#well that was a ride

[professorcalculusstanaccount]

i absolutely lost my mind discovering your blog this morning. i absolutely adore your style and your story/concept ideas SO MUCH. i love your love for chang and i adore how you draw him and just the love and care you have for the characters and their stories, their history-just everything. oh my god your art and animations are incredible thank you so much you made me so happy this morning 😭😭😭

Thank you very much! I just feel like the Tintin universe has a lot of potential for deep dives. Herge often drew inspiration from the real world so that naturally brings a lot of richness - I'm just lucky to have the privilege of having nearly a century of hindsight and an Internet connection for my research!

also fun fact, I draw Chang the way I do for multiple reasons. I ramble so here's a Read More:

The first is just to update how Chinese people are depicted in this style - I'm Chinese myself (British Chinese) and while I do appreciate Chang's original appearance was basically modelled off a real guy and Herge really did try his best with depicting Chinese people sensitively I wouldn't be comfortable sticking exactly to those original portrayals (tbh it’s mostly the eyes and the skin colour I have an issue with, I liked the weird rubberiness of early Herge!). I also would like to update how the Japanese characters were portrayed too as man those designs are viscerally uncomfortable (like those characters were villainous because they were doing imperialism, not because they're Japanese man come on)

The second is - Chang is a fucking shapeshifter. I swear he looks different in every appearance he makes in official materials. You're telling me these are all the same guy??

From left to right: Chang from a postage stamp that uses artwork from The Blue Lotus, the middle is from the 90s cartoon and the one on the right is from a... cheese sticker??? His nose, hair and face shapes change quite a bit

To get his design I mixed together the 90s cartoon version with the original. People have mentioned The Cheekbones Chang has in the 90s cartoon but I actually like how they give him a distinct shape, it helps differentiate his shape language from Tintin who's all round and soft.

For his young adult design I initially thought to reference Tintin in Tibet but he's so malnourished and close to death his portrayal there probably wasn't intended to represent what he's normally like. I just took my design for Chang and pushed the shapes more. I thought it would be cool for him to look pretty different when he grows up as a contrast to how static Tintin is as a character.

The third (and funniest) reason why I draw Chang the way I do is I actually look a lot like Blue Lotus Chang to a frightening degree, like to the point where it looks like my likeness was stolen 70 years before I even existed. I do not like thinking about my physical existence! I do not want to draw myself! No thank you!! my self insert is haddock if we’re being real

[bloodsoaked-rainbows]

Let your spotify predict your 2024! Shuffle your on repeat playlist and the first twelve songs represent your 2024

Thank you so much for the tag, @agentpolarbear!!! <3<3

January: Centuries - Fall Out Boy

February: Rachel's Song - Vangelis

March: Welcome to the Black Parade - My Chemical Romance

April: 't Smidje - Laïs

May: The Curse - The Longest Johns

June: Hell's Comin' with Me - Poor Man's Poison

July: Inkpot Gods - The Amazing Devil

August: Anne Louise (2023) - The Longest Johns

September: The Captain's Daughter (2023) - The Longest Johns

October: Titanium (feat. Sia) - David Guetta, Sia

November: Lean On - Major Lazer, DJ Snake, MØ

December: Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard - Paul Simon

RIP me in the first half of the year ig

tagging @alexisapossiblepenname, @alllthequeenshorses, @chiakery, @witchdrugs, @denselittlerose, @doodlebugdpj, @sadlynotsappho, @wren-of-the-woods, @rebelandrichgirl, and anybody else who'd like to!! <3

[julnites]

Red riding hood comic collab with the wonderful @yeehawpim (go check out their blog for loads of great comics!) 🌷 See the layouts he did here!

[chloesimaginationthings]

RIP Michael Afton, you would of LOVED Foxy’s log ride

[inkskinned]

the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.

three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.

two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.

their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.

one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.

i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.

i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.

and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?

you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.

a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.

someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Five foot something and he's royalty.

[not-museing-around]

📞 (Danny to Ross, modern Mark...)

Though Danny never drank, meeting with Ross' family had been more stressful than she knew what to do with. Having been given a ride home while Ross stayed behind, Danny opened a bottle of wine and poured a single glass. It was the second glass that actually relaxed her. Perhaps too much.

Calling Ross from the tub in their bathroom she'd cleaned to a pristine state, Danny looked down at the red liquid as she spoke. "You know what I should have listened to you. Those guys? They don't know me." Danielle leaned her head back against the edge of the tub and narrowed her eyes at the ceiling. "They-They don't know us. They don't know o-our lo-they don't know how much I love you.. Screw those guys. Let's just get married. Let's just- just do our own thing.. And I don't care. We're going to have beautiful curly haired babies some day and they can't stop us." What she didn't really know was if she got Ross' answering machine or if he'd even picked up.

[teaboot]

To be clear, while I DO spoil my beautiful and handsome cat son,I don't mean that I spoil him in a chew-my-shoes, overfeed-him, give-him-people-food, wander-off-leash kind of way.

I spoil him like a well-to-do businessman would spoil his one and only firstborn son with a sugar lolly during Sunday promenade at the pier, where he might traipse about in his little sailor suit and watch the boats go by.

[satans-knitwear]

It may have been accidental, but i think someone irl asked me out for a drink 😱😻Treat me ~ Tip Me ~ More of me

[arctic-hands]

I'm not upset discussions of Sally Ride these days don't leave out the fact that she was a lesbian and therefore the first known queer person in space (albeit a fact only known after her death), but I hate that the fact that what is left out is that she, while part of the Roger's Commission after Challenger exploded, was the whistleblower who made sure the information for the defects of the O-rings made its way to Richard Feynman, who then famously, publicly, and on camera demonstrated how icy coldness (such as the cold and icy weather the morning before Challenger launched) could critically deform the O-rings used and keep them from forming a seal. This was also only revealed after she died. (x)

Whenever Sally Ride comes up these days among my (overwhelmingly queer) friends, we all acknowledge that she was a lesbian and celebrate what a role model she was not just for girls but for queer kids (and adults) too, but everyone is always surprised when I bring up the whistleblowing thing, which I think is damn shame and a disservice to her legacy.

[sasukeless]

what if i was devoted to you as a knight is to his king and became your right hand and sword and i was ready to lay my life for you and your dreams

what if i was devoted to you as a dog is to his owner and i would attack and maul anyone who dared to touch you but i’d also bite and claw you if you ever tried to leave me

what if

[egophiliac]

WOOO we're finally getting some Ride Kamens story content! ...and it's mostly Leon getting REALLY into being a small business owner! this is (unironically) an excellent sign for the future.

(what do you mean the Agent isn't wearing cat ears 24/7 in every outfit) (can't hear you la la laaaaa)

[formulanni]

Thunderstruck!

Tag list: @st-leclerc @rubywingsracing @saviour-of-lord @three-days-time @the-wall-is-my-goal @albonoooo @ch3rubd0lls @brawngp2009

[juluia]

did this for my dad's birthday and mine lol

[pleucas]

irresponsible illegal getaway drive

[joitiks]

silkie velociraptor