#so i dont have a lot of experience but i do love love love love collecting information on animals

[indornaga]

The Animality of Humanity

i finally got a chance to sit down and listen to the new Nightwish album, and it hits the animal part of me just as hard as their other albums.

what is it about nightwish that makes me feral?

if you listen closely to their lyrics (especially these last three albums, but it applies to all of their albums) they talk a lot about the Human Experience(tm). but its not the human experience that we usually think of when we think of humans today--it's a lot of primal humanity, historic, from a simpler time and simpler way of life, from when humans struggled daily against the fickle whims of nature, against our fellow animals also trying to survive, and against their own instincts.

it took me a while to really listen to Human :|i: Nature because it sounds *so* human focused. every song is about human nature, as the title suggests, which put me off of it because it didnt feel like i could relate at all. but upon listening deeper, it tells the story of how humans are just as animal as any other. their music emphasizes the animality OF human nature, the capability of reverting to baser instincts in each human, of the human place in nature.

it took a few listens to really recognize it, but as a human with extra animal instincts, i was able to finally catch it: is it not animal nature to enjoy a good meal? for a social species to gather for a good cuddle and grooming? to come to the aid of a group member when in trouble? to scuffle with a threat, even if that threat is one's own species? to want progeny that carry on one's genes? it's certainly human nature to crave being in a natural environment, to see the trees and ground coverings, to see flowing water, the sky overhead. humans have a few extra instincts that dont seem it, but i also attribute to being animal; the love of music and song, and being storytellers. music and song is nearly universally loved. it awakens some sort of primal instinct in humans to move, clap, or sing along. storytelling has been used as a passtime for time immemorial, and again is nearly universally enjoyed. both of these are done with sounds; nonhuman animals use sound to communicate, and have been recorded to do sounds for fun as well. is that not what song and story telling are? communication?

early therian writings talk of doing totally human things to connect with their animality: taking hikes in nature, communing at gatherings, and most importantly, recognizing the animality in their human instincts.

we're lucky enough to be closer to the animal spectrum than most humans. but i think it gets forgotten about that humans are animals, and we tread a very fine line between the "sophistication" of humanity, and the ferality of animality. but that's the beauty of it; we're uniquely animal. we're something that our ancestors revered: how much of folklore is being in awe of or fearing nonhuman animals for their unique abilities?

i feel like that's what Nightwish's music really touches on, and why it's so good at awakening the ferality in me. also just the heavy guitar, drums, and the cadance of the songs hype up my primal predator brain lol i highly suggest giving them a listen. if only because the music is very feral.

[moeblob]

Huevember 22

Brent, the most expressive bard to ever bard.

[fraternum-momentum]

(if this was already asked im so sorry! i cant with tumblrs search thingy) hii!!! i havent drawn in ""my style"" in years, but your art has inspired me to try again. do you have any tips on how to develop it and become more consistent? much love and thanks <3333

hello !!! dw i don't think this has been asked beforee so ur good :3

imo you can't really brute force developing your own style. i think it slowly develops over time the more media you consume and get inspired by ! (i mean, i'm still trying to find my style so yk,,)

in my case, i tend to gravitate towards more semi-realistic styles, so i would need to develop my fundamentals (gestures, anatomy, line of action, etc, etc..) first as a base point. i would say learning your fundamentals is important even if you want your style to be super cartoony bc it really does help when it comes to deciding which parts you want to exaggerate and stylize and stuff. (it may be boring for some people but i promise u it rlly does help a lot !!!)

btw ur anatomy doesn't have to be perfect on the get go when u want to try stylizing 😭 shit even my anatomy was p bad before i started drawing in my 'style' so dont be discouraged !

