#tenet artwork

[regal-bones]

A warrior of soft fabric and gleaming armour for @n-sani-tea 🧸👺

If you’re interested in getting a commission done yourself, DM me!

Or you can support me on Patreon for £1 and help me keep making art!

[davipinheiroart]

Reassisti Tenet ontem e eu ainda amo esse filme maluco

[harukaspiegel]

I want to watch Tenet again, so I drew this.

[wanderingnork]

Hi! Loved the lore dump yesterday and it got me really curious:

Githyanki worship Vlaakith, right? But do the githzerai have any religion (I'm not entirely sure how faith features into the monk class in D&D)? And do you know anything more about that long-dead goddess whom they used to worship?

What did the illithids use the githyanki for exactly? Just food? Manual labor? As soldiers?

Also, the Penumbran's "alien sheep" made me wonder what kind of livestock (if any) the gith keep nowadays and if you know whether they might also keep pets?

Which THEN got me wondering whether the gith are into music, performative arts, and poetry aside from the art you've described in that lovely one shot with the artist and the solider on AO3? /very long ask over And thank you so much for sharing all this lore with the rest of us! I'm really enjoying learning from your blog.

ALL RIGHT LET'S GO I HAVE SOURCES >:3

Starting off with worship: Back in the 2nd Edition D&D Monstrous Manual, Zerthimon is portrayed as a prophet-like figure, who died fighting Gith but will eventually return to lead the githzerai into a paradise. In Dragon magazine #390, which is a 4th edition publication, there's a sect of githzerai who carved their residence out of the petrified body of a dead god and live by its religious tenets. But the closest the githzerai have to an active deity in 5th Edition sources is their king, Zaerith Menyar-Ag Gith. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes depicts him as a transcendent monk with incredible psionic powers, who looks like he's dead and just exists in a coffin projecting his thoughts.

What did the illithids use the githyanki for? All of the above. In the Mind Flayer Trilogy, we see them used as gardeners, food, manual labor, and eventually psionic supersoldiers (the illithids' final downfall). In all accounts, Gith was a bodyguard and soldier. According to the Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon from Planescape: Torment, he worked in fields where bodies of gith used for food were turned to fertilizer for illithid crops.

Livestock and pets: The githyanki have an entire caste devoted to farming, the g'lathk (which has two apostrophes in earlier editions). The most detailed description of the g'lathk I've found is the web supplement for Dungeon #100 (Lich-Queen's Beloved), which goes in-depth on Tu'narath's farming district. To quote the article: "everything from rothé to chained humanoid captives (goblins, kobolds, gnomes, dwarves, halflings, elves, humans, bariaurs, and other “cattle”)." More recent editions have seriously downplayed or eliminated the idea of the githyanki keeping slaves this way (4th Edition's "Secrets of the Astral Sea" goes as far as saying that githyanki abhor slavery as hypocrisy when they themselves were slaves), but yeah. That's the livestock situation.

AS FOR PETS, that's MUCH more fun. Githyanki are frequently accompanied by spectral hounds, or ride interesting mounts like nightmares or the hybrids of dinosaurs and red dragons. However, in Dragon magazine #117, there's the wonderful article "Hounds of Space and Darkness." Here we learn about the dogs specially bred by the githyanki and githzerai. The githyanki breed guard dogs called kaoulgrim which are essentially super aggressive Russian bear-hunting dogs, huge and fluffy. The githzerai breed the szarkel, which are Extremely Extremely Cursed borzoi that have some limited shapechanging ability.

Finally, art: The githyanki have always been portrayed as a highly artistic group. In their earliest AD&D incarnations, they wear a great deal of jewelry and beautiful armor. By 2nd Edition, especially in the Planescape books, we see the craftsmen (mlar or m'lar) popping up. Planescape's Faction War supplement discusses beautiful and magical jewelry being sold in the city of Sigil. A Guide to the Astral Plane (also 2E) presents glorious artwork by Tony diTerlizzi of githyanki arms and armor and clothes. The Black Spine adventure for the 2nd Edition Dark Sun campaign setting offers the chance to visit a githyanki palace and includes a palace with whole wings devoted to music and art. In the 3rd Edition Tome of Battle, we get the entire story of a famous githyanki smith who made a legendary and (from the accompanying art) beautiful sword. The same Dungeon web supplement above details the mlar district of Tu'narath, where artists live in studios to create spectacular and often magical works of art.

