#cbc bhm challenge

[feliville]

[OC] A drawing of the main character of the story I'm working on; Zayd, getting a retwist by his lover Santiago.

for @creatingblackcharacters' Black History Month challenge !

I wanted to draw something sweet + joyful for the challenge, and since Valentine's day also just happened, I've picked my main OC couple as the subjects : -]. Someone trusting their partner well enough to let them do their hair is such a sweet scenario, it's been stuck in my mind ever since I read it in this lesson.

To my Black audience, thank you so much for being here!! The amount of time and care given to learn how to properly draw Black characters will always be worth it if it means I can draw and write characters you like and can relate to; you deserve faithful and loving depictions of Blackness in any media you like 💜

Tagging @prozac and @6edbuge to participate if you wanna : -] !!

[alibonbonn]

For @creatingblackcharacters ’ Black History Month Challenge!

It is Wyll and Karlach having a drink at the reunion party, particularly when Wyll asks with awe if you can smell forest, after their long demon hunting spree in hell. Karlach is looking at Wyll wistfully twirling some blades of grass in her fingers.

This is dedicated to Black creators for making your art, despite the fandom racism stacked against you (not just this! In every one). Thank you for bringing pieces of your heart to this place, you deserve the carefree indulgence of fandoms, and they’re better for having you in it. <3

[lastlabyrinth]

It's the CBC Black History Month Challenge!!!!!!!!!

sqex recently failed to adapt a winning player hairstyle design, one with coils, into the game. i think all of us were pretty disappointed when they claimed they didn't have the technology to do it right. it's good that they want to try again someday. but until then i think it'd be nice if we allowed ourselves to imagine the characters of ffxiv with Black features even if they can't look that way yet in game.

if you haven't done custom deliveries yet in endwalker, may i suggest you give them a try? it's a great questline and Margrat is a brilliant, nerdy Black woman. without her effort and knowledge (and titanic amounts of coffee, judging from her energy levels) our heroes would never have reached the ends of creation to save the universe. but moreover i think she's just so charming… she is not just an engineer and scientist but an advocate for her fellow workers. and while she's already beautiful, i thought she would be beautiful with natural hair, too.

Now for the important part. To my Black followers: You belong in science, engineering, and professional spaces. You belong in stories. You belong in games!! And you belong just as you are. You are not too dark; your natural hair is not dirty or unprofessional or "too hard" to draw or model. The art you touch is enriched for your presence, and the places you're shut out from are the poorer for your absence. It's a question of effort and a question of Black presence in creative spaces, and I'm angry that we can't make a character who looks like this in FFXIV. So until (and even after!) you can, I hope you let your imagination run wild and invite yourself into every space that lacks your magic. I love you!!

there's not many days left in BHM but i'll still tag my friends @ababblesaurus, @myrfing, @flower-waltz and @saprophilous because i bet they would draw something cool if they had time….

[creatingblackcharacters]

Still I Rise, by Maya Angelou

"You are exactly who you need to be to be right where you are..."

(Grammy Award Winning Rapper!) Doechii made me tear up last night with her speech, because what she said was what I planned to say to every Black girl and woman ever. I want to say to y'all, to us: you are everything you need to be, in order to deserve to stand tall in the rooms you want to stand in!

There is this idea that Black people, Black women in particular, have to humble ourselves, lessen ourselves, in order to deserve to be heard. That if you don't carry yourself in a certain way- and that way will never exist, so long as you are Black- that you are not worth acknowledging. Bullshit. You deserve to be here. You are not intimidating, they are intimidated, that's a skill issue- and it's not yours! Lift your chin and arrive!

(I'll be doing one for Black people as a whole later, don't worry!)

Original artist: ME! @tododeku-or-bust

[snvxiii]

My drawing for @creatingblackcharacters' CBC Black HIstory Month Challenge. Thank you for the opportunity to participate!

Since the flood of chaos 500 years ago, Sazh Katzroy fixes an ancient camera, developing a centuries-long passion for photography. He travels all over Nova Chrysalia, capturing day-to-day scenes to showcase the flow of life in a world where time is broken.

To my Black viewers: you deserve to be centered and considered. You deserve lovingly depicted Black characters and representation, with the goal of seeing your joy. I hope you always ask for more, more, and better.

With that statement in mind, I drew my version of Sazh leading the life I wrote he'd have in my canon of Lightning Returns. Close-ups of the three lined arts + head canons are under the cut.

Tagging @fangsded if you want to join in!

Sazh is often bombarded with too much food by the people he helps and their neighbors. He, Dajh, and Celeste still work out in the shell of an airship, but has a small place in the nearby village. It acts as a gallery and storage space for all of their art.

