#im Better at drawing traditional but also Worse

[skrunksthatwunk]

went back to the sketchbooks around when i was going through yyh for the first time in 2019 and found a pile of near-yearly sticky note updates about my relationship with the series next to my first yyh doodles, a page full of kuwabaras. thought it'd be fun to share

+ more thoughts and old yyh art below

(it's crazy i didn't find any kurama-centric pages for months bc i think he's the one i doodled in the margins of class notes and stuff the most. his hair's pwetty and he gives me the least trouble outta any of the main 4)

something i noticed while skimming the two sketchbooks i took these from was how mean i was to myself at the time about my art. i guess it hit me more because i don't really spend hours going through my old sketchbooks over and over to track my progress and growth like i used to quite often. i guess it was only a little after when my self esteem was lowest (8th grade, tale as old as time), but... idk. i knew back then that i'd grown a lot in the few years since i started drawing more seriously (that's why i looked through my art so much), but like... i guess that never translated into being nice to myself about it. i ended up going back through about ten more sketchbooks to find more yyh art, and in the coming years i'm glad to say that negativity in the margins went away. hell yeah

but even so, my love for yyh was a constant and effusive thing, as it is now. it's probably the oldest of my current media interests. i watched myself get into rgg and develop my ocs and watched others fade in and out, watched my style loop back on itself and go all over the place, passed by pages of writing about crushes and album releases and gender discoveries and my grandparents dying, all surrounded by little drawings of the characters i love. including kuwabara in a maid dress right next to my dead grandma grief rambling that one time (no i'm not kidding. my grandma died in like late 2020 and the page where i poured my heart out after finding out she was gone just trying to process everything had one with catboy maid dress kuwabara directly opposite it, who i'd drawn like the evening before she died in her sleep. he killed my grandma from like 100 miles away he was that powerful. that wasn't even the last time i drew him like that and i don't even care about catboys or maid dresses much. i think it was just a bigger meme and he was the guy i most associated with cats. i put that man in a situation and he fucking got her because the book couldn't contain him. some victor frankenstein shit. anyway)

i took about 150 pictures, most with multiple sketches. i decided not to add any more though bc 1) i posted some of them on old accounts but i don't remember which ones, and tbh i value my anonymity a little too much 2) All Of The Pictures Turned Out Bad in ways i don't feel like getting into but just trust me it's like 6 layers of fucked up illegible image bullshit 3) i found it hard to narrow it down to things i felt were indicative of the development or interesting or anything like that. idk. i figured it was an interesting exercise for me and it probably wouldn't really mean anything to anyone else. and that's ok :) it was nice anyway. i mostly mention it to be like Oh My God i've drawn these guys a lot and i STILL don't know what i'm doing... :| it's fun

however i did transcribe the notes i left:

7/9/19: yo it's been less than a week & i'm on ep. 80 wtf i love this show

8/14/20: 1/2way thru my 3rd watch (first dub, first [with older sibling]) & honestly still love it & kuwabara being the first one i drew makes me happy

7/28/21: i'm watching it w/ [younger sibling] now! 4th(ish) watch, 2nd time through the dub, which is so much better than the sub really elevates the text. we're at the semifinals of the DT, which means this is technically my 5th time through yyh up until that point but eh semantics anyway i still love & obsess over yyh! <3

1/14/24 (present day): hey, i'm rewatching yyh for the.. idk 5th or 6th time. still love it & never stopped. now i'm writing fic & drawing & posting about it. i have friends i talk to about it. [both siblings] have seen it. so much has changed, and so little, but it made me sad seeing how much i insulted my own art. i love you 2019 me. god knows you needed it

[+ this drawing]:

anyway. forever fornever. if you even care

#that's all. just kind of a personal post i thought was neat. skrunklore #skrunkart #yyh #yu yu hakusho #you can really feel the 14 y/o in a lot of the little notes and stuff but that too is part of the growth and change im trying to celebrate. #ripping my fingernails off about it but it needs to be done #also the hearts are because they love each other. and also me in like a cheering you on kinda way #ok more lore but around jr year i started feeling like my art was getting worse or at least stagnating and i kind of wished i could go back #to the era where a lot of that art is from bc there were little things i was better at and also bc i was much more prolific and adventurous #and while i'm sympathetic to it looking back after another couple of years it's like nah. no i was still growing i was just too close to se #like i'll be like oughh i haven't grown at all in years >:(( and then i'll look at the art i made over the course of 2023 and go oh nvm lol #some of it was more 'getting back into the swing of things' + traditional and tech issues being resolved but there was also growth #there is also stuff to be proud of and there always is and there always will be. that goes for you too reader #no matter what your art does or does not look like. i guess that's part of why im posting this too #part of what got me into visual art was seeing how people's art changed (sketchbook tours). it's cool and seeing that learning process so #well preserved and so easily analyzed kinda activated something in my brain. i think it got me past a lot of the 'im just not talented' #stuff a lotta ppl have that keeps them from drawing or sharing it or whatever. anyway art's cool i love art. gonna go draw now probably :D #ALSO really funny watching the way i drew myself change. all in ways that make sense but still funny to me. long hair glasses girl you'd #probably keel over if you saw what we look like now. hell yeah

[lemon-wedges]

.....

#my Nth attempt to try out procreate again #and while its a lot better this time.....idk sometjing is still off about my drawings #holding the pencil like i do with traditional studies helped but also again if im gonna get worse results id rather actually DO traditional #i still want to try painting something predrawn #but....ahhhhhhhhh #we'll see

[deepseacityunderground]

ive said this before but so much of what Retvrn Freaks glorify in early modern european art are just components inherent to the mediums being used at the time as opposed to like. an example of heightened skill that has been supposedly Lost in these degenerate times.... oil paint just looks like that. its very tonal and rich and even an artist with mediocre rendering skills will have their rendering skills improved by painting in oil. old oil paintings took years to complete not because the artists doing them were very skilled but because oil takes months to dry and they built up subtle washes over dried paint. tracing was also commonly utilized during that time period, and artists also often had small armies of apprentices who would do the hard work for them with no credit. these huge highly tonal oil paintings become significantly less impressive when you actually learn about their context.

#this isnt to like. diss or hate on oil painters or even all art made in europe during that time period #there are lots of great artists from that time period #but i also dont think that sort of art is more valuable than any other artistic movement #and i think posing these two very culturally european mediums as like the Pinnacle of art is stupid #another issue which isnt really to do with what im talking about here is like cultural ideals surrounding art... #if youre educated in a western tradition youre sort of encouraged to idolize realism and its associated artistic skills #eg: (anatomical accuracy - rendering skills - perspective) #and then favor mediums which lend better to those ideals. and then when you look at art from other cultural traditions #where the focus may have been on something different like color or symbol or narrative over realism you sort of see them as “lesser” #or theres the assumption that the artists who made those pieces were worse at art or unable to make highly realistic pieces #which is of course nonsense and also often racist (eg. colonizers in west africa assuming there must have been a greek colony #there because they found realistic statues and couldnt understand how people who currently made more stylized art could have made them) #but you even see this in popular assumption about european art pre-enlightenment too #like all those memes making fun of medieval manuscript faces. they drew like that because the narrative was more important than the realism #because the artists drawing them were basically illustrating bible stories #medium at hand also has a big hand to play here. art made for woodcut is gonna look different to art made for fabric #and oil paints arent uniquely european but they arent as widespread as clay or textile

[hearts4robs]

Hello~!

I've never done a match up event before! But knew I had to try once I saw it was open cause your writing is absolutely precious!

For Fandom, I guess DC! Love Batfam family chaos! Makes me want to curl up with a blanket and watch them bicker and roughhouse until Alfred comes in with a feather duster, looking equal parts disappointed and amused.

I'm a 5'3 18 year old asexual panromatic. (Yes, im just a baby, though i have been told-more like my therapist often told me that i dont act my age, saying i act like Im 30. Still trying to figure out if I should be offended by that.) With long hair that's completely grown out red box dye like little mermaid red, my roots being somehow not quite brown not quite ginger and just not blonde enough to be strawberry blonde. My appearance is fairly round and cute even if my expression is often RB. My eyes are a green that appears to be more of a dark grey.

To sum up my personality in one word would be cat like. Sometimes I'm docile and actually a bit of a doormat. In new environments, I tend to shadow some I know and can't find myself able to stand up for myself. This is probably ties into my selective mutism and social anxiety. Sometimes, when I'm in a familiar environment, I tend to be more aggressive for better or for worse. I love a good argument and debate, standing firm in my decision even if I'm wrong. That stubbornness has gotten me in trouble quite a few times. Though cause of it, I've thought of becoming a lawyer. When I'm not arguing I'm drawing, or painting on my walls which I've done far too many times now.

