#magpiemalarkey chatter

[magpiemalarkey]

Brief note to signal the end of my reblogging old art queue! We now return you to your regularly scheduled usual erratic posting!

#magpiemalarkey chatter

[magpiemalarkey]

Got a couple of questions from the Artist Ask Game I reblogged a bit ago from someone who asked to be anon-ized! (So, if you're shy, that is an option! I'll still know who you are, but the world doesn't have to.)

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by.

I feel like maybe I'm lucky that this hasn't happened in awhile or in ways that bothered me often, haha! But back in college I remember getting pretty salty about this happening once and so that stuck with me. During constructive criticism time, someone's sole comment on my work for one assignment was that it looked Tim Burton-y.

In that it had goth theme matter and some stripes and some lurid colors, sure, I guess? If Burton was your only other exposure to spooky themed art by nerdy goths. In an animation-related class in art school. I think Burton and I shared some inspirational overlaps in a fondness for German Expressionism and 1960's Hammer films, but stylistically, Burton's aesthetic tends to play with odd proportions and distorted forms far more than my work did (or does). If I had been drawing inspiration from Burton and had intended to do a Burton-esque piece, I would have tried to include those traits and not stuck with an approximation of my own style and a late 60s/early 70's palette.

Also, as constructive criticism, this was not helpful. It was clear from the tone that she was dismissive of my piece based on it's "Burton-esque" qualities, but she didn't come out and say anything useful. Did she hate Burton, but begrudgingly agree that Technicolor goth was working for my spooky scene? Did she think this perceived Burton-esque style was holding back my piece? Impossible to tell.

I managed to dig up the file, but given that this was for a class in Illustrator and Flash (neither of which I ever got comfortable or good at using, lmao) and I don't have either of those programs now, it got a little mangled when I asked Photoshop to open it. But I think we can all agree: not particularly Tim Burton-y!

(please don't ever ask me to use Illustrator or Flash again. I will cry. the only part I enjoyed about this project was picking music and sound effects...and jumpscaring my class at 9am in the morning.)

26. What’s a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended.

Hmm...again a benefit of being relatively obscure on the internet means that I rarely get people projecting wildly on my art. And also, if it matters how things are interpreted, I will usually include that in my comments or descriptions below a piece. I'm sure it's happened! But apparently I am less bothered by that than by uselessly-framed dubiously-constructive criticism comparing me to Tim Burton, so I recall nothing right now.

I'll pivot this to writing and tell you about the wildest feedback I ever got.

I took a short story writing class waaaaay back when I was in community college in my hometown. It was very much full of the community. Our big assignment was a short story which the class would read, write comments on, and discuss in class. I wrote a version of the fairy tale "The Fisherman and His Wife" about an aspiring artist with an ambitious wife. Rather than a fish, our protagonist meets a strange being in his dreams and helps this being out, because to the being, the dangers in dreams are real. In thanks, the being grants the artist inspiration and success in the real world. Like in the fairy tale this escalates and things get weirder and weirder in the dreamscape, until the mysterious being gets fed up and punishes the artist and his wife.

After class, one of my classmates, an older woman, approached me, convinced that I did "dreamwork" to have written of lucid dreaming and the weird symbolism of dreams so well. I tried my best to accept this as a compliment. But lady, where ever you are, I was and always have been just a weirdo who loves using dreams as an excuse to go wild with surreal almost-logic and weird descriptions and symbolic landscapes.

I think this was the first time in my life where I was really sharing work with strangers and having strangers come to conclusions about me based on my writing and so it felt and feels bigger than it is.

And while I'm not upset about this conclusion being drawn and can definitely understand that this lady was excited to discover I had written something that resonated so strongly with her passions that she assumed I shared them....it did feel kinda weird and put me in a weird position to have her approach me assuming I did dreamwork rather expressing that it reminded her of dreamwork and asking me if was into such things.

Heh, both of these questions kinda made me think of situations where people made an assumption about me and my work and acted on that, rather than leaving me any space to explain or discuss. Very....

