#support a struggling queer artist!!!

[angstyandromanticwriting]

AO3 is great to host your works on. It'll make it much easier for us to find them, read them, and support you. If you have mutuals with an account they might be able to give you an invite link to skip the queue.

Hello! I apologise for my late response to this as I often get distracted and forget to answer when I have messages/asks, but I will do my best to respond more frequently as best I can!

I have recently requested to join the queue on AO3, and am hopefully going to receive my invite sometime around the 19th!

Thank you for the reminder + your support as it is greatly appreciated, and I look forward to getting properly set up on there, sometime soon!

As always,

Your ever faithful, H.H. 💜

[m00n-beamz]

Support a struggling, estranged queer artist on ko-fi

Hi there : ) My names Meg (they/them), a 21 y/o artist living in Canada. I've been living on my own for over a year now. I am estranged from my abusive family and I am struggling to get by. I lost my job in March due to me being tracked down by my said abusive parents and have been applying for retail jobs and artist jobs (anything that'll hire me), but have not been hearing back from anyone. In the meantime while I'm looking for a job, I am worried I won't be able to get by on my savings for much longer.

Any amount of support will be greatly appreciated (I'd literally love you). If you can't give support financially, reblogging and sharing this around does just as good < 3

In addition to the living situation, I am dealing with cptsd, depression, anxiety, and I am not able to afford diagnosis and treatment for other mental illnesses that I am struggling with. A more stable income would help me afford these things too. I am not even able to start thinking about gender-affirming surgeries because it's way out of my budget (my budget only includes rent and groceries atm).

⋆.˚𖦹⋆✮⋆.˚⋆.˚𖦹⋆✮⋆.˚⋆.˚𖦹⋆✮⋆.˚⋆.˚𖦹⋆✮⋆.˚⋆.˚𖦹⋆✮⋆.˚⋆.˚𖦹⋆✮⋆.˚⋆.˚𖦹⋆✮⋆.˚

I am currently working on a graphic novel project, writing for the story and designing characters. The story is a fantasy, about searching for joy and rediscovering life. I'm taking lots of inspo from greek mythology- especially with Artimis.

Also, I'm creating a painting series that involves A LOT of nymph and elf smut. If you'd be interested in seeing updates on that, I'm going to be posting my process on ko-fi, along with excerpts from the story that I'm writing. I will do a commission for $10 as well if you'd like too.

Please support me if you can, even sharing helps a ton < 3 Any support is sooooo appreciated.

I also have a shop selling the cutest little crochet stars and stickers- http://moonbeamsart.bigcartel.com

⋆.˚𖦹⋆✮⋆.˚⋆.˚𖦹⋆✮⋆.˚⋆.˚𖦹⋆✮⋆.˚⋆.˚𖦹⋆✮⋆.˚⋆.˚𖦹⋆✮⋆.˚⋆.˚𖦹⋆✮⋆.˚⋆.˚𖦹⋆✮⋆.˚

[mindlessbugs]

me when i post an animation that took hours and i get zero notes

(please please please go check it out please 🙏🙏🙏😭)

[shinetroll]

If anyone's willing to help, I'm moving tomorrow and out of money. I could use some help covering my electric bill and gas for my truck. Anything would be appreciated. I'm open to commissions, or if anyone has the kindness to donate, I'll draw a thank-you doodle.

https://linktr.ee/cabbagepig

[xxbattiepupxx]

gonna revive this account and try to link names across my socials :3 also gonna be posting artwork and promoting my commissions cuz i cant find work rn

[superdillin]

It is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day

And I have some big feelings, as a part of the diaspora. Remembrance Day is an inappropriate title for a time in which Armenians still face genocidal forces. Just last year, Azerbaijan, armed by Turkey, ethnically cleansed over 280,000 Armenians from Artsakh. The illegal colonizer state of Israel, currently in the midst of their 6+ month-long genocide against the Palestinians, has placed the Armenians who call Jerusalem home under threat and siege.

The Armenian struggle and the Palestinian struggle are deeply linked.

In his rise to power, Hitler is quoted to justify his actions against the Jewish, Roma, Queer, Disabled, and other victims of the Holocaust, to say "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

Echoing these chilling words, Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish wrote:

Who Remembers the Armenians? I remember them and I ride the nightmare bus with them each night and my coffee, this morning I'm drinking it with them You, murderer - Who remembers you?

