do you plan to be asleep forever?

fill 14 sketch book

bad stuff is good stuff bc you made stuff

do you like sparkle???? draw sparkle

draw what make your heart do the smiley emote

member to drink lotsa agua or else bad time

d ont stress friend all is well

your art is hot like potato crisps

don’t let anyone piss on your good mood amigo

if they do

eat

i finally found it

Welcome!

I'm going to update this list as I post more. So make sure to check periodically!

Website

Anon Office Hours: Mon 12:30pm - Wed 6:30pm. (EST)

I DELETE ASKS THAT DO NOT CAPITALIZE THE IDENTITY OF "BLACK" ☺️

SENSITIVITY/BETA READERS LINK 👍🏾

No-go fandoms

Causes

"Your posts are too long"- Teacher's Note

Feedback Rules

FAQs!

Please take the time to review the lessons relevant to your questions! They are long- some longer than others- but they likely have a link contained within that can better guide your research!

📝Syllabus📝

more specifically, I have a trans Vietnamese-American character whose parents aren't very supportive of his transition, so he goes by a more masculine name under the guise of wanting to sound more American.

I've had a couple of friends with non-white names but white nicknames, but I figured as a white person I should ask for a second opinion before committing to this plotline.

I love talking about names so I'll do my best to hold myself back and only answer your questions instead of going on tangents (but also because this will hopefully be part of the name post or series depending on how long it ends up being)!

I don't necessarily mind it, but it depends on what Asian group you are talking about specifically. There are a lot of East Asian Americans in particular who have more anglicized names ("non-English name modified to fit English spelling or pronunciation norms, or a similar English name substituted for the original"). Frankly, I find that South Asian and West Asian groups tend to still give their children more traditional names. Though this isn't always the case (Simone Ashley's real name is Simone Ashwini Pillai). This is often attributed to wanting to speed up the process of assimilation (Chloe Bennet's original name was Chloe Wang and she had to change it because she was not getting roles with her original name) or because East Asian languages have very different linguistic structures compared to Latin languages. I don't remember exactly what the infographic was called, but it was kind of a scale between English and languages like Mandarin and Arabic. If we're looking from an English speaker's perspective, it makes sense why other Romance languages (like Spanish) tend to be easier to learn compared to languages with more complex syntax/grammar drastically differing from English. This is not to say languages like Spanish are just easy to learn, but for an English speaker, Spanish shares more familiar word roots compared to a language like Arabic. The reverse is also true, which is why native speakers of these Category III or IV languages tend to have more difficulties becoming fluent in English (also just because English is pretty messy).

East Asians tend to have two names. One Asian, and one American. I have known kids whose immigrant parents use their Asian name at home, but use the American name outside the house. Mostly, because it is just easier. Some Asian names can be very hard to pronounce correctly for native English speakers. [...] I will say this trend isn’t as common for the South Asia diaspora. My parents chose to give my younger brothers and I traditional names. The children of their friends also have traditional names. In school it was only kids who have parents from east Asia have English names. It’s a really stark difference. My parents said just correct others to pronounce my name.

Reddit: "Why do first-generation immigrants prefer to name their children with American names? Are they ashamed of their culture or do they just want their kids to get Americanized as fast as possible?"

People may get tired of me saying this, but it's important! If SOME of your Asian characters have americanized names, it's fine as long as it is intentional and makes sense within context (My friend is from Kerala, a state in India which has a larger Christian population. Thus, Indian people having anglicized names is very possible). Maybe your Asian character's parents didn't want their child's name to be butchered or they gave them a more anglicized first name but more traditional middle names/surnames (which was the case for another friend of mine). They could even be 3rd/4th/5th generation immigrants who feel more attached to their american identity over aspects of Asian culture. It isn't always whitewashing or self-hatred, maybe they're simply trying to survive in a world that puts them at a disadvantage. But if ALL of your Asian characters have americanized names, then you need to examine why you feel the need to do that.

I also think, and this isn't directed at you specifically it's more of a general thing, but before forcing an Asian person to give in and make a 'palatable white nickname' TAKE THE TIME TO LEARN THEIR NAME. Listen to them, learn how to pronounce their name before giving up. My name doesn't seem to be very common and I love that my mom made that choice. One person tried to ask if they could use a nickname because they couldn't remember my name and I realized how much that annoys me. Some Asian people are fine with the nicknames, but some are not and just go along with it because they don't want to feel like they're causing trouble. Take the time to learn how to pronounce people's names, there's no negative impact in putting in effort.

You know that thing where a story is written in tight third person limited — we’re meant to be inside someone’s head, seeing the world through their thoughts — and then suddenly the narration says “the blond frowned” or “the shorter woman sighed” about a person the POV character knows really well?

That’s called antonomasia — using a descriptive label instead of a name. And it’s fine when we’re talking about strangers: “the cashier handed her the receipt,” “the tall guy blocked the door.” The POV character doesn’t know their names, and we just need a quick way to tell people apart.

But the moment it’s used for someone the POV character already knows, it breaks immersion. Because that’s not how our minds work. We don’t think “the older man smiled at me.” We think “Mark smiled.” Or maybe “my boss” if that relationship matters in the moment.

Third person limited means the narration sits inside someone’s perception. Their inner monologue is the story’s voice. So when you switch from “Mark smiled” to “the blond smiled,” you’ve pulled the camera away from their mind and turned it into an outside shot.

If you want to create distance or irritation, you can do it on purpose —

“The idiot from accounting emailed again.”

That’s character voice. That’s judgment. That works.

But otherwise?

As soon as your POV character knows someone’s name, use it. While we do tend to worry about repetitions, names rarely register as such to the readers.

If you need variety for rhythm, use relational or emotional identifiers that make sense in their head: her friend, his partner, their teacher, the person they loved.

Because inside someone’s thoughts, there are no “blonds” or “brunettes.”

Anyways! HERE'S YOUR HANDY GUIDE TO WHAT CAN COUNT AS EYESTRAIN! I'm pulling this straight from the Artfight rules page about what needs to be labeled and filtered as eyestrain because it's VERY helpful and VERY accurate! I also know not everybody has an AF account and might not always have access to this handy guide, and this is an important resource; That's why I'm sharing it here! (under the cut)

PLEASE TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!!! THIS IS ABOUT THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF OTHERS!!!

Welcome to Smithsonian Open Access, where you can download, share, and reuse millions of the Smithsonian’s images—right now, without asking.

Cappuccicons’ domain was not renewed which broke the link for every theme that uses that script. I’ve waited a few days for an update, so until there is an official fix, I created this stylesheet to fix your broken icons!

How to Use:

replace this:

<script src="//pull.cappuccicons.com/cpf.js"></script>    

with this:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://static.tumblr.com/svdghan/wUSr83npl/tempcf.css">

You won’t have to do anything else! Your icons should return without further editing.

I was hesitant to post this since suiomi did not want people downloading the icons for free or hosting them elsewhere (the individual files are still available for purchase here), so if there is an official fix later, please use that instead of this out of respect for her terms.

Unless your tablet or monitor has some kind of fancy "paper white" lighting option (is that even a thing?) I need you to STOP DRAWING ON A WHITE CANVAS. You are essentially STARING AT A LAMP FOR HOURS.

Save your eyes and use a middle grey canvas instead! My default is hex #8A909B, but you can find what works for you!