julia0689 - Tumblr blog

[julia0689]

Yellowjackets is a really good show. This is also my first colour portrait in a while and I'm pretty glad to be back.

[julia0689]

The miniseries Maniac on Netflix is one of my favorite shows of all time, and I think it's criminally underrated, so I made it into a vintage comic book.

[julia0689]

Time’s Arrow neither stands still nor reverses, it merely marches forwards...  The many faces of Beatrice Horseman.  6 hours, Adobe Photoshop. 

[julia0689]

This woman is so beautiful it was only a matter of time before I drew her.

[julia0689]

I’m back 😊 I should be posting more soon...  Get it on  ♪ ♫

[julia0689]

I wanted to dry digital portraiture, I had some free time, and I was supposed to see The 1975 live in May. Also, one of my favorite albums of the past couple of years, and if you've seen the cover art, you get what I was going for. 6 hours, Adobe Photoshop.

[julia0689]

I’ve only been on Twitch for a month; as someone who doesn’t know much about gaming, I usually hang out in Just Chatting and watch podcasts, or the occasional chess stream. I first stumbled onto the platform through Dr. K’s videos, and Reckful’s six-part saga was, in a sense, my introduction to Twitch. Once I familiarized myself with the platform and its faces, I picked up on three things: one, Reckful was a legendary figure as one of the founders of the genre, two, he was generally considered a nice person, and three, his depression was profound, and a secret to no one.

I was on Twitch when the news of his passing started to circulate. I was watching as streamers everywhere would get the notification, open the tweet, start to cry, and either log off or talk about how much he meant to them. There wasn’t a single person that day that didn’t have something to say. I watched as all of the chapels on WoW, across every server, started to fill with players kneeling in memoriam, staying still for hours as the rooms got so full all you could see was a mass of usernames and condolences. It sent ripples across the community that reached far beyond the confines of Twitch, and now, almost three days later, I’m still walking around with a hole in my chest – I haven’t been this affected by the death of a public figure since Bowie, and even then, the loss was of a cultural icon, not of someone who only made it 31 years before succumbing to the burden of existence in a life full of suffering.

One of the worst things about this loss is that no one was surprised when it happened. Devastated, yes, but not surprised. Reckful was vocal about the pain he was in. He was vocal about the attempts he had been making, throughout his life, to try and feel less alone. His grief, at times, was visceral, and from what I can tell, his friends supported him in every way they could, but no one is superhuman. The worst part is: I get it, man. I’ve grown a lot this year, and I’ve learned what it can mean to be stuck in a view of the world so hellish, things you never would have imagined thinking start to become reasonable options. But I managed to claw my way out, with the help of a few good friends and god-given SSRIs, coming out the other side with a hell of a lot more empathy than I did going in for other people in pain. I’m lucky to have had those people around me, and it’s heartbreaking that Reckful couldn’t connect to the people he had – it isn’t always that easy to connect, and I understand what he went through. And I hate that he’s gone, because he was trying, but it isn’t always easy, and it doesn’t always work.

I work for the Crisis Text Line/Kids Help Phone, and through that work, I have the privilege of talking to dozens of people a month about the problems in their lives that they feel no one else has the time, or the desire, to talk to them about. I try my best to use the empathy I’ve gained as a goddamn sword against the debilitating weapons of loneliness, and to connect to every goddamn human I can in a way that can leave them feeling stronger and less alone. If you’re in pain, I will run through goddamn walls to find a way to help you. In the words of Dr. K this Friday: don’t worry alone, and don’t die alone.

Rest in Peace, Byron.

[julia0689]

I finally got around to drawing our hero, Chris Evans.  6 hours, colored pencil. 

[julia0689]

Guys, I think I might be addicted to Rocketman - I’ve seen it 3 times on 3 consecutive days. As a musical and as a movie, it’s amazing. Also, there were so. many. costume changes. And so, I designed a movie poster of my 3 favorite outfits during the baby-Elton 60s era. I gave it a film reel border as a sort of timelapse, with Pride colors because, well, it’s Elton friggin John. This has taken so long but was so worth it.  16 hours, Adobe Illustrator + Photoshop. 

[julia0689]

I really really liked Rocketman, and so, I did what I did with BoRhap. Plus, I’ve always loved Elton (I saw him live this year!).  3 hours, graphite and photoshop. 

[julia0689]

I took a pretty cool photo of Toronto a while ago, and I was in a mood, so I decided to combine the 2 and this was the result. Also, I went through literal hell to save this file. 5 hours, colored pencil.

[julia0689]

It feels like it's been forever since I last got to draw, but I'm finally done this one that I started over the break. I've been warming up to Nicole Kidman over the past couple of months, and I watched Eyes Wide Shut over the holidays - the plot may have had some flaws, but man, does Stanley Kubrick have a nice aesthetic. 11 hours, colored pencil.

[julia0689]

So I have seen Bohemian Rhapsody twice since it came out... in my defense, I have always and will always love Queen (I’ve seen them live!), and Freddie had the best voice I will ever hear. Anyways, Rami is adorable as Freddie and did an incredible job. So, I drew Freddie, in all his dramatic glory.  2 hours, pencil + Photoshop. 

[julia0689]

I’m just a really big fan of the acting and personality of Sebastian Stan, guys. Plus, he’s not too hard on the eyes - always a plus to draw.  4 hours, pencil. 

[julia0689]

I was looking through my art cabinet and I found this drawing half-finished from years ago, so I decided I may as well finish it. Christina Hendricks - this was fun. 4 hours, colored pencil.

[julia0689]

So Hozier released a new EP yesterday after 5 years of silence and on it were 4 songs, each of which I fell in love with. This is a doodle of combined physical and digital proportions, sort of as my response to each song and the associations I had with it. The connecting factor is a Shrike, because, well, listen to the EP. This was worth the sleep deprivation. 4 hours, pen + colored pencil + Adobe Illustrator.

[julia0689]

I’ve been trying to level-up my photorealism skills, and Elizabeth Olsen is beautiful. Inspired by her film Martha Marcy May Marlene.  25 hours, colored pencil.