this-is-my-jaam - Tumblr blog

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I'm gonna miss Ash :')

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Everything Everywhere All at Once.

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Sooo this happened on tiktok

And the comments are gold

(+Extra)

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scoobert doobert

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Dalish Redux Update:

Hi guys! Just wanted to do a quick update on the redux project. I’m still working on it, I have just been having some issues regarding my mental health that have been sort of putting a stopper on my life, hence lack of updates. I’ll try to get the next set of outfits posted asap, but after that I will be on a bit of a hiatus while I get things back on track in my day to day.

Sorry for the radio silence, and thanks to anyone who has been following along so far!

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A quick sketch of Edith + A pic of Edith doing Arya’s hair from my asoif fic on ao3

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@queer-amann

Absolutely! Feel free to use these patterns for your own fan projects. I'm so happy that the fandom has been enjoying my work so far. I absolutely encourage anyone who wants to try their hand at high-fantasy anthropology to absolutely go for it. I am more than happy to let you reference the work I've shared so far.

As far as in-game item description goes, There can be quite a bit of conflict between what is shown and what is told. For the most part, I try to stick with what is shown and anything canonical from the books or in-game story related info (such as the ironbark). With the number of writers that had a hand in building Dalish culture in canon, trying to work off of in-game item descriptions can be tricky with conflicting information, though the details about the bow and Andruil are great! I haven’t quite gotten around to deep diving into weaponry yet, but I will definitely keep that in mind.

The city elves are a bit difficult to place design-wise. My natural response would be some sort of combination of localized human clothing (Fereldan, Orlesian, Nevarran, etc), but the city elves are a heavily oppressed group and unlikely able to afford fine, imported fabrics. The city elves are another group that I have yet to get to as far as design and research goes, but based on canon from the Masked Empire and DAI, I would likely veer towards shoddy and worn versions of the common middle class fashions, but very out of date. I would need to do more research to give you a definitive answer first.

I believe that, for the majority of city elves (or at least the ones we meet in canon), follow the Chant of Light and have a complicated relationship with their Dalish counterparts. The city elves see the Dalish as the rebellious last stand against human oppressors, and the Dalish see city elves as traitors to their heritage, largely due to the worship of the Chant of Light. I imagine that city elf culture and artwork may have some Dalish inspiration, (the trees dedicated to Mythal and maybe some other references to Dalish gods here and there) but mostly based on aesthetics that they wouldn’t fully understand in the way that the Dalish clans would. The Dalish are very protective of their history and culture to the point that many clans are unwilling to share their knowledge with city elves at all. Though I think that it would be highly likely that there would be a number of Dalish heirlooms passed down city elf family lines, such as Briala’s Dalish locket from DAI. Any patterns or imagery that would grown in alienages would probably be a combination of whatever knowledge they have of patterns like the vallaslin and references to things that are commonly known to be important to the Dalish (Halla and elfroot, for instance).

The City Elf situation is complex because of how often their lives are uprooted by violence. I mentioned in another post that civilizations rise and fall and all of their technology and mythos goes with it. Something similar can be said of the City Elves who are probably more concerned for their safety than anything else. Their homes are so often attacked and destroyed that it would be hard for a steady and cohesive aesthetic to form. There would likely be only simple patterns on smaller portions of the clothing and it would really vary from alienage to alienage.

More important than the actual clothing of the city elves, I think that it would be very likely that they would direct attention and craftsmanship towards practical things that were less likely to face destruction in the streets from mud or hard labor. Quilting, weaving, rugwork, carving, and home-made goods would definitely be something that I could see City elves doing. And quilting, weaving, tapestry work, embroidery and the like are all common storytelling avenues. City elves find themselves in such a difficult and lost place in the world of Dragon Age, which is why I think that they would turn to home crafts where they would be able to record their own stories, taking influence from the cultures surrounding them and shaping their lives, but creating a narrative wholly their own.