I'm very much a homebody who rather stay in pjs but perfect date wise would probably be a bit of a classic nerd/bookworm date of going to a cute book store and getting lost in the deep wooden bookshelves flicking through various of books catching my eye. Maybe debating on what book is better or whatever trope is more interesting in a detective novel. (I love murder mystery, horror, thrillers, romances of all types, and absolutely despise shakespeare. I was told Romeo and Juliet was a tragic romance. Liars they all are all I can see is the making of a really creepy stalker movie. I can't watch horror movies funny little contradiction, right?) Personally I'd probably write something after the date. I always get inspired by going out and always find myself hunched over my laptop writing whatever inspired me have it be the moment or a movie. I don't know how many times I've watched a movie and got inspired just to spend hours writing whatever fanfic about it. Which can be either amazing or terrible cause I'm an okay writer with a preference for angst due to my dark humor.

I never realized how hard it was to pick an ideal type until just now lol. I guess my type is someone who would enjoy talking/debating/discussing with me, someone fun who loves to do new activities as ive never really do much and is willing to listen to me ramble about whatever hyperfixation. Bucket list kind of things or be able to stay in and talk about their day while I cook some food. (One of my love languages is food. I want to be full and content.) I'm a homebody who has more of a traditional mindset due to my upbringing. So staying home and activities at home would probably be more common. Oh! A bit more open minded or at leasr able to deal with my curiosity, I love discussing religions and culture practices (im unfortunately like the whitest of whites. My dad's side is a bit of a classic white racist). I'm a pagan with some more Wiccan practices, yes crystals and candles. We put holly near our front door and hang cinnamon brooms throughout the house to bring good fortune.

Trope is also a hard pick. I like a good enemies to lovers or a revenge story but romance wise probably a childhood friends (or friends to lovers) idea. Just the idea of your partner being someone who was your friend since you were a tot and chasing butterflies, picking dandelions to blow them into the wind. Someone who has looked at you like your the center of their world while you pull them through the park. Even though they have no idea what lo6ge is truly is. Just kind of melts my heart, and will probably give me cavities from the fluff.

Ahh hopefully I did this right! Sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes. Hope you have a blessed day, and something amazing happens to you soon <3

𝐓𝐢𝐦 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐤𝐞: 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞-𝐨𝐮𝐭

“I’m back!” Tim exclaims out into the open hallway as he pushes the door closed with his foot. There were multiple white, thin plastic bags in Tim’s hands, his keys dangling from one of his fingers.

You raise your head from the book in your lap, leaning forward to catch a glimpse of your boyfriend as he shimmied his way out of his shoes.

“Hi, honey.” You smile at him as he walks to the coffee table in front of you, setting down the bags of different take-out.

“Alright.” Tim sighs with a grin, his chest heaving a bit quicker, like he was a bit out of breath.

“What’s all this?” You ask, reaching over and pulling some of the thin plastic away from the food. “Smells amazing, no doubt but-“

“Well, you said you wanted to taste the world.” Tim says, a giddy smile on his lips as he plops down onto the couch beside you with a sigh. “So I brought it to you.”

You smile at him before snorting out a chuckle.

“Fuck you.” You say, and Tim simply smiles before grabbing a small box of thai food, handing it to you, giving you a chance to get the first bite.

“You’re welcome.” He says, nuzzling a small kiss to the softness of your cheek.

Headcanons:

Tim and you have annual movie nights. Every Friday night. Very simple, very easy. You have a joint letterbox account where you leave brutally honest reviews and you both analyse that shit like your life depends on it.

When you guys moved into your shared apartment, Tim dedicated one of the walls of your living room for you to paint and draw on. Needed more space? He’ll paint it over with whatever background colour you need.

You guys have a small chalk board on your fridge. It was used as a small shopping list at first, like writing up stuff like ‘ran outta eggs and cucumber’, but it quickly ended up in Tim leaving you cute notes and reminders for when he was gone on patrol.

Tim doesn’t always understand your asexuality, and he struggled to figure out how to relieve himself, but he figured out a solution and tries to turn the topic whenever someone discusses it to the point it makes you uncomfortable.

I hope you like this </3 it’s a bit late and honestly a little rushed but I’m trying😭🙏this also ISN’T proof-read so I’m so, so sorry if there’s mistakes☝️☹️

#★ robins match up event! ★ #★ robins events ★ #I’m just tapping atp #dc #dc x reader #sfw #tim drake x reader #Tim Drake x reader sfw #red Robin x reader #red robin dc

[sharm-the-shark]

NEW POST MADARFAKS

Ok so , as i said on the last post , im going to introduce you to my ( currently existing ) oc's , like their story and meaning , in a series of posts ( also specify that my oc's represent part of me and how I am , my feelings and mental conditions )

FIRST OFF AND THE ONE ON MY PFP

**drum roll**

STICH , but not the one from lilo & Stitch , mine is different , ok so , basically i have tourette síndrome :D ( basically i have involuntary spasm and a lot of weird stuff , I recommend you look for a video of people who have it to understand it better , and its kinda funny ) and Stich is how i imagine i'd look as a creature or something

I remember being in class and wanting to do a weird little face , i think It was for Halloween or some shet like that , and i have a LOT of tries and sketches , one day ill post em' ( maybe ) ( also they're super scuffed and cringe tho ) and i dont know how but the face ended Up in a TV , and now It has a body , i also remember joining the rain world discord server , i posted my custom region lizards there too , and someone liked them and i dont really remember how but we started talking and i asked them if they wanted a lizard , from that moment we began to send each other ideas for the other to draw it and such and I loved it , and one day we started drawing on aggie.io or magma ( a site where you can draw with friends ) idk i dont really remember , but i drew Stich and they came Up with the idea of antennae which i loved , and now is part of the design ,

And i dont know what more to say so I'll just put some drawings and explain them a bit ( some of the drawings are quite old so they're worse in my opinion , but I'll show then anyway )

This was the first digital drawing I did of Stitch ( + kid )

Here I think I got hyper fixation with flower crowns lol

Here I discovered that I could draw on black with white and decided to do something with TV snow

Here i was bored so i traced a photo of a hoodie and added some things cuz yeah

This was a drawing i made for Halloween 👍

This one is some Sort of redesign where i decided to give them headphones , which i like but not always draw them because of lazy

I made this in a moment i wasnt feeling great , and idk , its just some stuff i kept thinking and wanted to draw it

Oh yeah and , i think i came Up with the idea of a TV because of the weird glitches and like , whenever i have a tic or get stressed , It glitches or something

Oohh yeah , forgot to mention that i made human versións of my ocs , im not as Happy as i'd like with the drawing , but i like the concept so yeah

And finally the last drawing i made , It's fairly recent and Im still proud of how it turned out , and , i dont know , just the thought of me doing this its impressing

And that was It for the digital drawings , i still have a ton of traditional drawings of them , if you wanted to i could post them , but not now

And now , if you read all of that just wanted to tell you that i love you and that you're awesome , the Next post will be about nightmare >:)

Until Next time have a great day/night

Whatever <3

#art #oc species #oc artist #ocs #my oc #oc #tv head #introducing my ocs #pretty boy swag #art dump

[nerice]

oc ask meme! 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, and 47!

*rolls up my sleeves all the fucking way* let me introduce u to so many freaks. also linking my oc page again here not everyone's on there but for refrance!!!! this got long so im actually using the humble readmore function for once but im gonna showcase one answer up here and that is:

has anyone drawn fanart of your ocs? if yes, maybe show a picture or two here (remember sources & permissions!)

i love all the art you n charlotte have drawn but this pic you did of reina. man (i cry everytime i look at it, she's SO BEAUTIFUL here you got her down better than i have ever drawn her <33333)

first oc ever: a young girl who gets her throat taken out by a big cat at a circus performance; who is now a young boy called honey who gets his throat taken out by kizuna while he wanders the swamplands searching for his brother! :D

personal favourite oc: absolutely without any doubt or competition whatsoever this goes to sky lmao. rabbit daughter of my life <33333

have you ever adopted a character or gotten a character from someone else? nope! all organically grown ocs in my brain tbh i find the practice of adoptables etc a little weird but that's just bc it, for me personally, conceptually, just does not work at all lmao

if you could make only one of your ocs popular/known, who would it be? nightmare scenario that guarantees callout posts tbh but after reading a billion articles on traditional female villains for my thesis i am slightly tempted to blaze knowledge abt faye lmao. high femme lesbian villain (power armor notwithstanding) we need more of em <3

are your ocs part of any story or stories? only have story ocs!! if i think up a guy he comes pre-equipped with problems which i will somehow slot into the grander verse, i don't make the rules

sunshine oc: alissa!!!! tragic girl who dies too young but before then is the absolute light in the life of everyone she touches ;_; there is one au where she lives and aims to use the lifesong to help more people, in the process of which she becomes eliada's sworn enemy & also possibly romances damia. long story

troublemaker ocs: handsdown linn wins this category lol. always up to no good, a nsfw criminal menace <3

oc otp: YOU KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT IS JUMIE/REINA. thank you for drawing them make out it gives me life <33333

introduce an oc that means a lot to you (and explain why): gestures at reina. gestures at sky. gestures harder *camera pans over i am now on the floor sobbing* yknow?

