Latest Posts by dandelionsinsunshine - Page 2
writing east asian characters
as a half east asian person, asian representaion is important to me, and i’m sure it is to all the other asians out there. but incorrect representation is far worse than no representation at all, so here are a few guidelines and things to keep in mind when writing an asian character.
things to keep in mind when naming:
please don’t make up names that “sound asian”. well known offender: cho chang from harry potter. hearing people mock me when i speak in my asian language by saying “ching chong chang” is bad enough, but making us asians read/hear about a character whose name is a constant reminder of that ignorance and racism really bothers me.
if the character was born in a different country, our first names aren’t always native to our language/country. we may or may not have a traditionally english name. a great example of this used correctly is ethan nakamura, from the percy jackson series.
coming up with a last name is not difficult - at all. just google “common (insert country/ethnicity) last names” and they’ll come up. use this for other ethnicities/races too!
this is really just common sense but don’t give a traditionally korean name to a japanese character, vietnamese name to a chinese character etc. (unless they are multiple ethnicities).
guidelines for physical descriptions:
please…don’t say they have slanted eyes. just don’t.
our skin isn’t yellow. we aren’t lemons. also, the asian race incorporates not just east asians but also filipinos and other much darker skinned people.
many east asians have straight, thick black hair. but again, even within the asian race we are diverse, so this isn’t always true.
of course, if your asian character is being faced with racism, you can have the racist character make fun of their eyes or skin. some asians make fun of themselves, but make sure you check w multiple asians to see if this joke is ok.
writing personalities, characteristics, quirks, etc.
east asians can have any personality, just like any black, white, or hispanic character. they can be mean, they can be nice. just make sure that if you only have one asian character, they aren’t shown as a villain. if you have multiple asians on both the “good” and “bad” sides, that’s perfectly ok.
stereotypes can definitely affect your character. be concious of them.
people’s personalities and quirks are shaped by their parents/how they were raised. an asian kid adopted by white parents is not going to act the same way or entirely fit in with other asians raised by asian parents. their cultures (or their parents cultures) will affect them.
east asian cultures
asians can be racist to other asians. in the past, koreans and japanese do not get along, and that has really showed in the japanese side of my family. my mother is quick to stereotype koreans she sees, but she does have korean friends she gets along with. racism among asians exists, and it’s not always black and white. rasicm also exists against other races; i’ve heard of an asian daughter who wasn’t allowed by her parents to marry a black man.
asians can have friends of multiple races/ethnicities
not all asians know their respective languages. some only know a little, some are completely fluent.
east asians don’t know everything about other east asian cultures, and can still accidentally insult other cultures. each culture is very different, so do your research on each one.
universal east asian culture things: 1) no shoes in the house. 2) do well in school. 3) strict rules on cleanliness, going out, friendships, relationships, and curfew. 4) mothers always wear slippers for some reason. 5) attacking insolent children with said slippers.
religion is also varied. usually it’s either christianity or buddhism, although there are of course, exceptions. the native japanese religion is shinto.
taiwan was recently the first country to legalize gay marriage, which is good news, but that also means that many asian countries are against it or don’t fully support gayness. not all asians are like this! but it’s common for asian parents to be less understanding of this kind of stuff so keep that in mind if your asian character is going to be gay.
stereotypes and their affects
asians are smart. this one probably came around because many asian parents are very strict when it comes to their child’s education, but strictness doesn’t equal understanding a subject you just don’t get. this stereotype is usually detrimental to asians because people expect too much of them. if they do well, it’s expected and less people congratulate them. if they don’t, they’re shamed for it more.
asians are bad drivers. this one doesn’t affect asians as badly as the smart stereotype, but it’s still insulting.
asians all look alike. again, this one isn’t really that bad, just very annoying. yeah, some of us look similar, but a lot of us are very different. i was once compared to a guy who was fully vietnamese, whose skin must have been at least ten shades darker, with black hair and was on the chubby side. i’m japanese, half white, with brown hair, and definitely thinner than him. if i genuinely look like the person you’re comparing me to, it’s not a problem, but it’s definitely offensive when we’re very different types of asian. we are all different and unique, and it’s important that people respect that.
