Art of Shipping

Yes, of course she’s the main character, but the writing staff claims Chat Noir is Ladybug’s irreplaceable partner while showing Ladybug replacing him on an almost weekly basis. Furthermore, it’s possible to write a partnership of equals where one character is clearly the protagonist. 

Case and point: SOUL EATER

Maka Albarn is pretty clearly the main character of Soul Eater. She’s an elite fighter, has a special anti-demon soul, has a rare soul that gives her the power to fly, is extremely smart and capable in combat, and brave enough to look the god of fear in the face and laugh (literally). It’s her fighting skills that ultimately carry the day; her partner is literally a tool for her to use to cut monsters apart with. The story is driven by Maka’s actions with the rest of the cast ultimately supporting her. 

And yet her partner Soul is still treated as an essential partner and part of the equation. His soul resonance amplifies Maka’s abilities. His calm, cool-headed personality tempers Maka’s driven, occasionally hot-headed personality. He comes up with clever solutions and advises his partner in battle planning and play-by-play strategy. The pair of them together drive out an infection of insanity-inducing Demon Blood. He cares for his partner, pushes her to repair her relationship with her father, helps her come up with strategies outside of battle, and supports her in a way that the story really values…even though he’s not the main character.  

When he puts himself in harms way to protect his partner, it is always shown with some kind of weight. The first time Soul gets hurt for Maka is a massive moment in their partnership that has implications that impact the rest of the story and leads to greater trust between them. It becomes a moment where they both resolve to protect one another and become stronger for their partners’ sake 

Compare this to the instances where Chat Noir throws himself in front of attacks for Ladybug and the story…doesn’t really do anything with it. It doesn’t really go anywhere or lead to any kind of deeper trust between them; it’s just something that happens on an almost weekly basis at this point. Chat either gets rendered unconscious, taken out of the fight, or otherwise rendered useless and we’re supposed to believe he’s an equal part of this relationship? 

Soul is never shown to be superfluous in the ways that Chat Noir is. Especially in Style Queen which shows that Cataclysm isn’t even a unique trait that only Chat Noir can do. Ladybug constantly replaces him with other teammates, defeats akuma on her own, and generally is shown to only need Chat to absorb damage for her. On the other hand Soul is consistently shown (not told; shown!) to be a key member of his and Maka’s team, contributing equally from his own skillset without diminishing the fact that Maka is still the main character. 

Cleaning women washing a crucifix, 1938

Honestly, I’m such a massive perfectionist, I rarely leave anything as just a doodle…I feel the need to “complete” it, to prove to myself it’s not garbage. It’s terrible, really. The only “doodles” I have are things I never got to finish, or quick concept ideas. If I were you, I wouldn’t worry too much about making your doodles perfect. They’re called doodles for a reason – they’re quick ideas, a little rough around the edges, and that’s perfectly fine. I think roughness adds a lot of charm. it’s not a sign of weakness. And keep in mind that really good artwork often takes time, and the better you get, the longer your artwork will take to complete overall.

And he’s clinging to my hand like it’s a life preserver and I’m being me and talking about nonsense like Grimace from the McDonalds commercials and how R2D2 is always ready to throw hands, and whatever, and the artist keeps glancing over at me and I’m like do your tattoo bro I’ve got my buddy handled

But then I realize he’s like, looking over because he can’t tell if he’s seeing something or not, and I glance down and I see my rainbow scalemail bracelet, and how I’m talking to my buddy all fondly and I’m like stroking his arm like he’s a wounded animal, and right as it clicks in my head the tattoo artist asks in his most nonchalant voice possible, like intentionally bland, I’m just talking about the weather haha what do you mean voice:

“So, are you guys close?”

And my gay ass is over to the side internally screaming because yeah, I am gay, but like this is just me being a good bro and my buddy is COMPLETELY OBLVIOUS TO WHAT IS HAPPENING BECAUSE HE’S A GARBAGE STRAIGHT PERSON AND HE SAYS

“Yeah of course, that’s why I asked him to come”

SO NOW THE TATTOO ARTIST THINKS HE’S RIGHT AND HE HAS A GAY COUPLE GETTING A TATTOO AND MY BUDDY HAS NO IDEA AND I’M AWKWARDLY SITTING HERE LIKE SHOULD I STOP HOLDING HIS HAND??? SHOULD I CORRECT THIS TATTOO ARTIST??? SHOULD I LET MY BUDDY KNOW??? MY GAY ASS DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE BEING INCORRECTLY ACCUSED OF BEING GAY, WHAT DO YOU DO

So that tattoo artist is like “Cool man, that’s great. Good for you.”

So then my buddy is like can I get some water, and the guy comes back with one bottle of water and my buddy takes a drink and then hands it to me, and I’m like obviously he has to lay down and needs me to hold his water so I just hold it in my hand, but turns out he was offering me water, so he turns to me and is like Colton, drink some water, and I take a drink and my garbage lizard brain is like “You’re drink sharing in front of the tattoo artist, now he KNOWS he’s right”

So we’re talking about tattoos with the artist and I mention that I’m getting a tattoo in September and my buddy is like “Yeah I’m gonna go and hold HIS hand for that one haha” and the tattoo artist FUCKING SAYS “I mean, I should hope so”

I MEAN, I SHOULD HOPE SO

I MEAN, I SHOULD HOPE SO

1. Writer’s Market 2019 is a great place to start– it gives you a list of magazines and journals that you can send your work to depending on the genre as well as lists a shit ton of literary agents that specify what genres they represent, how you can get in contact with them and how they accept query letters. this is a book that updates every year and tbh i only bought it this year so i dont know how critical it is to have an updated version  

2. do your research. mostly on literary agents because if you listed on your site that you like to represent fluffy YA novels and some asshole sends you a 80k manuscript about like…gritty viking culture, you will be severely pissed off. always go in finding someone who you know will actually like your work because they’re the ones who will try to advocate for you in getting published.

3. learn how to write a query letter. there are slightly varying formulas to how you can write an effective query letter. you’re also going to want to get feedback on your query letter because its the first thing the literary agent will read and based on how well you do it, it could be the difference between them rejecting you outright and giving your manuscript a quick read

4. unfortunately, you’re gonna want to get a twitter. Twitter is where a lot of literary agents are nowadays, and they host things like twitter pitch parties, where you pitch your manuscript in a few sentences and hashtag it with #Pitmad #Pitdark, some version of pit. a lot of literary agents and publishers will ALSO post their manuscript wishlists, which is just the kind of books they’d like to represent/publish, and they hashtag this with #MSWL (it is NOT for writers to use, only for agents/publishers)

Hey, all! I find myself jobless at the moment, so I am opening up these summer commissions! I will sketch a portrait/bust of any character!

I will draw your OC (such as if you want a profile pic of them for Art Fight that’s coming up!)

I will draw your favorite cartoon character with any expression you want

I will draw you or a friend if you send me a reference photo

I will draw lots of things, so feel free to ask me!!

EMAIL: [email protected] with your request, or message me here with any questions!

Payment through Paypal preferred. Money helps me pay for school, and I really appreciate any help I can get!