#also was this okay to tag the artists in so that folks can easily reach 'em? not sure if that's bad form!! sorry if so!

[starflungwaddledee]

thought i'd share some photos of this little book i started picking around with for fun in my 'offline' time!

admittedly i'm not very good at this sorta thing, but i'm trying to get back into it (it is impossible not to be inspired by my gf's journalling work, oh my god). i found this unused planner with nice creamy pages, and i thought it might make a nice 'gallery' for starstruck dee giftart!

i'm so touched by all the artwork folks have drawn of her for events or gifts or trades, and i thought this would be a nice way to honour them while also giving me something fun to flick through!! it's also a really soothing way to spend a good chunk of time looking at and thinking about each piece while i design a layout around them! i write the occasional little notes, or i copy in tags or other little relevant bits so that i can remember them for longer than my weak memory would actually allow!

it's roughly chronological (though the 'cover' page is from the hnkss event in december), so here's the first few pages!

🎨 art credits 🎨 cover spread: @chaotixcowboy (santa for the hnkss 2023 event) page 1: @kamalemons (first ever gift art! + tags for context) page 2: @veveisveryuncool & @jojo-schmo (halloween interaction pieces!) pages 3-4: @moon-mage-ex (an entire spread just for you because you've actually done so many!!! wow!)

[leafofkudzu]

Hello again! I did say I was going to consider hosting more art parties if last month’s test run went well and, well, it did, so here I am again! Come one come all to [VS] Verdant Shield’s second ever monthly art party, this time with an expanded reach!

For those not in the loop from last month, what is an art party exactly? Well, they’re common occurrences in the Final Fantasy XIV community where artists of all kinds get together to chat, hang out, and create together! If a certain character catches your eye, you make some art of them in whatever way suits your fancy, then during or after the party post it under the tag for that party so others know where to look and spread the love around via reblogs/retweets/etc! I said it last time and it’ll always bear repeating - the ‘goal’ of attending an art party is not to be drawn, but to draw others, and share with the community! Attendees from last month’s party compared it to art jams, people watching, or attending a life drawing class with people you actually like. For more tangible examples, you can check back through the tag I intend to use for all of these monthly events - #VSArtParty - to see what previous partygoers have made!

I’m a lot less antsy about hosting these events now that I have a baseline, so much so that I want to involve those of you over on EU servers as well by hosting two rounds of parties, first on EU and then NA! However, I’ll still be keeping the squad(s) private and out of LFG to deter party-crashers, especially since this time we’ll be in a more well-known and easily-accessible location as the party moves Eastward into the Grove!

Check under the cut for details on how the event(s) will be laid out and how to reach the party location!

Welcome to the expanded details! First of all, the Garden of Dawn is the Grove’s worst-kept secret so I’d be surprised if you didn’t already know about it, but just in case, here’s a tl;dr on how to get there from Ronan’s Waypoint (aka the bottom floor of the Grove, you can drop down from Upper Commons Waypoint or Reckoner’s Waypoint to get to this starting point too):

Head North along the path towards the House of Aife PoI (not shown in the picture but you’ll see it on your map).

Take a hard left at said PoI and yeet yourself into this tiny pool that has a secret tunnelllll~

You’re here! It’s bigger than it looks in this picture but still relatively small, however I’ve attended events hosted here and can confirm that it can fit a lot of people, and also from last month I learned we don’t actually need a ton of space since we all squish up together to see each other anyway. However, if this space gets too crowded we’ll breach containment and relocate to a more public spot - very likely Starbower Nursery aka the little multi-level tavern on the South side of the map (it has its own PoI so it’s easy to spot)! If we do I’ll make sure to put the updated location in the squad message!

Okay! With that out of the way let’s get to the real important stuff.

This month’s event will consist of two separate art parties, each 3 hours long (though you’re welcome to stay later if you like), with a 1hr break in between so people interested in attending both can stretch, get snacks, etc etc.

The first party will be on EU servers and begin at 9pm Central European Time (that’s 3pm Eastern Standard Time for NA folks). I’ll be hosting it on my EU alt, so to join you can either whisper Aemryn of Dusk for an invite or type ‘/sqjoin aemryn of dusk’ in chat to join automatically!

The second party will be on NA servers and begin at 7pm Eastern Standard Time (that’s 1am Central European Time for any sleepless EU folks). This one will be hosted on my main account, and you can join by either whispering Kirslyn for an invite or typing ‘/sqjoin kirslyn’ in chat to auto-join!