Sazh's favorite area to take photos of is the Wildlands. He especially likes to track the day-night cycle of the local flora, and makes projects of visiting the same spots to log any changes. It's interesting how one can capture change in a world that's stopped changing.

Sazh visits his old friends regularly, as much as he's able. He catches up with Fang every time he goes to the Dead Dunes, taking a much deserved drink. He tries to catch Noel and Snow when he finds them – as hard as that is nowadays – and short meetings with Vanille when able. He gives Lumina letters to sneak to Vanille. (Strangely, none of the photos he takes of Lumina have her appear in them.)

[airlocksandaviaries]

Tierra Stevenson, the main character of the sci-fi novel I’m working on, for @creatingblackcharacters’ Black History Month Challenge!

“I felt my being was as much a part of this universe as any star, as any comet.”

- Astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison, on what it was like to go to space.

If there’s one thing I want my Black audience to take away from my novel and my character Tierra Stevenson, it’s that you are an enormous part of the universe, part of the story, part of humanity. Too often in stories Black characters are just side characters or symbols or plot points. I created Tierra to be the most important part of the story, with the power to change the universe. My Black audience, you are as integral to the fabric of the universe as the sun in the sky and the world wouldn’t be the same without you.

Happy Black History month, friends. I hope something wonderful happens to you today. 💜💫

Tagging my friends!

@assignmentimprobable I love you very much my friend, Happy Black History Month 🫶 @adamdna @veradragonjedi @liass-21 @doodledrawreblogs @noratheelk @pandagobrr @academicblorbo

[notbeatingtheachuesations]

My piece for @creatingblackcharacters’s Black History Month challenge! This art was inspired by the Pleiades star cluster; the story of the seven sister stars and why only six are usually visible can be found on every continent in some form or another (except Antarctica), and so it may well be humanity’s oldest surviving story.

This art not only has the seven blue Pleiades stars, but also the red star Aldebaran and the three blue stars that we know today as Orion’s Belt. In Xhosa folklore, the seven stars are the daughters of the sky god, and Aldebaran is their husband. One night, their husband went hunting, but though he shot his arrows at three zebras (Orion’s Belt), they all fell short, and he could not retrieve them because a lion (Betelgeuse) was also watching the zebras. He waits there still.

To my Black fellow artists (of any type or skill level): your stories are worth telling. Your creativity and passion deserve space to thrive, and the world is better with you and your stories in it. You deserve to be respected and celebrated, this month and always.

Also tagging @swan-scribbles, @tamsong, and @aurenflare if you’d like to participate!

[amapolamystery]

I hope you've all had a happy Black History Month! Here's my entry for @creatingblackcharacters' Black History Month Challenge! I thought it was a great opportunity to celebrate the first African cartoon coming to Cartoon Network :} so here's Iyanu!

My message for my Black viewers is this: You are entitled to take up space in art communities. Regardless of skill level, regardless of experience, regardless of how big or small your artistic goals are. Every artist is valuable, and you're no exception! Expressing yourself is a wonderful thing, and there will always be someone who is thrilled to see your work! So keep creating, or don't think twice about getting started! Wherever you go, you'll find your community, because Black artists shine everywhere ✨

While this is a very last minute entry, I wanted to tag my friends @cxffncase and @bodegadulac in case they want to pitch in!

[hearthfire-heartfire]

i wanted to make sure to create a piece for @creatingblackcharacters Black history month challenge before february ended! i don't share a lot of art in this space just cuz i don't draw much these days, but i wanted to contribute in some way to reiterating that Black history month is here to stay.

this is a portrait of antiope jones from dimension 20's "the seven," played by aabria iyengar (@quiddie). i wanted to draw a Black teen girl who doesn't need to have disney cartoon proportions to be adorable. i'm sick of Black teens in public being policed by everybody during a time of your life when you're supposed to make mistakes and experiment with self-expression. "the seven" gets to be a dangerous world of adventure while still celebrating antiope's existence and personhood, even, and sometimes especially, when she gets to be a brat. "what is a 'late' bloomer? you are always right on time."

i gave her a short version of aabria's two strand twist style from the series (apologies for the image compression):

and obviously aabria herself is the main reference for antiope, but i also referenced halle bailey as a teen to get the cheek squish right lol.

bonus sketch of athena, antiope's mom, that grew out of some gesture drawing practice with aabria. idk if i styled her too matronly but she's meant to be closer to empty nester/grandparent age. the exact line i was thinking of when i drew this was, "do you think that there is anything other than love in my heart for you even when you say hurtful things?" because OOH that interaction was pure teen angst. master tactician mom is such a great character.

