is the only one korra can comfortably write to while she’s depressed really fucking gets me 

What makes me happy about them: they make each other happy and (idk in my opinion which rapidly builds headcanons at the speed of light sometimes) make each other feel happy about themselves and that’s really all you can ask for, in a relationship 

What makes me sad about them: when they were weird rivals for a while in book 1 because girl rivals (especially over a boy) hurt my soul 

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: i’ve never actually sought out fic with them!! 

Things I look for in fanfic: in general, i am, a terrible stickler about characterization, and that doesn’t change in any pairing or fandom 

My wishlist: my Absolute Jam, across the board in all fandoms, is post-canon fics (or during canon sometimes that’s applicable) where, the actual canon trauma is discussed and worked through (in some way or another) so if i was going to look for fanfic with them, that would be, at the top of the list, but i would also just take slice of life cuddles because i always think about that sweet art bryan did where they’re in the turtledove float and that’s so comfy and warm 

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: personal happiness 

My happily ever after for them: they get to chill and not have to run around saving the world all the time 

korra! 

How I feel about this character: korra took a while to grow on me, and also like, main characters tend to be typically underrated in a large cast and aren’t usually people’s favorites compared to other characters, but i have come to really like her a lot!! she really is more lonely than people gave her credit for and she has to deal with A Lot, constantly, and so much of korra is her trying to figure out not just how to be the best avatar but how to be the best her and when she gets to do either one and who lets her do either one, and her frustration and rage are so quick and volatile and personal and high-key relatable, and damn was her depression/recovery arc done well 

also the fact that she was accidentally holding onto the remaining lead and had to get it out herself is, yeah 

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: asami! 

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: KORRA AND NAGA i was going through my korra tag and found the comic where she finds naga and god it’s just the best 

My unpopular opinion about this character: hmmmm. is this still unpopular? korra’s occasional brattiness is completely justified when you look at the series as a whole (which is why i mention watching it that way) because wow she’s grown up completely isolated from anyone else her own age and people in her life inadvertently or on purpose took advantage of that 

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: all i would say is her, awkwardness in interacting with people at the beginning of the show because of how she grew up but we do get that, don’t we 

Favorite friendship for this character: korra honestly needs more friends her age 

My crossover ship: none!

[ourimpavidheroine]

Who’s going to be the next Airbender to get their tattoos after Jinora? What’s the order for the rest of the Air Nation?

Let’s see...based off of what I’ve written in my fic:

Ikki gets her tattoos when she’s 17, although she could have gotten them earlier. (She puts it off for her own reasons.) She finds her own way to project her spirit but keeps it secret until she’s ready to leave home. Ikki is, in her own irreverent way, very spiritual, and spends more time in the spirit world than any other airbender of her generation.

Opal is in the process of getting hers when she gets pregnant with her daughter Pearl (and they have to put them on pause) which is ten years after the show finale. I’ve always headcanoned that Opal takes on an administrative type of role on Air Temple Island - it’s what she knows from growing up in her own home and something I think would suit her character. I think she’d be very diligent in studying, however. She’d put in the necessary time to master what she needed to master. I don’t, however, think that Opal is all that spiritual and that’s due to her upbringing as well as the life she leads (married to a non-airbender and living off the Island). (I also headcanon that this would be an issue with most of the new airbenders and finding the spiritual balance for them in terms of living in the world as opposed to the way the extinct airbenders did would be the work of generations. It’s also why I have written that not all babies born to airbenders are necessarily airbenders any longer, including Opal’s San and Ikki’s Tsetsen and one of Meelo’s sons.)

I’ve never written about Kai getting his but I assume it’s in the same general timeframe as Opal, or perhaps a little earlier. I think, based on what we see in the show, that Kai is clearly a very gifted bender and if any of the characters were going to get their bending due to some sort of super-creative new bending technique (as opposed to mastering all the tenets) then it would be Kai.

Meelo doesn’t get his until he is in his 20′s because he and his father are fighting over it. When he does get them, it is because Ikki, as the head of the Northern Air Temple, gives them to him. I think Meelo will struggle because he lacks the required spirituality that makes airbenders so connected and powerful within their element. He’s suffering from long-term PTSD and that impacts all areas of his life.

