#this is probably the best illustration I’ve ever made

[emryzia]

“I can hear the change in Kaz’s breathing when he looks at you.”

“You … you can?”

“It catches every time, like he’s never seen you before.”

-Six of Crows CH 42

-

I like to think that years later after they’ve both had time to heal Kaz’s breath would still catch every time he looks at Inej

[hopecomesbacktolife]

crying weeping. this book was phenomenal. 100/10 magnificent and soooooo intense and vast and searingly intimate and heartbreaking and swoops of joy and I just. Katherine x Zera 5ever I love them so much

(possible spoilers in the tags even though I redacted the most spoilery bits)

once I’m a bit more coherent I plan to write an actual legible review (a glowing one, of course!) but I had to scream about all my feelings for this book here 😭❤️

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @jdebbiel

Deb JJ Lee is a non-binary Korean artist based in Brooklyn, NY. They have appeared in the New Yorker, New York Times, NPR, Google, Radiolab, and more. Their award-winning graphic memoir, IN LIMBO, about mental illness and difficult relationships with trauma, released in March 2023 from First Second.

Below is our interview with Deb!

Have you ever had an art block? If so, how did you overcome it?

That implies I am over my art block, but I’m still in it! I think about Kiki’s Delivery Service a lot and how she had to stop doing a thing, and that you can’t really force it, and you have to let it come back to you. It’s a pretty humbling moment, realizing there is more to life than just drawing. I’ve been trying to consume other content like reading or watching movies—anything that is not drawing-related—and to trust that it will come back to me. I think not being afraid to do the small pieces before committing to the big pieces is helpful. Because big pieces are what I am known for, I dig myself into a deeper hole, thinking that each piece has to be bigger than the last one. So yeah! Relaxing and doing the small things before overcommitting to a big piece is the best way to go about it for me.

Which 3 famous artists (dead or alive) would you invite to your dinner party?

I feel like these are all artists that I have second-degree connections with! Jillian Tamaki, Victo Ngai, and Tillie Walden would be my picks!

What are your file name conventions?

…What file name conventions? I mean, I don’t have specific file name conventions, but I actually have a public Google Drive archive! But I usually put “djjl_whatever-the-title-is_final,” and I would always know it’s the final and legit version.

What is a recent creative project that you are proud of?

I did an illustration for the whiskey brand Johnnie Walker. It’s so wild because I only had four days to finish it, and it usually takes me a week and a half if I rush. And honestly, it’s probably one of my best pieces from this year, which is funny. It was for the Mid-Autumn festival, so I made it as Korean as possible.

How has technology changed the way you approach your work?

I only use my iPad to draw everything now, and if I want to pretend that I have a steady workstation, I’ll use my Cintiq. I still am not as comfortable on the Cintiq as I am on Procreate, but it’s still pretty solid and nice. That’s the good part about technology. The bad part about technology is how AI art has been messing things up for me. I’m currently in a lawsuit about AI art as a class rep. Some of my stuff got turned into AI art late last year, so I have to give a deposition at some point. 

What is a convention experience that has stuck with you?

Honestly, they’re all good! I feel like Lightbox Expo has been really nice because it’s truly been a convention for artists. I feel like that’s where most of my audience is, and they’re all around because their purpose is to be better at art. That’s where a lot of original artists do well because they’re getting art they’re inspired by, not so much fanart. I like the Lightbox Expo because it encompasses the pure love of art very well. 

Top tips on setting up an Artist Alley booth?

Use a Y axis, not just your X axis! Take advantage of it! Branding is also something to think about. It is definitely something I’m getting better at. Having an assistant is also very important. I’ve also heard that 8.5x11 to 12x18 inches is usually a good size for prints, but I also provide postcard-sized prints because sometimes people don’t want to commit to a larger size. 

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

You know this is so funny. I’ve been following @alicexz for over a decade on Tumblr and other platforms. I’ve followed her work since high school, and we’ve only recently become peers. I found her, and we met for the first time in real life, and she recognized me. And then I found all my drawings from when I was in my Alice phase, back in high school, and I was like, “Yo, this is when I was trying to be you so badly!” and she was cracking up and was like “Wow, this is so good!” It was such a sweet moment. I wanted to take a picture of her holding my drawing up. It’s really nice because now we’re peers.

Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing, Deb! Be sure to check out their Tumblr blog over at @jdebbiel.

[livelaughpeg]

I'm writing this from a throwaway account, because you know...Scientology.

I want to preface this post by saying I am not one of those "I knew it all along!" people. I can't stand that attitude. I was pretty ambivelant towards Neil Gaiman. Prior to the allegations, I didn't hate him but I wasn't that interested in him as a person either. I don't think you can always tell when someone is a bad or good person simply by the topics they write about. If that was the case we'd be arresting every horror writer on earth.

But one thing that did always rub me up the wrong way was the way he talked about getting work.

I borrowed and read "Make Good Art" (a small book based on a speech he gave to graduates at the University of the Arts) at a time in my life that I was really struggling to get by (I still am to some extent, but in a different way). I expected to see some practical advice. Instead it was a bunch of glib shit like:

I got out into the world, I wrote, and I became a better writer the more I wrote, and I wrote some more, and nobody ever seemed to mind that I was making it up as I went along, they just read what I wrote and they paid for it, or they didn’t, and often they commissioned me to write something else for them. Looking back, I’ve had a remarkable ride. I’m not sure I can call it a career, because a career implies that I had some kind of career plan, and I never did. The nearest thing I had was a list I made when I was 15 of everything I wanted to do: to write an adult novel, a children’s book, a comic, a movie, record an audiobook, write an episode of Doctor Who… and so on. I didn’t have a career. I just did the next thing on the list.

Life is sometimes hard. Things go wrong, in life and in love and in business and in friendship and in health and in all the other ways that life can go wrong. And when things get tough, this is what you should do. Make good art. I’m serious. Husband runs off with a politician? Make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by mutated boa constrictor? Make good art. IRS on your trail? Make good art. Cat exploded? Make good art. Somebody on the Internet thinks what you do is stupid or evil or it’s all been done before? Make good art. Probably things will work out somehow, and eventually time will take the sting away, but that doesn’t matter. Do what only you do best. Make good art.

Yeah, well, no shit. If you're a writer or artist you probably do anyway. Whether you get paid for it or not, whether you draw fan art or original art. But the point of Gaiman's speech was to give advice to people who wanted to be paid for their art. To make a career of it. Making art every day isn't always enough. You have to pay the damn rent, you have to eat, you have to network and do social media and promote yourself, and you have to do it while thousands of other people are doing the same thing in a massive crowd of people who want the same thing. Practical advice is much more valuable than platitudes and theory.

