#my main was actually created to moomin post and such

[wiiwarechronicles]

i think of moonims <3

WOOOOOO 12 YEAR OLD SCOTT WOULD BE so fuckin happy dude . Love the moomins they are like family to me

#<3 #maidsmop #my main was actually created to moomin post and such

[tobi-smp]

Please what’s the moomin reference I’m dying to know

Context: [Link 1, Link 2]

*breaths deeply in two year long hyperfixation* wELL

I've tried to write this post a Few times without going into a full essay about what moomin is, as that's Not necessary for answering the question. however, I am unfortunately me and this is the Writes Essays Blog. so I've simply decided I will be a nuisance instead.

but the plus side is that I've been thinking about writing about some of my other fandoms here for a while ! so, for a crash course on the franchise:

“moomin,” “the moomins,” or “moominvalley” is a franchise originally stemming from first novels and then comics written in the 1940s-50s by the finnish author tove jansson, which has since ballooned with Many adaptations and other such goodies (like themeparks and games). 

it’s most popular adaptation is hands down the 90s anime adaptation ! which took tove’s charming designs and calming atmosphere and kicked it up to 11 with a long-form slice of life series

but all versions have their own particular flair and tone, even two versions created by tove herself are Very different. with the comics having a focus in on the absurd and comedic and the novels, while certainly Having those elements, also focus in on more serious themes and melancholy!

(here's a brief rundown for the differences in the adaptations for anyone interested ! [Link])

of course, moomin was a relatively unknown entity in the us because it never officially released here, but there was a brief boom here on tumblr in 2019 thanks to the release of a new adaption (called moominvalley)!

it was a perfect storm for a couple reasons:

1: while it can be a bit difficult to track down the series in the us, the Characters are all extremely accessible. with their designs alone you can pick up on who and what the main cast are both Quickly and Scarily Accurately, with the fandom largely rising Before most people had found access to the content itself flkjfdaskjkjl

they're Incredibly Simple characters that still lend themselves well to complexity. they aren't blank slates in the slightest, but they're easy to Bend and reimagine and flesh out. which is really appealing to fandom spaces!

2: having multiple different fleshed out iterations to choose from meant that if you looked you could most likely find something that suited your taste! (it'd be an incredibly accessible franchise if they'd actually make their content Accessible world wide)

3: this is Especially relevant in how the franchise can act as both escapism and catharsis. the 90s anime especially is a comfortable cottage-core fantasy to sink yourself into and forget the woes of real world (something that was about to become Very relevant in 2019), but the novels were specifically written for an audience that was actively living through war.

and while tove never wanted to make the franchise Dark or Gritty, she wanted to create a series that could help children process and come to terms with some of the feelings they Would realistically be experiencing. one of the very first novels is "Comet in Moominland," where a great comet is coming down to crash into the earth. it still engages with comedy and with the absurd, and of course nobody Dies, but it was very intentionally trying to create an accessible outlet to understand Tragedy and Fear. among lots of other things ! and this is, of course, tempered with the warm comforts of friends and family and community.

I think there's a lot to be gained by sifting through this franchise Now honestly. something that can both Distract from the bleakness and help process it, with a certain gentleness either way.

4: tove jansson was an Incredibly queer woman, and this absolutely bleeds into her work and the adaptations that followed!

while inspiration isn't an Exact one-to-one, tove Has spoken about her inspirations for her characters before. moomin (the character) draws a great deal from herself while snufkin, moomin's "best friend" and a funny little beastie, draws from her lovers both in personality and in relationship to moomin!

a big inspiration for snufkin was a man who had nearly been her husband, a vagabond and a socialist for that matter. the official moomin site (which is cannot stress enough, is representative of the franchise itself and heavily curated) describes That as follows [Link]:

In many ways the relationship of Moomintroll (Tove’s alter-ego) and Snufkin describes the relationship between Tove and Atos. Moomintroll admires Snufkin who still is quite distant and very often Moomintroll is also experiencing a deep sense of longing and yearning when Snufkin is leaving to his adventures or choosing to be at peace with his own thoughts. Moomintroll tries to understand Snufkin’s desire for freedom, even though the waiting is not easy.

