this is where i live

so i think you remember the vibes but you dont have any details? which like something something how do you miss someone you've never met animatic starts playing

i can only begin to imagine how much that must suck, knowing you had family, knowing how you felt about them, but not knowing *why,* and trying to apply majiri family customs to your life like, ughghfjfhg

PARTICULARLY feeling that najuma makes me feel extremely paternal. like imagine youre in the middle of helping her out with a bad scraped knee or something and the whole time all you can think is like. did i have a daughter? or maybe a younger sister? god was i a parent??

AND ive noticed a lot of people choosing their shepps based on who reminded them of family members they liked, like a lot of posts of people having ashura be their shepp cause he reminds them of their late dads/uncles, and a couple saying the same about badruu and delila, imagine how much it would hurt to get so attached to this person and not know why but have a faint idea of grief every time you look at them???? ughfhdjdjjsajfjgjgkgkgjggjgjgk

As a former music teacher, I can also say that "learn the fundamentals first" is the death knell for a vast percentage of beginners, especially adult learners.

I've run into this with drawing several times, where some well-meaning artist has lectured me on needing to study anatomy properly or not use shortcuts like CSP brushes. And oh, believe me, I know. I know exactly how to learn an artistic discipline in a structured way. I just...don't want to!

The thing is, I'm not aiming to be a professional artist. I want to draw my gay little anime guys. I would undoubtedly improve at art much faster if I approached every gay little anime guy drawing as a study exercise. But I would also have quit drawing a decade ago if I couldn't just let myself enjoy drawing imperfect fucked-up little guys with whatever shortcuts I needed to body myself across the finish line.

With my adult piano students, my approach was always "What's your goal?" If their goal was to learn exactly one Elton John songbook to play at parties, then...that's what we did. We'd put tape on the keys to label the notes, and just fuckin go for it. Learning exactly one Elton John songbook is a good and noble musical goal, full stop.

Some of my students needed and enjoyed a more structured approach to learning; if they wanted to be able to play classical music, then yes, scales were going to have to enter the equation at some point. And yet others would learn the Elton John songbook, catch their white whale, and realize they wanted to explore more of the ocean. The scales were still there for them to learn!

Often the choice isn't between "learn art well" and "learn art imperfectly" - the choice is between "learn art imperfectly" and "don't do art at all." To which I say, learn imperfectly! Or, what the hell, don't 'learn' art. Just do, and enjoy the doing of it.

Now, bear in mind that I’m struggling to put into the words many of the concepts discussed here. So sorry in advance if some parts feel nonsensical...! And as a disclaimer: my knowledge is mainly acquired as an interest and hobby – it does not hold water as actual, completely accurate information of a historical period. It’s my interpretation, my fantasy of sorts. First things first, song inspiration: Vilma Jää – Manalan mailla  (if you know Finnish and like to read these, you might see the connection  lol) Kauno’s story in nutshell: Kauno is a nobleman knight, who suffered a mortal wound to his neck when he was pinned in combat and stabbed between his armour plates. By all logic he should’ve succumbed to such a wound, but he was rescued and nursed back to health. The nuns who took care of him did not have high hopes for the feverish nobleman to make it through, and yet eventually he woke up in perfect health and spirit. Kauno remembers little of the time from sickbed but has clear memory of vivid dreams of birds… Visually Kauno’s pose is heavy nod towards Botticelli’s painting ‘Birth of Venus’. I’ve always associated this piece with rebirth and beauty, both which are at the heart of Kauno’s character. His name quite literally means ‘beauty’ and rest we’ll get to…! So now, the most complex part is to acknowledge the co-existence of Christianity and folk religion in Finland during Middle ages. While it’s hard to point out how folk religion exactly died (I’m not read enough on the topic), there are still letters to be found from church officials pointing out that some of the folk religion or the traditions persisted even till late medieval period and to renaissance. This period of time where beliefs melded and changed is something I’m extremely interested to depict. Now, religion facts: There are quite a few nods towards Christianity here, the number seven motif with the birds, rebirth etc. However, the story revolves even further to folk religion’s concept of lintukoto (birds’ home). It was believed to be a physical place just outside the edge of the world, where birds went during winter. Everything was small in lintukoto to accommodate birds and sometimes souls could wander there. Notable is that lintukoto is _not_ heaven/afterlife in folk religion, but rather it seems one might get lost there by accident? Terns: I thought terns are great way of marrying both religious imageries together. They dive almost completely into the water and rise anew, signifying Kauno’s almost rebirth-like experience. There also rather many hymns describing angels and dead loved ones visiting earth as birds! And lastly, they are also bird that are more typically seen in southern Finland, as a reference towards lintukoto being to the south of the world’s edge. Armour: Yep, that’s Kauno himself! Kauno is showing his neck, which has only the scar left from the combat, but he’s also gripping at the sinking armour at the same spot.

of any character is

having a praise kink