#this design is so hostile to artists

[cloud-ya]

summer cats

[killldeer]

lift minifig based directly on l*maery’s art :/

[teaboot]

Yo, no hate, I totally get the confusion!

From the perspective of someone who isn't in the arts, this would seem pretty dumb, yeah? Offering someone money for work they already did, on a picture I already have access to, thay I could just ask someone to do on me for free, right?

Well, there are a few reasons:

As an artist myself, I know how hard it is to make a career out of art. Nobody wants to hire you, those who DO don't want to pay you, and it's so, so easy to have your ideas ripped off or stolen. I believe that by giving money to artists I appreciate, I can help them continue to exist and continue creating more.

I'm benefiting from their work. I love their art, and I want it on my body, and they put work into creating it, so shouldn't I compensate them? It'd be kind of unfair for them to put blood sweat and tears into a piece on for me to walk in and go, "mine now", right? If I hired the tattoo artist to design something for me, it would cost money. So why is it fair to rob the tattoo artist AND the original artist so I can save a buck? I've just cheated two different professionals.

By asking the original artist if it's okay to get their work, and if they'd like to charge for it, I'm giving them control over their own creations. Maybe it's a personal piece. Maybe it was a commission for someone else who doesn't want matching tattoos with an internet stranger. I'm letting them choose to say what happens to the art that they've made, and in an era of the internet and pinterest and AI theft, that's not something we all get to have anymore.

TL/DR: Asking permission and offering payment is a gesture of appreciation and respect that grants an artist the dignity and bargaining power they need to survive in an increasingly hostile environment.

Or,

Failing to adequately compensate individual artists and craftsmen for their labour has directly to the death of art and craft at large.

[ch3rriiii-bunn]

I was wondering if you could do where Muzan and Douma have a female partner who has tattoos

And they don’t understand the concept of tattoos . Like they would ask them “Why would you sit in a chair and have needles pierce you repeatedly . You humans are weird.”

And they would be like “It’s called art.”

Tattooed s/o♡

This idea is so cute. Hope you enjoy this!

Warnings: fem!reader, reader is described to have tattoos, fluff, a little suggestive on doumas part

Douma

Douma first noticed your tattoos when you joined him for a bath. His knowledge of tattoos are people who were/are criminals, and he felt pity for you, evening going as far as to ask what crimes you've committed. "I've never seen criminal tattoos in these designs though," he said.

You chuckle. "These aren't criminal tattoos. These are tattoos with different meanings to me that I wanted to have put on my body," you explained. "Is there a special reason you want these meaningful tattoos? It's beautiful, I won't lie, " he asked, tracing his slender fingers over your tattoos outlining the shape of them. "Not really anything special, really. I also love the art designs of it all," you said only for douma to look at you confused.

Douma decided to join you and see for himself how a tattoo is done. The tattoo place you went to is safe and welcome to humans and demons. There was no hostility there, so your demon boyfriend douma didn't need to hide himself. As the tattoo artist began adding a new tattoo on your arm, douma sat in the chair next to you, watching intensity on what's happening.

Minutes soon turned into an hour. You'd think douma would be frustrated, but he still had his eyes locked on the needle piercings your skin. "Y/n, doesn't that hurt?" He asked "yes but it's fine, " you respond. "How strange... not only are you sitting in this chair for hours, you're ass probably hurting you, but you want to take this pain just for an artysle you want?" He asked, and you only nod.

After the session, you signed being relieved from the pain but smiled at the beautiful design done on your arm. "I thought it was silly at first that you sit in this chair for this long, having these needles poke into your skin repeatedly, but I see that it's worth it for you. I still dont understand, but seeing you satisfied, good, " he said.

As the tattoo artist applies petroleum jelly on your tattoo and then wrapping a bandage, you notice douma still sitting in the chair, but this time examining your body. "Baby, is there something wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just thinking about where I want you to tattoo my name on your body. Maybe on your boob or under your boob maybe" he thinks with his chin, resting between his fingers

"Douma!!!"

Muzan

Muzan has lived for centuries. He's not stupid on what tattoos are. However, he's not that educated on them. Muzan didn't like the tattoos on your body and even went as far as to shame you for it.

"How revolting. Why would you even let needles sink that dirty ink into your skin permanently? And humans wonder why they are so weak. You're putting that poison in your body," he said with disgust. "But I'm healthy... if the ink was dirty, my body would show clear signs of infection, but I'm okay," you said, almost laughing at his assumption.