[pocketsizedquasar-3]

[ID: 6 panels of a digitally drawn comic showing Daggoo doing twist-outs into Pip’s hair. Pip looks a little nervous through the process, with a warm & encouraging Daggoo, and by the end of it he looks at his reflection with surprised joy. More detailed IDs for each panel in alt.]

i finally finished what i was working on for @creatingblackcharacters’ Black History Month Challenge!

so for those who don’t know, for a few years now i’ve been working on adapting Moby Dick into a webcomic. as you might imagine, a text written by a white man in 1851 is oftentimes Very Racist with how it treats its characters of color, and this very much includes its Black characters, of which there are two of note in the cast, Daggoo and Pip. there are parts of the original text in which Melville tries (and even sometimes doesn’t completely fail) to say poignant things or critiques about racism in the text (and much of the text does very explicitly and intentionally deal w/ racism and racialized dynamics, something literally 99% of adaptations ignore), but for the most part, his nonwhite characters are flat, stereotypical, often violent, racist caricatures.

and i won’t get too much into that here (god knows i’ve rambled at LENGTH abt all of this many times & i will many more), because the point of this challenge is to share art about Black joy, but suffice to say that! I am doing my best to intentionally engage with the race & racism of the original text, whether it’s for characters of my own racial identity that Melville bastardizes (like Fedallah), or those of others (like his Black characters, Daggoo and Pip, and his Indigenous characters, and so on). It’s important to me not only to be in conversation with and to challenge Melville’s racism in my work, but also to allow these characters to be more than the one note racist stereotypes Melville writes them as.

So!!! that’s some long winded context, but here’s Daggoo doing Pip’s hair for him and showing him how! I’m extremely fond of Pip getting to be loved and cared for by others of the crew, especially the harpooners (of whom Dag is one). i just think Pip deserves his comically large number of dads who will care for him and make him feel safe and shelter him from the absolute Horror that is 19th century American Whaling (and the Horror that is their white crewmates!). i just think this little Black boy deserves love and joy 😭😭 and i think Daggoo deserves to be a soft, gentle caregiver who can give that to him.

I have lots more thoughts about this and about them and about their hair which i may expand on under a cut or in the tags, but because this is already getting so long!:

to my Black viewers, and my Black readers, you belong in classic literature spaces! you deserve to see yourselves represented thoughtfully and carefully in the ‘canon’ of literature, and to challenge when you aren’t, and be supported in your critiques! your contributions to both literature as a whole (whether “classic” or otherwise) and to literary analysis and critique are invaluable and irreplaceable, both when you discuss the racism in these works and spaces and when you engage in any other kind of analysis or creation. And I want you to be able to enjoy stories of all kinds without people brushing aside your existence or pretending your concerns are invalid or don’t matter because ~it’s a great classic!~ or ~it was a different time.~ your voices and your creations and your art matter.

& on the smallest scale, i hope at least to bring you a little bit of joy. 

I'm tagging some of my art friends! I know the lateness of this in the month means it’ll be hard for anyone to probably do anything of their own for the challenge, but hopefully y’all can still check out & support all the lovely art that’s already been made for this!! @coulson-is-an-avenger @fricklefracklefloof @layalu @brainwormterrarium @seaflying-fliptuna @rootscorrode @holocephal1 and anyone else who wants to!!

& thank you to Ice for making this wonderful challenge, and thank you for all the lovely, incredible work you do on @creatingblackcharacters. truly a blessing to this world 💖💖

anyway, some more notes, because i can’t help rambling:

i referenced a lot of images & videos of people doing twist outs for this but i wanna shout out the video i watched and rewatched and paused and zoomed in on the Most; it’s by kbmaria on YouTube and called “Twist Out on Short TWA 4C Hair | Big Chop Hairstyles”!! def go check her out :]

i loved looking up 1800s hair combs (and afro picks, though it seems they were all just called ‘combs’) & 1800s sleep bonnets for this! the details of the bonnets kind of got lost in simplification (they really do just look like modern ones but with more lace!) but drawing them and the comb was still fun. i also was looking up specifically a lot of Black hair care history and there is some really cool stuff about the original invention and spread of the hot comb (used for straightening hair) and Black people’s role in that (there’s again more i could get into but i won’t right now but do look it up if you’re interested! the library of congress has a good presentation article with sources about Black hair care history. much of it is later the timeline that’s relevant to these characters in particular, but still very interesting!)