I am not a writer, I'm an illustrator, and let me tell you that for most people, 'getting your foot in the door' isn't a one time thing. Quite often you have to work at getting your foot in the door again and again until you become established, and it's very easy to be forgotten. I still feel like I'm in that stage now.

I watched my peers, and my friends, and the ones who were older than me and watch how miserable some of them were: I’d listen to them telling me that they couldn’t envisage a world where they did what they had always wanted to do any more, because now they had to earn a certain amount every month just to keep where they were. They couldn’t go and do the things that mattered, and that they had really wanted to do; and that seemed as a big a tragedy as any problem of failure.

The implication was that he was successful because he wrote every day and his friends weren't because they didn't, because you know, working a second job is tiring. He called this a tragedy, but there was something very glib about the way he narrated this.

I think someone had more financial cushion that he was letting on.

And yes, sometimes it does work that way, (some people are very lucky and make all the right connections) but Gaiman was getting Big Jobs right off the bat and something about that never smelt right to me after the way he talked about it.

And then I saw Jeff's tweets. Oh, that's why...

I suspect the truth is he was living off his family's money and connections, and while I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that if you're a struggling artist, his family are Scientologists, and I don't think he ever struggled.

I suspect it's all a lie.

[cartoonistcoop]

ShortBox Comics Member Interview: Val Wise

Throughout the month of October, the Cartoonist Cooperative will be sharing interviews with members of the Co-op who have a new comic available at the ShortBox Comics Fair 2024! 

NOTE: The Cartoonist Cooperative is not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way formally connected with ShortBox.  

Today’s spotlight is Val Wise and their new comic for ShortBox, In Fair Verona.

We’d love it if you could introduce yourself and tell us about your background in comics.

Val Wise: I’m Val, I graduated from SCAD in 2018. I’ve illustrated a couple of YA graphic novels, and in the past few years I’ve started to become more confident with my own writing. This is my third year participating in the ShortBox Comics Fair.

Tell us more about your new comic?

VW: Here’s the blurb: Two girls enter the service of the Princess of All Blood. One is there to be loved, the other tormented, but strange circumstances have blurred the lines between the two.

In Fair Verona started with a script I wrote in August of 2023, but decided it might be too much to pitch anywhere. I came back to it a couple of months later and decided the fair would probably be the best place for it.

I didn’t have much intentional thought about themes or anything else while I was writing it, but I realized later on that it kind of perfectly encapsulates my struggles communicating with other people. But that’s all I’ll say there, lol.

Tell us about your creative process; how did you develop this comic and what are the steps you took to bring it to the final stage?

VW: The idea of wanting to do a possession story came first. I wanted to make a story about an “ugly” girl who possesses a “pretty” girl and then makes sure they can never switch back. But when I actually sat down to write it out, that idea very quickly changed.

After that, this comic appeared in my brain more fully formed than…anything I’ve ever made. I’ve never written anything that progressed so naturally with so few changes needed from my outline to the final product. A finger has curled on the monkey’s paw, because nothing I’ve tried to write since has come so easily!

Does a sense of audience, even if it’s just an audience of one, enter into your creative process? If yes, how so?

VW: I don’t really think about the audience while I’m writing. But, every step after, I think about it a lot! I have to spend so much time with all of the wild choices I made so quickly in a word document!

I get so in my head about my own decisions, and I have to force myself to not get bogged down in the worst ways my ideas can be interpreted. So, I do try my best not to think about the audience very much, though I do appreciate that people are often more generous than I give them credit for.

Read the rest of the interview HERE! And dont forget to check out the Shortbox Comics Fair to support these lovely creators!!

[viccharine]

do you guys ever listen to a band so much that you end up making fake merch for it?

(reblogs greatly appreciated!!!!)

close ups and commentary under the cut!

about the poster itself: do you guys know how hard it is to make art for a band that hasn’t been active in 13 years? the answer is HARD (yes, i probably could done research and looked for old interviews for inspiration but who has time for that)

—> the icons related to “take a vacation!” are inspired by lyrics from the song “take a vacation!” (haha, did you see what I did there?) specifically, the lines “we’ll leave the waves at the ocean” and “we’ll leave the sand in a suitcase”

—> the Jon Walker and Ryan Ross icons are taken directly from the album cover (it took ten years off my life trying to figure out how to get them on here w/ the color palette—graphic design may be my passion but I never said i was GOOD at it)

—> the heart imagery comes from the fact that the band’s called “the young VEINS”—although it annoys me IMMENSELY that i technically drew more arteries than veins in the icons (my anatomy teacher would be so disappointed, but alas, anatomical accuracy had to be sacrificed to make it. yknow. look nice)

—> i did hand-lettering for all the text except for everything that’s in Helvetica (i did THAT in canva). the art program i use has a basically unusable text tool so I was forced to draw all of it, so I choose to believe that the reason why it doesn’t look. the best. is because of the caffeine shakes

some extra commentary: am I the only one who’s genuinely REALLY bad at listening to music? i don’t really get into bands as much as i just find songs that sound nice—to illustrate the extent of this issue: i did NOT know that Brendon Urie was a part of Panic! At the Disco. I’m not even kidding, I thought the artist who made Death of a Bachelor and the artist who made A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out were completely different and just. didn’t bother to check if I was right.

also, I’m not the type of person to be interested in band lore???? I rarely know the names of band members if even I’ve listened to the band for years (I really couldn’t care less in most situations)

case in point, i did not know who the FUCK Ryan Ross was!!! i knew he was in p!atd but that’s literally about it—before a couple of days ago if you asked to me pick out either Ryan Ross or Jon Walker from a line up I would not be able to get even CLOSE

anyway, my friend/manager is really into band lore, so I basically got a crash-course in all things “early to late 2000s emo band” and subsequently found out about the Young Veins (i was also extremely disappointed when I found out they only had one album and hadn’t been active in over a decade) THEN I realized that decade old, inactive bands don’t usually have merch, so I made my own! “merch” used lightly—i don’t think this is actually fit to sell lol

anyway that’s all k thanks byeee :D!! (and go stream the young veins!!)

[a-risk-to-take]

….you posted your tattoo (sick) and linked to house of dirk and i read it all and its unfinished. if you hadn’t posted i may have lived my life without getting fanfic blue balled for the first time since 2015. if you have any sympathy for my loss you would give me fanfic recs >:[ /lh

I feel your pain believe me 😭😭 I’m sorry I didn’t warn you at least. I’m low-key hoping the tattoo image gets to imarriedacherub and inspires them to continue the story - obviously not likely but it’s nice to dream!