In 5th Edition, going back to Mordenkainen, this takes a sour turn. That book portrays the githyanki as a society of bored, semi-immortal dilettantes, who get halfway through works of art or other creative projects before abandoning them for something new. I don't particularly like that, considering just how much has gone before about the githyanki being an artistic society.

I suspect that Larian agrees with me. In a banter between Gale and Lae'zel, she informs him that the githyanki paint frescoes, write symphonies, and make wine. Given how much Larian has already diverged from mainline D&D githyanki lore in their game, I think that it's a safe bet that the githyanki of Baldur's Gate 3 are more in line with the previous editions of D&D in terms of art.

[twoiafart]

The wedding of Jaehaerys and Alysanne Artwork by Thomas Denmark

The Kingsguard arrived a few days later. On the following dawn, and as 49 AC drew to a close, Jaehaerys and Alysanne were wed by Dragonstone’s Septon Oswyck—an old man who had taught them both the tenets of the Faith in their childhood. Unlike the Golden Wedding, few were in attendance: just the Kingsguard, the castle’s garrison and servants, and a portion of the smallfolk from the village beneath the walls. A modest feast followed, and then Jaehaerys and Alysanne retired to the marital chamber—though they both agreed that the marriage would not be consummated until Alysanne was older.

[02png]

Happy birthday!!!! Found you through your protagoneil/tenet artworks and loved your star wars works, you’re an incredible artist and I’m so happy you share your works with us. Wishing you the best day!!

Thank you for staying with me for so long ❤️ Let's spend many more birthdays together.

[kitshiki]

        001.  /  kitsune hamlet worldbuilding

what does rai love doing more than completely off the cuff worldbuilding for small isolated populations from which only like 1-2 canon characters come from. nothing. so let's geaux.

⠀◦◞ ORIGIN ﹗

this was lightly foregrounded in the interview i wrote for nishiki ( where i sprinkled in some original lore surrounding the kitsune hamlet ) but the kitsune of hoshido believe in a fairly uniform creation story that explains how they got to be where they are today:

it's believed that in the ancient times, hoshido was once a land of mostly water and swamp, the majority of it uncultivable and uninhabitable. mankind at this time lived in pockets of civilization, separated from one another. during a time of great famine, the goddess o-inari descended from the heavens to aid life in this land, bringing with her her children and servants: the foxes 　

o-inari exists in the kitsune mindset as a being separate from the dragon-gods of fates lore, originating from a different place ( heaven ). there is no apparent relation between the two beliefs systems 　

the legend continues that after saving life from starvation, o-inari departed again for heaven, but left her children behind as stewards of the land in her stead. as time passed however, people forgot the purpose of the foxes, and grew to see them as any other animal. from the foxes' watchful, playful, and secretive manner, they drew many stories that painted them as malicious and selfish tricksters. they grew to fear them and see them as omens of bad luck, and then finally to hunt them for the beauty of their fur 　

defenseless, the foxes prayed for help, and o-inari descended again. she made for them a home in the mountains of hoshido and established the kitsune hamlet, a place where they could live safe and peacefully free from human persecution. and to defend themselves from incursions, she granted them human-like intelligence, a unique magic ( the power of illusion ), and the ability to transform and hide themselves. this was the beginning of the modern-day kitsune race 　

the age of this story far transcends the life of any living kitsune today, so none of them know exactly how long ago this was said to be. but it is how they've lived ever since, passing down this story and the cautionary tales of humans that hated and feared them

⠀◦◞ BELIEF SYSTEM ﹗

accordingly with the above legends, the kitsune see themselves as descendants of the god/goddess o-inari, an essentially genderfluid being, though she is often depicted in artworks with feminine features and often colloquially referred to in feminine terms. o-inari is believed to be a goddess of fertility, agriculture, and abundance, and is thus also associated with goods like rice, bread, sake, and cotton.

o-inari is believed by the kitsune to be a kind goddess who detests violence since bloodshed is antonymous with the bounty that she represents. she is depicted to be sheltering, as when she chose to shield the foxes and give them the means to defend themselves rather than punish the humans that hunted them. however, there are stories passed down that show that o-inari can also be strict and vengeful; at times, she is shown wielding a sword or a sickle of heaven with which she burns huge swaths of crops.

o-inari herself is believed to be a shapeshifter, another trait passed down to the kitsune in the form of their illusory magic. in certain stories, she appears in various forms such as snakes or humans or spiders.

reciprocity, one of the strongest tenets of kitsune culture that nishiki shows us in canon, also is rooted in their belief system. it is believed that o-inari greatly emphasized and praised reciprocity and the repaying of debts, as the constant ongoing cycle of give and take between individuals and societies was what generated the karma that allowed the world to turn, and thus abundance to spread. it's believed that without reciprocity, the karma of the world would shrivel and decay, leading eventually to the end of all life. to demonstrate reciprocity and live by this tenet, therefore, is to show great respect to o-inari as well as to honor the cycle of life and the laws of heaven. concurrently, it's believed that shirking reciprocity is an actively harmful act unto life itself, and that heaven keeps a checkbook of sorts on how good you've been about it, and thus how much karma you've helped to generate.