@/atie1225 @/jasminjaegerart @/quietgom @/AmiThompson_h

ok when it comes to stylizing what i find helpful is copying certain aspects of an art style i like. ur not stealing their whole thing btw !! but u should try to analyze what parts of someone's style that you like !

like for example, i like how Alfons Mucha does hair, so i implement it in how i draw. i remember i liked how Ken Wakui does noses bc its simple enough, so that's what i currently do, i liked the nose bridge lines thing from mha and jjba so i added it to my drawings, and so on and so forth

obv these arent all my influences, there's probably thousands of artists i like, shows i've watched, comics and manga i've read that influenced me etc etc and our art styles are just a mish mash of all of that ! it's actually super cool to see how different people draw depending on what influenced them so ykkk

as for consistency don't be afraid to use your own art as references ! shit even i have a couple of my drawings in my inspo board because of how much i like them and sometimes i would look over and try to remember how i did those LMFAO

but idkkk i don't think you have to strictly adhere to your style. imo experimenting is good and seeing how it changes over time is super cool ! so you shouldn't stress urself out about that :3 eventually you'll develop the habit of sticking to your style, it just takes a bit of time !!

i think that's all, i hope this helps :3

heres the drawing by itself bc i kinda like it

[spirk-trek]

literally you didnt do anything wrong & everyones online experience is their own to curate. i loved seeing the fanworks you reposted!! some people being allergic to other peoples joy is their own cross to bear. dont let it dim yours c: its so nice to see how old fan dreams tie into this new short film, i think its beautiful. weve been wanting them to be together forever for ages <3

idk i just looked at the post and a lot of accounts i really like and respect on here liked it and are mad and i just like :( didn't even have a second thought that i was doing anything wrong or that people hated it this much :( i thought we were all having a moment together :(

[dailyloopdeloop]

DAY 75: onehat

[puppyeared]

learning abt friendship decay and "not reaching out to your friends for months at a time unprompted is not neurotypical behaviour" has me feeling a certain way

[torchstelechos]

Thinking about ISAT and how the party treats Bonnie throughout the game, which is to say they protect the child to the death. But they also respect the child and try to explain things to them they dont understand which makes me get so emotional because they care!! so deeply for Bonnie's safety!! And during the "let's stop fighting segment" you can really see how much they want to protect Bonnie and how much they love them and I just. Get so misty eyed over it, cause can you imagine knowing your loved that deeply? The horror, the trauma, the feeling of safety that must bring? The care finely balanced between love and resentment Bonnie must feel? God, Bonnie is going to realize how much was going on behind the scenes years from the end of game and I would love to see what they think of it all

[tiktowafel]

do you ever think about how all you used to draw when you were 10 was ponies and that you should still know how to do that, then get an idea and proceed to draw something like these in nearly one sitting and it turns out better than any drawing you've done in the entire past month

sooo anyway does anyone have cutie mark or pony name ideas for them?? lol

[broh3m3]

I love your art style, especially how energetic it is! How did your art style get such dynamic lines? Do you have any tips/advice/ideas on how to do that?

Thank you! Um... I'm not sure how to go about it, but I’ll try and give some tips on line confidence. I think my main advice would be to not let your sketch box you in- keeping it at a really low opacity so that your eyes don’t get used to seeing it with your line art when you draw over it (having your sketch opacity too high can give a different impression of your line work), leaving room to exaggerate or play around with fresh lines in the next phase.. It’s easier to do when you’re confident in your subject, so the sketch should be stable enough to convey that, but have fun with the process otherwise! For me, good line art comes out when I’m actively finding ways to build off the sketch’s energy while lining it, not when I’m trying to limit myself to it/already 100% happy with what it provides.

Here's a bit of a visualization! When going from the sketch to the line art, I was thinking that I could improve the flow of the cape, so I made the upper part less flat and balanced its curve with the bottom to keep the energy flowing. The slope of Kalim's pose could balance the curve of Jamil's sarouel, so I leaned into that when putting down the lines for Kalim's. Meanwhile having some areas be more linear helps give contrast. Line of action, straights against curves, etc. (I think this is delving more into gestural talk now) I'd recommend studying artists whose linework you enjoy too! Kaisen_Tobiuo was-and still is- a big inspiration of mine growing up for how expressive their works and line art felt. Also study naruto fanartists they're cracked It ended up being a bit of a ramble, but I hope this could help op!