I got recs for you though! I’ve got hundreds of bookmarks on my ao3 but here’s the HS stuff I love the most:

The epics:

Dayvhe’s Broken Diamond Club and everything by @unda-dsk: DBDC is my personal fave of theirs, and the best treatment of troll culture in any fic ever. If you know HS fic you are probably aware of MC Escher That’s My Favorite MC, and that one is absolutely excellent and completely deserves its status as one of the very best. And then there’s Alternate Universe, which is a perfect and beautiful magic school story. All of these are absolutely top-tier - I cannot stress this enough. They are epic and very long but some of the best stuff I’ve ever read—fanfic or otherwise—and they changed me when I read them. Despite the length, DBDC is very episodic so you can read each chapter as its own story and easily take breaks in between them without losing the flow, so you might want to start there. I promise it’s worth it!!

so we don’t kill the ones we love by @callmearcturus: I’ve never read anyone who can create an atmosphere like Arc can - this one is kind of a John Wick AU but in a really refreshing and elevated way. The characterization is so on point. Lots more I could rave about but I’ll just add that Arc’s Karkats are the hottest and most based out there. Again all his stuff is really good - this one is my favorite, but don’t miss this really cool magic artisan AU also.

The meteorstucks:

Aahhh there’s no way this is gonna be complete because I’ve read like hundreds and I get them confused but these are some that stand out. In case you haven’t notice already this list is gonna be very davekat centric!

Keep It Down by sburbanite - chef’s kiss concept and execution just read it

A Xenological Exploration of Music and Language by superbloom - super fun and well written with neat headcanon - and turned me on to some great music

I’m actually gonna just declare this section unfinished for now - I need to revisit these and remind myself what’s what - stay tuned!

Illustrated

Since you liked HoD you might be looking for more comic-y stuff with art. Definitely check out @chthonicarcher’s amazing davekats! Such as That’s All We Are

Dream a Little Dream of Me by koroke - this is just a little dream bubble comic but it’s simply the loveliest and I’m massively envious of the art style

Gonna Need Some Windex by the End of the Year by magniloquentChanteuse - more artistic storytelling just neat!

More

It’s About Time by @laurasauras - this is a sweet cute lovely little time travel davekat that I actually sent to a friend to read who knew nothing about HS and successfully led them into the fandom. (Followed by AU by Unda). Laurasauras is prolific and there are so many great fics written by them I can’t list them all here but they are one of my absolute favorite authors. Their understanding of the strider psyche is absolutely impeccable

The Worst Goddamn Movies Ever Fucking Made by writerbot - this fic brought me so much hilarity and joy I can’t even tell you. The Karkat voice is perfect and delightful and the social media interludes are so fucking funny and impressive. One of the first fics to show me how creative and funny this fandom can be.

I’m surely going to add to this - there are so many more meteorstucks and other authors I know I’ll think of after I post this - but I don’t want to spend too much longer on this now when you could be reading some of this great stuff! ENJOY!!

[heraldeez]

i saw your requests were open temporarily, may i request a first kiss with jayce ? i think it'd be cute. i hope youve been well !

I have been well, thanks for asking! Life's crazy because I'm getting ready to move.

DEFINITELY CUTE. I want to smooch him. I wasn't sure if you meant his first kiss, the reader's first kiss, or their first kiss together, so I just knocked down two targets and hoped for the best 🙈. Hope you enjoy!

Jayce x Reader | 962 | SFW

Contains: bad group projects, falling asleep on someone, and some sweet sweet smoochin.

Jayce stiffens as your jaw comes to rest against his shoulder, hands freezing their progress. Chancing a glance down, he confirms that yeah, you’re out cold.

It's another late night at the Academy, spent doing curriculum work instead of work that could change the world someday. Jayce was fighting with a tricky relay of copper fittings. You'd finished your share of the project twenty minutes ago, both the clean copy of delicately illustrated schematics and all the vocal presentation bits that Jayce dreaded.

Nobody likes group projects. Jayce knows he isn't out of the ordinary there. He just can't help but feel that it grates on him more than the average student, faced with the fact that most of his peers didn't actually care about discovery. They just cared about making themselves look good. 

Not you, though. He'd only shared classes with you this semester, but you were always fair in your division of the work.

And you were one of the only people who seemed to be able to stand his… candidness, always laughing it off when he’d get frustrated with the pace, being slowed down by others.

‘It’ll get done either way, slow or not.’ You'd been smiling at him so sweetly when you'd said that, despite the fact that he knew he had been nothing but irritated and fussy. Your patience had left him stricken with… something.

Jayce decides to leave you be, asleep on his shoulder. This project wouldn't have been a problem if the rest of your group members had anything to offer except slapdash efforts and excuses, leaving the two of you with the brunt of the work.

Tonight, Jayce is the one slowing you down, grumbling his way through fixing the shoddy work your other partners had put forward and finishing the things they had neglected to do entirely. To get this project up to his usual standards…

It’s eating up far too much time. The least he can do is let you rest a bit.

---

Your pillow is talking.

“Finally. Alright, I’ve got it dialed in so the fluid can actually cycle through all of the cooling chambers even as a prototype – the professor should be impressed. This is almost professional quality, so our marks should be flawless.”

Your pillow also smells incredibly good, nice and warm, so you elect to ignore it and nuzzle deeper.

“Are you listening?” – it sounds incredibly put out – “Hey. Wake up, we can go home now.”

Blearily, you blink your eyes open and find yourself caught up in Jayce’s gaze, the low lamplight reflecting off the gold of his eyes and revealing him peering down at you, close and tired and – dare you say – almost fond looking.

This close you can see every last eyelash, and how his stubble is starting to come in from the late hour on the alluring curve of his jaw. Despite the bags under his eyes, they’re bright and satisfied, his face almost glowing, the way it always does when he’s worked hard and made something perfect.

In fact, you can almost feel that glow on your skin. When did he get so warm? His ears are starting to get red.

That little detail reminds you just how close your faces have become, but a sleepy contentedness has drizzled its way into your joints, and you can’t bring yourself to pull away.

He’s just so –

“You’re really lovely when you’re making progress, you know that? It opens you up,” you sigh, still half dreaming, watching the flush spill across his face.

Jayce is too busy looking at your mouth to respond, his own ever so slightly parted.