You practically begged muzan to come watch you get a tattoo. "You should be grateful for the time I'm wasting just to sit here and watch you put that filth in your body," he spits out with his arms crossed. "Yeah, yeah, I'm grateful," you said with your head tilted, letting the tattoo artist make the design you want on the side of your neck.

As time went by, muzan grew impatient from sitting in the chair for almost 2 hours. His foot began to tap until he had enough. "How much longer is this going to take? You've been sitting in that damn chair for almost two hours now." he complained. You chuckle. "Art takes patience. You can't rush it, " you said only for muzan to make a first in anger. "What a foolish answer"

Once you were done, muzan took a good look at your neck. "Do you like it?" You asked. "It's not ugly. Why blue roses? I thought red roses were your favorite," Muzan asked curiously.

"Of course, I love red roses, but I wanted to try something different this time. You always talk about the blue spider lily and sadly I haven't seen one but since we both love flowers and you love the color blue why not get a blue rose for a tattoo" you laughed.

"What an idiotic thought to have. Wasting that time just to have a blue flower that's not the flower I wanted, " he said, turning his back to you, but his ears turned red at your stupid yet cute idea.

[suppotato123]

So, I’ve noticed that when we design an alien species that’s supposed to be sapient we tend to make them look like us, and I don’t mean in the typical “why in the world does this people on an entirely different planet of a completely different species with its own unique evolutionary history have a very primate/human-like body plan???” Kind of way. I’ve noticed that even when we make sapient species that look nothing like us and have a completely different body plan, we still give them the same or similar facial expressions and body language to ourselves. I find this really interesting because facial expressions are not across the board for all species (or all humans for that matter). Take, for example, the smile, a common friendly greeting among humans that communicates happiness, contentment, humor, and a lack of hostility, etc. However, for most animals, bearing teeth is a sign of unease or even open hostility. Its a threat that, “I have teeth and I’m willing to use them to protect myself!” Or take cats who, to the human eye, look relatively apathetic or sometimes even slightly annoyed when they are actually completely content. As I mentioned before, even human expression is more complicated than a set of particular facial expressions that only communicate one type of emotion.

Take a good look at this picture. What Emotion is this woman feeling?

Did you say pain? Loss? Anger?

If you did you’d be incorrect.

This is a picture of Sofia Kenin after winning a point in the first round of a Women’s singles match.

With the full context, it’s clear that she’s feeling elation, or excitement.

This is in no way meant to criticize artists for making their characters with distinctly human expressions. I understand that, especially in visual media, these sorts of expressions are really important to communicating the character’s inner world with the audience. I just find it super fascinating, and I think that it says something about us as a species that we look for and insert bits of ourselves in everything around us. So, yeah. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

[sukinapan]

honestly would be pretty interested in hearing about all of them, if thats alright

it's no problem o( ❛ᴗ❛ )o i like talking about this

for context, apart from making personal art i'm also an artist and character designer at Smarto Club, so I don't know if these count as OCs but i have posted art of them here: Haco from >Bubblegum Galaxy and Teacup from >Teacup.

you can check the steam pages on those games for more info if u like. i love all my characters but i don't usually make personal art of these two since i already do it as my job.

my newest Smarto Club character is a bit different since she's more in the style of what i'm doing personally so i want to make more art of her soon. her name is Abigail:

she's a kid who likes reading about bugs and catching them but she never hurts them : ) this is a short game in early development but it's about catching creatures called angels. it's got horrorish vibes but i don't think the end result will be full-out horror, since it's also kinda silly...

then there's Peklo, it's a game for which i created the whole concept and story but the plan is to develop it as a studio at Smarto Club. i wrote more context for it on this post, but for the characters, they're my favorites to make art about at the moment. the main ones are Kiku (the cat) and Mi (the bunny):

i recently created these human forms of them for fun but i'm not sure whether i'll establish them as canon or not... they're trapped in limbo/hell so there's space for them to have a past human form. they don't remember their lives but Kiku feels a deep sense of regret about things unkown to her and wants to break out of Peklo. Mi feels trapped in an eternal sadness, she longs to see the ocean, she can always hear it but has never been able to reach it.

the antagonist in Peklo is a frog entity called Guppy but i haven't really shown him outside of his froggy logo

i also have OCs from my smaller games. there's Hlina that i created specifically for >this game that was commissioned to me for a zine. i don't have any plans to use her again for now but i might make more art of her in the future for fun. she's part of a strange dream realm and is hostile to the player:

there's iro from the >game with the same name who's my oldest game OC. i created that bitsy game for her story but she existed previously in my art degree final project, it was a version of the same story but just a section of it. it's a dream of mine to create a full-fledged 3D game for her some day.

she's a bit of a defective space exploration robot, sent to explore planetoid Iridium-3 in search of human contact. it's set in a future where humanity has dispersed among the whole galaxy so lots of groups have lost contact with each other.

my latest game OC is Michtat, a wizard cat that i created just for this silly zine.

lasty, there’s the characters from my comic that I’m working on, called The most distant planet. the main characters are Victor and Mitya, two 9 year olds whose families end up living together.

i'd say these are the dearest characters to me of all. i don't post as much of them because they're mostly in the shape of comic pages and it doesn't spark as much interest as my games. i love drawing them though.

they’re both little weirdos who isolate themselves and don’t fit in much with other children, so the friendship they develop is very special to them. they have almost opposite personalities where Victor (darker hair) is very shy and dorky but also very sweet to everyone, while Mitya mostly gives 0 fucks about what anyone thinks or says, he blurts out whatever he’s thinking and just wants to run around wild.

the story is mostly slice of life-ish but there’s also a science fiction element ^-^ Victor is obsessed with things like ghosts, aliens, etc but Mitya thinks it’s all just dumb tales.

another important character is Alyosha, Mitya’s 17-18yo brother. he doesn’t know how to talk or relate to his little brother and is kinda weirded out by him. they where very close when they were younger, but when Mitya was 2 he had an accident that Alyosha feels guilty about, and has been somehow different ever since.

he still worries about his little brother and how isolated he is, though. at the beginning of the story the two of them live alone with their grandma who does love them but has kind of a cold and distant personality. 

Alyosha was the type of kid to be considered “gifted” but now feels completely burnt out and had to repeat a grade at school. he felt so humiliated by this he eventually stopped going entirely, so he now works part time and just studies at home. he cut contact with his old classmates but he still has 2 best friends from the last few months he spent at school in the grade below, Manon and Min Na. they’re the kind of friends who just show up unannounced at his house and job, and are very involved with his family’s life.

i’ve also included Min Jie in some art, she’s Min Na’s younger cousin and comes into the story later:

i should have like character sheets and stuff for all of these OCs but i’m the kind to just jump head first into drawing/modeling lol, that's why i included all these finished illustrations.

i really wanna publish this comic, i’ve been working on it for a long time and i’m currently waiting for the results of a public funding application here in my country to decide what i'll do next.

hope this could be of interest (^人^) thanks for the ask!

[svsss-fanon-exposed]

I find it interesting that the most controversial/widespread posts have been those relating to physical appearance/visual medium. Lbh's hair and body type and sqq's eyes. I wonder what's the underlying cause for this. Maybe because people get attached to designs they feel more protective of them? Just a thought.

Oh, I would say this is absolutely the case. Visual design choices are, after all, often symbolic reflections of parts of individuals' own selves in some way, or of other things that are important to them. Artists will also spend a lot of time and thought on creating their designs-- and in some ways, visual media and written media are also quite different. You don't need the visual contrast so much in a book, but you do need it more when it's pictures, because characters with good contrasts are pleasant to look at together.

I actually think the donghua designs create a sort of contrast too-- both by SQQ's lighter eyes to LBH's, but as well as with the broader silhouettes, where SQQ has flowing robes and hair and LBH's silhouette is tighter. Also in general, the black robes of adult LBH vs the teal & white. Western stylization just focuses more on body type+hair texture silhouette diversity, while eastern stylization is more about the clothing and hair-styling silhouette, in a broad generalization, so it's only natural that when people create their designs, especially for a media that is only written, like SVSSS before the donghua or official cover art came out, that they will draw influence from the background of their own culture in creating these designs, in addition to their own experiences.

It's difficult too in my position, because while I genuinely want to take a neutral look at trends and history and patterns and cultural influence as a scientific sort of examination, there are so many instances of attacks on character designs, which make both the artists and designers and the people who like those designs feel bad and just isn't productive, even if criticisms are genuine. Things should be talked over civily, without bashing, because a space where people are belittled and attacked is not a space where people can learn.

Anyway, everyone has reasons for their designs. Sometimes these may be rooted in stereotyping or westernization, but other times, they're based on personal reasons and don't actually have those roots. It's not my or anyone's place to declare, definitively, that someone is stereotyping (of course, there are some instances when things are very very obvious and that's a different story), I only try to explain what things i can so that people are then able to examine things for themselves. I do think it's everyone's own responsibility to look at their own biases and think about where their portrayal choices are sourced from, especially when engaging with a culture that isn't one's own. But I don't want people to get into a justification loop, because that's not going to help anyone-- just to honestly take a look at the why of things. Sometimes there's subconscious biases, sometimes it isn't about that. I don't know peoples' own experiences, so I'm not going to say what it is or isn't.

In the end, accountability is something that is definitely needed in sensitive areas like westernization or stereotyping. However, accountability is not dogpiling on someone. Instead, it's personally being open to consideration, to change, and to growth-- and we'll never have that in a hostile environment. People need to focus more on holding themselves accountable, and less on holding others accountable-- we all have unconscious biases. It's part of existing in any culture or environment, and it's a life-long process of examining them and growing in experience and knowledge. And I hope to contribute that knowledge wherever I can, and use what platform I have to foster that sort of gentler environment, where it's not about making people who genuinely didn't know things feel bad, but where it's okay to be wrong, and to learn and grow.

It's up to an individual to examine themselves when they hear new information. That doesn't mean everyone needs to change their designs to conform with Chinese beauty standards-- which have plenty of issues of their own, and shouldn't be taken as more "morally correct!" It's just so that as many people as possible can have as much information as possible, so they can make the best and most informed judgments and decisions they can about their own viewpoints and thought processes.

But yes, even saying all this, I can perfectly acknowledge that fan-designs of beloved characters hold a bit of their creator's heart. While creators can be imperfect, the experiences and emotions and care that these designs stem from is still genuine, and should be treated with gentleness and understanding.

No matter if someone's viewpoint is erroneous or just different from yours, it's important to remember that every person on the internet is a real, human person. Fandom culture can be so notoriously toxic-- and it's high time that people remember each other's humanity, and treat one another with compassion and understanding. That's the only way to create a better fandom space-- and ultimately, a better world.

[jadesnapart]

my art summary for 2023!! 2022 summary (and beyond)

template by mossygator

so 2023 has been an interesting year. while I've done digital freelance online on and off for years- this was the first year I fully supported myself on freelance art. it was difficult, it was rewarding, and it granted me ample opportunity to grow; to finally figure out what kind of art I want to make.

for as much art as I've made in my life and as much as I enjoy creating it, I have honestly never had the mental space to work on thinking about where I need to go before the past year and a half. I've worked a lot on my personal health and lifestyle which has been a big part of my ability to grow and change. I have a degree in fine art and while I learned a lot there, the disparity between the art i was *supposed* to be making and the art I *wanted* to make at the time wasn't clear to me yet. after moving to a new state, supporting myself fully on art, and finally tabling at a convention I have a bit of a clearer view of what that all means.

so I guess you might be asking - what does it mean?

there's still some things for me to figure out fully, but I'm definitely going to be taking a bit of a break from commissions in 2024. not fully, but I'll be taking the time to focus on things that I didn't have the time for in 2023. this includes: more merch! traditional art! printmaking! my original comic!

I've spent so many years building a skillset and defining what's important to my work, why, and now I'm kind of figuring out how to expand on those ideas. it may not be clear from an art summary that mostly consists of what I jokingly refer to as "cute anime girls" irl, but the type of character design I've tried to cultivate is centered around the expansion of how we perceive a traditional character design - particularly for women or fem-aligned characters.

I appreciate that a lot of people have picked up on what I'm putting out there, perhaps even before I was. While I'm not the biggest artist online and these spaces are getting more hostile for artists in regard to AI or the state of Twitter, etc-- I feel fortunate that people see the intent I put into my work and want to see more.

I'll be expanding a lot more into screenprinting this year as that was a lot of what my degree was centered around, I'm passionate about it, and I think pushing my work beyond digital and into the traditional space is currently the path I want to take.

looking to expand some stuff into my Patreon like maybe monthly postcards if I get this screenprinting stuff going soon, more tabling, and original work.

anyway I hope everyone has a Happy New Year and may 2024 bring joy to you and yours! :)

[hiveworks]

Hiveworks x InkBlot Partnership & Interview with CEO Jay Brown

June 2023

Hiveworks is proud to announce our partnership with InkBlot! InkBlot is a new queer-run and artist-made social platform for creators and their audiences, with similar vibes to DeviantArt or Pixiv.

We are so excited to help an emerging platform by providing advertising support, working together to help the webcomic community grow with one of the things we do best.

We asked InkBlot CEO Jay Brown to talk with us more about InkBlot, its origins and its future.

. 🦋🐝.

How did the idea for InkBlot originate?

InkBlot started on a call with some friends of mine. I was upset and talking about how social media at that time (and unfortunately still even now) had been suppressing creators. Instagram was my biggest source for my other company selling my designs and merch. It still is, but the reach is minimal and nothing compared to how it was 4 years ago. Then, on top of that, DeviantArt hadn't been listening to its user base about an update they were rolling out. As a person that doesn't like to talk about it but be about it, I set to work making wireframes and getting ideas for InkBlot, building the prototype at my kitchen counter.

We're seeing a cultural shift in how people interact with social media. How would you describe InkBlot's place in the future digital landscape?

InkBlot is certainly a social space for creators and lovers of the arts, and I think I like to really emphasize that it is a community space. It is first and foremost a space that will cater to a specific community and the supporters of that community. It is NOT Twitter. We will never be like Twitter, nor do we want to. There are estimated to be about 16 million people around the world that take part in the creative arts. This doesn’t include music, writing, animation, or comics (source? Trust me– jk Global Art Market). So with that being said, InkBlot exists for a large group of people, mainly artists, but also slowly expanding into other areas like music, voice acting, writing. That’s why we refer to users as creatives/creators, and I quite frankly don’t think it matters if we cater to a niche. This niche is huge and life is one big canvas. In this day and age, the internet is very hostile to creators, especially ones that cannot keep up with the algorithms that consume and churn ‘content’ at paces faster than creatives can make them. InkBlot is here to slow things down, have people enjoy the process and connect with others that do the same.

What is missing from artists' online experience that InkBlot aims to fulfill?

Community. The creative community has been shattered into so many different parts of the internet. We have taken residence in places that weren't made for us and still don’t even think of us. We are stronger together, and InkBlot is here to make a permanent home that is built by and owned by the community.

From an adult artist perspective, InkBlot's content guidelines are pretty clear and generous compared to other content hosting sites. What motivated this decision?

There is really nothing more important than keeping every part of the community. This includes the NSFW/adult spaces. The content guidelines are shaped to still allow for the freedom of the arts. You cannot say you are a space for the community, yet completely cut out a part of it. So many spaces have forced out the NSFW community and with it has also scorched the LGBTQIA+ community. There is something deeper here about this, but I won't write an essay. In short, it is important to keep all parts of the community regardless if it's SFW or NSFW.

Hiveworks is also a queer-run, artist-made organization, with a focus on webcomics. What is your perspective on the value of queer spaces online, particularly for creatives?

It is super important. In a world where queer folks are constantly ‘up for debate’ and our existence is a ‘political ticket’, we need to have a space online for ourselves. It is so very important to have a safe space in a world that constantly tries to erase us. Spaces like Hiveworks and InkBlot give people hope. It gives people a chance to connect with other queer creators and find that they aren’t alone. Making media that is queer is more important than ever right now. Even if it is just one person, it can save someone.

Speaking of comics, do you have a favorite comic (print or digital) or a recently read recommendation?

I am a big fan of Novae by KaiJu, Lies Within by Lacey & Golden Shrike by doeprince

For people who want to see InkBlot grow, what is the best way for them to support you?

The biggest thing is getting the word out about InkBlot and USING IT! Use it, even if it’s just once or twice a week. We need to know what people want to see, how it differs from what people use now, or if we should make it similar to those other tools. Of course, we are user-funded so supporting us through our Kofi or on-site premium works, too! Lastly, give us patience! Rome wasn’t built in a day.

PS: Bee on the lookout! InkBlot users will notice that Hiveworks creators on the site have a little bee badge to help make identifying your fave creators easier!

Badge artist: Ray Armstrong

[ohnoitstbskyen]

First saw one of your videos in 2018, I think! When Kai'Sa was released... lol. I was so looking forward to her release, but finally seeing her design completely soured me on it, and none of my friends saw a problem with the discrepancy between her character's Premise and the design's Visual Language. Naturally, I looked for like-minded people on the world wide web, and found your video! It articulated Kai'Sa's main issues better than I ever could and was cathartic to me. Been subscribed since then. 😊

Kai'sa is like 90% such a great character, and then 10% a collection of the single most wrong-headed character design decisions you could possibly make to communicate why she is such a great character.

