#my art style evolved without my permission again

[a-destruction-of-cats]

Concept sketch for Odysseus

[actualsunflower]

ur art is rlly inspiring for me... I struggle a lot with line art, would u be ok giving advice? I rlly love ur art

I'm really sorry I left this in my inbox for long, I've just been trying to figure out how to answer fjdfskf but first that makes me very happy that you find my art so inspiring 🥺 really, I've worked so hard on my art for so long, and I struggle so bad to see it as good and worthy of even sharing. Looking back at old art I can see the progress, but it's still hard to look at it and call it good myself. I have a bad habit of comparing myself to other artists out there and I never compare in my eyes :/ it's really hard unlearning that but I've been making a lot of progress, and actually spending almost a year not sharing any of my art really helped with that. (I'm not saying do the same thing it's just my experience!!) Now it doesn't bother me quite as much.

See I left this ask in my drafts for so long. I was going to make a little tutorial on how I do things, see if that helped but I just kinda... Never did it, executive dysfunction and work and all. So I'll just give some tips instead

1- My first advice is to give up the tiny lines, the one teeny line at a time thing, and go for full lines. It doesn't have to be like the entire face shape at once, but do bigger chunks because the more lines the more shaggy and jagged it looks. You won't get a smooth cohesive line like that if you're going for a clean and smooth look. It's hard to get over habits like that but once you do your art And your wrists/arms/shoulders will thank you. (This only applies if you want a clean look, if that's your thing and what you're going for disregard that. But this is about my art specifically.)

2- always stretch your wrists, it really does help. Give your hand a good pull back (not to where it hurts) and make a fist and roll your wrist, it helps A LOT and feels good lol stretching your whole body is good as well, if you've got bad posture like me you'll start hurting halfway through. A lot of times though you won't even notice you're in pain until you try to sit up.... Ouch

3- USE REFERENCES!!!! It is not cheating, it's not cutting corners it is essential to learning!!! And not just learning but it's essential for just enjoying art, it takes away so much frustration of "why doesn't this look right?!" And something else nice, is if you're really struggling with something, just take a picture of yourself and trace it. I do it all the time and it has saved me many a frustrating breakdown. Just make sure you own or have permission to use the photos you're tracing over. Just don't use it as a crutch, as in for every single thing because it can at some point hinder growth. My advice is just sketch over the general shape, and then do the rest yourself. Just having that shape/position will help way more than you know. And don't be afraid to just cobble together references, paste and reshape and move whatever you want or need.

4- Play with and make brushes. I have a special brush that is used Only for Jay's vitiligo and it saves me a lot of time, pain, and just looks really cool and helps me keep it consistent. And you'll be surprised at how you feel by just changing the brush you do line art with. Softer/harder brushes can change everything

5- literally who cares about shading. If it looks cool, put it in. If you don't think it looks cool, erase it. You are the god of lighting and shading in your own art, it doesn't matter where the light is coming from. Just say there's multiple light sources even, it really don't matter

6- learn to use multiply and add layers, they are super helpful and fun. Multiply layers are great for shading AND blush, I use one clipped over Jay's face for blush, just clip, watercolor over cheeks/nose/ear tips, slight transparency and bam perfect blush (for color, I pick base skin tone, slide bar to red, deepen a bit, perfect) (I use the color box/w the side bar) add layers are great for glowing things and bright lighting. (A tip for glowing things, use the desired color, blur a bit, then use a dot of white in the middle, blur that. Extra glow!)

7- warming up is a great idea. I just scribble a bunch, do little doodles of my pets, go from faintest to hardest in pressure and back again in on line, then I usually do something a bit more substantial, which is typically drawing Jay or Nick lol that's why I always have so many Jay and Nick drawings. It helps though

8- this one I feel is very important. Don't ever feel like you're copying someone else. People add and remove things from their style subconsciously, I have seen more than once where I post in my style and later see someone else who did something that incorporated that specific thing I did. It just happens. You do it without thinking, and you can do it while thinking it too. Don't trace people's art, but if you love the way someone draws eyes, just draw them like that too. Nobody owns an art style, no one can stop you and you will not get in trouble from doing that. Eventually anyway it will evolve into your own unique way, and people will do the same when they see your art. It's and endless cycle in the art community and it is one of the treasures of sharing our art. Whether we think it or not we are all influencing each other and it's a beautiful thing.

That's all I can think of rn so, I hope this is helpful and I apologize for taking forever lol

[lutrain2020]

Meet the Creator!

Introducing: Squido!

Commission:  I haven't and don't really intend to. I don't want to take anyone's hard-earned money. Just ask me to draw things and there's a good chance I will.

Social Media:  Tumblr: @sky-squido​ AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_squido/pseuds/sky_squido

Tell us a little bit about yourself!

Call me Squido! I love to draw and write but I'm also super extraverted and I love interacting with humans so always feel free to chat with me! Aside from drawing and writing, I just love being outside and have a tumblr sideblog dedicated exclusively to nature photos I take. I love mountains, the ocean, the sky, and just about everything else in this beautiful world of ours! If you ever feel like having an internet stranger give you a thousand word rant, ask me why my favorite color is blue and you will not be disappointed!

What got you into creating? what inspires you to keep creating?

I've been drawing for as long as I can remember and can't seem to stop, though I take long breaks sometimes I always seem to come back to it again. I try not to have anything in mind when I draw, but to start sketching and let the drawing happen. Sometimes I find that what I'm trying to draw is not what my drawing wants to be (if that makes any sense) and change what I'm making halfway through. It makes drawing a really relaxing and carefree therapeutic experience! Writing is different. I've always enjoyed writing, but I didn't write much and never shared my writing with anyone because I thought it was super pretentious. It wasn't until entering High School and joining the literature club and making a deal with a friend that we'd share our writing with each other that I actually gained any sort of confidence in my ability and sought to improve it. Being in that club and sharing my pieces at the open mics was a really encouraging experience! I invite everyone to share their writing, even if it's with some random internet stranger (I'm open anytime!) if they're unsure of their abilities. A little encouragement goes a long way! Now that I'm on Discord, ao3, and tumblr, I receive so much more feedback than I ever have before! It's been super encouraging! What inspires me most is definitely nature. Even if my ideas aren't directly related to the outdoors, I get my best ideas there. Fandoms are also a great idea generator. The sheer volume of headcanons and prompts is enough to make me dizzy with ideas!

What's your creative process like?

I love sketching. My favorite thing about drawing digitally is that I can sketch as much as I like and never worry about wasting materials! Often times my sketches turn themselves into drawings without permission and other times they stubbornly remain sketches for all eternity. I always dive right in because I have no patience and the idea I started out with generally isn't that great but in the process of pursuing it, it spirals out of control and sometimes the idea gets better and sometimes it gets worse but I just kinda roll with it. Creating is a really chill process for me and while I regularly scream stuff like "I'M DRAWING ON THE WRONG LAYER NONONONONONO" or "NO HECK FRICK SHOOT IT SMUDGED HECK HECK GET THE ERASER QUICK," the creative process is a great way for me to unwind. I'm the same way about writing. I never plan or outline and just kind of roll with things. I mean I generally have the basic jist in mind, but I try to not have a plan so I can keep the story driven by the characters and not force them into acting the way I wanted them to in the outline I made hours or even days ago. Creating is my opportunity to break free so I don't really see what good a plan or outline does me. I'm a pretty spontaneous person!

What kind of mediums do you like to use?

I like to take pictures, but it's not really my main focus. I've been mostly digitally drawing—I use my iPad Pro and Procreate��but lately I've been pencil sketching with just your average everyday mechanical pencil (I'd forgotten how nice the texture of paper was! Clearly I spent too much time drawing on my iPad!). I have these Stabilio chalk pastels I love to pieces, but have also spent a great deal of time with watercolors. Digital is my primary medium currently, though.

Is there a specific scene wrote that you are particularly proud of?

"Sky’s golden scales are glowing with reflected light from the sun while beneath them, the same pulsing blue in her mane runs like a river as her very skin is alive with electricity. The sun’s beginning to dip, fading through the color wheel from yellow to deep orange to scarlet and the world is bathed in watercolor and hue shifted through the rainbow until all that was blue becomes red. This new alien world begins to darken as red fades to deep purple-pink, the clouds catching last vestiges of gold in their pillowy folds, yet Sky continues rippling with lighting, the bright blue flowing like blood through her veins and the gold shimmering in the eerie azure glow. We weave through the winds and zephyrs and I close my eyes and let the breeze caress my hair and when I reopen them, I’m standing back on the ground again in a world long since darkened by night. I place my hand over my beating heart where Sky is still laughing with joy and smile because once you’ve awakened your dragon, you don’t need wings to fly anymore."

Is there someone who inspires you and your writing or art?

Every fanartist and fanfic writer that posts their stuff online is an inspiration to me. Even if their stuff isn't very good—especially if it isn't very good—it's a huge testament to the courage of the creator and their bravery in expressing themself! I sat on fanfic and fanart for years and never shared it and here were kids half my age putting out art that was their first experiment in a new medium and a little shaky but it was still out there and they were still being supported by the community and that really inspired me to reach out and stop lurking in fandom and actually get involved!

is there something that you struggled with that made you grow as a creator?

I feel like everyone has these periods where they were just gaining confidence in their artistic ability but suddenly everything they make is trash and they're not happy with any of it and they feel so down and worthless and "where did all of my hard-earned ability go? Will I ever get it back?" I think this is a pretty common experience and when I find myself there, I find it most helpful to share what I make anyway, even if I hate it, with someone who I know will give it to me straight because they'll point out the deeper problems—the root of the issue—that I hadn't even noticed and I can use that information to grow as an artist. Bad pieces are just as valuable as good ones. There was also a time where I had a lot of trouble developing a style. I did a lot of experimenting and never found anything I liked. What happened is I just kept drawing and whatever popped out eventually evolved into my style. I used to get frustrated that I couldn't draw anything without a reference, but after years and years of using references and drawing some of the same things over and over again, you won't need the references anymore. I mean, they're great and you should always feel free to use them, but over time, you won't need to look up a picture of every little thing you try to doodle.

What got you into writing or art?

My silly twitchy fingers can't ever seem to stop drawing! Same with writing. Words and ideas follow me around, little plot bunnies pestering me until they get written down somewhere. I was greatly inspired by the works of C.S. Lewis in my writing, especially his Cosmic Trilogy. My art style was aided by Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist, which was a valuable stepping stone in developing my own style. Other than that, it was my own insatiable desire to MAKE THINGS that spurred me onwards. I don't think I could stop if I tried!

