#get yourself a piece of media that inspires you to make the art you're scared to

[niinnyu]

Stupid bideogaem making me wanna draw backgrounds and shit 🤢🤮

[jsab-crisis]

Hey there

I only found this blog recently and I love it, the story line and the artwork along with it, it's a shame you had to discontinue the comic because I enjoyed it.

There are not many JSAB blogs that I like I'll say, but there's been a decrease in them as the hype went away, I found this in my recommended section after I was going through some hard times myself.

After Afrothunder left the community to fix her mental health problems (she was quite the inspiration and helped me through my darkest hours at one point) there wasn't anything left here in this community a side from a couple of blogs here and there I wanted to start my own blog.

But I ran into a major downfall almost immediately, how do you get people to look at your stuff, I know there are a lot of blogs that don't get noticed and run down to nothing but how did you do it or when did people start noticing your work?

I'm not asking for the sake of followers but for other people who are scared to ask this or have a blog of their own like me.

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it!

I'm still making JSaB art and I've started making a new JSaB AU centered comic (working on chapter 2 atm. 10 pages, fully colored, background + 6 characters) if that's something you wanna see (on my artblog, @zimcard-artblog ) . I haven't made some crisis-au stuff in awhile due to being busy but I'll get back to sharing more lore and other stuff like short comics and whatnot.

Also, yeah, JSaB has been up for awhile. 2 years or so? Man, back in the early days, there were so many early starting comics that were amazing. I honestly miss it back then and wished I was more active like I am right now. Ya' know, the community is still kicking- especially in different social media platforms from my knowledge. I, personally, do NOT suggest Amino. Safe yourself the trouble and back away from it.

Oh! Afrothunder is back from my knowledge but she is doing it in her own pace for the sake of her mental health, it's a genuine shame to hear how someone so talented and kind is being treated so poorly by a bunch of impatient, immature, and even heartless people over her work. This has happened to a lot of people who make popular comics online, often on their own pace, which they tend to run into a bunch of people who are very disrespectful of their personal lives. I've talked to Afrothunder Waaaaaaay back, made an ask collab once with her regarding Blixer and Cyan in this blog. We don't talk now but I like to think of her as an old friend because she was super nice and welcoming back then when we first started talking on the server, it was super neat. Wishing her the best and hope she's doing well right now <:]

> How did you do it or When did people start noticing your blog?

I think it's a matter of getting recognized enough so you can promote any projects you're working on. I started drawing fanart for JSaB the moment I finished watching the playthroughs, it eventually garnered an audience who are into the same media I was in which I gained new followers.

So, basically; get recognized. Tagging your stuff of said media you're basing your post about makes it easier for people to find it. Share some art, doodles, concepts, whatever you have and what you want to share with the people. Eventually you'll notice the numbers rising.

It usually went on like that for me until I end up having an idea- like, "Oh, I have an AU! I wanna share that AU and make a comic out of it!" And so I started sharing small concepts regarding the AU.

Sketches, doodles, designs, short comics, and explanations. It was like an early beta of the project I was working on and when it got enough people interested; That's when you kickstart the final piece that goes "Hey, I made a comic! Check it out!"

If you're doing it on tumblr, really advise to make another blog as a sort of archive for said comic because it makes it easier for people to find the comic and read back to it whenever they want to. Accessibility is key.

This actually applies for making askblogs as well or any sort of extra blog for something specific.

Then, with all of that, you go on your own pace. It's a hard start but you'll be able to go with your own flow, take your time, and remember to prioritize YOURSELF first before other things. If you receive any sort of hate or just weird messages, just delete them on the spot because you are responsible for your own inbox.

That's my two cents on it, hope this helps! If there's anything specific you wanna know. Just ask :3

[inthe-neighbourhood]

Fighting Creativity Block

Recently I've been feeling a block in my creativity, with my writing and art, with a massive lack of motivation, so I thought it would be good to list a few ways to get over this block. Tactically both writer's block and art block.