Just like Tove admired Atos and just like Tove waited for Atos, his love confessions and commitment. [End transcription]

but it was Also based, in part, on the woman who was her wife in all but legality. [Link 1, Link 2] Having met some time 1956 and having stayed life long partners until tove's death in 2001.

they'd built a home together on an island where they'd go to stay every summer, enjoying their own travels and adventures along the way !

come winter, moomin would pine for snufkin as he made his yearly travel down south, but the spring and summer months would always bring snufkin's return! and all the love and warmth that came with him uwu

How exactly that bleeds through in the franchise itself is well. Extensive. picking literally any iteration and trying to lay out, in full, the queer themes present would be an essay longer than this one. so instead have a small selection to illustration the point:

[Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4, Link 5, Link 6]

now, naturally, this was (and is) queercoding rather than explicit representation, but this was a queer woman pushing the boundaries of what was allowed to Be in children's media starting in the 1940s and onwards.

there's something About a woman who lived a full and happy life with the woman she loved, pouring that love into her life's work to create a foundation of care and acceptance for the generation that'd come after her, only to see a resurgence of queer teens See her and say what she wasn't allowed to out loud.

which brings us to !

5: the general blanket of pure acceptance radiating from the series.

that's not necessarily anything New for a children's franchise, but in combination with everything else it creates an environment for an absolute comfort series. this fragment of an article about the series has far and away wormed it's way into my mind in some irreversible way (and that's quite a good thing) [Link]:

In most fiction, family is what you escape from if you want to fulfill yourself. For Jansson, family is a place of tolerance, where we can fail and become ourselves. Her experience of growing up gay is there in Snufkin – who is all the more loved for being different. Like the prodigal son, everyone is so thrilled to see him, no one ever asks him where he has been. It’s there too, in Too-Ticky, Jansson’s portrait of her partner. And above all it’s there in the wonderful story where Moomintroll is transformed into the bug-eyed King of California, and his mother recognises him straight away. [End transcription]

the quickest and most accurate description for this series, this franchise as a whole, that I could give is Warmth.

that's not to say that it's All roses. tove herself was an icon, but moomin company is a Company in charge of a franchise in the same ball park as disney properties. but considering there's no way to legally support moomin in the states I'd say the morality of engaging with it on that basis isn't exactly the most pressing of issues.

now with all of That out of my system: the actual information relevant to the comparison.

one of the stories in moomin (the novels, the 90s anime, and the 2019 adaptation, though I'm most familiar with the latter) is "The Invisible Child." [Link]

it's the story of ninny, an invisible child that moomin and co find and bring into their home to try to figure out Why she's invisible and how to fix it.

as we come to find out, ninny went invisible and lost her voice (even the ink on paper she tried to write on going invisible) because she'd been made to Feel invisible through the neglect of her aunt.

the moomins help ninny find her confidence again, with small aspects coming back to her as they make progress and regressing as they make missteps. but the ultimate point is that she needs to feel Seen and Heard.

that feeling of not having a voice, of not having a Presence, taking on the form of a Physical curse of invisibility.

it's a concept that meshes Extremely well with tommy's situation, even Without the headcanon.

#moomin #long post #did I write an entire essay when I could have summed it up in 5 minutes? #Yes Yes I Did #I'm not sorry and I will do it again ❤️ #moomin fans feel free to add onto this

[breadsongs]

thirty questions that aren’t actually exactly questions

i was tagged by @localheretic

Rules: answer 30 questions and tag some blogs you want to know better

Name/nickname: alyson

Gender: cis girl

Star sign: sagittarius

Height: 5′5

Time: 1:17 pm

Birthday: december 19

Nationality: american

When did I create this blog: so i’m posting this on my Personal Blog which i created in mid-2020 but my main blog has been alive since 2012

What do I post: pretty pictures and things that make me smile !!

Other blogs: uhhh my main blog (steamwand), humor blog (ihatejohnnybravo), film blog (suspiriorem)

Do I get asks: never which i love bc it eases the pressure

Why I chose my url: 1) steamed milk 2) i hate johnny bravo 3) i love suspiria (1977) and suspiria (2018) and 4) i love nick drake

Following: i can’t remember

Followers: 700ish

Last thing googled: "denim jacket honda” bc i have a denim jacket with a honda motorcycle on the back that i bought secondhand and i want to know when and where it was made!