The trauma sustained during a genocide is not limited to the people experiencing it right now. The echoes of that trauma leak forward into the next generations, passed down through survival, and that is so insidious. My grandmother got to live, but did so believing that her parents did not love her, because the trauma they endured prevented them from expressing it. Abuse and unhealthy attachment were passed down because that starving hunger for love and acceptance was passed down. It is so deeply cruel and unfair that our oppressors get to reach through time and hurt our children's children.

We need to band together and stop the present-day abusers, the genocidal monsters that oppress the people of Palestine, Armenia, Congo, and so many others.

We need to uplift art made by those who survived, and by those who are surviving. Art is always targeted by the oppressor to erase cultural identity, to destroy legacy, and to break spirits. Support Palestinian and Armenian poets, and artists, and writers.

If you are one of the many who never learned about the Armenian Genocide, learn today. Ask yourself why people worked so hard not to educate you on this piece of history.

[aspeneyesart]

Hey, I'm really sorry to have to do this but I'm having a really difficult time recovering both financially and nervous-system-wise from a hellish few years of abuse and mounting health problems and I'm just... not ok. Very basic self-care like being able to unclutter my home or even go outside to get some sun has fallen by the wayside as I struggle to catch up on a chronically backlogged commission queue while paying off a literal mountain of debt in the high tens of thousands and being continually derailed by illness flares. I'm trying to put more attention into my shop but it's so early on and I'm still working through so much debt from illness that it's not able to fill the gaps I had hoped right off the bat. I hit an absolute wall the other day, completely shut down, and realized I can't keep going without help. More details are in the link, I'd really appreciate shares or even just reading. Thank you so much to everyone who's helped so far ;;

[darlingillustrations]

WOW! I sold 150 of my Cat Lady For President sticker in ONE DAY, and the orders keep coming in!

I will need to place another order from my sticker maker, so if you want to secure your own Cat Lady For President sticker, get your order in ASAP to ensure I can order enough to fulfill your order.

Direct Link to purchase: https://darlingillustrations.com/store/cat-lady-for-president-kamala-harris-sticker/

One man's "childless" cat lady is that same man's next President. I am SO EXCITED to vote for Kamala Harris in November. Who's with me?

STICKERS and COLORING SHEETS are now for sale in my online shop:

Link to buy stickers.

Link to buy coloring sheets.

[neil-gaiman]

Wonderful Neil,

Seeing as we’re such dear old friends, I was hopeful you might be willing to signal boost our crown funding campaign. Our little upstart theatre company is struggling, as are so many at present, and you’ve been so incredibly kind and generous throughout the years, to your fans directly, and in your support of others, and well… you know how you are…. The absolute loveliest. We’d be forever grateful.

https://givebutter.com/nioVbN

Warmly,

Crave Theatre Company

While I was a tiny bit disappointed to realise that you weren't trying to raise money for a crown, but that you were in fact raising money for a theatre company for queer and BIPOC artists to do cool stuff, I wasn't really that disappointed. I hope you make enough to get a crown as well.

[itgetsbetter]

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ If you want a giant sparkly unicorn rainbow Pride mural like this in your own town...we could help make that happen! . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

High school GSA club students in rural Vermillion, South Dakota were awarded one of our grants in 2022. They collabed with local artist group Mural On the Wall to create an amazing Pride mural on the side of a local downtown restaurant, with over 70 community members contributing and over 40 taking part in their community painting day.

If that wasn't rad enough on its own: thanks to this art and other murals that decorate the streets, the town of Vermillion won the #1 spot in a Reader’s Choice award by USA Today for small towns with the best art scenes!

🟣 One of the GSA club members said, "For me, the significance of the mural is representing the unity between the Indigenous people, the LGBTQ+ community, & other marginalized groups facing oppression in South Dakota.” 

🟣 The GSA VP said, "In times of uncertainty and intolerance towards minority groups in our community, murals like these display our unity and support, spreading a message of love, pride, and hope. I am proud to have been a part of this creative process.” 

