#this actually turned into more of a textile post

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

ANNOYED bc i keep plopping her on top of the bed whenever she tries to smack my ankles in the hall

[kakusu-shipping]

Sorry to say that I am once again coming to bug you about the Swatchlings specifically jgufhgjgk

The mental image of them parading you around is just sooooo cute to me and I must know more about your dynamic!! Whatever you’ve got on them!!

Also you should share about Watanuki and Doumeki, if that’s not too much!!

NO THANKYOU FOR BUGGING ME ABOUT THE SWATCHLINGS I FINALLY HAVE MORE TO SAY ABOUT THEM THEN JUST "Colors... pretty <3"

First of all I just found this term yesterday but it's perfect so; All the Swatchlings are Butler Caregivers.

They like to take care of a little like they're nobility. Bring them fancy desserts and finger clean foods and teas on silver platters. Button their shirts and tie their shoes just so. Follow them around exactly two paces behind, hands off unless absolutely necessary or directly asked for.

They like to use names like "Young Master/Mistress" or royal variations if requested, and play up the act of the cool collected butler who diligently watches over the house's perfect little bundle of joy.

They do tend to be. Pretty excitable though.

If their young master is looking particularly cute that day they can't help but squee over them. Cooing the sleepiest babies, or repeatedly pouring compliments over a little's hand chosen outfit that they put on all by themselves.

They're also all big Commit to the Bit types. Give them a role in playing pretend and they will play it as straight as Shakespeare, as serious as the most committed stage hand. This is their life now. Should they be the biggest bad in all the seven kingdoms or just a humble guest to a tea party, they are committed, and they are dramatic.

Their favorite activity is painting with their little, though will have a moment of panic if the baby, or surrounding area, gets too filthy. Their least favorite is Hide-and-Seek, just because they're all very quick to assume they've lost the child forever and will never find them again. Also if one of them looks in a hiding spot and sees a Maus then everything goes to chaos.

Each Swatchling is a little different of course, and I just tend to break them into the 6 colors to talk about so for specifics

Red is overly romantic, they love a story to read bedtime stories about princes who save princesses from dragons, or better to act at the princess being saved by their heroic knight. They're the best cook of the six but get depressed if they're missing baby time because they're in the kitchen making all the tiny food, so they tend to shove their responsibilities off on the other Swatchlings. They get lonely easy and tend to be just a bit clingy compared to the other 6, they need more hugs, kisses, and gifts than the others by quiet a bit.

Orange is a perfectionist who loves to pick out his little's perfect outfit, button their shirt, and tie their shoes just so every morning. He'll also brush and style their hair with little ribbons and bows if he's allowed. They're the first to go hands off when a little gets too messy for them, opting to go find a change of clothes for someone else to put them in to, that they'll then adjust as needed after they're all cleaned up. The most he'll do is gently wipe his little's face with a napkin while they're eating, but even that they may have to change gloves afterwards

Yellow is a lot more about the stuffie parties, especially ones he made. Serving over tea parties with all his little's stuffies, setting up movies and placing every guest so they can see the screen. He enjoys a good pillow fort with soft blankets and hot tea and quiet sleepy nights. What she hates is being the one who has to clean it up because she's the Caretaker so it's up to her to put everything back where it goes when blue eventually comes in and carries the baby back to their big plush bed. He just wants to go to bed but he's gotta take all these pillows back to their original rooms...

Green loves to be outside with a little. She wants to set up an easle and a canvas and watch her young master sit peacefully in the rose garden weaving flowers together to make wreaths and bracelets and crowns. She enjoys the babble of the brook and the rustle of leaves in the wind and the warmth of the sun. All idealized versions of the outside she adores. Heavy forbid though her little prefer to dig in the dirt, or stomp in puddles, or run and be loud and messy. She's more of a nice calm picnic in the sun outside type, not so much tag and red light green light red rover play outside type.

Blue's a music lover, they love to sing to their little or play the piano for them, write them little songs about how great they are or how fun it is to do basic chores like brush your teeth or eat breakfast. They're more of a bedtime caregiver, they love a sleepy little to listen to their lullabies, to rock gently and tuck comfortably into bed. They're the shortest of the six Swatchlings and just a little touchy about it, so little things like not being the first choice for carrying the little or struggling to place dangerous things out of a baby's reach would get to them. They're also the only Swatchling to place and uphold rules like Bedtime, Clean up, and Time Outs (if need be). They're the leader when Swatch isn't around.

Purple is the odd one out of the Swatchlings. She LOVES a chaotic baby, she loves a mess, splatter paint and mud and food fights. She loves bath time with an entire bottle of sudsy soap and lavender lotion. She loves toys all over the floor and snacks on every surface and open but not yet finished juice boxes. She comes across a lot more like an older sibling CG than a butler. She tends to get scolded a lot by Blue and is usually more on clean up than play supervision, however she's the only Swatchling willing to deal with a messy baby meaning she eventually has to be the one to step in and change her little's clothes, help them wipe up a spill, or get them ready for bathtime. She's the oldest of the six and the most mellow (but she still can't handle Maus)

[reallyhardydraws]

2023.

i hope any of you reading this will forgive the essay. i started posting to this art blog ten years ago in 2013 when i was just at the very end of high school, uploading short animations i'd made for one of my final projects, preparing myself for art school where i was gearing up to become an illustration/animation student.

i went into my art foundation course in 2014, still thinking i was going to be going into storybook illustration or with faint hopes of becoming like a concept artist for game/animation, although even then i'd started thinking about patterns...

and then in 2015 i did go into my BA, going in for that illustration with animation degree that... usually when i talk about it in real life, i say didn't really feel like the best place for me. if i think back, the best things i got out of it were two of my best friends, one of whom is now my partner. looking back on my BA era, there's some bits of sketchbook stuff...

and while i was at university my main fandoms were thunderbirds are go and x-men for a bit... these are from the end of 2015 into the beginning of 2016...

then for a little while i was doing this still sort of pastel-ish lineless situation:

and i alternated between that and this thin fineliner type work (pretty sure all of the linearted pieces were done on paper and scanned, and all the lineless were graphics-tablet-only) - it was in this style that i started to offer commissions for the first time too.

and i also had fineliner-lined work in sketchbooks that i coloured with marker and posca pens, the colours of which were generally a bit more intense just based on not being able to slide the hue/saturation around on paper:

also 2016 was when i discovered the spongebob musical just after it's trial run in chicago (which ended in july of 2016) and i started making fanart at that point... which would have the biggest effect on the way i drew (and i did end up handing in a piece of spongebob musical fanart as one of my art school homeworks lmao)

from summer 2016 until early 2017 things were still quite soft and pastelly in my digital art, colour-wise:

and then suddenly everything got whacked up to 100% on saturation. also i was using the binary tool to give everything really thin pixel lineart for some reason.

then i went on vacation in summer 2017 and didn't draw for maybe a month? just short of? and when i came back i decided to change everything up again... giving characters blobbier, more ugly-cute faces with large squinting eyes and big nostrils and i was worrying a lot less about making anything look smooth, lineart-wise. i turned off the pen stabiliser in SAI and let it wiggle.

then... the spongebob musical opened on broadway in late 2017, i went to see it live in person for the first time... and my whole brain was ENTIRELY consumed by my love of it. i was putting that david zinn inspired pattern explosion into everything, even if it wasn't sbm fanart.

as we go into 2018, i started colouring my lineart. my biggest interest was still broadway musicals (with spongebob at the top of the list)

i think summer 2017 - early 2018 is probably my favourite art era, i was at my most bright and colourful and exciting... although i know in my actual real life i was struggling a lot with my home situation and i had been for some time. art was definitely my escapism back then, and i think a lot of the time i drew really bright, joyful stuff to try and inject that feeling into myself.

as for my university work, i was putting my focus into 3D paper-mache puppets:

and i was also starting to do more repeat patterns, mostly inspired by things around me. i'd learned how to make patterns actually tile and repeat in 2017, so made a few during my time at uni just to accompany some of my projects, but never as the focus of them. one of my university tutors told me that maybe i should put more focus on doing surface pattern, and maybe applying it to textiles, but i said i wasn't interested.

i graduated from my BA in the summer of 2018, and immediately began volunteering at the whitworth art gallery doing anything i could - stewarding, helping with arts and crafts, dancing with families...

in 2019 i was still very colourful... i was trying out more chunky colouring on characters skintones that i think was def inspired by tumblr artist jadenvargen:

but the blobbyness and ugly-cute style of drawing faces was gone by here, and i think... the way i drew characters probably had better *anatomy*, proportions were maybe a bit more realistic...

in 2020 i started adding the black shading to under the chins and some other places on characters' bodies because i started watching the anime my hero academia with my brother, lmao (and i was starting to pastelise colours a bit again, these are the most pastel-ish examples) my lineart has really smoothed back out too, though i never turned my pen stabiliser back on in SAI. i think my hand just adjusted. probably seems a bit insane to miss that, but i do.

by the end of 2020, the almost-year of lockdown over cobid had... made me a bit insane, i think, and i moved out of my mother's house and into a flat with a friend from university.

in 2021 i think things were much the same... i think from this point on is where things have sort of settled. i don't want to say stagnated, but i do think things have been very... like this for a while.