Average hours of sleep: i try to get 8 but i take multiple naps a day

Lucky number: 19 but my sister says my angel number is 3

Instruments: piano!

What am I wearing: grid print black pants and a tan sweater and docs (i am at work)

Dream job: gender studies professor OR used book store owner

Dream trip: i would love to go to south korea and also all of south america

Favorite bands: hyukoh, the mountain goats, 100 gecs, beach house, fleetwood mac

Favorite solo artists: mitski, phoebe bridgers, perfume genius, nick drake, sufjan stevens, angel olsen

Favorite song: the rainbow connection - kermit the frog lol

Song stuck in my head: this morning it was sympathy 4 the grinch - 100 gecs and now it’s driver’s license - olivia rodrigo

Last film: the girl with the dragon tattoo (2011)

Last series: currently watching haikyuu!!, just finished the cw’s nancy drew hahahah

Last book read: last finished = such a fun age - kiley read, currently reading = the invisible life of addie larue - v.e. schwab

Top three fictional universes I’d like to live in: winnie the pooh, moomin, the entire ghibli cinematic universe NEXT

#KATE I MISS U I MISS U I MISS U

[tinkerd]

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ASTERIX’ BY DAVID LITCHFIELD

(This post was originally written for the website nerdybookclub.com on April 3rd 2019)  

One Saturday afternoon, many, many years ago, my nan bought home a book called ‘The Complete Guide To Asterix’. She picked the book up from Kempston Library thinking it was another narrative adventure in the series of books she knew I loved so much.  The book was in fact a detailed text book  written by Peter Kessler which offers a thorough behind the scenes breakdown of every Asterix book that had been created up to that point. There was also a number of features in the book that looked at the creators of these great characters- the writer René Goscinny and the illustrator Albert Uderzo.

The Asterix books were a big deal for me growing up.  They are essentially comedy books but there is something very emotive about them. Asterix and his fellow villagers have so much heart and soul and the companionship between Asterix and his best friend Obelix was a beautiful thing. This may sound odd but carrying an Asterix book around with me at school gave me a sort of weird confidence that is hard to explain.

The exquisite artwork made it very easy for me to escape into this different time and place and visit ancient Gaul.

Growing up in a small town in Bedfordshire, England, there was something magical about reading books that were written and drawn in a different country that- at the time- seemed so far away. This was in the late 80s/early 90’s, before the internet. In a funny way reading Asterix made me feel more connected to the world. I consumed as many of the stories as I could. The artwork was always what drew me in. I still find the Asterix books a real source of inspiration in terms of Uderzo’s drawing style

In fact, I think it is fair to say that  I learnt to draw by copying the illustrations in the Asterix books and spent hours trying to capture Uderzo’s distinctive style. I love how beautifully ‘French’ a lot of the gestures and mannerisms his characters have.

When my nan bought home ‘The Complete Guide To Asterix’ that Saturday I remember being initially disappointed that it wasn’t a new adventure to get lost in.  However, I soon forgot this disappointment and read the whole book that afternoon. I reveled in the background information it offered on how these fantastic, beautifully exotic and hilariously funny comic books were bought to life.

The reason that the moment my Nan bought this book home is so important to me is that I am pretty sure that this is the precise moment that I realized that an ‘Illustrator’ was an actual job that people did.

The book told me that the illustrator and co-creator of Asterix: Albert Uderzo got paid to draw everyday and create characters and worlds and come up with adventures.  I found out that  Uderzo didn’t have to go to school, or go to work- (or at least the type of ‘work’ that I was getting accustomed to through my parents moaning about their own jobs) – Uderzo went to an art studio everyday. In this studio he was surrounded by pens, paint, paper and inspirational books and colorful posters. And he got to create new things every day.

There were photographs of Uderzo in the book. One was of him in his studio at his drawing desk staring up at us smiling. Another was of him working, totally focused on the page he was drawing and the new adventure he was creating.  These photos were captivating.  Uderzo was an actual illustrator. And he did get to do this every single day.

The thought that it was someone’s job to come up with these characters and spend their days drawing them was hugely exciting. When I realised that I could possibly do something similar and that could be my job …well, that thought blew my mind.