Were you not half asleep, you probably never would have chanced it. But the way he was looking at you almost lost, how close he was –

It felt natural, to wriggle in closer, tilt up your jaw invitingly.

You catch the way his brows shoot up just as your eyes slip shut, and your mouth slots perfectly against his, slow and –

And unmoving. A little shocked stiff. Jayce makes a funny little noise in the back of his throat, something aching and perhaps a touch confused.

You jolt back, suddenly a whole lot more awake. “Sorry. Wow, sorry, I should have asked first –”

“It’s fine,” Jayce cuts in, a little strangled, busying himself with wrapping the prototype in oilcloth and setting it inside its small crate as an excuse not to meet your eyes. “You were – It was nice, just – I’ve never done that before.”

The end of his sentence leaves him in a rush. If it’s possible, his ears seem even redder now.

“Never?” you echo, a bit disbelieving in the wake of how plush and soft his lips had been against yours.

His shoulders hunch up defensively, looking awfully small for such a large man. “I’m kind of a busy guy, alright?”

Jayce’s fingers snap the clasps shut on the lid of the box, but your brain wrapped itself around the way he’d said your kiss was ‘nice’, and you’re itching to try again, to give him something even nicer to latch on to.

“Too busy to give it another go?”

Jayce’s wide eyes cut over to yours finally, from where he’s tucking the prototype into his satchel.

His fingers loosen on the strap of his bag. “Well. Maybe not,” Jayce mumbles, leaning in close enough for you to close the gap again.

The shuddering exhale Jayce gives you when you bring your lips together this time is everything, your hand coming up to cup his jaw and guide him into the most comfortable angle. His movements are still a bit stilted compared to yours, but he’s mimicking your motions in an incredibly earnest fashion.

You have no doubt he’ll be a quick study.

[tomato-bird-art]

SF ZINEFEST 2024! Some pictures from the San Francisco Zinefest last week! I had a wonderful time, and it was SUPER busy! thanks everyone who swung by to pick up prints and zines from me, I really appreciate it. It was really heartening to see people enjoy my art and remember me from over the years—I’ve had a very busy year and not as much time to “be an artist” as I’d like, so it was very invigorating to be around other queer artists again in a dedicated and enthusiastic space. When online a lot, you tend to forget how it is to be around art in person, and this was a great reminder of it—also every year, I’m always excited to see the beautiful outfits and fashion of the attendees! Someday I’ll dress up more special, but alas it’s just work and apron for me XD

I also finally got to meet longtime mutual and incredible artist @megamoth in person, and got a copy of their Devilman zine series here I contributed to some years ago! Here’s a pic with a cool itabag as well.

This year, I debuted a few new works:

“Fujo X-Ray Visions”

is a collection of personal comics from the past year I’ve been posting here and on Patreon, mostly about trying to balance life as a cartoonist and as someone pursuing some new career experiences in the healthcare field. Like “Voids and Visions” before it, there’s a bunch of personal stuff and angsting along with regular goofiness.

It’s available now both as a physical zine, as well as a digital download!

“If All The World Were Mine!”

My collection of artwork and comics I’ve done for my medieval rpf side account, @angevinyaoiz over the past couple years. It’s a mix of some serious historical illustrations, goofy cartoons, and nsfw works. It’s probably one of the most “niche” things I’ve ever made or gotten into as of late, but I’m happy for the audience who has appreciated my work over the past several months. It’s available currently as a physical zine purchase on storenvy, and I’m planning on making an expanded digital zine version available later—fill out this form to be notified!

“Best Yaoi Movies of 20th Century Hollywood”

In this collaborative project I did with my friend @titilvating, in the style of classic cut and paste, copied zines, we offer our takes on 19 movies made before the year 2000. Many are acclaimed classics; some are underrated gems.  We made this zine to both introduce folks to the richness possibilities of classic movies; whether longtime cinephiles familiar with queer subtexts,  or young fujos looking for more material to sink their yaoifangs into.  Our sample size caters to our personal tastes rather than “good representation” and reflects a fraction what’s out there, with a focus on western US/European media, but hopefully can serve as a fun introduction and celebration. Old movies are a lotta fun, who would’ve thought?

It’s available now as a free digital download, but contact me if you’re interested in a physical edition as well!”

Other Works:

My print version of “The Sons of God” was very well received! I realized sometimes giving little titles to print pieces make for great conversation starters, and I got to chat a lot about my inspirations for the respective pieces. Grab a physical print here!

Ending Thoughts

Overall, I’m glad I got to meet lots of people this year and also pick up lots of zines! I didn’t have a chance to really browse this time around since it was so busy, but I got to trade a lot with folks and also pick up some cool zines and stickers myself.

For those who’d like to keep up with what I’m doing, follow me here, on Patreon, either as a member or free-follower, since I tend to post my sketches/WIPs there first. For me now, it’s back to the grind of school and also continuing creative projects. I have a lot of stuff I dream of doing, and it’s always a challenge to balance that with what needs to get done. If I learned anything from this event, it’s how valuable it is to connect with people in the real world art space (Something I always learn and forget like every few months.)…also, always bring water and snacks—can never be TOO prepared!

Wishing you all a good autumn,

-Allie

[hanzajesthanza]

i must add my two cents to your wonderful video essay. firstly, brilliant research, hats off. what i want to talk about is polish history intertwined in the saga. i first read the witcher as a 12 year old, and didn't put so much perspective on this aspect then. it taught me a lot about war, sure. but thank you for widening my point of view. I've been thinking about it and realised that Jarre's story says a lot about how war seems to the Poles who read about war in history books after becoming free of the communistic grip. basically, what we have now is the cult of patriotic insurgents, of dying in the name of motherland. they are much more important heroes than a lot of our inventors. so many young people died in a hopeless fight. so many brilliant minds. that's what i think when Nenneke says to him that he can't go, because that's not this thing, that his life will go to waste. during ww2 our oppressors firstly took all our intelligence and murdered them. and those who fled, were later considered cowards. those who couldn't fight were ashamed. Jarre's part of the story illustrates it, his ideals and how useless his suffering is in this war. that's reality.

literally ugh… that’s probably one of the best characteristics of the witcher and hussite trilogy, war and battles being depicted realistically, in that realism it’s not glorified, but we are shown the futility, senseless violence, nauseating fear, with any victory pyrrhic… through not only the eyes of “professional soldiers” but also through thise of “average people”.