introduce oc that has changed from your first idea concerning what the character would be like: jumie used to be very mellow and leaned most strongly into the caretaking persona (it still comes out with sky a lot ;_;) but when i actually got around to writing her boy. oh boy. takes no shit and vibe checks every single person she comes across (for better or for worse) lawful good paladin behavior

which one of your ocs would go investigate an abandoned house at night without telling anyone they’re going? leah!!! unfortunate tendency to disappear on people bc of whatever piqued her interest & also knows no fear/loves freaky and spooky stuff. noah, her scaredy-dragon bodyguard, is as exasperated as he is close to a heart attack at all times

pick one oc of yours and explain what their tumblr blog would be like (what they reblog, layout, anything really) cait, avery, and jumie wld all run weapon aes focused blogs (swords, knives, spears&bows respectively) and would probably end up sending each other hatemail over their weapon preferences lmao

introduce an oc who is not quite human: kizuna!!! typical choice here lol but. fun-sized (bear shaped) omnivorous murder bunny who can shapeshift into the people she devours. has a little identity crisis from it eventually, its ok

do you have any certain type when you create your ocs? do you tend to favour some certain traits or looks? it’s time to confess: i dont set out to create ocs so much as they just show up unasked on the doorstep of my brain but i absolutely love 2 give ocs a truckload of extremely visible scars (and some hidden ones for funsies) face scars are one of the greatest honors i can bestow <3

has anyone ever (friendly) claimed any of your ocs as their child? various yeah most frequently adopted are leah (statistical daughter of all time) and belle+sky for trauma reasons lmao

#aaaaaah sorry this was kinda basic. i think im more burned out than i realized :') #BOTTOM LINE IS THANK U FOR DRAWING AND CARING OCS I LOVE YOU #oc asks #askbox #ispybluesky

[brella-boi]

I can't believe the year has already gone. It went by so fast...

As per our tradition let's do a quick recap!

January: It was immediate work on new merch for a new years february update. This time it was focus on wooden charms.

February: I was ending my job contract that month, and didn't do much other than start listening to Lemon Demon and go a little insane.

March: Start of Merch and end of February I was doing donation commissions for helping Ukraine. Who knew this would be going on so long...

April: A month where I did NOTHING and I was a happy camper about that. Just straight up chillin

May: First time I decided to get out of my shell and start doing something fun with my life. I got my first car that month, and joined a local art group that sells art every saturday at a local park. The nicest people I hung around all summer, and this was the month where I worked on new prints to sell!

June: Preparations for artfight.... ref sheet hell.

July: Artfight

August: This was my holiday month!!! I barely drew because I also had a day job while on holiday. I was a wreck.

September: Back from holiday and out of a job again, I got to work on some new shop stuff in the meantime.

October: This month was a blur. I did some sketches here and there and worked a good bit on cosplay.

November: Everything Is On Fucking Fire. I may have skipped out on inktober and huevember this year, but I I did something so much worse instead. I was working day in day out this month without a moment break. I think I took maybe like 5 days off that entire month. It was neck breaking create new items for tabling at a con, neck breaking finishing kenku cosplay, and neck breaking family visit. Speedrun of everything. Im exhausted just thinking about it.

December: Month of strangling myself to do NOTHING. I travelled to america by myself. It's a tale and a half. I came home yesterday. I'm tired, I'm upset, I'm missing my luggage which has the kenku and other things I needed for christmas, I'm sick and my brain immediately wants to get back to work. Lord help me, two weeks was not enough with my friend to wind down

Here's to hoping that 2023 will be a better year. I've a lot of travel plans already, and I think art wise I just want to relax again. This year I've been breaking my neck over expanding my shop, and while I'll still like to make some new things, I'll be focusing on having fun like going to cons and tabling and meeting my friends. And have some time to relax and play games. I overwork myself way too much when given the time to do so.

Thank you everyone who have stuck around this year and hello to all the new people coming in!! I achieved my goal of drawing more bug themed stuff and will continue to do so! So here's to a whole new year in a week <3

#2022 #art #myart #archive #wow #i love you all so much #thank you for all yous support

[thedeepweb]

there is an art "tutorial" in this site about hyperrealism drawings and i remember when i saw it many years ago i was so so mad at it because of how useless it was. its main takeaways were that 1) dont draw with the brain but with the eyes instead 2) trace digitally to fix it. after having successfully done one hyperrealist drawing it turns out the first part was actually correct. however the second point still remains useless and still makes me as mad as the first time i saw it, which is offering a digital solution to a traditional drawing

the key was not tracing, but rather remembering how the medium works and doing light lines first, and the second and most important part: erasing the mistakes. that was what once i realized i drew with my brain and instead of following what i was actually seeing helped me fix the piece. it was patience and adapting to the medium

and i think thats what bothers me a lot about some "this is wrong do this instead" tutorials, and in the general online art community. because the statement of "don't make fun of a person's ms paint drawing because you will kill their passion" is becoming more standard (the general feeling is toward kids but i also include adults who are starting anew/again because its practically the same sitaution), a lot of people who do digital art have no connection with that statement and medium elitism. it was utterly disheartening as a kid to see how all of my art circles claimed that traditional was dead and digital was the only way, and to see that my traditional drawings did not get nearly as much attention as someone's digital one with the same skill. just because we have every day more art resources doesn't mean that they are accessible. in fact until some years ago i was sure i would never be able to get a drawing tablet. and thats my own case, there will be people who will never be able to access one, and people like me who cannot find their way through mobile apps. and it bother me that the notion of not making fun of shaky, messy digital drawings but when it comes to help its just a reinforcement of the idea that traditional is dead, as if they were two worlds apart and not the links of the same chain

this comes with no true moral message. im simply saying if you make an art tutorial or worse an art "fixing" one and you include traditional in the 'wrongs' section and not only do not offer any other traditional drawing as a better alternative but also just straight up not include any traditional solutions, you have an objectively bad tutorial.

[high-theyre-frendough]

I don't usually reblog art on tumblr (to this page I mean, usually it goes on my main blog cause there's more followers there) but I fucking love art. I fucking love fucking comic artists with their awesome fucking comics with fucking scribbly faces that somehow perfectly encapsulate human emotion. I love traditional artists with their watercolor and crayons and oil pastels and fucking idk acrilic paint and charcoal and pencils and shit. I love seeing timelapses and expressive gestures below finished products. I love seeing it. I fucking love art thats non traditional like throwing rice or assembling Rubik's cubes. I LOVE IT ITS FUCKING GREAT. The skill and creativity. I fucking love it. I love seeing fairies and other magical creatures and scifi settings. I love seeing them so much and i would say fantasy and magic in any setting is beautiful and bassass dddd cause I love faries and shit but honestly all settings great. I fucking love it all. I WANNA SEE FUCKING INKY PAINTED CHARCOLS. fucking helle. i love the goddamn fanart of television shows and other media wirh worse art. i swear to fucking god. some of you artists dont get enough love. even """ammatures""" fuck that. youre all fcuking great. i am more of a writer than a visual artists (((not proof here but trust me when im actually writing i am fucking good at it. fuck you dad. i am good at fucking writing. See, the fucking idiot said. If I just put in active effort to write, and use the baskspace button, the writing becomes better. It is one of my few skills, therefore I feel like I can acknowledge I am good at it. Personally, like I alluded to earlier, I enjoy fantasy. I have spent years escaping into fantasy stories. Sometimes I fail to finish them, due to adhd and depression, but what I do create actually is fucking good. When I was younger, I wrote on Wattpad, and like the pretentious little shit I was, I would leave comments on all the stories I read correcting grammar. I have spent so long studying story structure (admittedly informally) and used to read a lot which, I'm trying to do more again soon. however for the purposes of this textpost, its too much effort especially in this context))) anyways fucking hell one time this person (who sounded kinda young tbh in text) messaged me on wattpad and asked for permission to make FAN ART OF THE MAIN CHARACTER OF MY STORY I WAS WORKING AT THE TIME and i was like HOLY SHIT THEY WANNA MAKE FANART OF MY CHARACTER and they did and were embarassed about it SOMEHOW and it was so good this drawing (looked great)