i always defaulted to giving Daggoo an Afro when i designed him (mainly because he’s described with one in the book). over recent years, i’ve definitely thought more about this decision and about whether/how to incorporate different hairstyles into representing him. whaling is a…unique situation—long, long stretches of time (we’re talking months) of extreme lethargy with no tasks to do punctuated by unpredictable short bursts (days to weeks at a time) of incredibly high intensity, life threatening, and laborious work. it leaves lots of time to do more complicated, time-intensive hairstyles (which his hair definitely could benefit from in an environment where he’s getting very sweaty, sea-salty, and wet frequently!), but any of that time could be interrupted at any moment; it’s impossible to Plan for when the whale hunts happen and put your hair in a more protective style ahead of time. i don’t really have a specific answer to this yet, but it’s smthn i’m thinking about a lot and researching a lot! visual historical references we have (that i’ve seen at least) of Black sailors of this time tend to have their hair natural and short-cropped (which is how Pip keeps his), but i def want to draw more hairstyles on Dag at different points.

in any case, i do love the idea of him doing Pip’s hair for him (even if the style will be Very temporary due to the nature of their work — he’ll probably get wet very soon 😔) and showing him how to do different ones. starting with something maybe a little easier to do (like this twist out) and maybe showing more complex ones as time goes on.

as far as hair moisturizers go, ive also done a good amount of reading over the years of what kinds of hair moisturizers were available at diff time periods (did you know lots of victorian women used egg washes in their hair to keep it moisturized? i didn’t). i like to think that Dag keeps his own personal stash of natural oil of some kind — he may have access to coconut oil/cedarwood oil/smthn like that. and if he’s ever in a pinch, apparently whale oil is a fine hair moisturizer! and was even used in cosmetics in the 20th century! so hey. got plenty of that around lmao

i think that’s all i have to say for now lmao. thank you again Ice for making this challenge 💖💖

[separocean-anxiety]

[ start image description: A digital illustration of Lauren Olamina (left) from Parable of the Sower, and Harriet Adu (right) from You're Breaking My Heart.

As she's imagined here, Lauren's hair is styled in short cornrows; she wears an Earthy green t-shirt with spiral designs on the sleeves, and an acorn earring. In her hands, she clutches a green book with "Book of the Living" written on the front. Her face is in profile, while her body is angled toward Harriet.

As she's imagined here, Harriet's hair is styled in flowing goddess braids, with two braids on the side of her head making the form of a heart. She wears a neon yellow tank top with the words "Just keep swimming" written on the front, as well as a silver necklace with a half-heart charm. Her face is also in profile, while her body faces frontwards.

Both girls are smiling with their foreheads pressed together—Lauren's eyes are open, while Harriet's are closed. They're at peace in each other's company. The pair stands waist-deep in water, with a radiant ripple of sun rays behind them. In the foreground are the words "I feel, therefore I can be free," a quote attributed to Audre Lorde, a Black lesbian poet and essayist. This specific quote derives from her essay "Poetry is Not a Luxury," which you can read in full through the link below. /end image description ]

"The white fathers told us, I think therefore I am; and the Black mothers in each of us- the poet- whispers in our dreams, I feel therefore I can be free. "

"Poetry is Not a Luxury" by Audre Lorde

This piece is dedicated to all the Black artists who inspired it, as well as all who continue to express themselves unapologetically.

Lauren and Harriet are two characters I hold close to my heart, and have been wanting to imagine design-wise for some time. Their emotional journeys lie at the heart of their respective stories, with Lauren having the ability to involuntarily experience the pain and pleasure of others, and Harriet contending with grief and remorse in the form of a voice in her head. Both are teenage girls who navigate an uncertain, tumultuous world, and reckon with this in different ways. Lauren creates the religion Earthseed to make sense of her reality and build a community with her fellow uprooted strangers; Harriet seeks closure by tracing a path of strange clues to a dreamlike underground world of surreal parties and intersecting dimensions. Lauren writes; Harriet swims. God is Change; Just Keep Swimming.

I want to briefly shift focus over to You're Breaking My Heart, the more obscure of these two incredible books. Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich weaves a story so deeply affective to my soul it was surely a synchronicity that our paths collided. I first met Harriet at a bookstore at the beach, and was hooked on this tale the moment I met eyes with Briana Mukodiri Uchendu's ethereal cover art. And this story. This STORY!!!!!!! Everything from the characters to the pool symbolism to the portal mysteries to the underground world to the everyday liminal to the experimental chapter structures to the fact that Dory's mantra is a motif whose meaning transforms in tandem with Harriet's arc... THIS BOOK CHANGED MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is mayhaps the first time I have ever burst into tears for several minutes after reading the last line of any story. Oh my god. Oh my God.