Like I mentioned before the cut, we’ll be using the same tag for both of these parties as we did for last month’s - #VSArtParty - and I think that’ll be the one we’ll continue to use in the future for these! There’s no spaces so that it can be used on Twitter as well if you’re still over there!

That’s it for now! Expect to see this reblogged a few times between now and then, and I hope to see you all there for another fun time! ♥

[sorikaied]

tagged by @reigev (thanks!)

rules: answer 21 questions + tag 21 people

name: simone

nickname: monie and moe are the ones i’ve had the longest, and as most of you can tell, i tend to go by monie. other interesting nicknames have been mojo-jojo and my sister likes to call me simon-e

gender: female

star sign: gemini

current time: 7:52 pm

favorite artists: there’s... there’s a lot honestly. but i can easily say that shinee is one of them. shinee shall always be my life okay. but i’m pretty varied. i like artists like janelle monae to folks like fob. it really does vary

song stuck in my head: currently none atm. but sometimes battle music from fire emblem fates finds its way in my head

last movie i saw: the willoughbys

last thing i googled: ...the willoughbys (listen)

other blogs: i run two fan blogs, one for moana and one for patf. outside of that, i blog everything on this disaster of a blog. enjoy

do i get asks: not really. probs cause i don’t put in the effort to try and be open for convos but it’s all good. the random ask that appears does make my day, but i have never been someone that was certain to get at least an ask or two a day

reason for your url: because the destiny trio is like... my top fave trio ever. like i love all the trios and all the characters, but i really do adore the destiny trio with my life, and their dynamic means the most to me. i also would die for all of them even if they wouldn’t let me

following: 211

average sleep: what’s average sleep?

lucky number: idk? 3? 4? 13?

currently wearing: a light blue tee and some sweatpants from the college i went to. cause i’m trapped at home ny’all!

dream job: yknow... when i was younger i really wanted to be an animator, especially with disney. sadly, i’ve been slacking on my art skills so idk if i’ll ever reach that dream. still, i really do love animation and i want to be part of that. whether it’s just writing, directing, being part of the production staff. i truly want to make something that makes a positive outcome for others

dream trip: this sounds so cliche but i want to go to japan! okay, i actually want to go everywhere. there is just... so much of the world i want to see. so many cultures i want to appreciate and expand my world view. i mean, yeah japan is always my go to because i am a human disaster, but i would love to go to like... anywhere outside of pennyslvania. please

favorite food: mac n cheese. especially the one my late grandma used to make

instruments: i played the flute in fourth grade and the violin in fifth. i haven’t played anything since then but i’ve been wanting to try again. someday

favorite song: my only favorite song is ring ding dong. actually i am slightly kidding on that. i don’t really have a favorite because i like a lot of songs. move by taemin, isn’t she lovely by stevie wonder, speed demon by michael jackson. like i just like music, so having a “favorite” is impossible for me

tagging: @vector-totheheavens, @godtierwallflower, @christmasace, @pinestars, @j-ellals, @shytaes, @thatwitchrevan, @boahancokk and honestly anyone else because i can’t list 21 of ny’all i’m sorry

[iwatobies]

That’s right folks, the Reigisa Creative Works Exchange is finally here!!!!!!!!!

For those of you just joining the party, this exchange is a free-for-all, gift-giving extravaganza for anyone and everyone to participate in and enjoy! And if you have been listening to me go on (and on) about this since September, kudos to you and you probably know this by heart but I’ll repeat it anyway~

The rules are very simple: if you have a gift you wish to give to the Reigisa fandom, simply post it here on tumblr.com and tag it as #reigisaexchange. (Please remember to put it in the first 5 tags you use or we won’t see it!) We here at @iwatobies​ will reblog your gift for all our followers to see, and hopefully everyone just has a really great time! The event starts on Friday the 14th of December (which just happens to be Rei’s birthday) and runs until the 24th. There is no pressure to create a particular gift for a particular someone because we will love and appreciate every single fic, fanart, amv, meta post, gif, graphic or ANYTHING ELSE you wish to create! And the more gifts given, the more we all receive! 

Everything will be stored under this tag on our blog for easy access!

Please check out the details under the cut for any questions or contact mod Kyra here at @iwatobies​ for any additional help!