found it you can read the story here anyways yeah fucking artist. fucking love yoou guys hell yeah. did i mention watercolors? landscape artists? comics? comic writers who use their art as a way to communicate serious things? with non bland fucking corporate art bullshit. thank you for explaining complex issues to me in an easier way. thank you for helping translate news stories and recent issues with colorful doodles and comics to help me understand. thank you for making me more interested in graphs and statistics. thank you for making one facet of numbers that are more acceptable to me. thank you for the above average more competent graphic design. thank you so much. i love you fucking porn artists. i fucking love you furties and trans people drawing ideal selves to show EVERYONE IS AN IDEAL BODY YO SOMEONE BECAYSE EVERYONE SEES DIFFERENT AND YOURELLL FUCKING GREAT and all the beads and candy art and custom sculptures that are useeful or mayve not and doodle sn scrivles and crazy experiments. and fucking dumbass youtubers who spent $$$$ making the most creative but also stupid and useless shit you have ever seen in your goddamn life because who even thinks of theses things ans went through and did it because why the fuck not. you are infuriating but entertain my world compared to the commentators who will make their own little sketches and lectures in their own videos. fucking fucking shit. all og it. whenever i see someone go "idk if i can make animation itll look silly* WHO FUCKING CARES BRING ON THE SILLY AND LET IT SLOWLY AND SATISFYINGLY EVOLVE INTO MORE COMPLEX AND DETAILED ANIMATION FOR THR WORLD HELL YEAH I LOVE THE EVOLUTION FROM SILLY BOUNCE TO MUSIC TO COMPLEX SHORT STORIES AND SHIT YOUR GODDAMN CHARACTER ARC IS NECESSARY FOR ENTERAINMENT JUST FUCKING DO IT BECAYSE ALL PARTS ARE EQUALLY ENTERTAINING IN DIFFERENT WAYS come on just fucking draw. fellow yarn people. i know you. look at me i am you. i am an amature but fuck it ill try to keep up. fucking love you crochet and knitters and sewers making plushies and custom clothing and shit yes fuck yeah. KEEP THAT SHIT UP i just make giant enormous pride flag knitted blankets (cant make money doing that cause no one is dropping $200 for that - which would be underpaying me probably) i have seen the most intricate and detailed fucking crochet lingerie and other outfits and they are so fucking cool all of it i love it fuck yeah. i probably forgot something but for some reason i cannot feel my fingers because there is no bloodflow and they are frozen because i have undiagnosed and untreated circulatory problems

#♻️ gilded profoundness #artist #art #art stuff #transgender artists #watercolor #charchol #oil pastels #animation artists #scars cw #excessive swearing cw #all caps cw #shouting cw #excessive cursing cw #depression mention #art things #artist appreciation #artist my beloved #comic artists #statistics #artists of color #poc artists #i forgot about cosplayers but ily #art shit #fuck yeah

[greyeyedmonster-18]

hi dr grey! if ur still doing the artist ask game, can i request 3 and 14 pls

hello miss padfootastic, and yes, i will be answering these asks forever and always, I've decided because they're my favorite <3

3. Least favourite things to draw?

I answered this before and said animals, which I stand by. I really, really, hate drawing animals. You will literally have to pay me money to do it. But, adding to this and extending to other art mediums-- I actually really hate hand-building in ceramics. I mega-loathe the handbuilding process.

14. How has your art changed over the years?

oh god. it has changed so much. so, so, so much (though i look at my old stuff and the heart is the same, we've just changed the skill and the tools used). also, this is below the cut because i am about to RAMBLE (also cw: for mild nudity below the cut) :

so i'm self taught. i taught myself how to draw and i did that with a bunch of copy paper and a mechanical pencil

here is BABY GREY drawings (before she was Dr. Grey)

subject matter has stayed the same, pretty consistent for the past....8 years? but I've switched from traditional to primarily digital forms of making; im much more confident with faces now than i used to be, confident with bodies and my intentions and...i think that's the biggest thing. just more confident with mark making;

BUT even within the past year or so? it's still changed. I'm constantly getting better and learning and developing and growing and tbh, i think that's why (oh no, am i maybe a-little-bit-of-sirius-in-ten-reasons) I've stuck with art for so long as a hobby. i could make the same drawing 10 times and each time it would be different, each time i could find a way to make it better or make it worse and that is forever not going to be fascinating to me.

so like...this is a drawing from October 2021(right ) and a drawing from October 2020 (left) (both from INKTOBER, sorry tried to find one with like...a similar vibe) . we focus on our blooming.

#asks #grey answers #ARTIST asks

[iraprince]

hello! do you have any advice for switching from traditional art to digital? (i recently ran out of supplies so im relegated to my computer lol) i hope youre having a good day!

i sure do!

first off i really recommend clip studio paint, but i also recommend u wait for it to go on sale. it goes 50% off a few times a year, so imo it’s worth waiting, but it also is usually on sale for only a few days so u have to stay on top of it. they usually announce on twitter etc. the tools don’t make the artist and obviously it doesn’t Really matter what program u end up settling on, i’ve just been really pleased with CSP and i wanted to recommend it

second: nothing that u can do with digital art programs/tools is cheating and it took me way too long to really internalize + understand that. copy-pasting stuff instead of redrawing it, using symmetry rulers, using transform/ctrl+T to stretch or squash slightly off anatomy instead of starting over -- when i was first getting into digital i A. didn’t know u could do this stuff and B. felt weirdly guilty doing it once i figured it out, as if i was a worse artist for using the tools that are literally built into the software or that it was lazy or dishonest to do so. that, it turns out, is bullshit. any drawing is just a constant series of decision-making and a lot of digital tools just help u make or retract or edit those decisions faster than traditional does. it’s not better or worse, it’s just different, and it’s worth ur time to figure out which of those differences are the most convenient and useful. this stuff exists for a reason! use it! save ur wrists and ur patience and ur time!

figure out file organization early, because it’s something u don’t have to deal with irt traditional art and so it probably won’t come naturally, but it also makes ur life harder to have a desktop swarming with wip files that are all titled “kjsrhrfgdhgj.psd” or whatever. some ppl sort into folders by date; for me it works better to sort by content (i.e. i have folders for tvrn stuff, patreon stuff, different fandoms, dnd/ttrpg stuff, “misc ocs” for characters i don’t draw much and “misc fandoms” for one-off fanart that doesn’t merit its own folder, etc etc; this is what makes it easiest for me to find stuff, but ur system might end up different.) i admittedly still name my files keysmashes if it’s personal stuff rather than work/commissions, but at least it’s all sorted into a category where i can quickly find it again anyway

also, u can hybridize traditional and digital! i frequently like my traditional pencil lines better than what i can do digitally, so i often scan them in, turn them into lineart, and color digitally (here’s a tutorial on how i prep that). but even if u don’t have a scanner, a carefully taken phone photo with high contrast can still be used the same way. i tend to lay my sketchbook flat on the floor in front of a window, squat down and hold my phone as level as i can while i’m taking the pic, and then i blast it in my phone’s built in gallery editor (highlights/shadows and contrast) before sending it to myself and doing the same thing w tone curve/levels in csp. it’s not perfect, but it’s presentable, and it can be a good way to ease urself in if ur feeling frustrated w the learning curve on digital draftsmanship.

oh, and this tip is really small but it’s ended up being rly helpful for me: resist the urge to zoom in way past 100% scale view just bc u can. if there are times where u absolutely need to, sure, whatever, but there’s no point in regularly tweaking tiny things pixel by pixel at 250% zoom bc nobody who looks at ur art is gonna see that and ur just bloating ur own time spent on things and creating unnecessary stress for urself!! if 100% zoom doesn’t give u the control u want, that may just mean u need to work larger to begin with.

set up a comfortable workspace with a Good chair. look up proper posture and try to stick to it. i know we’re all gay and it sucks to sit in a chair properly but otherwise ur gonna hurt urself. take even more frequent breaks than u do when drawing traditionally! screen bad!

also, if ur tablet has a way to calibrate pressure, try that out. a lot of them are set in a way where you have to press really hard to get full line width and over time it can really seriously strain ur wrist; u can’t manually set pressure in traditional tools (besides like. using softer lead i guess lmfao) but u can with tablet pens and u should try it, bc if u can use a lighter touch overall it really goes a long way towards preventing injury in the long term.

this is all the stuff that came to mind immediately; i’m sure there are tons of basics i haven’t covered, depending on how much of a transition this is for u, but there are a lot of tutorials out there written by ppl more patient and more educationally-oriented than myself so you’d be doing a better service to urself seeking those out than if i were to try to clumsily emulate them lol. good luck + have fun!

[woozisnoots]

brightest smile | lee seokmin

° pairing: seokmin x reader ° genre: fluff, nurse!au ° summary: first days, lasting impact. ° word count: 724 ° warnings: hmm hospitals? ° a/n: tysm to the bestest @escapewriter​​ for beta reading this bc it was v v late when i wrote this !! doing the first week of #goingcarats strong i shall admit with brighter than sunshine himself, lee seokmin! <3 ok im sorry for the clique title, my creative juices are at a drought ><

masterlist!