I’ve also never specified in my fanfic about Rohan but I’ve always headcanoned it as being some time in his twenties - not due to lack of effort but because he is too busy doing other things and doesn’t want to stop and take the time to get the arrows (which, as someone who has been tattooed, must have taken months to complete). Rohan is actually very spiritual; he’s just quiet about it, like he is most things. He will work closely with his Aunt Kya and attend waterbending healing classes in the South Pole to teach himself the lost art of airbending healing. He will, in time, refine and teach other airbenders those techniques. His legacy will be very long lasting.

I do talk about Yung getting his but that isn’t until he’s in his late thirties/early forties. He’s slow and steady about it.

I haven’t ever written about Bumi getting them but I headcanon he won’t. He’s not at all invested in going through everything he’d have to go through (in terms of mastering all the tenets or coming up with something impressive enough like Aang’s air scooter) and in the end, it just isn’t important enough to him. I think he’d have a lot of conflicting feelings about getting his bending after he retired. That being said, I think he is actually more spiritual and more in the spirit of the old Air Nomads than his brother ever was and if he was motivated and it mattered to him he could get those arrows.

And that’s it for the canon characters that I’ve actually put any time/thought into. I do have a fair amount of airbending OCs but I’m not sure if you want me to include them or not! 

[houseofvans]

SKETCHY BEHAVIORS | Interview with VALERIE SAVARIE

Denver artist Valerie Savarie creates intricately carved book sculptures that she painstakingly maps out and cuts, forming her own unique narrative creation. Each of her unique sculptures can take her from 40 hours to over 100 hours to complete. Not only one thing, Valerie also runs a collective gallery, Valkarie Gallery in Colorado, where various artists in the community show and share work. We find out more about Valerie’s book sculpture process, what her favorite tome creation is, and the things that inspire her. 

Take the leap below! 

Photographs courtesy of the artist. 

Introduce yourself Howdy! My name is Valerie Savarie and I create carved book sculptures. I live in the Mile High city of Denver, Co, sharing a house with two cats Meelo and Varuka and my ever loving and supportive husband Matt. As cats are insatiable creatures when it comes to food and attention (which can turn into a zero creativity day), I eventually relocated my studio to Lakewood where it is connected to the collective gallery I run (Valkarie). I believe in lots of vitamin C to keep me healthy and creating (coffee, carrots and chips). Random fact: most of my tattoos are beyond the legal drinking age.

What was your introduction to art like? I was fortunate that my parents got myself and my sisters into art as kids. During the summers instead of wasting our time in front of the TV, we were enrolled in art programs. The city where I grew up - Madison, WI – also had this (and still does to this day) awesome thing called the Art Cart that would find its way to various parks over the summer and have free art projects – my favorite was the plaster casting of our faces at the beach. My dad also took us to many galleries and lectures. I can remember being in third or fourth grade and attending a Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition.

How did that eventually lead you to creating your own works and specifically your book sculptures? Honestly, I have an older (not too much older) sister that was always the artist so I shied away from art for years. Sure, I was a professional doodler, yet I wanted to be my own person and struggled with the sibling rivalry a la Jan and Marcia for years. I turned to creative writing in high school and the first go around of college. Finally, I moved away, and moved away again, tried college a second time majoring in interior design and minoring in scenic design (secretly I wanted to be an architect) and ended up having a professor that had an MFA – Robert Work – who I am still friends with (god, it has been over 15 years since graduation). He reignited that artistic spark in me. I even applied to grad school for art and got rejected from every school I applied to yet I still made art.

A few years down the road I met my husband and he really pushed me to get my art out in public, which was frightening. I ended up joining a co-op where I experimented with various mediums and styles. I created some cube sculptures (bartered autocad drawings for them) and I was in love. 3D art took over my heart, unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to buy the cubes out right and my cabinet maker friend didn’t need any more drawings. So I sought out something that I could afford for material, something that was also easy to come by and easy to manipulate. A thrift store junky, I decided to test my hand on carving up books. That was just over 7 years ago.