⠀◦◞ MISC. KITSUNE HAMLET NOTES ﹗

some other worldbuilding that's more directly related to the kitsune race and hamlet life:

just like o-inari herself, kitsune are genderfluid beings conceptually. they believe that the older a kitsune grows, the more powerful they become, and at certain benchmarks in age, one gains the qualities of masculinity and femininity equally. it's unclear exactly what this means functionally as the kitsune tend to only talk about it in spiritual terms, but nishiki would tell you that the elders of the hamlet that were centuries old were definitely no longer defined by a singular gender 　

kitsune are not illiterate, but due to spending most of their time in fox form and usually only taking humanoid shape for either convenience or when traveling outside the hamlet, reading and writing aren't large parts of their native culture. instead, they have a strong oral tradition; stories and legends are passed down by word of mouth and occasionally through artwork. this is supplemented by the kitsune's naturally long memory 　

leading the kitsune hamlet is like leading a colony of street cats. though kitsune still retain some natural inclinations toward the sense of community and belonging ( we see some of this in nishiki's hinata support ), they're much less socially-bound than humans, and nishiki's behavior of coming and going from the hamlet for long stretches of time with no set return date, etc. is not uncommon. as a result, leadership among kitsune is a loosely-defined term, and there aren't a lot of rules, structure, or determinate hierarchy among the kitsune, nor much sense of obligation. the chief takes on some sense of doing what's best for the hamlet and protecting it from danger, but outside of times of strife, don't assume much of a leadership role from day to day and everyone is more or less allowed to do what they want. in essence, the chief exists as the point of decision-making in emergencies when one is needed, but other than that the social structure is very laissez-faire. the position of chief is also at least partly hereditary, as seen by nishiki telling us that his father was chief before him 　

this individuality, independence, and loose attitude toward social structure, along with the kitsunes' aversion to violence, is ultimately why they lose the battle to defend themselves so spectacularly against a trained and disciplined army despite the danger that an individual kitsune poses and the advantage they had of being on home turf

[natureintheory]

Clay & volume renders ↑

Concept sketches ↑

—

Quantum Darwinism • Physics Illustration • 2019

Charles Darwin was born on this day, February 12, 1809. #DarwinDay seems like a good one to share one of my favorite old projects,

Created for a 2019 Quanta Magazine article by Philip Ball: Quantum Darwinism, an Idea to Explain Objective Reality, Passes First Tests

The mirrors represent reality, and the foreground a quantum world with a wave in superposition. When it decoheres, only blue remains.

This is now outdated skill & technique-wise, but I still like a lot about it, especially the subject matter. I enjoy mixing scientific concepts with fantastical imagery — when it makes sense, of course.

One of the central tenets of my creative direction for Quanta was that the artwork should match the excitement and wonder of the stories it accompanies. "Art is a lie that tells the truth" — it's about using visual storytelling to reveal the real magic of the science detailed, not just give a literal translation. It's disappointing to see a fascinating story accompanied by dull visuals that don't do it justice (or worse, repel). Not saying I always succeeded in the former, or avoiding the latter, but I sure as hell tried!

[ourstaturestouchtheskies]

charlotte talks art history: carravagesque baroque art

And we are back at it again!

Hi everyone, and welcome to the second “charlotte talks art history!” Today the topic is baroque art, and specifically baroque painting in the Caravaggesque style! (this one’s for you @ilikeitbetterangsty 🥰 I hope you like it!!)

I do just want to quickly note that in the future I will likely not be able to do these kinds of longer posts so close together, but I had a lot of extra time this week and really wanted to write this one

Quick note: As with any art period, there were many styles of baroque art and many artists working in this period. My favorite kind of baroque art happens to be Caravaggesque, so we will be focusing on him and his style, but just know that there are many other forms of baroque art to explore if you’re interested!