What's your favorite part of the creative process?

After you've got that first paragraph and you've found a flow and you've got a topic and you just GO. I get into the zone and the story starts happening on its own and I'm not an author anymore, I'm just a channel between the world of the piece and the page. That's my favorite. I love watching things take shape. I love shading a sketch for these same reasons. The whole drawing comes together and becomes A Thing and it's the most exciting time to be a creator. Something else inside you has taken over and you're just along for the ride. I have no idea if my experiences are common at all but this is what it's like for me!

What's your least favorite part of the creative process?

EDITING. I HAVE ZERO PATIENCE. THE THING IS DONE. WHY DO I HAVE TO KEEP LOOKING AT IT. CAN I POST IT YET. This leaves me with a lot of holes in what I make and I can't do a very clean, super detailed drawing unless it's for an art class and I'm forced to keep working on it. I have a terrible habit of never proofreading my things!

What's your favorite type of scene to write?

AAH hard question! I love writing description and places where I can really let my inner 19th century romantic be unleashed but I also love a good emotional moment between two characters. Something tense. I like fight scenes, but I try to keep them brief and interesting. Sometimes I find scenes where I have no idea what's going on and I try to avoid that, but it's really hard sometimes.

What's the hardest for you to create?

I have so much trouble with endings. I can generally figure something out, but there's always a moment of panic before the end like "heck I wrote everything I wanted how do I wrap this up????" That's probably a byproduct of me planning nothing XD I sometimes have trouble with characterization and making sure everyone acts the way they actually would. The hardest part is continuing after you have an "oh heck what do I do now" moment that breaks you out of your zone and all of your ideas and plot threads turn invisible or evaporate or go wherever it is they go when you're looking for them.

What's your favorite genre to write?

ANGST ANGST ANGST ANGST. Wellll... scratch that. I love something adventure-y and plot driven with a lot of really meaningful character interactions. I've always had trouble putting my writing into genres, but I guess that kind of speaks for itself in a way.

What fandoms do you enjoy creating for?

Linked Universe is the fandom I have created and posted the most for by a LONG SHOT. I found LU shortly after making my tumblr and I joined the Discord shortly thereafter. Since then, it has been nonstop inspiration and creativity for me! I tend to get sucked into one fandom and it consumes me for a few months before I silently drift out of it and never think about it again. LU is the fandom I've been the most active in EVER though—and it's still going—so there's a good chance I'm never getting off this ride.

What's the work you are most proud of?

AAAAAAAAAAH MY BABIES. okay um here's the first and only fanfic I've ever posted anywhere but I'm really happy with: https://sky-squido.tumblr.com/post/618964544219463680/turn-back-time-a-linked-universe-fanfic I have a lot of other pieces kicking about, but they're not fandom so I haven't shared them yet. I probably will after I touch them up a bit.

Do you have any fics inspired by real life stories?

Not really? I don't really know where my ideas come from to be honest!

Where do you post your finished works?

my tumblr. I tag stuff #squido writes and #squido draws so you can find them easily. I also put them on the discord but they get lost in the stream of other works pretty quickly so stick to my tumblr. I also have an ao3 now! https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_squido

If you have any fun stories about the pieces you made, please do share!

Turn Back Time was actually live written in the Discord, but entirely unplanned and in the #angst channel! It was just a headcanon but then I started describing it and like 2 hours and 5k words later I'm sitting in the Discord like "what just happened??"

[mnkiss]

A quick list of animes I watched and don’t want to forget:

Mushishi - pure, haunting beauty, 10/10 recommend especially when you want some clarity and calmness in your life. You’ll cry tho

K - the amount of tears I shed TwT I literally miss the characters. Weird af world and story, but somehow I got attached. There should be K: seven stories somewhere but I can’t find it... Also: this whole we’re a bunch of problematic people who become a family is a trope I’ll never get tired of

Tokyo Ghoul - S1 and S2 feel like one huge story and it’s just the beginning so buckle up... There are 2 OVAs (Jack and Pinto) that help with understanding Re: (S3) and then there is S4 which is apparently only the most important parts of the manga... I understand why so many people think that s4 is ridiculous, but the first 3 seasons are great. The manga is a must for the anime tho, bc the last season is a joke, so if you can, read the manga first. With that said, the censorship is terrible so if you can, watch it without the weird black and white patches that take up half the screen, because the animation, the fights, the colours are all extremely vibrant and alive, just like the characters. What being human means, why the police feel like they are doing god’s work when they kill innocents along with the psychos, what a family is, can we be selfish for others, and many more questions are discussed here, all while somebody gets gutted. S2 was much more like a filler than a normal season, but still, I cried, and the whole anime is awesome so watch it if you can. (If you get upset when humans are able to endure more than supernatural beings then it’s not your show, bc even though humans are supposed to be, you know, humans, they are still able to kill tens of ghouls with a fucking hole inside of them.)

Attack on Titan - got tired of waiting after s2... No mystery is worth more than a year of waiting lol

Black butler - I need to get around and watch the book of atlantis. Great story, Sebastian is everything and more, and the aesthetic is something I’ll never forget. The music fits perfectly, and the foods make me drool. It has the “big picture”, as well as small journeys where you can get to know your favourite characters which I appreciate. S2 was not something I enjoyed, but the book of circus was worth it as well as most ova’s.

Darker than black - THEY MUST CONTINUE IT BRING HEI BACK PLEASE PLEASE I CAN’T I JUST CAN’T - also s2′s opening makes me cry. Dolls and Contractors work together as a team, then alone, then again as a team... it was a wild ride. Awesome character development, great plot and world building. Sadly they cut their story and future at s2 for some reason... If I ever watch it again I watch Gaiden before Gemini tho - a lot less confusion and disappointment this way.

Bungou Stray Dogs - loving it with my whole heart can’t wait to watch it again because there is literally NO character I don’t love. It has pretty boys, crime, mystery, magical abilities and comedy alongside the surprisingly deep issues. The art style is otherworldly, everything is so PRETTY and CAPTURING ugh *-*. It also made me read lots of books again (especially Japanese literature which was new for me) ^^ (Who doesn’t ship Dazai and Chuuya... And Poe is a baby too)

Noragami - cute, very cute, I love it when the main character is powerful af yet has a silly, loving side. Also: you can learn a bit about gods and religion

Assassination Classroom - tears. all of them. tears. It’s not what I expected but still, the little assassins and the teacher’s relationship was perfect.

Another - i watched it for the dolls and the umbrella meme. Liked it? yes. Do I remember anything else tho? Not really

Parasyte - one of the first animes I’ve ever watched. Loved it. ^^ Migi was great, all the issues it brings up were thought provoking, and it has gore.

Hellsing - idk it had too many monologues and ideologies, didn’t finish it

Psycho-Pass - In short: cyberpunk future, systematic oppression, immigrants, killing with permission and other moral or societal issues, plus charismatic characters and gore. The watching order: S1, S2, Sinners of the system, S3, First inspector. Wonderful buildup, dynamic storytelling, great mystery elements, and of course the found family/teamwork will always be a favourite of mine. The writing is extra detailed, every character is 3D, their responses, beliefs and cultures are tied together perfectly, the chemistry between characters is relatable and although everybody seems to live by one goal only, it’s not as dull as one would think. It also has some great book recommendations, literature and philosophers play a big role, which is always a bonus. 10/10. I really hope we will get extra contents and S4 in the future.

Steins Gate - I can’t bring myself to watch the last 2 episodes of S1 lol. It starts slowly but it’s much better paced than I remembered. The anime heavily relies on the characters which are sadly very 2D: the haughty but loving, the cute but tragic, the clever weeb, the loving tsundere... and for some fucking reason every single girl loves the mad scientist who... doesn’t really show love or sometimes not even respect towards the others until the last half of the show, so I don’t particularly care about their fate, but I watch it bc I don’t want to leave it unfinished. Because people are so into it I thought maybe the story will be... flabbergasting, shocking or just a masterwork, but the whole time travelling thingy, all the rules, all the paralel worlds work very conveniently. There were some great twists that I loved, some that I saw coming and some that I didn’t, but the story itself isn’t the best and even the plottwists won’t help that.

Full metal alchemist - i watched many, many episodes. I liked it. But it lost me. Anyways, I looked up the story and it sounds interesting, lots of plot twists, great conspiracy theories etc. The main character was a bit... annoying. My main problem is that they were children cuz I can only get immersed in the adult characters’ stories...

Durarara!! - s1 was great I love gang and mystery stuff, BUT I stopped watching it bc I was only immersed in the adult characters’ stories...

The Ancient Magus' Bride - it’s a gory fairy tale, with two toxic but loveable characters who learn a lot, evolve a lot and become real companions. There is lots of touching, head pats and affection. <3 Seasond 2 is very much needed, I want to see more episodic journey elements like the cat kingdom episodes were, and perhaps cry just a little less. Pro tip: when you watched the first 12 eps you should watch the 3 episode ova and then the next 12 eps ;) Oh, and expect tears mostly from happiness

Devilman Crybaby - I was the crybaby. The ending is beautiful, the art style was great, it literally pulsed through my eyes sometimes. Awesome characters, weird storyline, sad ending.

Death Parade - another anime that made me cry :) Beautiful art style, immersive story, interesting take on the afterlife, moral issues. It had everything I needed,

Juni Taisen - It wasn’t the craziest or most cunning anime of all times, but I cared about the characters and I really wanted to know how it ends, so it was good i guess

Kekkai Sensen - i watched s1 and I didn’t care anymore...

BEASTARS - it was one hell of a ride. Interesting world, great conflict, highschoolers and gore... also I think there was a sudden rise in the numbers of furries while it aired. It’s art style however was too cgi-y, too smooth for me :/

Re: Zero - the main character is a little bitch i hated him but i stayed for the plot. I don’t really like love interests when one party is only loved because they look perfect... i really wish we got more seasons and explanations  s2 is on the horizon, but I doubt I’ll ever watch it

Updated it see in reblog

Also in conclusion, what do i need in an anime? 1) adults 2) superpowers 3) found family 4) a brooding, powerful af main character 5) action and mystery (plus gore) 6) chemistry between characters 7) side characters that matter 8) tissues

Any recs?