2022 - got the most exciting examples out...

also i was very into these little frames in 2022.

and then on to 2023! in 2022, i did begin trying to shift gears a bit -- hoping to put more energy into sewing and making products (like my tutor has suggested back in uni, even though i'd really resisted the idea.) i sold at a few in-person markets during winter of 2022, but got disheartened by the amount of money i had to sink in up front to sign up for a spot...

which has made me VERY grateful for the people who have supported me via online sales. it has really helped me stay afloat in 2023 - AND it has felt more wonderful than i can describe that there have been people interested in my work... especially when a lot of it has been my original designs, rather than the fanart that i expect a lot of people initially followed me for.

i've also... in the past 2 years... branched out a bit more when it comes to 'being an artist' - and have had the opportunity to deliver arts & crafts workshops with local refugee & asylum seeker support charity, afrocats. it's taken me to their home base in a church to hotels across the city where asylum seekers were temporarily placed while waiting on their new homes, and of course to my beloved whitworth art gallery, where we welcomed visitors from all backgrounds: from the typical white middle class visitors the gallery usually expects, to all the refugee visitors coming into the space for the first time.

and through my volunteering at the whitworth, i showed up so often they decided they might as well pay me. so i've also become a facilitator of... creative play sessions, my favourites of which have been outdoors. monthly, year-round, we have 'outdoor art club', where i get to paint with mud and make potions from leaves with kids & families - here you can see me tell you a little bit about it in this video below with 'crempog' a puppet character that makes videos about activities for kids and families around manchester (my bit starts at 01:10 although i am in the intro and thumbnail haha)

and then of course the summer 'PLAYTIME' activities we've had the past two years: scrap studio in 2022, and play market in 2023. it's the best freelance gig ever -- just to hang out and encourage families to be creative and have fun.

in working more in these new avenues... outside of being - as i've called myself for a long time - "an internet artist"... i've found myself more interested in this sort of thing. in being a "real world artist" too. in doing surface pattern design, and being a workshop facilitator, i find myself wanting to put more energy into these sorts of projects.

in 2023 i've also dabbled a little bit more in youtube videos! i have had a channel for a while and have made videos in previous years, but 2023 has been the year i've done the most in. admittedly most of them haven't been about my art, and more just like... random things that interest me (the spongebob musical in particular) but i've really been enjoying video editing. that's kind of an art form too, so i'm including it here!

moving forward, want to keep putting even more of my energy into other things. my shop, with a bigger range of products to offer. workshops in real life, where i can make a difference.

as for my art blog... i feel like i've done the least drawing in many years in 2023, and... well, things have been weird and complicated for a bit in my real life. i hope to draw for fun a bit more again very soon, and to return to doing things in more of a wild and crazy way, to be more creative and exciting with the way i draw things. still, here's some of my favourites from 2023:

thank you so much to everyone who has borne witness to my art journey this past decade!!! i hope you will stick with me, who knows, maybe for another 10 years if tumblr holds out. especially a big thank you to everyone who has ever commissioned me, or bought anything from my store, you literally keep me able to make art at all and i cannot, cannot, cannot overstate how much it means to me.

i'm moving homes soon, possibly into very cramped temporary conditions for a little while before HOPEFULLY starting my real life with my partner. if i can take one more moment to plug my work, then [here is a link to my online shop] and [here is my ko-fi page too.]

cheers, cheers, cheers!

- LOREN 🌈🍍🎉

[anneapocalypse]

DAI Companion Styles: Josephine

Dragon Age Companion Styles Series

Next up by special request from @magneticmage is the lovely, the gracious, the refined, the stunning Josephine Montilyet, Ambassador to the Inquisition. (And yes, Josephine is an advisor, not a companion; yes this series is called “Companion Styles”; yes I’ve decided to just lump the advisors in with them and not change the name, and we’re all just going to have to live with it. 😉)

Disclaimer: I am not a fashion expert, dress historian, or professional designer! I'm just a gamer who likes to sew and has a casual interest in historical fashion, and a great interest in fantasy worldbuilding and the implications thereof, and that's where I'm coming from on these posts. I'd also love to hear thoughts from fans who have a more in-depth background in historical dress, textiles, and armor.

Also, we’re going to be talking about gendered clothing, so let me state for the record that I don’t believe clothing has any inherent gender. However we’re going to be talking about fashion in a cultural context here, and in the context of Thedas (and specifically Orlais), fashion is heavily gendered, and how characters engage with those gendered expectations can be personally and socially interesting.

As with Sera, I’m going to be focusing mostly on Josephine’s style from an in-universe perspective because that’s what I think is most interesting!

Much appreciation to @dragonagegallery, whose posts have made the canon review for this post much easier! The Art of Dragon Age Inquisition was also a great reference.

(Look at her. She even looks good in the Haven Chantry lighting. Nobody looks good in that. Iconic.)

Josephine is an Antivan-born noblewoman educated in Orlais, who trained and briefly worked as a bard before becoming disillusioned with that life and turning to a career as a diplomat instead. She has been working as the Antivan Ambassador to Orlais up until the point she joins the Inquisition as its Ambassador. Josephine is well-versed in the Grand Game and the culture of the Imperial Court and the upper class. If I were to say that Josephine is fashionable, I don’t think most people would disagree with me.

Yet her signature outfit is quite different from what we see on the fashionable upper class ladies of Orlais. There is a fair amount of Renaissance influence in Orlesian high fashion, but as others have pointed out, there's actually quite a lot of variation in sleeves, collar, and understructures (things like crinolines or panniers that give a skirt a certain volume and shape), drawing inspiration from centuries of European historical dress. Yet Josephine still stands apart from the fashions for Orlesian noblewomen, in some very interesting ways.

I should note at the start here that I am working at a bit of disadvantage with Josephine because we've never been to her country of origin in the games, and basically every Antivan character we've met so far has either been wearing armor, or the same styles as the country they're in at the time. (Also, most of them have been Crows, which Josephine is not.) So I can't comment on how Josie's look compares to what is fashionable in Antiva at the moment, because we don't know. Instead, I'll be talking about her style in the context of Orlais, which I think is fair since she went to school in Orlais and has been living and working there for quite a while now. Just bear in mind going forward that there is a whole sphere of potential influence that we can't really examine here.

But I do think there's also good reason to assume that Josephine takes inspiration from Orlesian fashion, starting with her color scheme. One of the first things that strikes me (and I think many viewers) about Josephine's outfit is "Wow, that's very gold." And it is! It's very gold and blue—colors directly associated with Orlais and with the nobility especially. We see gold and blue all over Orlais, from the capital to the countryside, and Josephine has deliberately chosen to dress herself in the colors that signify power and influence in this nation.

So let's take a look at the specific pieces she wears.

Josephine is wearing what appears to me to be a blouse of gold-colored silk satin with puffed sleeves and a tie-neck or possibly a matching scarf, dark-colored breeches ending just below the knee, a heavier sleeveless overdress or vest in blue brocade or damask (possibly even fine tooled leather; it's really hard to say) that ends at the knee, gold stockings, and black flat shoes. She wears a wide leather belt at the waist, with a gold satin sash tied over it. You can see some better images of Josephine's outfit in concept art and her character model in detail on @dragonagegallery.

This outfit is fascinating to me, and if you've read my post on Sera's style, you might have already guessed a few reasons why.

Given Josephine's basic silhouette, it's easy to look at her and assume she's wearing a dress, but she actually isn't. Even if she was, it would be a break from the Orlesian high fashions of the day, which favor floor-length skirts. But this isn't a dress at all. I would actually compare the blue vest to the leather vests we see in some of the Inquisitor armor variants, for mages and for rogues. The detailing on Josephine's makes it look finer, but it's a similar style, with a similar utility: it's easy to move in. Josephine's vest even has large visible pockets on the sides! And this goes all the way back to her concept art.

I think it's easy to get distracted by the big shiny gold sleeves and miss the fact that Josephine's outfit is actually very practical. In fact, you know what else it reminds me a little of?

Variants of this outfit appear in both Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, and it's always been a non-gendered look. Note the knee breeches, the vest, and the puffed sleeves (though with much less extravagant gathers than Josephine's).

Josephine wears flat shoes, easy to walk in, comfortable for all-day wear. The wide leather belt echoes but does not exactly mirror the popular underbust corsetry seen on gowns; it is of a more practical style and material, and I'd imagine it could be good for back support for those long hours she spends at a desk. And in fact, the way Josephine wears it over her vest with the sash tied over the belt is not unlike the way a rogue Inquisitor wears their armor:

Though Josephine has left behind the life of a bard, I feel it's undeniable that that life has influenced her style. This is rogue fashion—practical but still stylish, easy to move in, easy to carry items you might need. Josephine is dressed as a rogue, but adapted to her current profession and personal tastes.