Content warning for depictions of violence (specifically beheading), blood, and death throughout the post

~2800 words

As always, I’d like to start by defining some terms and giving a general overview

The term “baroque” generally refers to artwork created in the period after the Renaissance. Dating periods is really difficult, but generally the baroque period took place from the mid-1500s through the mid-1700s. It’s not fully clear where the term “baroque” originated, but some scholars suggest that it had to do with a fad for flawed pearls rather than perfectly round ones, suggesting a wider cultural interest in the unusual and the complex. Baroque encapsulates pretty much all artforms, from sculpture to music, but I will be focusing on painting in this post.

“Tenebrism” is a term associated with baroque art, and it describes the dramatic contrast of light and shadow in a painting 

“Caravaggesque” means “in the style of Caravaggio,” a deeply influential baroque artist who I will discuss in more depth below

“Caravaggisti” refers to artists who paint in the style of Caravaggio

And now, the man himself: Caravaggio. A little bit of a bad boy in the art world, Caravaggio had a penchant for drunkenness and brawling, and he *might* have killed a guy that one time. As a result of his uh… more abrasive nature, he spent much of his adult life in exile and on the run (primarily in Italy). Aside from his personal habits, many artists of the time also really disliked his work. There are a number of reasons for this, and they’re worth exploring since they’re also what makes his art so distinctive and influential

Without further ado, let’s immerse ourselves in the drama of Caravaggesque baroque art!

One reason that Caravaggio’s painting was disliked by other artists was the fact that he flaunted many of the “rules” of painting held sacred by the influential artists and scholars of the Renaissance. I might do a whole post on the Renaissance later, but for now, here are some important tenets of Renaissance art you’ll need to know to understand why Caravaggio’s art was so shocking to some people:

Linear perspective: developed in the early 1400s by Brunelleschi (and also other people, but he typically gets the credit), linear perspective (also called one-point perspective) is something you might have done in art class. Essentially, you pick a single vanishing point, and all the lines point back to that one point, so everything is scaled based on distance. Linear perspective is actually a bit odd, since it’s not actually how humans perceive space (we receive visual input from both eyes, thus we do not perceive things as actually having a single vanishing point), however, it is an effective tool for suggesting receding space in 2-D works. Anyway, as soon as this method was discovered, people became completely obsessed with it, especially in Italy. On a wider cultural level, it also represented a kind of ordering of the world and served as proof of the development of art based on human intellect and careful study and observation. 

I also want to note here that linear perspective was hailed as a way to make paintings seem like a “window onto the world,” showing viewers a possible reality rather than a constructed art piece. However, prior to this time, that was simply not necessarily a goal of art. Rather, it was meant to evoke emotional response, act as a catalyst for meditation, or even aid in religious devotion. So it’s not that earlier artists didn’t understand recession into space or were “bad” artists, it just simply wasn’t something that was as important to them. Even after the system of linear perspective was discovered, artists in some places just chose not to use it, since it didn’t serve the goals of their art, and it can actually distort scenes in its own way, since – as I mentioned above – it’s not a totally accurate representation of how humans perceive space.

Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi’s Adoration of the Magi (ca. 1440-1460) does not use linear perspective. Although things that are farther away are smaller, there is no real “rule” for how they should be scaled, leaving the whole scene feel a little wonky and “off” (look particularly at the barn and its relationship to the landscape and the other architectural elements). Again, this is not because the artists are incompetent, but because this art had different goals and didn’t place as much importance on being "realistic." Compare this to Raphael’s Marriage of the Virgin (1502) which does use linear perspective. You can see the clearly defined space as delineated by the receding lines in the pavement that all point back to the structure in the background. It gives the overall piece a much more static, geometric feeling.

Exactness/realism (kind of): connected to the use of linear perspective to make paintings seem more “real,” many artists of the Italian Renaissance prioritized the study of anatomy and the careful construction of the human form. This attention to physical “accuracy” was called disegno (meaning drawing, design, drafting, etc.) and is epitomized by artists like Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo. Leonardo dissected corpses to study anatomy and made thousands of anatomical drawings in his notebooks. A Renaissance writer named Giorgio Vasari (who I have huge beef with btw 😂 – maybe in the future I’ll write out a full Vasari callout post lmao) championed Michelangelo’s use of disegno, especially the way that Michelangelo articulated muscles and movement in his figures (I actually think that Mikey’s figures are hella ugly and the muscles look like weird bulbous growths but that's just my opinion lol). This interest in exacting realism led artists to place an importance not only on the delineation of space – as we saw with linear perspective – but also on crisp, clear lines that defined each figure in the composition, with each element being individually designed. Those in favor of disegno also criticized artists who favored “colore” (color, but in this sense also often meaning a looser handling of paint). Those in the colore camp used a more blended style that favored a more overall atmospheric affect achieved through color and texture rather than the clean, individualized figures of the disegno supporters. Colore artists like Titian were often criticized by saying that they could be “great” artists if only they learned disegno. Ultimately, we can see who “won” this debate by the fact that disegno artists like Leonardo and Michelangelo are vastly more well known then colore artists like Titian.