it’s important to remember that not all of the things i said are always true - there are always exceptions. i’ve probably missed a lot of things. i also don’t pretend to know about every different kind of east asian. so if you have anything to add, feel free, and if you have any questions about how to portray an asian, ask someone of that ethnicity!
it’s okay if you didn’t realize that you belived in a stereotype or that you might have said something offensive once, as long as you learn from it and don’t do it again in the future. i hope non-east asians learned something from this post. good luck writing your asian characters! heck yea representation
side note: I’ve addressed this in other posts, but the example of cho chang as a bad name and is purely my opinion. many others may disagree, I just thought it was mildly ignorant and shouldn’t be used often. jkr in general is not a good author to model when it comes to representation of any kind. ty!
Percy Jackson Died
Percy Jackson died.
He was old enough, he supposed, older than so many of his friends he’d watched die, but not really old. Old enough he was tired, and suddenly finding himself in the lobby he recognized from when he was twelve years old was disconcerting but not particularly surprising.
After all, he was a half-blood, and being a half-blood often got you killed in very nasty ways.
But still.
Percy Jackson died.
Charon remembered him.
“Drown in any bathtubs recently?” he asked dryly, but he waved Percy’s apologies for not having a coin to offer him. “You paid me for passage once and it clearly didn’t stick.”
So Percy Jackson died, and he crossed the River Styx on the ferry, and this time, when he arrived in the Underworld, Cerberus was completely visible.
Last time he came to the Underworld to see Hades, he’d entered the fast-moving line and stepped into the fields of Asphodel. This time, he waited in line to see the judges.
He’d saved the world more than once, they’d better give him something better than eternal stasis.
“Percy Jackson.” Daedalus greeted him warmly, arms full of blueprints and a full toolbelt wrapped around his waist. “It’s nice to see you again.”
Before Percy could respond, he was pushed to the front of the line and was standing in front of three men he had a feeling he should recognize but he didn’t. He didn’t have to speak at all, the three judges talked to each other while flipping through papers Percy couldn’t read, and without actually acknowledging him at all, the one in the middle hit a green button and Percy found himself on the inside of the gated community he’d only seen from the outside.
Percy Jackson died and was sent to Elysium. For a little while, it held his attention. Pretty much anything he wanted, he could have. Blue Coke, straight out of the bottle, better than the blue Coke at Camp Half-Blood. Pizza just like the pizza from his favorite place to go with his mom. Infinite activities, everything he’d ever wanted to do but hadn’t been able to when he was alive. Skydiving, cliff jumping, he got to pilot a plane.
He got to see old friends. Beckendorf and Selena Beauregard, who’d found each other and were happy again. Demigods who’d died in the second Titan war who wanted to hear from him how it had ended, to know what really happened. Heroes who died in the second giant war who wanted to know everything about Camp Jupiter and all of their friends who’d outlived them. Hunters who’d died in battles he hadn’t even known about while he was still alive.
But Percy Jackson was the son of Poseidon, lord of the sea. He didn’t like being contained in one place, and even if Elysium was a paradise for heroes, it wasn’t the same as being alive.
So Percy Jackson died, and Percy Jackson was sent to Elysium, and Percy Jackson chose to be reborn.
Zak Mason was born to a single mom.
He was an ordinary baby, almost. He was born with blue eyes, but they turned brown. He laughed and cried and pooped and spat up. He started preschool with a choppy haircut he gave to himself, and loved sitting on his mom’s lap to listen to Dr. Seuss books and watching anything fast-moving and colorful on TV.
When he was six, Zak’s basketball team won against all of the other first grade teams in their town, and a big picture of his gap-toothed smile holding the trophy he’d helped win with his first three-point shot held the place of honor on the fridge for almost a year.
Sometimes, Zak Mason had nightmares he didn’t understand. Of burning pain covering his entire body, of monsters and shifting Earth and bottomless pits, of faces he didn’t recognize twisted in pain or looking down at him as he fell, of flashing swords and screams and bursts of arrows whistling towards an enemy he couldn’t quite make out. He woke up and forgot the nightmares quickly, but they always left him almost wistful for something he couldn’t quite remember, even with how terrifying they were.