It’s all an intriguing choice for a diplomat! Because despite the clear Orlesian influence, Josephine’s look does not very much resemble any of what is fashionable for Orlesian noblewoman at the moment. No long full skirts, no outer underbust corsetry (though her belt does offer a cinched at the waist look), no deep V neckline (though her blue vest does create a similar shape over her blouse). When we compare Josephine to these looks, it’s a very different silhouette with mostly very different shapes. Even her puffed sleeves are puffed in different places than the fashions of high noblewomen (which seem to have the most volume at the elbow or lower right now).

But you know what we do see in Josephine’s outfit?

Breeches ending just below the knee. An outer garment that ends at the knee. Knee-high stockings. A flat black shoe. A shirt with sleeves puffed at the shoulders.

While Josephine’s look is ungendered in the context of a rogue, in the context of a noble this look is undeniably gendered, in a way that might not immediately register to our modern eye.

In the context of Orlesian culture, this is a Menswear-Inspired Look.

Now, unlike Sera, I do not believe Josephine to actually be wearing clothing designed for a man; given her station, this was all likely custom made for her. But in the context of Orlesian high fashion, there is some undeniably masculine styling going on here! And this isn’t about “women don’t wear pants”; many women in Dragon Age do, in fact, wear pants, all the time or in certain contexts; see above about rogue looks. Cassandra and Vivienne both have a skinny pants/leggings thing going on, and they both read more feminine in their styles to me, but they’ll get their own posts! With Josephine, it’s the specific styles of the pieces she’s wearing that bear similarities to men’s high fashion in Orlais. In a modern context, think a woman with long hair in a deliberately feminine style, wearing makeup, some statement jewelry, with a custom-tailored suit. Maybe with a few feminine accents on the suit itself; still definitely a suit. Josephine’s sleeves, for example, are not simply a copy of the male sleeve style; they’re taking inspiration but kind of doing their own thing. And of course, her hair is worn in a style that is practical, but still very elegant and feminine. It’s a Menswear-Inspired Look.

And I just love the fact that both of our F/F romance options in this game are kind of playing with gendered clothing in their personal style, but each very much in their own way.

I'm also fascinated by this one set of concept art called "Displaced Pilgrims" in The Art of Dragon Age: Inquisition, meant to represent "Fereldan and Orlesian refugees who arrived in Haven on a pilgrimage and were unable to leave following the disaster" (p. 75). One piece depicts an Orlesian woman dressed in what is from the hips up the same silhouette we see at the Winter Palace: exaggerated underbust corsetry that emphasizes the hips, a plunging V neckline with scalloped embellishment, a slightly puffed half-sleeve. But below the corset, the skirt has been cropped to mid-thigh and the woman wears a pair of breeches, stockings, and flat shoes with a rounded toe—strikingly similar to Josephine's lower silhouette. I can't recall ever actually seeing any NPCs wandering around Haven looking like this, which is a shame, because I love the concept of an Orlesian noblewoman blending masculine and feminine fashions in order to dress more practically for a journey into the mountains, while still appearing fashionable. I think this may be what Josephine is doing.

Josephine’s necklace is of interest to me as well, as it doesn’t bear a particular resemblance to anything I’ve found in Orlesian fashion; while we see a lot of necklines trimmed in gold, and a few necklaces, there’s nothing that looks like this piece. After a bit of research, I don’t think this is just a flashy piece of jewelry. Given the size of the chain and the way Josephine wears it draped over her shoulders, I think this might actually be a livery collar, also called a chain of office, that denotes her position as an ambassador!

Josephine’s whole look is very distinctive, and very put-together. In my opinion, this is a Choice. This is the kind of outfit that says, “I look like this on purpose,” and this from a woman who knows that a first impression may decide the course of a conversation that will affect the fate of nations. She is wearing a chain of office that immediately announces her station. She’s wearing expensive fabrics—again, I am interpreting that shiny gold fabric as silk and that is not cheap. Her vest shows fine detailing. Her clothing immediately says that she is both a person of means and holds a position of respect. Her color scheme speaks to her Orlesian connections. Her clothing conveys power and status. Yet her divergence from the styles of an Orlesian noblewoman also sets her apart. The practical elements of her look say, “I am no idle lady of leisure; I am capable; I am prepared for every occasion, even the unexpected.” And the roguish elements hearken back to her bard training, saying, “I know how the Game is played; I can be dangerous if I must be.”

Above all, I think this outfit speaks to Josephine’s self-assurance. She knows and understands social trends, but she is not beholden to them; she bends them to her tastes, rather than being bent by them. She acknowledges her past and what she has learned from it. She knows herself, and is in control of her own image.

I think this outfit does some pretty brilliant and inspired visual storytelling about Josephine Montilyet. I wouldn’t change a thing.

[c0gito]

Hello! Your art is very beautiful. Please tell us more about your COTL AU Nomadic Faith. Seems very interesting! Are you asking for art requests? May a kind month come to you. Eat your fruits and vegetables.

HII!!! omg this is my first ask about my cotl au (and first ask in general yippee!!) you have just released a demon my friend. (and tysm :3)

OK SO! I was kinda reading the lore tablets in game and didn’t understand what the fuck was going on so I decided to make my own lore and run with it! :3 I always thought it’d be interesting if the Sheep never worshipped the Old Faith, instead I envisioned them more like Plimbo or some of the NPCs who have livelihoods that overshadow any cult like behavior. Or at least any that abided to that of the Bishops rather than their own culture.

I took inspiration from nomadic groups like the romani people and other eastern tribes in terms of clothing and style. (which i have yet to post my designs oopsie…) The idea of nomads kinda flowed into that idea of a ‘herd mentality’ sheep carry by having them travel and bond together like that. They’re very musical and are insanely talented at detailed wool cloths and textile crafting and trading herbs and spices. (Also the little earrings you see my lamb wear also speak to their wood workmanship! Each earring has a specific meaning whether it accords to age, family, etc. But by the time the lamb becomes a god.., they forget half of it :( )

Once Narinder had split off from the Old Faith and began to get more greedy with his power and start to question the Old Gods, that’s when Shamura had the vision of the prophecy and the reaping began. So The Lamb (i don’t have a name for them yet but I’ve been thinking of Ewe = Eve like from the bible), is born during the reaping, and has very much grown up with a more hurried ‘on-the-road’ lifestyle.

Most of the Sheep actually turned to Narinder’s faith (that was separate from the old faith) because they saw comfort in death being something they could believe in. Sheep are prey animals by default, so the idea was even more instilled into the herds once the reaping began.

(ALSO! Narinder is very fond of sheep in general as they made for the most loyal of followers.. plus they made him really pretty garments and wrote songs as offerings)

I’ve just realized i’ve probably talked your ear off into oblivion (big apologizes to anyone who’s reading this far 😭) but yeah I’m just very passionate abt this au of mine.

So anyways! Once the reaping gets more severe, the herds begin to break off smaller and smaller to protect one another. Usually it would’ve been 4-6 big families and family friends traveling together, but by the time The Lamb was born, they’d only travel is groups of 1-2 families. Though she did get to experience the culture of her kind up until her early adulthood when her sister was kinda… slaughtered 💀 They had been the last two sheep unknowingly, and after much running, hiding, and crying alone in the woods. The Lamb was captured, brought to slaughter, and everyone knows the rest.

Though they did buck out at the Bishops and put up a decent fight beforehand.

There is MUCH more in regards to cult life, my au version of narilamb has a lot of meat to it, but I’ll spare the yap for another day HFHSHD


THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASK THOUGH!!! may a kind month come to you too :3

[swashbucklery]

I have been thinking about the costuming in Willow a lot, and yes this is for fanfiction reasons but it's also just for fun. As background, my non-fandom hobbies are mostly textile based: I sew garments and teach sewing classes, I'm an experienced knitter and handspinner and I've started to dabble in wool processing from fleece and four-shaft weaving.

So once I get into a Textile Puzzle Hole I can go pretty deep, and this is a fun and important part of understanding the worldbuilding for me.

Because they're doing a thing with Willow that - I actually really enjoy. It's not "classic fantasy" in the sense that it's not period-appropriate or of a specific era that we'd recognize. They're also clearly trying to call back to the 80s roots of the original film with some of the design choices; mostly the elements of armor and clothing that they're pulling from traditional martial arts clothing and the existence of Fun Fantasy Denim.

A lot of my thoughts aren't necessarily about critique, but more about trying to put together a cohesive rubric for myself as to what the costuming aesthetic is. Because it's not "anything goes," it's got a specific vibe and a clear voice and I want to "get it" more for my own writing and for my own understanding.

