kataraqui

[kataraqui]

Saw this post and I had to

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #lae'zel #shadowheart #astarion #thank you so much for taking such a blessed photo op

[kataraqui]

the fact there are at least THREE separate dialogues implying Astarion likes cuddling. im gonna hurl myself into an active volcano now.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 spoilers #astarion #astarion acunin #the durge one is still my favourite #two blood thirsty monsters sharing a bedroll #your honour i am deceased

[kataraqui]

the emotional journey he took me on

#still figuring out how to draw his face tho #he's pretty but spicy and it's hard to get right #Astarion #Astarion Acunin #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #gonna draw my durge Kaz at some point #so happy to have a romance story revolving around two people who relate to each other as traumatized murderers

[kataraqui]

something about all the companions in bg3 having history wherein some extremely powerful entity abused them and stripped them of their autonomy and identity, only to be brought together by a brain parasite that will do the exact same thing permanently and irreparably has me deep in my feelings

and it didn't break their spirit, not a one. i haven't even finished act 1 and I won't rest until they're free to be their messy, disastrous selves and heal and be happy for fucks sake give them a day of peace

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #the queer found family vibes of this game have me in a chokehold #they're all bi and pan and doing their best #only their best involves eating magical shoes and nearly exsanguinating the party leader #sorry for who I'm about to become but I haven't loved a game this much since Dragon Age 2 and that was TWELVE YEARS AGO #I'M OVERDUE ANOTHER PLATINUM-HAIRED BROODY BRAT TO OBSESS OVER #bg3 spoilers #not really but just in case?

[kataraqui]

I have finally acquired the gender serum and I'm imagining myself in a sailor moon transformation sequence

#or like a pokemon evolution

[kataraqui]

Gray

He's trans, he's gay, he's gonna ruin your day

#my art #my ocs #me to myself: what if i made the sexiest character and he was looked so badass but was actually kinda a weiner #Gray

[kataraqui]

last year i went to a zoo and saw some snakes! the photos i took of this reticulated python are my favorite. tried to catch the iridescence of its scales but it didnt end up looking as vivid as it does irl

#snake #art reference #so pretty

[kataraqui]

like it's MY fault my love language is acts of service and all i know how to do is kill

#oh no #it's Gray #:') #writeblr

[kataraqui]

one of the things that was so important for me as a writer was letting go of the fear of my books getting misinterpreted.

I like books with characters who make morally questionable decisions, or who have to make impossible choices and live with them. I like characters who have their own internal logic and moral code that falls woefully short of what we as readers consider 'good,' but whom are nevertheless compelling and interesting and make me feel all achey like someone stepped on my chest and is bearing all their weight down on it. i like it when the author presents these complicated characters without commentary or an attempt to tell me what to think of them.

and it can be hard to write like that when the internet is a conveyer belt of outrageous hot takes from people with zero media literacy who present their opinions as facts. critiquing work is good, actually, but plenty of critique online is more like a moral dick measuring contest. it can make writing scary when it looks like readers will conflate your morals with your most unsavoury character's.

so if you ever felt you needed to constantly slap the reader with a canoe paddle engraved with your personal moral stance in order to avoid public ridicule, hey, me too. let's start a club called 'stop that shit.'

there's a difference between writing with sensitivity and catering your work to an audience you don't even want. some people are going to misunderstand your work. some will because they're committed to that misunderstanding, clinging to the imaginary power they wield in a non-existent hierarchy on the internet. some of them will misunderstand your work because it was never meant for them.

let them be wrong. write your book for the readers you want, not the ones you're afraid of. you cannot make your work appealing to everyone and there is no such thing as 'universal' when it comes to art so write the thing you're desperate to

#writeblr #just rambling thoughts as I outline a book full of catastrophic fuck ups #disclaimer: obvs not applicable to valid critique of a work with harmful depictions that contribute to real world oppression #personally love when character aren't defined as 'good' or 'bad' #love when they heroes and villains are only divisible by the ratio of good to bad things they've done #love when the hero surprises you by doing something godawful that nevertheless makes perfect sense for them #also love when the villain does something unbelievably kind that no one is going to appreciate due to the fact they're mostly a cunt #look i know my tastes as a reader are masochistic i don't know what to tell you #it's just the way i'm made

