magicandmages

[magicandmages]

Fasciation - a type of deformity in flowers🌼

It can happen as a result of random mutation, infection from disease, bacteria, or hormone imbalance

[magicandmages]

it's hilarious how if you do any amount of research into life or death melee combat the prevailing themes that emerge are that

you're gonna get tired very quickly

tired leads to injured, injured leads to tired, tired leads to—

you're not gonna be as composed as you expect

humans are more fragile than you think and also more durable than you think. both are true and neither stop them from dying of an infection later (DO NOT GET BITTEN)

DO NOT GET STABBED (generally good life advice)

DO GET A SPEAR

knights are faster than you think

[magicandmages]

The name "Jane" is a female version of "John", and if Wikipedia is to be believed it developed not out of "John" directly but as a more novel and upper-class version of the then-commonplace "Joan", also a female version of "John", in the manner of the Kayleighs of today.

But "Joan" is still weird, because it's like that for no clear reason -- the original masculine/feminine pair here is like Johannes/Johanna, which explains nothing! It ends up in German as Johann and Johanna, and stress changes can induce vowel changes, but you'd expect that to work the other way round, with the unstressed O becoming shorter, so it seems to just be that "John" and "Joan" appeared at different times and the need to distinguish them kept the latter from drifting as far as the former. You can see the same general thing happening with "Steve" and "Steph", with the opposite gender/vowel length relationship.

So this isn't very systematic, obviously, and it hardly ever happens. But isn't it tempting to imagine us adopting a convention of gendering names by ablaut?

Bill (m.) -> Beele (f.)

Jeff (m.) -> Jafe (f.)

Bob (m.) -> Bobe (f.)

Dan (m.) -> Dane (f.)

Mike (m.) -> Make (f.)

Greg (m.) -> Graygue (f.)

Keith (m.) -> Kayth (f.)

Scott (m.) -> Scote (f.)

James (m.) -> Jymes (f.)

and so forth

[magicandmages]

In case anyone finds it helpful because mobility aids are horrifically expensive and inaccessible…

And for those people who have access to mobility devices but might benefit from a second chair they can abuse without risking expensive damage…

Erik Kondo has made a website, Open Source Innovations, that details plans for DIY wheelchairs. These wheelchairs can be made from common materials like wood, plastic, and pvc. They are lightweight and can be custom fit to the user allowing from the same degree of movement you would get from a custom chair. And they are durable and easily repairable. (he has been stress testing his latest design by dropping it down stairs, dropping it out of a car, launching it across a driveway, and throwing it off a deck). Its 12lbs and I think he said its was in the $200 ish range for parts.

He also is working on cheap, open source, accessible designs for beach chairs, off road chairs, motorized attachments (think smart drive), and so on. Plus he skateboards in his wheelchair. Cool dude, helpful info, pass it on.

[magicandmages]

All the torso animated studies.

[magicandmages]

Swords are arguably the most popular fantasy weapon, but why is that?

Patreon - everything else

[magicandmages]

I heart prey animal rage I love when characters are fucking insane with terror

[magicandmages]

reblog with a spoiler for your wip with zero context. no context allowed.

[magicandmages]

look. I never questioned the admonition "don't write a disabled character that gets suddenly cured by the end," but didn't truly understand it either.

Then I watched an episode of a popular '70s show where a woman suffers an accident that leaves her blind. By the end of the episode—and abstractly through the power of love—she can see again! No ongoing medical treatment, no miracle, just love! And that was normal writing, on TV, for adults. Disabilities existed for plot and then magically went away to get a happy ending. Because, of course, being disabled means you can't have a happy ending, and gee wouldn't it just be so hard on the abled character who loves you if you were blind all the time? unbelievable

So for anyone else who isn't sure if this is a hard and fast rule or if there's nuance, maybe knowing how not to write it will help.

[magicandmages]

for the love of god, write all the self-indulgent scenes you want.  be utterly  shameless about including every last fantasy.  i know everyone likes to share quotes and quips about how miserably hard writing is, but please please try thinking of it as a joyful act where you get to be a messy human who makes art rather than some pain filled quest for icy perfection.