🟣 Another GSA club member reflected, "As a young woman pursuing a design career, this mural project was instrumental for many reasons. Not only did it present me with the experience to see and be a part of a large scale creative project from beginning to end, but it also helped me connect with my community and contribute to making my hometown more inclusive and beautiful."

🟣 And the GSA club president said, "As a queer person in a place like rural South Dakota, it is easy to feel underrepresented and left out. My hope is that this project provides visibility and reminds anyone struggling that there are still people on your side."

We want to make more of this happen! If you have an idea to support LGBTQ+ youth in your own community, apply now through May 5th for an It Gets Better: Changemakers grant of up to $10,000: itgetsbetter.org/changemakers

[pumpkinsmashd]

Hi guys! I've really been struggling to make ends meet lately, so I'm opening up my commissions. If you like my art and what I do, and want to help a disabled queer artist, then I'd appreciate your support! Small donations are appreciated, and even if you can't contribute I'd appreciate the reblogs🖤

(I accept Venmo, Paypal, and CashApp)

[anim-ttrpgs]

Why You Should Try Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy Part 1: We Worked Hard on It

This is part 1 of a multi-part series of posts about the awesome features of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, in no particular order. I’m gonna be posting these every Monday until I run out of them.

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is a TTRPG by The Agency of Narrative Intrigue and Mystery (A.N.I.M.), a small independent studio. At the time of writing this, it is in open beta, but has been fully playable for over a year. This game aims to fill a niche that is extremely under-served and under-explored in the TTRPG space, investigation and mystery-solving gameplay, and improve upon the shortcomings of previous iterations of the concept by learning from them.

It is the product of over four years of work, over twenty years of combined TTRPG playing and designing experience, extensive playtesting and feedback, and support from our wonderful friends, families, and fans.

It was really way too big and ambitious of a project for a team of only 7 people (just 2 when we started), but somehow we’ve been able to pull it off. This game is going to come out extremely polished later this year, and even get a physical release soon after that, but you don’t have to wait that long to play it. It’s available for pay-what-you-want (including $0) on itchio. The itchio beta is updated relatively infrequently, but you can get guaranteed monthly updates by signing up to our patreon, as well as a bunch of other bonus material like short stories, adventure modules, and prerelease versions of our team’s other projects.

It’s also one of the last chances for myself, a disabled person who struggles to work a “normal” job due to disability, to become self-sufficient and support myself independently.

If you want to support unashamedly queer and disabled art in an industry choked by monopoly, and get a really good thoughtfully-crafted game out of it, here is your chance. Even if you have no money to give, it still helps us for you to download the free version, play it, talk about it to your friends, and/or reblog this post and others from this same account. Word-of-mouth is the only advertising we’ve got, and your good-will is my life-line.

[heroicn0nsense]

I guess I'm about to get real vulnerable on main here, but I saw some kinda "BookTok" disk horse cross my BlueSky feed, and it's got me thinking in a way I really can only discuss without a character limit. But it feels kind of relative to an over all trans creative experience. Maybe more specifically for us masc people, but. You know. Maybe the threads are different but the weave a similar picture. Anyway, this is kinda what my tumblr blog has become, and so here goes. Please note I also use 'queer' as an all encompassing term, as to me it is the most inclusive word I can use despite its dubious origins and history. Sorry if that upsets anyone.

The funniest thing about this whole conversation popping up was the fact that I had just been lamenting about finding the concept of 'romantasy' fun but what I'd give to find or read something with a transmasc protagonist paired with an opposite partner of any gender. Something my masc bisexual ass would love to see. Mostly because I see and support so many ones that are sapphic in nature, but hardly see any masculine. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places but Anyway. Just so happened that in the next hour I saw what I was looking for cross my Bsky feed, but with the author show casing the really nasty and negative comments he received on his concept. things like but not limited to:

"of course the transmasc character is a twink bottom" "just a girl who got a mastectomy" And other just Internalized Misogyny and Heteronormative things that affect a good portion of us transmasculine guys.

And idk, man it really struck a nerve with me.

If only because first and foremost, the author is writing something he wanted to see. Filling a niche and void he wanted to see realized, and like so many other authors' works, in a way that feels personal to him. And to attack it in such a way was pretty vile.