What is the process for book creations? From start to finish, how long does the entire piece take? My pieces are formed by three different processes of creation: what it is, what I want it to be and it will be what it will be. What it is means that the story in the book inspires me. What I want it to be means that I have an idea that I need to find a book that fits the visual story I want to create, whereas it will be what it will be means I take a book with no idea in mind as to how it will turn out and intuitively start cutting.

I would say about 67% of the books I create fall into the what I want it to be category so that’s what I will describe. I will get an image stuck inside my head and think about it quite a bit before I will put pencil to paper, working out basic concepts in my head and then creating a very rudimentary sketch (mainly so I don’t forget the idea). I then head off to the stacks – a very unorganized collection – in search of a book whose story has some of the same elements as mine. This is a daunting task as I have no idea as to what the content of at least 97% of the books I house is.

Sadly the adage “you can’t judge a book by its cover” is all too accurate. Titles can be misleading, the content seems like a good match but the cover has illustrations that are in conflict with the vision, and heaven forbid I can’t find any information on the book on Google and then have to decide if I have the time to invest in reading a few chapters or should just keep looking elsewhere.

After hours and even days of searching, I find the match – the perfect companion to my vision. I leaf through most of the pages, book marking those passages, illustrations, lack of text or unique text layout for me to revisit as I cut layer by layer, page by page. Then a slightly more detailed sketch is created – and then comes the point of no return …

I draw the shape of the cut out on the cover and with book and blade in hand, the transformation begins. All cuts are done with a craft knife – yes, even the cover. It is cut by scoring multiple times and then stab and drag, stab and drag. Sure, there are easier ways to do this - the not so occasional accidental sacrifice of blood still doesn’t deter me - I prefer to use my hands, to be able to pack up to my art, take it anywhere I chose to create and not worry about access to electricity. With the cover hole cut, I take out my file and smooth the opening, refine the curves and lines. Then another sketch of how the piece will be laid out is drawn on the front leaf of the book. This can be especially handy to have in more complex designs where I use the image as a template or stencil when cutting the many layers.

From then on out, it is just a matter of cutting one to three pages at a time. The number of pages is determined by the quality of the paper and over all design. Admittedly, this can become tedious if the depth of the layer is greater than ¼” but it is also important for me NOT to rush through the cutting of pages stage as phrases and images easily hide from view when I first go through the book in search of the elements I want expose.

Accidents do happen – the occasional over cut of a section or completely cutting out a page I meant to keep. I am very rigid in my creative process – if the section has been completely cut through, I just walk away from it – even though it would be quite easy to simply glue that section to the page below. The story can develop plot twists during this time as the layers start taking on a different life and their shadows start telling a story of their own as I cut deeper and deeper.

This, the lengthiest part of the creation process, I mentally start to flesh out what the painted characters – or inhabitants – of the book sculpture will look like (I can easily spend over 40 hours of just cutting the pages and so have a lot of “free creative brain time”) . How will they interact in the environment, what will their facial expression be? I dare not start painting them until all pages that will be cut, are cut, as I want the character - be in human, animal or other worldly - to look as if they had grown up in the book sculpture and has called it home forever. The characters are painted with acryla gouache on sheets of mixed media paper or directly onto the book page. The latter is more of a spirit creature – a ghost that is still very much part of the life force of the book. These little paintings are then mounted to illustration board for rigidity and cut out (again by hand with a craft knife).

Once the book cutting is complete and the character painted, I move on to the last creative piece which ties the story together (literally) - the stitching. Each altered book piece has some thread or string (occasionally wire is substituted) added to help in the visual story telling. It can be very elaborate such as sewing branches and leaves onto the cover or something as simple as a few blades of grass. The drilling to create the needle holes in the cover is (again) done with a hand tool called a jeweler’s drill. This nifty device has interchangeable bits from the diameter of a hair to 7mm lead. I believe the longest recorder amount of time I have spent drilling/stitching a single piece is 15 hours.

Now it’s time to do all the boring stuff that makes the piece ready to hang. All the pages are bound together, I create a little wire coat hanger in which the piece can be hung and sew it onto the back of the book as well as stitch in the publication and rebirth years. Both covers are glued to the bound pages, clamped and by the next day, what was once an orphaned book, now rid of its shell, is a three dimensional sculpted piece of art!