Here's an example of one of Mikey’s figures as opposed to one of Titian’s works (Michelangelo’s Expulsion from Paradise from the Sistine Chapel versus Titian’s La Gloria). You can see the careful articulation of anatomy in Mikey’s, whereas the figures appear softer and more blended in Titian’s piece, leading to a sense of overall cohesion rather than Mikey’s exactitude in each individual figure. 

Idealization/restraint: lastly, we should discuss the Renaissance’s interest in idealizing their figures – especially those of religious importance – and the emotional restraint demonstrated by the vast majority of these figures. By idealization, I mean that artists made their figures beautiful – they made sure they conformed to the beauty ideals of their own time and culture. Though they would use models to help them capture movement and poses, most of the faces of these figures are not based on real people, but rather represent the artist's idea of “perfection.” This interest in perfection also ties into the emotional restraint found in much of Renaissance art. Put bluntly, people don’t typically look conventionally beautiful when they are doing anything that contorts the face, such as yelling, crying, scowling, etc. Therefore, many Renaissance figures tend to have very placid expressions, even in distressing situations. 

Here are some examples of that idealized beauty and placid, emotionally restrained expressions: one of Raphael’s many Madonnas and Paolo Uccello’s Battle of San Romano (idk about y’all but to me those guys are looking pretty chill for being actively involved in combat)

But what does all of this have to do with Caravaggio and baroque art? A lot, actually, since Caravaggio looked at all these rules and conventions and basically said “artists really have to conform to a lot of expectations. Not me bc I do what I want – y’all stay safe tho.” Then he preceded to do absolutely none of the things listed above which created a compelling new style of painting and pissed a lot of Renaissance-lovers off in the process (so a win-win imo) 

(sorry for all the Renaissance talk, but it's important for understanding the drastic changes found in Caravaggio's art)

So, finally – to the baroque!

If there’s one word to encapsulate baroque art, it would be this:

✨Drama✨

Movement, lighting, color, action – baroque art has it all!

Caravaggio really starts this transformation with his Calling of Saint Matthew (1599-1600). There are a few things to note here. While not as dramatic as it will become in the future, there is still a fairly high contrast between the light and shadows (tenebrism), leaving some parts of the composition obscured in shadow (which folks like Vasari would not have liked lol). In addition, the light here actually acts as a character itself; rather than being represented by an old man on a cloud or a disembodied hand reaching down from the sky, God is present in this piece as the beam of light, calling on Matthew by illuminating him. Another thing we see here is biblical figures being dressed in clothing that was contemporary to Caravaggio’s own time. Although this had been done before, it was with baroque art that this trend really took off. In addition to that, these people don’t look “special.” They don’t have halos, they’re not glowing with an otherworldly light, their features aren’t supernaturally perfect. Instead, they're depicted as un-idealized, normal people that you might pass on the street. And with that, we have the beginning of the Caravaggesque baroque

As Caravaggio continues to paint in this style, his departure from Renaissance ideals becomes even more dramatic. In The Calling of Saint Matthew, we perhaps still could have seen a deference to linear perspective and an interest in constructing realistic space, but this fades as we move further into Caravaggio’s career. He exchanges a “believable” space for a kind of murky darkness behind his figures that pushes the characters to the front of the picture plane, quite literally putting them in the spotlight. Here is where tenebrism becomes even more noticeable: we have deep shadows in the background contrasted with a bright light illuminating the figures, throwing them into sharp relief against the darkness. This also connects to the idea of drama, since Caravaggio’s canvases now almost appear to be stages. His figures are the actors, performing their roles at the front of the stage and the darkness behind them is the recesses of the stage, mostly obscured but perhaps revealing a few important props or set pieces. Here are a couple examples of this: The Deposition (1602-1604) and The Supper at Emmaus (1606)

Caravaggio also introduces much more movement and expression to his works. Connecting again to the idea of his compositions acting as stage plays, we see characters in the midst of dramatic actions filled with energy and passion. One good example of this is in The Taking of Christ (ca. 1602). The swirls of fabric, desperate reaching of hands, entangled body parts, and emotive expressions bring the piece to life and create a spiral of frenetic movement around Christ. Even in more still scenes, such as Saint Francis in Mediation (1606), Caravaggio’s depiction of forms and use of expressiveness in both facial features and body language still conveys powerful emotions to the viewer. 

