#or particularly artistic

[milk-bat]

[dadbastiandisaster]

I started this, finished the lineart, decided I hated it, finished it anyway, bon appétite.

This is a manga panel redraw of this ^ Sebastian, because @every-sebastian-michaelis posted some of the Grell v Sebastian fight scene panels and I got inspired

[inkskinned]

i got my isbn today for the book. 8 months to go. my mom and i were talking about what the next steps are. i was eating trail mix, standing on one foot, phone tucked into my ear.

"yeah," i said. "the problem is that tumblr as a market is like, not something that can be studied." there's this weird wave of nostalgia and affection for this place that came up over me: how lovely we avoid consumerism. okay, it sucks as a creator. but also? keep stickin' it to 'em.

my mother made the sound at the back of her throat that i also make, the one that means i've got an idea. "you should figure out some kind of reward for presale amounts. maybe you give out poems or a mug or a signed book or something. would your followers like that?" my mother is sweet, and kind, and i have no idea how to explain on this website you can buy someone crabs.

i put more m&ms down the hatch. i had to speak through peanuts and almonds. "if it passes 25 thousand i will print the book out in its entirety and eat it live on camera."

"oh god. no, you don't have to do that." she was anguished. "just tell them that you'd love them to read it, and that they've inspired you to write. you got started on that site, and they helped you keep going. raquel, you love these people. the community? you talk all the time about the other writers and artists and whatever else. tell them that you're hoping for their support, they'll come through."

"no," i assured her. i discovered i had dropped an m&m, but an ant had already found it, so it belonged to him now. i will let his little life have a surprise blue treasure in it, too. "i'm gonna fuckin' eat the book."

[notbecauseofvictories]

Last post, I promise, but I do think it’s good and important to see local art (defining that term as broadly as possible) but in my experience you have to put up with the little kick of embarrassment you feel witnessing something too earnest, a little clumsy, not polished within an inch of its life or in step with prevailing trends.

I’m thinking of the dance performances I saw this weekend, but also last week’s street festival, where I watched short films and walked through local art exhibits; I’m thinking about Chicago’s outsider art museum, and even the elaborately decorated (ostensibly tacky) yards I see in rural Illinois, but South Carolina and Tennessee before that, and Michigan before that. Maybe I should cast an even broader net: my aunt’s cross stitch, my grand-aunt’s horrible poetry; the art they display at the nearby retirement community and the halfway house too, which comes from the residents.

If you’re not used to leaving space for that little kick, you might turn away or scoff at all this small, fumbling art. But I think there’s value in forcing yourself to look beyond that initial stab of secondhand embarrassment---to actually appreciate the art in front of you as an expression of something deeply human. You don’t have to think it’s objectively good, or even subjectively good. You don’t have to pretend that a local woman with a talent for oils is the next [INSERT FAMOUS ARTIST HERE]. But I do think you have to appreciate it, because otherwise there is no entrance into making art yourself.

And that, more than anything, is worth preserving.

[eerivee]

My silver dragon oc Eleisarion (or Isa for short!) They're somewhat of a mentor figure for Aella when it comes to any draconic stuff but they're also kind of one of the biggest reasons why she has to deal with any of that draconic stuff to begin with. Not that they really had anything to do with it, sometimes people just meddle with magic they don't fully understand and OOPS would you look at the consequences of everyone's actions

[vampireofsorrow]

old hellos and new goodbyes

[salamispots]

more various sea angel friend stuff

[joolymish]

I have no idea what to do for that pink gremlin's hair so that's what he gets for now, ignore how he's almost got a boobie out. That was an accident. I just like a good bit of chestage or something.

[hiding-under-the-willow]

In another classic return to form, I am back on my Hermitcraft bullshit for the 100,000th time 😊

[hiekka]

i missed his birthdayyyyy is it 13th anywhere in the world anymore??? regardless hbd toshiro 🎉

the flowers look vague but are balloon flowers signifying obedience and asters for patience, and the one dandelion in his hair is for freedom

[journey-to-the-attic]

uh oh

[arachnestwilight]

Sorry for putting Hetalia on your dashboard in 2024, but this has been vaguely on my mind for, like, five years.

[kalashnikovlobotomy]

vaguely depicted but meaningful okay

[skyberia]

say hi to asa (or don't.) (you don't have to.)

[fairmerthefarmer]

Marzipan <3

I was immediately drawn to Marz I’m my first exocolonist playthrough mostly cause of her being the biggest kid and I loved that she was still considered pretty. Her whole thing with her augment kind of explaining some of why how she was how she was is so interesting to me.

(she also was kind of the worst as a child but what I adore about her is how much she can grow, also she actually likes it when you aren’t a yes man.)

I have an urge to do fun typography with exocolonist illustrations but my Adobe fonts weren’t loading on procreate and it’d probably be better just to use illustrator instead but I just kinda fave up for now.

[salamispots]

glint