BANGARANG!

-Can’t start a scene? Write the setting instead. What is the lighting like? Is this place comfortable? Is it familiar or not? What should you point out now so it doesn’t suddenly appear when it becomes important for the characters? SET! YOUR! STAGE!

-Everyone says “show, don’t tell”. I like to think of that as “what are your character’s physical reactions? What are they feeling?” You can say “Character looked dismayed”, or you can say “Character grimaced with dismay.” See the difference?

-Struggling with dialogue? Talk to yourself while you’re writing. You might be blocking yourself if you subconsciously think some dialogue feels unnatural.

-Context, context, context! This applies to everything from the small interactions to the big plots. Every force has an equal and opposite reaction, allow interactions and events to grow as such.

-Context, context, context pt 2! But worldbuilding! If your character is performing an act, how does that fit into the physical reality they already exist in? How is it possible? Can you imply (imply, not explain) that these things are commonplace or why they wouldn’t be?

-Build the action. (Stealing this from theater class like twelve years ago.) You can’t just put a character into the scene and say ‘they made a sandwhich’. What has to happen for the sandwhich to be made? Your character has to walk into the kitchen, open the cupboard, get out a plate, get out the jam and peanut butter, get out a plate, get out the knives, open the fridge, get out the bread, close the fridge, open the bread bag, lay down two slices of bread on the plate, close the bag, open the first jar, pick up the first knife, scoop up the jam, slather it on the bread, put the knife down, close the first jar- and so on and so forth. Every small step is necessary for you to understand, and to engage your readers. You don’t have to go into ridiculous detail like I just did, but even understanding that for yourself.

-See above, but it’s not a scene and a sandwhich. The scene is your whole story and the sandwhich is your plot. What small steps MUST happen to reach the climax? Does changing one of those small steps change the result? How?

-Emotions are best portrayed when you have experienced them or can get insight from those who have experienced them. Let yourself get emotional in a scene. Allow yourself to be empathetic and vicariously experience what your characters are.

-Reread your own work! Your writing style and characterizations can change over time, but if you feel like you’re losing them, don’t be afraid to look at where you started to ground yourself!

-Proofread your own work 2-12 hours after you finish a section! Not while you’re writing! Don’t let yourself get carried away with writing things ‘right’, just get the ideas out.

-Have a friend or volunteer proofread for you too! This can help pick out things you repeatedly say, words you might misuse, grammar and punctuation that might need correction, and phrases that are hard to digest or don’t make sense.

-Make sure you’re making an effort to use regionally/era specific words and slang both in dialogue and in your writing. There are plenty of websites and videos online that list and discuss regional and era slang worldwide. Not to mention, we can connect with people all over the world using the web just to ask! Using incorrect phrases can really break immersion and make characters feel- well, out of character! I.E. an 80s jock saying ‘dope bruh’, American characters (generally) saying ‘lift’ instead of ‘elevator’, so on and so forth.

-Research research research! Research bloodloss limits, research how laws and jobs operate in different regions and countries, research weirdly specific myths and biblical themes, research as much as you can! You can only build a richer environment to write in!

-If you actively want to implement themes, allow them to reflect the experiences of your character. Example character is an Italian American who was orphaned at 13 after his orthodox Catholic parents died, he has been in and out of foster care his whole life, and the moment he got out his military job became strict and he allowed himself to be blackmailed to protect a child in a similar position. This has plenty of fun themes and symbolisms, like sacrifice, fate, lack of control, love, losing autonomy, etc, all of which can be framed under the impactful history of his Catholic childhood. This evokes the imagery of farm animals, servitude, animal tags/dog tags, holy spaces being used for other purposes. Play with it!

-Build three base playlists! One for your overarching story, one for songs that remind you of the main character and their story arc, and one for how you feel when you’re writing/songs that weirdly remind you of your story. You can cycle through these to help get into your mood.

-Consume other media! If all you do is focus on writing, you WILL lose steam and inspiration. Don’t be afraid to watch new shows, read new books, look at more artwork, read more poems, listen to more music. You might get a flicker of inspiration for themes, motives and ideas, and you’ll continue to fill yourself instead of dumping your focus out on your writing.

-Understand how each major character thinks and instinctively reacts to things. Some characters can stay calm, but others might instinctively react to things ‘angrily’, others might try to run away. This is an easy way to figure out character flaws and impliment easy conflicts.

And last but not least:

-Take breaks! Don’t worry about forcing yourself to keep a posting schedule (unless you’re being paid. I’m not. I’m doing this shit for free and for funsies) if all you do is spend all your time worrying about your writing, you won’t be able to relax your brain. Spend time with friends, play games, go outside!

When I woke up today I had tears on my cheeks and in my eyes

They tasted like the lemonade we made in the summer and change

The school in my dream had spoken in tongues different from the ones I’ve learned

And my friends there left as quickly as they came

Pleas in what sounded like gibberish spilled from my lips and met my pillow in the same way as the tears

Begging my parents to put me somewhere else where I felt like I belonged even a little bit more

My pillowcase is damp now as I dry off my face

Unaware, he snores beside me, eyelids fluttering, chapped lips parted slightly

I touch his skin and it is the only thing that keeps me grounded when everything spins

He is the only one that will know what the red dots on my calendar mean,

The only one that will know that the small hearts mean him

And hopefully he knows that I could never make them big enough to sum up the affection that truly lives inside of me