Hope this helps, and feel free to ask me questions anytime! I’m on pretty infrequently these days, but I’ll try to answer asap :)

Aight, pattern drop time. I am not really a pattern designer myself and these are still pretty rough, but I’m doing my best. These go along with my post from earlier this week about Dalish textiles and how much I dislike the underdevelopment of the Dalish aesthetic culture. I spent the last few days coming up with these based on the Vallaslin, halla, frescoes, and other imagery that the Dalish would likely make designs with, like elfroot and arrows. I tried to make patterns to varying levels of intricacy based on a few different real world ethnic groups whose design aesthetics fit what we already have for the Dalish and their Vallaslin patterns, which mostly ended up being mid Eastern Turkish, Iranian, Persian, etc. I also wanted to include some reference to Native American design as they are stated to be one of the inspirations for the Dalish culture, so for the more geometric designs I referenced Navajo rugs and some Sioux clothing from both the Lakota and Dakota Sioux. There are some other indigenous design references that I used that were not credited to a specific group that I could find unfortunately. I’ll continue to make more for as long as I’m working this project, but let me know if anyone is interested in more detailed breakdowns of the designs, materials, etc that I’m using for this project. I can also post the reference board that I’ve been making on Pinterest for how I’m building the culture and where I’m taking design inspo from. Any related posts will be tagged ‘Dalish Redux’ from now on for anyone wanting to keep these posts for reference.

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Chinese street fashion in Chengdu

Videos compiled by me. Videos were filmed with the subject's knowledge.

song: 好久不见 - Lil Jet

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I've been doing some light research on historical Chinese clothing for my version of Clan Lavellan based on my own heritage, and one thing that I noticed and love is the amount and variety of colors and patterns used. It feels very 'alive' for a lack of better words, it has a lot of character.

Another Tumblr post I came across recently brought up the current trend of color disappearing from the world. Our color pallets have become much narrower and dull. (Maybe that's why I like tie-dye so much XD)

A lot of the time, you can look at traditional clothing and name which region it hales from. With modern fashion, that's not the case a lot of the time, with it feeling rather homogenous.

Link to said post: https://www.tumblr.com/coldmaxine/692852331579047936?source=share

That is a major factor that drew me to your Dalish Redux series, but I didn't connect the dots until recently. The Dalish clans wouldn't feel homogenous, Clan Lavellan wouldn't be a straight copy of Clan Sabre, etc. So much can be told just by looking at them.

I feel the lack of color is something that plagues a lot of modern fantasy, the lack of color creates a lack of diversity. A lot of information can be gathered by appearance, and when everyone shares color pallets, a lot of subtle world-building is lost.

Like if we were to take the designs of Dalish Elves vs City Elves in DAO and II, they have some attire differences, but if you were to remove the Vallaslin, it would be rather hard to tell them apart.

This isn't to say the City Elves should have drab fashion, but their vanilla appearance is so boring.

Absolutely agree! Color and pattern are both instrumental to the development of textiles and arts and a fantastic resource in historical study. I mentioned before that patterns tend to be designed with some meaning at hand, That is something that I try to keep in consideration when making patterns for the Dalish. The base design that the og concept artists were going for seem to be aligned with the art deco movement as well as natural themes. In that sense, I decided to create abstract patterns to represent some of the in game plants that have been given Dalish names and/or have been said to have significance to the Dalish. We also already have the Vallaslin, which I use very often for reference since it is an already canon resource with significant symbolism.

My best advice on subtle worldbuilding, particularly in textile as that what I’m studied in, is natural resources. China is famed for its silk, Egypt for its linen, and Peru for its alpaca wool, etcetera etcetera. Not only that, by the richness of resources and availability play a significant role in how clothing develops.

As an example, the Ancient Egyptians loved color, but weren’t technologically advanced enough to be able to strip their linen of the fibrous outer layer, which made it extremely difficult to dye. As a result, there was a lot of white clothing supplemented with opaque stones, the most popular being carnelian, jade, and lapis lazuli. Those gems aren’t native to Egypt, but because we know where they can be found, we know who the Egyptians traded with and what was being swapped between cultures. We even know where dye moves around from based on what is and is not native to the regions using said dye. For example, there is a rare, tiny purple species of mollusk know as Murex snails. The dye was so rare and popular that only royalty was allowed to purchase it, and thus Royal Purple was born. 

Basically, try and think of cultural costume design as the natural cause and effect of resources being introduced to a society. What do the Dalish have from before the fall of Arlathan? What resources are available in the area that a specific clan is from? Based on the reclusiveness of the clan, would they have more resources from an established trade with other clans/merchants? Obviously you don’t need to go nuts with specifics, but limiting resources is a great way to give a culture character and thoughtful design.

There have been more recent attempts to really flesh out fantasy designs in more modern properties (for better or worse), but overall, clothing tends to fall back on more traditional,  western Europe aesthetics. Part of the issue is that costumes are designed with silhouette and flat color in mind rather than pattern, which would come later when the costume department actually gathers the fabrics.