Feel free to leave suggestions as well, I'm still trying to get past this block so any help is appreciated! <3

______________

Ways to fight Creative Block

Taking a Break

You can't always have unique ideas, that's just a fact. Instead of forcing new ideas, it's better to take a step back and come back after some rest. Creative block can come from tiredness and overworking; sometimes you don't realize it until you can't keep going.

Remember it's essential to take care of yourself, and sometimes a good nap, a hot meal and some self-care go a long way.

2. Consuming Different Media

One of the best pieces of advice I got as a writer, was to look at different media for inspiration.

If you are working on a particular project, for example, a story about the Wild West (defiantly not what I'm working on hehe) and you don't feel passionate about it, or just feel stuck. Watching a cowboy movie can help, or reading about the history of the American Frontier, lets you make new ideas and sparks your creativity.

Or, if you have no ideas at all, but you want to write or you want to draw, watching a new movie, or playing a video game can get your creativity going. Sometimes we're so busy in our lives, working on our projects, that we forget what inspired us to do these things. Also, don't feel guilty if you think what your writing is too similar to another story. Originality is dead, but I'm not sure if it was ever alive. All stories are reiterations of other stories or a melting pot of multiple.

3. External Creativity

I did not know how to word this, but you know that feeling when you have a concept that really interests you, but when you open the google doc, your mind is blank. The words aren't wording.

To deal with this, exploring the concept is helpful. Cultivating a playlist that encapsulates, a character you are interested in writing, or a scene you really want to write helps it become more than a vague concept. Also, make a Pinterest board, for either your character or an area in your story, it helps you visualize your story, making the writing process easier.

This also applies to art, I can be in the mood to draw or have a good drawing day, but I don't know what I want to draw, having an interesting board helps. I have one that has random images I thought were cool for if I ever just want to draw. It can also help with finding references for poses, buildings, faces, etc.

4. Try Different Activities

I'm stubborn, and I hate doing anatomy practice, or writing exercises, but they can help you bully your creative block. This is for the creative block, where you have ideas but your writing is bland or your art formatting is bad, it can just mean you need practice, it happens to all of us. It's boring, but it is necessary.

Look at videos for writings, pertaining to what you are struggling with particularly. For example, what I'm struggling with is planning and show don't tell, giving the reader an image in their mind.

For artists it's relatively the same, look at what you're struggling with and find videos or websites that help with that. For example, I'm struggling with formatting my sketchbook pages. I haven't been able to find many videos to help me with this, but just looking at other artists' sketchbooks helps.

5. Background Noise

We all listen to music, youtube or a show in the background while writing or drawing. If you don't, I'm scared of you. I find what you listen to can help with what you're doing. This isn't an exact science, but try it out and let me know if it helps.

Writing, I believe while writing it's more helpful to listen to informative videos in the background. While writing this I was rewatching Jacksepticeye's "Youtube has some serious issues..." and hbomberguy's "Vaccines and Autism: A Measured Response" Listening to more wordy content, puts me in a more professional headspace, making it easier to form paragraphs and sentences.

Drawing, I find it more helpful to listen to music, maybe it's because it's a visual art form, although listening to youtube and watching shows can help as well.

Again, not an exact science, I'm curious how people focus now so let me know.

_____________

I hope this helps! Feel free to give suggestions on how to deal with creative block and I'll make a part two.

[mirror-to-the-past]

Hi!! I hope you are having a good day,

I recently read your fic flower language and I think it is amazing!! I really like your writing style and was wondering if you have any writing tips or advice on planing out the plot for your stories.

Aw, thank you so much for saying hello, and I'm glad you like Flower Language! I hope you were having/will have a good day, upon you seeing this response.

I conveniently had the opportunity pop up for me to sort of hash out my thoughts on this kind of question in a conversation with someone just recently, so I'll try my best to reiterate it okay-ish.