[wincore]

am i sending asks too much?? HAHS WHATEVER ANYWAYS hi hello i finished my work "early" just to send this ask and this is going to be dedicated to how much i love your writing because

i love good writing

my brain go brrr

ok this is mostly gonna be ab the act iii fic cause THAT FIC WAS GREAT. IT MADE ME SAD BUT THAT WAS AN OUTSTANDING STORY TOP TIER 99.9999% SLOPPY KISSES ALL AROUND WOW I WANNA SEE THIS AS A MINI FILM

i LOVE stories like yours with good imagery- you really know how to capture details and the emotions (and almost a sort of nostalgia?) in the scenes without making it seem like you used a thesaurus the whole time and i think that's one of the best parts because it makes it so immersive; and i've seen a lot of writers both on and off tumblr who often struggle to find that balance between boring and overdone vocabulary--- look just whatever ur doing KEEP DOING IT CAUSE UR DOING GREAT

also this is more of a personal thing than something in general but reading these stories has REALLYYYY amped up my creativity and i cant thank u enough for that

ever since i dropped drawing ive really been struggling with finding a single crumb of creativity in me and i feel like ive been able to relive it through photography with the biggest help from writing

(ok i was gonna avoid talking about this BUT I DONT CARE IT NEEDS TO BE MENTIONED) you write sexc scenes so well?.?? ill be reading a story and too often, anytime the characters have sex, it feels like a completely different person wrote the segment- everythings gone. the imagery, the vocabulary, the style of writing, and it feels like a wattpad fic 💀

but you manage to keep all of that (without going all r-rated too!)

mm also the dy atlas story was VERY nice too ^^ i love it just as much but i should probably save u the rant LOL

- 📷 >:^DD

NO it’s never too many asks bc i look forward to them all the time!!! though i tend to answer late since i reserve answering asks for the weekend :c 

JDSJDSD IM SO HAPPY YOU LIKED ACT III !!! it’s like one of my longest fics and i put in way too much of my soul into that so hearing this is making me all 🥰💖 AND A MINI FILM??? i’m crying i’m so happy you like it.

i love writing details!!! and descriptions!!!! god has allowed to describe pretty things and i will use that permission to the fullest !!!!!!

and i keep hearing that people sense nostalgia in my writing and it always makes me feel so fulfilled !!! like i do not intend to write with it but the way it’s interpreted as that makes me fall in love with the idea of writing more and more!! it’s so lovely to have writing be interpreted in so many ways bc it adds a piece of the reader with it (so in a way it’s always evolving into something lovely, you get me?)

also it’s so funny bc my friends call me a walking thesaurus GSJDH they’re like hey moon what’s what word for - oh ok thanks. i like being able to use common words bc they’re what people are familiar with and will evoke a familiar imagery !! but then i’ll use a (possibly) new word and hope they associate it with something nice <3 i dont know if im making sense hhhh. 

i am so overjoyed that stories helped you back with your creativity!!! i feel you on leaving art and feeling a lack of creativity in my life and at that time i only loved drawing up story ideas and never executing them bc i wasn’t sure about writing. im so happy to hear you found your creativity again through photography 🌼

HONESTLY SDGKSDJ im really bad at sex scenes bc if you hold a gun to my head and ask me to use the word “cock” in a sentence say goodbye to my friends and family bc no <3 i am uncomfortable. especially if it’s rpf smut you know?? that’s a personal opinion though!! i’ve only attempted writing smut once and realized it’s not very fun describing it bc like.. a) repetitive actions b) NOT PRETTY c) i don’t feel sexual attraction. anyone who can write smut is a god in my eyes. (and you’re right it’s so funny when they change personalities during sex bsddhsks)

also i miss atlas bc i miss listening to keshi on loop while writing it fun times <3 I'm so happy you liked it!!!!

[secretcinema3]

Ten Thoughts Inspired By: A Bout de Souffle

1. Before I ever saw the film I saw this poster. As soon as I laid eyes on it I knew I had to see the film. It radiated cool energy. And that title. At once a declaration of the film’s style and the viewer’s response to it. A promise and a boast. Stylish. Sexy. Breathless. But its original title, A Bout de Souffle, translates as Out Of Breath. That’s a B-movie title, slang for death, like Chandler’s The Big Sleep. Consider if they’d used that as the English title instead. Would the film have attained such a cool reputation? Just imagine it on the poster. Stylish. Sexy. Out Of Breath. Suddenly it’s not so much an intimation of awed wonder as middle-aged decline. My younger self probably wouldn’t have been so impressed, but so what? Does it matter? A title’s just a title, after all, a way of identifying one film from another. Sure, mostly, but it’s not always that simple. Consider these titles for example: Stranger Than Paradise. Some Like It Hot. White Heat. Touch of Evil. Now each of these could, at a push, describe what happens in their respective films, but I don’t think that’s what’s going on when we read them. They’re not merely labels, they’re suggestive, free-floating, haikus of compressed mood. Yes, a good title can define a film, capture its essence, but it can also add to it, deepen it, complicate it. It’s a chemical reaction. Just think of the mysterious, symbiotic relationship we have with names and they have with us. Do they shape us, do we grow into them? If you don’t believe this then consider these possible alternative titles for the films above; Losers. TransAmerica. Mother Love. The Mexican. Does it make a difference? It’s hard to say, but this much is clear, the anonymous translator tasked with finding an English version for A Bout de Souffle clearly thought so.

2. The film of tomorrow will not be directed by civil servants of the camera, but by artists for whom shooting a film constitutes a wonderful and thrilling adventure. – Francois Truffaut

The famous dedication is to Monogram Pictures. Monogram were a poverty row studio specialising in cheap genre flicks, serials and westerns. So what was the attraction for serious French cinephiles like Truffaut and Godard? Well, for starters, because they were largely ignored they were an undiscovered continent, ripe for reappraisal. They often relied on genre conventions, offering rich ground for theorising, for detecting encoded meanings, hidden ideas, themes build up across a body of work. Also because they had less to lose they could show the seemier side of existence more freely than bigger studio productions, the kind of exploitation subjects considered beneath proper art. Some French critics saw passed all that bourgeois respectability, understood that the life of a petty thief could be as worthy of great art as the noblest king, that an absence of craft or style might represent a film’s psychological meaning, its hard indifference to the lies of romance. They understood serious artists could exist outside the mainstream, might find the fertile confines of genre more to their liking, might prefer playful indifference to highbrow pretension. But even the worst of these films taught them about innocent enjoyment, the pleasure of transformation, how much easier it was to bring the moves, clothes and dialogue into your life when they were ritualised, repeated, how cliches spoke to the yearnings inside ordinary people. By dedicating his film to Monogram Godard was sticking two fingers up at the industry, rejecting its middlebrow concerns with craft and rules, aligning himself with the outsiders, the dreamers, with those great American values of outrage, adventure and play. This is a game, he’s telling us. We’re playing here. So can you.

3. The famous opening line is: I’m an asshole, a provocation from the start, followed by a close up of a scantily clad girl on the front of a newspaper, lowered to reveal our hero, Michel, hat over his eyes, puffing on an enormous cigarette. He’s cool, but posing too, a kid playing dress-up. Then he runs the side of his thumb across his lips. It’s a signal. To us. Thumb across lips. That’s all it takes. Your Bogie. Your life is a movie. It’s hard to appreciate now the impact of this message. A Bout de Souffle was one of the first films to acknowledge people’s desire for movie grace in their lives, wanting their everyday existence transfigured by it, blessed with purpose and shape, ordinary personas imbued with unified glamour. You don’t need to be famous, a star. The magic isn’t out there somewhere, owned by producers, studios, agents, fans. It’s in you now, once you’ve seen the film, it’s yours, a gift, not a privilege. This is what cinema is, the democratisation of play. It’s an evolutionary tool, teaching poor regional kids moves and gestures to help them escape impoverished lives, to face the twin terrors of adolescence and neighbourhood streets. After all, when you live in a non-verbal environment knowing how to stand on corners with cool indifference is a vital art. This is another thing the film is already telling us. The street is a movie set too.

4. We first see Patricia ambling down the Champ-Elysees in her flat shoes, sweetly calling ‘New York Herald Tribune!‘ She’s played by Jean Seberg, proof that nationality is a notional concept at best. She’s supposed to be the American chick but comes across, in her clothes, her manner, her cropped hair, as ineffably French. It’s hard to imagine any other contemporary American actress playing the part, actually American but spiritually in tune with the Frenchness of the whole enterprise. (The film too is at once American in its conventions and French in its style and ideas.) It was that way from the start. Her screen debut was as Saint Joan (1957), hand-picked from 18,000 hopefuls by Otto Preminger. It was Preminger again who brought her to France the following year to play the spoiled Celine in Bonjour Tristesse. The same year she married film director Francois Moreuil. By the time of A Bout de Souffle they were divorced and she’d taken up with French author Romain Gary, marrying him in 1962. Was it fate or inclination that drew her to the French and them to her? Or was it the hair? The gamine prettiness? Whatever it was, it went on, until her tragic, mysterious death in 1979, found dead in her car on the same Parisienne streets she’d watched Belmondo play dead on all those years before, back when they were all young enough to think of death as a romantic game, something to be bargained with.

5. Leaving Patricia behind Michel passes a poster for a film called Ten Seconds To Hell (1959), its tagline proclaiming ‘Live dangerously till the end!’ It’s a lovely moment, not just for the renegade cheek of using the poster without permission, but for the serendipity of it being there in the first place, articulating the film’s key theme – defying death. (You know you’re in the zone when the world starts to speak to you like this, send you secret messages, when you see connections everywhere, when you start to believe there’s no such thing as a coincidence, that luck, in fact, is just fate in disguise).

6. Once you accept the rule of death thou shalt not kill is an easily and naturally obeyed commandment. But when a man is still in rebellion against death he has pleasure in taking to himself one of the Godlike attributes, that of giving it. This is one of the most profound feelings in those men who enjoy killing. – Ernest Hemingway, ‘Death in the Afternoon’

‘It is solely by risking life that freedom is obtained,’ Hegel wrote, somehow defining the essence of A Bout de Souffle over a century before it was made. The spirit of the film may be its exhilarating sense of freedom, it’s jazzy liberation from social, artistic and cinematic conventions, but it’s also obsessed with death, from its title to its conclusion. Or rather, with invoking it in order to feel more alive. If the taking of life could, as Hemingway suggests, ward off your own death, than so could acting it out. In this sense, the film is as ritualistic as a bullfight, a bloodless rebellion against death. Just as ancient Greek rites evolved into formalised drama, the death of a tragic hero offered to the gods rather than the sacrifice of a goat, so too with cinema. It may be a game, Godard suggests, but it isn’t frivolous. It’s as serious as any religion, as vital to our happiness as freedom itself. It was a message that hit the new decade like a Molotov cocktail, starting a creative blaze that lasted twenty years and engulfed the old Hollywood studio system in its wake.