And that is how my book sculptures are born.

How long? On average 40 hours a piece. A few take less time and I have spent over 100 hours on a piece more than once.

Where do the books come from? Are they from collecting or via donation? How are you inspired when creating these intricate piece? Are they inspired by the book or from an idea you jotted down? My books come fro various sources. Initially I would get them at thrift stores, the rule was that they had to be as old as me. I normally still stick to that rule unless it is a commission or a piece created for a specific themed show. More recently, I have had a lot of books donated to me – some because the thrift stores won’t take them any more and others because the former owners’ had cherished them and hoped that they could find new life in my hands. On rare occasions I do order from Ebay. I prefer the hunt, stalking down the perfect book, taking weeks and even months. Sometimes, I don’t have that luxury due to deadlines.

Normally I have a concept I want to develop, I look through my stacks (which numbers in the 100’s and shelved at random) hoping to find one that has a similar story line. Since I don’t have time to read each one, I go online and do research – reading the synopses – as well as skimming the books. This can be dangerous as sometimes the books I am sorting through pull me in and new inspiration is born from the written word.

I see my pieces as more of a collaboration between myself and the authors and illustrators. I use their art form as an inspiration stream and add my own twist (or chapter) to create the stories anew.

Is there a piece that was directly influenced by a memory or experience you’ve had or story you’ve heard? It is rare that I remember my dreams but a few years ago I awoke and remembered having a very strange dream about tiny cyclops octopuses and tea cups. Shortly there after I stumbled across a Reader’s Digest collection that contained 20,000 leagues Under the Sea and so I had to create the little cyclopes – sans teacups. I really want to revisit that dream in art form again – with the tea cups – as of yet, I haven’t come across any books that would fit.

What’s the perfect day at the studio like for you? What kinds of things would we find in your creative space?

A perfect day would start around 6pm. I prefer to work at night until the early hours of the morning. I would have a nice cup of endless coffee at hand, a bag of baby carrot and raw nuts available for snacking (separate bags) and some left over Indian food for later in the evening/morning. The original Twin Peaks is playing in the back ground (i pretty much have the dialogue memorized) and my shoes are off and slippers on.

Spread around me on the floor (I work sitting on the floor) is a brand new cutting mat that smells of childhood summer beach toys, an assortment of craft knifes with brand new blades (I rarely use new blades as I have learned to sharpen them) and a vintage book begging me to caress its pages, ogle its inner beauty and then skillfully and slowly start to transform its story from the 2D writing into a 3D world it never knew it could be!

Within my studio I have quite a nice collection of small art (besides my own of course). I use it for inspiration and feed off the remnants of creative energy that the artists left with each piece. There are books, LOTS of books that have no rhyme or reason to their shelving locations or book neighbors. I have quite a few orchids which may or may not be in bloom – all of which were gifts. I have a cool vintage love seat which normally is a place for art to lounge on along with the occasional visitor. A nice collection of coffee mugs – with at least half of them needing to be washed- and of course a coffee maker. I also have an old radio from probably the 30’s that I occasionally plug in and turn on – the sound is great but there aren’t that many am radio stations with strong enough signal that are worth listening to.

What’s one of your favorite creations you’ve made and why? I created a piece based on Pan’s Labyrinth. It was the first piece of fan art I had ever created.

I rarely actually watch movies or t.v. - I listen to them but my eyes and hands are busy creating art. I don’t like foreign films that have voice overs, there is just something unnerving about them.

So with Pan’s Labyrinth, it is something that I actually had to watch. It is a visual masterpiece – as is everything that Guillermo del Toro does.

Creating art based off of something that is already a magnificent piece of art is quite challenging. I didn’t want it to be obviously fan art it was important I make it my own. I ended up using a book in Spanish about the Spanish Civil war. I also used some techniques that were new to me – removing the decorative fabric only from the cover to create pattern, adding color and even adding the cover of a larger book as a backdrop. Oh yeah, and a drop of blood – my fingers tips are pretty callused from art making it took a little more effort than I liked to get that blood.