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“Identity Fluid” Pride Patterns: Part 1
Just in time for pride month, here’s some bubbly liquidy pride flag designs. You can find shirts, stickers, etc with these designs on my redbubble, which is linked in my blog header. I will also link in the reblogs of this post. (sorry for no link in the original post, sometimes tumblr excludes posts from searches when there’s an external link in the original post)
I have included large un-watermarked versions of the designs in this post in case someone wants to use them for backgrounds, headers, icons, etc. Which is absolutely allowed, HOWEVER I request that you credit me should you use them. People have reposted my art or posts without credit on other sites before and I would really prefer that not happen again. I would also like it if you let me know if you are using these for something, however that is not a requirement as long as you credit me.
This is Part 1 of this set of designs, I will be posting the rest of the designs shortly. If you do not see the flag that you want in either of those posts, please feel free to request it.
image description under the cut
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“The devil works hard but the home race curse works harder and I’m tired of it.”
- Anonymous confession
Majority in Brazil’s top court to make homophobia and transphobia crimes
A majority in Brazil’s Supreme Court has voted in favour of making homophobia and transphobia crimes.
Six out of 11 judges voted to consider discrimination against gays and transgender people equivalent to racism.
“Homophobic crimes are as alarming as physical violence,” Supreme Court Vice-President Luiz Fux said on his vote, citing “epidemic levels of homophobic violence”.
For almost 20 years there have been efforts to make homophobia a crime in Brazil, but legislation on the matter has faced resistance among conservative and religious groups in Congress, the BBC’s Julia Carneiro in Rio reports.
The decision at the Supreme Court means that offences are to be punished under the country’s racism law until Congress approves specific legislation to protect LGBT people, our correspondent adds.
Continue reading.
Trans Tony Stark anyone???
Requested by @loki-isnt-so-lucky! Kind of tempted to make this a series, so feel free to request any other characters you’d like me to write about!
——————————
• Anyways Tony is kind of the textbook definition of what A Man™️ should be, and with all the toxcitity of Howard (at first) too, and it’s not really for a happy reason
• It’s ‘cause Howard never truly accepted Tony’s identity, ever, and told him he could never be a man in his eyes. Would never get a girl or be an engineer or be able to casually sleep around or do any of those Macho Man things that Howard Stark held up as the golden traits of being a man
• Part of the reason he loved his mother so dearly was because she was the only one who listened to him and tried to help him. But she was always overshadowed by Howard.
• So Tony spent his entire life trying to prove himself to his father, and ended up developing a lot of traits he hated because of it. But… that’s what it took to be a man, right? Right…?
• As soon as his parents were out of his life he started rapidly transitioning. It maybe wasn’t the best way to cope with the pain of losing his family, but… he felt like he was falling apart, and transitioning kept him moving forwards and kept him going. Light at the end of the tunnel kinda thing.
• It wasn’t until the arc reactor and getting kidnapped and Pepper that he cane to his senses. That wasn’t what it meant to be a man. Tony Stark had a heart, and courage, and kindness and love and caring, and he was still valid in his identity. He didn’t have to be uncaring and stoic and snarky. That wasn’t right OR healthy.
• It still takes him a while to unlearn that. Therapy helps. Being a better dad to Peter helps.
• On that subject, he never thought he’d get to be a dad! But now he has lil trans Peter to look after and it’s a little terrifying and he’s clueless but… he’s a dad. Not a mom. Someone’s father. A father to another son struggling with identity. But a better one than Howard.
• Trying to fit the macho man stereotype for so long meant he was blind to his bisexuality for a good chunk of his life. But now boys are… really hot and Pepper is laughing at him and shUT UP PEPPER LOOK AT HIS ASS—
• Pepper knows everything, and supports him through it all. The rest of the Avengers know to varying degrees. Loki knows full on. Loki silently admires him for it.
