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How to Make Your Art Accessible

A guide for artists on Tumblr

There are lots of things artists on Tumblr do that, if tweaked just a little, could make their art more accessible to those with disabilities. I’ve outlined some of those things below. This list doesn’t include everything, of course, and as always, I’m open to more suggestions/ideas!

Add image descriptions to all images

Y’all knew I was gonna start with this, right? I have a separate post here all about writing image descriptions but for now I’ll just say…

Image descriptions benefit blind or low-vision folks who may rely on screen readers to access online content; neurodivergent folks; those with slow internet connections (so especially poor and rural folks) where images may just not load; and many more groups! (more on why)

Adding a description takes just a few minutes. The description can be long or short, but ANY description is better than none. Even if you just write, “This is a painting of a blue fish”, hey! You just made that image accessible.

Don’t put them under a readmore! That makes it so people who need the descriptions have to click through to individual blogs and can’t just scroll through their dash. Image descriptions are best when put directly under an image, before any additional commentary that you add.

Add video descriptions to all videos

For similar reasons to why you should provide image descriptions. I have a brief post here on how to write video descriptions. 

The main thing to keep in mind is to summarize quite a bit. You don’t have to describe a video frame-by-frame and include every detail, but try to describe enough that the narrative makes sense!

Add captions to videos / animatics

This way, deaf and hard of hearing folks can enjoy your content.

If you absolutely cannot caption your videos, and your video is on youtube, you can adjust your settings to allow for audience-submitted captions. At the very least, you should do this so that maybe a volunteer can swing by and add captions!

Include non-animated versions of images when possible

In addition to always including image and video descriptions, if posting an animated image/gif:

Tag it as such so that those with epilepsy or sensitivity to moving images can avoid them.

Post an unanimated version! Including a link to the unanimated version within the post of the animated version is helpful. (I see lots of artists including unanimated versions in the same post as the animated one, but it’d be better if they’re in separate posts so that someone with sensitivities can just reblog the unanimated one!)

Again, this guide isn’t all-inclusive, but can serve as a good starting point for making your art more accessible. Let me know if you have any questions/suggestions!

>> all about image descriptions | MBMBaM Transcription Project | buy me a coffee | accessibility tag <<

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[ID: lineless digital drawing of four birds. a black night heron stands in a lush stream, wings tented to cast a shadow on the water. One robin flies nearby while another sits on a twig. A starling flaps above them all.]

second entry for @haunting-heroes-creative-games GTA!

Heron batman, robins dick and jason, and starling danny <3

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uno reverse

me too hot: wow i'm sweaty and tired, where is a place w ac??

me too cold: iron pierces my soul. my lungs burn as i inhale liquid nitrogen. my fingers are ice and i am cursed to touch no one until spring comes again

Being a little too cold: brrrr i’m a little too cold !!!

Being a little too warm: i am going to kill the next person who makes eye contact with me.

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[ID: pixel art of wes weston as mercury and phantom as psyce in Reinhold Begas' marble statue: 'Merkur und Psyche.' end ID.]

My first entry for @haunting-heroes-creative-games's Wings GTA! (now completed, no worries)

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[GIF description: A horse stands at the edge of the mountain, mane blowing in the wind, looking out on the land below. end description.]

Me when I catch myself thinking "I wonder what it's like to be chosen by somebody" but then I remember my best friend chooses to be my best friend and my mutuals choose to follow me and the minimum wage employee chooses to give me sincere kindness that I remember years later because I was going through a hard time and it meant a lot

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its really hard to get work done when my browser bg is a new bird per tab. like...

am I supposed to just ignore learning about these beautiful birds???

[ID: three photos.

1: common waxbill, a finch with soft grey feathers and a bright red mask and beak, standing on grass.

2: sabine's gull, a handsome black-headed white and grey seagull, resting in the water.

3: female common merganser, a long duck with a red beak, brown head, and grey body swims through water.

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i didn't have "i'm broken" teenage asexual angst i had "i'm literally being the only reasonable one about this concept and the rest of you are behaving like fucking freaks" perception issues

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[ID: digital doodle. A human looks at a knocked over glass, the glass they are holding upside down, and a giant puddle in confusion while another human holds their hands up in a "WTF were you expecting" way. large red text reads, "SITUATION WORSE." /end ID.]

pour one out for the guy who just spilled his drink

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this post (link) from my mind's eye:

[ID: four digital doodles narrated by batman. 1-3 are tan.

1: Batman says, "you don't understand--they CLIMB" followed by him covered in damian, cass, steph, tim, and dick.

2: "They climb me and latch on," is illustrated by dick in nightwing gear draped over bruce wayne's sholders. Bruce asks, "Long night?"

3: "they kolala onto me in the damn BATSUIT" shows a fierce batman swinging with a very self satisfied red robin.

4: in blue, "and now I fear they will climb YOU," is illustrated by red hood being tackled by nightwing, robin on one arm, orphan on his shoulders, and spoiler running at him while red robin swings in from the back."

end ID]

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rb to make a biological essentialist mad <3

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“When it comes down to it,” she’d said, “we carry two things with us wherever we go; what we love most, and what we hate most. I love this piano, so I will never leave this place, because it could not come with me.”

- To Trust by clairdeloon (link)

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“We are whatever we want to be at any given time.”

- Stephen Cornfoot, To Trust by clairdeloon (link)

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since mrs, ms, and mr are all descended from the latin word magister, i propose the gender neutral version should be mg, short for "mage"

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“roommates” :)

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At the gate for my flight home from visiting friends and there's a woman here with a service Shiba Inu. No pics because he has a Do Not Disturb vest and taking pics of strangers is illegal but I need to stress how ON DUTY this animal is. Ears up. Eyes doing Lazer scans of everything. Examining everyone who passes within 10ft like a security guard. Ass planted on her feet. I have never seen a dog with such intense chivalric guardian energy before. He has tiny eyebrows and they are FURROWED with concentration.

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Iirc - ??? - if I remember correctly

Me, confused about acronyms found on Tumblr.com, the beginning of a thread:

acronym - my thought - real

pms (I didn't see the L) - premenstrual syndrome - pissed myself laughing

tos - terms of service - the original series

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Starfire was anti-apartheid and she'd be pro-palestine, too.

[ID: DC comic book with three panels.

1: Starfire flies over a ramshackle town carrying Sonto, a black south african man. Starfire says, "This is it? Your home? But, it's nothing more than aluminum huts... dirt roads... how can you live here?

2: I've seen places like this on backwater worlds... never on any civilized planet." Sonto replies, "We live here because we must... we... w-were t-taken from our homes and p-put here."

3: As she lands, a new man points and says, "I tell you, she is the one who interfered. She stopped us in the citty. She's our enemy." Starfire says, "No... I brought your friend home... they were going to kill him." Sonto says, "Sh-she is telling the truth. L-leave her..." A man in a white shirt interrupts, saying, "all of you, listen to Sonto."

End ID]