Harriet's path to self-love is a veritable labyrinth of memory and mending ties and crowns denied and imperfect love and visitations from the past and every step of the way you're rooting for her to find the happiness and closure she deserves. Likewise, Lauren too embarks upon an uncertain course in the wake of tragedy, and forges her future in verse alongside the found family she cultivates. Both Lauren and Harriet are young Black girls who often mask their emotions—for the comfort of others, and the safety of themselves. In the line of the white gaze, Black expressions of emotion—especially those of Black women and girls—are either written off, ignored, or disproportionately and unjustly demonized, which leads many to mask, as Lauren and Harriet do, out of societally imposed necessity.

To the Black readers of this post, your emotions, your expression, your perspective, your spirit, YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! belong in every space which calls your heart. You deserve to be welcomed with open arms—anything less isn't worthy of your time. When a space feels disingenuous, claustrophobic, you hold within yourself the power to create something new—something better. And you never, ever have to do it alone. All of this goes without saying, of course, but it bears repeating. Your emotions are precious, and deserve a place to flourish. You deserve to see yourself reflected in the narratives you love!!! Always and forever!!!!!!!!!!!!! And when something doesn't measure up, the onus is on its creators to put in the time and effort to ensure you feel seen, welcome, CELEBRATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much to @creatingblackcharacters for hosting this event, for your comprehensive lessons and advice, and for sharing your love and passion with the world.

Without further ado, here's some awesomesauce artists you should go check out!!!!!

@oakwolves

instagram | twitter

The best of the best when it comes to characters!!!! The dynamics she explores are unmatched—if you love (and miss) Infinity Train, so much of her art is dedicated to imagining what it would be like if different characters from different books had encountered each other at just the right time; what friendships, families, and rivalries would arise. If you dig all that with a dash of mystery, check out her fic Train Chasers (it's got a website and everything)!!!! Her character designs—both OC's and reimaginings of existing characters—are endlessly inspired and creative. I'd be remiss not to mention her High School Story works—a world that grows more and more vibrant with each passing day!!!! You can learn more about all her creations at the site below!

Zeinab Diomande

instagram

I had the honor of discovering her works in the real at the Magic Gardens! Many of her pieces are fantastical and dreamlike self-portraits, envisioning Black womanhood as a limitless and vibrant spectrum of possibility. If you visit her Instagram (and I highly recommend you do!!) you'll see that each painting holds a story, a train of thought, a revelation. Stars, smiley faces, and spiderwebs are just some of the motifs she employs; my words truly can't do her work justice. Each piece feels like a window into a new realm. Fun fact: a number of the colors in the above piece were actually drawn from her painting, "Caring for yourself is making room in your life for it"

snowgirl

Snowgirl's awesome and experimental compositions are utterly indescribable. Each album is an experience in itself, and all seem almost nostalgic in the strangest of ways. There's something unspeakably sublime in these notes, abstract sounds, and visceral poetry. Among my personal favorites are fertilizerface and we spring from our sleep like it matters. Please give them a listen—something here will surely speak to you.

Briana Mukodiri Uchendu

instagram

I mentioned her stunning work on the cover of You're Breaking My Heart, and I highly recommend that you explore the rest of her oeuvre! She works first and foremost in pastels, and the softness of the medium translates beautifully to her digital illustrations as well. Her artistic philosophy—art-as-connection above all—resonates profoundly with me, and shines through every piece she creates. In the illustration above, I wanted to emulate the cross-hatching sort of texture she used in her own rendition of Harriet. You can explore her works here!

Paul Lewin

instagram

Lewin's work truly speaks to the heart of Afro-Futurism. I phased in and out of discovering it, seeing his signature gorgeous style on a number of books, such as Ebony Elizabeth Thomas's The Dark Fantastic, and even some versions of Parable of the Sower! There came a point when I realized all these works stemmed from the same hand. There's an enchanting elegance to it, and one could spend hours studying the details of his painting (yes, paintings!!!!!!!!!!). This interview gives so some stellar insight into his artistic process.

Both Parable of the Sower and You're Breaking My Heart are phenomenal books I couldn't recommend enough; that being said, both also deal in some heavy topics, so if you need trigger warnings, by all means, reach out!

Here you can read the Book of the Living 1, which Lauren writes over the course of her story:

Here's a preview of You're Breaking My Heart you can listen to!