• When he first opened up to Steve about it the man was, as someone from the World War era might be, a little surprised and confused. But after coming to an understanding he (very gently) offered to help research and synthesize a milder form of the supersoldier formula that transformed him, or even to use samples from his own body, “if it might help you, Tony”. Tony didn’t take him up on the offer— testosterone was a hell of a thing on its own— but he threw Steve into a hug and they were close ever since then.
• His superhero name went through a lot of iterations, but it felt nice to have “man” in the title somewhere, even if it seemed petty or insignifigant to someone else. It made him feel way more confident in the hero role if he could announce himself as the Iron Man. It still makes him smile a little.
• Height dysphoria.
• Thor, sensing this, tries an innocent attempt to comfort Tony and ends up buying him high heeled boots.
• The whole team places bets on how hard Tony’s gonna throw them at Thor’s head, but he surprises them all by graceously thanking Thor and clicking off down the hall in them. No one’s allowed to talk about the heels.
• Tony very much likes to pretend he doesn’t know jack shit about feminine stuff, but was was kind of forceably raised female by Howard especially, so. He slips up. Especially when something is irritating him.
• “Wait, that’s the wrong order! You have to do eyeshadow before foundation.”
“Tony, I think I know what I’m doing.”
“If you do foundation first, your eyeshadow fallout is gonna get all over your nice powdered cheeks.”
“…you have a point, I guess.”
“Unfortunately.”
• You can bet a big chunk of his charity money goes to trans organizations and shelters. He’s like the trans tooth fairy, too. Oh, you need top surgery? Bam, paid for. Srs? Here’s a check, have a good hospital stay.
• He likes to work with Bruce on prototype treatments and whatnot, and Bruce has to reign him in from becoming a total mad scientist
• “Bruce what if I inject myself with 9000 GRAMS OF PURE MASCULINE—“
“Tony, no, you’d explode—“
“BUT—“
“Tony, you’re perfect just like that, you don’t need to perform experimental treatments on yourself!”
“But—“
“Tony you have more abs than I ever will please stop”
twinkle twinkle otp
you will be the death of me
always keeping me up late
reading bout your stupid dates
twinkle twinkle otp
WHY CAN’T YOU JUST LEAVE ME BE
WHILE WE ALL HATE GAME OF THRONES
I’mma just remind everyone that the fantasy series you have been dreaming of, the one with a diverse as hell cast (I’m talking 50/50 gender split, 80% LGBT, 70% POC), with battles for Power ultimately being proven pointless in the face of the battle for Existence, with characters who are damaged and morally grey as hell but always still likeable and still understandable, with meaningful relationships of all kinds between said characters: THAT SERIES EXISTS.
Everyone go read A Crown for Cold Silver by Alex Marshall. (Then A Blade of Black Steel, then A War in Crimson Embers)
It’s finished. The endgame is perfect. You can thank me later, and then hate me for having hoarded all the canon urls already.
The Music Room
The Red Room used ballet prominently in their training both for its emphasis on discipline and as a cover. It was one of their most insidious tricks because the art itself is beautiful but the purpose they gave it was sinister.
As a child, Natasha didn’t see it as such, nor can she bring herself to as an adult. Ballet was so wonderful to her; they tried to teach the girls not to love anything, but she always loved ballet—the rhythm, the precision, the beauty, the art, the challenge… it was never easy, it was often painful and unforgiving, but it had such a markedly different flavour to the rest of the training that she couldn’t help forming a fondness for it.
Through the years, she has tried to peel away every last trace of the Red Room, tried to scrub out all the marks they left on her and tried to pry off all the pieces they melded onto her, but ballet is the one thing she purposely keeps.
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Embryo stem cells created from skin cells
Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) have found a way to transform skin cells into the three major stem cell types that comprise early-stage embryos. The work (in mouse cells) has significant implications for modelling embryonic disease and placental dysfunctions, as well as paving the way to create whole embryos from skin cells.