7. ‘What is your greatest ambition?’ Patricia asks the novelist (played by director Jean-Pierre Melville) at the kind of pretentious press conference only the French would have. ‘To become immortal‘, he replies, looking straight into the camera, ‘and then to die‘. It’s a joke, a contradiction. He might as well have said his ambition was ‘to wake and then to dream’. It’s an impossibility, mutually exclusive states, waking/dreaming, immortality/death. Except, of course, there is one place where the impossible can happen. When we watch a film, especially in the dark of a cinema, what else are we doing but dreaming while still awake? And when we watch the great stars of the silver screen like James Cagney, Bette Davis or Steve McQueen, what else are we doing but watching the dead walk again, forever alive in their films, made immortal by them?

8. Which is what Bogart represents in the film, not just a role model but an icon of immortality. Dead only three years when A Bout de Souffle was made, already he’s becoming a cult, his moves, clothes and dialogue remembered, repeated and fetishised. But why Bogie? What was it about him that so obsessed the French? Maybe he was, in some way, more French than other Hollywood stars, more ironic, fatalistic, ugly? Maybe the characters he played, men with secrets, with shadowy pasts, were more in keeping with a nation haunted by defeat, collaboration and existential dread? Whatever it was it went deep, just think of the hats and coats in Melville’s own films like Le Samourai.

Of course, the Bogart of The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca and The Big Sleep was also the coolest man on the planet, a dream of tough grace under pressure. He crystallised the essence of cool long before Brando and Dean turned up, a man’s cool, not a grumpy adolescent’s, someone who’s lived, seen things, been betrayed by events, by his own heart, hides his honour like a dirty secret. But we know it’s there, we know he does care, does know which side is right, he just won’t be played for a sap any more. Being a man, he seems to say, is a moral act. If you don’t know how to read people, if you don’t know when to keep quiet, if you don’t understand that sometimes cynicism is just the truth no one wants to hear, then you deserve what you get, you leave yourself wide open, cannon fodder for con men, Nazis and certain kinds of women.

9. Then there’s the lovely extended scene in Patricia’s apartment. She arrives home to find Michel in her bed. What follows is spontaneity, calculation and natural light, cultural allusions everywhere. She poses before a poster of Renoir’s Mlle Irene Cahen d’Anvers and asks who’s the prettier. He caresses her bum and asks can he piss in her sink. She washes her feet and tell him she’s pregnant. He sits beneath a Picasso figure wearing a mask. She quotes from The Wild Palms by William Faulkner: ‘Between grief and nothing, I will take grief.’ Michel says he’d choose nothing. ‘Grief‘, he adds, ‘is a compromise‘. They talk, flirt, test each other and eventually make love, fumbling under the covers like kids, not sure what their parents really do under there. The claim that capturing Seberg’s beauty on film matches Renoir’s achievement on canvass is hardly worth noting now. But it’s a reminder of a time before the triumph of popular culture when film was considered an upstart medium, devoid of true craft, a nickelodeon distraction for immigrant hordes and over-excited housewives, not something to be taken seriously as high art. This was the fight Godard, Truffaut and the rest of the Cahiers du Cinéma critics were waging in the late 50s, rescuing great artists like Hitchcock and Hawks from the neglect this pompous snobbery had consigned them to.

And what about Michel’s claim that grief is a compromise? Is it an existential statement, like Beckett’s ‘every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness‘, or is he just trying to sound cool. Is he suggesting that emotions are a refuge, a refusal to accept the truth? It’s an interesting idea in an age when personal grief has become everyday currency. Would Bogie give in to grief, cry and wail, take to his bed, sell his story to the tabloids? No, he wouldn’t. He’d take it inside him, order a drink, light a cigarette, another lesson learned, another test passed. The cigarette is vital of course. Just consider how important they were in all this. Michel smokes non-stop throughout the film. Even his dying breath is a puff of smoke. Can you imagine a time when smoking was this cool? When things weren’t ghosted by consequences, by health warnings, when people drank at work and smoked in cinemas, weren’t constantly fretting about their health, short-changing their youth for a few extra years at the end? When looking cool now was more important than being alive then? It’s all about how you look, y’see, masks, uniforms, encoded signs, the transformative power of objects and faces. ‘The mystery of the world is in the visible, not the invisible,’ as Oscar Wilde rightly pointed out. Open your eyes (and dream). We’re being movie stars here. They’re immortal. They never die of cancer or liver failure.

10. ‘The film of tomorrow will be an act of love...’ – Truffaut

Above all it’s a film about love, love of cinema, love of life through cinema. There really was no difference to these young men. Cinema was life. Watching a beautiful woman and capturing her on film was the same thing to them. It was very chauvinistic, of course, but very romantic too (essentially the same thing). Romance has no time for feminist aspirations. It wants to be taken out of this crappy world, wants to idealise, heighten, improve. It’s foolish, a youthful folly, but where would we be without it? For a few brief years, as the world woke up from it’s post-war slumber, a handful of young men believed that cinema was the new language of happiness and truth. A Bout de Souffle bottled that moment. It’s a time machine. The spirit and energy of that moment can be revisited every time you watch it. You could even say it’s immortal. Or to put it another way: Devil in the Flesh. Rififi. And God Created Woman. Scarface. A Bout de Souffle. The best film around.

[zingara84]

Hello!

Greetings, dear Tumblr! I haven’t been active on here in a very long time. I wanted to write this post to explain where I’ve been, what I’m working on, and what’s going on with the future of this blog.

First things first, as I referenced late-last year, I moved back to Germany. (I say “back” because I’d spent my first tentative months here back in 2014.) This time, I came with the intention of staying long-term, so I had to apply for a work permit. That process took me nearly half a year, plus another 2 months before I got an official “tax number” (something freelancers are required to have), and in between all of the appointments, portfolio-building, etc., I have also spent a LOT of time looking for housing. Berlin’s housing market is tough, and since September of last year, I haven’t spent more than about 3 months in any given place. Constant moving/apartment searching is not my preferred way to spend vast stretches of my time when I could be living my life and pursuing my passions instead, but, alas, sometimes that stuff just needs to be done.

In the middle of this process — sometime back in November — I began having very odd problems with Tumblr. It was glitching to the point that I could do practically nothing with the site. I couldn’t even log out (without an interminable freeze) to try logging back in again! If I were tech-savvy, this might not have been an issue, but I’m not, so this went on until at least sometime in December, at which point I decided, “You know what? Maybe I’m just not meant to be blogging here right now.” I took that as a sign to focus my attentions elsewhere for the time being.

At this point, I am now officially a resident of Germany, with permission to work as a freelance “Editor, Writer, und Writing Consultant.” I had to spend a lot of time building up my editing business in order to make a solid case for myself with the immigration bureau, and I mostly put writing and card reading aside while I was getting on my feet and pulling my application portfolio together. I specialize as an academic copyeditor with a strong focus also on editing creative work (e.g., personal essays, websites). You can read more about the editing I do here. As for the “Writer” bit, I haven’t branched out yet into the world of writing original pieces for pay, but writing is my dream, so hopefully I’ll be moving in that direction soon. In the mean time, since I deliver tarot readings as written reports, I am still able to offer readings. (More on my tarot readings in a moment.) And the “Writing Consultant” bit on my work permit. . . well, that’s basically just an aspect of my editing work; I blend my teaching and editing experience with insights from creative writing study in order to help clients become stronger writers themselves. I love helping people become more confident and effective communicators, as well as — when we are working together on memoir-style narratives of theirs — helping them to find a deeper sense of meaning in and appreciation for their own life stories. So, these are some of the things I am allowed to do to support myself here on this visa. If you ever need editing help, if you want a coach for writing (or personal development through writing), if you’d like a tarot reading, or if you would like to hire me to write an article, please let me know!

Back to tarot: as mentioned, I spent a long time focusing almost exclusively on building my editing business. I sometimes find it difficult to switch between the analytical mindset of academic editing and the intuitive/creative mindset of tarot reading, and since the editing work makes an easier sell with immigration officials, I prioritized that. At the same time, my life circumstances, for a while now, haven’t been very conducive to the downtime, alone time, and/or grounding work I find to be an integral part of maintaining the clear mind and peaceful heart from which I prefer to offer guidance. As I focused so intensely on basic survival/immigration concerns (e.g., finding a series of apartments, taking on sometimes-excessive hours of editing work) and on managing the anxiety that many of these challenges triggered, I decided I preferred not to make myself available for readings. I feel clearer and more centered now — as well as thankful that I don’t have any immediately pressing immigration-related needs to address — so my Etsy shop will be going back “on.”

On that note, getting settled here and grounding more fully in my inner peace are somewhat ongoing efforts, so you may see my Etsy shop going in and out of vacation mode at times. But I’ve been reading cards since I was 16 (That’s more than half my life now, wow!), and it’s something I truly love to do, so I anticipate I will just keep coming back to it. Given that I now live in Europe, on the Euro, I’ve changed my prices to Euro. However, being from the U.S.A., I’m sympathetic to the fact that the exchange rate is not always kind. I try not to make a habit of running a bargaining-based business model because I believe in charging a fair price from the get-go, but if the exchange rate is ever particularly harsh for you, feel free to ask me about minor adjustments; I’d be glad to try to find a way to work with your needs.

As for my writing, I’ve toyed with the idea of starting a new blog; I took the Tumblr glitching last year as a sign as well, perhaps, that it was time for me to seek a new platform. When I have the new blog figured out, I will gladly share it with you. It will probably have a somewhat different focus than this one took on over the years; I began this blog as an outlet for the simple fact that I love to reflect on life and write about it. I find it helpful to “practice” writing about daily life, as that keeps me evolving as a memoirist. Life is beautiful, life is magical, the adventure of being here is an incredible gift, and taking the time to reflect on what we’re living and to mine it for meaning makes our journeys all the richer and more fulfilling. For me, writing about daily life is, in itself, a spiritual practice. (Many artists would say the same about their own art, I’d wager.) It is also a huge part of the way that I “learn” — and have any “spiritual” insights to share — in the first place. So you will likely see more memoir-style stuff on there, once it’s up and running. I still want to include reflective philosophical pieces though, too, so it will be a mix. I’m not sure how much of a Q&A format the new blog will take (like this blog has had in the past); that will depend largely on how much I can feasibly convert blogging into work that can sustain me. However, I’m open-minded about how it will evolve. :) In the mean time, again, I am happy to offer personalized guidance for you in the form of tarot card readings.