Even though this is the last day of the event, I still want to tag @r4trave and @okapi8 just to let you know about some awesome artists and stories!!! I invite everyone to share your favorite Black artists and creators in the comments of this post🌟

[justplaindeviant]

CBC BHM CHALLENGE

Thanks to @creatingblackcharacters! 🩵

Dedicated to the enterpriser, Dr. Mae Jemison.

I barely eeked by in time with this, but I hope it looks good cause my glasses broke halfway through and I am impaired. 😅

It was a wild ride for my first attempt at drawing a storybook version of a real life person, but Mae Jemison is a literal hero in this household.

"The really wonderful thing that happened to me when I was in space was this feeling of belonging to the entire universe." - Mae Jemison

For those who don't know this iconic woman, basically, from day one, she knew that she had boundless passion in her heart, especially for STEM. With her curiosity nurtured, she decided that she could and would do what her passion called for.

She faced relentless discrimination as a 16 year old Black college student then became the first Black woman in space despite NASA almost fumbling the ball. After she achieved her dream of going to space, she decided that wasn't quite done being a hero to any little Black girl who has and had been told that there wasn't enough space for them. She went on to start several events, programs, foundations. She became a professor at not one but two prestigious universities. She's even a children's book writer! (btw Find Where the Wind Goes goes hard)

Suffice to say, she's just a cool lady and deserves recognition as the trailblazer she is.

[i-cloudyink-i]

Happy Black History Month!!

(for @creatingblackcharacters BHM challenge)

“There are ways to glow, ways to see what darts beyond your field of vision, ways to feel visible.”

- Arlo Parks

There’s been a lot of racism in the music industry. Even though music is supposed to be an expressive art form, Black musicians are restricted from expressing themselves, which fucking sucks. So, I wanted to highlight Black musicians this month because you all deserve to be recognized (not only for this month, but for every month!) and you deserve to express yourself to the world. And even despite getting restricted from the music industry, you were able to make a big impact on music using your stories and creativity as a whole. And that’s awesome! Keep moving forward with your passion, don’t let anyone stop you 🫡

This art piece features two OCs of mine: Deab Lo (Curly hair with red streaks) + Fluer Sneed (Blonde locs)! They’re both in a personal band alongside their other friends, and while they’re all just having fun with it for now, they plan to make it to the stage once they graduate high school, so they wanna get that practice in while they still can.

The band (especially Deab) have their own concerns about their audience once they get more professional. But at the end of the day, what the audience thinks isn’t their main focus, but the passion for playing their music.

Tagging friends: @c-o-z-m-o @moss-critter @xzbat-loverzx and anyone else who would like to participate in the challenge ^_^

[pia-writes-things]

Here is my entry for the @creatingblackcharacters' Black History Month Challenge.

I wanted to write about Jen from Agatha All Along for a long time now, because I love her to pieces and she deserves the world <3, so this was the perfect opportunity to show her all the love !

For this piece, I decided to focus on two things : her skills at potions, and her joy doing it. We've only seen her making potions under life or death threats from the Road in the series, and I wanted to explore a bit what it meant for her to practice her craft just chilling and enjoying herself. I also wanted to highlight how witchcraft is transmitted through friends and family, how much of a community effort it is, so I decided to explore her teaching side as well, with Billy, and to have her reflect on who taught her and how it shows in her practice. Also, music is important in the show, and to me, so I wanted to incorporate what it would look like if music was an integral part of her craft, especially because working AND singing at the same time is the most joyful thing in life imo. Finally, because I'm me and I always end up writing about found-family somehow, I tried to also incorporate that with her musings about the coven.

With this piece, I also want to say to my Black followers that you deserve this joy and this sense of community. You deserve to feel like your skills are a valuable part of our world, that they are valued and worthy to be transmitted, and that you deserve to be loved and love ❤️ Your joy, your skills and who you are should always be celebrated and I hope I succeeded in conveying that through Jen 😊

Before I post the piece (under a read more because it's 1400 words ^^), I tag @hemerae-ramblings, @saecookie, @sapphictea, @blatterpussbunnyfromhell, @bwayfan25 and @everybodyknows-everybodydies and anyone else who'd like to participate !

(rules here and guidelines here)

Jen side-eyes Teen – sorry, Billy – and catches him quickly looking back toward the history homework laid out on the living-room table. He asked her to help him with it, but she’s busy. She shakes her hand to get rid of the excess water, making her bracelets ring quietly.

With her dried hand, she reaches for sage on the shelf and tears a leaf that she drops in the simmering pot in front of her. The liquid bubbles and sprays a little, tiny droplets flying up and staining the countertop. Luckily for her, she wears her trusty apron, and it saves her white blouse. The sound makes Teen – Billy – look up again, and he observes her for a few seconds before he notices she’s looking at him. He darts down again.