So, let’s check Caravaggio’s work against the Renaissance ideals for art:

Linear perspective – nope! In fact, he does away with any real sense of recession into space and instead pushes his figures to the very foreground of his compositions, leaving the background dark and obscured

Exactness – also nope! His use of paint is much more reminiscent of Titian than of Leonardo or Mikey. His figures swirl with motion and tend to blur into the shadows and other objects around them. Rather than clearly delineating each figure and object, they instead move together to create a cohesive scene united by color and movement

Realism/idealization – yes and no. Caravaggio embraces a kind of realism that the Renaissance scorned. He chose to depict the features of real, everyday people rather than idealizing his figures. Instead of making his backgrounds appear like realistic windows onto the world, he turns his canvases into stages, emphasizing the performativity and constructed nature of art rather than trying to convince us we’re looking at a possible reality

Restraint – hell no! Caravaggio’s figures are in motion, performing dramatic actions, and conveying intense emotions

So, in short, Caravaggio saw the Renaissance expectations for art and said “nah, fuck that.” And although he may have infuriated the Vasaris and Renaissance-lovers of the world, his new, compelling style was incredibly appealing to a large swath of patrons and other artists

Caravaggio’s influence was widespread, and his dramatic style was picked up by fellow Italian artists, but also as far away as France and Spain. The Caravaggisti (artists inspired by Caravaggio who painted in his style) could be its own post, so I will just quickly cover a few here.

In Spain, we see artists like Juan Sanchez Cotan and Diego Velazquez clearly taking inspiration from the Caravaggesque style of painting. Although there is a heated debate about where and when Velazquez could have been exposed to Caravaggesque work, it is nevertheless clear that the Spanish painter’s bodegones (scenes of everyday life) and the unidealized figures found even in some of his historical and mythological paintings pull from Caravaggio’s interest in depicting real people. Here we have a bodegone from 1618 titled Old Woman Frying Eggs and a mythological painting, Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan (1630)

Even an artist like Cotan who mainly created still life paintings seems to be taking inspiration from Caravaggesque art. In these images, we see food items pressed closely to the picture plane, and even projecting out into our space. They are brightly lit with a deep, shadowed void behind them. This dramatic use of tenebrism is very Caravaggesque (the examples here are Quince, Cabbage, Melon, and Cucumber (ca. 1602) and Carrots and Cardoon (early 1600s))

And because I simply could not make a post about baroque painting without her, let’s talk about Artemisia Gentileschi (I love her, your honor). One of a very limited number of female painters from this period who have been widely discussed, Gentileschi used a distinctly Caravaggesque style with unidealized figures, dramatic contrasts of light and shadow, and emotionally-charged scenes filled with movement (the paintings here are Jael and Sisera (ca. 1620) and Annunciation (ca. 1630))

Let me end on one of my favorite paintings: Judith Beheading Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi (ca. 1620). This is an incredibly compelling piece, and is also a perfect example of the Caravaggesque style of painting. First, we have a very dramatic (and brutal) scene that is actively occurring as we look on. Judith is still in the act of beheading Holofernes, who is not quite dead yet, with his blood spraying outward in a gush of red. Holofernes’ face is contorted in fear and pain, while Judith wears a determined, focused expression as she passes the sword through his neck. The characters and action are front and center, brightly illuminated with the background dissolving into shadow. This piece screams drama and is quintessentially baroque

Okay, damn so this is even longer than my last one – sorry! If you read this far, thank you so incredibly much, and I hope this was informative or at least interesting!

Let me know how you feel about baroque art, and if you had a favorite piece. Does anyone else also have beef with Vasari lol? Are there any artists or works that I should talk about in the future?

If you’re interested in baroque sculpture, go check out Bernini – his work is so cool!

As always, thank you so much for being here and for listening to my unhinged ramblings about art!

Yours in Artemisia Gentileschi appreciation,

charlotte 💙

[valerysazonov-blog]

"Sator arepo tenet opera rotas"

Remake of my artwork.