and how on what we might believe to be “the good side” there is actually a lot more complexity to it, and it’s not just black-and-white. as for instance, jarre is shown the horrible sides of the northern forces, innocents being killed for spreading “defeatism and desertion”. and here then returns the question of lesser and greater evils.

i don’t know if i explained my personal opinion on this so much in the essay (i was trying to remain a little objective, since criticism for netflix usually gets into a lot of subjective opinion rather than trying to present facts) but this perspective of war, which in the essay i attribute to the witcher’s polish identity, was something which made the books particularly interesting to me as an american reader—

because i’ve never been drawn to war stories in fiction. the war stories i knew were all the same and like “soldier gets drafted—makes friends in his group but is then exposed to violence—comes back and can’t cope,” which, to be true, is an honest and real depiction of a lot of american veterans’ experiences, i’m not denying that; but it was so steeped in either a black-and-white depiction of a good side vs bad side (without, for example, in narratives about the vietnam war—ever considering the perspectives of the vietnamese, only those of the american soldiers 🫥) where the quote-unquote “enemy” is largely dehumanized and whose motivations are never explored, only that they’re wanting to kill “us,” so they need to be killed, and-or a “hero” narrative, where the story largely follows the experience of only one soldier and his personal journey. so reading how war is depicted in the witcher, i was very struck by the nuance in moral and political complexity, the multiple POVs, and how it’s not a foreign war they’re shipped off to fight, but one for survival, on their own soil. i’m of course not saying that the witcher is the only media ever that does this (lol), but it was my first exposure to this kind of war story—and it was probably so because it’s a fantasy saga, which i wasn’t expecting such realism from.

and it actually is a main focus of the saga, as well, not inconsequential background. and even if you dgaf about “politics” and only pay attention to the main characters’ storyline, this kind of war of lesser and greater evils also plays out with them—for instance, ciri, who’s our protagonist despite the fact that she descends into evil herself. and also something i’m desperate to talk about is the moral ambiguity of geralt and his company and how they’re introduced in baptism of fire, because despite that they’re well-liked, all of them except dandelion have some blood on their hands, and that’s why they seek to undergo a baptism of fire.

i did want to get into brenna in the essay, because it is actually mentioned by sapkowski in the same quote from historia i fantastyka, re: showing realism of war (from which i explored baptism of fire)—i wanted to stay a little vague about the events of lady of the lake, not knowing who the video would be served to and if people would care about end spoilers… however, brenna was indeed the second part mentioned re: his desire to “take away the mysticism from war.”

also another analysis that i didn’t touch in the essay but is interesting nonetheless, the concept of “many young people died in a hopeless fight” also applies to the elves and story of aelirenn (tomasz bagiński pointed this out in the same interview in which he was talking about the warsaw uprising)

[incandescent-creativity]

@flashfictionfridayofficial I’m doing this one on time for once I swear

I thought this would be fitting for Ash’s realization that Zach is from… well, out there. Beyond. Etc.

Slowly, I say, “You’re in the City of Vanithea. On a central island separate from the local landmasses. Most of us live here in the city, although some human populations have settled closer to the shores.”

Something is wrong, though. I don’t know of any of the shore towns named Seahaven, and Zach’s smile has dropped. He looks like I just delivered bad news, but why?

“Do you have a map?” Zach asks. “Like a world map?”

Feeling the thrilling pull of a new mystery, I stand up behind my desk.

“Follow me.”

Technically, bringing him back into the private room I use to store all the materials I am currently studying is going above and beyond Help Center duties. But I keep a copy of Bordreau’s map to help me with my research, given that hers is one of the more academically accepted interpretations of voyage reports we have. And because I see her whenever I visit the administrative office, I can usually get up-to-date copies.

Zach doesn’t need to know all that, though. It’s embarrassing enough to have someone else see the disjointed spread of yellowed papers and notes tacked to each wall. I don’t need to go into detail about how I’m close colleagues with the mapmaker.

“Here it is,” I say, spreading it out. “And here is where we are.”

I don’t know what I expect him to do. The map matches what I explained earlier: the edges of various landmasses line the map to the east and northeast, and the scattered merfolk islands dot the south. In the center of the map is our island, with its shores drawn in significantly sharper detail than the sketched landmasses. It’s generally agreed that Bordreau is the best at walking the line between honoring what the voyagers who make it back have spotted from afar, and taking creative liberties.

Zach looks it over for less than a minute. I’ve seen the map before; I watch him instead. From what I can tell, he spends most of his time studying the illustration of our central island.

“The smaller islands,” he says, tapping the handful of islands located in merfolk territory. “What’s past them?”

“Hard to say,” I say with a shrug. “The merfolk don’t let us pass through. About a decade ago, the city council decided we had lost enough boats trying.”

Too bad Gran isn’t here to hear me deliver the news with such neutrality. With how many of my rants she has heard on the decision, she’d probably be proud of me. I’ll have to tell her later.

“Well, they should start up again,” Zach says with completely unearned confidence. “Because that’s where I’m from.”

“You’re from the merfolk islands?”

That would explain why he doesn’t know the city, but… Actually, no, it wouldn’t. He would have swam here, climbed ashore, and traveled to Vanithea, so he would know where he is. Not to mention that, unless Zach’s scales are just as pale as his skin, and are therefore rendered invisible, I can’t believe him.

“No, no,” he says, and now he does sound like he thinks I’m being silly. “Past them. I’m from… over here.”

He spreads his hand out and waves it over a portion of the map beyond the inked borders, indicating the implied landmass east of the merfolk islands.

I struggle to keep my face neutral as I consider the implications of what he says. If I believe him… If he is telling the truth, then Zach’s presence in my Center is completely unprecedented. Humans haven’t managed to establish any permanent settlements outside of the central island. Every time we try to sail east or south, the merfolk take issue with it, and voyages to the north have infamously met with disaster. And, as far as we can tell, there isn’t anything to the west.

At least, that’s what the voyagers of the past have told us. But few of them ever actually made landfall on any of the identified landmasses, precluding genuine exploration…

Points of connection between the revelation standing in my back room, and my ongoing thesis paper, begin to unfold in my mind. This could change the direction of the paper entirely. If Zach’s tale can be verified by someone, somehow, it could be the clinching argument I need to convince the City. The entire thing would be elevated from some opinion piece by a girl to a forceful argument by an academic.

Holy shit.

[nanowrimo]

NaNo Interview: Graphic Designer Alyssa Alarcón Santo

NaNoWriMo events would be a lot less colorful without our amazing graphic designers. NaNoWriMo's in-house designer Alyssa Alarcón Santo gives us a peak at her experience at NaNo as well as some of her designer thoughts!