I think the two rules that I've drilled down so far are:

Textiles As Artisan Material (all-handmade, no fantasy spandex)

Function Over Form

1. Textiles As Artisan Material So to get into this a little, I want to get into the idea of how textiles are made because for me I'm In Deep and know a lot about the raw material to cloth to garment process but the average person does not. (I will say, I'm excepting the Cuirass from all of this - we know metatextually that it's a 3d printed stretch fabric bodysuit; it's also magic so it doesn't count.)

So, the average person is used to textile production that is predicated on post-industrial-revolution technology. Meaning:

power-driven machines for weaving and spinning

computer technology available in spinning and weaving machinery to allow for easy production of highly complex cloth structures and patterning

overabundance and artificially low costs of raw materials

When you are thinking of fabric (and I'd include cloth and leather here but not metal armor) as a skilled artisan material, understanding the reasoning for, for instance, Jade having one shirt for the entire series involves understanding what steps are involved. Then, we can understand how many human beings are involved in fabric and therefore garment production and also how many people need to get paid along the way. A piece of cloth entirely handmade for a garment would involve:

a producer to grow the textile fiber (cotton, flax, wool, hide for leather)

skilled artisans to process the fiber (washing, preparing for spinning which could include combing/carding wool, retting flax, etc, leather tanning)

skilled artisans to add dye. This can be done at the stage of prepared fiber, finished thread/yarn, or finished cloth. In a real-world/modern context, this would have significant impact on the cost of cloth. Certain colours (reds, purples) are much harder to dye true than others or require more expensive dyestuff.

skilled spinners to turn the fiber into fine threads for weaving - depending on the fineness needed for the specific weave of the cloth this could be weeks to months of work. Thinner threads will take more time but have more drape and be less stiff as a cloth, so you'd need thin threads for next-to-skin garments like undershirts, and for fine fabrics in things like dresses or fancy formalware

weavers to weave the threads into cloth. Again, the timing here would depend on the type of thread being used but it would also depend on whether or not there are any woven-in embellishments as components of the cloth. Basic cloth in plain weave would take time but not a lot of extra skill; twills or patterning require more time and weaving skill.

embroiderers to add any embellishments either to the base cloth or to the finished garment

tailors and seamstresses to make garments to measure, which would involve cutting any pieces out of the finished cloth and turning it into a garment the correct size for the wearer. If we are assuming that the mechanical sewing machine has not been invented, then garments would be sewn by hand.

handsewing a correctly finished garment involves more than just tacking the pieces together; seam finishes so that the cloth doesn't unravel often require going over the same seam line one or more times. The labour hours in this step cannot be overstated.

metalworkers or other craftspeople to make fastenings and finishings: buttons, toggles, grommets on lacing that weren't handsewn, etc.

leather garments would be made by a separate type of textile worker, since leatherwork requires different tools and a different skillset to successfully construct garments.

So for a basic garment we're looking at needing to pay six separate types of skilled artisans for their work, up to six or seven if it's a garment with elaborate fittings and/or finishing such as buttons or metal fasteners.

The textile economy is relevant here because it is going to translate directly into style. Cutting fabric into patterned shapes leaves waste; this is fine if you're using mass-produced fabric that you can easily afford to replace but if cloth is the 10/10 most precious thing in your garment, you're going to try to cut it into as low-waste a design as possible. It might also lead to less fussy fitting, so that garments are adjustable and can be used by a person for much longer.

It also translates into textile types. Prior to the advent of mechanical knitting machines, any knit (stretch) fabrics would be hand knit. If you have ever tried knitting yourself, you understand that knitting with thin thread takes more time, and therefore more labour hours.

What this means for clothing in-universe on Willow is:

almost entirely woven fabrics, with the exception of handknitting (see: Elora’s scarf-shawl)

this likely does translate into undergarments; I've been looking at regency and late-Victorian era examples to get my head around. The modern bra and panty set is heavily heavily dependent on not just machine knit fabric but also a TON of petroleum-based synthetic textiles that cannot be produced without modern post-industrial means.

fastened using items that can be handmade! Buttons, toggles, clasps, ties or belts for the most part, with the occasional Fantasy Rivet or Fantasy Grommet.

precious! so precious! Expensive to produce and also worth caring for; we see some examples of visible mending in-show and that would have been the standard for everyone with the exception of Kit and Airk.

2. Function Over Form So this is maybe something that I only think about because I sew, but the modern eye is really used to equating and understanding "woven" fabrics and "stretch woven" fabrics as equivalent. Jeans are the easiest example to think about: they're made with denim, but in things like skinny jeans that denim is usually blended with some kind of spandex. Typical woven fabric doesn't stretch in either direction in a meaningful way; stretch-woven fabrics do so because of the synthetic textile content.

So a lot of the design choices that we see in the show really have to take into account that those textiles won't stretch with movement, and that the wearers need to be able to swordfight:

larger, baggier shirts with cuffs or vests rather than more fitted shirts, to allow for full movement at the elbow and shoulder

trousers that have a bit of extra wearing ease at the hip and thigh, so that when the wearer sits or squats there is room for the change in their body shape with these positions

there are a couple of GREAT leather jackets (Kit's in the early season especially), but if you look closely there's actually a grommet-and-lacing system to attach the sleeve head to the body, so that the shoulder still moves. So clever!

Anyway I have been having a lot of fun thinking about this and deconstructing the garments further. Thinking more about the costuming helps me find the worldbuilding details that make it easy for me to write, and I’d love to chat about this lots and lots! I do have some screenshot receipts for this; I didn’t include them because I mostly just wanted to write and not do ~graphic design today.

[phoenixyfriend]

Worldbuilding: The ASPIRE Method

Part 2 - Arts

Now available on Patreon!

I'm including the first third of it here on tumblr for free. The rest is available on Patreon for as low as $1 to access all posts.

A – Arts

When physically visiting a society for the first time, Art will be one of the first things a person encounters, namely in the form of fashion, signage, and architecture. When studying a culture from afar, it is often among the last. In that regard, the order in which your story takes place will have varying degrees of exposure to the culture’s art.

In a visual medium, art provides a subconscious element of worldbuilding that can help set tone without having to take up time in the dialogue. Background characters and so on can inform the world in a colorful manner, suggesting elements of culture to the viewer while the foreground conveys the story itself. In a written narrative, mentions of art and artistry take up time and space by nature, and so you have to pick and choose which elements you talk about. The mention of a single form of art is used to suggest a much deeper background. In both cases, determining which art exists will help you decide which you display to the audience in pursuit of telling your story.

Which forms of art are most common?

Some cultures have very elaborate architecture. Others don’t put much time and effort into architecture, but do a lot with textiles. Paintings are going to be more common in regions where canvas or paper are easier to make. Some regions will have a focus on wooden or stone carvings that are unlikely, or even impossible, in others. Most have music, but frequently different kinds. All of these are forms of art, but not all of them are necessarily going to be common in the world you are building.

Ask yourself which of these forms and mediums of art are ones your culture puts time into, and why:

Architecture: stone, wood, or other

Painting and drawing: on canvas, on stone, on paper, on vellum

Sculpture: stone or wood, clay, metal (wire or mold), rubber, glassblowing, etc. - This includes aesthetic pieces, but also things like functional ceramics and furniture crafting

Textiles: fashion, tapestry, beadwork, interior design

Literature: written or oral, includes prose, poetry, and nonfiction

Film and Theater

Music and Dance

Culinary arts

Cosmetics

And when you decide on them, ask yourself why? What is it that has your culture focusing on one thing at the expense of others? For instance, if your culture is one where inclement weather is a major problem, then architecture may focus primarily on durability, and less so on visual appeal; in turn, the actual focus of artists is more likely to be an indoor activity, like storytelling or music. However, the primary dictator of what art people do is what they have to work with.

What tools are available to your artists?

The further in the past your story is set, the less likely your culture’s people are to have access to a wide variety of pigments and materials. Natural sources of pigment are limited, especially when there are low levels of trade. The local community is also likely to prioritize certain kinds of crops over others, which has a direct influence on the accessibility of textiles and paper.

A culture with a short growth period will likely prioritize food over any form of creative resources; textiles will likely be livestock-derived (like wool and skins), rather than cotton or linen, and will also have much less availability of plant-based art supplies like canvas, paper, and so on. They may focus on pragmatic art forms, such as teaching tools, or styles that can be built into things that are already being crafted, like weaving patterns. Their themes may also be influenced by having more free time in the winter.

Meanwhile, tattoos are popular across the world due to only requiring pigment and a sharp implement… and the knowledge of how to not get infected.

A more modern artist will have access to a wide variety of tools and options, including things like cameras and recording equipment.

Consider these elements:

Which pigments are available? How are they sourced? Which can be safely used for paint, textiles, construction, and cosmetics? - Pigments can be derived from plants, minerals, animals, or synthetic processes. If your world has low trade, figure out which ones are common in the area. Some pigments can be used in paint but are less functional for dyeing. Some can’t be ingested, and so aren’t safe for culinary arts, but are very good for oil painting. - A paint that is toxic to the skin may be used in cosmetics and textiles (see: lead face paint, which was used even when knowing the toxicity), but is much more likely to be used in painting and construction.