“what if i put the blood pressure cuff on too loose, or worse - too tight? holy shit, seokmin, i’m going to be the worst nurse this world has ever seen. what if i forget to take their temperature? what nurse forgets to take their patient’s temperature?”

the words rush out of your mouth faster than you mind can register the situation. three weeks after the start of nursing school and you’re already diving into the first week of clinicals to fill the deed of any nurse out there: taking care of a patient. something that felt so far away. you guess three weeks go by a lot faster when you’re playing catch up.

your worries continue to muffle under your breath, not wanting to spread the negativity in the reach of your best friend, seokmin, who sat in the passenger seat beside you. to your surprise, seokmin isn’t as frantic as you are. other times, or rather, most of the time, it would be the other way around. yet this morning when you drove to pick him up, putting his best foot froward with his hands securely gripping his backpack on his shoulders and his lunch box strapped around the sides.

“don’t say that!” seokmin’s soothing voice brings you back to the dreadful reality as you look up from the stirring wheel and find yourself staring at the entrance of the hospital. if the whines weren’t enough, one glance at the grimace on your face expressed the feeling of distaste that was the consequence of today. “it’s our first day, they’re not expecting us to be perfect. and hey, you have me!” seokmin’s hands pounce his chest at the statement; his gesture finally erupts a small smile from you, admiring how pridefully silly he looks.

seokmin was actually the reason you applied to the program in the first place. if you were being completely honest, you wouldn’t pinpoint nursing as a career path that he would choose, but you also wouldn’t put it past him. count on the nicest person you know to take one of the most demanding professions! you admired his determination and hell, did he sure have a lot of it. he wasn’t one to get the best grades to begin with or most clinical experience; in fact, he had none prior to today.

“sometimes it’s not what you do,” you remember him saying such a phrase during one of your traditional pizzeria nights you two would occasionally have. even though your time spent together was lessened back then. “it’s the dedication that takes you there.”

staring at the seokmin before you, finally dressed head to toe in the uniform of his dreams, proudly where the school patch in the right side and stethoscope hanging around his neck, you can verify the truth in that statement.

seconds pass and your body starts to relax, letting your back slide down the driver’s seat and getting yourself comfortable in the snugness of your warm jacket before you have to take it off. “you really think i’ll do okay?”

“no,” you wait before reaching out to throw your sunglass case at him in hopes that he has more to say. “you’ll do better than okay, you’re gonna do flippity flipper fantastic!”

number fifteen of ways seokmin’s antics that were sure to brighten your day with no fail: making up the most absurd alliterations. it was true, it gets you every time and today was no different. “well, if you say so,” your giggles draw out in the midst of packing up the necessities in your scrub pockets, now keeping a smile on your face thanks to your best friend.

the clock is ticking and the next thing you know, you’re getting your stuff and locking your car, waiting up front of the hospital. and right when you needed him, seokmin was already beside you, intertwining your fingers with his. “ready?”

by now, people would think you be sick of being around seokmin due to his over-enthusiastic nature. silly of them to think you’d ever get tired of staring off into bliss just looking at his smile; and you get the privilege of being by his side all day. you can never compete with him when it comes to that, so you give your best reassuring grin and grip his hand tighter. “now i am.”

#seventeen #seventeen fluff #seokmin fluff #caratwritersclub #goingcarats #seventeen scenario #seokmin #seokmin scenarios #dokyeom fluff #seventeen fanfic #seokmin fanifc #seventeen imagine #seokmin imagine #seventeen x reader #seokmin x reader #seventeen seokmin #seventeen dk #dk scenarios #dk fanfic #dk imagine #dk fluff #dk #dokyeom

[antidotenurse]

How did you mimic the yugioh zexal style? I want to start practicing and I have no idea where to start. How did you study?

First off, thank you!! :,) 💕💕💕💕 plz dont mind that im gonna be using hyperbolic objective language to explain this so i 😭😭

Well. How did I study?? You’re gonna hate it, but there’s literally no other way around it.

Copying it.

HEAR ME OUT: That’s just how learning works. That’s how learning any style ever works. If you’re trying to draw in a particular art style, you have to learn how it’s drawn. And the only way really understand to do that, is by trying to recreate it almost exactly. WHICH YEAH, this is an internet space, once you say the work “copy” next to art suddenly you have no skill or are doing something inherently immoral just on principle. Which is just a really bad faith read. It’s a lot like “master studies” in art classes, where students have to recreate the same drawing/work from some previous artist and try to get it as close as possible to the original. Which seems dumb at first, but it’s not without a point- y’know?

As a wack teenager, I used to practice trying to “master” the look of the zexal style by drawing on paper a loooot. At the time I didn’t know how to draw digitally (i didn’t have access to a lot of things). Zexal model sheets were rare if almost nonexistent, so I could only use the anime. I must’ve did a decent enough job since to this day my old art floats around with no one realizing that some idiot teenager drew them in her room. I just really wanted to learn it for some reason. Honestly, I blocked out most of my life from that era, so I can barely remember my own reasoning.

So I think I’d suggest, at least since the resources are much more readily available now, to refer to the model sheets and probably try redrawing what you see in those. I don’t have the old sketches anymore, but back then on my own time, I’d try recreating stuff like this as I saw it:

Or, HECK!!! If there’s an art style from particular episodes you like a lot, try referring to those and use that. There’s a ton of elements in the model sheets I don’t much care for, or elements applied by certain animation directors I like more than others that I’ll incorporate into my own work. So in the end you kind of do learn more about your own style and tastes. BUT, I personally wouldn’t jump straight into this right away. Maybe just keep it in mind until u get comfier.

THIS post that illustrates what I mean visually in regards to different directors and their styles a little better lmao. They’re all “on model” but u can tell them apart despite using the same “style.”

SCREENSHOT REDRAWS are a more fun kind of practice!! When I was in the more active learning stage I’d often try redrawing my favorite shots on paper and try to get as close as feasibly possible. I only did that because I wanted to learn it.

Nowadays, I just target weirder looking shots because. Lmao. You know 😩 after years of learning what I like in the style … … it’s a fun self challenge

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

[drops exhibit C below]

Screenshot redraws are also just good practice for me even when I’m just goofing. Because when I’m not actively practicing, my muscle memory starts to fail me.

Or, if you aren’t directly recreating an existing image and still want to practice, I’d suggest keeping the model sheets (or whatever influence u refer to) with you and try drawing within the realms set up. References are your friends and wanna help u. Even the best homies out there will use them, plz don’t undersell them. You aren’t any better or worse for using them 😭

AFTER A GOOD WHILE OF DOING THAT SORT OF THING you’ll probably get a feel for it a lot more. Then, as per how art works, the style will shift more into your own take on it, and then you can just do whatever you want and take your personal liberties as u see fit

Or just clown. Who knows! I use my time to clown! 🤡🤡 thanks for coming to my weird TED talk

OH RIGHT, DIGITAL OR TRADITIONAL??? …Idk. When i was learning i always drew on paper (mostly due to circumstance). It varies from person to person on which is more “effective,” but I don’t think it ultimately matters lol

#antidote ask #IT’S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I THOUGHT ABOUT MY PROCESS #but it just does boil down to wanting to recreate a look #then as i get comfier it becomes easier to take my own liberties #a part of me still feels uneasy when trying to explain this sort of thing cuz then i remember how mean ppl were about it #just residual effects rly. #THAT FANDOM WAS NOT FUN LMAO i mean it had it’s moments but my final moments were particularly awful

[notafraidofredyellowandblue]

Flake interview 2020-01

Not a new interview, but relatively recent, Flake with "Der Standard" 2020-01 before an appearance of Flake in Vienna (author Stefan Weiss), don't think there's a translation on the website, so here's a shot..:

Rammstein keyboardist Flake: "The reunification was a mess"

Christian "Flake" Lorenz hits the keys not only as a keyboardist, but also as an author. A conversation about controversial views on the GDR, fireworks and climate protection

At Rammstein he is the "keyfucker" - GDR jargon for keyboard players. His real name is Christian Lorenz, but he has been calling himself "Flake", pronounced in German, of course, since his youth. For a quarter of a century, the native of East Berlin has been the alien in the German rock band, the thin freak among the strong musclemen. In the meantime, Flake also hits the keys as an author: In "An was ich mich so erinnern kann" (2015) he wrote down his GDR experiences, followed in 2017 with "Heute hat die Welt Geburtstag", a literary autobiography about Rammstein. On March 26, Flake will come to Vienna's Globe Theater for a reading.

STANDARD: We are currently celebrating 30 years of 'Die Wende' *1). Your joy is limited, as one knows. How do you perceive the anniversary?

Flake: 'Die Wende' and reunification of Germany have to be separated. I experienced the change as a punk at the time. The ossified old concrete headframe of the GDR Politburo was also our enemy. We didn't want this idiotic regime anymore and we fought to loosen it up. When the wall came down, we didn't know what to do with the freedom we suddenly had. But then began an incredibly exciting time in which we tried to develop professionally, politically and musically in every direction.

STANDARD: And then came the reunification.

Flake: A lot went wrong from then on. We were annexed as a useless country, entire biographies were declared worthless, companies were closed so that the western companies could expand. We have been reset to such an extent that resentment and disappointment have built that have persisted until now. By and large, the reunification in this form was a mess.