On advice for plotting out stories:

I am character focused, in everything I do. In original works, this results in very soft world building, so I can't offer great advice for the next trendy "What House are you?" kind of universe, sorry. My first priority is: what kind of circumstances in this rough idea of a universe could realistically arise (few ass-pulls allowed) that would help this character develop and reach a satisfying ending? I find that, through this approach, the world simultaneously builds itself up alongside the hero's journey. And, I guess it kind of makes sense, given that humans have made society as we know it, so when you write each character as an individual rather than an obvious device, you're essentially going caveman mode, and reinventing society for your universe! Additionally, creating a reactive rather than proactive plot stops yourself from potentially making lore tidbits that don't go anywhere, or grandiose buildups that fall flat. For reference, with Flower Language, I have a doc called "Flower Language General Ideas," and it's full of disjointed sketches for scenes yet to come, and ideas that have or haven't yet come to fruition, purely spurned from: "hey, this character reacted in [x] way to [y] thing, so maybe something along the lines of [z] would make sense to happen next for them!" The catch is, I'm not holding myself to any of them. If an idea becomes outdated, or addressed in another way, I will scrap that sonovabitch so fast, you won't even see me sucker-punch that concept into backspace oblivion. The priority is shaping the world around the character, not a plot point. Minimalistic world building that suits your characters like a well-fitted shoe is so comfy for me. I like it. So, in sum for my style of planning:

What is this universe trying to tell?

What are the characters of this universe trying to tell?

Find an appropriate atmosphere in this universe to match both accordingly.

Have the universe build around the character and whatever they need to get done™.

And I apologize I advance for how vague that is, but it's the best way I can put my thoughts right now.

On Writing Tips:

The one on my mind right now is the topic of originality. To put it simply: originality is kind of dead, and that's okay. I think if many people who aspired to make art and put it into the world realized that instead of scaring themselves out of it by calling themselves frauds, we would have a lot more art to enjoy. We, as humans and artists, are a lot of the same sets of dreams and insecurities, and we've been penning the human condition in a bazillion different ways ever since we first learned to etch words into stone. So, I think that rather than looking at your own writing and worrying about how it's too much like [x], you should instead look at it from an individualist perspective. When you found that piece of media that inspired you, or that character that really spoke to your soul, and now you can't help but see it/them in everything that you put your heart into, that's not the work or character you were inspired by- that's you. That work or character made you realize a part of your personal soul/mind/self, whatever you want to call it, and put it into words and plot. And yes, I do mean "realize," not influenced. There's some things I don't relate to, but can understand. There's some things that make my heart catch in my throat with an innate attachment. One of those is being open minded, and the other is a connection. I don't like NFL or sports stuff in general (for the most part), but I can understand how people might enjoy the competition, unhinged nature of it all, the community, and annual bustle and excitement. Now on the other hand, when I first read Madeline L'engle's Murray Family books, I felt spoken to. Now I see some of the Charles Wallace in the things I write and say. But that's the thing- now I see it. It was still there before. I just didn't realize it in a solid form until then.

You aren't taking from the things you read/watch. You're realizing parts of yourself from them. And like they say, write what you know.

[bookwyrminspiration]

WAIT. I'm late to the party but I just remembered all those anons were sending in "why I send you asks" and their reasons and I actually really want to participate, so I hope you will accept late applications?

The reason I send you so many asks is because you've just...built such a nice feeling that anything can be discussed, and it's never too niche or cringy or boring, and that's really relieving and amazing.

I'm sure you (along with many others) have realized by now, but I suffer from....really bad anxiety, both social anxiety and just in general, and it very often gets in the way of my life. Because of this and past experiences, I'm always very scared and hesitant to talk about my interests and my thoughts on anything.

But every time I've sent you an ask, even if it was, in retrospect, probably really annoying to read through the one hundred "sorry"s and "my bad"s, you've always been nothing but kind and interested in my ideas, and that was just...so surprising. Because I never really knew anyone who was willing to talk about anything, and it was just...really amazing to meet someone who was! Especially because I love and am interested in so many different things and kind of need someone to bounce ideas at. And it was really cool to see someone that was unashamed of their own interests and thoughts, but didn't make others feel bad for having different ideas.

