#ALWAYS GOING TO BE THANKFUL

[inkskinned]

at some point it's just like. do they even fucking like the thing they're asking AI to make? "oh we'll just use AI for all the scripts" "we'll just use AI for art" "no worries AI can write this book" "oh, AI could easily design this"

like... it's so clear they've never stood in the middle of an art museum and felt like crying, looking at a piece that somehow cuts into your marrow even though the artist and you are separated by space and time. they've never looked at a poem - once, twice, three times - just because the words feel like a fired gun, something too-close, clanging behind your eyes. they've never gotten to the end of the movie and had to arrive, blinking, back into their body, laughing a little because they were holding their breath without realizing.

"oh AI can mimic style" "AI can mimic emotion" "AI can mimic you and your job is almost gone, kid."

... how do i explain to you - you can make AI that does a perfect job of imitating me. you could disseminate it through the entire world and make so much money, using my works and my ideas and my everything.

and i'd still keep writing.

i don't know there's a word for it. in high school, we become aware that the way we feel about our artform is a cliche - it's like breathing. over and over, artists all feel the same thing. "i write because i need to" and "my music is how i speak" and "i make art because it's either that or i stop existing." it is such a common experience, the violence and immediacy we mean behind it is like breathing to me - comes out like a useless understatement. it's a cliche because we all feel it, not because the experience isn't actually persistent. so many of us have this ... fluttering urgency behind our ribs.

i'm not doing it for the money. for a star on the ground in some city i've never visited. i am doing it because when i was seven i started taking notebooks with me on walks. i am doing it because in second grade i wrote a poem and stood up in front of my whole class to read it out while i shook with nerves. i am doing it because i spent high school scribbling all my feelings down. i am doing it for the 16 year old me and the 18 year old me and the today-me, how we can never put the pen down. you can take me down to a subatomic layer, eviscerate me - and never find the source of it; it is of me. when i was 19 i named this blog inkskinned because i was dramatic and lonely and it felt like the only thing that was actually permanently-true about me was that this is what is inside of me, that the words come up over everything, coat everything, bloom their little twilight arias into every nook and corner and alley

"we're gonna replace you". that is okay. you think that i am writing to fill a space. that someone said JOB OPENING: Writer Needed, and i wrote to answer. you think one raindrop replaces another, and i think they're both just falling. you think art has a place, that is simply arrives on walls when it is needed, that is only ever on demand, perfect, easily requested. you see "audience spending" and "marketability" and "multi-line merch opportunity"

and i see a kid drowning. i am writing to make her a boat. i am writing because what used to be a river raft has long become a fully-rigged ship. i am writing because you can fucking rip this out of my cold dead clammy hands and i will still come back as a ghost and i will still be penning poems about it.

it isn't even love. the word we use the most i think is "passion". devotion, obsession, necessity. my favorite little fact about the magic of artists - "abracadabra" means i create as i speak. we make because it sluices out of us. because we look down and our hands are somehow already busy. because it was the first thing we knew and it is our backbone and heartbreak and everything. because we have given up well-paying jobs and a "real life" and the approval of our parents. we create because - the cliche again. it's like breathing. we create because we must.

you create because you're greedy.

#every time someones like ''AI will replace u" im like. u will have to fucking KILL ME #there is no replacement here bc i am not filling a position. i am just writing #and the writing is what i need to be doing #writeblr #this probably doesn't make sense bc its sooo frustrating i rarely speak it the way i want to #edited for the typo wrote it and then was late to a meeting lol #i love u people who mention my typos genuinely bc i don't always catch them!!!! :) it is doing me a genuine favor!!! #my friend says i should tell you ''thank you beta editors'' but i don't know what that means #i made her promise it isn't a wolf fanfiction thing. so if it IS a wolf thing she is DEAD to me (just kidding i love her) #hey PS PS PS ??? if ur reading this thinking what it's saying is ''i am financially capable of losing this'' ur reading it wrong #i write for free. i always have. i have worked 5-7 jobs at once to make ends meet. #i did not grow up with access or money. i did not grow up with connections or like some kind of excuse #i grew up and worked my fucking ASS OFF. and i STILL!!! wrote!!! on the side!!! because i didn't know how not to!!! #i do not write for money!!!! i write because i fuckken NEED TO #i could be in the fucking desert i could be in the fuckken tundra i could be in total darkness #and i would still be writing pretentious angsty poetry about it #im not in any way saying it's a good thing. i'm not in any way implying that they're NOT tryna kill us #i'm saying. you could take away our jobs and we could go hungry and we could suffer #and from that suffering (if i know us) we'd still fuckin make art. #i would LOVE to be able to make money doing this! i never have been able to. but i don't NEED to. i will find a way to make my life work #even if it means being miserable #but i will not give up this thing. for the whole world.