"I am a horrifying monster, everyone naturally shuns me, I am alienated from humanity! They will always hate me for what I have become!" broods the supermodel in the skin-tight bodysuit with perfect makeup, immaculate hair and no scars, who very occasionally wears a slightly spooky helmet.

In the official announcement comic they juxtapose her sculpted, perfect ass and objectively gorgeous face with an angsty monologue about how her awful outside appearance will forever leave normal people in terror of her terrible visage. In the official announcement.

The artist who did the splash art for Hollowspun at least had the good sense to try to dial up the strange textures and fucked up geometry of the suit to make her look weirder and more insectoid, so that it is at least moderately visually plausible that someone would be repulsed and terrified by her appearance.

There's also the sensible basic visual storytelling idea of "oh hey what if instead of showing her entire and obviously normal human face we intentionally cover it up so it creates the kind of scary visual implication that she is imprisoned within her Void armor? That her humanity is a thing smouldering under an inhuman surface, repressed and hidden away by a decade of lethal peril?

And that maybe Kai'sa actually actively pushes people away and tries to frighten them because she's terrified that she can't protect them and facing the prospect of losing her entire community to the Void again is simply to painful to face?

AND WHAT IF WE PAIRED HER UP WITH THE GIRL WHOSE WHOLE ENTIRE THING IS FOUND FAMILY AND LOVE OF COMMUNITY???

WHO REACHES OUT FOR HER EVEN THOUGH SHE IS ACTIVELY TRYING TO BE HOSTILE???

What if we did that instead of juxtaposing a perfectly sculpted ass in a spandex with the words "maybe someday they will accept what I have become"? What if that?"

... anyway, I have extremely normal feelings about Kai'sa and her story and her character design. I have thought about this a normal amount. For legal reasons I am not planning to throw rocks at Riot HQ until they release more Kai'sa/Taliyah stories.

[ethanreedbooks]

Fresh Variant Covers Unveiled for 'Uncanny X-Men' #1!

New variant covers for "Uncanny X-Men" #1 offer fresh looks at Wolverine, Gambit, and more! Marvel Comics has unveiled a slew of variant covers for Gail Simone and David Marquez’s upcoming "Uncanny X-Men" #1, hitting shelves this August. Following yesterday's reveal of the main cover by David Marquez, today brings a glimpse at a variety of variant covers, adding to the anticipation for this highly anticipated release.

Marquez expressed his excitement, stating, “'Uncanny X-Men' is the book that made me fall in love with comics. It’s been a dream come true getting to work with Gail, Matt [Wilson], and the whole Marvel editorial crew under Tom to put together this story: a badass, heartfelt, action-packed, character-driven X-Men mystery. I hope readers have at least half as much fun reading it as we have had making it.”

So, what's "Uncanny X-Men" all about? In this series, a core group of essential X-Men rise From the Ashes to face a world without a home and without Professor X. Bonds among the mutant community seem to be slipping away, leaving Rogue reluctantly designated as the hero tasked with bringing them back together. But a fearless, malignant power is out there hunting mutants, harboring a terrible secret that threatens the very existence of the X-Men.

With its launch scheduled for August, "Uncanny X-Men" will be the second of three flagship X-titles set in the upcoming From the Ashes era. Fans can now feast their eyes on all-new variant covers for the debut issue, including group shots by series artist Marquez and celebrated X-Men artist Leinil Francis Yu, a Hidden Gem piece by superstar artist Adam Kubert, and the first in a series of character pinups spotlighting the new team by Luciano Vecchio.

After the devastating loss of Krakoa, mutants need the X-Men more than ever. With Professor X missing, Rogue reluctantly finds herself tasked with keeping the team together. Alongside Wolverine, Gambit, Nightcrawler, and Jubilee, they forge a new home in New Orleans, becoming a haven for mutants seeking refuge from a hostile world. Together, they protect mutants from persecution and ensure a future worth fighting for. They are the Uncanny X-Men!

Preorder "Uncanny X-Men" #1 at your local comic shop and get ready to dive into action with Rogue's squad when it hits shelves on August 7th! For more information, visit Marvel.com.

[uninformedartist]

My Final Post Regarding Velvette As a Character

And I must say it ends on a good note :) sort of.

Original twitter thread: https://twitter.com/OhTheSunnySide/status/1643798183674249216?t=ta0YMJ4NpmkticJXIuqqZQ&s=19

Oh the sunny side gave a wonder critique on hairstyles of ethnic characters on two upcoming indi animations, Far fetched and Pen pals forever. The critique came from a black person and was a sound and valid critique. The response from Ashley and Marie exemplifies how a creator especially one who is making or trying to make an independent animated series should respond to critique especially from ethnic voices.

Just look at these responses from both creators, so beautiful to see like this warmed my heart to see how Ashley and Marie took the critique. Marie said they will better even going as far as hiring the right people and Ashley stating that she'll revisit Piper's design in the final series. But sigh enough about this absolutely positive critique and creator response this is what should have happened with Velvette. Over so many years ethnic voices have critiqued Velvette's design in it lacking all ethnic features yet Viv wants to push she's a black woman. She was even hostile to an artist who redesigned Velvette from the leaked character sheets and said the person whitewashed Velvette in the redesign but she's bloody grey ashy toned in her original design like I cannot what. Anyhow her design still could've improved in the final series and...

Yeah nope. My point in all of this is listen to ethnic voices especially if you're an independent project because that is truly where you can make representation shine. Viv prides herself on starting Hazbin as an independent animated project and time and time again got wonderful criticism to better her especially ethnic characters like Vaggie, Val, Alastor, Niffty, Velvette and the list can go on. But she didn't she took all criticism from these voices as an attack on her and basically said "stuff your critique and wanting to see better more accurate representation my designs are perfect and need no changes". And I know Viv is half Salvadorian but that doesn't negate from the fact her ethnic characters are badly designed, Marie is Chinese but took that criticism with care and would better because she is not part of that ethnic group of one of her characters and is making a show that highlights representation so they will better the character's design, just beautiful to see. Viv as we all know doesn't take criticism well I get it but to shut out ethnic voices on designs you could've changed on so many occasions (basically over 10 years really since she had these characters for so long) is deeply insulting and heartbreaking. And that old excuse on "its just her artstyle" is bull its not even valid for a number of logical reasons if your artstyle cannot be pushed to incorporate ethnic features, I don't need to go into how bad that is.

In closing, listen to ethnic voices especially if you're making independent animated projects, animation on its own is unique medium to show representation without restrictions, its an open playing field you literally design the character you can do justice to representation. And if you're designing a character out of your ethnic group reach out, heck sometimes we make mistakes designing characters from our own ethnic group, ahm Vaggie. And lastly being independent you can get a lot more viewer feedback and engagement and that can be the most helpful. Marie and Ashley I hope live up to their word as I'm exited on both their series, wish Viv did the same but oh well we'll just be repeating ourselves, same old story thats set in stone hmm.

Edit: sorry if I used the wrong phrases or words, my English is on holiday now haha

[ladiesoftheknight]

SO

Like Tumblr, Webtoon is not great on AI. I will not feed more of my comic to the machine if I don't have to. It's also a faff as it promotes and supports "scroll" comics and I have to slice up all my panels into the correct format which takes an ungodly ammount of time added on top. I understand this is because readers are using phones, but it's just not how I designed the comics... call me old but...

I do however host on Tapas https://tapas.io/series/LOTK if following on a platform is easier. And I will continue to shout out updates on tumblr though I won't continue to post the comic due to tumblr's own AI policies.

It's hostile to be an artist online at the moment...

(Answer for @enter-the-bogman and anyone else)

[lesbiansforboromir]

I have a complex conversational relationship with my reaction to the way women look in media. As with most human attitudes, it's this mix of what I consider justifiable issues driven by societally narrow ways of depicting women, mixed in with reactionary knee jerk flinch-reactions that I have to seeing character designs that I percieve as 'forcing me to be feminine'. This last isn't at all rational, female characters that are masculine in some respects but feminine in others are not inherently against female masculinity. Someone drawing a character I percieve as a butch lesbian as thinner, daintier, softer and shier than I think of them is not an inherrently bad thing on it's own. But it feels horrible, it triggers a lot of anger and defensive contempt in me that the artist would not deserve directed their way. Most particularly because my perceptions of masculinity cannot always be trusted, smaller facial features are not necessarily feminine, my love of big, square and bold face shapes could draw me into racial stereotypes etc