[yellowocaballero]

Been a fan of your fics for YEARS. I was just telling my friend how despite how much I read fics I never actually love them, with some of your fics (especially TMA) as the exception. Felt the need to reread some of them and saw you reblogged some ISAT fanart. So. Any thoughts on ISAT you'd like to share?

Hope you have a wonderful day!! So happy I found your fics again!!

I avoided answering this for a while because I was trying to think of a way to cohesively and coherently vocalize my thoughts on In Stars and Time. I have given up because I don't want to hold everybody here all day and I have accepted that my thoughts are just pterodactyl screeching.

I love it so much. I have so much to say on it. It drove me bonkers for like a week straight. I have AUs. It's absolute Megbait. They're just a little Snufkin and they're having the worst experience of anybody's life. Ludonarratives my fucking beloved.

I am going to talk about the prologue.

The prologue is such a fascinating experience. You crack open the game and immediately begin checking off all of the little genre boxes: mage, warrior, researcher, you're the rogue...some little kid who's there for some reason...alright, you know the score. You're in yet another indie Earthbound RPG, these are your generic characters, let's get the ball rolling.

Except then you realize that these characters are people. You feel instantly how you've entered the game at its last dungeon, at the end of the adventure. They have their own in-jokes, histories, backgrounds, adventures. They get along well and they're obviously close, but not in a twee or unrealistic way. They have so much chemistry and spirit and life. I fell in love with them so quickly.

But Sif doesn't. Sif kind of hates them, because they will not stop saying the same damn thing. They walk the same paths, do the same things, make the same jokes, expect Sif to say the same lines. They keep referencing a Sif we do not see, with jokes we never see him make and heroic personality he never shows - they reference a Sif who is dead - and Sif can't handle that, so he kills them too.

They become only an exercise in tedious frustration. Sif button mashes through their dialogue, Sif mindlessly clicks the same dialogue options, Sif skips through the tutorial, Sif blows through the puzzles. Sif turns their world into a video game. Sif is playing a generic RPG. Sif forgets their names. They are no longer people with in-jokes, histories, backgrounds, adventures. They're the mage, the warrior, the researcher, and...some random kid.

I did not understand the Kid's presence at first. I had no idea what they contributed to the game. They didn't do anything. As a party member in a video game, they're a bit useless. Why is the Kid there?

Because Sif's life isn't a video game. Because the kid isn't 'the kid'. They're Bonnie. Bonnie, who the party loves. Why is Bonnie there? Because they love them. There is no room for Bonnie in the boring RPG that Sif is playing. And then you realize that Sif is wrong, and that they've lost something extremely important, and that they'll never escape without it.

Watching the prologue before watching ISAT gave ISAT the most unique air of dread and horror, because you crack open ISAT and you see the person Sif used to be. You realize that Sif used to be a person. Sif used to be the person who made jokes, who gave real smiles, who interacted with the world as if they are a part of it. And you know you are sitting down to watch Sif lose everything that made them a person, to lose everything that made them a member of this world, and turn them into a character in a video game who doesn't understand the point of Bonnie at all.

At the climax of the game, when the others realize that something is deeply wrong and that Sif physically cannot tell them, they realize that there is nothing they can do. So Bonnie declares snacktime. And for the first time they have snacktime.

What is snacktime? Classic JRPGs don't have snacktime. There's literally no point to a snacktime - not in a video game, and not in Sif's terrible life. It's not fixing this, because nothing can fix this. But Bonnie gives Sif a cookie and Sif eats it.

It's meaningless. It's a cutscene. It didn't save Sif and it didn't change a thing. It will make no difference in the end.

But it did make the difference. It made all of the difference in the world. Bonnie is a character who you really don't understand the point of before you realize that Bonnie was the entire point.