[themuseumwithoutwalls]

MWW Artwork of the Day (8/15/23) Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923-1997) Female Head (1977) Oil and Magna on canvas, 152.4 x 127 cm. Private Collection

A dazzling vision of exquisite beauty and peerless formal execution, "Female Head" represents the ultimate crescendo of Roy Lichtenstein’s pioneering investigation into the form, content, and meaning of Contemporary Art. Fixing on the viewer with a sidelong glance that is both irresistibly seductive and utterly elusive, the breathtaking subject of the present work embodies the ultimate crystallization of Lichtenstein’s enduring engagement with the most iconic of his subjects: the female head. Here, she is freed from the prosaic confines of the traditional Pop narrative to be reimagined as the beguiling muse of the Modernist masters. Utterly breathtaking in the scope of its references, "Female Head" articulates the central tenets of Lichtenstein’s quintessential vernacular with unparalleled pictorial exuberance and graphic charge.

[someemochick]

Tenet of The Spark: Mall by Pavel Vophira

[creepypastaessays]

Tim Sutton essay, redone

The internet has opened up a myriad of ways for media houses and fans alike to interact with their favourite characters from films, TV series and YouTube productions. One area that keeps raising eyebrows is the casual, often regressive sexualisation of characters. One such character subjected to this alarming trend is Tim Sutton from the YouTube series "Marble Hornets". This essay intends to argue why Tim Sutton should not be sexualised in fan media.

"Marble Hornets" is an eerie, captivating series, centred on the experiences of characters in the hands of a strange, supernatural being. Tim Sutton, albeit mentally unstable due to his battles with the Operator (the series' antagonist), remains an admirable character whose complexities add depth to the series. However, a worrying trend has been observed in fandom culture: the sexualisation of this character, which displays a lack of understanding of his character arc, and, more importantly, trivialises the serious nature of his mental illness.

Firstly, it's essential to understand the character of Tim Sutton. He’s presented in the series as a mentally unstable individual, tormented by the Operator. The sexualisation of Sutton in fan artwork and fiction erodes his complex character. It simplifies him to a sexual object, reducing his struggle with mental instability to mere side notes. This variation not only betrays the original character design but also detracts from the purpose of introducing such a character in the series.

Let's delve deeper. The series impeccably portrays the struggles associated with mental instability. By subjecting Sutton to constant psychological torment, the show paints a vivid picture of the mental health struggles many people face. Therefore, the sexualisation of Sutton is not only wrong; it implicitly trivialises mental illness. And in a society where mental health is a pressing issue, such behaviour could lead to an erosion of the right perception towards mental health.

Moreover, a character’s sexualisation sends wrong signals to the younger audience. The Marble Hornets’ fan base comprises a significant number of adolescents who may not comprehend the implications of mischaracterising a person suffering from mental issues. The sexualisation of Sutton risks glorifying the suffering he undergoes, negating all the pain and challenges people with mental disorders endure daily.

Additionally, the overt sexualisation of Sutton contributes to the objectification of men in the media. Although more prevalent towards women, male objectification remains a persisting issue that needs to be addressed. Subjecting Sutton to sexual objectification perpetuates the problem and desensitises people to its presence. It also reduces appreciation for commendable acting and high-quality storytelling, focusing only on the physical tenets of the character.

Furthermore, it is pertinent to point out that Sutton has consistently struggled with dissociative identity disorder. By sexualising his character, fans unknowingly stereotype people dealing with similar conditions, even implicating that their struggles are inexplicably linked to their sex appeal. This paints a harmful narrative that hinders efforts to remove the stigma around mental health.

In conclusion, the sexualisation of Tim Sutton from Marble Hornets in fan media discounts the fundamental essence of his character, inadvertently undermines the importance of addressing mental health issues, and continues the cycle of gendered objectification in media.

As fans or creators, it is essential to appreciate characters like Tim Sutton for their contribution to the plot and the vital issues they represent. As we enjoy our freedom to imagine and reinterpret, we must recognize the potential impact of our interpretations on those watching and learning. Let's be more considerate on how we choose to portray characters, especially those depicting mental health issues, to avoid perpetuating harmful narratives and stereotypes.

The real beauty of a character like Tim Sutton lies in his complexity — his struggle, his strength, and his vulnerability. Therefore, let's strive to uphold that, and not his physique or sexuality, as the essence of his character.

[gear-project]

the artworks of guilty gear x art book has a lot of interesting compositions that explore various aspects of the characters, but theres an illustration of venom, nude, arms outstretched, with the shadows of wings behind him, and the description says "the mystery of venom is so great that it resulted in an image like this, this isn't his everyday life but his mental image of himself." what's his self-image? any clue what the drawing is attempting to convey?

Since he's not entirely displayed as "fully nude", I think I can get away with showing the picture.

