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letsatomicbanana · 6 months

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Ink!Sans Cultural Character Coding

art by @/sakuramochi64 on twitter

Disclaimer!

This post is meant to present and analyse obvious and obscure East Asian (Jpn-Chi) ethnic and cultural influences on Ink!Sans character. If any of the material in this essay is incorrect and/or considered morally offensive, please contact me!

Ink!Sans by @comyet

↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

/Despite the fact that Ink is a non-human monster skeleton character, he is often portrayed with human-like traits and characteristics that range between a bunch of topics. One of them that's portrayed as very predominat to his character is his etchnic cultural background/inspiration. Again, this post is meant to analyse and to discuss such inspirations and how it affects his character./

INSPIRATIONS

According to Ink's creator, Comyet, the concept of Ink!Sans was conceived by a Japanese and Chinese ink calligraphy brush. These are known as Fude brushes (筆) and Xuan brushes (宣笔 Xuān bǐ) respectively. This ultimately inspired his ink abilities and powers, just like his concept of being an 'artist' (In simple words, it inspired Ink as a whole).

'The history of ink brushes and the ink material is a long and complicated journey to cover, but it's important to know that these were invented in ancient China around 300 B.C (traditional Chinese: 毛筆; simplified Chinese: 毛笔; pinyin: máo bǐ) and are used in a vast variety of East and Southeast Asian countries, like Korea; Vietnam and Japan.

example of the brush Ink!Sans was inspired by.

At glance, ink (the material) is an enduring medium that still surrounds society till this day and it's used in multiple cultures across the world.

Writing with ink calligraphy brushes are common in the Europe and the Middle East as well, but the material was crafted of iron salt and oak galls. When written, ink is often a dark color but fades to brown tones of rust'. Such phenomenon was detectable in the Middle Eastern Bible manuscripts and even ancient European literature as an example.

Ink!Sans was based of the ink material created in East Asia, most commonly made with carbon-base black substance, which preserverd the dark coloration even after hundred of years.

↑ Example of an ancient Japanese painting, such arts are called 'Sumi-e' (Japanese, 墨絵) or ' Shuimohua' (traditional Chinese,水墨畫).

Unlike iron gall ink, carbon based inks are still very common to this day.

'Throughout the long history of East Asia, writing with ink was a very important ability to have. The Materials were made with precision, long traditions of training in calligraphic skills were developed, and writing and literacy were often wrapped up in questions of social status and class.

Although the development of major Chinese calligraphic scripts was completed by the fourth century, the art of calligraphy continued to evolve over the millennia. Master calligraphers with years of training and dedicated practice were recognized for their personal styles, and later generations of artists often adapted brushstrokes and designs to their own style. This stylistic evolution of scripts continues to enliven Chinese calligraphy to the present day.

Calligraphy was an important mark of personal learning and aesthetic sensibility in Japan. Portable, lacquered wood boxes were designed to hold an inkstone and water dropper in the base, with trays to hold writing brushes and solid ink sticks. Inkstone boxes (硯箱,suzuribako 'ink stone box' ) could be easily carried to a pleasant location, even outdoors in fine weather, to write correspondence, diary entries, or poetry.'

Fun fact: Ink's font 'Note This' is inspired by such ancient writing.

Example of Ink's canon speaking font and Japanese calligraphy (書道, calligraphy)

'However, when it comes to the subject of painting with the material, different schools of painting existed in China, the scholar-painters of Song-dynasty China generally preferred ink-based paintings over the more colorful, pigment-filled paintings produced historically and at the painting academy. Chinese painting manuals and commentaries from the Song (Sung) and Yuan dynasties (rarely mention pigments, possibly because it was assumed a painter’s skill shouldn’t depend on the use of colors.

Japanese artists are known for using media appropriate for the subject matter. Images depicting traditional Japanese narrative tales were typically rendered in opaque colors with outlines created in ink and later obscured by color overlay. Ink monochrome was closely associated with Chinese styles, particularly those transported to Japan via Zen Buddhism. Ink-based forms created with modulated strokes and layered washes suggested introspection and spiritual exploration.'

Ancient Japanese paintings that uses dull colors and ink outlines.

Exhaustive examples of ancient Ink paintings. Dragons and Clouds 雲龍図屏風（左隻）and Seitei kachō gafu 省亭花鳥画譜

DESIGN

Also clarified in an ask on her main blog, Comyet describes that traditional Japanese clothing inspired Ink's 2020 outift redesing, such inspirations are very obvious in first and second analysis.