Anyway! That was a lot of words! It turns out, I am very verbose! Feel free to scroll way back to the beginning to find that link to the Artist Ask Game to ask me more questions and see if I can stay on topic!

#magpiemalarkey chatter #artist ask game #ask game #ask response

[magpiemalarkey]

Hey! 2 things ,

1) I really love your “ Edith Escaping” art piece and wanted to ask if I may have permission to get it as a tattoo later this year ?

2) there’s a user on redbubble called dillionbetchelar who’s selling the aforementioned art as their own, not sure if it’s a second account or stealing your art , but I wanted to inform you!

1. I'm flattered you like it so much! Please do! I would love to see a picture when you get your tattoo, but no worries if that's not something you are comfortable with. Thank you so much for asking permission.

2. And extra big thanks for noticing that art theft and letting me know about! Huge help! (I know I can be kinda confusing having multiple names online (mostly paradoxhorizon and magpiemalarkey for art), but I generally try to keep the icon the same! And I would always rather people check in if they're not sure!)

#magpiemalarkey chatter #prpertyofnoone #magpie replies

[magpiemalarkey]

Interrupting my usual policy of letting my art blog be a primarily art-only zone for a current events post. 

It’s....a weird feel right now to be sharing a comic whose protagonist is essentially a member of magical law enforcement. But that weird feel is such a small thing compared to the hurt and damage the idea of “white privilege” has done to the lives of countless black folks and other poc. So, I want to make it clear that Black Lives Matter, and I think that policing has needed an overhaul for quite some time. 

Everything is so much right now and I’d rather prefer that this space be a space where you can take a step back from the world and catch your breath, so I won’t be further discussing current events here unless I feel I must. But I couldn’t, in good conscience, be completely silent about this even here. Please take care of each other and yourselves! 

#current events #magpiemalarkey chatter

[magpiemalarkey]

*nervous wave*

Hello, handful of new followers (and you folks who’ve been with me for ages for some reason)!

Welcome to the corner of the internet where I post my doodles and other nonsense. 

I am kinda erratic about fandoms, so if you’re here expecting a steady stream of Fandom Content, well... *shrug*  Regardless, you are welcome to join me on a journey of discovering what hapless disaster character I embrace next in between bouts of creating my own piles of human (or otherwise) disasters! 

#magpiemalarkey chatter #i mean not every character I like or create is a disaster #but a lot of them are #it's a very relatable trait

[magpiemalarkey]

Fieldwork has finished updating here. I hope you enjoyed it! If you wanna reread it, I’ll point you over to its other home on deviantart where it has a gallery to itself. 

I also have plans to do some minor cosmetic edits and fix typos (I know there’s one!) and make a nice pdf version for sale on gumroad, so stay tuned for news on that! 

And, of course, thank you so much for reading! 

#fieldwork-comic #magpiemalarkey chatter

[magpiemalarkey]

Got a question about how/where to make Inktober suggestions.

Basically, any method of communication is good. (Messages, Replies, Asks, etc) Labeling it as an Inktober suggestion may be helpful, but this month I will assume all random words thrown my way are suggestions anyway. Tumblr does like to eat our words, so if you feel like maybe Tumblr was hungry, I won’t be bothered if you try a couple of times.

My Askbox is here.

#magpiemalarkey chatter #askbox is open

[magpiemalarkey]

Inktober is coming up soon and I’ve decided I might take suggestions for stuff to draw and ink. (No guarantees I will draw any suggestions, because time and my own whims may not cooperate! But I would love to have a list of ideas to kickstart my brain.) 

I am open to suggestions for fandom stuff, general subject matter and (of course) suggestions that I draw my own characters. Heh. I won’t draw anything explicit (sex or violence). Simple is better for the purposes of Inktober and more difficult or challenging ideas will be sidelined in favor of doodles on days when I am short on time.

Not sure your suggestion fits my parameters? Suggest it anyway. The worst that’ll happen is I just won’t draw it.

#magpiemalarkey chatter #inktober #askbox is open and messages might be