She sighs, a bit amused. He’s so curious and yet so frightened. She knows he still feels bad about the whole Road thing. To be honest, things are still a bit awkward between them, and she’s not sure they will ever not be. He did kill (inadvertently) three of his coven members. Her friends. And he still hangs out with Agatha. It’s a lot.

She starts stirring the pot, making sure to infuse it with her magic regularly. He’s cute, though, she muses. She knows he’s just a lost kid, like she could very well have been, had her parents been less fortunate. Lots of girls from her coven, or just girl like her, had found themselves orphan, back in the day. Not only because they were witches, though it certainly didn’t help.

But, anyway, she knows Te – Billy needs guidance, and she can provide just that. Like her grandma did for her, she thinks, her mind lost in the bubbles of the potion. For no reason, she thinks of Lilia, too. They might not have known each other for long, but she guided her as well. Like her mother, like her aunt, like her cousin. She owes so much to so many women, and Billy needs that kind of advice, kindness and patience. Especially with his powers.

Also, she’d be damned to let Agatha be his sole mentor. He needs more than a sociopath to help him on the road (no pun intended) to proper witchcraft.

“Are you done?” she asks.

“Uh?” His perplexed face would almost be endearing if it wasn’t also annoying. She knows he’s done. He hasn’t been focused on his practice papers for half an hour – at least.

“Your homework,” she repeats, “Are you done?”

“Oh,” he exhales, trying to sound surprised and failing. “Yeah, I’m done!”

“Good, come over here,” she motions, her tone no nonsense.

He scrambles to get next to her so fast she worries he might fall. He’s all dangly limbs and no coordination, like any teenager his age. She’s surprised he didn’t injure himself more on the Road, to be honest.

“What are you doing?” he asks, eager. His whole body is angled towards the pot, his elbow brushing hers as she keeps stirring.

“A potion,” she can’t help deadpanning.

He huffs and she smirks.

“To be more specific, this is a calming potion, to soothes nerves and anxiety. I thought you might need it,” she adds.

He looks sideways at her, and she smiles a little before she adds teasingly: “I’d rather not have you control people’s mind again when you lose control of your emotions. It wasn’t fun.”

He laughs a little. Her smile grows bigger. They’re making progress! A few weeks ago, he would have tried to apologise again.

The potion is also making progress: she can see the colour shifting slowly from water-transparent to a calming pastel blue. She keeps infusing it with magic as Billy watches intently.

Silence falls on them and she starts tapping a repetitive rhythm on the counter with her nails. It’s something her grandma always used to do to teach her the craft when she was little. Jen learned a lot of potion recipes this way, by singing along to whatever absent-minded tune the older woman was creating. It’s something her entire coven used to do, now that she thinks of it.

Billy opens his mouth, interrupting her.

“How do you do it?” She raises her brow, encouraging him to be more specific. “What are the steps to the potion?” he asks again.

She nods. “Some parts I can’t tell you. They're reserved to root-worker, and women. Others, I can explain.”

She starts to play with her nails again, soon humming a lively tune.

“Counterclockwise you must stir,” she sings, handing him the ladle, “To ward away the monster.”

He smiles, his tongue sticking out as he focuses.

“Sing with me,” she urges.

“Counterclockwise you must stir, to ward away the monster.”

“Sage you must add, so that never again you be sad.”

“Sage you mast add, so that never again you be sad.”

She adds her other hand to liven up the rhythm, thinking about Alice playing and singing her heart out on the piano. She tears up, but she smiles too.

“Water you throw in, and let the joy begin!”

Billy is fully laughing by this point, his stirring more hectic. “Water you throw in, and let the joy begin!” he exclaims.

“Do not forget the magic, lest your potion be toxic,” she sings along.

This time, Billy doesn’t repeat and blurts out a panicked “What?”, the ladle stopping dead in the middle of the pot

She chuckles.

“Don’t worry, I’m doing it. Can’t you see the pink? Keep stirring,” she orders. “I’m not feeding you poison; I’m feeding you potion,” she adds, quite proud of her wordplay.

He rolls his eyes but obediently starts stirring again. “Do you always sing when making potions?”

“Not always, but it helps to remember the steps.”

“Do you still need it?”

She scoffs and adds a little bit more sage to the pot as the potion is starting to turn more green than blue. “Of course not. It’s for you. Someone needs to teach you how to heal yourself.”