Ink!sans reference sheets for the 2020 design, which can be found in Ink's official F.A.Q

Starting off, the pants.

Ink's pants were inspired by Hakama pants (袴), a traditional Japanese garment designed as a skirt-like pants often worn over any type of kimono. His pants seems to be inspired by umanori (馬乗り)Hakamas, whose had a division in the middle and often used in horse-riding activities.

Example of a Hakama.

The Hakama is a wide pleated pants (seven pleats, five in front and two behind), with a rigid backrest (腰板,koshi ita) placed at the level of the lumbar region. It is tightened with four straps, on the left and on the right, as well in front as behind.

Historically, the origins of the Hakama dates back to the Sui and Tan dynasty were this garment was worn by the Chinese imperial court. Later, the Hakama exported itself to Japan during the Kamakura period (1185 to 1332) and became a traditional garment for the upper classes of Japanese society as well as for samurai warriors who wore it over a kimono (Hakama-shita).

During the history of Japan, the Hakama took on different styles and was mainly made for men, although in the beginning it was a unisex garment. During the Asuka and Nara era (6th to 8th century), the Hakama came in two versions. The first one was open on the front and was tied on each side of the waist with two straps. The second one was open on the left side and closed on one side only.

During the Edo period, the Hakama was worn by the nobles as a complement to the outfits of the time such as the noshi and the kariginu (狩衣; a sleeveless jacket with very pronounced shoulders). Very functional, these pants were also adopted by samurai warriors who usually wore them as Kamishimo (上下/裃). It is a combination of kimono, Hakama and kataginu. When the warrior visited the shōgun, he wore a Hakama called naga-bakama which greatly restricted his movements.

Edit:Currently, hakamas are both worn by men and women.

However, under the scarft, Ink also seems to use a jacket that features a collar that has striking similarities to a Mandarin collar (or Mao collar)

Ink!sans reference sheets for the 2020 design, which can be found in Ink's official F.A.Q

Mandarin collars originated in ancient China and were worn by Qing-era bureaucrats.

Picture of a Chinese man in a traditional Mandarin collar (early 1900's)

These are short, stand-up collars and sometimes fasten in the center with a small hook. Such collars are still used today for both fashionable and practical reasons. One example of modern usaged of the clothing is seen in the U.S Amry combat uniform, that features a stand-up collar of Chinese origin.

Picture of the U.S Army combat clothing

Regarding of color palette, Ink!Sans redesign uses soft but dull colors and a sinple silhouette and fabric for the outift, such design choises are similar to male kimono's dressing codes which uses dull colors (like dark blue, grey, green and occasionaly brown). Male kimonos are always more simple in design compared to female kimonos.

Photo that shows the difference of kimonos used by men and women

Although not specified, Ink seems to wear brown thigh-high socks, also known as 'tights' under the outfit. Japan has a long-standing cultural tradition of wearing such piece of clothing, this trend is particularly popular among young people and is often associated with the "gyaru" subculture, which emphasizes fashion, beauty, and individuality. Additionally, thigh-high socks are often worn with school uniforms, and are considered a symbol of youth and innocence. Additionally, it is also considered fashionable and trendy in Japan, and you can see many young people wearing them.

In regards of physical appearance, Ink also seems to follow ancient Japanese and Chinese beauty standarts, specially one's targeted towards women.

In ancient japan, specially towards the Nara (奈良時代, Nara jidai), Heian (平安時代, Heian jidai) and Edo period (江戸時代, Edo jidai) the beauty standarts for Japanese women were of those with slim eyebrowns, flat oval face shape and narrowed eyes.

Such attributes can be observed on Ink!Sans apperance.

Visual representation of old Japanese beauty standarts

/Keep in mind that some of such standarts presented are now out of fashion due to the westernization of asian countries. Specially regarding eye shape/

MUSICAL THEMES

Ink!Sans has a long history of being associated with East Asian music, specially those of Japanese origin.

Themes that comyet associated with him includes, 'Code Wu- Asia River Album 江水/Asia River' ( post can be found here), 'Dullahan under the willows' and 'Futatsuiwa from Sado (二ツ岩で佐渡) both from the japanese game 'Touhou'. (post can also be found here.

He's also associated with East Asian musical instruments, something quite noticeable in Ink!Sans theme for the the web-series 'Underverse'. Such theme is called 'Brushwork'.

The theme starts with an instrument similar to a Shamisen (Japanese-三味線) and a Guzhen (Chinese-古筝) and also uses a traditional flute.

