I suck at titles

first post kinda nervous… I drew this like a month ago tehe

Baofu

Over the past few months, I’ve been struggling and am still recovering from a rather pervasive sense of exhaustion on all fronts, but especially on the artistic one🫠🫠🫠💦💦💦

So I’m glad that it’s Baofu (my P2 babygirl) who’s helping me take the first steps toward recovery🥲✨

Lineart done with pencil, colored with promarkers and pastels + white details added with Uniposca and white gel pen + hair details done with black brush pen 🎨

More details (⁠｢⁠`⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠)⁠｢✨✨✨!!

The decision to use dark blue pastel for the jacket's lineart was a last-minute intuition; before that, it was dark brown. Now it stands out much more with this contrast! I also added more shading in dark red^^

Ah, as for Baofu's ridiculous beard (which we all collectively hate🤝🏻), I know it's supposed to start BELOW the chin...but I didn't draw it that way😬

You can see it better by looking at this WIP, when I hadn't colored his hair yet:

In the US, there is no meaningful legal definition for educational/academic neglect in any of the 50 states or federally. What this means is that a child can be "homeschooled" and exclusively be taught how to cook and clean, reach the age of 18 being unable to read, write, or count, and this alone is not considered neglect. That 18yo, should they even have the knowledge that suing exists, has no legal grounds to sue their parents for denying them an education.

In over 40 US states, a convicted child abuser can homeschool their children. So someone who has done time for child abuse and somehow regains access to their child(ren) can decide upon returning home that they want to "homeschool" their kids. Those children are now locked in a home with their abuser where nobody can see them.

There are no welfare checks.

There are no routine assessments.

There aren't even databases — state or federal — keeping track of how many homeschooled kids there actually are.

Meaning a child can be locked in their home for their entire life with their convicted abuser, learn absolutely nothing, never go to the doctor, and so long as that child is fed, clothed, and the abuse isn't physical or sexual, that child has almost no chance of rescue and no legal ground to seek restitution if/when they escape.

The only way homeschooled children get rescued is if they're beaten, starved, or physically neglected and they're able to get the right person to see that. Otherwise? They have to wait until someone finds out they were murdered as a result of their parents "homeschooling".

And feral homeschool parents love to jump down my throat about this, and then get even more pissed when I tell them I'm a homeschool alumni.

Because I know it's not all homeschoolers. But even one is too many, and the lack of protections should scare everyone. If you're a good homeschool parent, nothing will change. If not, you deserve whatever comes your way as a result of adequate oversight.