The life of Albert Uderzo sounded like a really happy and wonderful life to lead.

We didn’t have a great deal of money when I was growing up and we didn’t have computer games or satellite TV anything like that. But a library card was a very important object indeed and the library was a very important place. One of the most important places in the world in fact. It was there after-all that, aged 5, I found my first Asterix book. ‘Asterix & Cleopatra’.

Every weekend my brother, sister and I along with my mum or my nan would head to Kempston library and I would grab me some more Asterix.

Another thing we did seem to have a lot of back then was paper. My mum was able to get hold of lots of blank paper from her workplace. And I just drew all of the time.

With that paper I made my very own Asterix books. There was ‘Asterix & The Giant’ ‘Asterix In Space’ ‘Asterix Back From the Future’ All these self-made books were around 4 pages in length and written and drawn by me, inspired by the creations of Goscinny and (especially) Uderzo.  This soon developed into me coming up with my own characters and brand-new stories not associated with Asterix. I started to make comics for my brother and sister and my friends. I remember, when I was around 7 or 8, that we had a comic club where me and a few other kids would create comics together in my friends shed. It was a really great time and further sparked the creative fire inside me. There was- and still is- a magic to creating an image or a whole story from nothing. Something that didn’t exist before and now it does. Although, I have no idea where most of these comics are now. There are probably some remnants of them in various attics, garden sheds and birds’ nests around the Bedfordshire area.

When I did grow up and I really committed to becoming a full-time illustrator I thought about what area I wanted to focus on. I kept thinking back to the joy I felt getting lost in the artwork of, not just Asterix, but ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ by Maurice Sendak and ‘The Moomins’ by Tove Jansen.  I thought about how much these books inspired me when I was young.

I thought about how great it would be to be given the opportunity to create my very own, real life picture books.

It is obviously a joy to be able to do what I do and I am incredibly lucky. Illustrating books for children is one of the greatest jobs in the world. But, this job does also comes with a lot of negative factors. The hours are long, the deadlines come around too quickly, being sensible with money is hard, there is no paid holiday leave or health insurance. Sometimes these things can make you feel overwhelmed and down into the dumps.

But when I do feel like that, I think back to those photographs of Uderzo looking happy and content, lost in a zen like state whilst drawing in his studio. I remember how those photos made me aspire to want to live that creative life and how his art made me feel.

I still can’t quite believe that I get to do that now. I draw giants, bears and aliens all day, every day in my very own art studio. Just like Uderzo. That is obviously incredible thing.

I have only been doing this full time for just over 4 years and I still feel very humbled by it all. I feel humbled when someone says that they enjoyed my book, when someone wants me to draw their book or when someone asks to buy some of my drawings.

One of the most humbling and rewarding aspects of this job however is talking to kids at signings or reading the letters they send me about how much they have enjoyed my book and that they read it every night. That is seriously one of the greatest feelings ever. It really does make me feel very honored. It’s such a privilege to have my books be- maybe just in a small, fleeting kind of way- a very small part of someone’s childhood.

I hope that I never lose that feeling of being humble. I hope that I feel humble forever.

Those Asterix books and Albert Uderzo’s illustrations meant so much to me when I was a child. The thought that maybe my own illustrations will maybe do the same and inspire a child today is one of the main reasons of why I do what I do.

David Litchfield is the creator of the award-winning The Bear and the Piano, as well as the illustrator of Miss Muffet, Or What Came After by Marilyn Singer and many other picture books. He lives with his family in Bedfordshire in the United Kingdom. Visit him online at davidlitchfieldillustration.com, on Twitter @dc_litchfield, and on Instagram @david_c_litchfield.

#Illustration #Asterix #Kidlitart #albert uderzo

[somethingmissingthiswaycomes]

What Am I Doing?

[Mobile version.]

WIPS

I’m our resident project director on Gravity Falls animatic fan series Beyond The Falls, where we hope to create a truly outrageous number of episodes involving the four main protagonists of the show (and Soos) with a growing number of side characters getting hopelessly lost in the multiverse. I also run the blog. Follow along for codes and puzzles because I’m just that extra.