It was exciting to use new techniques and to push myself to be precise and exact – an actual labyrinth with tiny stairs down to the portal – and at the same time use my imagination to explore concepts that I could only see (movie) and not read and translate them into my own design.

What’s your main tool for making art? Is there a medium you’re wanting to try? A craft knife with an Excel blade – the brand REALLY makes a big difference. In a tie would be a good mat – still looking for the perfect one.

I took a class last year on wood block cutting and would really like to do more with that. I think it would work well with the book page scraps I collective (I have many many boxes of them) plus it is another substractive art techniquewhich makes sense in my brain.

Who are some artists that you’re inspired by and have influenced you throughout the years? Edward Gorey is my main influence. Partially because he was both a visual artist and a writer. I love how dark his images are and the same time laced with humor. His black and white color palette obviously works for me as well. There is a simplicity to it and at the same time it is so masterfully done that the work appears much more expansive than it already is.

As far as artists that are alive and kicking today, my local biggest influences are Aria Fawn and Nicole Grosjean. They are completely different in everything they do and at the same time such masters of detail and story telling.

Aria creates surreal and fantastic worlds in watercolor, largely inspired by the beautiful and violent balance of nature and wild things and the cycle of life, death and rebirth. There is such organic and natural beauty in her style, a freeness that I strive to incorporate into my rigid calculated creation process. I probably own more of Aria’s art than anyone else's - I have multiple pieces by her in my studio and home. She is constantly with me, always inspiring, motivating and energizing my creative spirit.

Nicole on the other hand, creates tiny worlds from hand cut, hand painted paper – which she considers three dimensional illustration. Sometimes there are over a thousand individually cut and painted pieces of paper in one work of art. She is so precise, so CLEAN I have no idea how she does it. I have a very tiny praying mantis in a watch piece from her as well as a larger dragon that I got for my husband as a gift to cover all holidays for several years.

My my top three non locals are Jolene Lai, Jason Limon and Kristen Egan. They all are completely different from one another – Kristen creates magical creatures from gourds. I am dying to get my hands on one as 3D art really needs to be experienced in person to feel the texture, see how the light and shadow changes the mood of the piece. She makes it look so seamless – at first glance I thought the were ceramic.

When I first saw Jason’s work I thought it was the most amazing paper cut art I had ever seen, then I realized it was a painting! His playfulness along with social commentary paired with his insane talent to place highlights and shadows it something I strive for. I feel that my painted characters could be so much more influential – a better actor one could say – in the dioramas I create if they appeared more three dimensional. I am lucky to own one small original that lives with me in my studio.

And then there is Jolene. I would consider her one of the greatest artists of all time. There is so much emotion, energy, story telling in her paintings. Her use of color (and again light and shadow) makes her works hyper realistic to me – I feel sucked in and transformed as an active participant in her paintings. I own two beautiful graphite pieces of hers which live at my house.

What’s your experience been like with the art scene in your area? How is the artist community? I LOVE the art scene in Denver. We are a “new” city that still has not lost its small town connectivity in the arts. Artists support other artists, galleries support other galleries. It is not an us vs them mentality here and I really think it will stay that way.

I got my start in a traditional co-op gallery that sadly just closed this year after being open for nearly 30 years.

They rejected me the first time around and told me what to change for the next application round and I got in that second time.

Even at Valkarie we host a drop in creative night every Thursday – going on almost five years. All levels of artists come, from doodlers to professionals, painters to jewelry makers. We openly give feedback on what we re working on and share calls for art and discuss booth set ups for conventions – what works and what doesn’t.

How do you stay inspired on those days when you’re feeling uninspired? To be honest, it has been years since I felt uninspired. I think because of the super supportive art community I always have someone to run ideas off of. Also, the books themselves are full of written and visual inspiration, an unending supply of it. And all that awesome art I collect, for me it’s not a lack of inspiration it’s more a lack of what I want to focus on – too many bees buzzing with ideas in my brain.

When you’re not working in the studio, what are you doing? What do you enjoy? Truth be told, 83% of my waking time revolves around art. Besides spending time with my own art and running Valkarie Gallery, there isn’t much time for anything else.

In that 17%, I enjoy making pies from scratch with my husband, getting out into the mountains to escape all the compartmentalizing of city life and being servant to the cats – if they had their way, I wouldn’t get any art done at all.

If I ever find “free” time again I would love to get back into creative writing, pick up the violin again and go on more bike rides. Nothing sporty, just peddling around town with no destination in mind.

What advice would you give someone who is thinking of becoming an artist? Start young – before you get tied down with a house, spouse or kids. It is much easier to get by on less while you are young.

Don’t feel like you have to get a degree in art (I know I will catch flack for this one). Do take art classes, marketing classes, get involved in with meet up art groups and build community. Some of the most successful artists I know have no formal art degree. Their talent, passion and drive have given them much success without a pile of debt and they tend to be the most active in artist groups.

Know that rejection is 90% of the game and don’t get discouraged. It doesn’t mean you aren’t good at what you do, it can mean that you weren’t what they were looking for. If you are really passionate, you will always create no matter what others say about your art.

Develop a style that is unique to you. This can be the most difficult especially with everything being available to anyone with a smartphone, computer or tablet. I think it is one of the reasons I keep creating the book sculptures and expanding what they are.

What are your FAVORITE Vans?  It really depends on the weather and where I am headed. If it is snowy or raining and am headed to the studio, slip-ons are best, so I can easily take them off and on multiple times a day (sitting on wet shoes is a mistake only made once). In good weather, any Vans are comfortable enough to wear evening while squatting on the floor creating art.

Finally, can you tell us about any exciting things you’ve got coming up? This year I have had my art in five different states and at the beginning of December I will be showing in my sixth. I will have a booth at the Recycled Art Market in Santa Fe, NM. This will be the first time showing my art there and think I will come back with some pretty exciting new ideas on how to incorporate other repurposed items into my books and maybe even find some new resources for creating my sculptures.

I also have two commission coming up that I am really excited to get going on. Will be doing A Clockwork Orange piece and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe(for two different clients). It has been decades since I read either but I think these two both warrant a reread before I start them (I really do my best to avoid watching movies of books for inspiration).

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olympian aesthetics ;

tagged by : @chiefbaefong ( thanks bb! <3 ) tagging : @warriorofskyworld, @reginalucem, @seraphea, @chillingavatar, @theavatarslegacy, @firelxrdsdaughter, @thedemonkingganon, @airbending-lemur-master-meelo, @zaofumonarch and anyone else that wants to do this! ^=^

APHRODITE          laughter-loving, sweet smiles, dressed in silk and satin, flower in their hair, thrives on attention, sees the world as a runway, unapologetically sexual, the sea washing their ankles, in love with love, stirrer of passion, cunning concealed by painted lips, secret daggers, doves, revolution in their kiss, delighting in the waves, flirtatious winks, strolling along the beach, staring wistfully from a balcony, this is how to be a heartbreaker, your girlfriend thinks they’re attractive, wants to be adored, gets turned on by danger.

APOLLO          glitz and glamour, art galleries, turning the volume up, being made of gold, neatly-organized music sheets, notebooks filled with poetry, bathing in the sunlight, the powerful urge to create, collecting vinyl records, beautiful cover of wonderwall, playing multiple instruments, tasting like sunshine, healing touch, speaking in prophecies, smile mingled wrath, shunning lies, sporting shades, hanging out at music festivals with their friends, sleeps naked, arrow to the heart, paint brushes, probably has a Tinder account

ARES          armed for battle, wants to raise a dog with their significant other, soft spot for children, gives piggyback rides, scarred body, blood on their hands and face, willing to fight the world for the ones they love, fights against injustice, warm hugs, well-worn combat boots, boxing gloves, bandages wrapped around bruised knuckles, fist raised in protest, ignites revolutions, fear is a prison, more sensitive than what their tough shell will make you think, exhausted, damaged goods, force to be reckoned with, red roses, curses under their breath

ARTEMIS          keen sense of a hunter, freckles like constellations on their skin, piercing eyes, disheveled braid, moonlight peeking through the shadows, the calm of the forest at night, lying on the grass and staring at the stars, mother doe and her fawn, protecting their kin, the moon shimmering on a still lake, quiver full of arrows resting against the bark of a tree, running with wolves, bonding while circled around a campfire, not being much of a people person, arrow hitting a target, popping egos, patience on 3%, touches heaven and returns howling