Thank you for your creations, everyone, and let’s have a great event!

-mod Kyra

Here we go, the nitty gritty!

First off, since this event runs until the 24th, it is not too late to participate! Gifts are accepted and appreciated the whole time! And there is no rush at all to post gifts all at once—in fact, it’s probably more fun to stagger gifts so that the event keeps going for all ten days!

If you find yourself strapped for ideas, some wonderful followers submitted a few ideas to consider that you can see HERE. There’s also some broad suggestions for themes listed at the bottom of this post HERE. But really, go wild with your own ideas as well! And if you don’t happen to finish on time, that’s fine. We will of course accept late submissions! This event is built on the idea of being a low-stress, plain old fun explosion of new Reigisa content for us all to enjoy!

How many gifts you give is up to you! (And if you don’t have it in you to create something this year, then I fully hope you enjoy seeing other people’s creations!) Works of the (ahem) not so safe for work variety ARE ALLOWED. However, with the new tumblr rules coming into effect soon, please post a censored or incomplete version of your work to tumblr and host the main event on a different website, otherwise we cannot reblog it here. Archive of our Own and fanfiction.net are good sites to post erotic fanfic. Pixiv, Twitter, Patreon, and Deviantart still host erotic images, so those are some possibilities for artists to use as host sites. If any questions or concerns come up, feel free to contact us immediately. 

Please post each gift with the tag #reigisaexchange. You can also tag #iwatobies as we’ll be checking that tag regularly as well. You don’t need to mention this blog or the exchange directly in your post if you don’t want to—as long as you tag it with #reigisaexchange, we’ll know it’s a gift! Although if you are making a gift to fulfill a specific request, it might be nice to mention that so that the requester can find your gift more easily!

We will reblog each gift THREE TIMES to make sure they all reach a broad audience. If you posted your gift and do not see it in the EXCHANGE TAG after a 24hr period, then please let us know so we can correct that immediately! Any questions or clarification posts will also be in that tag if you happen to send us an ask. 

In the case you don’t want to be attached to a gift directly (shy artist or a really smutty fic maybe) you can submit the art or a link to the fic to us and we will post it, crediting an anonymous donor. Anything to make people feel comfortable!

Everything after this is examples of posts for anyone who hasn’t participated in exchanges before, so if you could use some help with that, keep reading, but otherwise, I hope to see your creations!!

Okay, so if this is your first time doing anything like this, it’s pretty easy! You can host sfw gifts on your own blog, but if you feel like using an outside site, even for sfw gifts, here’s an example to help out.

Since fic will likely be the most common submission, here is a screenshot of an example link for a fic I posted last year:

This was done by choosing to create a LINK POST, and then setting that link to the fic on my Ao3 account. I chose to include the fandom, pairing, and word count info because...that’s just what I like to do, but you can include whatever information you want. In my experience, putting word count and (I didn’t do that in this example, whoops) rating is a good idea to give potential readers an idea of what they’re looking at. Adding a summary or excerpt can also help draw readers in. And if you’re writing for the exchange, tagging #reigisaexchange would be the priority at the end there. 

If I was dealing with a photo that needed to be censured, instead of a linked post, I would suggest posting the sfw version of your art as a photo post (cropped or using those thick black lines to cover the naked bits), and then putting the link to the full thing in the description. 

If you have any further questions, please let me know. No such thing as a dumb question. Just remember that this event is designed to be low-stress, so if anything is stressing you out, I am all ears!

Have fun guys!

[siouxempirepodcast]

The 2017 Black Hills Film Festival

So, I promised myself for several years that I would attend the Black Hills Film Festival. Hey – I’m a storyteller. What better environment to be in to watch and hear the stories of creatives coming into our region? I also promised you, the readers of The Sioux Empire Podcast, that I would write about my adventures if I made it this year. So, I did go. Sort of. I attended one afternoon’s session. Okay, one film. I went to one film, “She Sings to the Stars,” a 1 hour and 40-minute feature length film by Jennifer Corcoran. My friend Ashley and I met up for falafel at Gyro Hub in Rapid and then headed over to the Journey Museum to take in this one film offering on a Friday afternoon. As we entered the theater, the previous filmmakers were finishing up a Q&A session with the audience. The film that had been shown, “West Virginia Stories” had just concluded and directors Preston Peterson and Jason Boesch were talking about some of the actors they had used in the 88-minute film, which centers around a coal-mining town in Appalachia. Apparently, some of their actors were professionals, but many were extras from around the locations they filmed in, including the parents of one of the filmmakers who each got some screen time. Although I didn’t get the opportunity to see the film, I was intrigued by it based upon the questions and answers that I heard.