On another fandom note, I started a Moomins/Moominvalley fic called In One’s Shoes in the beginning of May, a bodyswap AU based on this art by @snufminned. I’m currently working on an outline and completing the whole rest of it before posting, as I did with The Glass Gemstone. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, I have an original WIP whose story is… undecided. It’s more of a feeling and a lot of underdeveloped OCs. A brief piece inspired by the idea can be found HERE, a piece with two of the aforementioned OCs in another context can be found HERE, and a thorough explanation of the WIP can be found HERE.

I’m trying to learn how to draw. That’s about it. Not much progress there, but check out my Obsidian!

Behold a Doctor Who kinda-self-insert funtimes story I write sometimes. (I named the character Alex before deciding to change my name.) It’s actually extremely developed and complex but y'know whatever it’s just fun.

I run @theopenmindpalace off-and-on, hoping to spread the talented writing of folks who don’t get nearly enough attention. What I want to do is run it all the time, but my ability to focus on that and tagging everything properly is limited. =_=’ Especially with my overuse-damaged hands. A writer’s nightmare.

Completed Projects (not many, oof)

When Change Your Mind came out back in January, the artist @minimuii​ made some inspiring fanart that became my longest completed fanfic, The Glass Gemstone.

In conjunction with the fic above, I wrote a badly-recorded song on the ukulele! (If you want to read TGG, I wouldn’t recommend listening to it until you finish that.)

MPGs (My Personal Goals)

Hey, remember that first point up there about me directing a series? Yeah, I’m super into that. Super into being a leader and organizer, and also I like writing,,, as you can tell. I’d like to get into the film industry, and that requires some higher education degrees. Higher education degrees requires money, which I don’t have.

I’m also saving for a car. There’s a limited number of jobs I can get without reliable transportation.

To that end, and the end of cooleg, help me out by sending tips through Ko-Fi, commissioning me, and reblogging any posts I make on either the subject of money or my writing! Yes, my writing. The more folks follow me for my writing, the more folks will pay attention when I post it, the more will reblog, the more will follow, the more likely some be interested and have the income for helping me out financially. Help me start my life!

Oh yeah, and don’t forget my dream pride outfit. This baby’s gonna be mine.

#writing things #the glass gemstone #beyond the falls #in one's shoes #gravity falls #steven universe #moominvalley #writeblr #these tags are pointless because of the links #but I'm sure someone will search them on my blog someday

[oodlenoodleroodle]

Tagged by @eldritchwug​ on my main but I’ll do it here

Name: Inari (I will take this opportunity to once again point out that my name, as given to me by my parents at my birth, is Finnish, not Japanese. Yes there is a Japanese name that is exactly the same. Finnish and Japanese just happen to share a lot of sounds and syllable structures and it’s a total coincidence that both languages/countries have the name Inari. They are not related. I am firmly in the “white people should stop with the taking on of Japanese names on the internet, it’s kinda racist” -camp, but am also fed up with ignorant white people claiming that that’s what I’m doing with my Finnish name, like, just do a fucking google) Nickname: iippo (and whomsoever is sitting on the iippo tumblr url should either fucking use it or give it to someone [me] who will actually fucking use it >_> ) Gender: Queer Zodiac Sign: Scorpio Height: Inch shy of six feet, aka 178 cm Languages spoken: Finnish, English, Swedish, Dog Favourite fruits: Eh, I’m not really a fruit person, it stresses me out when I don’t eat them fast enough and then they go bad. Favourite scent: Amorito by The Body Shop (discontinued, so if anyone sees any in like eBay or something, I’m always interested in acquiring some) Favourite season: Autumn Favourite colour: So you know how someone can say their favourite color is green but there are like 30 million different shades of green? Well my favourite color is the one that these are all shades of: off-white, cream, tan, beige, light wood, dry sand, old paper, coffee with milk in it, the average color of the universe, etc etc. Favourite animal: Dog Coffee, Tea or Hot Chocolate: Eh, I don’t drink coffee or tea (because Mormon) but I’m not that into hot chocolate either. I do drink some of those caffeine-free teas like rooibos and peppermint tea and stuff like that, and at one point also enjoyed that coffee substitute stuff that’s made of like chickory and stuff, you know.  Average hours of sleep: 9. Favourite fictional characters: Garnet from Steven Universe, Jadzia Dax from Deep Space 9, Snuffkin from Moomins.  Number of blankets you sleep with: o.O One.  Blog Created: I genuinely don’t know or recall.