One of Venom's Overdrive Attacks is called "Dark Angel" if that tells you anything about his nuances, for starters.

Rather, what this image conveys to me is the idea of Venom as a Predator... the "ideal Assassin" as it were.

In a way, it's a kind of image training, where the focus is partially on Stealth, and the idea that one must exist in the shadows in order to HUNT.

Venom is also known as having trained in the arts of using ordinary objects as weapons... so even objects in a household, or everyday things you find in the street... he could pick them up and wield them as powerful weapons at a moment's notice (Anji Mito notes this in his comments to Venom, but Venom also discusses the idea when he faced Sin who wields a Flag).

But that's not all... bare-handed combat is essential... even when an Assassin has nothing on them but the skin on their back!

While it is true that initially, Venom was deemed a failure as an Assassin by his superiors early on... that all changed when Zato began to train him personally.

And while Venom himself still loathes killing, he trained to the utmost to become the LEADER of the Assassins in Zato's place for the better part of 5 years. That training will probably stay with him for the rest of his life, not to mention his absurd skill with kinetic control of Ki and his Cueball Magic.

The life of an Assassin is fraught with Danger, so it goes without saying that Killing SHOULD be as Natural as BREATHING.

Which is ALSO one of the tenets of DANDYISM.

[fulcrvm]

I posted 7,706 times in 2022

12 posts created (0%)

7,694 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@/ scribbleboxfox

@/ sabertoothwalrus

@/ faemothra

@/ fishfingersandscarves

@/ 3-inch-jam

I tagged 6,282 of my posts in 2022

Only 18% of my posts had no tags

#art - 1,610 posts

#q - 1,297 posts

#dc - 1,219 posts

#the sandman - 856 posts

#insp - 207 posts

#atla - 195 posts

#goncharov - 182 posts

#tenet - 178 posts

#fav - 157 posts

#dreamling - 146 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#ft dream with a night job working while the world is asleep ending his shifts at hob’s flat or getting breakfast/dinner at 6 am at hob’s pub

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

13 notes - Posted December 2, 2022

#4

this is a ferdinand kingsley mystery selfie stick fan account now sorry

13 notes - Posted October 7, 2022

#3

welcome back to “me writing fics for media that i didn’t ever plan on writing for”. this time, it’s avatar’s turn! - - - -

Bad Press

The Jasmine Dragon gets its first unwarranted bad review, and tea boy Lee and a mysterious Kyoshi warrior might possibly be to blame.

Gen Sokka/Zuko (and Iroh’s there too) Humor & Fluff 1339 words

Directly inspired by this gorgeous artwork (and the tags on that post) by @/ ash-and-starlight !

138 notes - Posted February 3, 2022

#2

i think my favorite thing i've found common through dreamling art/fic is the "hello hob" whenever dream shows up randomly

141 notes - Posted October 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

consistently thinking about feridnand kingsley's twitter bio...

so is someone gonna write dreamling fic about this or do i have to do it myself

687 notes - Posted September 6, 2022

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[kvb222poonwanghong]

Week 7 Work In Progress

Workshop:

I experimented with sustainability and regeneration, two important ideas in the current environmental conversation, for this week's artwork. While regeneration emphasizes the restoration and rejuvenation of natural systems, sustainability focuses on meeting our current demands without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs (UNESCO, 2020).

I gathered items that students had thrown away in the recycling bin and used them in a different way to make a new piece that resembled a collage. I created a flower-shaped object out of wire, string, cardboard, crumpled paper, and cotton, which represents the idea of giving anything that other people would consider rubbish new life. This procedure is consistent with the idea of upcycling, which is the creative repurposing of waste materials to increase their lifespan and lessen their impact on the environment (McDonough & Braungart, 2002).

Crucially, I refrained from binding the materials using glue or string, demonstrating my dedication to reducing the artwork's environmental impact and making sure the installation leaves a minimal environmental trace. By promoting a more environmentally responsible approach, this strategy challenges conventional art-making techniques while simultaneously echoing the tenets of sustainable art practices (Smith, 2017).

By producing this piece of art, I hope to draw attention to the possibilities of regenerative practices in the arts, wherein abandoned materials can be repurposed and transformed into something beautiful and meaningful, so encouraging a more sustainable future for everybody.

References:

McDonough, W., & Braungart, M. (2002). Cradle to cradle: Remaking the way we make things. North Point Press.

Smith, T. (2017). Eco-art: Sustainability, systems, and art. Routledge.

UNESCO. (2020). Education for sustainable development: A roadmap. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

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