sharks-n-spiders - Tumblr blog

[sharks-n-spiders]

I love you today

I loved you in third grade, and i love you today, i knew i liked girls when i saw your face and i know you don't like me cause you're really straight and i'm trying not to cry and i’m trying not to break but i think your smile will end me.

I made up stories to make you laugh, told alligator tales in the middle of class, and i’m not pretty and i've never been nice, but darlin', you make me wanna try and GOD i'm not explaining it right, and i love you more when i meet your eyes.

You’re lovely and bright made of sunshine and honey but baby, this fairy tale has gone all funny, ‘cause you should have a knight or a king by your side, not this messy bruised girl who's still trying to hide, i'm muddy and freckled and don't ask what I'm wearing but i fell for you so hard i can't find my bearings.

I liked Harry Potter ‘cause you liked it too, read Twilight when you brought those books to school and i listen to gold rush by Taylor Swift and all i can think of is you.

I love you even though i know you're straight, i love you even though you'll never look my way, and baby, you can hate me, it's all ok i loved you in third grade and I love you today

[sharks-n-spiders]

crash

[sharks-n-spiders]

This is my first ever art piece! It’s Ray Kowalski and Benton Fraser from the 90s show holding hands like the dorks in love they are.

[sharks-n-spiders]

THOughTs on the Green brothers. (spoiler alert, these thoughts are highly positive)

been seeing posts recently about the time john green was bullied off of tumblr like its something to laugh about– i even reblogged one of them that was talking about how tr*mp should try to join tumblr and see how it goes (which was, admittedly, funny)– but i just want to throw it out there that john green gets a bunch of shit that he doesnt deserve and i am tired of hearing it.

So heres my incomplete list of great things John and Hank Green have done that dont mean that theyre perfect people but just mean that for FUCKS SAKE people need to lay off and actually recognize that they are good people and actually making the world a better place. 

1. in their podcast, where listeners write in with questions, they always refer to people asking the questions with gender neutral pronouns unless the person specifically expresses a gender in the text of the email. They dont talk about it, its just a thing that quietly happens.

2. Their books are fucking good

John uses his books to subvert common harmful tropes that affect the way people view women and people dealing with chronic illness. “Looking For Alaska” and “Paper Towns” are absolute refusals of the MPDG trope and absolutely condemn the main (male) characters for seeing Alaska and Margot as less than full human beings. “The Fault In Our Stars” is all about how illness in general but cancer specifically doesnt mean anything, its just a horrific thing that happens to people, and how nothing you learn from having cancer is valuable enough to be worth it, and how romanticizing illness hurts people who are dealing with it. “Turtles All The Way Down” is about OCD, about feeling like a burden on people around you, and sometimes actually being hard to be around and actually hard to deal with, but how that doesnt make you less of a person, and doesnt make you any less loved, and how “getting better” or being “cured” is not the end goal of mental illness narratives, sometimes you just need to be able to get through the day and that is OK. 

Hanks books are a trip and a half. “An Absolutely Remarkable Thing” and “A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor” are simultaneously the books that have made me the most afraid of the future, and the most hopeful for the future. I dont know how else to say it. Also. well. written. queer. women. HOLY FUCK. WELL WRITTEN QUEER WOMEN. WRITTEN BY A STRAIGHT WHITE GUY. How?? you ask??? because he fucking talked to queer women, hired sensitivity readers, and actually values the input of marginalized people and wants to represent them well. Read these books. 

3. This isnt even touching on all of the charity work that they do in which they NEVER CENTER THEMSELVES so im going to do it for them because they deserve some recognition for this. They are so generous with their time, attention, platform, and money in a way that i hope becomes more common, but damn, they are making concrete change in the world in a way that most people only talk about. and theyre DOING IT. 

4. THEIR FREE EDUCATIONAL CHANNELS. FREE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES. FREE. EDUCATIONAL. RESOURCES. and thats not even close to all of them. They also make really great explainer videos on their main channel  about really difficult topics and they break them down into something you can understand. 

They are just earnest, silly, and interesting people who are committed to experiencing the world with curiosity and i could go on and on with the just– fucking GOOD things both of them have done and people choose to ignore those in favor of laughing about the john green c*ck monologue and making up twitter style canceling manifestos based on not having read any of their books or having engaged with any of their content in any way and straight up garbage. I just think they deserve better than that. 

tldr: stop talking shit about the green brothers. ready for a keanu reeves style green brothers renaissance on this hellsite. 

[sharks-n-spiders]

art tips post

for all the artist following me

Have two sketchbooks: One for finished and high-quality art (stuff made with Prismacolor or Copic if you use that or art for your portfolio) and the other sketchbook for more messy doodles. This way you have a place to try new things and mess up as much as you need. When I only had one sketchbook I was scared to draw in it because I didn't want to mess it up

Do studies. I cant tell you how much I've improved just by doing studies of shoes, hands, noses, and all that. This works for when you have art block too since you’re not really making stuff up and just learning how real things work.

Learn from others. I’ve never taken a real art class because 1. I can’t afford it and 2. there’s no good art classes/programs at my school. I’ve been following several artists and learning from them over the years and they’ve helped me tremendously. Just please do not steal art because that is never okay.

Break down concepts. If you notice there’s something wrong with your piece then figure out why. You can’t get better if you leave mistakes and don't try to understand whats going on. If the color is weird figure out if the values look right or maybe its the saturation of the color.

Watch youtube tutorials. Here are some youtubers I think are pretty good art teaching all things art: Draw with Jazza |  DrawingWiffWaffles |  Proko |  Baylee Jae

Have an inspiration folder/blog. Sometimes you just need a collection of starry nights or a misty forest or even a French bakery. All of those things can help you get inspired to draw. It could even be completely unrelated to what you plan to draw.

There are no dumb ideas in the creative process. If you want to draw a lizard in a dress go for it! If you want to draw various pastries with faces do it! Don’t let the thought of it being too dumb stop you because if I’ve learned anything in my several years of drawing it’s that an idea can lead to another and another and another and you may get a really good idea just from doodling dumb things.

Here’s a few things that can get you started on drawing better:

Dynamic poses | Dynamic clothes | Dynamic figure drawing

COMPOSITION | PERSPECTIVE | CONSTRUCTION

Anatomy:

Legs

Arms

Hands

Heads

Body (Female) (Male

Color Theory

Improving your sketchbook

Most importantly, don’t give up! You may not immediately get notes or followers but it’s more important you get better than to have popularity. How do you think those popular artists got to where they are now? To be good you’ve got to work at it.

[sharks-n-spiders]

If you looked at me

you would see secrets leak

from the corner of my eyes.

Out would spill crumpled drawings

and acorns

and the daisy crown that I made when I was eight.

Out would spill the secret dreams

and the songs I listened to when my sister was sick

and my fear of the dark.

If you looked hard enough

you would see

the beautiful things

and the sad things

and the tangled parts of my wonderful soul.

It’s not just me

though, everyone has

secrets that leak

stories that spill

bittersweet memories

wrapped in their closely guarded souls.