His eyes travel briefly towards his stomach and then he focuses back on the potion. It’s turning completely blue now. She takes one of her powder pouch and hands it to him.

“You can stop stirring,” she explains. “Now, this powder I can’t tell you about, so don’t ask. Just add a pinch of it, and then, blast you full power to make it boil. It must boil with magic, not naturally, it’s very important.”

His eyes are a bit scared when he looks at her.

“You can do it, Billy.”

He nods, takes a pinch of powder, throws it in and inhale. Then, the pot explodes, and they find themselves soaked in potion.

Billy is frozen in place. Jen just laughs harder than she’s laughed in a long time.

“Ok, note for future lessons: not your full power,” she wheezes. She swipes the potion off her face and thanks the Universe again that she is wearing an apron.

“I’m sorry, Jen.”

“It’s alright. You must make mistakes to learn. That’s what my mother always used to say.”

He smiles wetly. Quite literally. She sighs.

“I think that’s enough for today, don’t you?” He nods. “Go change and go home. We’ll take this up another day.”

She smiles as he climbs the stairs towards the bathroom, his socks leaving wet prints on the carpet.

“He’s really cute, even if he’s a disaster, isn’t he?”

Jen jumps as Lilia appears next to her. She puts a hand on her heart to try and calm it down. She may be drenched in it, but the potion apparently doesn’t work for ghost-induced jump scares.

“Lilia!” she cries indignantly, “How many times?”

“What’s the fun in being a ghost if I can’t haunt you, baby doll?” Lilia laughs as she hovers halfway through the counter.

Jen scrunches up her nose. “I’m not a doll.”

“No, you aren’t. But you’re a baby,” Lilia smirks.

“Hey,” Jen exclaims, regretting the fact she can’t gently slap her friend on the arm, “I’m almost 150.”

“I’m 450, and dead,” the older witch deadpans. “My point stands.”

Jen feigns offense, raised brows and open mouth, but she can’t help the smile that blooms on her lips. It’s not the same, Lilia being a ghost, but she’s so grateful to have her in her life still.

“Do you want to keep me company while I fix his mess and actually finish the potion?” she asks.

“Sure. It’s not like I’m in a rush or something.”

And so, the divination witch and potion witch spend the next few hours happily chatting, reminiscing and singing. At some point, Alice joins them. Rock rhythms mix with traditional root-workers melodies and Sicilian arpeggios. It’s warm and it’s safe and it’s everything Jen has ever wanted in a coven.

[creatingblackcharacters]

If it was one thing my Granny was gone do, it's Have That Shit On 😤 A full ensemble of jewelry, and her fit was gone match it, every day.

My chest hurts a little typing this out, but that's okay.

My Granny loved to talk; even though my Grandad has a boisterous voice, best believe that you would always still hear her cutting wit and elegant dismissal when she didn't agree 🤣 so much power packed within all 4'10 of her. I grew to value her experiences and her opinions, from politics, to Blackness, to music, to silly things. Chock full of mysterious lore; she spoke so much yet could reveal so little about herself. Full of so much love- she made getting a bowl of Cheezits a celebration each time.

Today, I want my Black viewers to know that our families count. This world wants to believe so poorly of our family structure and it frustrates me. Do we have issues with families within our culture? Yes, but no more than any other culture and race do. We don't deserve to be defined by stereotype. Our families are capable of being strong, loving, doting, powerful, wonderful. That deserves to be seen and celebrated. So much of my respect for my Blackness came from my Granny, who loved me so, so much. Couldn't tell her shit, in all her bougieness. She was unapologetically Black, unapologetically her. I loved that about her.

So. This one's for my Granny. I'll miss her, but through me, her voice makes an impact 💖

[mekrowave]

“Let nothing dim the light that shines from within.” – Maya Angelou

This is for @creatingblackcharacters 's Black History Month challenge! I decided to draw Walter from Don't Starve Together (and his dog, Woby) for two reasons. The first being that he has a kind of joy and courage that doesn't falter in the face of adversity. It's not easy to be your authentic self, especially when society is constantly telling you you're not good enough simply due to your race. My second reason for choosing Walter is because I wanted to specifically depict a Black child getting to just be a happy kid– too often, Black kids are forced to grow up too soon.

I'm not sure if this is the best phrasing, but what I'm trying to share to any Black viewers is that you deserve to be able to have your happiness and to embrace your inner child. I hope you get to do something today to take care of yourself, even if it is as simple as spending time with a beloved pet.

Some friends who I encourage to look into the challenge: @carnis-insanis @corvidcuriosites @ivaryn0 @horror-theorist