Tumbling Like Alice

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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
falloutgiugoo8iyoyo9wookie
Three years ago, like, I didn’t mention to a lot of my friends what I was going through in my life, and I went to a really dark, strange place. And I really cared way too much what everyone in the world and what everyone in the tabloids were saying. And at some point, I said, ‘That’s fucking enough! This is my life!’ And I think that’s relatable to everybody, because it doesn’t have to be tabloids or any of that stuff you’re going through. If you feel like you’re walking through life wearing a Halloween costume, take your costume the fuck off.
Pete Wentz, Barclay’s Center, Brooklyn, NY, September 7, 2013 (via imissmissingmissjackson)

Why Hermann is a Bottem

So I know that the top/bottem trope isn’t exactly a realistic world standard especially in the gay community but for the purposes of fic writing and fictional characters I thought I’d muse a little on why people seem to assume Newts a bottom and Hermann’s a top.

I think people assume that because Hermann’s always much more fervent with his outward displays of distain for Newt and because he chooses a harsher and more analytical unemotional approach to the same situations as Newt that this makes him stronger and a more dominating person then Newt better suiting him for the top position but in all honesty I feel like he would definitely be a bottom (barring Newt being injured, depressed, whatever scenario you want to dream of where newt is off his game).

I believe that all Hermann’s postulating and insulting is part of a front, a way to keep people at a distance. I even felt like he didn’t like to be touched after seeing it for the second time (which strengthened the moment where he subtly asked newt to hug him). I feel like while he deals better with analytical situations he’s lost in situations that deal with emotion and emotionally charged situations. After he found newt post drift and was telling Pentecost about it and said he didn’t know what to do he seemed quite distressed (all I could think of was that doctor in treasure planet freaking out when the captain gets shot saying ‘I’m a doctor but I’m not that kind of doctor I have a doctorate which means you can’t help people, you just sit there and your useless’). When they returned to newt he stayed a good 5 or 6 meters away like he had to forcibly remove himself from newts space after the emotional outburst of finding him passed out on the ground. Like he had to re-establish that space as a form of emotional protection for himself. I believe that all this suggests that something as emotionally and physically charged as having sex would test Hermann and require him to be taken care of and led through it.

While I wouldn’t call Newt dominating his personally does certainly have an overwhelming effect. He’s so sure of himself, so sure of everything he does that he’s happy to forge on regardless of danger or uncertain odds. He’s more emotional but he doesn’t put any filter on that, content to blast people with what he’s feeling and deal with the consequences later. He’s a very living in the moment dude. He’s a very confident guy and in the deleted scenes where he kind of herds Hermann back into the elevator it’s clear that Hermann will, in circumstances outside intellectual/kaiju related debates, defer rather easily to Newts suggestion. All this makes me think that Newt would make the first move, that Newt would set the pace and tone, that Newt would in this kind of situation top.

Anyway this has been tiny-essay-train-musings

newmann newton geizler hermann gottlieb pacific rim newt hermann top bottom myart
alienfirstblogsstuff
shoomlah

So I was chatting with the lovely Justin Oaksford yesterday, and he casually asked if I used photo reference for my recent Rolemodels piece- not as a bad thing, but because the pose and the camera angle read well.  Pretty sure I grinned like an idiot when he brought it up because, goddammit, I’m proud that the work shows!  I’ve felt like my work has been somewhat stilted as of late- I could feel myself subconsciously trending towards easier angles, easier poses, easier expressions just because it’s slightly less frustrating for my brain to process- so getting that confirmation from a colleague was pretty damn satisfying.

I think there’s a tendency for artists to take pride in being able to draw out of your head, and, while that’s an admittedly important skill, what’s actually important is what that skill implies- it implies that you’ve internalized reference.  That you’ve spent so much time looking at the world around you, studying it, drawing from it, breaking it down, that you’ve amassed an extensive mental library that you can draw from.  You are Google reborn in the shallow husk of a human being.

But heck, the world’s a big place- what are the chances that you ever get to a point that you’ve internalized all of it?  Internalized it AND ALSO are never going to forget it ever?  Probably no chance at all.  Sorry buddy.  So rather than bemoaning the fact that we don’t have impenetrable search engine cyborg brains- yet- you sure as hell better still be using reference to fill in/refresh those empty shelves in your mental library.  You shouldn’t have worm-ridden books about dinosaur anatomy from the 60’s in there.  Stegosauruses with brains in their tails?  CLEAN THAT SHIT OUT.

So my general process for using reference of any sort is:

  1. loose thumbnails and brainstorming.  If you have an idea, get that raw thing- unadulterated in it’s potential shittiness- onto paper.  Good art is a combination of both instinct and discipline, so you don’t want to entirely discount those lightning strikes of brilliance.  Or idiocy.  Happens to all of us.
  2. research and reference.  Start gathering and internalizing whatever reference is pertinent to your piece- could be diagrams, art, photos, good old-fashioned READIN’, whathaveyou.  Please note that this doesn’t mean find one picture of a giraffe- this means find tons of photos of giraffes, read about giraffes, understand giraffes, and learn how to incorporate that knowledge into your art with purpose and intent (Justin uses the word “intent” a lot so I’m stealing it).  Don’t blindly copy what you see, but understand how to integrate it in an interesting and informed manner.
  3. studies and practice.  Could be lumped in with the previous step, granted, but it’s worth reiterating- if you’re drawing something new, it’s worth doing some studies.  You discover things that you wouldn’t otherwise by just staring at them.  It’s weird how I’m still learning this- “Gee golly, six-shooters are way easier to draw now that I’ve drawn a ton of them!” Yes wow Claire BRILLIANT.  Gold star.
  4. go for the gold.  Finally, I’m sure it goes without saying, you integrate all of that research and knowledge into your initial thumbnails.  If you learned something about anatomy, or fashion, or color, or butts, now you can drastically improve your original idea with this newfound knowledge.  Also, per the images above, this is also your chance to improve on the reference- photos are a fantastic tool, but trust your instincts.  Cameras can’t make informed decisions.

…So that’s my soapbox- it’s pretty easy, and it’s totally worth it.  Research and reference lets you stand on the shoulders of giants- it lends legitimacy, specificity, and allure to your work that wouldn’t be there if you were just drawing out of your head 100% of the time.  To put it simply- it makes your work ownable.  It makes you stand out.

It makes you a better artist. :)

-C

alienfirst
alienfirst

In it’s early stages of life Keter was transparent, it’s skin thin and a direct window in to it’s insides. Anyone who looked at it could see the muscle, bone, and internal organs. Until it grew and the skin thickened and colored, Keter was mocked as the “Glass Kaiju.”

The other kaiju under command of the PPDC were far less humorous in their approach. They refused to get anywhere near Keter. They called him the “Memory Eater" in quiet colors and fear. But their trepidation fell on deaf ears. The PPDC needed a heavy weight kaiju the likes of Keter as attacks got more frequent.

I should’ve made one post with all this Keter stuff, but I actually hadn’t intended to keep drawing him after that first sketch. But then I kept thinking of ideas and needing to get them down, and then I wanted to solidify his design. I think his head is still a BIT big, but this is way closer to what I had in mind. (To reiterate, Keter would come farther down the vague sort of timeline I have for this AU.)