And finally: a (hopefully uplifting) word about twin flames. You might have noticed that, even before i disappeared from Tumblr, I stopped writing much about twin flames. This is simply because I don’t feel I have much more to say about them than what I have already said. I might, of course, come across more inspiration in the future — in which case I will very excitedly write new posts! — but I have always believed that, regardless of the labels you do or don’t apply to a person, the same fundamental guidelines UNIVERSALLY apply: mutual respect (including mutual respect for boundaries); speaking your heart in a loving way; remembering that healthy, unconditional love is non-attached; reminding yourself that unconditional love has no price (including the fact that you will NEVER need to “earn” unconditional love through suffering); checklists aren’t definitive; labels are unnecessary; no program or to-do list is necessary for what’s meant to be; and no personal growth program, to-do list, or service that comes from an ethical mindset and is worth your while will promise you any given outcome or another regarding someone else’s free will. In other words, finding peace with a twin flame situation is not about labels, “payment” in any form, chasing, manipulations, etc. I suspect that just about anything I have ever had to say about “twin flames” or any other kind of relationship will reflect these core beliefs. Of course, my beliefs are just that: my beliefs. This doesn’t mean that they are THE beliefs, much less beliefs that anyone else must share. But to explain where I come from when I reflect on matters of love, I don’t see my beliefs on love as particularly New Age; they don’t involve a reliance on spiritual “hierarchies,” on channeled messages from love “authorities,” on schedules of “DNA upgrades” (or any other claims masquerading as science). That isn’t to say that I think less of anyone for following other paths or entertaining other lines of thought: just that, aside from messages about PURE LOVE — no bells, whistles, celestial/extraterrestrial third parties, or “upgrades” required — just love, which is awe-inspiring in itself . . . I don’t feel I have much else, on the phenomenon, to offer. ;) So I don’t see myself writing much “new” content on twin flames in the coming months, though that isn’t to say I won’t return to or refine an idea I expressed previously. I truly hope you can continue to find comfort and guidance in what I’ve already written here on the subject over the years. And even more importantly, I hope that you can connect with the comfort and guidance your own beautiful heart has been waiting to share with you. ♡

If you’ve read this far, thank you very much! My “return” to Tumblr is going to be very sporadic for the time being, because I need to keep focusing the majority of my time and energy on holdin’ it down, payin’ the bills, settlin’ in (including learning Deutsch!), and all that jazz. In a dream world, I can eventually build up enough of an income through writing and guidance services that I can put the editing aside and devote more time to my online presence, interacting with readers. I’m not there juuuust yet, but I’m excited for the journey, and I am very appreciative for your interest in my writing along the way. Knowing that people look forward to and find something valuable in my words means a great deal to me and is an important part of what keeps me coming back to, and trying to find a way to live from, my passions. My hope for you is that you, too, can connect with and build a life around yours.

Wishing you all SO much peace and love! Blessings, Laura

[ruffsficstuffplace]

Of Rocks, Romantic Rivalries, and Rune Rangers (Part 9)

Note: This chapter gets REALLY dark with Mentions of Death and the more serious elements of this fic, though believe me, no one will die in this fic.

<I’m really sorry you had to see all that...> Pidge muttered as she scooped out a huge glob of peanut butter, then shoved it into her mouth.

<Pidge, really, it’s no problem at all!> Allura said as she sat beside her. <If no one was ever allowed to have an ugly-cry with trusted friends and family, we’d all go crazy lashing out at everyone, or die laying in our nests, too depressed to do anything.>

Pidge nodded as she pulled the spoon out of her mouth. <You have a point,> she said through a mouthful of creamy, nutty goodness. <So what can I do about it?>

<Take a page out of air weaver training: make the conscious choice to let go of the guilt, let it blow away like leaves in the breeze,> Allura replied.

Pidge swallowed her mouthful of peanut butter. <So, what, am I supposed to just forget that I did all these crimes…?> she asked as she stuck her spoon back in.

Allura shook her head. <Not forget, forgive yourself for it.

<There’s no erasing the things you’ve done, Pidge, no undoing the damage, nor giving back the lives you’ve had a hand in ruining to outright ending. But you have a choice to wallow in your guilt, let the fear that you might fall back into your old ways paralyze you with terror, or you can continue doing what you have been these past couple of months:

<Use all the skills, the knowledge, and the experience Jahiliyyah has given you for good this time.

<I understand why Mero’s being able to use you to almost destroy us all scares you—it was a terrifying, traumatizing experience for all of us! But that’s not a reason to try to suppress that part of you, try to lock it up in some deep part of your mind like a monster or a dangerous criminal, never to be seen again.

<As weavers like myself find out, the things that bring out the worst in us can also be the key to bringing out our best—it’s all in how you use it, and when.> Allura smiled. <As the saying goes, {The difference between a suicidal fool and a brave hero is that the latter knows when to jump into the fray.}>

Pidge nodded as she stuck her spoon back in. She started scooping out another gob of peanut butter, before she stopped. <Allura…?> she asked quietly. <Can I tell you something really dark and awful?>

Allura looked at her in worry, before she nodded her head. <What is it?>

Pidge’s ears flattened. <If… if the Galra manage to turn me against you guys again, and it looks like I’m actually going to succeed in killing all of you, and/or help them take over Avalon… you have my express permission to kill me, if that’s what it’ll take.

<I promise my echo’s not going to haunt Rune Terra for all of eternity.>

Allura fell silent.

Pidge looked away. <… There’s like what, three, four billion humans, and seven, twelve billion Fae in this realm…?> she said as she idly moved the peanut butter around. <I’m sure one of them would make a great replacement Emerald Ranger...>

Allura reached out and put her hand atop Pidge’s own. <That they would be, but they’ll never be another you.>

Pidge didn’t respond.

<Pidge… I can understand why you’re asking me of this, especially because the team before you ended up sacrificing their own lives to save all of us, native Fae and the First Settlers alike. But that was only as a last resort, and largely because Zarkon, his army, and the Viridian Valley were like nothing we’d ever seen before.

<Back then, we didn’t know how to defeat them without going to such extreme measures… but we do now, and there’s the many cracks and rot in the empire beside.>

Still no reaction.

<Pidge…? Pidge! Katie… Katie, please, look at me…> she said as she put her other hand on Pidge’s cheek, gently coaxed her to face her.

Pidge slowly, reluctantly did.

<On my honour as the Crystal Maiden, one of the last members of Clan Altea, and your friend, I say that I will do my damndest to make it so that will we never need to go so far as to slay our own, be it you, or anyone else on this team!>

Her eyes softened. <I love you, Pidge. We all do!> Allura added quickly. <So long as there’s a way to save you from the Galra’s control and defend Avalon without killing you, we will do it, no matter how difficult.>

Pidge sniffed. The jar of peanut butter fell on the pillows as she lunged and hugged Allura as tightly as she could, burying her face in her shoulder before she turned her face up to her.

<Thank you...> Pidge whispered, a smile on her face, her eyes shining. <You have no idea how much that means to me...>

Allura suppressed a little dying noise as she felt her magic start to surge and hum like a sea beginning to get battered by a powerful storm. <… You’re welcome, Pidge…!> she whispered as she hugged her back, discretely eyeing her skin for any signs of glowing lines of mana.

When her heart and her magic settled down, Allura realized how close they were. So close she could just could lean down, and kiss Pidge, just like that. And after a brief moment’s hesitation, she started to do just that...

Pidge’s eyes widened, her ears pulled back in alarm.

Allura noticed, quickly turning her mouth upwards planting a kiss on Pidge’s forehead instead of her lips.

If she noticed the tingling, chilly sensation of Allura’s magic seeping from her lips and onto her skin—one of the most popular signs of romantic, physical affection among water weavers—she didn’t show it, nor comment on it.

Pidge pulled away first, and picked up the forgotten jar of peanut butter. <Thanks again for everything, Allura...> she said as she pulled out the spoon. <The talk, the hugs, the peanut butter… I… I really needed that,> she muttered before she stuck into her mouth.

<Any time, Pidge,> Allura hummed.

Pidge pulled the peanut butter-free spoon out of her mouth, screwed the lid back on the jar, and put them both and her glasses on the side of her nest. <I’m going to sleep now,> she said as she laid down and curled up on her side. <It’s been a REALLY long day...>

Allura nodded. <Good night, Pidge.>

Pidge smiled at her. <Good night, Allura.>

And just like that, she was out like a light.

Allura stayed up for a little while, watching her sleep. She had rarely ever seen Pidge at rest, always busy tinkering with something, or completely unaware of her surroundings as her brain worked at the speed of light; now, here she was with her eyes closed, a peaceful smile on her face, her ears and tail idly twitching every once in a while as her chest slowly, steadily rose and fell.

It was adorable.

Allura quickly stopped, and laid beside her, a polite distance away from her by Fae standards. She closed her eyes, slowly letting herself drift off to sleep, when she felt Pidge sleepily, clumsily reach out for her.

Allura’s eyes widened. She hesitated for a few moments, before she started carefully shifting about, till they were laying together face-to-face in each others’ arms. The still sleeping Pidge happily nuzzling her face into Allura’s chest. She blushed and giggled as she reached up and gently stroked her hair, running her fingers through Pidge’s ridiculously soft fur.

<Suck it, Shiro!> she thought to herself, smiling as she drifted off into unconsciousness.

The next morning, Shiro was standing in the Raucous Room, dressed in watcher’s training robes with his feet and hands bare.

He looked at the giant clock being projected on one of the wall panels, and wondered where Allura was. As Lance had found out the hard way, when she said 8:00 AM, she meant 8:00 AM, and it was now 8:07. He was debating pulling out his comm-crystal and calling her, when she finally sauntered in.

He saw the giant, shit-eating grin on her face, and frowned.

“Guess who slept with Pidge last night?” Allura said as she came up to him. She pointed her thumbs at herself. “Not you!”

Shiro’s eyes widened in alarm. “What, what?! What do you mean by that?”

Allura chuckled as she leaned in. “Take a guess~”

Shiro’s expression changed rapidly, going from shock, to horror, to anger, then finally, resignation. “I take it you two are officially girlfriends now…?” he asked sadly.

The pause was brief, the twitch in Allura’s ears barely noticeable, but to Shiro, it told oh so much.

He slowly grinned. “Hey Allura, what exactly did you mean by ‘slept with Pidge last night’…?”

Allura leaned back, the glimmer in her eyes a little less bright than before. “That she came over to my quarters last night, and slept in my nest together,” she replied calmly.

“’Slept’ is in ‘had sex,’ or just ‘laying together unconscious’?”

No response.

Shiro chuckled and shook his head. “This is really sad, don’t you think Allura?”

“Any sadder than your inability to confess your love for Pidge for all this time~?” Allura chirped.

Shiro’s grin disappeared in an instant. “You know what, let’s just get right to the Air Fist training...”

Allura chuckled. “Oh, but Shiro, this IS Air Fist training! Please, walk with me, and I’ll explain.”

Shiro didn’t look convinced, but obeyed, staying by Allura’s side as they roamed around the Raucous Room.

“The key tenets of this school are abusing weaknesses, unpredictability, and deception, being like air seeping in through the cracks in a wall,” Allura explained. “So it is that one of the earliest and most important lessons for any advanced student is knowing how to throw their enemy off-guard, or better yet, catching them unaware, defeating them before they even realize that they are being attacked.”

“That doesn’t sound even remotely fair,” Shiro said.

“That’s the point!” Allura replied. “Unlike the martial arts and fighting styles the First Settlers had imported over from the Old World, the Elemental Fists were developed in response to, and are still being improved according to the constantly evolving and never-ending dangers we Fae face here in Avalon, be it from the wildlife, each other, or as of 1,000 years ago, you humans.”

“A hungry snapjaw isn’t going to give you a handicap because unlike you, they have several hundred pounds, armoured hides, and teeth sharp enough to snap a fully-grown Fae in half with one bite.

“Neither will the watchers who have blades meant to slip in-between their scales and cut the vulnerable flesh underneath, and magics and potions meant to electrify the water they hide in, turn their advantage into a potentially lethal liability.

“There are no ‘rules of engagement’ or ‘fair fights’ in nature, and our combat arts reflect that, which bring us to the first lesson of Air Fist training--”

Allura casually swept Shiro’s legs out from under him, he went crashing face first into the floor.

Thud.

“--From the moment training begins, and until it is formally declared over or on-hold, you must constantly be on your guard, for your teacher and your fellow students are given free reign to beat the ever loving crap out of you whenever, and wherever they feel like it, ideally when you are least expecting it.”

Shiro pushed himself up from the floor. He saw Allura holding her hand out to him; he scowled, and ignored her.

“Very good, Shiro!” Allura said as he got back on his feet. “You saw right through that trap!”

Shiro smiled.

Allura casually smashed her palm into his nose.

Shiro reeled, staggering back with his hands over his face.

“But not through that one~” Allura chirped.

“So what, do we just spend the next hour beating fighting each other, is that what advanced Air Fist training is?” Shiro asked as he got into a combat stance.

Allura chuckled. ““Of course not, Shiro!” she said as she waved her hands in the air.

Props, objects, and holographic simulations of humans and Fae started appearing around them, all themed around what you’d find in an office building of a human settlement.

“We’re going to be spending the next hour fighting each other with the help of anything and everything we can get our hands on, using every last advantage our environment affords is,” Allura said as she grabbed a mug with magically simulated coffee inside of it.

She grinned. “Heads-up!”

Shiro’s eyes widened, before he slapped the flying mug out of the air, fake coffee splashing all over him.

It didn’t hurt, but Allura rushing in and tackling him through a cubicle wall certainly did.

The holographic office workers started screaming and panicking as Shiro’s advanced Air Fist training began.

Note: I appreciate the Kudos, the Bookmarks, and the Views you guys are giving this fic, but if you could also leave a comment--no matter how short--that would be MUCH appreciated. It's hard to feel motivated to continue this story when it seems like no one's reading it.

[andersa]

Fully Automated Luxury Communism *IS* Our Future

I have been planning to write on this topic, but a recently featured article in OneZero inspired me to kick it off now. This is my rebuttal.

  In his analysis of the book Fully Automated Luxury Communism by Aaron Bastani, Robin Whitlock wrote an article that he felt outlined the reasons why Bastani is incorrect in his belief that one day (perhaps sooner than we may realize), the world will transition to a one-world, communist-style form of government. I haven’t read Bastani’s book, but, I have been an avid supporter of this concept for nearly a decade after watching the movie Zeitgiest: Moving Forward.

Over the years, I have also engaged in conversations about this topic with literally thousands of people, and most of them repeat the same fallacies over and over in their denial that such a thing could ever possibly happen. I have found that many people have several cognitive biases that hinder their ability to look forward into the future and see what it could potentially look like.

Often, they believe it will look and behave very similarly (if not worse) than what we have today, maybe just with a few more gadgets to play with. In fact, most people are completely unaware of their own biases, let alone that there are 175 known biases that influence our rationale.

Of course, the most obvious is the negative connotation that the word “communism" brings to mind. Immediately, the thought of walking skeletons forced into labor camps spurs a knee-jerk reaction to immediately stop listening to any argument that can even remotely be deemed “pro-communist". But, just to touch on some of the other common biases that influence this conversation (and most people’s daily lives) are:

Declinism- when we remember the past as better     than it was, while simultaneously believing the future will be worse than     it likely will be.

Just-World- Many of us who live in developed     nations like to believe the world is a just place. It makes us feel     secure. To think that somewhere in the world someone is dying of hunger,     can overwhelm us with guilt if we think about it while we enjoy an     expensive meal at a nice restaurant. So, we chase away the guilt by     reminding ourselves that we work hard and we’re good people, so we deserve     this nice meal. Anyone who doesn’t have access to such things is just not     trying hard enough, so they get what they deserve. Of course, this bias     can cloud our judgment of other people and their situations. It helps to     cloak the madness of the system we have built. It’s also a bias that     politicians tend to exploit to get you to vote for them, and one that     makes people believe the world in the future will be pretty much the same     place it is today.

Belief & Confirmation Bias: Our beliefs shape     our perception. After all, the human condition requires we believe in     something for it to be real. When one believes in something, they will     find or fabricate as much evidence as necessary to support that belief;     likewise for something one does not believe in. Our brains automatically     default to our belief structures when analyzing nearly any subject. And,     it can sometimes be difficult to examine the evidence with an open mind     that may challenge those beliefs.

Dunning-Kruger: The more you know, the less     confident you are. Fools rush in without understanding. The wise     understand how little they know and pause for consideration.

Framing: It is amazing what a frame can do for a     portrait or painting. The right frame really makes the piece pop and     increase the appreciation of those beholding the piece of art. The same     goes for our brains. Major media, consumer data companies, and marketers     understand how their piece of art is framed MATTERS. A LOT. It is often     seen that they will frame things in different ways for different consumer     tastes and preferences. It is an extremely easy way to manipulate the masses.     And, once one recognizes this bias, one begins to see the frames around     everything.

Familiarity: Our comfort zone. Whether in the     physical sense or the literal, most of us have a pretty small comfort zone     surrounding every aspect of our lives. If something encroaches without     permission, or we are challenged to venture outside of our zones, it can     be stressful and uncomfortable. While the huge world outside of our zones     can be harsh and unforgiving, it can also hold the key to amazing new     discoveries in all areas of life.

Self-Attribution: A common example of this is     when working in a group, you feel like you’re doing more than everyone     else. The interesting thing about this is: if you ask 10 people in a group     if they feel like they’re doing more than others, you’ll likely get 9     responses that support their belief they are working harder than everyone     else.

Sunk-cost: You’ve invested a lot of time, effort,     and money into a project (or your career). But, it’s not going as you had     hoped. It’s difficult to walk away from something that is not serving its     intended purpose.

Anchoring: This is when you’re so focused on one     goal, that you miss out on opportunities to have a better outcome because     you refuse to deviate from the initial goal.

Survival: The celebs (and capitalists) make it     all look so easy. Like anyone can go to Hollywood and become a huge star.     But, what we often don’t hear about are all the failed talent who just     didn’t get the right break into the industry. If one does not succeed, one     is simply failing at trying hard enough (similar to the Just-World bias).

There are many others that fit into this conversation. The ambiguity effect (avoiding options where the outcome is unknown), anthropocentric thinking or anthropomorphism (common in discussions about AI), attentional bias (marketing and constantly being told capitalism is the best way), and so on.

But, even FALC supporters are sometimes clouded by their own biases. In addition to the few of the above, automation bias (excessively relying on automated systems which can give erroneous information that overrides correct decisions) is one. Berkson’s Paradox ( The tendency to misinterpret statistical experiments involving conditional probabilities) is another. And, especially the Bias Blind Spot (the tendency to recognize bias more in others, less in oneself).

So, regardless of these biases on both sides of the conversation, people want to see hard facts and plausible ideas about how this future may come to fruition or why it will not.

The truth is: NONE of us know for sure.

But, there are some things that should be considered before completely shutting the door on the idea of humanity living in a Fully Automated Luxury Communist structure in the future. So, back to the original article I am rebutting by Mr. Whitlock. I seriously doubt he read the book, though that is simply an assumption. But, this assumption stems from the fact that many of his rebuttals to the concept are deeply entrenched in a capitalist mindset, disregarding the very essence of the book.

1                                    Assumption One

For instance, many of the government labor statistics he quotes are based on a flawed system of tracking that the US is notorious for. He also claims that automation is a “long way off and not necessarily replacing jobs”. This is also a flawed analysis due to Moore’s law. But, Moore’s law aside — some even believe Moore’s law is dead or evolving— he goes on to state that according to McKinsey digital who stated two years ago that less than 5% of jobs are able to be automated over the next decade. That is a seemingly naive assumption compared to the breakthroughs we have seen in the past two years from companies like Boston Dynamics and their amazing robots.

And, to counter that McKinsey article showing an example of a lumberjack, or construction and raising outdoor animals:

So, now we get into the cost of all this automation. Sure, it is a prohibitive factor for many, especially small businesses. For now, that is. In accordance with Moore’s law, as things become smaller and more advanced, though, the prices tend to drop. The more assistance provided to small businesses (whether by government supplementation or not), the faster these technologies will drop in price and advance.

Then, by quoting articles that are years old (2014 & 2017), the argument is made that, for instance, self-driving cars are facing major logistical and regulatory issues. Again, without considering the major advancements made recently. In fact, he very conspicuously left out Tesla in this analysis. Or, for that matter, the drone taxis that started in Dubai in 2017, and are now being adopted and accelerated by Uber and Boeing.

So, by assuming that automation is not going to replace most jobs anytime soon, we are really turning a blind-eye on the advancements going on around the world.

2                                    Assumption Two

Moving on to asteroid-mining. Mr. Whitlock used an article from 2012 (nearly a decade old) to prove the point that we were a decade away from identifying suitable asteroids to mine. In 2015, Obama signed a law into effect called “Space Law” allowing private companies to mine asteroids. And, the example used — Planetary Resources — struggling only to be acquired by Consensys, Inc. (a blockchain company) is an extremely poor (on purpose?) example, considering that companies like (to name only a few) Deep Space Industries, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Bigelow Aerospace, and even The Blue Origin aerospace company owned by Jeff Bezos are going all-in on this concept.

In the article, he also tries to point out that these ventures being profitable are the highest concern. That is, again, a false assumption. While it is true that funding needs to happen to make these a reality, one must also realize that funding, in itself, is a fallacy. By this, I mean:

The idea of fiat currency having any sort of value is false. It can be created out of thin air. It is either simply a piece of paper or a number on a computer monitor. Nearly the entire world uses fiat currency.

Nor is the number of materials hidden in the asteroids “speculative, at best”. That is his own assumption, without any real-time understanding of how the above-mentioned companies conduct research to identify lucrative asteroids.

As noted in the original article, Mars One’s for-profit business went bankrupt (though the non-profit side is still running). That is a sign that for-profit in this sector will struggle. Perhaps an even bigger signal that non-profit will eventually win in this sector. As an added point of interest, space is a HUGE business and destined only to grow:

 The point is not profit. The point is to succeed at nearly any cost.

3                                    Assumption Three

Aside from the fact that the vast majority of people are essentially wage-slaves who toil away at mind-numbing tasks to make their bosses a little richer, this entire area completely leaves out the concept of AI and quantum computing. Mr. Whitlock is stuck in his own biases that only a company can do what is being talked about and that companies can only be run by humans. While this is certainly the case today, the advent of AI is not to be scoffed at. In fact, the entire premise of arguments against a system like FALC is akin to the people who 20 years ago scoffed at the idea of having hand-held computers that we know as smartphones. It is an archaic way of thinking… Fearful, even. The truth is: We are on the precipice of technological upheaval never before witnessed by humanity. We better get our heads right to understand the challenges we will face and how to make life better for all humans as a consequence of technology. Otherwise, we will find ourselves in dystopian lives as described by some of the dystopian authors people love to quote.

This concept is not some glorified hippie utopia (utopia is highly subjective, btw) of rainbows and lollipops all day. Stop fooling yourselves and diminishing the world we live in and are about to arrive in. This is the reality we face. When people are displaced from employment and when precious metals & minerals are no longer rare, it will not happen suddenly and it will not be a hundred years away. Try the next 10–30 years, MAXIMUM, for us to really start seeing these effects. Sure, you and I may not be around to see it, but my kids will be.

We need to expand our highly myopic understanding of what is in front of us. If you don’t, others will, and it will be you who is left in the dust.

DISRUPT, OR BE DISRUPTED. That is the motto of the 21st-century.

Finally, yes, the future may be run by corporate empires. That is a scary prospect. In the near future, it may be necessary to eliminate the idea of corporations. All other details aside, the idea of competition is only a hindrance to the advancement of these technologies. Why split the resources (money, labor, etc.) between so many different companies hoping for a profit for a few individuals? In many ways, this is a ridiculous notion. It means fewer resources for each company and wasted time between advancements. This problem is becoming more and more obvious as technology advances.

And, all of this is in addition to the people who are working to cure aging, upload minds into the cloud, and make us into something else to redefine what it means to be human like the Transhumanist movement. If one doesn’t take all of these considerations into account when thinking about the future, they are doing themselves and the future a disservice. Because even though you may stick your head in the sand to avoid seeing it, millions of others are working toward this future whether they realize it or not.

There is so much more I could add to this, but then I would need to write a book… A book explaining Fully Automated Luxury Communism…

[thephoblographer]

All images by Michelle Groskopf. Used with permission,

Photographer Michelle Groskonpf is a fine art street photographer that shoots in a style and subject matter that you don’t really see anywhere else. The LA based artist says that she used to be a “creeper” but these days finds happiness in the small moments of intimacy. That’s very evident by her Instagram and she’s now on a mission to make her photos into a book. Michelle’s book is called Sentimental, and she likes to bill it as more of a monograph than a coffee table book. Michelle got her start in photography during some troubling times in her teenage years. And like many others, she found a way to creatively express herself through fine art photography. Her style combines street portraiture with bright flash that brings us all the details of a person’s face. Michelle believes that everyone, in their own way, is both important and urgent.

Phoblographer: Talk to us about how you got into photography.

Michelle: My early teenage years were a mess. I was bullied a lot, I was restless and would spend a lot of time skipping class reading by my locker. My grades dropped and there were threats of suspension. What do you give a young outsider to help draw them back in? To help make them present. It was my high school art teacher that turned things around for me. She taught me all about photography and film. Talked to me about my ideas and gave me a platform in which to express myself and explore the world. I’ve carried that with me ever since. I owe the direction of my life to her really. I do my best to continue the circle by teaching underprivileged kids photography through organizations like The Lucie Foundation, Youth Arts and EduCare. Photography as an artistic pursuit is a powerful tool for engaging the world and the self.

Phoblographer: What made you want to get into street photography?

Michelle: I shot a lot of work in NY without telling anyone. NY is such a judgmental place that my private photography practice gave me a break from the rest of my life. It was something I did just for me. All those years of shooting without really sharing allowed me to develop a discipline and my approach and style without outside influence. I feel very fortunate for having had that period of growth and privacy. Now of course I tend to overshare! Ha. But those early years were crucial to building my love for shooting in the street.

“I was a creeper initially and would push myself to seek and find small stories developing on the street.”

Phoblographer: Your work seems to draw influence from Bruce Gilden in some ways and it seems like you even use his style of working except that you’re mostly acting with consent. Can you talk to us about your influences?

Michelle: I studied filmmaking for a large chunk of my life and then went on to produce and work as a graduate film production professor in NY. Film was my introduction to image making, not photography. I’m completely self taught and spent very little time learning about the history of photography. Bruce would be very upset to hear that! He stresses the importance of knowing the craft through your place in it. I disagree. I’m more like a wild animal in that I believe in order to truly express yourself you need to ignore traditional influences. My aesthetic comes from early cinematography, especially Orson Welles’ use of camera to build caricature and personality. I loved the early screwball comedies and the masterful work of Billy Wilder and Ernst Lubitsch. I also credit my family and my suburban Jewish upbringing for building my language. Big hair, big nails, colors, teenagedom and awkwardness.

There is a ton of crossover in life and work. People tend to speak the same language as others and that’s a beautiful thing. At some point in my life I chose to get close and explore the hugeness of details and faces, as there have been others and will be more to come. It’s an impulse we share. Just like other photographers grab at the bigger picture. Everyone brings a little something something to the table. I love Bruce. I’ve had the pleasure of spending some time with him. He’s the nicest guy and a true master. Uncle Bruce.

Phoblographer: Why is a flash so important to your street photography?

Michelle: Flash is my chunky paintbrush and brushstroke. It’s me declaring that there is obviously a photographer here interpreting this moment. It’s me in the act of creating. It’s a beautiful tool that allows me to make a star out of a hand, which is very deserving of a hand in my opinion. There is an earnestness that floods the frame when you shoot without flash. A seriousness of tone. I’m not an earnest person. It also changes the way I work. I don’t much like creeping or hiding. Flash doesn’t allow you to hide. There are consequences for good or bad to each shot. It keeps me in line and thinking about why I am doing what I am doing.

Phoblographer: How do you think your style has fundamentally evolved since you started shooting?

Michelle: I was a creeper initially and would push myself to seek and find small stories developing on the street. I did that for years and years. I was a real ninja but honestly it felt a bit impersonal for me. So my main evolution has been in moving significantly closer, shifting from context to detail. When I moved to LA from NY it triggered a wave of sentimental nostalgia for me. It reminded me very fundamentally of my suburban childhood. The more I looked around the more it tugged on my heartstrings and brought back these acute memories. I ended up using my camera as a device to frame the things that triggered memory. That’s what Sentimental is about. That’s what flows through all of my recent work from the last 5 years.

“Bruce would be very upset to hear that! He stresses the importance of knowing the craft through your place in it. I disagree. I’m more like a wild animal in that I believe in order to truly express yourself you need to ignore traditional influences.”

I don’t always think of myself as a photographer. I use photography to explore ideas but I’m sure if I could paint I would do that too. I also love to write and I played the drums for most of my life so the tool has only ever been the tool. I’m more interested in the idea behind it all.

Phoblographer: What do you feel typically attracts you to the people that you photograph? Have you noticed those patterns in your work at all?

Michelle: It’s all guts and intuition. These people and details attract me. They make me feel strongly so like a perfumer I want to bottle it up and share it and think about it. It’s definitely a compulsion for me. That’s why I shoot so much. I feel drawn to these people and I have to photograph them. It’s that simple. The themes that run through my work make up my life. They are a visual representation of how I see and what I am interested in. It’s a diary but catalogued through strangers.

Phoblographer: Do you feel like these people have some sort of genuine, urgent importance at all or do you feel like they’re more part of your creative vision and in some way are just collaborators in your orchestra?

Michelle: Everyone is urgently important. All of us. That’s the joy of doing this. We don’t always see the value in our everyday lives, only the big important moments, the overtures. But I think we live in the details. The moment I started getting closer and using flash was the moment I gave in to being open to momentary intimacy between strangers. That’s very hard for me. And often for the people I photograph. I get yelled at a lot. Not everyone wants to be exposed to that kind of vulnerability. I get that for sure. The larger truth for me is that in the end the photographs say way more about me then the people in the frame. It’s a rather intense cataloguing of my likes and dislikes and rapid thought process as I go about my business of the day.

Phoblographer: How do you think that a street photographer’s work differs when they interact with a subject vs simply shooting off candids? How do you think that the entire mentality of the moment changes?

