that owl from zelda
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nothin much just broodin real hard on this nasty steering wheel
my favorite tumblr is updating again
Dett arrived! Here’s a few pictures of her exploring the wilds of Pennsylvania. (Beware its slow drivers!)
This gorgeous sculpture was created by Whitney Wasson and sent to me as a prize for the Bravemule fanart I did a little while ago. Huge, huge thanks to Kevin and Whitney for being so awesome!
If there’s anyone reading this who doesn’t know what Bravemule is, go away and read it right now! It’s an amazing Dwarf Fortress story written by Kevin Snow, illustrated by George Kavallines, and — at times — scored by Thomas Ferkol.
And lastly, sorry for the awful pic quality — I’m not a photographer by any stretch of the imagination.
I’m creating this blog as an archive of artworks which I believe share a similar aesthetic. Like the Japanese or the Belgian (ligne claire) styles, the African drawing seems to have its own aesthetic and its own rules. The aesthetic I’m focusing on here is one that may seem naïve or mediocre, but which is far from that. It has a refined quality that contains a strange beauty. Drawing sometimes goes almost full circle. Successful “ugly” artwork requires drawing to be “beautiful” first. It’s the taming of an aesthetic. It’s an acquired taste.
Africa is a big place and, like everywhere else, there are diverse artists and styles. There are, however, similarities in some of the drawing styles that are quite characteristic of African artists specifically. That’s what this archive is about.
UHLAKANYANA is an anthology of South African izinganekwane, the isiZulu word for stories or tales. It contains 124 pages of stories by eight very different artists. Not all the works in this book belong to the aesthetic described above, but it’s a beginning.
Time is always said to be a great healer of wounds, however deep they may be when fresh, and Ojebeta’s case was no exception. She had one great advantage over many others who suffer loss: she had youth.
- The Slave Girl by Buchi Emecheta (1977)
Junot Diaz on Men Who Write About Women
- The Atlantic: It sounds like you're saying that literary "talent" doesn't inoculate a writer—especially a male writer—from making gross, false misjudgments about gender. You'd think being a great writer would give you empathy and the ability to understand people who are unlike you—whether we're talking about gender or another category. But that doesn't seem to be the case.
- Junot Diaz: I think that unless you are actively, consciously working against the gravitational pull of the culture, you will predictably, thematically, create these sort of fucked-up representations. Without fail. The only way not to do them is to admit to yourself [that] you're fucked up, admit to yourself that you're not good at this shit, and to be conscious in the way that you create these characters. It's so funny what people call inspiration. I have so many young writers who're like, "Well I was inspired. This was my story." And I'm like, "OK. Sir, your inspiration for your stories is like every other male's inspiration for their stories: that the female is only in there to provide sexual service." There comes a time when this mythical inspiration is exposed for doing exactly what it's truthfully doing: to underscore and reinforce cultural structures, or I'd say, cultural asymmetry.
I got distracted doing my Western Metroid concept art project for school when I was trying to find out Samus’ height. Turns out in some official art for Super Metroid (1994) she’s described as such:
The Power Suit hides a strong, muscular woman. Samus is nearly six feet, three inches tall and weighs nearly 200 pounds.
Then it lists the exact numbers as 6’3” and 198lbs. That’s what’s “hidden” by the suit, not with the suit, as some people on the internet seem to be suggesting. If you look at the illustration, the suit doesn’t add much to her height anyway.
So anyway the point of all this is that Samus is now 5’3” and that sucks. I can’t find where this stat came from but it’s being quoted by several fans online, and if you obsessively compare screenshots from SSBB like I did, you’ll find that it’s accurate to the inch when she’s standing next to the 6’ tall Snake. So that blows. I think the 6’3” Samus seems way more likely to be an ex-soldier turned bounty hunter who pilots a power suit and doesn’t take shit from anyone. Also she’s a babe.
Disclaimer: I haven’t played a game in the Metroid series since the SNES, all knowledge from the internet, take this with a grain of salt.
This is a thing that’s legit been bugging me for a long ass time
This height and weight is still canon, so why in Other M is everyone at LEAST two heads taller?
