Nicki Kaye's art tumblr

boy scars for all your boy drawing needs (unless those include his legs)

the white patches in his hair are extremely important

ok I rewatched Frankie tonight and realized I'd missed The Most Important Scar, aka the 'Where the Lance Stabbed Christ' scar that bleeds randomly bc baby boy is the only Jesus allegory I'll ever tolerate

And since I was already going back to it I decided to try and add his legs and the parts of him that are slightly darker/bluer than the rest.

now w/screenshots from the making of doc courtesy of @unnamedrone

Gore Refs;

ALL OF THAT GREEN AREA IS GREY

I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST THE NOTCH DIRECTLY ABOVE HIS EAR BUT I WAS WRONG, HE'S APPARENTLY BALD THERE

ALSO THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING BEING GREY, YOU ARE THE SAME SKIN AS HIS FOREHEAD, AND THE HAIR THERE IS BROWN.

And the wig mock up is accurate, bc the life-sized model of the creature at the exhibition has his hair styled to highlight how there's grey growing behind the ear

and here's a look at the wig itself from the Instagram post I took the mockup from

Folks, if you don't know who Emi Koyama was, you should. Her website (eminism.org, which is a delightful pun) has a ton of her work entirely for free.

You can read the Transfeminist Manifesto in particular here. Emi considered it a historical document and she wrote a very good self-critique in 2008 (included in the document) on the subject of the Manifesto, white feminism, and the lack of inclusion of trans and genderqueer people who aren't trans women. I highly encourage everyone who wants to involve themselves in transfeminism to read her work, not because it is perfect, but because I do think Emi Koyama's Manifesto represents the best intentions for transfeminism: the desire to challenge cissexism, to take activism seriously and compassionately, and a commitment to being open and honest about where we fall short and how we can do better.

I really appreciate this quote from her, which I hadn't seen before, on the subject of feminism needing to "fit in" trans people:

Cis feminists do not own feminism. We don't need to "fit trans people into feminist theory"; we simply need to challenge cissexism in feminist movements and theories. Trans people do not need to be explained by feminist theory; we need to start from the fact that trans people exist and matter.

And it would be a crime to not mention how hard she fought specifically for women of color, to challenge racism and imperialism (white/western and non-white/non-western) in feminist spaces and in general, as well as her intersex activism, and far more. She had such a drive to contribute to, engage with, and push for more and better feminist discourse.

BOMOKO NI (Northern Ireland Refugees and Asylum Seekers Women Association)

City of Sanctuary Belfast [donate here]

Embrace NI

Migrant Centre NI

Starling Collective

Anaka Women's Collective are running a Chuffed fundraiser:

An update for the "Alternatives to google docs" post, to adjust it for current times and options.

Local on your computer:

1.

LibreOffice (https://www.libreoffice.org/), Win, Linux, Mac.

Looks like classic Word, works great, imports and exports all formats. Saves in OpenDocumentFormat (.odt) which should be compatible with everything (yes even Word, even if it complains). Combine with some cloud backup for protection against hard drive failures (hard drives WILL FAIL at some point!).

2.

FocusWriter (https://gottcode.org/focuswriter/) Win, Linux.

Super customizable to make it look pretty, all toolbars hide to be as non-distracting as possible. Can make typewriter sounds as you type, and you can set wordcount goals. Free, asks for a one time donation. Saves in odt. Combine with some cloud backup, you know the drill.

3.

Scrivener (https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview) Win, Mac, iOS

According to many writers, the best program for novelists. Too much to fiddle with for me, you should try out the demo version. Not free, but it's a one time payment. You can put the database folder into a cloud based folder for saving, but you have to make sure to always close the program before shutting down.

Web-based:

4.

Ellipsus (https://ellipsus.com/) Browser based.

My current favorite writing program. Made with fic-writers in mind, it even has an AO3 export. No docx or epub export though, only pdf or markdown. But the 'Copy as Rich Text' option works fine to paste things into LibreOffice. Several themes to make it look as pretty as you like, spellcheck, options for collaboration and beta reading, and a new dedicated sharing mode for readers. And also a firm stance against generative AI. I've been using Ellipsus for everything on PC, Android tablet and phone, and it works great.

5.

Reedsy bookeditor (https://reedsy.com/write-a-book) Browser based. Be aware that they have a TOS that forbids pornography on publicly shared documents. Writing is chapter based, it has a notes section, exports to docx, epub, pdf. It is specifically made for formatting your ebook for publishing. You can share chapters (for beta reading) with other people registered at Reedsy.

6.

Campfire (https://www.campfirewriting.com/) Browser based, and an additional app (Android and iOS).

A massive toolbox with modules you pay for as needed, like a timeline element, character arcs, languages, locations, research. There is a free version for one project to test things out, in the paid version you combine the modules you need. Works well in browser, the app looks good for writing but doesn’t have all the features. But everything works just as well in your browser on a tablet or phone.

They are also building a section (https://www.campfirewriting.com/explore) for publishing and reading books and webserials online, which also works in the app.

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