As published in Cell Stem Cell, Dr. Yossi Buganim of HU’s Department of Developmental Biology and Cancer Research and his team discovered a set of genes capable of transforming murine skin cells into all three of the cell types that comprise the early embryo: the embryo itself, the placenta and the extra-embryonic tissues, such as the umbilical cord. In the future, it may be possible to create entire human embryos out of human skin cells, without the need for sperm or eggs. This discovery also has vast implications for modelling embryonic defects and shedding light on placental dysfunctions, as well as solving certain infertility problems by creating human embryos in a petri dish.
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Chris Hemsworth comes across a bunch of @marvelentertainment action figures
Hilarity ensues
Src: Chris Hemsworth on IG https://www.instagram.com/p/BU9urTtBl55/
Endgame - Whatever it takes - (2019)
Tony Stark in Avengers Endgame (Photoshop CS6). Also available: STEVE.
So since Endgame established that going back in time created alternate timelines/universes, here are the universes that they created (correct me if I missed one):
NOTE: Like Bruce said, they can’t change the past. Think of these points as alternate universes instead of the Avengers actually rewriting the timeline.
1) Alternate 2012: HYDRA thinks Captain America is on their side, Alternate Universe-Past-Cap thinks Bucky is alive based on MCU Cap telling him that, Tony is freaked out by his arc reactor randomly turning off, and Loki is free and running around with the Tesseract.
2) Alternate 2013: Frigga meets MCU Present Day Thor and Rocket steals the Aether from Jane Foster. Although the Reality Gem was returned, Frigga’s interactions with Thor might’ve changed her fate. Maybe she’s still alive in this timeline?
3) Alternate 2014: Thanos, Gamora, and Nebula of this universe disappeared from the timeline, so maybe Infinity War never happens. If it still happens, someone else takes Thanos’ place (Magus? Supreme Intelligence? Pick your favorite cosmic Marvel villain). The Guardians of the Galaxy never form. Black Widow is still around but there’s a version of her dead in this universe.
(Note: Gamora of the third universe is still around since she jumped to the MCU timeline / universe)
4) Alternate 1970: This is a long shot but maybe Tony Stark convinced Howard Stark to actually be a good dad, resulting in a timeline where Tony doesn’t grow up with an abusive dad. Also, Hank Pym loses a lot of his Pym Particles, which might affect his journeys as Ant-Man.
5) Alternate 1946: Steve marries Peggy and presumably stops HYDRA from growing inside SHIELD. Bucky is saved early as a result. Also, this does mean there are TWO Steve’s in this universe, MCU timeline Steve and still-stuck-in-ice-Steve. What happens to the frozen version of Steve, I don’t know. Maybe they thaw him out early? Imagine two Captain Americas teaming up with Peggy and Bucky to destroy HYDRA once and for all.
art tips post
for all the artist following me
Have two sketchbooks: One for finished and high-quality art (stuff made with Prismacolor or Copic if you use that or art for your portfolio) and the other sketchbook for more messy doodles. This way you have a place to try new things and mess up as much as you need. When I only had one sketchbook I was scared to draw in it because I didn't want to mess it up
Do studies. I cant tell you how much I've improved just by doing studies of shoes, hands, noses, and all that. This works for when you have art block too since you’re not really making stuff up and just learning how real things work.
Learn from others. I’ve never taken a real art class because 1. I can’t afford it and 2. there’s no good art classes/programs at my school. I’ve been following several artists and learning from them over the years and they’ve helped me tremendously. Just please do not steal art because that is never okay.
Break down concepts. If you notice there’s something wrong with your piece then figure out why. You can’t get better if you leave mistakes and don't try to understand whats going on. If the color is weird figure out if the values look right or maybe its the saturation of the color.
Watch youtube tutorials. Here are some youtubers I think are pretty good art teaching all things art: Draw with Jazza | DrawingWiffWaffles | Proko | Baylee Jae
Have an inspiration folder/blog. Sometimes you just need a collection of starry nights or a misty forest or even a French bakery. All of those things can help you get inspired to draw. It could even be completely unrelated to what you plan to draw.
There are no dumb ideas in the creative process. If you want to draw a lizard in a dress go for it! If you want to draw various pastries with faces do it! Don’t let the thought of it being too dumb stop you because if I’ve learned anything in my several years of drawing it’s that an idea can lead to another and another and another and you may get a really good idea just from doodling dumb things.