City elves should definitely have developed their own unique styles based on where their alienage is (if they belong to one) and access to materials. A city elf likely wouldn’t have the time to be making their own clothing and gathering their own resources, so what would they be able to afford based on where they live? 

I will admit to being somewhat guilty of the lack of color in the modern world, but in my defense, Dark Academia is a look and half of my closet is rainbow brite colorful but I have no where to wear those outfits because I have no where to go and I live on my computer :,D Thanks for the ask!

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I be sleeping in the master chief position

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Arya Underfoot is an endearing nickname

The first time we are introduced to Arya being called Underfoot is in AGOT, right when she is thinking about how much she misses Winterfell and its people:

Arya had loved nothing better than to sit at her father's table and listen to them talk. She had loved listening to the men on the benches too; to freeriders tough as leather, courtly knights and bold young squires, grizzled old men-at-arms. She used to throw snowballs at them and help them steal pies from the kitchen. Their wives gave her scones and she invented names for their babies and played monsters-and-maidens and hide-the-treasure and come-into-my-castle with their children. Fat Tom used to call her "Arya Underfoot," because he said that was where she always was. She'd liked that a lot better than "Arya Horseface."

Anyone with reading comprehension can see that Underfoot is a nickname the people of Winterfell gave Arya because they liked her. They liked that she was nice and kind to them. They liked that she would help them get food from the kitchens, and play with their children and suggest names for their babies. They gave her scones because they liked her.

More importantly, Arya enjoys that nickname. Because she knows it shows the affection the people from Winterfell felt towards her. She knows that Horseface is a dig to her looks, if Underfoot had been a way of saying she is in unsafe places or annoying the servants, she would know it.

Besides, none of the scenarios described in that passage even suggest that Arya was ever a nuisance or putting herself in danger when she hang out with the servants. Unless you headcanon that she was taking the pies out of the oven with her bare hands that is. Or that the women were actually throwing scones at her to get her to leave.

The book, as written by GRRM, supports the idea of Arya being liked the smallfolk that lived in Winterfell, and the Underfoot nickname being an affectionate one. Again, if that wasn't the case, Arya would know it and she wouldn't like it!

Hullen, who had been master of horse at Winterfell as long as Arya could remember, was slumped on the ground by the stable door. He had been stabbed so many times it looked as if his tunic was patterned with scarlet flowers. Arya was certain he was dead, but when she crept closer, his eyes opened. "Arya Underfoot," he whispered. "You must… warn your… your lord father…" Frothy red spittle bubbled from his mouth. The master of horse closed his eyes again and said no more.

Here we have Hullen, who is dying after being attacked by the Lannister soldiers, using his last breath to recognize Arya and trying to warn Ned. An obvious show of loyalty towards the Starks.

Why, of why, would he use an insulting nickname for Arya in the same breath he is using to warn the Starks they are in danger?????

For a moment she did not know how to answer. She'd had so many names. Had she only dreamed Arya Stark? "I'm a girl," she sniffed. "I was Lord Bolton's cupbearer but he was going to leave me for the goat, so I ran off with Gendry and Hot Pie. You have to know me! You used to lead my pony, when I was little." His eyes went wide, "Gods be good," he said in a choked voice. "Arya Underfoot? Lem, let go of her." "She broke my nose." Lem dumped her unceremoniously to the floor. "Who in seven hells is she supposed to be?" "The Hand's daughter." Harwin went to one knee before her. "Arya Stark, of Winterfell."

And here we have Harwin, Hullen's son, calling Arya "Underfoot" with a chocked voice, right before demanding Lem lets her go and kneeling in front of her.

Again, someone from Winterfell showing respect towards Arya and House Stark. Why use a nickname that is supposed to be demeaning towards Arya right before kneeing in front of her????

Arya earned that nickname by being friendly and kind towards the people who lived in Winterfell. She earned it by talking to everyone, no matter their rank or wealth.

No matter how anyone tries to spin it, Arya was liked by the people from Winterfell. The books support this idea. The books have shown time and time again that Arya cares about people's character more than their looks or social status, and that's a good thing.

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Frank Frazetta - Mina Murray, c. 1970

Concept art for a Dracula movie.

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Always reblog when I see this video

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[video by tommcgovern27. original caption: this one’s going out to anyone living in a studio apartment rn]

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i am an advocate for Big Dumb Man rights and i will not take this blatant erasure by the anime twitter users

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Terrifying

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Crafty Minotaur