[disgustinggf]

Is everything ok

nothing has been ok since i turned 12 but thank u for asking!

#nah genuinely thank u for asking i'm just going insane #novembers r always especially shitty for me #i'll get over it #i think #asks #°

[birbs-in-space]

curious about what's in store for you for 2024? :D

Let AO3 decide!

(Updated from 2023: Up-to-date tag bank, opt-in tag categories, optional dark mode! As always: proceed with informed consent.)

#new post #clearing out my original tags since they're not 100% accurate but as always this has been a labor of love and also (new!) collaboration #do you know how hard it is to go thru 13k tags and categorize them? so thank you to my dear friend for proofing these #this update has been in the works since june or july (though i worked on it very intermittently) #and i am SO happy to be done with it for the time being #because i very much have other responsibilities LMAO

[stil-lindigo]

warmth.

a comic about not being alone.

--

creative notes:

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all my other comics

store

#to all the trans men and women and anyone who feels like they have to stifle themselves for their own safety #may you never feel like youre alone in this #this comic is one of my more grounded ones #it just felt right to not try to decorate this one in a lot of symbolic fanfare #sometimes i have to go above and beyond to fit the vision. this felt right being pretty understated. #i really did my best with this one and i hope it shows #you all deserve so much joy and so much love from your partners in life #and i hope you like this and if you dont thats okay too #thats all #thank you for your support #and as always #thank you for reading #comic art #lgbtqia+ #queer comics #hearteaters #stillindigo art #stillindigo comics

[spartanlocke]

tumblr users all of a sudden: oh yeah this website is SO good for art hehehe it’s waaayyyy better than twitter it’s so supportive of artists we love art so much here uwu art for the win!! ✨ 😘 💕 😋✨ artists who have spent the last 4+ years on their hands and knees begging people to reblog their art just to be ignored every single time because half this website acts like their nuts will be ripped off with the claw end of a hammer if they reblog a single drawing:

#jem blogs #i'm gonna get shit for this but i think it genuinely needs to be said #YES function-wise tumblr has definitely proven to be best for artists #but people suddenly acting like they support artists when they've been refusing to reblog our art for years - #despite knowing it's the only way for our art to get traction? #- that's some Bullshit™ #anyway thanks and love to all my mutuals who always make sure to reblog my art you've kept me going for so long ♥ #everyone else START REBLOGGING ART OR SIT DOWN

[lamaery]

soooo, on a vacation trip a week ago, I stumbled over @xiranjayzhao's Iron Widow in a book shop in Copenhagen and devoured it last weekend. It was quite the fun read. (And I am not that inclined to mechs 😄 but the rage filled female power fantasy and the setting felt rather refreshing to me) And after finishing the book I had to get at least some art out of my system. As usual it didn't end up what I really intended it to be in my head initially, but also, as usual it has to suffice for now or I'll never post it.