[magicandmages]

[magicandmages]

my bf has many interesting stories and observations from his new job as a 911 operator

my favorite is how meandering people are, even in the midst of a terrible emergency

they respond to “what is the emergency” with “well, the thing is, four weeks ago–”

and then he’s like “WHAT IS THE EMERGENCY RIGHT NOW”

and they’re like “so what happened this morning was, i said to my wife, i said–”

“WHAT IS CURRENTLY HAPPENING AT THIS MOMENT”

“oh i’m having a heart attack”

my second favorite is how specific he has to get sometimes

like, “what is your emergency?”

“i’m sitting in a pool of blood.”

“… is it… your blood?”

“yes i think so”

“do you know where it’s coming from?”

“probably the stab wound”

“have you been stabbed?”

“oh yah definitely”

[magicandmages]

hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

[magicandmages]

on the topic of mobility aids i just want to throw out a non-comprehensive list of tips from someone who's been using mobility aids for 10 years

everyone has different needs and responds differently to certain mobility aids

if a cane isn't right for you, it doesn't mean you shouldn't look into other aids to see if they help

neurological conditions and things like strokes and brain aneurysms can cause someone to struggle with balance for life and are more than welcome to try out mobility aids

it doesn't matter if it's a genetic condition or an injury- consider an aid

wearing braces and using walkers, canes, and so on is very normal after injuries. please use them if you are in pain for a long time after an injury. injuries are serious too

if you buy a cane and it didn't work out for you, you're hurting no one

folding canes are helpful but have a lower weight limit generally speaking

crutches may be a good idea for you if you really struggle with balance and stability

your mileage will vary with each type of aid. you may benefit more from one aid at one time, and more from another in other situations. you may need several different kinds

if you need a rollator, wheelchair or scooter, it really is okay to get or try one. if your insurance won't cover it it's okay to buy or crowdfund one

walkers and rollators require low upper body strength, unless they need to be lifted up on to a curb in which case the user may need assistance

even the lightest and most well constructed wheelchairs are still heavy. they require a lot of upper body strength and mass to propel if you are doing it completely by yourself. you may also need assistance transporting them, getting them up or down hills, on to curbs, and so on

if you struggle to walk for extended periods of time (30+ minutes uninterrupted) you probably need some type of aid. if you have poor balance you may need some type of aid.

you're not hurting anyone if you end up not needing the aids. it's fine to try them

it doesn't matter if the pain or exhaustion or bad balance is related to your weight. you deserve to be as mobile as you want to and can be. its okay for fat people to use mobility aids. it's not embarrassing. being a fat person using a mobility aid in public isn't embarrassing. the people insinuating that are. fat people deserve quality of life

[magicandmages]

my brother works on a boat so when he rants about his job I can’t take it seriously because he keeps angrily referring to his boss as “captain”. like sorry ur having 19th century sailor problems my guy

[magicandmages]

no but seriously I still get chills thinking about turning off my headlamp in the cave and The Hand That I Did Not Actually See, and it’s been twelve years since it happened

it’s such an unreal experience

like

you turn off your light in a cave and wave your hand in front of your face

and

you can see this shadowy thing moving in the black space where your hand is

it looks like the same shadowy thing you would see in your room at night if you waved your hand in front of your face, it’s there and vaguely hand-shaped, and your brain recognizes it as your hand because your brain is aware of where your hand is and what it is doing

But You Are Not Seeing Anything

Inside a cave, there is No Light. No matter how far your pupils spread, there is no light for them to draw in, no light to put an image on your retina.

But your brain just Fucking Assumes that because it knows where your hand is and what it is doing, clearly it can see it.

So it creates a shadowy thing for your eyes to be seeing.

Brain is like “there’s a hand there”

Eyes are like “yup sure thing brain I can totally see it”

Brain is like “nice”

but there is no hand, you cannot see the hand, you are seeing a literal actual hallucination in the cave because your brain thinks it knows best

Caves are awesome, but also terrifying. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[magicandmages]

you know what’s a trope that never gets tired is when theyre bouncing around in the plot and suddenly an important name crops up- it’s blorbo bleebus. and some dude is like who the hell is blorbo bleebus. and we immediately cut to our new friend blorbo bleebus pulling the most absolutely buckwild shit you’ve ever seen