Michelle: Girl don’t get me started! This goes out to all those obsessed with candid in street. I hate rules. I recognize the importance of them much like training wheels are important to kids learning to ride but they should never define the work. If you are out there using the street as your blank page you are participating in the history of street photography. I’d rather see wildly inventive original work any day than stale impersonal work made by rule pushers. I also think there is something profound in talking to strangers who you may never have had the opportunity to engage with otherwise. What a gift. That’s the mess of life. Bumping into each other. Sometimes I talk to people, sometimes I grab it and walk off, often I grab it, talk a bit, grab it again. I get yelled at and questioned and on a good day I’m flying through it and everyone is smiling or flattered or into it. As long as the work is good and clear and says something to at least me. There is no such thing as untainted photography. We are all making choices and framing things. There is no such thing as real or candid photography. Only choices. Do what you need to do, to say what you have to say. Just do it with respect and kindness. That’s my rule.

Phoblographer: So now you’re in the process of making a book of all your work. Tell us a bit about it. Of course, it’s a coffee table book but what makes your work stand out that much more than other photographers’?

Michelle: The book is called Sentimental and is being published by the incredibly supportive Magenta Foundation. They gave me a show several years ago and we’ve been planning this monograph ever since. It will be my first book and I’m very excited about it. This book is my way of tunneling back to my childhood and early adulthood through modern day Los Angeles. It’s a feeling and a sentiment and I’m very excited to share it with everyone. The imagery is a lot of fun.

I think of my work as a separate world. The best compliment has always been “I saw a photo and right away I knew it was yours” or “I saw a Michelle Groskopf person today”. My photographs have a specific vibe and feeling and if you don’t get it now you will once you spend time with the book. It clearly invites you into my weirdo world. I’m also excited to see my photographs large and as tactile objects. I showcase my work on social media a ton but the photos work very well large. You’re really there with these people and are given time to meditate on the details. It’s the best way to experience my work. So please help make this a reality and sponsor my kickstarter!

Phoblographer: Talk to us a bit about the gear that you use?

Michelle: I use a popular mirrorless brand of camera but these days I think any camera will do the trick. I have a ton of flashes. I love Godox/Flashpoint and Cactus. They have both done a lot in bringing well priced strobes to mirrorless cameras. I’m looking to buy a Pentax 67 for a special project I’m gearing up for and to use in my studio. Film on the street doesn’t make sense for my street work because it’s too slow, expensive and I shoot too damn much, but it makes perfect sense for experimenting in my studio or for specific commercial or documentary projects.

Phoblographer: Where do you see your career in a year and how do you see yourself getting there?

Michelle: I hope to explore galleries over the next year once my book is released. A solo show is the next step for me. I just left my representation and am looking to partner with a great agency who sees the potential for my work in the commercial world. I love playing with teen culture, subcultures and fashion so it seems a natural fit.

I recently opened a small photo studio in Hollywood with my partner Sasha Tivetsky. It’s called Rad Place. I want to see what will happen when I bring my outside people indoors. Experimentation really excites me. And of course I also think about getting back to the moving image so video is definitely on the horizon. Skies the limit really. For now I’m looking to get this book made so please visit my Kickstarter and preorder your copy!

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"I was a creeper initially and would push myself to seek and find small stories developing on the street." All images by Michelle Groskopf. Used with permission, Photographer Michelle Groskonpf is a fine art street photographer that shoots in a style and subject matter that you don't really see anywhere else.

[lethendralis-paints]

Art Commissions (May 2020)

Hello there! I’m open for commissions again!

I know that times are hard and we all have our own financial struggles, so I will be doubly grateful for any work that might come my way!

Please note, that my main focus are one character portraits. But I will also gladly create complex scenes, character design, animals, landscapes and architecture if needed. It doesn’t have to be specifically DA focused! I had previously done original fiction illustrations, fan art for other fantasy or sci-fi fandoms and enjoyed the work immensely!

I would like to avoid romantic scenes if possible as they are too emotionally taxing for me to create at the moment.

essequamvideri88@gmail.com for any inquiries

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Take a look at my regular commission pricing and rules here:

https://lethendralis-paints.tumblr.com/post/188253804681/commisions-post-updated-added-the-pricing-in

And for the quick sketch commissions here:

https://lethendralis-paints.tumblr.com/post/612304533287272448/quick-sketch-commissions-round-2-march-2020

If you’d like to order a highly detailed painted portrait (follow the link for the style example), let me know! The price for such a piece will be between 150-200$ depending on the complexity (as it’s really time- and energy consuming), but the result will be worth it!

https://lethendralis-paints.tumblr.com/post/617107116220645376/a-pair-of-old-oil-painting-inspired-portraits

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As always, huge thanks to anyone who chooses to reach out and commission me or share this post around!

Banavis fedari! May the ground rise to meet your feet! 

FAQ under the cut:

1) How does Patreon payment work exactly?

You just do a custom pledge for the amount we agreed upon and keep it up until Patreon charges your account at the start of next month (usually the billing period wraps up by the 2nd of each month). After that you are free to cancel the pledge or edit it down to as little as 1$ to remain my patron if that is your wish!

2) Can I ask for changes and adjustments for the ongoing commission?

Yes, but only on the rough sketching phase. I usually send at least 1 update while I’m sketching out the scene, and after conforming all the details move on to clean line art/ detailed painting. At this stage I couldn’t possibly make adjustments without considerable suffering on my part.

3) Where do I get the piece once it’s finished?

Be sure to download the high resolution file from my Patreon page! The image posted on my Tumblr (with your permission) is low-res and not intended for printing. If you’d like to request a layered PSD file or a TIFF version of your commission for high quality printing, feel free to tell me!

4) Will you be changing your prices in the future?

Not at the moment, no. They are rather low, actually, but the times are tough and a lot of us are battling financial insecurity, so I’m leaving them as is, even though the detailing and overall quality of my works is constantly evolving. But if you have the opportunity to leave a tip - don’t hesitate to do so; it would make me very happy.

5) What if I don’t have all these detailed reference sheets and face claims for the character I want?

That’s not a problem at all! You would just have to trust my imagination and whatever my overactive brain comes up with! A text description may well be enough!

[joya34blanco]

How to Get Inspiration for Photography When You Feel Stuck

Let’s face it, we’ve all been here before. We start off being in love with photography. We live and breath everything related to it, we take pictures of everything and anything, we obsess over the latest gear and gadgets until we almost alienate everyone around us. Who wants to get up at ungodly hours in the morning just to catch the most beautiful sunrise? But soon enough, the enthusiasm starts to slacken and you feel like you are taking the same photos over and over again. The good and the bad news is that photography is one of these art forms that is constantly evolving. Every day there is some new technique, new gear or even new post-processing style that seems to be quite the rage. So there are some simple and easy ways to stay inspired with your photography.

Draw up a plan for your success

Like any other professional industry, documenting your photography goals is also a great idea. Often just voicing and acknowledging what is in your head is the first step towards achieving success. If you are just starting out, maybe limit yourself to a couple of reasonable goals and while you are at it, also document some tasks that will help you achieve your goals.

Maybe it is getting comfortable in shooting in Manual mode, or maybe it is being comfortable using off-camera flash. No matter what the goal, it is easier to achieve when you have a solid actionable plan to help you get there. Take this even a step further by actually writing and planning the execution steps needed to achieve that goal. If you want to learn how to shoot in manual, check out the other resources here on dPS, like Getting off Auto – Manual, Aperture and Shutter Priority modes explained. Schedule time every week to shoot for an hour or so in manual mode. Ask a photographer friend to help you learn the ropes. There are many ways to execute on your photography goals.

Work on personal projects

While it is great to be busy and earn a living doing what you love, it can also start to drain the creative spirit. Give yourself permission to take on a few passion projects, otherwise known as personal projects. These personal projects are a way for you to fall back in love with photography without any pressures or expectations. They can be projects that last for years or they can be projects that get completed within a month. Not matter what you choose, choose a topic that is near and dear to your heart and give it your best shot (pun absolutely intended here!). Read: 12 Creative Photography Project Ideas to Get you Motivated

Here I am representing everyday elements in black and white, almost like I am reliving the good old days of black and white film photography. This is just a personal exercise in looking for monochromatic patterns and frames that will work well without any color.

To me, black and white for these blades of wheat brings out more texture than in the actual color image.

A simple place setting looks more regal in B&W

Go shoot without an agenda

Pick up your camera – whether it’s a DSLR, film camera or even your cell phone, and photograph something – anything. Don’t put much thought or plan towards the outcome. Sometimes it’s just the act of pressing the shutter without thinking of the end result that can provide the right amount of stress release. You can either look at the images or choose to delete your work. The whole point of this is just to enjoy the act of photography without expectations or stressing about creating the perfect frame.

Take up another form of creative outlet

Creativity does not always mean artistic. Sometimes being creative has nothing to do with art but everything to do with creating with your own hands. Creativity can be found in cooking a meal from scratch, exercising a new fitness routine, knitting or sewing, gardening, writing in a journal, or even just going for a walk outside and studying leaf patterns (what can I say, I live in Chicago where it is cold for more than six months of the year!!).

Let any or all of these activities flow without structure or planning. They are simply a means to release all that creative energy building up inside of you. Be kind to yourself and just give yourself some leeway to take a break from photography.

Create a self-challenge and work towards that

Especially at the beginning of the year a lot of folks opt for creative challenges like a 365 project where you take one photo every day, or a 52 week where you document each week of the year with a series of images. There are other flavors of this like shooting a single color for a week, photographing your daily meals, etc. Whatever is your self-challenge, document it and work on it. Perhaps even join or start a group online where others can participate with you. That can motivate you even further to keep the inspiration alive.

My personal project is to become proficient in old school film photography. To me, this is a great way to learn the basics of photography yet again. Plus there is something about the quality of film scans – they just have so much more depth and character to them.

Using an old 30+-year-old film camera to capture some landscapes and animals.

Conclusion

I hope this article has inspired you to not give up if you are feeling uninspired or dejected with your photography. With a few simple exercises and a conscious effort to change your mindset, you can come back more inspired and hopefully more motivated to explore all these wonderful facets of this art form that has so many ardent fans all over the world!

What are some things you have found successful when you are in a photography rut? Feel free to share those in the comments below to help other readers as well.

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The post How to Get Inspiration for Photography When You Feel Stuck by Karthika Gupta appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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