Photo of a Guzhen and a Shamisen, respectively

TRIVIA

On Underverse's opening for season 2, Ink!Sans can be seem between a field of Sakura trees or Cherry Blossoms (桜).

Cherry blossom trees are an icon of Japan. Some people even call the cherry blossom Japan’s informal national flower. The Japanese school year starts in April, during cherry blossom season. The flowers symbolize good luck, love, and springtime. Since they bloom for such a short time, cherry blossom trees also represent human mortality. They remind us how short and precious life is.

In the same series, Ink is also drawn in a Sumi-e inspired style for the 'Soulless Heart Instrumental' video. Such artwork features Japanese writing in black ink.

Ink's canon instrument is the flute. Although invented in ancient germany, the flute is highly associated with East Asian cultures and it's music, chinese and japanese culture are the main ones . Other than that, Comyet already made a connection to Ink's asian influence and the instrument itself.

According to research made by the University Microfilms International (UMI) affirms that the moderny performance and melody of the instruments has clear East Asian roots, mainly from Chinese and Japanese style of music.

'The flute is a particularly appropriate instrument for such a study because of its versatility of pitch and timbre, the latter being one of the most important elements in Eastern music; it is capable of 'pitch-bending' and infinite changes in tone quality which are impossible to achieve on instruments of set pitch.

The flute music selected for stud/ shows varying degrees of Eastern influence. Depending on the nature of the composition, the Eastern elements may be extremely subtle and difficult for the untrained to decipher; in other instances the composer makes clear those sounds or concepts with Eastern roots, either through accompanying explanation or within the context of the music.'

Sources

1.National Museum of asian art (materials & techniques. Ink section)

2. Asian Brushpaper (an-overview-of-chinese-ink-history)

3. Wikipedia (wiki Hakama-pants)

4. Aikido Journal (Hakama-101)

5. Wikipedia (Mandarin-collar)

6. Kirrin finch (What-is-a-mandarin-collar)

7. University Microfilms International (UMI) (east-asian-presence-in-modern-flute-music)

#ink sans #inktale #undertaleau #utmv au #ink!sans #utmv #inksans #undertale #east asian #au sans #sans au #cultural inspiration

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halcyonwrld · 1 month

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— EVERLASTING PROMISE

PAIRING. Kim Dahyun x Fem!Reader

After a persistent princess tracks you down through meetings with a few of the local village’s herbalists, she has the gall to request your presence, in search of some of your more… magical pursuits. You set up a place and time just so she’ll leave you be, but find yourself waiting for her there out of pure curiosity. (1K)

TAGS. royal!au, fantasy!au, forced marriage, bittersweet angst, witch!reader who's just fed up with everything

“You clean up nicer than I expected.”

With that, you set down your mug with a sour grimace, the fresh brew on your tongue going stale as your mood.

Muffled thunder rages overhead, nearly drowned out by a bout of laughter around you. You open your eyes. Take in the sight of dripping lashes, a neat collar around the throat, and squared shoulders— all fine until you notice a flash of silver rings as pale hands rise to adjust the neckline of a shoddy cloak.

“And you hardly know a thing about subtlety,” you snap in retort.

She was practically asking to get caught.

Dahyun gawps, stammering on her words, “Hey- if you must know, subtlety is practically my middle name! It just.. slipped my mind that it was meant to rain tonight, is all…” Her explanation goes flat under your unamused glare, her last sentence coming to a quiet, embarrassed drawl. You imagine her with feathers, all of them fluffing up as she tries to recover, leaning towards you to hiss, “I might’ve fared better if I didn’t have to abandon my horse to travel on foot. This terror hole is nearly impossible to find, it could’ve taken—”

You hold up your hand, stopping the princess dead in her tracks.

“Spare me the even bigger headache and make this quick, please.” You stifle a wince as the chatter in the tavern swells once more, rubbing at your temples. “There are things I have to tend to.”

“Fine. I need a love potion.”

You scowl. “No.”

“I knew you would-” her face drops, “wait, w- what do you mean no?”

You pick up your mug again to drown your laughter in ale. “It means it’s not happening, princess.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Or what? You’ll tell on me?”

Dahyun reaches her hand into her jacket, fear visibly seizing her into motionlessness as a subtle blue aura begins to dance around your fingertips. Your voice lowers considerably. “This isn’t your pretty little castle, sweetheart, no one’ll be answering your cries of distress if you try anything stupid.”