#iron widow #character art #always the next step #I gotta go and do more practice... #but also #triangles are the most stable form #:D #thank you for that Xiran #spoiler #iron widow spoilers

[itsafreetrialofdeath]

master tacticians at work

#my art #bg3 #bg3 gale #bg3 astarion #bg3 lae'zel #bg3 mol #baldur’s gate 3 #bg3 raphael #supposed to be a quick little haha funny chess dog redraw #got sidetracked rendering raph and just kept going whoops #(he’s my favorite character) (I want to attack him <3) #and yes he is eating the pieces whenever mol turns around #anyways my tadpolyculeTM is dumb of ass (minus gale) cause I always change their stats #so thank GOD he was there to just give me the answer

[egophiliac]

(almost) four years in, and I finally had time to draw something for the anniversary! woo! 🎉🎉🎉

#art #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland spoilers #because i need to talk for a minute about how the plot of the anniversary story so far is literally just #crowley jumpscares us in our living room to demand we make him lunch and yuu is just like 'i need to start locking the door' #oh twst you always know just how to get me #the qol updates though! CONVERTING SINGLE KEYS INTO 10-SETS YES THANK YOU OH MY GOD #SKIP LESSON TICKETS!!!! #3X BATTLE SPEED!!!!!!!!!!!! #SAVE TEAM BUILDS AND SUPPORT CARDS FINALLY AHHHHH #oh and some other stuff too but look i NEEDED these things #also master chef grim! he's so precious! #though he's not going to get a little sporty uniform after all? #grim canonically flies in the nude i guess #no it's okay chef grim is ADORABLE #if you zoom in on his card you can see little smoodges from his inexpert cake decoration 😭 #which on the one hand is cute but on the other hand i'd been convinced he'd just slapped some frosting and candles on an actual can of tuna #anyway happy (a few days until the) fourth anniversary everybody! #i've been here since the beginning (preregistered during the dorm reveals babyyyy) and it REALLY doesn't feel like it's been four years #you know what they say: time flies when you're watching anime characters have emotional problems

[cinnamontoads]

this edit of rhett and link always makes me laugh so bad I had to redraw it myself too

#me and my friend always just send the picture back and forth I had to go hunt for the original post. thank you for your service #metal gear solid #mgs #solid snake #otacon #my art #kind of just a shitty redraw meme but I’ll put it in my art tag anyway

[tubbytarchia]

The girls are no longer fighting!!

#please help me I cannot stop thinking about them help please help #geminitay #geminitay fanart #pearlescentmoon #pearlecentmoon fanart #secret life #secret life fanart #trafficblr #Im going to die god #thank you guys for your cryptid yuri support #shiny duo #is that their duo name #camel? what camel #it was always just Gem #tubby art

[aru-art]

long time no tma, here's the archival gang in my friends' & i's outfits :]

#i think about that tag often #the magnus archives #tma #martin blackwood #jonathan sims #jon sims #gerry keay #gerry delano #gerard keay #<- always feels evil to tag the last one #and yeah ill always include him in everything i draw thank u for asking #tim stoker #timothy stoker #sasha james #my art #2023 #i finished s4 and just started s5 the other day so u can imagine the horrors im going through atm #in my heart and soul ps sasha is also demi and theyre all very poly but tim especially #i wanted to do more but drawing sm fullbodies killed me

[mimimar]

finally completed my comic based on the song ivy by taylor swift!✿ please zoom in to read the text and see the details~

✿.✿.✿

you can get the digital zine pdf here! it includes extras like character profiles, costume design, more art of willow and ivy, zine-exclusive sketches and an illustrated guide to the symbolism of all the flowers in this comic.

you can also get prints of individual pages here!

✿.✿.✿

#ivy comic #it's finally complete!!!♡ this was the longest project ever but i really wanted to do my best on every spread #i also worked really hard on the extra pages for the zine. i hope you like those as well if you decide to get it! #i've been wanting to make this comic since evermore came out in 2020 and i listened to ivy for the first time #i posted the first sketches from this comic on my patreon in 2022 and released the first page last year in 2023 #so it's been a loooong time coming working on this in between other art #i was always disappointed that i got a hand injury back when i was making my dorothea/'tis the damn season comic #so i couldn't give my 100% on every page of that one. that's part of why i wanted to go all out for my ivy comic #and it has a happy ending this time!♡ #thank you for sticking around if you've been reading since page 1 #and thank you also if you just read it for the first time today! #also i didn't plan it but i coincidentally finished this comic exactly on lesbian visibility week. love that #ivy comic mimimar #oc #ivy #willow #taylor swift #taylor swift ivy #ivy taylor swift #evermore #illustration #illo #comic #lesbian #wlw #sapphic #lesbian visibility week #lesbian art #wlw art #sapphic art

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Happy Valentine's Day! (and this blog's first post anniversary!)