Which plants grow nearby? What can they be used for? - Are the trees suitable to carving, to steam bending, to architecture, to weaving? - Can other plants be processed into textiles, pigments, food? - Is there something unique and interesting, like a bioluminescent algae that can be used for glowing paint?

Which animals are available? Are they domestic or wild? How are they used? - Animals can be used for enabling other arts, such as oxen pulling plows to grow basic crops. - Some can be trained to perform, for dance and theater. - They can also be raw materials. This includes wool, feathers, furs, leather, vellum, horns, bones, silk, and even skins for glue. Some are hunted, and some are cultivated. - Note that antler, certain feathers, and wool can be harvested without harming the animals, and would be useful for a society that tries to abide by pacifist or vegan principles. - Others can also be gathered after a natural death, like bones, horn, and skins. The only ones that require a forced death or harm are vellum and certain kinds of silk, though natural death may impact the quality of other materials, like skins and furs.

Which raw materials are inherent, which need to be gathered, and which need to be cultivated? - A person’s own voice or body does not need to be gathered. A dancer or singer does not, for the most basic forms of art, need tools. - Sand for glassblowing does need to be gathered, but occurs naturally. - Flax for linen needs to be cultivated before processing, with a dedicated growth period in temperate climates (helpfully, it also produces food).

For a few historic examples, consider that Tyrian Purple is an uncommon color in textiles before the introduction of aniline dyes, and so Tyrian purple is often limited solely to royalty in period works. This includes the classic Roman example, but also the use of ‘Royal Purple’ and related shades in England after the introduction of a sumptuary act in 1463.

Since the Iron Age, darker, less saturated shades of purple could be achieved through mixing red (e.g. madder) and blue (e.g. woad, indigo), but are generally less intense, and still expensive due to the need for two forms of dye. Meanwhile, common colors in Medieval English art included, among other things, ochres, woad, madder, and chalk.

How intense is the processing period for materials?

How many people need to be involved in that processing? Can it be done in one day, by one person?

Weaving a basket from reeds is relatively centralized. One person can gather materials, cut them to size, and produce the final product.

Synthetic materials require oil drills and chemical production plants, employing hundreds of workers.

Creating a wool and linen dress requires: - farmers (both for sheep and for flax) - processing to clean and spin the raw materials - weavers to make the base textiles - dyeing vats to add color - a dressmaker to actually put together the final product - The support for this process also includes someone who makes buttons or other ties, someone who crafts looms, someone who makes barrels, and someone who breeds dogs for herding those sheep.

Is it theoretically possible for someone to unilaterally do everything from start to finish with no outside help? Yes. Are some of these elements vertically integrated? Probably! Is it likely, or a good idea, to handle everything from start to finish? Not for most scales of production. While farming and spinning are often done by the same people, it’s more likely to be a family business than a solo one. One farm can include the process from start to finish, but your couture dressmaker isn’t very likely to be your shepherd.

Human history is a patchwork of people specializing their skills in order to maximize productivity so everyone can have more free time at the end of the day. If one person has the loom best suited to making linen bedsheets, and another has a loom better designed for woolen cloak fabric, the individuals will produce more fabric in total if they each specialize on their looms, and then trade the results, rather than swapping looms or buying their own. This subject will be touched on in greater detail in the Economics section.

[such-a-daydreamer]

Haha so like, I was originally gonna post the inktober stuff one by one like everyone else is but like, I forgor :/

FIRST WEEK OF INKTOBERTALE!!

Just know that like, it is a lot. So continue under the cut if you wanna see my absolute shitter of an art dump

//-------Day One-------//

Prompt: Ink (warm up)

The second one was more of a warm up really, I just wanted to get myself in the mood. Especially love that fell drawing in the corner.

//--------Day 2--------//

Prompt: Pumpkin carving

Yes. Yes that is error and ink kissing on the pumpkin.

//--------Day 3--------//

Prompt: Medicine

Hehehe my original idea was to have ink covered in colourful splotches and be on the floor and have the medicine be his like vials. I ended up thinking "that's too easy" so that turned into him wearing one of those sexy nurse outfits then I made a last minute decision to NOT do that

//--------Day 4--------//

Prompt: honey

Little to say about this, other than I love him a lot💕💕

//--------Day 5--------//

Prompt: Theatre play

Yeah the caption says enough.

//--------Day 6--------//

Prompt: Stickers

Yeah I uh, forgot that this whole thing was like a pun on inktober and y'know the character ink and this whole thing is called inktobertale, derailed a lil bit but 'm gonna get back on track after this I swear😭

//--------Day 7--------//

Prompt: Gingham

Yeah I basically know my ass to my elbow when it comes to textiles and stuff like that so I had to research some things. Anyways, Gingham is cute :3 tempted to make that skele an actual oc but like I can't be bothered.

Here's the prompt list btw

Yeah so uh, see ya next week til I've gotten the next batch done ... unless you wanna have it done one by one? Idk, tell me your thoughts. ALSO HAHA bit reluctant about showing this cuz of the MASSIVE sidetrack for like the majority of the week

[cordcorvid]

hi! i hope this doesnt come off as a bother or anything . but do you have any mask making tips or tutorials you could reccomend ?? (like for materials, jaw movement, and how to see out of there) im planning to do a raven named Goose :D

ive been finding some resources here and there, but i thought it wouldnt hurt to ask !!!

Absolutely not! I'd love to answer all your questions. :D I have not looked at that many tutorials, I mostly looked at pinterest pictures of raven costumes to see what I can come up with. One that really inspired me to get things going is actually another Tumblr user I found on there who has posted some helpful tips that I followed along with! They too have a raven costume and they got their resin base from the same manufacturer (Crystumes, they have a website where you can shop for their blanks) Since this post is awfully long, I'll do a read more from here on:

The tutorials I followed the most is this one by Rah-Bop:

Rah-Bop has some tips about adding feathers, making foam-feathers, adding claws to your gloves, making gloves or feet. In terms of material: I used the hinged resin base by Crystumes which by itself cost me +/- 200USD, they sent me a pair of customizeable glass eyes and a tongue.

Crystumes has some additional tutorials specifically regarding their masks on their website! Crystumes also lists some of the materials on their website that I used and where to get them (Like the apoxie clay to do the eyelids, the glass eyes etc.) I did mess the eyes up though the first time I did it so I had to order them from delviesplastics.com (As suggested by Crystumes) Since I ordered the base with hinges I'm not sure how to do them myself but I will have to figure it out for the second fursuit I'm cooking! In terms of other material I bought some long rooster feathers and hair jewelry off of Etsy. I bought a pair of long faux leather gloves from Ricardo (which is a swiss second hand online shop) but you can buy the gloves anywhere else or even sew them yourself by tracing your arm and hand on a piece of paper, then trace the pattern twice on any somewhat stretchy material like faux leather or spandex and sew those two together for one glove each. I bought black fur in another Swiss textile / sewing shop named Alja (not sure if it's actually Swiss) since it's cheaper (around 60$ for 4 yards) than to ship fur from America to Switzerland (Which amounts to 100-200 for the same amount). But if you can afford it: Take a look at Howl's Fabrics or Big Z Fabric. Both websites offer samples! I personally don't buy from them as the shipping costs for me are devastating. I suggest looking at general "furring" tutorials or "how to fur a fursuit head" tutorials on youtube. Most of them will tell you to make a duct tape pattern on your base, draw on the patterns then cut those patterns out on fur, sew the fur together then glue to the base. Crystumes once made a twitter post about it as well I think but I'm not sure I'll find it. When cutting fur in general just make sure you keep the scissors as close to the backing as possible to avoid cutting any fur fibers in the process, it will be visible otherwise. I made a fur top / shirt by tracing one of my long sleeve t-shirts onto the fur I bought and went with that. For the back of the head I used an 80s Mullet/Rockstar wig I bought from another Swiss online store. Other fursuit makers mostly sew fur even to the back of the head but my personal Raven fursuit is literally just a mask with a wig to cover the back. Which in turn makes the whole mask less hot. To keep the mask ON my face and to keep it from slipping down I used the adjusteable part of a biking helmet or climbing helmet. and attached it to the mask by using a lot of hot glue, I eventually had to use some stronger glue as it kept falling off. Since the mask was fairly big when I bought it and rather uncomfortable I used thick felt sheets and glued them inside the head as padding material! Foam works as well, whatever floats your boat. I went with felt since I could easily cut some feather patterns into them as a nice easter egg. Not sure anymore what exactly I used to cover the holes by the beak that I see out of, but it was some kind of very fine dark and flexible grid that I bought from the swiss equivalent of home depot. In terms of being able to see: The crystume base has holes between the beak and the eyes that you can look out of or you can even look through the mouth, both works pretty well and the mask allows for a lot of visibility from within- Out of all my fellow furry friends I'm the only one that doesn't necessarily need a spotter since I can see pretty well. In terms of clothing I pretty much sewed nothing by myself and only assembled a bunch of my own outfits that would fit the raven costume. Sometimes I did buy some costume specific stuff from online clothing stores or went into the thrift shop to buy some costume specific clothing pieces. In general, for your first raven costume just go with the flow and try to keep it budget friendly, as your first will unlikely be perfect. And that's about it! Not sure if I missed something but I tried to cover everything as much in detail as I could. Hope it helps!