Under the faint haze of torchlight, Dahyun swallows.

Still, she pulls the object out of her coat pocket.

It’s just a scroll.

You ignore her trembling hands as she flattens the page onto the rickety oak in front of you. It's a lengthy thing. Written neatly in inks darker than nights like these. Your eyes skim back and forth.

These… these are papers for her marriage. If she wants them, this means—

Your heart plummets.

The silence on your end must make her anxious, her body practically vibrates as she blurts out, “I know- I know they’re illegal. But I need this.”

You swallow. “For you, or him?”

“Myself.”

You don’t know if that makes it better or worse.

“...Why would you marry someone you don’t love?” you ask, keeping your voice carefully measured. Not overconcerned, but not too careless either.

“If it’ll aid in my favor, I’ll have you know this wasn’t my decision either.”

The way she breaks your stare betrays her casualty about it all, but that doesn’t stop her from shrugging. Her lips purse. Brows furrow.

Like a flash of lightning, the moment is over as quick as it happened. Those dark eyes are back on you again. Her stare resolute. “But… everyone has a part to play.”

Everyone has a part to play.

Where have you heard that from before?

Shaking your head, you stand swiftly, taking your lantern in hand. “I’m sorry, but I’m not risking everything just so that you can live out your happy ending.”

And you leave.

Princess or not, it was silly for her to come to you. Everyone knew love potions were forbidden. Folktales and parables told countless stories about them. How they quickly turned love into obsession. Turned the simplest of men into something cruel. Nearly unfeeling.

Part of you couldn’t deny her courage, you supposed, but another part of you abhorred her presumptuousness. Immediately assuming you’d say yes. Approaching you in the first place. Saying she had an offer you couldn’t refuse. Like hell you couldn’t.

You’re a few feet from the backdoor when you hear her call.

Ignoring her, you step into the rain, letting the door shut behind you. Serves her right for wasting your time on a night like this, where the moon is full and the opportunity for harvest yields higher than usual.

“Wait!”

You're pulled back by your wrist.

“Please, I’ll give you anything you long for! Access back into the town, jewels, herbs, a spot in the castle, however much money it takes-”

You yank your arm away, glaring at her from underneath your hood. “You don’t even know what you’re asking for.”

“I know I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in misery!”

“Don’t we all,” you snark.

“Look, I know that my parents exiled you. But you should know better than anyone that not everyone happens to align with the likes of them or their ideals!” she yells over the rain. “I- I seriously want to change the way things are. But I need it to be perfect, anything but and you can bet someone just as bad as them will be sitting up on that throne! And they might do worse than banish and imprison.”

You stare at her with wide eyes, so shocked you speak before your brain even has time to catch up, “They teach you that in princess school?”

Dahyun crosses her arms with a pout, muttering, “That’s not a thing.”

You turn to hide your smile, “If you say so.”

You only get a few paces away to reenter the woods when you realize you don’t hear any movement behind you. Turning around, you find Dahyun still standing there. Her posture reeks of defeat. Shoulders slumped. Lantern dangling to the ground. Head low. All of the rain like a vicious fog, only adding to her somber image.

“You coming or not, princess?” you call.

Dahyun looks up with wide eyes, as if not having heard you the first time. Unable to take a win, it seems. You roll your eyes, lifting your lantern and gesturing with your head as if to say come on. The way her face lights up is a magic of its very own.

You turn back forward.

“We still have a lot to discuss, privately,” you say once she reaches your side, making sure your tone leaves no room for discussion. Not out here. Even the woods have ears.

“You won’t regret this, I promise,” she breathes out.

That makes you clench your jaw. The last time a royal promised you something, it’d ended in disaster.

After all, you would know best, since you were the first Kim Dahyun ever promised to marry.

#twice x reader #twice imagine #kim dahyun x reader #kim dahyun imagine #gg x reader #blackpink #kpop x reader #idol x reader #halcyonfics

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leohtttbriar · 4 months

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"The scribes of the Middle Ages wrote predominantly in iron gall ink, the product of an elegant four-ingredient recipe. Certain wasps implant their eggs in the leaves and smaller branches of oak trees. This process produces in the tree a gall: a lump of tannin-rich material in which the larvae grow. When ground and boiled in water with a sprinkle of iron sulfate and some gum of arabic, the mixture of insect and vegetable chemicals in the gall with the mineral of the iron forms a pigment stable enough to carry around in a little flagon and acid enough to stain parchment for a few millennia. "It’s not hard to find the ingredients, as long as you know what to look for. To learn about oak gall, an aspiring European ink maker would consult a botanical guide called a herbal. Just as useful to a nun in her walled herb garden, a commercial pharmacist, and a parent in a medical emergency, the herbal was in high demand but, until the advent of the printing press, expensive to produce. Publishers in the earliest years of mechanical printing activated this latent market, and herbals became one of the first popular printed nonfiction genres. These pre-Linnaean textbooks established graphic design protocols that have shaped the way curious minds learn and process plant science ever since."