STANDARD: If you look at Germany's east today, right-wing populism has recently had great political success there. A legacy of reunification?

Flake: Many people are disappointed because certain promises have not been fulfilled. But they already had the political left in their lives, now they are trying it with the right. Personally, I cannot understand how one can vote for the AfD *2). But those who do are doing it in large part in protest against the mainstream parties. It is clear that the AfD cannot meet expectations either. If the AfD were to rule, many people would notice very quickly that it is not getting better, but worse.

STANDARD: You grew up in the East Berlin punk scene. What are the differences between the East and West punks?

Flake: There was a fundamental difference: the Ostpunks didn't need any money because life was absurdly cheap, rent around 25 marks. The koney you made from one concert lasted over a month. So you could make the music you wanted to make and not just the music that sells well. Absurdly enough, it made us very free.

STANDARD: There were also IM Stasi informers among your band colleagues at the time (IM: unofficial employee, note). Aren't you angry with the repressive surveillance state of the GDR?

Flake: I'm not angry with IM informers in the bands. Because their IM status often made it possible for the bands to exist at all. The Stasi didn't lock up its own people. The best example of this is the GDR band 'Die Firma'. It was founded by IM informers. The gag was that 'Die Firma' ('The Company') was actually a synonym for "Stasi". Covered by the Stasi, they then sang anti-subversive texts. Almost brilliant really.

STANDARD: Do you understand when it is said that the GDR was an injustice state and that Stasi repression was a kind of terror?

Flake: I can understand it when people say that who have experienced it and suffered from it. But personally, I can't say that the whole state was bad. I don't want to know how many innocent people have been or are being imprisoned and monitored in the West. I do not find the generalization of the "unjust state" okay.

STANDARD: Would Rammstein have been conceivable in the GDR?

Flake: We wouldn't have founded a band like Rammstein within the GDR because it would have been the wrong answer to this system. We founded Rammstein because we noticed that our punk music wasn't getting anywhere in the West. It took harder stuff.

STANDARD: You have retained a kind of socialism within the band. Nevertheless, Rammstein is a millionaire company. Were there moments when you thought: The money could not only destroy our character but also the band?

Flake: Rammstein is a company where money fluctuates a lot. We have a lot of employees, we buy tons of pyrotechnics, we have a huge stage, costumes, our own electricity network, we shoot extremely complex videos. The money that remains private can actually hardly harm us, because it is so limited. We really have to make sure that the plus-minus calculation works out.

STANDARD: In your book "Heute hat die Welt Geburtstag" you describe the 25 years of Rammstein as a long partnership: It has become calmer in bed, but you understand each other blindly. Is divorce even an option?

Flake: Divorce is definitely not an issue. It's like a very long marriage: You don't even think about divorce anymore.

STANDARD: In the midst of tough muscle men, you were always the figure that breaks everything, especially in the interaction with singer Til Lindemann, who sometimes roasts you on stage like a cockroach. It looks like the traditional comedian constellation white clown and stupid August, Laurel and Hardy with SM components. How important is that to the show?

Flake: We developed that more by accident. We never made it up: you are the strong one, I am the weak one. At our first concerts we always stood around very haphazardly, then we started pushing and provoking each other. When I watch a normal heavy metal band I get bored easily. We always have something going on.

STANDARD: Do you sometimes long for a role change at Rammstein? To be the strong one for once?

Flake: Nah, I have other worries. With those couple of concerts, I can handle my role well enough.

STANDARD: Can you even enjoy appearances or does that only come afterwards? After all, a Rammstein show is precision work.

Falke: What do you mean enjoy? I enjoy when everything runs smooth and everything works like a machine. There are good and bad concerts, at the good ones we take off like an airplane.

STANDARD: Rammstein mixes black romanticism with black humor. You yourself love the blues, which often sails in similar waters. Can you draw joy out of melancholy?

Flake: The blues is the best example of this. Sadness and comfort go hand in hand. All of popular music arose from a problem of the respective author. This is exactly what you want to hear when you are not feeling well yourself. During puberty you normally don't want to hear "Walking on Sunshine" either.

STANDARD: Traditionally, there is also joy in melancholy and morbidity in Vienna. Is that the Eastern European impact?

Flake: Slavic music is very melancholic, on the other hand the Goth culture comes from the west. So I wouldn't really pinpoint that to anything local.

STANDARD: It is said that Rammstein did more to preserve the German language than all the Goethe Institutes put together. Are you proud of that?

Flake: Yeah. But the interesting thing is that we are regarded more highly abroad than in our own country. In Germany there is a lot of ranting: We are dull and foolish about Germany - complete nonsense.

STANDARD: Rammstein has always been compared to the totalitarian parody band Laibach. They recently played in North Korea with the aim of appearing subversive. Is something like that conceivable for Rammstein?

Flake: We'd have to think very carefully about what we want and why we want it. If that were to help someone, okay - but only to be able to say, "We're subversive now," that's not an argument.

STANDARD: For reasons of climate protection, there is an increasing number of missile bans. A topic for Rammstein?

Flake: We played a concert in Chicago once. The local fire protection was so rigorous that we shouldn't even have lit a match. Complete ban on pyro. We went on stage and said: either we are leaving because we are not allowed to make a fire here, or we are playing without. The audience wanted the latter, of course. And it became one of our best shows. You have to weigh it up a bit: should you stop all things like a Rammstein show for climate reasons? But I totally understand that there shouldn't be any more bangs on New Year's Eve. I was in Vienna once at the turn of the year, and there was relatively little banging. I thought that was good. Berlin is one of the most terrifying cities on New Year's Eve. There it's pure aggression.

Notes:

*1) i kept 'Die Wende' as the term for the political transformation in east germany, not sure what the official english phrase is

*2) AfD, short for 'Alternative für Deutschland' or 'Alternative for Germany' is a right-wing populist political party, often characterized as far-right, known for its opposition to the European Union and immigration

#flake interview #rammstein interview #interview 2020 #again with the marriage analogy #😊 #rammstein #flake lorenz

[springfieldblues]

my long ass review for S32E03 Now Museum, Now You Don’t

warning: LONG because i rambled about history more than i thought i would

id been looking forward to this one because i like art history, especially after seeing how they tried their best to stick to historical accuracy in the previous episode I, Carumbus. this time however….they didnt try that hard. i dont know why i thought theyd go through that sort of trouble again LMAO

but its okay, i dont really expect the simpsons to be the paragon of historical accuracy or anything. especially in anthology episodes told through a particular character's lens (in this case, lisa, whos already feverish so whatever)

first i just wanna say that this is, i guess, less of a review and more of an accidental list of history fun facts. so im just gonna get my general thoughts out of the way first.

the episode was fun! to me at least haha. i mean it got me to think and do a lot of research on my own so that must count for something. besides a couple of really weird ones, the jokes were good. anthology episodes tend to be….not that good but i thought this one was one of the better ones so far. idk.

anyway on to lisanardo da vinky its the renaissance! jesus christ the italian accents in the beginning of this segment were annoying as hell but i also feel like that was the joke lmao. ill be real i kind of tuned out for a second there when grampa started rambling so idk what he said.

i told myself i wouldnt get nitpicky with historical accuracy if the jokes were funny (final edit: so that was a lie) but this meh bit with the pizza guys and mascots was really not worth ignoring the fact that its impossible for italy to have any tomato-based food in the 15th century (tomatoes were brought to europe from the americas in the 16th century, and pizza as we know it today—flatbread, cheese, tomato—originated in the late 18th century)

oh this next part was kind of legit tho. lisanardo, like the real leonardo, became andrea del verrochio's apprentice at his workshop. i loved this next bit:

"Whoever paints the sweetest cherub will have the honor of having MY name signed on their work. That's what great artists do!"

SO YEAH as it turns out, lisanardo painted the sweetest cherubs. the painting here is called The Baptism of Christ, and the real leonardo assisted verrochio in finishing it. specifically, he painted the cherubs in the corner.

this causes verrochio to quit and go someplace with less talented people: a music school (yes, verrochio did quit painting after getting owned by young leo and his mad angel painting skills. he never did anything with music tho, he was more of a sculptor)

alongside lisanardo, in mr largo-verrochio's workshop we have barticelli (botticelli bart), dolphatello (donatello dolph), ralphael (raphael...ralph) and mediocrito (no one that i know of. sorry milhouse) (and kearney i guess but they dont refer to him by name). botticelli and donatello are said to have also been apprentices at verrochio's workshop, but raphael came a couple of decades later so he couldnt have been there. and donatello was too old so that claim is a bit questionable. but anyway

it IS true that leonardo's peers envied him, to the point where he was anonymously and purposefully accused of being gay (a major crime punishable by death in 15th century florence) while he was still working at verrochio's workshop

we are then treated by what im pretty sure is the fourth time the show has used 'at seventeen' by janis ian, this time sung by a dejected lisanardo (man they really do keep making yeardley sing these days huh) who only wishes to be appreciated and not envied.