What I post: Social justice, pokemon, Steven Universe, memes?  Favourite songs: Uhhhh, have a playlist. Favourite artists: Of dead ones: Marcel Duchamp, Fra Angelico, Sandro Botticelli. Of living ones: J.A. Juvani, me (I make work that I like; if someone else made it I’d like them the most) Favourite books:  Harpo Speaks! by Harpo Marx. The Ongoing Moment by Geoff Dyer. Last movie I watched: Bleh, if I was filling this out next week I would have a much cooler answer but now it’s Jesus Christ Superstar, and in the cinema that new one Mary Magdalene. (We do a thing where we watch two movies that are somehow related to each other, and last weekend was easter so we did Jesus movies, but this weekend we’re gonna have a Taika Waititi movie weekend). Last thing I Googled: What Botticelli’s first name was >_> Do I get asks: Very rarely, they give me anxiety. Following: 347 Followers: 619 on main, 549 on this one. Lucky number: 558 Instruments: None, I sort of have a guitar but I haven’t touched it in yonks. Dream job: Ehhhh. I mean. Something something art, y’know to use my education in that area but I’m atm kind of bummed out by job seeking and hate everything. Dream trip: I think rn going to Lappland on a train would be cool, or do the ferry to Stockholm -thing. It sounds boring but I’m in a place/mood rn where the idea of planes does not appeal to me, and I’d like to showmy spouse some of the places near-ish here. Do I have a crush: Yes! On @geoffreyedwards​ :D :D :D (to the folks just tuning in, I’m married to them) Hair colour: Eh, like that nondescript highway blonde that Finnish people have

Tagging: Do this thing friends! :D

[unidentified-flying-sparrow]

Free Comic Book Review - Colorful Monsters, 2017

The app has eaten this post multiple times so...I’m just gonna try to type this up really quickly before rushing off to get with my friends and road trip to Anime Central.

Anyway, I have a crapton of free comics gathered from Free Comic Book Day 2018 (and previous years). Again, this was the haul for this year:

I figured that maybe if I write up my reactions to these freebies as I go through them, I may actually, y’know, finish them. Or something.

So, my first comic I started with is actually a 4-in-1 sampler. The cover pages are glossy, but the inside feels like newspaper, which surprised me a little. The front makes it appear that all the comics are aimed at a younger set. 

Based on the back ad, it seems this was actually a leftover freebie that one of my local comic shops just put back out to get rid of stock. Not that I’m complaining - it just means I may actually have two copies of this lying around.  

First up in the sampler was the Moomin comic, which didn’t grab me. The art was fine, but the pacing was off and the writing clunky. Moomin isn’t the most “with it” protagonist, either -maybe that’s meant to be comedic, but it just frustrated me. And the way it was printed - well, I’m too old to lie on my belly reading comics now, and I was trying to read it in an armchair instead of a table or something.

The second sample was the “If Found” one and I actually enjoyed it. Sure, it’s simple prose and a lot of doodles. But the message is important: be creative. Make mistakes. Imagine things. What kid wouldn’t want to hear that? For that matter, what adult? It’s nice to be reminded that as long as we are having fun creating, that’s the main thing.

The third sampler threw me a little. The art vaguely reminded me of Richard Scarry and so I assumed that it was maybe for, like, 6 year olds? And it mostly seemed that way, except a few lines here and there that seemed like they would fit better in a comic aimed at least at early teens. And maybe they are the target audience - I haven’t done any outside research on any of these.

Last but not least, the comic that was most up my alley - after all, I’m a manga and anime fan. The art wasn’t a style I prefer, but it works well enough. And the backstory of the hero is weird, but not the weirdest I’ve heard. It was entertaining enough - I could see myself sitting down and reading more, if it was available. I just don’t know if I would actively seek it out.

Actually, I don’t know if I would actively seek any of these out, even though I liked two of them. But I liked getting to sample them, and I may pass the sample along to some young nerds I think are actually in the target range.

#free comic review #comic review #free comic book day #comics