Every time I send you an ask, you always have something interesting to say back. Something I hadn't thought of or considered, or a query that would make me rethink my own theories, or just a very well-thought-out answer to a question. I remember sending in tons of asks about the wings AU before it was released, and writing those was probably the highlight of my day, because I knew you'd take them and run with the ideas, and do your best to match my energy, and I was really grateful for that. And you were always willing to dig deeper, to think "but what if there was more?" and that's just...incredible! I don't have any other word for it!

I love sending you asks because you don't dismiss an idea or deem it as stupid, and you're just...such a kind and wonderful person that can make even the most obscure subject infinitely more interesting than before, and you never fail to make me consider things again, to expand my thoughts and views, and I'm really grateful for that.

So, because it should definitely be said by now, thank you!

And, well, that's why I love sending you asks :]

- pyro

there is no timeline so there's no way to be late! and I'm answering this a few days after you sent this, so if you believe yourself to be late then we can both be late together :D. you are fully welcome to participate if you want to (which you said you did)! it was mostly just a random question I had because i'm just as analytical with myself as I am with keeper, and knowing how other perceive and think of me is helpful for that--and I was curious about how i'd aquired so many asks so quickly, and then you all just turned it into complimenting quil hours for some reason !! (but on to your ask before I get even more distracted)

(note from a quil who has answered all of this: got very long so that's why there's a readmore! i love you /p)

this means so much to me--specifically your use of "built" because I do try pretty hard to maintain a positive atmosphere and welcome everyone in and treat everyone with the same attention. it didn't just fall into place, i try to be encouraging to everyone and support all the amazing work--art, writing, ideas, etc--I see from people. (note: i've been wanting to do a thing where I ask for fic/art/other recommendations from others (can be friends or their own) so i can go through and reblog a bunch of them with comments and the like, I just want to get through more of my asks before I start something like that). But you're right--nothing is too niche! there's so many details in the story it's impossible for one person to notice anything, so people bringing up the obscure and their own thoughts makes the story richer and more fleshed out for everyone else! and i think it's really cool to just see what other people focus on (like I said, my analysis isn't limited to characters, but I'm not like dissecting you all to understand each of you in a creepy way or anything. I just like to get a better sense of someone so I can respond in a way more tailored to them when we interact)

anxiety can really suck, so as someone who also has anxiety i am giving you a comforting hug if you'd like one. it genuinely impacts everything you do and think about, rewriting how you experience life. a single, inconsequential experience to someone else can literally change major aspects of how we think, which makes interactions so scary sometimes. i remember things people said years ago and still base my actions around them, but those people have absolutely no recollection of ever saying it, but just the fear of having done something wrong once permanently altered my thinking. (this is not to make this about me, I'm just trying to show I understand by sharing an experience of my own).

reading through all your "i'm sorry"s and "my bad"s wasn't annoying and never will be. you have never had anything to apologize for, and I know that sometimes you feel you need to enter a conversation and first apologize for being there, but I'm thrilled to have you here and always love seeing you in my inbox. I don't know how to articulate this properly, but I'm going to try. i saw your apologies and your apprehension as...a puzzle? that's absolutely not the right word but I can't think of the right one so please let me explain (I don't mean to imply you're like something to be solved or a problem in any way. words can be difficult and I'm trying to describe something very intangible rn, so I hope this doesn't sound bad). I didn't see it as annoying (you're never annoying), I saw it like it was something to work through, and while it's not my job or anything to help other's with their personal problems, it was like if I could just provide one space where I could encourage you (not just you, but anyone) as a friend to try shifting your language and start thinking of yourself more positively, then I wanted to give that.