[kataraqui]

Flip-through of my bug themed March paintings

#my art #gouache #artists on tumblr #having this in a bullet journal somehow makes it feel low pressure #and that lessened pressure means i experiment more #and like the paintings better as a result #wild #bugs #bugs are really cool and fun to paint #so many colours

[kataraqui]

marigolds n gold freckles

#painting #my art #artists on tumblr #marigolds #gouache #i like getting to hold my paintings in my hands these days #digital taught me a lot but this has been really freeing

[kataraqui]

i'm not a reader who's super obsessed with world-building, heavy exposition is not my fave, but we all got our weaknesses and mine is food.

tell me what they are eating.

is it hearty? is it wholesome? is it spicy? what are the farmer's fields growing this season? is the elf root real peppery?

food tells us so much. food is all about the love and culture and traditions and livelihood and environment and frankly I just don't trust a hero who can go on that many adventures without craving a lil treat

#writeblr #food #rose tyler was so relatable for sitting on a bench after a time travel adventure and being like #'i could really go for some chips' #fantasy #i'm having a late lunch can you tell

[kataraqui]

tumblr is such a weird social accident, like, post-purge the only survivors were less people than particularly stubborn fungi and bacteria left alone in a petri dish to propagate and somehow, like the accidental discovery of penicillin, that made it the most fun place to be because the deranged sub-cultures of inside jokes and niche memes scared off the viral contagion currently ruining every single other social media platform

wild

#anyway i really like it here #i don't have to post every hour of every day #i can post my drawings and my shower thoughts without attracting a mob of people committed to misunderstanding me #revolutionary!

[kataraqui]

Skin tone studies

#my art #art #artists on tumblr #skin tones #studies

[kataraqui]

I'm done with modesty and low self-esteem. If Elon Musk is allowed the dystopic levels of cognitive dissonance necessary to believe in himself as a businessman, I'm allowed to think my gay little books about witches and werewolves having a hard time are hot shit.

Like, for YEARS I followed that nanowrimo doctrine of never editing before finishing a draft 'cause common wisdom states your inner-editor is a massive meanie, and the only way to finish a book is to push that editor off a cliff, but I have a clearance sale super power that allows me to forget instantly everything I've written, plus my current mood colours my perception of things. Which means if I'm in a bad mood, I believe it's because everything I wrote previously is irredeemable, steaming garbage, and I don't remember what I wrote so I have no objective evidence to the contrary.

Until I reread it and I'm like 'heeheee, i made funny joke' and also 'ohhh i really want these buttheads to kiss and i'm the god of this world so they're gonna.' I'm tired of it being taboo to like your own work. Boast. Love yourself an insufferable amount. Suck your own dick. It's all free and there's a cost of living crisis.

#writeblr #this brought to you after I had a crisis over my book until I reread it #i always have a crisis at chapter 9 #and then make revisions and reread it and go 'oh i might be a good writer actually'

[kataraqui]

Gouache painting of my lil trans terror, Gray. His tattoos are actually nanotechnology that allow him to interface with pretty much anything on a WiFi connection. Yes, I give almost all my characters tattoo super powers don't @ me

#my art #my ocs #artists on tumblr #ocs #art #painting #gouache #trans man #trans character #Gray my child #yes I immediately regretted giving him all those tattoos when attempting traditional media #the definition of be gay do crimes

[kataraqui]

thinking about werewolves and the concept of becoming a monster and discovering that something savage and uncontrollable exists within you and the potential that has to be a liberating narrative about growth and change and courage rather than a story about controlling and concealing it

#YES! #YEEESS!!!! #YEEEEEEAAAAAAASSSSSSSS!!!! #this is why my gay ass is obsessed with werewolves #and thematically close to what im writing in my WIP #where one of my babies is like 'im not gay!!!' #and the other one is all 'im not vicious like my fam!' #and like #theyre both wrong #anyway if other writers out there got werewolf stories like this plssss let me read them #thanks op this is now my fave post about werewolves on the whole internet