Q: Alyssa, you've been partnering with NaNo for several years now! How did you first begin designing for us?

Back in 2018, I had just gone fully freelance and was trying to get a print shop up and running. I had gotten really into painting these meticulously hand-lettered book stacks and at some point, I posted one on that graphic design site, Dribbble. If I remember correctly, that’s where Nano found me. When I got the email asking if I was interested in designing the event merch that year, I was shocked! I honestly wasn’t even sure it was real until I got on a call with Chris and Shelby.

It’s funny in retrospect, I was so overprepared. I had an entire pitch and design treatment worked up before I had even technically interviewed. That was the design we ended up running with, too.

Q: Do you remember the first NaNo design you ever made?

My first project set was the NaNoWriMo event merch for 2018, so it was the usual items: poster, mug, shirts, etc etc. The theme that year was “NaNoWriMo Is…” and I really wanted to highlight how much it could be at once—planning and writing, procrastinating and collaborating, daydreaming, creating. I wanted to visually lean into the chaos, but y’know, in an orderly fashion. I think we managed that!

Q: What are some of your guiding inspirations behind your NaNo designs?

Before I pivoted into illustration and design, I always thought I would be a writer. I studied creative writing and modernist literature in college, then went on to study comics and narrative design in art school. Because of that background, I always try to keep in mind 1) what story is this design telling and 2) how can we make that story a little more fun? 

Q: How has your style changed over time?

I actually think my entire focus has changed over the last five years. When I started designing for NaNoWriMo, I was primarily an illustrator and I spent a lot of time working on hand-lettering-centric projects. I still enjoy lettering and illustration—I still consider myself an artist at the roots—but the bulk of my work is actually in book design and typographic design these days. I’ve been finding it extraordinarily satisfying to assemble and format books of any kind, including comics!

Q: Have you ever attempted an official NaNoWriMo project? If so, how did it go? If not, is that something you see yourself trying in the future?

Oh, absolutely, I have! I started participating in NaNoWriMo when I was 15 years old, way back in 2006. I participated every year up until I was about 23, when work responsibilities started getting in the way. I think the only year I hit the 50k goal was when I was ~18, but I still have the fragments of a dozen novels floating around on various hard drives. I did actually stretch my writing muscles a little during Nano last year and it felt good. I’ll probably join in again this year and see how far I can get.

Q: You've designed graphics for objects, paper, digital, and more. As a designer, what's going on in your head as you design for 2-d versus 3-d projects? Do you have a favorite type of design project?

When you’re designing anything, you always have to keep the end result in mind so there are questions you ask yourself throughout: How will this design be used? What kind of file will it need to be? Am I setting everything up to best satisfy the specs? You think that way for both digital and physical designs, but the questions are different. For digital designs, you think about color spaces, dimensions, resolution.

For physical objects, you think about color conversion, margins and bleeds, composition and how it translates when interacted with. (For example, if you’re designing a mug, you have to keep in mind where the handle is, where the design will land around the cylinder, and what the user sees when they pick it up.)

I personally prefer to design for 3D objects, which is a fun thing I’ve learned from this NaNoWriMo job! It feels so validating to hold the thing you’ve been working on in your hands. I think my favorite of the projects I’ve done for NaNoWriMo so far was the 1k piece puzzle we put out earlier this year. That was a challenge, making sure that there were enough details and gradients and textures to keep it interesting.

Q: If Helvetica and Arial were in a fight, who would win and why?

Helvetica, all the way! It was designed to be highly legible in traditional printing, which I prefer as a dyslexic print designer. Arial is nice on a screen, but I just find Helvetica more versatile. (That said, if we’re really talking about who would win in a type fight, the answer is serifs, like Times New Roman, over sans serifs! Those serifs are pointier. Much better for fighting.) Alyssa Alarcón Santo is a Los Angeles raised, Portland based designer-of-many-hats. Over the years, she has worked as an illustrator, graphic designer, photographer, and now book designer, and she is always looking for fun ways to combine those skills. A throughline running across her work, regardless of medium, is a love of words. She currently serves as In-House Designer for NaNoWriMo and Creative Director of science-fiction magazine Planet Scumm. You can find her work on instagram @alyssasantodesign.

[violetvelourr]

How long I have been doing art

People occasionally ask me how long I’ve been drawing and that question gets me utterly confused 😅 um, probably since I remember myself?.. 😅

First of all, big reveal. I’m old. Much older than you probably ever guessed. Because I’ve been doing digital art since 2003, and I was not exactly a toddler at that point, he-he. Don’t ask me my age though – I’m still a lady and I consider it impolite 🤭 but that might actually answer the questions of many teenagers why I don’t particularly interact much 🙈

So anyways, now we have settled my “art career” span. But saying “I began doing digital art in 2003” – well… I don’t want to do that, because people will be like, “whoa, 20 years”?! And will freak out at such a prospect – 20 years to get to my level, which is, frankly speaking, far from professional. Not to mention that before digital art I also drew traditionally quite a bit.

But the main reason is because “doing digital art since 2003” does not equal “for 20 years”.

How about we revisit these years and look closer at my digital art journey? I can’t promise that I will recall everything 100% accurately, but I’ll do my best.

So around 2003-2004 I tried drawing in Photoshop for the first time. It was an image of a lion, and to be honest, to this day I’m hella proud of myself.

Yes, first attempt. Yes, I drew with a freaking mouse!

My second piece from the same year span is the “Dancer”. oh yes, the remakable hepatitis skin tone 🙈

To be honest, I don’t recall having a drawing tablet that long ago, I'm quite sure I got it only in 2008, but looking at it, despite its flaws, I can hardly believe I drew that using a mouse… I’m not sure, it’s a mystery. The Lion was definitely a mouse artwork.

From thereon I abandoned digital art for a while due to studying, then work, and finally online RPGs…

In 2008 I posted my first digital WIP after a 5 year break.

Oh my gosh... Remind me to never try realism again, clearly not my thing 🙈

I think I was trying to draw an avatar for myself, which doesn’t exactly justify drawing a woman aged probably around 40 🙈 I was not that old!! As far as I can see from my journal, that artwork crashed and only this snippet of it was what I had left. I think it’s for the good. I ended up commissioning the avatar from a proper artist, ha-ha…

Over the span of 2 months I posted 5 more digital art pieces, none of them ever completed actually 🙈 And yes, behold how ugly they are...