#poorly drawn mdzs #better drawn mdzs #mdzs #wei wuxian #lan wangji #Woah...it's been a whole *year* since I took the leap and uploaded my 'first attempt' art. #It's outdated now but it holds a special place in my heart for the fact it started all of this off. #Calling this 'poorly-drawn' was always about accepting that my art was going to be imperfect and messy - and doing it anyways! #There has been a staggering number of times I have drawn something I almost didn't upload because I didn't think it was 'good enough' #only for someone to say they liked it - or that it made them laugh. And it has helped me realize - #-The worst critic for my work has always been myself. If I listened to it all the time...well we would not be here now B'*) #And now that I have dabbled in other fandoms I can truly see how lucky was to start out with the MXTX fans. #The supportive messages and tags have truly been a guiding force toward my artistic and self improvement. #I really can't describe how grateful I am. #Thank you for seeing something worth rooting for when I was just figuring things out. #Thank you for being sweeter than the candy I have strategically hidden in the nooks and crannies of this house. #But watch out! If you forget to find them we will get ants. #I remembered to not hide chocolate in the bed this year. Yes I know it melted last time. Yes it did stain. I'm still sorry. #Thank you for loving me regardless <3 Even if it looked like I shit the bed real bad.

[stealingpotatoes]

obviously both Kanan and Padme are alive, idk who said otherwise

you're so right!! otherwise how else would i have this image which is totally a canonical real screenshot and not a drawing I did just now!

#hera (who has always been a pilot to fight for freedom): i don't appreciate you betting on us like this #anakin (a former podracer): LETS GO #kanan jarrus #padmé amidala #padme amidala #star wars #skywalkers apart au #my doods #rebels spoilers #thanks for the ask!

[magniloquent-raven]

in season 1 when calico jack called izzy a sentimental bastard i always figured it was mostly a dig about his feelings for ed, but uhhhhhhh. season 2 is making it abundantly clear that's just an accurate description of izzy as a person lmfao like, him weeping over his new leg while insulting the crew even though they can't even hear him?? and then he goes and stands at the bow of the ship WITH the note just to have a nice little moment by himself. i half expected him to let it float away after that but he DIDN'T. does he just keep it tucked into his vest now? i bet he fucking does

and i mean to be fair the entire time we've known him he's been wearing a ring around his little tie thing and we can only assume that's for sentimental reasons too i'm losing my mind he's just a little shit with a lot of feelings

bastard (sentimental)

#our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd s2 #izzy hands #ofmd spoilers #i could go on but i have things to do #i will be thinking about this for approximately one thousand years thank you #i always liked izzy but he's really doing the most this season and i'm here for it

[canisalbus]

gothic lolita machete came to me in a dream

.

#HHWAH #but he unironically kind of makes it work though?? #I never realized that the leap from what he normally wears to gothic lolita would be this small #basically the same thing just a lot more lace and frills and embroidery #loving! the pomegranates! #it always makes me ecstatic when people find a way to include them or his other... symbols? motifs? objects of significance? #it's nice you kept the red gloves and red heels #the little crosses on the capelet and the stockings too hah #and the massive bow where the fascia would go #I support genderfuckery Machete by the way #his design and mannerisms have always been somewhat androgynous or at least that's what I've been trying to aim for #despite his sharp angular form he's supposed to have an aura of elegance and delicateness #at least on his better days when he's not in full rat man mode #given the choice he'd rather be called beautiful than handsome I'm pretty sure #folks have been mistaking him for a goth lesbian a whole lot lately so I can't be too far off #thank you this made me grin like an idiot when I opened the inbox #gift art #aggiepython #own characters #Machete