ISAT is about comfort media. Why do we play the same video games over and over again? Why do we avoid watching the finale of our favorite shows? What is truly comforting: a story with no conflict, or a story where you always know what is about to happen? Do you want to live in a scary, uncontrollable world, or do you want to play Stardew Valley? Do you want a person or a character?

When I beat Earthbound for the first time (and if you don't know, the prologue/ISAT battle system is just Mother) and watched the ending cutscene where the characters part ways and say goodbye...I felt a little bit sad. I wanted them to be together forever. But that's something only characters could ever be.

[vagun1ka]

i have finished watching g-witch and Belmeria is person I relate the most to.

[yuridovewing]

i understand the frustration with “i made this gay pairing cis x trans so they can still have biological babies” with no thought to other methods and how ppl assume thats the case when it comes to mothpool aus where mothwing is also the mother of the three, but also…. idk i kinda dont give a shit if someone wants to do that and i dont really think its inherently transphobic as long as its handled with care and respect.

what really concerns me about this debate is how some people are adamant that you cannot portray trans people having biological children in media or youre being disrespectful. and im gonna say as a nonbinary person who doesnt want children for themself- thats kinda fucking weird? like i understand that for some people, theyre trans themselves and theyre speaking from a place of dysphoria, and i absolutely get that, which is why i think the topic should be handled with nuance and diversity in trans characters, but like…. guys. pregnant trans men exist irl. trans women get people pregnant irl. trans ppl’s ability and right to parent and have biological children are being debated irl. we get denied the opportunity to adopt as well.

in a climate like this, are we SURE we want the stance on rewrites and headcanons in the silly cat books to be “if you portray trans characters having children, especially with a gay couple, youre a transphobic freak no matter what!” does it really matter? especially if its being done by a trans person handling the topic with nuance who has a lot of trans characters with varying perspectives?

obviously yes, remember that thats not the only way certain gay couples can have kids, remember that not every trans person is fully comfortable with it and keep that in mind, remember that surrogacy and adoption are also perfectly valid ways to give fan babies- but remember that there are OPTIONS. not that you need to condemn the idea of transgender parents in the first place unless they fit the very specific criteria of “proper transgender representation” and anything that dares deviate from that is proof the op is a transphobic monster (bonus points if theyre a trans creator bc i mostly see trans people getting shit for this and it kinda pisses me off. although idm if cis people do it either as long as theyre handling it with respect)

[swordsonnet]

sorry but saying that the accessibility needs of mentally disabled people are just preferences or about "comfort" is blatantly incorrect. if i can't enter a building because the bright lights and loud noises would send me into a meltdown, then i can't enter the building, and that's not less important than me not being able to enter a building because it's not wheelchair accessible. if you genuinely think that mentally disabled people aren't really struggling, and that it's okay to mock their very real concerns, then that just shows that you've been refusing to listen to their experiences. do better or shut the fuck up.

[camelspit]

dying like a man and drawing the cullens :)

(list of fun little details below the cut)

they all have matching friendship bracelets! (something something the stars on them represent how they sparkle and how abnormal and dangerous they are and thats what brought them together)

jasper and rosalie matching spiky bracelets!!

edwards sweater is loosely based on a painting I vaguely remember him mentioning in midnight sun

emmet and roaslie wedding rings <3

jasper and alice have matching necklaces and braids !!

emmets crocs and edwards sensible loafers.

jasper, alice, and rosalie have matching nailpolish

jasper's eyes are slightly darker than the rest, since he's been in the group the shortest amount of time

silly gold lines in their hair to match the eyes!!

emmett eggs...

little heart in edwards hair because hes a special little loverboy <3

[feline-evil]

Dick or no dick confirmation Pickles was always going to be trans to me anyways; if he's swingin' somethin that's phallo babes, if he's not then his t-dick fat. What's not to get.

[puppyeared]

its so hard to watch time pass when things like careers and assignments exist. what do you mean im supposed to take that seriously