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110906100255/metroid/images/7/7a/Samus_PD.jpg
BUILT TO DESTROY
If I’m interpreting my Metroid history/mythology correctly… (and the fact that I’ve played most of them)
Samus was orphaned at a young age and taken in by a highly advanced race of bird-warriors called the Chozo, and fostered on a *LOW-GRAVITY* planet. She was given medicine and nutritional care far in excess of anything the Galactic Federation could offer on any human world or colony. IN ADDITION—these twelve-foot tall, monstrous genome warriors INFUSED HER WITH CHOZO DNA, having absolutely no ethical or moral compulsion against gene therapy (we’re talking about a species so advanced they got BORED of techo-futuristic dwellings and started living in STONE TEMPLES FOR KICKS.)
Young Samus, having no context by which she may protest was totally OK with this and, presumably, underwent weapons training, survival training, and continued gene manipulation INTO HER 20s. I reiterate: the Chozo started treatment on her before puberty, meaning the numbers she reached upon adulthood were probably THE LOW END of what the Chozo assumed they could SAFELY do to ANY HUMAN’S bone density / musculature (on a low-gravity planet) before the results became dangerous outliers in their advanced projections.
FUTHERMORE (And here we get into Metroid Prime’s mythos), the Chozo were a fatalistic, even nihilistic species who predicted their own downfall through mysticism and scientific analysis. Their records refer to Samus as “The Newborn,” and “The Hatchling,” and as the one predestined NOT to save them, but to bring “wrath,” down upon their enemies.
The Chozo turned Samus into a gigantic murder machine, gave her a power suit composed of some of the most advanced technology in the known galaxy, and pushed her out the door to work as a bounty hunter for the Galactic Federation under the pretenses of capital gain but really TO TAKE VIOLENT REVENGE ON EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEIR FOES. They made her into a Space Marine in a setting bereft of anything resembling a Space Marine.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why 6’5” is honestly lowballing it on her height (I’d put it at 7’5”, with avian features and crazy pinfeathers everywhere), why Samus is amazing, why devs need to Google human biology better, and why Metroid: Other M is NOT CANON.
And this, game devs, is why you need to sit everyone down on your team and make them watch some youtube videos of the Women’s events in the Olympics, and then put these in everyone’s bookmarks. Your future demographic gains thank you (WITH $$$$$).
Hey everyone! I’m in a spot of financial bother so I’m opening up commissions.
I’m keeping it simple;
A full-body drawing in black and white is $15. Not much to explain here! Full lineart of a character in pure black and white.
A cel-shaded icon as shown above is $10. You get a big version of the icon (usually about 600px x 600px), plus resized versions for use on forums + social networking sites!
I’m gonna do these commissions in batches of 5 so it’s first-come first-serve! I’ll be updating this post with claimed slots so keep an eye out.
Drop me an email at bornofthedead@gmail.com (which is also my paypal) with [COMMISSION] in the subject line so I definitely get it! I take payment after I’ve shown you a lo-res sample version of the image, and you get the full image once I receive payment.
Please remember to account for paypal’s fees! You can use this calculator to work out how much to send.
You can of course find more examples of my art right here!
MAKERS is a digital and broadcast initiative from PBS showcasing compelling stories from women of today and tomorrow. A 3-hour documentary “MAKERS: Women Who Make America.
All three parts are available for streaming on pbs.com (at least for those in the US). Click here to view them.
I just finished the first part and so far it’s really good. It includes issues of race and class within the early feminist movement, how lesbians were kicked out, and the move and reasons for pushing radical feminist out and creating liberal feminism. It moves in a linear historical fashion, so the first 20-30 minutes are focused on middle-class white women, but later on moves to the other issues.
It contains all the goodness of typical PBS quality shows, go watch it before they stop streaming it! You all now have something fun to do this weekend, you are all welcomed.
Even the little child, who is accustomed to wait on her mistress and her children, will learn, before she is twelve years old, why it is that her mistress hates such and such a one among the slaves. Perhaps the child’s own mother is among those hated ones. She listens to violent outbreaks of jealous passion and cannot help understanding what is the cause. She will become prematurely knowing in evil things. Soon she will learn to tremble when she hears her master’s footfall. She will be compelled to realize that she is no longer a child. If God has bestowed beauty upon her, it will prove her greatest curse. That which commands admiration in the white woman only hastens the degradation of the female slave.
- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Harriet Jacobs (1861)