[pandoramsbox]

Sci-Fi Saturday: The Man in the White Suit

Week 30:

Film(s): The Man in the White Suit (Dir. Alexander Mackendrick, 1951, UK)

Viewing Format: Streaming - Kanopy

Date Watched: 2022-02-18

Rationale for Inclusion:

Given that Ewan McGregor has been playing Obi-Won Kenobi in live-action Star Wars media off and on since 1999, would anyone under 30 years-old be able to place Alec Guinness by me saying, "You know, Obi-Won Kenobi in Star Wars?" To Millennials and older geeks this lack of cultural touchstone would hurt our brains, but the knighted, most accomplished character and dramatic actor himself would be relieved that Star Wars (Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope, Dir. George Lucas, 1977, USA) may not be what he is remembered most for in 2024, as it was not his favorite role despite the financial stability it enabled for him. Granted, I don't know what other example of Guinness' filmography I would use for someone under 30 who doesn't attend classic cinema film festivals. Star Wars is still better known than Lawrence of Arabia (Dir. David Lean, 1962, UK) or Kind Hearts and Coronets (Dir. Robert Hamer, 1949, UK) by the mainstream populus of the United States.

I begin on this note because this week's film, The Man in the White Suit (Dir. Alexander Mackendrick, 1951, UK), stars Sir Alec Guinness in a comedic role, which while not unusual for him, especially in the 1950s, is not the work for which the mainstream consciousness most remembers him. A chance to witness more of Guinness' incredible range was part of the reason for selecting this film, as was the fact that the last British sci-fi satire that we watched for the survey, Once in a New Moon (Dir. Anthony Kimmins, 1935, UK), has been one of the great discoveries by my partner and I on this cinematic journey thus far. Plus, according to the British Film Institute, The Man in the White Suit is the 58th greatest film to come out of its country.

Reactions:

Being familiar with Guinness' dramatic work, it came as no surprise to me or my partner that the actor turned in a brilliant performance as Sidney Stratton, a research chemist bent on creating an indestructible fiber. The number of lab explosions and subterfuge Stratton undertakes gives his comedic timing ample opportunities to shine.

The emphasis on chemistry led to the inclusion of the "Guggle Glub Gurgle" song to accompany the chemicals burbling, moving and bubbling. My partner and I assumed that it must have been the work of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, who created the music and sound effects for Doctor Who and both the radio and television versions of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. To our surprise, the experimental and pioneering electronic music and sound production company was not formed until 1958; 7 years after the release of The Man in the White Suit. Instead, the creative composition was created by sampling sounds made by actual equipment, which may make it the most widely heard example of musique concrète.

The slapstick humor transitions more into satire when Stratton successfully completes the first batch of his indestructible, radioactive fiber, and makes it into the suit of the title. The viability of cloth that does not stain or wear out causes a panic amongst everyone from capitalists, to textile workers, to little old ladies who take in others' washing for a bit of money. The economy and culture would be upended by it in a way that was too massive for people to handle. Luckily for the conservative minded, a flaw in the formula causes the cloth to gradually break down over a few weeks. With Stratton's firing, the threat seems to be neutralized. Except, Stratton has a revelation whilst looking at his formula notes, and at the end strides off, presumably to seek out a means of creating a second version of the indestructible cloth.

Stratton continues the tradition of the mad scientist, but instead of upending morals and religion like his predecessors, he upends capitalism and commerce. Given the post-World War II industrial boom many countries experienced, and the Cold War being configured on communist versus capitalist lines, it's an evolution keeping with the times in which the film was created. He is nevertheless just as antisocial and obsessive as his predecessors Henry Jekyll and Victor Frankenstein.

He also carries on the mad scientist tradition of experimenting on himself by wearing a suit made of his indestructible fiber. Stratton is not merely daily driving his cloth, the way new products are tested for their practicality, because the fiber includes radioactive elements. The long term damage of radiation exposure through patent medicines containing radioactive elements and working with radioluminescent paints was known by the 1930s. It is entirely possible that Stratton could have developed a version of the formula where the cloth would not deteriorate, but the person wearing it would do so horrifically. At that point his cloth would not only be a direct economic threat, but a direct threat to public health.

My speculating and interpreting of the invention central to the film aside, The Man with the White Suit is a fun piece of sci-fi and satire, managing to be equal measures funny, smart, and thought provoking. It's widely available on streaming and home media formats, and definitely worth a watch.

[duncebento]

For alternatives to silk what about the literal millions of tons of discarded clothes and textiles and cloth (a large percentage of which are basically brand new) that are going to rot away and emit pollution unless they are used and recycled properly. What about that. I think it's reasonable to not think that we have to continuously consume and exploit and expand so people have clothes. Because we have the huge piles of the waste from that that are going to turn into rotting shit as proof that that doesn't work. "Humans are part of nature" how do you think silkworms are obtained? Do you think most of silk is produced out in the wild? And what about the energy and resources you need to process and transport it? To keep steady tempuratures for silk prpduction and the actual machinery to process it and transport it? The people who are used to process it and make it into products? Many of whom are not payed enough to live and are forced into the industry? Do you think that most of that silk ends up getting recycled or reused?

So yea I think there are alternatives to new silk and endless production of it and there should be more of them

hiiiiiii so u didnt read my post somehow even thouvh it was one humorous sentence so that’s weird.

anyway since u asked i volunteer at a textile recycling plant. (the reason it exists is because it’s a requirement for companies w textile waste according to new york law. if there is no decent edifice for textile recycling, which in most places there isn’t, then it won’t get recycled. the building of such factories is a legislative issue i’d say)

but mainly umm silk is silk. the substitute for silk is viscose, which is made of wood but massively pollutes the water used to produce it. the substitute for silk is not the “calabasas” graphic print cotton poly elastane tee that someone cheugy wanted to wear for 3 weeks before forgetting about and eventually discarding. also that shirt can’t be recycled. because it has elastane in it. if u think people at large should direct all of their desire for clothing into the products of recycled and reused clothing that had already been thrown away in would genuinely like to ask u how u think that system would look. but only if u have a good answer

ummmm anyway the rest of your response no actually pretty much the whole response is directed at words that i never said. except for “humans are a part of nature,” which was a response to the OP’s idea that the concept of ANIMAL DOMESTICATION was the root of the problems with silk (and by extension wool etc) production. and i think that animal domestication by human beings is a “natural” technology that could and did subsist without destroying the earth and abusing it’s creatures. diocane

[magmacavern]

Hero and Partner Week, Day 7: Free Day!

Last up for the free day today is a little drawing of my own team! After I made all this art of Neo and Skitty (now named Penelope) for this week, I decided that I should actually try to come up with unique designs for them. Now all of my previous illustrations of them are officially outdated. Oops.

I'd gotten attached to the depictions of them in my previous Hero and Partner Week drawings, so I didn't want to change them too much, but I still wanted them to be recognizable as original chararcters and not just general depictions of an eevee and a skitty. I'm pleased with Neo's redesign, but I would like to make Penelope a little more unique in the future. If you're interested, you can read more about them and their alternate universe under the cut!

This will be my last submission for Hero and Partner Week. I had a blast drawing and writing for this event over the past month, and I really enjoyed seeing what everyone else created as well. Thanks so much for hosting this amazing event! I'm already looking forward to participating again next year and seeing how much I've improved as an artist by then!

(Also, apologies if this posts twice. It disappeared from my queue sometime after I scheduled it, and I'm not sure if it's still going to post. I decided to just rewrite it in advance, and if the other version turns up, I'll delete it.)

@heropartnerweek

Neo

Neo is an odd-colored Eevee who woke up in the Tiny Woods one morning unable to remember who she was or how she got there. She occasionally dreams of a strange Pokemon atop a frozen mountain, and after learning about the legend of Nintales, she comes to the conclusion that she must be the human in the story who angered the deity and abandoned her partner Pokemon, Gardevoir. She feels obligated to help save the world because she's (allegedly) the one who brought about its destruction long ago, but secretly she feels she's not capable of it and is hoping for a way out. Neo can most easily be described as cowardly. She lacks courage and prefers to run and hide rather than fight and stand up for herself. She doesn't wish to hurt others and cares deeply for many Pokemon she knows, but when push comes to shove, her strong sense of self preservation takes control and she always puts herself first, even at the detriment of other Pokemon. She also lacks confidence, and this causes others to be distrusting of her and lack belief in her abilities. Neo tends to make promises she can't keep because she either doesn't think it through all the way or just wants to help and please others, which makes her seem more unreliable to those she lets down. Her hastiness also hurts her ability to think for herself. Neo can problem solve well when she is forced to slow down and reason out the situation, but when she rushes herself, she doesn't consider all the possibilities and can come to the wrong conclusion. Neo came to trust Penelope quickly because Penelope was there for her when she didn't have anyone else to turn to, but she also sometimes regrets forming a team with her and wonders if it was the right choice because of her struggle to show bravery and do the right thing like Penelope does.