Here’s a few things that can get you started on drawing better:
Dynamic poses | Dynamic clothes | Dynamic figure drawing
COMPOSITION | PERSPECTIVE | CONSTRUCTION
Anatomy:
Legs
Arms
Hands
Heads
Body (Female) (Male
Color Theory
Improving your sketchbook
Most importantly, don’t give up! You may not immediately get notes or followers but it’s more important you get better than to have popularity. How do you think those popular artists got to where they are now? To be good you’ve got to work at it.
Kit Harington shares personal photos with Esquire Magazine in their May Issue
“This is just me fucking around. I just got bored one day and put it on. Quite often Dany’s wigs were lying around. If that picture says anything, it’s about how much of your time is spent in hair and makeup. ”
“This is from this season. I think he’s asleep there. That was during these long nights filming battles. There was just something so weird about chilling in the greenroom—a tent, basically—with the Night King, who’s making jokes, and the White Walkers around him, who are cracking up. To you it’s normal, but to anyone else walking into that room, it would be bizarre. It’s these bits I’ll miss most—the moments of ‘What the fuck is my job?’”
“This was taken in Spain, and I thought Emilia looked like, as the old saying goes, a million bucks. To me, in this photo, she screams fifties, sixties, Old Hollywood chic. And that’s why I took this snap, ’cause she sort of has a timeless quality to her.”
“Kristofer has one of the most amazing faces ever. I think he looks like an Arctic explorer in this. He’s just wonderfully eccentric and became a very, very good friend.”
“I took this selfie during the Battle of the Bastards [season 6’s biggest episode]. Just to give you an idea, we had six stages of dirt and blood, and I’m on about stage three at that point. And it was pretty uncomfortable. All of that stuff on my face is sticky blood, which is sugar based and attracts wasps and flies. I think I took that selfie just to go, “What the fuck am I in? I’m halfway through this and this is how messy I am.”
We took this this season. I can’t remember what we were there for, whether it was a photo shoot or a costume thing, but it struck all of us that it was so rare that this many people were in one place at one time. So we were like, “Right. We need a family photo.” This is obviously just a snippet of people who were on Thrones. I’d love to get a massive group of everyone who was on Thrones in one big photo. This is just what we ended up with, kind of the core group of us, minus for some reason Lena [Headey, who plays Cersei Lannister]. I don’t know why she’s not there. But it’s a really happy photo. I remember diving into the middle of it, trying to be center. The photo cuts a bit through all the shiny little faces we have to pull on press tours, and the people we are when we’re all dolled up for a premiere or a talk show or what have you. When we get on set together, a group like this, we’re fucking goofy and we play around. And I think you can tell from this photo how much everyone loves each other.”
“Alfie, Richard, and I went to the Wheel of Belfast. It was that time when every city had to have a huge Ferris wheel. We were almost like kids ourselves, going on this big wheel and obviously having this souvenir photo taken. It’s just remarkable looking at it now and thinking we had no idea what was going to happen with the show. We were just young actors happy to be working—literally a world-at-your-feet sort of thing but no expectations from it.”
Can I just talk about the way Han and Leia act in the garbage compactor though?
They’ve only just met, they’ve only exchanged a few snarky remarks, everything’s been one moment of panic and danger after the next, she just got tortured and he’s in way over his head, but the moment those walls start closing, we see who they are and what their dynamic is going to be.
Leia’s first instinct is to take charge and try to find a solution. And Han doesn’t protest or argue, he just does what she says. Once it becomes clear that they can’t do anything, Han immediately switches to trying to get Leia out of danger. Captain I-Only-Care-About-Myself is desperately trying to help her climb up out of harm’s way, give her a little more time.
And the moment the danger is over? They hug. No snarky remarks, no innuendo, just “hey we’re alive isn’t that wonderful”. Both too relieved to remember the mask, for the moment. Neither of them have really come across as the hugging type and yet, here they are.
(gif credit)
The whole scene says a lot about them, individually and together, and I love it a lot.
