So, Back Around 2022-2023, I Had To Explain To A BUNCH Of Friends What Exactly Is/was The Undertale/UTMV

being a self-taught artist with no formal training is having done art seriously since you were a young teenager and only finding out that you’re supposed to do warm up sketches every time you’re about to work on serious art when you’re fuckin twenty-five

Small Vent about Art Progression

Man. It’s really strange seeing Highschool and even Middle School artists be so GOOD at art.

I’ve spent YEARS, basically all my life, drawing. Not everyday and not every year, mind you, but enough to where I don’t understand how well some people can draw so well at such an early age.

I’m not angry or upset about it. I actually really admire young artists and hope they excel!!!

I’m more puzzled than anything… Like- how the hell did they do it. Ya know? I drew almost everyday in highschool. I drew backgrounds and characters, and pushed my limits (I thought), but my drawing skills were and still are very slow to implement.

And the thing is I KNOW i work slower than most. It’s been like this all my life, even with tests and homework. But dang does the feeling still feel awkward.

It’s not like I’m obsessed with comparing my art. I don’t do that. I’m very glad I don’t.

It’s a subconscious stress, from noticing others have an easier time drawing than I do. Even if we enjoy it the same.

Eh. Anyways feel free to add you own stresses about art to vent. I’m doing fine mentally!!! Just confused tbh.

I'm sorry but this is AMAZING- ✨

Happy New Year 2024 from Korea.

Year of the 🐲🐉!

reblog if you’re okay with people writing fanfics of your fanfics and/or fanfics inspired by your fanfics

Hi! White writer here, I’ve been going through your folklore tag and didn’t quite see what I needed to know. Anyways I’m working on a novel which features a town populated exclusively by preternatural/supernatural beings, which acts as something of a sanctuary for beings from all over the world. There’s more than one of these towns, again all over the world, but people immigrate. Anyways my question is about folklore and respectfulness? I don’t want to turn anything into a stereotype or be (a)

(B) disrespectful with cultures which, obviously, aren’t mine. It’s a small town and there’s a lot of borderline horror in the story, but I guess I’m asking about any recommendations on how to not end up reducing them to stereotypes. (This includes things like kappa, ghosts, various types of vampires, werewolves and shifters, fae, etc. no wendigos, I did read that post.) sorry if this is too broad or anything similar! If you’ve any advice though I’d really appreciate it!

Using folklore respectively

The key is showing a balanced perspective.

Every folklore, belief system, and religion has good and evil forces. The problems happen when you start to pull too heavily from the good or evil sides of any one folklore belief set.

For example, your kappa— do you have any positive Shinto forces in there? Or are you just pulling the monsters? If you’re just pulling from the monsters, especially if you’re pulling mostly marginalized belief system monsters, that’s where it gets very, very troublesome.

This might mean your core cast has to shrink down to account for a balanced perspective, and a few chaotic forces, and/or you’ll have to be careful with side characters to mention them (like, a line of dialogue about how a negative force is a threat and a positive force from the same belief system is handling it), but this is your basic formula for using folklore.

You’ll also have to be careful not to discredit certain beliefs that might make people uncomfortable (it has been expressed a few times that adding Judaism and Islam to all-myths-are-true gets touchy), so that sort of research will be required.

Bonus points that you learn more about each individual set of beliefs and end up more likely to stray away from pop culture sensationalist lists that focus on the weird Other Folklore. By spreading your focus to the less written about but just as important good characters, you create the sense of something whole.

I would also suggest considering looking at how each folklore treats good and evil. Western views tend to treat it as end points— evil is defeated [end], evil wins [end]— while other belief systems are more likely to acknowledge that good and evil will always coexist and the key is keeping them in balance.

As for the Wendigo:

It isn’t completely off limits. What that post is referencing is making sure to use the Wendigo in its original context. This means having it be a villain/ force of pure evil, and having some good Native beliefs to balance it out.