Penelope

Penelope is a young Skitty who was raised in Littlegrove, a town on the sea northwest of Pokemon Square. Her parents, a Meganium and a Delcatty, tend to a pecha berry orchard and a small garden of other berry and herb plants, and her mother is a skilled weaver who makes scarves and other textiles using the plants grown in town. Penelope and her younger sibling Orion were often tasked with travelling to Pokemon Square to sell Delcatty's scarves to the Kecleon brothers and the many rescue teams that visit town, but since a mystery dungeon formed within the Tiny Woods, Penelope has been making the trip alone. When she learns that she and her partner must be the ones to save the world, she immediately rises to the task because the lives of her family are on the line and she's determined to save them, even at the cost of her own life. Penelope is courageous and quick-thinking with a strong sense of integrity. She's highly motivated by her commitment to and love for her family, especially her younger sibling Orion, and she'll never make a promise that she thinks she can't keep. Her strict moral code often makes it difficult for her to be understanding of those who act selfishly, and it also makes her prone to overworking herself or throwing herself into danger if she thinks it will help someone she loves. She is highly confident in her beliefs and her decision-making abilities, which allows her to act quickly on instinct. However, this also makes her stubborn and unlikely to follow in other Pokemon's footsteps or take their advice without good reason, and because she's still young, her beliefs and decisions aren't always backed up by experience or knowledge, leading her to make some poor choices. Her personality is often at odds with Neo's cowardice and self-interest, so they have a rocky start to their relationship.

One early spring day, Penelope was travelling through Tiny Woods with a new stock of her mother's pecha scarves when she came across an odd-looking eevee named Neo who said she had lost her memory. While she was distracted by the stranger, Gengar of Team Meanies snuck up on Penelope and attacked her. Because of her Normalize ability, Penelope was unable to fight back and Gengar stole most of the scarves she was carrying. Neo fled in the commotion, and Penelope chased after her, assuming she was working with Gengar to steal the scarves.

Penelope found Neo at the entrance to the Tiny Woods's mystery dungeon, which appeared as a deep chasm in the forest floor. She confronted her while Neo couldn't escape, but Neo claimed she didn't know anything about Gengar or his plans to attack Penelope. As they were arguing, they were approached by a Butterfree who needed help because her child, Caterpie, was lost in the dungeon. Penelope agreed to help and forced Neo to come with her because she didn't yet believe that Neo and Gengar weren't working together.

After finding Caterpie and reuniting him with his mother, Penelope took Neo to Pokemon Square where they decided to stay the night at Kangaskhan's inn because Neo didn't have anywhere else to go and Penelope didn't know how to fix the problem of the stolen scarves. While in Pokemon Square, she asked Neo to form a real rescue team with her in order to help earn back the lost money.

[cant-think-of-a-good-one]

i havent tried printmaking but i rly wanna get into it so badd

printmaking and fiber arts are siblings to me

like theyre both technically these utilitily invented mediums?

printing is this invention that made it possible to make the same image a ton of times quickly. basically changing human knowledge forever.

and then well actually lets narrow it down to fiber arts that can create wide areas like crochet and knitting. embroidery and crossstitch modify upon existing areas.

hmm wait so really i wanna talk about textile arts yeah. okay. printmaking and textile arts are siblings to me.

i already talked about printmaking. textiles, is this invention that allows you create and combine wide areas from long strands of fibers. fibers that used to just be a long one dimensional thing. turned into a wide 2 dimensional thing that can be combined and folded into all sorts of shapes, like, clothing. allowing humans to fucking exist in otherwise dangerous weather. okay like, i know they probably used animal skin before fabric. but thats why i said textile arts and not leatherworking. because textiles is a more recent invention.

scrolls up oh wow thats a lot. i swear this only haplens at night its soo weird anyways lets summarize, for you, whoever is reading this, thanks, but alsk for myself because im kinda getting lost in my own sauce

printmaking and textile arts are siblings to me because theyre both relatively recent very important human inventions that fucking revolutionized alot of things but also people are still getting silly with it?

wait now that i think of it writinf techinally fits this too... writing isnt that old i mean relatively on this scale. fuckkk

like what i mean by people are still getting silly with it is that like for example writing. its this fucking big important thing and im using it to communicate whatever this is and saying silly shit. waitwaitwait hold on this something that can be explored further. lets go out of printmaking and textiles and get into this

like this people are still getting silly with it applies to all forms of art that is done right now. isnt fucking insane isnt it beautiful. these revolutionary inventions these old traditions of ways ko expression, still being done by us in our own way, playing with it, making each other laugh with it, isnt it crazy aaaaghhhgh fuck

okay thats it for this post i think

i am aware i might have some mistakes on the facts and really i should be citing shit. sorry about that. didnt expect to go this far

[callsignbaphomet]

Can we have a conversation about trans people in Fallout? Like, very specifically about trans men in Fallout? 'Cause Angelus is trans and I feel like I brush off a lot of details about his transness due to the setting and its limitations.

He was born a girl and around his pre-teens he was like, "Yeah, fuck this garbage." Now, he originally lived with his mom 'cause his dad dipped and then bugged out and it was just the two of 'em. His mom was totally supportive and shit. Certain things happened and he ended up living with his grandmother who was an absolute piece of shit and a year later through some nefarious means he ended up living with some old raider turned mercenary who actually turned out to be a pretty decent human being and accepted Angelus in every way. So you got this fucking kid going around in some old town in the south of post-apocalypse USA with multiple boyfriends and being outrageously gay as fuck all.

Fortunately when puberty hit it didn't hit so hard, he wasn't very curvy and he barely had any tits to begin with but they were still there, he knew they were there and it made him super uncomfortable and made him rage. So what do you do in that situation? You bind! How? He MacGyver'd his own binder with the help of one of his boyfriends and a friend. Sure, it took a long time to perfect it but it got the job done and he was super happy with it. I don't know much if anything at all about textiles so bear with my dumb ass here. They managed to sew several hardened pieces of cloth together sorta shaping it in a tube fashion. They used gauze application as an inspiration for it, which is super rare to find and that's why they didn't use gauze itself and the one time he just used duct tape it ended pretty badly and painfully. So this binder was supposed to be like a bra that was smaller than what he'd usually have to wear and it got the job done.

Now, did he have any bottom dysphoria? Nope! He enjoyed having a pussy for the time being...which he later put to good use. The merc that he was living with noticed he was wearing more clothes and baggier to hide the tits and he outright asked him if he wanted to get rid of them which Angelus was like, "You can get rid of these fucking things???" So the ol' merc asked a doctor living in town about it and both agreed on a price which the merc saved up enough caps for and Angelus got 'em chopped off.

Angelus lived with the old merc until he disappeared when Angelus was 21-years-old. He waited around for a few months and realized he wasn't coming back, he mourned him and then moved on. He put what the old merc taught him to good use which included all the raider knowledge he still had and joined several raider gangs between the years of 21 and 25.

During these years he discovered plenty of things about himself. He was strictly a top. "hOw Is He A tOp If hE dOeSN't hAve a DicK?" Hear me out, man, hear me out. You don't need one to top. So hush. The world and setting of Fallout is pretty stagnant and stale in terms of structure of cultures (we can get into that rant some other day) so it's open for us, the fans, to do what we can to make sense of all the queer aspects of post-apocalypse America.

People have been making sex toys since forever and I think it's no different after the apocalypse brought on by nuclear warfare. We also have had implants and cybernetic enhancements in the games. Also! It's a fucking sci-fi game, use your imagination, fool.

At around 24 Angelus was starting to feel some minor bottom dysphoria and packed to relieve some of that stress. Remember when I said he was strictly a top? What makes you think he wasn't getting penetrated and still topping? Like, positions play a larger part of it than you give 'em credit for, my dear. There are positions that give him full control of movement so that he's the one controlling Jelani and for all intents and purposes he's fucking him while getting penetrated. If he felt like doing the penetrating himself he has a few strap ons, some more simple ones he managed to get his hands on, steel and metal being the main materials. Some are better made than others and has several different sizes and shapes for all needs.

Circling back to him starting to develop some bottom dysphoria. It started when he was 24 and it got worse well after he met Jelani. He actually confessed to him that he was jealous of the fact that he had an actual dick and he didn't. I think I'll explore the implant option in the future but for now I'll leave Angelus as is. His boyfriend does the best he can to ease any dysphoria which can and does lead to some playing around that can lead to more eventually making Angelus feel better.