AND YET... it is still definitely a not-insignificant trend for big and unfeminine female characters to be made smaller and more 'conventionally feminine' by fanartists, interpreters and subsequent media. It is also a trend for masculine-like women in franchises to be 'feminised' using some character trait. Cassandra and Aveline from Dragon Age come immediately to mind, being both the only women in all the games I can think of who could be called masculine, whilst also made straight and painted with this strange romantic naivete, coming off more as 'they failed at femininity' rather than their masculinity being a part of their identity that they express by choice. Honest to god it makes those games so hard to enjoy, media in general! Cus it is also true that, whilst there is nothing wrong with 'badass woman who has short hair and has some muscle definition but still wears makeup and has a boyfriend', it is still the only portrayal of female masculinity any media seems willing to explore these days. Which in turn makes it feel like the only expression of masculinity I am allowed, and that creates this sensation of caging that makes me want to lash out.

It's gotten to the point where I have an instinctual desire to ignore characters that are 'normal bodied' and 'normal gendered' if that makes sense. Not in the way that there is a normal body or gender, but in the way that, in the cultures I am exposed too, there is a very specific body shape and gender expression that is considered the 'strict norm' for women and everytime I see it it leaves me feeling hollow and resentful. And this gender isn't actually even really 'feminine' per se, female characters that are 'too feminine' are roundly hated too, there's like a null gender that female characters have to express in order to be tolerated by the stereotyped 'male viewer'. But this reaction of mine is still made up of both real issues and unjustified flinch reactions and it's hard to parse them in any way other than recognising what's happening and dealing with it internally or with friends who understand.

Like a lot of reactions that have origins in living in a society that is hostile to me, but is being in the moment triggered by just encountering something banal; 'this female character makes me angry just for existing' has gotta remain an inside thought.

[vicholas]

What's wrong with the webtoon long strip format?

It's fucking dogshit, it's uncomfortable and unreadable, hostile for both readers and artists, does a disservice to the art because the long canvas is designed to be scrollable rather than at the service of artists themselves to use panels as they want (the creators of the webtoon openly state that the intention of the format is for people to read as fast as possible so they'll read other comics in their site). That's what's wrong with it

[quinn10121012]

After the invention of the Zero Point drive, the human race rapidly spread out across the stars, from the solar hub to the fringworlds. However, space is a hostile place, and habitable worlds are quite rare. As a result, many new variants of humanity have emerged, modifying themselves in order to survive the strange, alien environments they find themselves in… or sometimes just for fun. Pictured here are but a small sample of variant human subspecies…

Titanian: Corpulent, furry human variant adapted to extremely cold environments; initially developed to better withstand the harsh conditions of Titan, Saturn’s icy moon, but have since spread to other frozen worlds; typically inhabit pressurized underground tunnel cities carved into the ice.

Spaceborne: Tall, lanky variant with prehensile feet and tails, optimized for life in microgravity; one of the oldest variant groups, created during the earliest days of the first interstellar age; designed to live aboard long-distance exploration/colonization vessels.

(Artist’s note: these folks are heavily influenced by @jayrockin ‘s tailed spacers - go check out their stuff, it’s awesome!)

Rock Rats: Another early variant designed to live and work in the asteroid belt; short, stocky bodies built for navigating the narrow ducts, crawlspaces, and passageways common aboard mining vessels, as well as the labyrinthine tunnels of their hollowed-out asteroid homes; “rock rat” is a colloquial term, originally derogatory but has since been reclaimed.

Voidwalkers: Highly-modified variant designed to survive in the vacuum of space; originally created by a dubiously-ethical megacorp to serve as an orbital labor force; have since gone on to form their own society of nomadic spacefaring clans, offering their unique services to ships and stations in need.

Vamps: A collective of eccentric horror fiction enthusiasts who deliberately bio-modded themselves to resemble their favorite imaginary bloodsuckers; long-lived, sensitive to sunlight, crave the taste of blood; actually pretty harmless, as they tend to subsist on synthetic blood substitutes.

(Artist’s note: apparently its a weirdly common thing for vampires to inexplicably show up in otherwise grounded hard-sf settings, so I decided to jump on the bandwagon!)

SmartPets: Bipedal uplifted animals with trace amounts of human DNA, available in a wide variety of species; created and sold by a division of the same megacorp as the voidwalkers; designed to be the ultimate domestic companion; infamously advertised with the tagline “man’s best friend just got better.”