My ambitions were growing faster than my skills were improving. The piece with the couple with that naked girl is my special pain because I even attended a digital art course by an amazing artist I was really looking up to back then – Anry – to try and finish this piece, but I failed miserably. I was the only person in that course (5 day 12hr/day intense course) out of 15 people who came “just for fun” – the rest were pursuing a professional digital illustrator career.

This is what I left off with after that course.

In this collage you see on the left what I came with, the middle – what the teacher did after I explained my concept, and on the right – my attempt to take the piece to its final form. But I could never accept that the base was made for me and not by me...

It still grips my heart when I look at it because it was one of my greatest fails. I think that to die peacefully, I need to finish this artwork 😆 If anyone is curious about the story behind this artwork, I’ll post it separately.

Anyway, as I said, I didn’t reach my goal, was hugely disappointed in myself and dropped digital art in April 2008.

However, I came back 1.5 years later, in November 2009, when I got into anime 😂

I think that’s also when I first tried Paint Tool SAI. Up until March 2012, I uploaded roughly 20+/- digital artworks/WIPs. The quality was a bit inconsistent, but I was beginning to get the hang of it a bit, finally. Here are some of them (yeah, the span of the mood is extraordinary):

So, in 2.5 years – merely 20 artworks. Just to compare, in 2022 alone I made 75+ artworks, which doesn’t even include animations and stuff I considered to not be proper artworks.

So, my last artwork from that period was in March 2012 (the one with the winged dude blocking the way for the girl), after which I abandoned digital art again, for good this time. I actually thought - forever, to be honest.

I’m not sure what happened then. I guess I just lost my motivation, got over my fictional crushes, was depressed and not happy with myself…

Problem is that in reality, I don’t have any imagination at all. Part of the reason why I always suspected that despite being quite decent in drawing, I would never succeed as an artist, so I could only say that my dream was to draw for Disney. But I knew I never would. And I knew I can’t do original art. Fan arts – yes, subject to being highly inspired, a feeling similar to a crush. I was too dependent on the mood. But even so… my artworks never were particularly fancy or original, I admit it.

Part of the reason why I’m also so sensitive about AI now. I see people actually living my dream, and I'm so happy for them. Working as illustrators, having an income from what they create... And that is being stolen from them now. That’s why I will probably never accept AI.

Ugh, turned off the subject…

Anyway, as I said, I abandoned art in 2012 and only picked it back up in October 2021 because of Kakashi. 😆

If my math is correct, that’s a 9.5 year break. I have been going non-stop since October 2021, so I would say that my ongoing artistic journey lasts for almost 2 years now. The previous 2-year period with 20 artworks – I’m not really sure about the value of that. The previous 7 digital artworks – even more so.

If I had to sum up my entire digital art journey, – I would say it is around 5–6 years, but in reality probably won’t add up even to 3 years, because the 3 years adding up from a bit of 2003, a bit of 2008 and bits of 2009-2012 had me produce only around 30 artworks, a majority of which were never even completed.

My main progress happened between 2021 and now, so in the last 2 years. And to be honest, I understand that if I am to continue - this is only the beginning...

[freebooter4ever]

So you guys know i (try to) post daily doodles, and i have said before that i draw for about 2-3 hrs every night. BUT that also means i dont post about like 80-90% of the drawings i do each night. Today though, i've been thinking about A*I and my own relationship with drawing, and how utterly baffled i am that anyone would want to use it to like...draw for them..and how the concept that *tell a computer what art to do so i dont have to do it* is alien to me. So here's ALL the drawings i did tonight. The bottom one is the last one i did and the one i would normally post. And i want to talk about A*I without talking about good or bad end product. Because i dont care if im making the shittiest art in the universe - i still wouldn't use A*I. Not even as a ‘tool’.

If you've been around here for a while you know i have a love/hate relationship with my art. I write too, but writing doesnt make me so frustrated and angry that i want to throw my computer out a second story window. HOWEVER. There is a huge caveat to that anger.

It happens after.

You could look at it a little like hockey. Every game is fresh, right? I mean god knows the US made an entire movie about how every game is a new game and the odds could always fall in your favor no matter how stacked against you. So every drawing i go into it excited - like LOOK at that reference material, its gorgeous. The gesture is beautiful, the post is interesting, there is something about it that is just begging to be drawn. But then say you hit intermission in the hockey game and the opposing team scored a few points. And i step back and look at the drawing and realize i started to go wrong somewhere along the way. But its too late now, you gotta commit and keep going. And you do but somehow the final score is STILL 6 to 0 and thats when i want to flush all my art down the toilet and never look at it again. But its okay because the next drawing is going to start with a blank canvas and who cares what happened last time.

Ok maybe a bad example.

The product is never really what drives me to draw - i mean, sure i do like it a heck of a lot better when i have something /anything/ that i can post to show that im sticking with my everyday doodle. But its not a requirement to doodling. The process of drawing is always fun. Its when i come out of it and look at the stupid thing that im like ‘well fuck i fucked that one up again didnt i’, and THEN i get annoyed lol.

I dont sit there consumed with frustration over ‘gee i dont know what to draw’. This is never an issue. I HAVE TOO MUCH TO DRAW. Sometimes i avoid certain gifs/photos because in the back of my mind im like ‘yeah no, i havent leveled up that far yet, i cant do that justice’. But i dont want to admit the sheer number of images of geno alone i have saved. I think my biggest reference folder is still aoki and that has over two thousand screenshots - i dont think anyone will ever surpass that LOL. I have a never ending supply of practice art to be done.

The frustration comes when i have an image in my head and i want to get it down on paper so-to-speak (computer whatever). So - when im NOT using reference (or at least not an exact one) and am making an ‘illustration’ (ish). But again, the process isn't the issue. I like the act of drawing, i like the image in my head slowly taking shape, i like how vividly i can see it. Yall know how obsessed i am with personality - that's not just part of the drawing, that IS the drawing. And each deicision in the illustration is defined by the personality/character.

A computer can't fucking do this.

Could i maybe tell a computer ‘draw geno in the shower’. Sure. And it probably could. And if i didnt care about the process - if all i wanted was a very good drawing of geno in the shower....that probably would be fine. Maybe great even. Maybe it would be the best damn drawing of geno in the shower ever. And then i'd feel like shit because a machine is producing art that is more valuable to other people than mine ever will be. But holy fucking shit that ruins the entire POINT of drawing???? Why would you do that?

I mean, im sure yall can infer the entire point of the act of drawing geno in the shower. He's hot, he's wet. ANYWAY.