Queer stories and creations in of themselves are personal stories, because we write from our own experiences, and put them in our original works whether subtly or not so subtly. It's there, and you can't separate the queer experience from a queer work because by its very nature its queer. But also like, that experience isn't the same for everyone. And we shouldn't expect it to be. So, no, not every work is going to be what you want or associate with. But we should be uplifting all of it so that someone with an idea or concept that does speak to you will have the confidence to bring it to the table. And yeah. Unfortunately, that sometimes means that cliches are gonna happen. That twink ass transmasc might end up being a bottom 75% of the time.

But it also like, led me to associate my own struggle of accepting my own body and transness and some of my own preferences in the bedroom.

I'm not saying that all writers, artists, or creators are using their method of making art to explore their own hang ups with their gender and bodies, navigating this absolutely messy and strange world of norms and expectations while simultaneously seeming to want to turn them on their head. Gender is complex. Being trans is complex. And it gets weird, and sometimes we need outlets to work our way through it.

But also, most of us transmasc people have vaginas. It's just a fact of life. We've got a big ol' gaping axe wound of an organ sitting between our legs and for a lot of us, it still feels good to stick something in it, and we shouldn't be ashamed of that at all. And hell, a lot of us are short, considering our genetics are wired that way and no amount of HRT is going to change the fact some of us aren't going to get past 5'5". But sometimes, especially with what is expected to be masculine by gender norms, and the physical form of a cis male body, it can sometimes be really hard to reconcile that.

I know it was for me. To the point where I often struggled with my sexuality and my relationship with intimacy about it for a long time.

I made my character Akihiro while I was, and still am parsing through a lot of my own dysphoric issues, and paving my own way to acceptance. And that's made him a deeply personal character to me. And he has grown and changed as I project a lot of those issues on to him and his development. Akihiro has been an exploration of myself as much as he is an an original character that I role play. But not so much in the ways of personality, but more in the ways of the challenges with which he is presented and has to navigate himself.

Akihiro is a trans man in a world that is accepting of it. Society has progressed past these petty and arbitrary standards. But he becomes a cyborg at a time where the question is instead what it means to be human, and so...The aspect of depersonalization, dysphoria, and depersonalization he experiences at the hands of transhumanism is not so different than what I have and do experience in my own transition.

Akihiro wasn't always trans. That was honestly a pretty recent development and one that I did struggle with making. And I realized I was struggling with it because of those same dysphoric issues. And I just needed to let them go.

It was reflected in another recent development; the way that I had Akihiro handle his genitals when he was presented with the option to upgrade from none to a functioning set. And he chose to go with what he had been born with, the genitals he had when his body was mangled. He went with a vagina. Because he wanted to embrace the body he had taken for granted before he lost it, and not some idealized version of himself he could have obtained at any point prior.

And yeah. He 'bottoms' the majority of the time for his boyfriend because he enjoys it. But it doesn't stop him from topping him either, nor enjoying that. Nor had it stopped him previously from being intimate with other men and women. And that's his preference as a character.

And who are we to say it wasn't the same for this author? Where he is putting his feelings and acceptance of his own body and desires onto paper? And that is being met with such vitriol because it's not someone else's idea of what is masculine, or whatever. I don't know. Maybe they weren't. Maybe they did just wanna write some twink ass boy getting dicked down and like, that's fine too. Why do we have to be so mad about that?

And maybe this was just a lot of words to say that I think we get so wrapped up in words and labels for things that it completely erases the nuances of our own experiences and it turns right back around to being so queerphobic and limiting. And we don't give ourselves, much less other people, the grace to create the things they want to, and from a place of their own experience and desire. It's harmful.

[renthony]

One of my least favorite things in fandom spaces is when people try to uplift one piece of queer media by bashing a different one.

I've seen people use The Owl House to shit on Steven Universe, I've seen people use both Warrior Nun and A League of Their Own to shit on Our Flag Means Death, I've seen people use Interview With the Vampire to shit on Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, I've seen people use basically every other popular queer novel to shit on The Locked Tomb, and those are just examples off the top of my head. It happens with basically every new queer media, and it's been happening for as long as queer media has existed. I don't expect it to disappear any time soon, but it still makes me tired.