because I am interested in your ideas! and I want to be kind and welcoming to you! but I also want you to be kind to yourself, so any impact I've had to give anyone a safer, less scary space is really cool. I don't know if that made sense, but I'm not trying to talk down to you or anything or be like I'm this high and mighty figure harboring lost souls or something, just that connection is important and I like being there for people. kinda worried that sounded bad because it feels worded strange but I'm trying to reciprocate and say i appreciate you and am happy to talk about anything!

i love bouncing ideas back and forth and you are more than welcome to say anything and everything you're thinking about. talking to you is always an absolutely joy and I get so excited when you send me an ask and when you're reading my response, because it often feels like this like...buzz? like we're just vibing on this frequency and it makes it so much fun to throw ideas back and forth and just listen to each other talk. i am very glad to have surprised you and met you! I don't know a lot of people like myself either, so having someone like you interact with me and just go all out on these little things and what we personally like about different parts of the so much fun. a lot of the other people I know irl feel like they just scratch the surface, they say things just to get credit for it and to appear like they know what they're talking about while ignoring all these other things that have such an impact, so it's amazing to have found someone else who looks at everything and anything like I do. my brain really is "a little bit of everything all of the time" so knowing you have so many different interests too is really cool. i am giving you an internet high five and pretending you aren't so far away.

I spent so much of my life being quiet when I had so many thoughts, so now that I have this kind of outlet I just! want to say everything I can! i want to look at everything from every perspective possible! the world is a huge collection of things tied together and I love following the strings to find the connected pieces! but I think that's a way of approaching the world not a lot of people share (I could be wrong), so it's really cool to hear you think my thought process is interesting!! my brain is practically composed entirely of questions. any subject at any time of the day and nearly all of my thoughts are just wanting to know more and trying to understand things, so having that opportunity to ask further questions and just learn things (about what other's thing, how things work, etc) is so much fun. you might've seen me ask some questions of other's in a few of the asks I answer, but those barely scratch the surface of just how many I have. my handle is in_quil_sitive (inquisitve) on nearly every social media platform (except for this one) for a reason.

I remember some of your asks from before the wings au was published, too. those were absolutely incredible, and I got a rush of excitement every time I saw you sent another. those were the the highlight of my week, too!! your enthusiasm and excitement for something I hadn't even posted yet gave me so much motivation to continue and you helped me think through so many future ideas and consider things from new perspectives. i know i specifically wrote that you inspired one chapter in the notes, but you've had an impact on every single chapter of this story/ it wouldn't be what it is without you, and I mean that with complete sincerity. you were the one who made me think "what if there was more" so I could make this au even better and work towards something bigger. I just have so many thoughts about everything all of the time, I can't go more than a few minutes without being distracted by a different train of thought, but knowing there was someone who would want to hear all the weird, disjointed ideas i'd strung together and composed into a more cohesive format was so cool. there's just so much to think about!!

I probably sound repetitive at this point but I love answering your asks because you're so receptive to the way i say things and it's like you're actually listening and want to hear what I specifically have to say, not just the general ideas. you want to know my unique, personalized opinions and perspectives and don't just dismiss them when they're not what you expect to hear or aren't generic. you're incredibly kind, too, I hope you know. I love the description of how I can "make even the most obscure subject infinitely more interesting than before." that is such a meaningful compliment to me. I just keep thinking about this line over and over again and it just...it really means a lot. because you're saying it's me that interests you and not just what I talk about. I could talk about anything and you'd still want to interact with me and that's so fucking nice. I hope you know the same goes for you. we can challenge each other's thinking together and make things even deeper and more complex before together <33.

thank you for being here and being my friend, pyro. talking to you is always one of the highlights of my day and gives me a very positive feeling that I carry around for a while. I do this thing sometimes where I film myself to later observe my behaviors in the middle of intense emotions to understand myself better (back to that whole analysis thing again), but it's not just negative things, it's also when I'm really excited or pleased with something and jumping around and stimming and all that, and some of those are from when I interact with you. that might sound a little weird but I mean it positively, as in talking with you makes me ecstatic.

I have said. so many things. so I will stop (for now). but I really appreciate having you in my life <33