In my opinion, a person who wants the end product and doesn't care about the process of getting there....that person is not an artist. That person is someone who enjoys art, and probably thinks they have a lot of good ideas to make into art, but who doesn't feel that pull to make art themselves. They just want to buy art. And they want it cheap. And mindless computers being trained in seconds on the decades of creativity and hard work of art masters is a heck of a lot cheaper than a human.

And the hardest part of all this for me is how worthless this makes me feel - nobody wants you, they want that automatic button. Kinda like my dad that way (haha)

[uhohbestie]

Hello :D I’m a newer reader to your fic (saw some awesome fan art and had to investigate) and I’d just like to start out by saying HOLY SHIT IT’S JUST SO INSANELY GOOD AND IM ONLY ON CHAPTER 20

Y’all should be so proud of yourselves TAMN is honestly one of the best written aus I’ve ever had the pleasure of stumbling onto across all the fandoms I’ve ever been a part of. Kudos kudos kudos and more kudos!

Anyways, the crux of why I’m even writing this in the first place (other than an excuse to sing y’all’s praise) is I recently found a song that just reminds me so much of this fic and I wanted to share with y’all :)

I haven’t had a chance to look at the playlist made for TAMN, so if it’s on there my bad, but the songs called Grandma Became a Zombie, by Kriill. And I know, one could claim it’s a bit on the nose with how much they say zombie in it, and this is literally a zombie apocalypse au, but I honestly think like 95% of the lyrics are scarily close to how I interpret this fic.

Anywho, thought I’d put this gem on y’all’s radar if it hasn’t been already. Once again I’m only on Chapter 20, so I have no idea if this song reflects later chapters, but if you see a random animatic pop up using this song, chances are it’s probably me lol.

Thanks y’all again for writing and illustrating such an amazing story <3

-E

Aaaa thank you thank you so much!! We're always so thrilled to hear that our fic is being enjoyed! (Also oh my goodness, i just checked and chapter 20 is right before you really Get In It hahaha, what a fun little precipice you left yourself on!!)

I gotta tell u, I looked up this song and have been listening to it non-stop since. ( here's the link to it - for those who want to go on the same emotional journey I'm on.)

The lyric "silence is your way to speak your mind" has got me in a vice grip. That's it, that's the fic. That's TAMN reduced to its most basic, fundamental parts. Aaaugh, Scar... Grian... what are we going to DO with you..........

Thanks for sharing this song aaaaaa, I'm obsessed. <3 <3 🔒

[joachimnapoleon]

If you had to say what were Murat's greatest Weaknesses and strengths as a ruler?

This is a great question! And if I’m being completely honest, I had a much harder time thinking of his strengths as a ruler than I did his weaknesses. Not because he didn’t have strengths, but just because I’ve spent so much time going over all the things he struggled with during his reign and the causes of those struggles and how his own personality tied into them. 

I would say his biggest strengths were:

-Having been born a commoner, and been an enthusiastic revolutionary/republican as a young man, he retained a natural empathy and sympathy for the lower classes that hereditary monarchs often lacked. 

 -Like Napoleon, he was indefatigable and hard-working. Rather than dedicating himself to hedonism like Jérôme in Westphalia, Murat, upon taking the throne, worked day and night trying to get the affairs of his new kingdom in order, sort through the mess of its finances, and learn as much he could about the new kingdom he had been given. 

-His previous administrative experience prior to taking the throne. He had commanded brigades, divisions, corps, and entire armies; he had served a stint as governor of Paris, and had administered his Grand Duchy of Berg and Cleves. He had spent years by Napoleon’s side and been mentored by him. He wasn’t a novice when he took the throne, so he was able to hit the ground running.

As for his biggest weaknesses: 

-The fact that, until his break with Napoleon in January 1814, he never truly had a free hand in his rule, and was forced to subordinate the needs and priorities of Naples to those of France. The lifeblood of the Neapolitan economy was trade, and a great deal of that trade had been with Great Britain. Napoleon’s so-called Continental System prohibited trade with the British, which was disastrous for Naples, and Murat struggled with the finances of his kingdom from the moment he took the throne. 

-Indecisiveness, especially whenever he was feeling conflicted or uncertain about something. This is probably best illustrated in late 1813 when he just couldn't quite bring himself to fully commit to leaving Napoleon and allying himself with Austria until he was basically given an ultimatum and strong-armed into making his choice. (Caroline, on the other hand, never wavered from her choice to pursue the Austrian alliance once she'd decided it was the best option they had.) But Murat's months of going back and forth about it, and then his half-hearted military assistance to the Austrians once he'd joined them, made them distrust him right off the bat, and they (and the British) were constantly suspicious of him afterwards; as soon as Napoleon had been sent off to Elba, the British were looking for any excuse they could to toss him off the Neapolitan throne.

-The flip side of the previous point: occasionally he was far too impetuous for his own good, and would embark on a risky course of action without taking heed of any advice or warnings, or considering the possible consequences. The Sicilian expedition from 1810 is a good example. Once he had committed to the idea of taking Sicily and reuniting it to his kingdom, he felt he had no choice but to eventually go through with the attempted invasion, even though he didn't really have adequate means and the French commander Napoleon had sent him for the expedition was under secret orders not to make the crossing if the circumstances weren't favorable. It dragged on for months, Murat finally attempted the crossing, and it was a dismal failure. It humiliated him and further damaged his relationship with Napoleon. Another good example would be his Neapolitan naturalization decree in 1811, which was more than anything just Murat trying to exert a shred of independence from Napoleon. And nothing good came of it; he ended up being publicly humiliated (again), temporarily losing command of his own army in Naples, and finding his position more imperiled than ever.

-His vanity made him extremely prone to flattery, and he tended to favor his courtiers/generals who would flatter him more than those who would tell him uncomfortable truths.

-Lastly, his excessive paranoia regarding the prospect of being overshadowed/upstaged by his wife, which led to a lot of unnecessary unhappiness in their marriage until he finally eventually got over it and started to trust her more (which wasn’t until 1813, after he’d had no choice but to let her rule as regent while he’d been on campaign since mid-1812). It’s interesting to ponder what the earlier years of their reign might’ve been like if Murat had been more accommodating towards sharing power with Caroline—or simply letting her be involved in the running of the kingdom at all, instead of shutting her out entirely. I think things actually would’ve gone a lot smoother for him on multiple levels, given that part of the reason for Napoleon’s increasing displeasure with Murat during this time was because of the news reaching him of Murat treating Caroline poorly.

I think that covers it for the most part. Thanks for the ask!