arcsonara

Latest Posts by arcsonara

Beans

Love that they just let you keep going.

Wandersong fanart because that game has not left my brain since the first time I discovered it.

I feel like we need a refresher on Watsonian vs Doylist perspectives in media analysis. When you have a question about a piece of media - about a potential plot hole or error, about a dubious costuming decision, about a character suddenly acting out of character -

A Watsonian answer is one that positions itself within the fictional world.

A Doylist answer is one that positions itself within the real world.

Meaning: if Watson says something that isn't true, one explanation is that Watson made a mistake. Another explanation is that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made a mistake.

Watsonian explanations are implicitly charitable. You are implicitly buying into the notion that there is a good in-world reason for what you're seeing on screen or on the page. ("The bunny girls in Final Fantasy wear lingerie all the time because they're from a desert culture!")

Doylist explanations are pragmatic. You are acknowledging that the fiction is shaped by real-world forces, like the creators' personal taste, their biases, the pressures they might be under from managers or editors, or the limits of their expertise. ("The bunny girls in Final Fantasy wear lingerie because somebody thought they'd sell more units that way.")

Watsonian explanations tend to be imaginative but naive. Seeking a Watsonian explanation for a problem within a narrative is inherently pleasure-seeking: you don't want your suspension of disbelief to be broken, and you're willing to put in the leg work to prevent it. Looking for a Watsonian answer can make for a fun game! But it can quickly stray into making excuses for lazy or biased storytelling, or cynical and greedy executives.

Doylist explanations are very often accurate, but they're not much fun. They should supersede efforts to provide a Watsonian explanation where actual harm is being done: "This character is being depicted in a racist way because the creators have a racist bias.'" Or: "The lore changed because management fired all of the writers from last season because they didn't want to pay then residuals."

Doylism also runs the risk of becoming trite, when applied to lower stakes discrepancies. Yes, it's possible that this character acted strangely in this episode because this episode had a different writer, but that isn't interesting, and it terminates conversation.

I think a lot of conversations about media would go a lot more smoothly, and everyone would have a lot more fun, if people were just clearer about whether they are looking to engage in Watsonian or Doylist analysis. How many arguments could be prevented by just saying, "No, Doylist you're probably right, but it's more fun to imagine there's a Watsonian reason for this, so that's what I'm doing." Or, "From a Watsonian POV that explanation makes sense, but I'm going with the Doylist view here because the creator's intentions leave a bad taste in my mouth that I can't ignore."

Idk, just keep those terms in your pocket? And if you start to get mad at somebody for their analysis, take a second to see if what they're saying makes more sense from the other side of the Watsonian/Doylist divide.

I was hit by this experience a bit ago and it nearly made me cry tbh.

i had a nice thought today !!!

.....

Do not punish the behaviour you want to see

I mean, it seems pretty obvious when you put it like that, right?

But how many families, when an introvert sibling or child makes an effort to socialize,  snarkily say, “So, you’ve decided to join us”?

Or when someone does something they’ve had trouble doing, say, “Why can’t you do that all the time?” (Happened to me, too often.)

Or any sentence containing the word “finally”. 

If someone makes a step, a small step, in a direction you want to encourage, encourage it. Don’t complain about how it’s not enough. Don’t bring up previous stuff. Encourage it.

Because I swear to fucking god there is nothing more soul-killing, more motivation-crushing, than struggling to succeed and finding out that success and failure are both punished.

A friend of mine complained that I never post any of my women ocs (was looking back and wow they right), so here you go.

Man, if I had a nickel for every time someone asked if/assumed I was autistic, I'd have at least a few dollars. Which isn't Nearly enough to afford a diagnosis, but it probably means something.

Attempted an RR sketch. Turns out I can't keep all of his suits straight (lol), so it ended up being a weird amalgamation of his different looks.

Ice slippery

i gotta remember this

heeppy hoolida

Quick art dump for the new year!

Decided to render my last drawing. Also attempted a profile sketch, but I'm not quite sure about the face shape yet.

Aahhhhhhhh! My new paper screen cover just arrived!

I've been using it for all of five minutes, and I already love it!

They're such a smug little prick, and I love them for it.

Also holy heck, I need to start using references more often.

Fandom is so different now and it’s becoming un-fun with how quickly shit moves.

I just want to enjoy things. I don’t want to have to play a game of Artist-Race that seems to be afoot lately.

Ya’ll eat up fandoms, leave artists and writers bone dry and then move on so fucking quickly then fucking wonder where all the Good Fandom Stuff is.

Idk Maybe cherish some things for longer. Reblog stuff. Interact with people. Comment and share.

Fandom is Capitalism now and I’m not being nuanced.

Ah-

It's been awhile huh?

House! This one is my favorite so far.

Who knew Infinite Painter had an isometric grid tool? Because apparently I forgot. Anyway, be prepared for tiny cute houses!

Ok so I just found your YouTube channel, and this is kinda random, but like... your voice is so awesome and could honestly fit a little character I'm trying to animate?? And I dunno how you'd feel about voice acting stuff, but uhh... Somehow I wanna do a collab with you, I dunno, I'm sorry if that's a weird question XD

I've never done voice acting, but I'd be willing to try! Especially if it's in collaboration with an animator!

Fair warning I will be very busy the next few days, so my responses may be delayed, but my email is arcsonara@gmail.com

Is spaceifying a word? No

Will I be using it anyway? Yes

Proud of this one, condensing his creation down into 40 seconds was tricky.

Happy Turtle

Also, the reason I vanished

Just realized I haven't posted any of the stuff I made for YouTube here, so have a quick art dump.

Another Rambley because shading him has become incredibly calming for me.

Ouch...

don't you just love it when the art is arting?

He likes trains.

(I cannot draw trains for the life of me)