"I'll show them all! I'll show them all in a secret diary that no one will decipher for 400 years!"

some of lisanardo's future inventions. who wouldve known

so after barticelli, for some reason (revenge??? or something?? what was his plan here idgi) steals lisanardo's diaries full of blueprints of her inventions and takes them to mr burns who i have to assume is pope alexander VI here, they decide to use her inventions for war.

"With these, we can kill the most evil people in the world!! ....Slightly different Christians."

leo actually did this of his own accord. im surprised this is what they decided to do with lisanardo instead of talking about leo's love of nature and vegetarianism (not a single mention of that in this episode? come on...) then again, trying to do good only to end up indirectly making things worse is a very standard lisa storyline. i guess they didnt want to miss the chance to have evil pope burns (very fitting, especially for that era since they were all about money and controlling the people)

so lisanardo decides to leave for france, unlike the real leonardo who was more or less persuaded by his ultimate fanboy king francis I to move to france.

"Lisanardo, I have many questions. Why are you hitting yourself? A nerd says 'what'? And how is it possible that I am rubber and you are glue? Et cetera, et cetera."

that line may seem a little random, like hes just nelson saying nelson things (and i mean, obviously he is) but the real francis also "had an unquenchable thirst for learning, and Leonardo was the world’s best source of experimental knowledge. He could teach the king about almost any subject there was to know, from how the eye works to why the moon shines." so yeah, he did have many questions and lisanardo, finally being appreciated for her intellect, was happy to answer them all. its very interesting how lisa assigned this role to nelson in her retelling of da vinci’s life :^)

and so she lived the rest of her days in france, nat king cole's 'mona lisa' plays because duh, and they make a da vinci code reference because duh. and the segment ends. and not a single time did they show the actual mona lisa painting. the fuck?

(ngl i was fully expecting bart to say 'leonardo da vinky' for a second here)

so this next segment is about french impressionist painters, most likely the batignolles group, a name adopted by the early representatives of impressionism. its much more vague than the lisanardo segment since no one here is referred to by name (except moe, more on him in a sec) but i dont feel like it really matters in this case. bart is prrrrooobably claude monet but its hard to say, this segment is kind of a mish-mash of a lot of things. also i gotta say i really liked how lisa introduced the story to bart with an 'if you hate the formal study of art' and not 'if you hate art' because thats exactly my headcanon. i LOVE the concept of artist bart and whenever its referenced it just makes perfect sense to me.

anyway the segment opens in 1863 at the école des beaux-arts (back then it was actually known as the académie des beaux-arts), preserver of traditional french art styles. skinner reviews his students’ paintings one by one. praises the plain, unimaginative paintings depicting your typical european countryside landscapes. very run-of-the-mill (haha get it...cuz theres….a windmill) (although the real académie didnt approve of such basic stuff, they wanted artists to draw epic historical and mythological scenes) then he gets to barts painting and he gives him an F- because the painting made him think.

(the paintings in this scene arent real famous paintings as far as i know but they are inspired by real paintings enough to get the point across)

in comes barney dressed as bacchus as a model for the students to sketch, which i just loved:

barney: “You prefer robe open or robe off?” skinner: “Just cover your privates with this walnut shell.” barney: “Whoa!!! So roomy!”

skinner gasps in horror at bart’s sketch, which “looks nothing like him” and bart explains that “it shouldn’t; we’re making the art that we feel because we can’t compete with a camera.” damn, you go bart. take that, realism. draw what you feel!!

(also no, you didnt need to hold still for 17 hours for a daguerreotype. 30 min tops.)

nelson haw-haw of the week: FOIE-gras!

so here they are at the moulin rouge (“enjoy it before baz luhrmann ruins it” hey shut up. i love that movie), which wouldnt be built for another 26 years, but it is the most widely known gathering place for bohemians in the public consciousness so i can understand why they went with the moulin. nelson delivers this anachronistic line:

“This époque keeps getting beller and beller!”

which alludes to la belle époque, the golden age of france usually dated from 1880 to 1914. made me snort so ill let that slide

and heres moe! as henri de toulouse-lautrec, who was actually born a year after the year this segment is set in. yo moe szyslak he was just 1

toulouse-moetrec introduces himself as the chronicler of the demimonde (not an actual job). an iconic figure associated with the moulin rouge (largely due to his affinity for alcohol and prostitutes), toulouse-lautrec was also a painter, having illustrated a series of posters for the moulin himself. he simply had to be in this segment, anachronisms be damned, just because they decided to include the moulin. cant have one without the other.

and yes he did have a walking cane where he kept his liquor.

i love how everyone drinks absinthe in this place. theyre bohemians what else would they drink

toulouse-moetrec points out that barts paintings are the greatest thing hes ever seen (and hes seen like five things!) and that hes a genius. milhouse realizes that they should stop doing what the teacher says and use their own minds to instead...start doing what bart says lmao. to the easels!

next we have skinner hyping up chalmers about the art his students made for the salon de paris, an art exhibition that the emperor of france will attend. he assures him that none of these paintings will encourage debate, provoke thought or be out of place at a dentist’s office. when they unveil the art, theyre both SHOCKED at how scandalous the paintings actually are.

this reaction was kind of accurate. impressionism was severely rejected at the salon de paris, due to paintings not looking finished enough to them, they thought they were ugly and vulgar for depicting nudity in a contemporary setting (historical and mythological nudity was fine). these impressionist paintings were sent to the salon de refusés, which is. yeah. the place where they sent the rejects. the salon de refusés does not make an appearance but this scene makes a reference to it when the artists get expelled from the royal salon. also:

“What about our student loans?” “Oh they’ll be refunded. We are not barbarians, I mean, come on.”

(god if only)

so the painters are down because they want the emperor to actually see their paintings. toulouse-moetrec pipes in once again with an idea.

“There is one thing the emperor loves more than anything.” “France?” “No, he hates France.”

apparently the emperor really loves cheese, which makes sense since its napoleon III (who loved cheese) and homer (who loves cheese.) so the painters roll into the salon inside a giant wheel of cheese (obviously.) as lenny said, “Eh, you know French cheese. Very runny.” napoleon III chases after the wheel into a room, where the wheel falls apart after getting chomped on by the emperor. now that they got his attention, the painters proudly show the emperor their impressionist art, which he couldnt be more indifferent about because he just wants to eat his cheese dammit, and he awards them with the royal medallion just to kind of get them out of his way. skinner immediately starts kissing ass (as he does) until marge’s like ‘hey wait a minute. you expelled these students from the royal salon’ and an executioner immediately starts ominously measuring skinners neck.

“Uh, sir...is your tongue sticking out because you’re dead or because you’re mad at me?”

and thats the end of that lmao (gore in this episode, gore in the last episode, and next week we’re getting gore too cuz its THOH, what the hell is goin on)

we get a short intermission with maggie, who wants a story for her too! lisa tells her that renaissance artists loved to put babies in their paintings, especially baby angels.

here she is showing her The Triumph Of Galatea by raphael:

King David Playing The Harp by peter paul reubens:

and a very simplified version of pretty much any depiction of hell by hyeronimus bosch lmao:

not much else to say about this one, really. but i really liked that sky!

the last segment is about frida kahlo and diego rivera. or as bart puts it ‘the one about a fat guy whos wife is too good for him.’ i was REALLY looking forward to this one because i love frida and i thought itd be a cool opportunity for animators to go bonkers and do really cool shit with her art as inspiration…..but the segment is not about frida, its about diego and his selling out to capitalism. and its also yet another story with homer and marge drama. no funky cool animation here. sigh i guess i’ll take it

the story begins in 1929 at la casa azul, frida’s home (now museum dedicated to her life and work.) frida and diego are getting married. this courtyard definitely did not look this way yet back in 1929. also theres something very cringy yet funny about lovejoy saying spanish words the way he does, i honestly cant decide how i feel about that one

the writers know theyre being cringy with their gringoness so they go along with it.

moe: “Spanish for ‘best wishes’!” mel: “Spanish for ‘congratulations’!” bumblebee man: “Spanish for ‘muy bueno’!”

OH YEAH BUMBLEBEE MAN this is his new voice actor, eric lopez! hes not mexican but its still great to finally have a latino actor voicing a latino character and hes very excited to be part of the show so i hope to hear more of him!! im rooting for him

el barto/zorro makes an appearance which i am very confused about. he has jack shit to do with frida and diego and mexico in the 20s-30s. el zorro was set in the spanish california of the early 19th century. their use of the original theme song makes me think they just wanted to flex their disney privileges tbh

lets not talk about that that whole scene was bad

anyway diego announces he and frida are going to new york, without even asking her first. frida is obviously pissed.

