Христос Воскресе

The Holy Spirit is called the Consolator because He consolates people – not as the second after God, but as God, for consolation is a property of God...

You were the victim, and it wasn’t fair, but it’s over now. Nobody came to save you, and I’m sorry, but it’s too late for anyone to go back and do it different.

You’re suffering over something that cannot be resolved. You’re allowed to feel angry, or outraged, or betrayed, but there will eventually come a time that you don’t feel that so violently anymore, and you’re going to want to have something good left to go back to.

You can’t make anyone love you the way you need to be loved. That’s how a lot of good things end. Not with a clear sign, something blocking the road that says “do not proceed”, just a splitting of the path that’s still moving somewhat in the same direction.

You can’t fix them. Nothing you can do will fix them. And if they fix themselves, they can’t do it for you- they have to do it for themselves as well, because otherwise a day may come when they’re alone, and as long as they live, they are their only true constant. So you can support, and you can encourage, but the hardest part is up to them. And sometimes they can’t do it even with your help.

Sometimes letting go of someone feels like mourning at their funeral before they’ve died, and every time you see them after it’s like talking to a ghost that doesn’t know it’s dead. Sometimes that happens. You’ll both still wake up tomorrow anyways.

I understand that you’re afraid, and that you’re afraid for good reasons. And I understand that being brave isn’t as easy as just turning that fear off, and you would if you could in a heartbeat. But the thing is, as long as that fear is able to dictate your choices, it will have power over you. If you don’t believe you can try to fight it, if you accept that it will always be in charge, you let the frightening thing stay present in your life. It will exist as long as you stay paralyzed. And that sounds cruel, but it isn’t something anyone can fix for you.

The person you may let yourself become after experiencing the terrible thing may very well grow into a much bigger, much more terrible thing, and someday it will swallow the first terrible thing whole. And all that will be left is something far worse for someone else. And you will not be able to shrink it down by explaining where it came from, because terrible things that are dead and gone are never as terrible as terrible things that are alive right now in front of you.

A common raven (Corvus corax) perches on a wall in Scotland, UK

Did you know that Pentecost is a reversal of the Tower of Babel?

What took place in the upper room in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13) is the reversal of what led to the construction of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-8). God reunites humanity in a common language where He previously divided them because they attempted to build a unified kingdom and tower to heaven apart from God.

The Feast of Pentecost is the celebration of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Most Holy Theotokos and the Holy Apostles in Jerusalem, 50 days after Pascha (Easter) and 10 days after Christ’s Ascension. The Holy Spirit, like a violent wind, filled the whole house. Tongues of fire rested on each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in various languages. Jewish people from every nation who were in Jerusalem could hear the Gospel message in their own language. About 3000 believed and were baptized.

The Holy Spirit fulfilled at Pentecost what the human spirit can never do – the true unification of God’s people. The Spirit of truth and love has repaired the division and destruction of Babel. The world can once more be united in the common language of Christ, the Word of God. Saint Irenaeus says, “Through Baptism we have become one body, and through the Spirit we have become one soul.”

Wake up babe, new octopus just dropped

morpho books

figure drawing for all it's worth (+ creative illustration)

framed ink

will eisner comics and sequential art

will eisner graphic storytelling and visual narrative

understanding comics (+ making comics)

folder of various animation production art

burne hogarth drawing dynamic hands

perspective for comic book artists

michael mattesi force drawing

the animator's survival kit

color and light james gurney