For example: if the Wendigo (or any other marginalized demon) is defeated by a Christian witch, that would have colonialist overtones by showing the “savage marginalized beast” be subdued by “good Christian people.” Even if you had a non-Christian European belief, that turns to “civilized Europeans.” There’s a lot of racism in this option. 

Meanwhile, if you had the Wendigo defeated by Wisakedjak (or the equivilent heroic figure in a marginalized belief system), then the Wendigo is being defeated by an equal, showing a balanced representation of the beliefs. You end up showing internal processes for handling our own demons, showing our cultures more thoroughly.

Tl;dr: so long as you show good and bad parts of the folklore, and don’t make blends that end up stepping on toes/are colonialist in the form of Europe Being Better, you’re worlds ahead and with proper research can flesh it out.

~ Mod Lesya

been thinking so hard abt the fuckin game freak director saying pokeballs are like "high-end suite rooms of a fancy hotel" and pokemon horizons illustrating this by showing quaxly inside a ball and its like a studio apartment.

anthro pokemon just going into their balls when they're off work and stuff

"condos" that are just shelves you can place it on around random residential areas.

Snom!

"Should parents read their daughter's texts or monitor her online activity for bad language and inappropriate content?"

Earlier today, I served as the “young woman’s voice” in a panel of local experts at a Girl Scouts speaking event. One question for the panel was something to the effect of, “Should parents read their daughter’s texts or monitor her online activity for bad language and inappropriate content?”

I was surprised when the first panelist answered the question as if it were about cyberbullying. The adult audience nodded sagely as she spoke about the importance of protecting children online.

I reached for the microphone next. I said, “As far as reading your child’s texts or logging into their social media profiles, I would say 99.9% of the time, do not do that.”

Looks of total shock answered me. I actually saw heads jerk back in surprise. Even some of my fellow panelists blinked.

Everyone stared as I explained that going behind a child’s back in such a way severs the bond of trust with the parent. When I said, “This is the most effective way to ensure that your child never tells you anything,” it was like I’d delivered a revelation.

It’s easy to talk about the disconnect between the old and the young, but I don’t think I’d ever been so slapped in the face by the reality of it. It was clear that for most of the parents I spoke to, the idea of such actions as a violation had never occurred to them at all.

It alarms me how quickly adults forget that children are people.

LISTEN UP AGAIN KIDS STOP REBLOGGING THIS FUCKING GARBAGE POST. IT IS 100% FUCKING BULLSHIT AND CAN AND MOST DEFINITELY WILL LITERALLY KILL. DO YOU NOT SEE WARNING LABELS THAT SAY “DO NOT INDUCE VOMITING”? THEY AREN’T FUCKING AROUND. YOU CAN FUCKING BURN THEIR ESOPHAGUS BY CAUSING VOMITING, CAUSE CHOKING, DROWNING, OR MAKE IT WORSE! AGAIN DO NOT FORCE ANYTHING DOWN ANYONE’S THROAT. THEY. CAN. DROWN. IF SOMEONE IS LOSING CONCIOUSNESS ALL THE CHIT CHAT IN THE WORLD WILL NOT PREVENT IT AT THAT POINT THEY ARE IN SERIOUS DANGER. “Buuut i don’t wanna take them to the hospital!!!” WELL SUNSHINE GLAD YOU’D RATHER HAVE A DEAD FRIEND THAN A LIVING ONE BUT YOU’RE IN LUCK CALL FUCKING POISON CONTROL. THEY ARE NOT THE COPS. THEY WILL HELP YOU. AND IF THEY SAY GO TO THE FUCKING HOSPITAL YOU GO TO THE FUCKING HOSPITAL. NO EXCUSES. 0. NONE. I have seen this shit cross my dash SO MANY TIMES so PLEASE fucking reblog this and prevent some well meaning idiot from accidentally killing someone they love!

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DO NOT KNOW

THIS IS A TRUMPET

THIS IS A TROMBONE

THIS IS A TUBA

AND THIS IS A FRENCH HORN

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME