artquilliam

[artquilliam]

Chillin’ on the Bridge

[artquilliam]

Omg I LOVE this lil guy!

Greater Arid Land Katydid (Neobarrettia spinosa), male, family Tettigoiidae, Central TX, USA

Omnivorous (feeding on leaves and predatory on invertebrates and small vertebrates).

They are actually a predator of low nesting songbirds!

Some individuals have red eyes, so another name for this species is the "Red-eyed Devil".

photographs by Alan Cantrell

[artquilliam]

Alas, I am cursed to always keep myself so so busy and involved. I have no choice.

[artquilliam]

Burning On the Inside

Marker

[artquilliam]

Hitting up the river. We're going to need to pull out the fishing gear (pig's waterproof gear).

[artquilliam]

What "Land Back" means:

In my tribe we believe medicine belongs to everyone and I want you to be well.

In my tribe we believe every hungry person is entitled to food and I want you to be fed.

In my tribe we believe trans and two spirit people are sacred and I want you to be safe.

In my tribe we believe that human beings are here to care for the land and keep it healthy and I want you to have clean water to drink.

In my tribe we believe in caring for and venerating elders and I want care for you as you grow old.

In my tribe we believe that children should be cared for by the community and I want your children to grow up loved and supported.

In my tribe we wear really cool earrings and you should totally buy some. Eeeeeeeee

Land Back isn't about revenge. It's an act of love.

[artquilliam]

🍄🌿🍄🌱🍄🌿🍄🌱🍄🌿🍄🌱🍄🌿🍄

You! Have been visited by the gnome of executive function! Reblog to send them along to make sure they visit the next person in need!

🍄🌿🍄🌱🍄🌿🍄🌱🍄🌿🍄🌱🍄🌿🍄

[artquilliam]

This is my entry for @creatingblackcharacters's Melanin Beam Challenge that coincides with her birthday. Happy Birthday! And thank you so much for your blog 🙏💕

I thought about which character I wanted to do for this challenge, and Steven (Universe) became the obvious choice. The show is my favorite of all time! I specifically chose to draw him in his Movie / Future series design. I love the pink Letterman jacket!

The aesthetic is leaning a bit too much into Arts and Crafts territory, but we trudge forward. I decided to cut the figures out and stick them to red construction paper because I wanted a red background, but the layering with watercolor would've taken too much time.

For the design, I created a mock-up digitally and then drew it traditionally. I tried to have his hair follow the six-segment pattern of his original hair, but in a more organic, afro-texture.

I'll be posting an addendum with progress shots for this piece soon!

[artquilliam]

For the Melanin Beam Challenge:

I cosplayed as a stoat character, Lila, from Burrows End, a Dimension 20 campaign.

Lila is one of the youngest stoats in her multigenerational family, loves her mom and is also a Mastermind Rogue. Portrayed by Isabella Roland on the show.

Awwwww that's too precious 😭😭😭 and I love your hair! The way the colors go with the fur palette!!! The blue to spotlight go perfect! Oh you're just too cute!! I love this 🥹🥹 thanks for making me smile!!

[artquilliam]

my contributions to @creatingblackcharacters ' melanin beam challenge❤️❤️

notes and design choices under the cut

after quite a bit of research which was very much helped out by the creatingblackcharacters blog, i decided i wanted to give her soft goddess locs for quite a few reasons;

1. soft locs are a type of faux loc. they're a better option for tender-headed people (which i felt fit usagi's character tbh) and those who don't want to spend all the time and effort it would take to grow out locs (also fits her character imo bc she's lazy and locs require a Lot of patience and maintenance)

2. i also wanted to make them goddess locs because the curly ends sorta mirror her canon design with the curls at the end of her pigtails, and i realized after thinking about it that it fits perfectly considering sailor moon is quite literally the reincarnation of a goddess! we love a bit of wordplay

3. additionally, to quote cbc's lesson 2, "Many Black people consider the biblical story of Samson to be a man with locs, and that our locs hold power within them." again, it works perfectly with sailor moon being a goddess!!

as for the second piece, i really just wanted to draw her in pajamas and a bonnet

[artquilliam]

My sort of submission for the Melanin Beam challenge, a little early. I asked my daughter what character I should do and she went big with three, so we have Black teen Powerpuff girls!

It's only a sort of submission cause I injured my hand so Buttercup is the only one finished for now, sorry 😅

AHHHHHHHHH they're so CUTE!!!!!! AWWWWWW I would have killed to see this when I was little and they were originally coming out.

[artquilliam]

My entry for the Melanin Beam Challenge: Mr. Mistoffelees from Cats!

This might sound like a weird choice but basically he's half of the big M/M ship that everyone ships, and I've seen too many examples of him (quiet yet cryptic and tricky) be portrayed as small and shy and pale and soft while his love interest (flirty rockstar troublemaker) is larger and more tan/a POC and also dumber. It's iffy AND overplayed and I've never vibed with it Also you've been sharing all those Black goths recently which made a nice reference! I gave him colored contacts to harken back to the source material just a bit too

The pose you chose is serving, I'm not sure if you meant to but he looks like he is about to DEVOUR lmao. I've never actually seen Cats, but it's an iconic one. Tbh I think this Mr. Mistoffelees more than the picture!! I will always appreciate a switch up from a Fandom Designated Dynamic. Thank you!!

[artquilliam]

happy birthday!!! here’s velma from scooby doo mystery incorporated for the melanin beam challenge 🫶🫶🫶

This would have been cool. It's even in the style it could have been in with the original Hanna Barrera but... Alas... The times... And they and their same face style... Oh well.

[artquilliam]

A bit late, but for the Melanin Beam Challenge here is Black Bob Belcher from Bob’s Burgers. (I sketched the whole family and wanted to do them all but energy has been low, will probably draw them in the future.)

Happy Birthday!

BOB!!!!! HEY!!!!!!! he's perfect!!

[artquilliam]

For @creatingblackcharacters's challenge/birthday (HBD!!!), I zapped Stardew Valley’s resident writer and beautiful bachelor, Elliott, with the melanin beam 🖤✨ Ms. CBC’s lessons have bolstered my existing knowledge on character design—both Black and otherwise—and broadened my horizons even further, and I am deeply grateful. Go give her a follow, and drop some well wishes while you’re there!

[artquilliam]

hi happy birthday! i melanin beam’d abigail from stardew valley for the event, really enjoyed seeing everyone else’s submissions :) i wanted to do more but i’ve had a migraine all day ughh

[artquilliam]

Ahhhhh~ I'm so glad you like the piece! <3 And I'm glad I accidentally channeled your grandma's likeness lol

I absolutely love old folks in art and in media -- especially older women -- just doing their thing and taking no shit. This was such a joy to draw, and honestly this design is going to be rotating in my mind for quite a long time. I might even have to do more art about it if I find some time. The folks in the notes are really making me feel proud of this one with all their kind comments and excitement for the art. I didn't expect this decades-old show to get such an enthusiastic response, but I see the love for Jessica Fletcher lives on.

Thanks once again for putting this whole thing on. I'm about to go through and look at all the other Black edits as a treat~! And if anyone wants to check out the rest of the entries for the Melanin Beam Challenge or if anyone wants to learn some things about writing or including Black folks respectfully in their art, please go follow @creatingblackcharacters and take a look around! The pinned post has a handy-dandy list of the lessons available. Also, I should have included an Image ID to begin with, but I was rushing to submit, so I've included one here under the break.

[Image ID: A digital illustration of a reinterpretation of Jessica Fletcher from Murder, She Wrote. In this illustration, Jessica is coming cautiously and curiously out from behind a door of another room. She holds a flashlight up in her right hand. She is a Black woman with an elegant gray pea coat and a cream colored shirt underneath. She wears her hair in braids that are done up in an elegant bun. There are a few pieces of hair jewelry that she wears. She also has golden earrings to match. She looks positively ready to find some clues. /End ID]

Hey! I hope I'm not too late to submit to the Melanin Beam Challenge!

I've been watching a lot of Murder, She Wrote recently. If you're not familiar, it's a murder mystery serial television show from the 80s and 90s. The lead character, Jessica Fletcher, is played by Angela Lansbury, but I wanted to give her character a try for the challenge today! This is a redraw of a screenshot I pulled from the show:

In the show, Jessica Fletcher (or, J. B. Fletcher) is a famous murder mystery novel writer who is always getting wrapped up in solving a real murder in every episode. It can be pretty cheesy at times the way serial television can sometimes be, and Jessica is constantly finding a way to be part of the investigation with little to no pushback from the professional detectives. There's a decent amount of having to suspend your disbelief, but it's pretty entertaining anyway. Jessica is very personable and her ability to navigate a conversation often gets her lots of clues and help on the case. People open up to her naturally. The episodes often have her trying to solve the case so the wrong person doesn't get convicted. She's extremely smart and observant and capable, but isn't afraid to ask for help. All the people she's close to seem to adore her (if a little exasperated at her nosiness & dedication to logic at times) and are quick to come to her aid when she needs it. There's a strong sense of community around her. I chose this character for the challenge, because I love older women characters, and I really appreciate Jessica Fletcher as a refreshing lead character being neither young nor objectified in the show, but treated as a Force of Will and Wit. It would be really cool to see a Black woman play this role if they ever did a reboot. I think having a Black woman as the lead would shape the show in a compelling way. I chose to give her braids because I thought they'd suit her character and because I usually draw locs or afros when I draw Black folks, but I rarely take the time to draw braids in detail. I wanted to practice something new, in the spirit of the challenge, and I'm glad I did! If I didn't procrastinate, I would have taken some time to give her some gray hairs as well, but I cut it a little too close to get into all the details I meant to get into. Anyway! I hope you have a wonderful birthday! Thanks for putting on such a cool challenge, and I'm excited to scroll through the tags to check out all the other submissions! Cheers~

No stop this might be one of my favorite pieces!!! Yes, I am familiar with Jessica Fletcher!! I said it before, I love seeing old folk in art. She really looks like my grandma 😭 well, my grandma if she had ever had more hair to do anything. But we're similar like that.