Black Hills Film Festival

There was an emcee present, who fielded the questions from the audience to the filmmakers and as they wrapped up their Q&A session, he thanked everyone and announced a short break before the next film would begin. As Ashley and I settled into our seats, I noticed one striking observation: the entire audience, except myself and my friend, seemed to all be retirees. Everyone looked to be 65 years or older and, I believe, Caucasian. I made an offhand comment about this and then settled in to wait for the feature film that afternoon to begin. “She Sings to the Stars” is the story of three people coming together in the desert. A magician, traveling to Las Vegas from Los Angeles, whose car breaks down. An older woman, named Mabel, who lives in a rough house in the desert with her dog and Kachina dolls, and Mabel’s grandson who works in a gas station but wants to go to Hollywood and find work in the entertainment industry. The magician, who isn’t named in the film, is traveling with his pet bunny. When he runs out of coolant, he encounters the gas station attendant and tricks him into giving him twenty dollars of gas. But when he asks for coolant or even water, the younger man explains that there is no water in these parts. That everything has “dried up.” The magician continues on his way, finally breaking down outside Mabel’s home. She gives him a glass of water, but no more as water is truly precious in this climate. When his bunny goes into hiding in her home, the magician finds himself stuck at Mabel’s. The grandson eventually comes, bringing with him some much-needed water (although not enough for the radiator) and intending to take some Kachina dolls from grandmother, presumably to sell to tourists. When he sees the magician who owes him money, he becomes agitated and eventually is bitten by a rattlesnake. Ultimately the film is about the different types of magic that each character believes in and their close-mindedness to believe in the others’ version of magic. The magician doesn’t understand the prayers and songs that Mabel sings, quite literally to the stars. Nor does Mabel understand the magic of song and dance that her grandson (who is half Native and half Mexican) aspires to. But I wanted to write today about a different kind of magic – the magic of art itself. The reason that I was so looking forward to attending the Black Hills Film Festival was to be in a community of artists. It’s the same reason why I live where I do – I moved here nearly twelve years ago in search of just such a tribe to call my own. I’m a little bummed, frankly. Why does it seem like one of the most creative and artistic communities in the country isn’t particularly inclusive? Why are the only people attending the region’s film festival all older and, as far as I was able to see, white? After all, the Black Hills Film Festival is supposed to be celebrating our region and especially our Native American cultural experience. Why is the film festival held during the day, when most people are working or in school? Why is a full festival pass $50? Art isn’t supposed to be a privileged experience. Art is for the masses. Art shouldn’t be controlled or doled out as a reward, or out of reach. The experience of art – not necessarily the ownership of it – should be accessible and appreciable to all within at least a particular community. But here in Rapid City, I fear that elitism has suppressed the appreciation of art for those who probably need it in their lives the most. We have some lovely places here in the Black Hills where you can experience artistic works. We have places where you can listen to music, watch dancers, admire photographs and paintings and sculpture. But if the only people you’re with when you’re doing that are your peers, you’re missing something from experience. If everyone in attendance can afford a fifty dollar ticket (not just that they pay for it, but that they easily can) how many different perspectives are you going to get? And how much pleasure and meaning will you experience? When Art Alley first sprang up in downtown Rapid City, I think many of us thought this was an opportunity to bring disparate groups of people together for the sake of art. Tag artists and entrepreneurs and tourists and fine art majors all could, in theory, converge upon the alley to paint or photograph or just to stroll and enjoy. But Art Alley has become a pissing match. Either it’s open to everybody, or it’s not, and right now it’s not. I give a lot of credit to the folks who began this project, and I think there’s still an opportunity to open the alley to more freedom of expression. But without that freedom, that change, Art Alley is just another backdrop. I hope that the Black Hills Film Festival changes, over the next few years. Continue to focus on culling great film and bringing those filmmakers to our region, but find a way to get our citizens invested and involved. They did make one improvement in recent years, by expanding the locations into Rapid City (previously it was just based in Hill City) but let’s make sure the attendees having the greatest time are those who most need an infusion of art and cinema and storytelling and possibility in their lives.

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