"Aloe, Basil, Cash Crop," Jo Livingstone

Perceptions of Medieval Manuscripts, Elaine Treharne

#the thing theory of Books #makes me feel all sorts #philosophy #lit crit #lit

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painted-kneecaps · 8 months

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How to Smell Like an Avatar of Fear

-A Comprehensive List-

From a hobbyist perfume collector and avid TMA listener

Did you know that smell, out of all the five senses, is the one most linked to memory and emotion? With my help, you too can invoke a sense of unease in the minds of friends, enemies and strangers everywhere !!

DISCLAIMER: I have not tried every, or even most, of the perfumes on this list. However, I have purchased and enjoyed perfumes from all of the houses listed.

-The Buried-

Name: Geosmin

House: Osmofolia

Scent profile: wet aldehydes, ozone, geosmin, fresh water, petrichor, soil

-The Corruption-

Name: Pile of green goo

House: Death and Floral

Scent profile: Partially rotting wood and oakmoss, white oudh, deep & enchanting crushed rose resins

-The Dark-

Name: The Raven

House: Alkemia

Scent profile: Ebony heartwood, black amber, black pepper, blackseed (habbatul barakah), black Bengal cardamon, black ink, nigella (black coriander), black iris, violet leaves, and leather.

-The Desolation-

Name: A City On Fire

House: Imaginary Authors

Scent profile: Cade oil, Spikenard, Cardamom, Clearwood, Dark Berries, Labdanum, Burnt Match

-The End-

Name: Bones melting together

House: Death and Floral

Scent profile: Dusty dry bone dust accord, coffin wood, bergamot

-The Extinction-

Name: Industrial Sabotage

House: Alkemia

Scent profile: A cataclysmic wreckage of burnt wires; twisted melted steel; shattered machinery, and gunpowder.

-The Eye-

Name: Book of Shadows

House: Alkemia

Scent profile: A biblichor of eldritch books - heavy parchment paper, ancient iron oak gall ink, crumbling leather bindings, and wafts of rare incenses.

-The Flesh-

Name: Writer’s Blood

House: Alkemia

Scent profile: iron-tinged blood, a manuscript soaked in spilled black coffee, and an overturned tin of rolling tobacco.

-The Hunt-

Name: The wolf only needs luck to find you once

House: Death and Floral

Scent profile: Crisp forest night air, lunar musk, large drifting oakwood trees, the musky scent of a trailing shadow.

-The Lonely-

Name: The people you love become ghosts inside of you

House: Death and Floral

Scent profile: Heavenly musk, lingering funeral flowers, cold scent of vanilla in an empty corridor, handprints on a foggy window

-The Slaughter-

Name: The Highwayman

House: Alkemia

Scent profile: Sweat stained black leather, night air, a dirt road under galloping hooves, tobacco, bloodstained lace, gunpowder

-The Spiral-

Name: Finally A Star

House: Osmofolia

Scent profile: The glitz of cardamom and sparkling grapefruit stars, outer space ozone, dreamy tuberose, searing gunpowder, and a ham hock for a head. Inspired by Jack Stauber's song The Ballad of Hamantha.

-The Stranger-

Name: Wax museums

House: Death and Floral

Scent profile: Sweet and warm liqueur, elegant suede, black currant, beeswax absolute, magnolia heart

-The Vast-

Name: With the fishes and the dead

House: Death and Floral

Scent profile: Black squid ink and mile long oceans. Black ambergris, black labdanum absolute, salty ocean water, and black pits of stretched out emptiness.

-The Web-

Name: Dustsceawung

House: Alkemia

Scent profile: The scent of forbidden explorations and an olfactory meditation on dust: attic air, the inside of old trunks, abandoned haylofts, library stacks, and abandoned buildings.

#indie perfume #the magnus archives #tma #the magnus protocol #the magnus archives is a podcast #please enjoy as i indulge in and combine my two incredibly niche interests #fragrance

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