People act as if there's a set number of slots for queer art, and whatever fills those slots has to be the height of perfection or the artist has somehow betrayed "the community." The thing is, there is no singular "queer community," no queer art is ever going to speak to every single queer person in the world, and the answer to queer art you don't like is to go support the queer art you do like and let the art you don't like exist for the people who do.

Queer inclusion in mainstream media is always going to be a struggle and a source of disagreement. The answer is not to tear everything down, the answer is to go support the queer artists who are making the shit you'd like to see instead. Especially indies.

"This is bad rep! This is trashy! This is soulless! This is making us look bad! This is hurtful!"

Mm-hmm, yes, that's your opinion, but I have to ask: is it those things to literally every queer person, or just you? Because there is no queer person on this planet who can speak for all of us.

[thelaurenshippen]

I struggle with how much being online is useful or good anymore, if it ever was. I want my art to speak for itself and, increasingly, I’m allowing that to be the extent of my presence online. I think it’s important to take action in the real world in whatever way I can and, on here, I think my role is to provide a place for feelings. I’m going to keep doing that. I’m going to keep doing it in my queer body that has a uterus, because that’s all I can do. I’m going to keep loving my community and making space for other voices as much as I can.

Atypical’s shows are made by queer people, by women, by trans artists, by Black artists, by neurodivergent artists, by disabled artists. I don’t really have the luxury of funding other artists’ works at the moment, so I try to show my support to communities I’m not a part of in other ways—through listening to their work, through mentorship, through calling out the shows I think are great.

so tell me what audio fiction has made you feel something recently. tell me what’s brought you joy, what’s made you cry, what’s made you feel less alone. and I’ll keep trying to do all those things for you too.

[cyberphuck]

Couple weeks ago my friend sent me a link to @vaspider shop with their promotion for a buy one get one free on hot/cold packs:

Razz loves to spread the word about shops they buy from, especially small businesses or shops owned and operated by queer people. I did not need a popcorn scented heat pack, so I did not buy anything, but they did.

Tonight I got these messages: 



Emails, you say? Let’s see…

I just want you guys to know that this last line, “after this interaction I can no longer in good conscience promote your work or buy from you,” is akin to burning your crops and salting your fields coming from Razz. They are the most polite person I know. They do not want to stir up trouble. Part of it is because, as a blind person, they have had to learn to be non-confrontational in order to protect themselves, but it’s also because Razz is just genuinely a kind hearted and understanding person.

They live off of disability and occasional commissions, but they use what little money they have to support small businesses and independent artists because they appreciate the quality as well as the work that goes into each item. You can see here that Raz was trying to figure out if it was a genuine misunderstanding on their part because they hadn’t read the site correctly.

They were not able to read the site correctly because they’re blind.

This isn’t really about a misunderstanding, or Razz wanting to get the other item. It’s about Vaspider immediately treating them with contempt when Razz sent an email asking what had gone wrong. Is it the businesses responsibility to eat the cost of shipping due to someone not being able to understand the terms of the sale? It’s certainly good business practice, but I think Razz would have understood if they had been told that it would cost the store too much for another item to be sent if Vaspider hadn’t been such an asshole about it.

Razz is, unfortunately, used to disappointment. They are used to having to struggle to navigate websites that are not made with people like them in mind. They are even, at this point, used to having to lose money on things due to brain damage suffered from being forced into a botched medical procedure last year. But that isn’t how they opened this conversation. They opened with, “I think something may have gone wrong, can you help me understand what happened? “

The way Vaspider treated my friend is disgusting. I hope that those of you reading this will take Vaspiders behavior in this exchange into account when you’re deciding where to spend your money. The next time that you see one of their posts, a link to their store, or receive an email about a sale, I hope that you remember these emails and recall how Vaspider treats people that they don’t think are important. I want you to think about whether the group of people that Vaspider considers to be worthless might include you. 

I know that there are a lot of people willing to come to Vaspiders defense because they’re well-known and popular. They are so well-known and popular that they’re willing to treat one of their customers like garbage over $10 in shipping, and they’re willing to do it right out in the open for everyone to see.

Happy holidays, and eat a big old bag of dicks. 

Let’s fucking go.