As for hrt I like to think it's something similar to the drugs already set in place within the Fallout universe. There's pills which I feel would be the most common, there's injections that don't look as scary as stimpaks! Have you actually stopped to see the size of those bitches??? Lucifer on his throne! What the shit??? And last and the least common and hardest to get your hands on would be a gel like substance of a lavender color (blue + pink + white = lavender). Angelus uses pills because it was the most readily available to him.

So far that's most of what I got for my little half Russian, half Scottish, flamboyantly effeminate, polyamorous, gay trans man with a serious attitude problem and anger issues living in the wide and interesting world of post-apocalypse America with his boyfriend and his two fathers-in-law.

Wanna focus this same energy on Jelani in Skyrim 'cause he's trans (FtM) in that setting but that's for another post.

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

Hi, can you help me come up with a scientific name for a Harpy, Wyvern, Dracolizard and Dracoturtle? I'm a little lost on how to go about it. In my world wyverns and dracolizards aren't dragons but are a closely related cousin species but I don't want to use the Latin or Greek root words for dragon since I used those for my actual dragons and I don't really know what to do with dracoturtles which are, well, turtles with very minor and diluted dracolizard blood. And harpys are just really weird birds that evolved to lure in humans due to their progenitors developing a prominent fondness for human preys.

{Sorry if this just turned into a infodump}

It's a little hard for me to help you there without knowing more specifics about your creatures, but I can give you the resources I have turned to when making taxonomic names for my own fantasy creatures!

here's a wiki page about taxonomy

here's a multi part article series about taxonomy. part 1 is just a short bit of history on taxonomy. part 2 actually gets into how the taxonomic naming works. part 3 lists some common suffixes. part 4 is about taxonomic terms related to body parts. part 5 is about using habitat in taxonomy. and the final part 6 is about behaviors in taxonomy.

and using my own older posts as an example, let me explain some of the taxonomic title choices I made. (it got long)

on the goblins: Hadebufo, hades-frog, based on the real life Beezlebufo, meaning devil frog. this is a way to use taxonomy words by combining two words into one. bufo here basically means frog, and I simply smushed another word in front of it. Same goes for the next one, Manibufo, where "mani" means "hand", so it's the hand-frog because it had prehensile fingers that allowed it to grab things. from there, I made up the title "goblus" to represent the whole goblin family tree. it's just a vaguely latin sounding alteration of "goblin". I named the modern goblin "goblus goblus". usually in two-word taxonomic titles, the first word indicates the genus (that's the broader family they're in) while the second word indicates the species. so having them doubled like "goblus goblus" or "rattus rattus" usually indicates that they're like the archetypal species of their genus, the defining group. the two goblin ancestors before goblus goblus had different names; goblus troglodites (taking inspiration from chimpanzees, pan troglodytes.) troglodyte means "cave dweller". the other one is goblus textilis, or "goblin of textiles" because this is when they became very good at weaving baskets.

on the orcs: i took inspiration from prehistoric boars here. hyotherium means "pig monster" with "therium" being a common suffix to indicate a very large creature. I also used mongolian-based words for the first two in this line, since many prehistoric boars and similar creatures' fossils have been found there. which gave me hyotherium khurtshud (pig beast with sharp teeth, remarking on it's more carnivorous diet) and vounotherium sureganchin (mountain beast which hunts in packs, remarking on the evolution into a wolf-like hunting style). from there, I started to make up new terms, this time stealing words from tolkein. Uruk Urukhai, a direct reference to tolkein's strongest orcs. Uruk then became the genus name. From there, Uruk Orci is the modern orc ( could have sworn i made updated names, but i cannot seem to find any updated charts in my files lol) and I have a bonus there for Uruk Korri, taking the second title from Korrigan, a type of small fae from european mythology, often associated with hills and caves. This is a branch species that experienced island dwarfism and then split again to create the mountain dwelling Uruk Gnomi (gnomes) and the burrowing Uruk Hobbi (my version of hobbits/halflings, which I call Haufin).

on the elves: I went for the -pithecus suffix which is common for a lot of primates, including some human ancestor species. so alfipithecus, alf being an alternate word for "elf", and then sylvapithecus, referencing the word "sylvan" which i then used to make the genus name "sylvus". It's a word heavily associated with elves, especially in DnD where Sylvan is like a more ancient version of the elvish language. from here, sylvus arborea, "tree elf", and then the branching species split into sylvus arachne, "spider elf" for drow, and sylvus draculan "dracula elf" for vampires. (this needs an alteration, i'm not sure i want to call them vampires anymore). sylvus sylvan for "true elves" and sylvus hominid for modern elves that have changed with the addition of human blood in their ancestral lines (thanks to supernatural intervention while humans were going extinct)

these are currently the only evolutionary lines i have worked out, and so the only taxonomic names I have come up with so far! i hope that helps you decide what features you want to use as a base for your own fantasy taxonomy! have fun!

[revolutionary-girl-emily]

RWBY x Justice League Designs

For my very first RWDE post, I’d like to discuss the outfits for the Justice League in the upcoming movie. I love sewing, it’s a huge part of my life. I spend a lot of time researching fashion history and different textiles. I’ve had issues with how the clothing is modeled since the jump to Maya, but most of that has been discussed all over the place, so for now I’m gonna stick to the new designs. 

*HUGE NOTE* All of my criticisms with the models are due in the most part to the people making them not having the time or resources to really finish them. I do not blame any of the designers/modelers at all for any of these issues. They all deserve the utmost respect for making them as good as they are. Fuck RT and their exploitive business practices.

This is going to be a long post.

One more quick note before jumping in, I know almost nothing about DC. I watched the 2003 Teen Titans and the first 2 seasons of Young Justice. Outside of that, I don’t know these people. If there are any specific references their costumes make, they’ll definitely be going over my head.

Firstly, I have got to talk about the Flash. This goddamn zipper. This is the main reason I created this blog in the first place. The designs in RWBY have really trended towards throwing zippers all over everyone in later volumes, but this is the first time (that I recall) where they broke the laws of physics to do that. Zippers function by passing uniformly sized teeth through a zipper pull, which interlocks the teeth together. For this to work, the teeth have to all be the right size and shape. This means that even sewing zippers around gently curving slopes can be difficult. It is impossible for a zipper to turn on an acute angle and still function. And this guy’s got 4 of them.

Other than that I honestly don’t mind much about the costume. I like the lighting bolt scarf that trails behind him even when he’s not going super speed. He has goggles that he actually uses, which would be genuinely beneficial in combat. I don’t quite understand the bandages by his ankles; maybe they’re to imply that all his running led to increased strain that needs some extra support? Though then why not give him more supportive, calf-length boots? He also has bandages on his wrists and I really don’t know what they’re for. Maybe he hurt them trying to twirl his new staff with no prior training? My last note is that there are too many lines crossing all over his body. Zigzag lightning bolts, horizontal lines on either side of his waist, vertical lines on his pants, and the bandages again. It makes your eyes dart all over the place.

Cyborg seems a bit jumbled. I know he’s usually portrayed with red lights all over, though I remember blue in Teen Titans ‘03. Well they covered both bases by giving him red lights around the upper chest and head and blue accents for his right arm, hands and legs. But wait, there are also purple lights on the bottom of his drone, and his belt and shoes are both green (though not the same green). He also has a blue and black chain on the same side as his mechanical arm. There’s lots of stuff going on all over with him, but then his entire midsection is just an empty void that reads as unfinished. And for someone who is a cyborg, from the pecs down he just looks like an entirely normal human. I think it would have been a much more interesting (and I think faithful) design if they had his mechanical attributes continue down his body. 

(I just looked it up and it seems that in his most common depictions, only the right side of his head remains flesh. This iteration could very well be mechanical below the pecs but it would be nice to see that instead of completely covering it with cheap looking fabric. It’s not like that would be out of place in Remnant.)

Also, I wish the metal looked like metal and not plastic. But that’s an issue that plagues every single design on this show so let’s move on.

Superman absolutely got that jacket out of the children’s section. You could maybe read it as a cropped jacket with 3 quarter sleeves, if it also wasn’t clearly incapable of meeting in the front to zip up. Other than that I just wish his turtleneck didn’t have that random zipper on it.

Wonder Woman, the Amazon, also the only one wearing heels, is shorter than all of the men. I don’t care if that’s canon to the comics I still hate it. I honestly love her costume though, by far my favorite one.

Vixen and Green Lantern both look pretty good. I wish Batman had another color on him, just a small accent would be good. Maybe make his scarf that classic dark blue his cowl used to be decades ago, or make the utility belt yellow.

One final note, it seems so on the nose that they made the two heroes with animal themes into faunus. How come being isekai’d changed only two of them into a different species? And now Batman can fly when his whole deal is being such a good detective and so physically fit that he can keep up with super-powered guys even without any powers. Not to mention turning a billionaire white guy into an in-universe minority.

If you’ve read this far, thank you! I hope this post was decently coherent. It started from me ranting to my one irl friend that actually watches rwby about that goddamn zipper and I realized I needed to get these thoughts out into the world. I look forward to posting with you all through volume 9!