ATHENA          discerning gaze, unreadable face, the patience of a lifelong teacher, quiet museums, owl perched on their finger, armor that intimidates, eye for architecture, plays the sims for the sole purpose of building houses, studied the blade while everyone else was busy getting laid, big fan of logic, loves brain teasers, go-getter, balls of wool displayed on shelves, ancient buildings, sweaters in neutrals and cool colors, hair done up, can kill you with their brain, heads to the library often to research, sharpened pencils, abs that can cut steel, stoic statues, pottery classes  

DEMETER          soil-covered hands, smile that can bloom flowers, skin loved by the sun, being the mom-friend, can lift you and your friends, flowers kept in the pockets of overalls, takes pride in their beautiful garden, speaks to their plants (elementals), leaves rustling in the wind, stalks of wheat, picking fruit, greenhouses, heart as strong as a mountain, values simplicity, daisies dotted across a collarbone, curls crowned with flowers, folded pile of sweaters in warm hues, pulling out fresh-baked bread out of the oven and the smell wafting through the air

DIONYSUS          drunk shitposter, on their sixth glass of wine before you’ve even finished your second, seductive smirks, untamed curls, rich fabrics on dark skin, sleek-furred panthers, theater masks, stage productions, receiving a standing ovation, rose caught between their teeth, being the baby of the bunch, wild parties that last from sundown to sunup, creeping vines, inspiring loyalty, grand opera houses, masquerade balls, rolls of film, shattered chandeliers with broken glass scattered across the wine-spilled floor, pouring champagne into flutes, lives for the applause

HEPHAESTUS          the calloused hands of someone who knows labor, sweaty brow, flame burning in their eyes, inventive mind, broad shoulders, steampunk goggles, nuts and bolts stored away in little boxes, ashes, striking a match, blueprints for future projects, fixing up a busted up car and giving it cool upgrades, wrestles with bitterness, work boots have seen better years, wrinkled plaid shirts, iron melted in blazing fire, huge jackets, crafting masterpieces, greased-stained overalls, fascination with robotics, pain is fuel, stack of weaponry, even their muscles have muscles

HERA          resting bitch face, dressed to the nines, cows grazing on a pasture, cool rain, loving and hating fiercely, hand clutching a string of pearls, large chandelier with glittering crystals, plays the sims for the sole purpose of killing off their sims, romance to realism, pictures of the sky while flying on a plane, files that under fuck it, downs glasses of wine as they relax with a scented bubble bath and netflix, like their selfie or you’re grounded, knows 57 convenient ways to murder a man, dark eyes that penetrate your soul, marble and gold

HERMES          devil-may-care smile, ink-stained hands, always up-to-date on the latest technology, will steal your french fries, does it for the vine, shitposter, puts googly eyes on everything, meme hoarder, long drives on the highway, ma and pop diners, spontaneous road trips, folded maps, fingers dancing across the keyboard of a laptop, shooting hoops on the basketball court, chatting up strangers as you all journey to your own destinations, goes jogging in the morning, mixes redbull with coffee, menace on april fool’s, hoodies and sneakers

POSEIDON          storm with skin, colorful coral reefs, waves crashing against the shore, the sea casting its spell, stroking the soft fur of a cat, their heart pounding as their horse’s gentle trot speeds into a gallop, tousled locks, clothes smeared with paint, owns several sketchbooks yet always yearns for more, leather jackets, fondness for diy projects, handwriting that flows across the page, nimble fingers playing the strings of a violin, velvety singing voice that haunts your dreams, mood as ever-changing as the sea, the roar of a motorcycle, compass with a spinning arrow

ZEUS          thunder in their heart, running on coffee, flash of lightning, natural charisma, eloquence, badass in a nice suit, aficionado of history, force of nature, lenny face, pretends they don’t have feelings but they do, nightmare-filled nights, proud arm around their lover’s waist, high-rise buildings, planes soaring through a cloudless sky, technician on the piano, maintains order, strong handshake, juggling multiple events on their busy schedule with ease, most likely to be voted class president out of their peers, expensive watch