“Don’t worry, as a woman, you’ll be treated with much more respect in America.”

so in new york, diego is having a bit of a business meeting with mr burns as one of the members of the rockefellers, who is commissioning him to draw a mural for the rockefeller center. its kinda funny how he refers to him and frida as socialists even though they were very much communists lmao its okay you can say it. ok so far, but then frida says ‘yes, we hate the capitalists! right now, a young socialist is being born who will take them down! mr. bernie sanders. i hope hes quick about it’ and that was a simple enough joke and couldve been left at that but then its immediately followed by this weird as fuck family guy-esque cutaway gag to bernie as a baby:

“Getting a cootie shot should not cost your lunch money. And if you don’t listen to me, listen to the Bernie Babies! What? Everybody’s got goons.” *larger babies start beating up this other baby* “I disavow that, and welcome it.”

this confused me so much that i had to ask one of my american friends to help me understand, but even she was like ‘uhhh yeah thats a weird joke,’ especially now that hes been out of the race for months (then again these episodes take almost a year to produce. i guess they couldnt be bothered to replace it with something more relevant.) whatever that was weird and confusing and unfunny moving on

frida is pretty irked that diego is going through with this deal. after all, it goes against everything they believe in. im not sure how the real frida felt about diego doing the mural, but she did feel a bit of rage during her visit to the united states, especially the obvious disparity between rich and poor. she hated having to interact with capitalists and found americans very boring. in this segment, frida seems to be acting more like the american communist party, which diego got kicked out of for accepting commissions from wealthy patrons. in any case, frida is pretty upset about this whole thing.

and finally we get the first and only kind of surreal frida moment. kinda. maybe. its more cartoonish than anything but im desperate ok

interesting how they felt like they had to add a “don’t smoke” in big letters after showing patty and selma flying away on their giant cigarettes. i wonder if this is something theyre making them do now? i remember hearing something about them toning down patty and selma’s smoking

diego comes home to frida, drunk as hell, followed by the marx brothers. i cant believe they didnt make a marxism joke come on it was RIGHT THERE. THE MARX BROTHERS. KARL MARX. COME ON

frida paints her feelings.

this makes diego realize that frida is a genius and he is not half the artist she is. he proclaims he will now show his awe of her by sleeping with other women, starting “an hour ago.” to which frida replies, “and i will start sleeping with other women, starting two hours ago.” yes this was pretty much their relationship. though im just wondering how the hell did diego not know frida was this kind of artist until now? i know homers an idiot but jeez. art was how frida and diego met, diego knew from the get-go that frida was an incredible artist. i guess the fame got to his head or something. again, homer just being stupid.

“well enough already, while the art is still deco, okay?”

its time for the mural diego painted, Man At The Crossroads, to be unveiled:

rockefeller examines it. good and great so far, and then...uh oh

“Who’s that fellow…? With the beard, and the bolshevik smile…” “That’s the founder of Soviet Russia, Lenin!”

“B-b-but he’s a communist!” “Oh he just attended a couple of meetings.”

rockefeller will not have this communist in the temple to capitalism that is the rockefeller center, so he orders diego to paint over it. diego stands his ground and refuses. despite rockefeller’s threats, diego says that theres only one person he wants to be proud of him no matter what and in true homer & marge fashion, frida is touched by this. they happily leave the rockefeller center.

now, the real story of Man At The Crossroads and the rockefeller center was actually not that different. as soon as the rockefellers found out diego had snuck in a portrait of lenin into the mural, they ordered him to paint over it, to which he refused. diego even offered to include abraham lincoln and even american abolitionists in the mural as a compromise, but the rockefellers simply did not want any references to communism whatsoever. they did not complain about the hammer and sickle, though. yes, they did know diego was a communist and hired him anyway. what did they expect? lmao. diego said:

"Rather than mutilate the conception [of the mural], I shall prefer the physical destruction of the conception in its entirety, but preserving, at least, its integrity."

so they decided to destroy the mural before it was even finished and they never talked to each other again.

diego then repainted the mural at the palacio de bellas artes back in mexico, this time known as Man, Controller of the Universe. this new version included even more communist leaders and a depiction of john d. rockefeller jr. drinking at a nightclub, right underneath a depiction of syphilis bacteria. cue nelson haw-haw:

this was the version they used in the episode also, since the original was, well, never finished and also destroyed. only a black and white photograph of it exists, taken by diego before it was destroyed so he could remake it.

right so, homer!diego then pulls a Barthood and finishes the episode with a large mural summarizing the entire episode. he says some rick and morty thing i didnt get because i dont watch the show idk idc

the end

ALRIGHT NOW ITS TIME FOR THE STORY OF VINCENT VAN MOE

#if you read all of this bless you #the imageless gdocs version of this is 8 pages long #hope you...enjoy?!?! these art history fun facts?!?! #dont let me do something like this again but also let me know if i should do something like this again #i was really only motivated to do this because im already passionate about the subject so idk if i could do it otherwise #anyway. this took me all day yesterday because the power kept going out #but im finally done #bye

[hekatekun]

do u mind saying why u dislike the original denkimystery? im interested in your ver too!

hmm well tldr: im just a hater

On a more serious note, I don’t really like paranormal activity. I think it’s a boring genre typically executed for shock value, only there to let things happen to characters, and I find if the plot seems to prioritize spooky shit over these new character dynamics, I’m gonna get bored pretty quickly. I like denki conceptually, though I’m not familiar with twin peaks or inugami - which from what I gather are the 2 biggest inspos, but I find its narrative insanely uninteresting. I’d still wanna see what happens ofc but denki to me is like “What if [character] saw a ghost and got scared?” and that‘s it. Also really dislike the “and they were 6 brothers separated at birth” schtick like I could just watch lindsay lohan play her own twin for that shit. But, again, denki isn’t bad I’m just very nitpicky.

If I were to draw blood from this stone, I would remove all supernatural elements and only make Ichimatsu and Todomatsu related (too lazy to look up their au names). The mystery creates a found family by accident, and given how they all seem to give Ichimatsu the most leeway in the show, it wouldn’t surprise me if they still found him oddly charming enough to wanna help. Also they’re just extremely bored villagers who wanna be nosy, let’s face it. Turn it into a House of Leaves by mzd situation (couldn’t recommend more but it’s not for the lighthearted whatsoever), where the real ghost haunting this house were the protagonists and the traumas they’ve stored in themselves across a lifetime of misfortune. Any supernatural elements are fictional, acting as distractions to their real world problems of midlife crises and failing relationships. Chasing ghosts under bedsheets to run from ghosts in their hearts, you know the drill.

Ichimatsu’s father disappears under mysterious circumstances in a deeply spiritual traditional village (presumably to do work as a historian), of course if the cops can’t figure it out, it must be a ghost! That’s what incredibly superstitious Ichimatsu would think, and what better way to avoid processing grief than to hunt some spirits? Better than a dude with a gun (or worse, leave it unsolved). As an only child with one parent, he’d follow in his footsteps, because he doesn’t really know what to do with himself besides what others might say (and the others do exactly as their fathers, too, no matter the au they depend on the will of another). Monkey see, monkey do - and cats too love joining in human activities to feel included. The mystery is ultimately a distraction.

If he were a historian in training in whatever metropolis, well, time to use this opportunity to sell everything here and move back to dad’s home village to investigate (hopefully his meager grad student funds can carry him through this gap year). “I’ve got nothing else better to do now that there’s nobody in this city I really care about.“ With the dad’s death, he’s contacted by his estranged brother who lived with their cafe-owner mom (they don’t all need a dayon dad sorry I hate that), who’s also passed away (a few years before the story), and Todomatsu decides to help Ichimatsu even though he thinks the ghost shit isn’t true whatsoever. But now they’re the only family they’ve got, and Todomatsu would take a weird brother over being alone again.

They both move into the dad’s old house (maintained all this time everytime he came back to do more field research) in Akatsuka and this becomes their base of operations (Todomatsu helps pay for shit by still running the cafe in the neighboring town). The others are quick to crash there on nights when they’re all dealing with the investigation (gossip. they are gossiping.), or just to drink and hangout. Jyushimatsu is presented as a bit of a villain, which I would wanna keep because it gives Ichimatsu someone with enough “spiritual cred” to investigate initially. But, well, turns out no this dude is just off his rocker, though maybe his kinda cultish family had silenced the professor? Let’s keep him around for now (aka another excuse to keep a friend and also this continues to go nowhere).

Denki to me can be about forging your own bonds and new families are made in the wake of loss. Denki can be about processing grief and that, yes, sometimes people really do die before their time, but life moves on even if it feels like it died with them.

#osomatsu san #ichimatsu #Anonymous #ask #le post #ig for me... not everything has to be fantastical. i would like a little reality #tho i do wanna see where denki goes no matter what #but i think they call that hate watching lol i dont pay much attention in actuality #tho i really would like to write this version it means a lot to me that 110 are v close in this au