How wonderful it is to be loved like this

How unfamiliar

How different it is from the dark fog of my mind in 8th and 9th grade

I haven’t learned much since then

And I still don’t know anything really

Only that I love my boyfriend like blood loves a knife; aching and struck red by the Sun revealed at long last

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・

So, you wanna know how to study art and the other fields under the umbrella (art history, portraits, landscaping heck even architecture). Well this post has a general idea on what you can do-! just a note, I'm no art student, but i do take note on art in itself, how to shade, color theory, other tips from illustrators and such and this is basically what i do. Step 0: get a notebook or pad papers no seriously, i know you are either a notebook hoarder or have little to no notebooks so just get something to store your notes Step 1: Look into art tutorials that you are interested in Yeah, its an easy step, you can look into different shadings, and listen attentively, at least this time its not some subject in class but something you're interested in and want to learn. When listening into the video, take certain notes, heck even do example doodles to help practice while learning It's also best that you create a list of things you want to learn (this can apply to other things like history, geography, science and so on) on the art ex. How to draw an (animal) How to draw a landscape and the list can do on But also just for another note, you don't only need Youtube tutorials, if you can try to draw by eye to hand then you can! Sometimes I, when trying to draw accurate animal anatomy (namely deers) i would look up pictures on how they lay down, sit down, what their legs look when folded and etc. you can try it yourself, looking into animal proportions or random buildings in your place and try to draw them for fun! Step 2: 20% knowledge creates 80% work you might not believe in it, but then again that's how art works, you may not know how to draw a body perfectly or hair in a certain way, or not know how to shade clothes, but taking notes or learning how to do it then doing it yourself is how it goes. you probably did this with your favorite/famous artists on the internet whether it was tracing or copying it. Come on, i know you did it. And when it comes from learning, comes practice to which practice makes perfect I mean that's how you can draw anime girls, animals, trees, birds and whatever. Well i hope this post gave you some insight and something for you to learn! Just remember to be kind on yourself and don't be so harsh when you aren't able to capture what you had in your head perfectly, we all go through that stage, hut eventually we end up with something that we are proud of. always remember, Rome wasn't built in a day.

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They pretend art has always existed to appeal to the greatest number of people and appeal in a way that is simple and explicable. If you look at the history of art that could not be further from the truth. Even art that was performed to an ‘illiterate’ public often maintained layers of meaning and ambiguity throughout long periods of history (just look at the global historical traditions of oral storytelling)

The simplification of art and the expectation that everything should appeal to a wide audience is the result of commodification not democratisation. Art has arguably never been less revered than now and still there are people who think it has further to fall in esteem. Just look at the AI movement’s desire to undermine artists while stealing their work.

I believe that the ‘it’s not that deep’ crowd who is eager to wield the accusation of pretentiousness whenever something doesn’t connect to them is part of an anti-artist, anti-intellectual movement to do away with mainstream non-consumerist (non-recuperable) art.

There has been a concerted effort by corporations and those purely interested in consumerism to erase the notion that art is primarily a human expression that is not necessarily made to pander to a wide audience. Every day we see more efforts in the social media & technological culture wars to devalue art and demonise artists who wish to create artistically fulfilling works rather than crowd-pleasing content.

In una scuola o un'accademia di fotografia e pubblicità, o qualcosa del genere, ho chiesto ai ragazzi di dirmi il nome di un fotografo o di una fotografa che gli piaceva. Silenzio assoluto. Va be', cito Koudelka, Cartier-Bresson, oppure Berengo Gardin, Ugo Mulas, per parlare degli italiani... Niente. Dico: "Ragazzi, ma avete mai sentito parlare di Pier Paolo Pasolini?". Giuro, hanno risposto "No". Gli insegnanti non gliene avevano mai parlato! Questi ragazzi sono letteralmente "vuoti". Ho chiesto loro: "Ma allora cosa studiate, di fotografia?". "La tecnica". Che è il peggio che si possa insegnare, perché ormai la tecnica non esiste più: fai degli scatti, e basta. Mentre il linguaggio, la trasmissione, il racconto, il documento, l'invenzione... niente!

lo sono sempre stata fortemente ancorata nel presente. La fotografia bella ed elegante mi interessa, mi piace, ma mi interessa di più quando racconta e denuncia lo stato delle cose. La resistenza la si fa anche con le piccole cose, come una mostra, un dibattito... (...) Non è che mi metto lì a fotografare i trulli di Alberobello, no, io fotografo quello che mi è vicino, che mi interessa, che mi coinvolge. Qualcosa da difendere, da amare, da apprezzare, da odiare..."

When I ask people not to steal my scans I assure you it has nothing to do with my ego. I have relationships with a number of people that trust me to provide full credits and copyrights and supervise, as much as possible, how things are used. And it gets a little complex, like some people will give me a photo I can only use on instagram. I have to honor these agreements.

And, Rothko paintings are copyrighted so, unlike some artists, if you make tee shirts or use it in a movie or something , it's actually illegal (without permission) They are not going to come after you for casual use of you own, but I know of many examples where people were hit with a copyright notice for trying to profit in the work.

It took me a long time to build these relationships and get all of these scans, including many i have done myself. I gave myself this Rothko job I do, and because of that I didn't have background to give me things or answer questions. It was only after years of doing it that people started to reach out to me in a bigger way and help.

The art world is strange, I was talking to a museum curator recently and there several questions I had that I was told they were not at liberty to answer. In the case of Rothko, there's nothing really cloak and dagger about it, it's just the family (who I think are great) fought really hard for these rights and spend a lot of time trying to control how the work is used and seen. It's a good thing because we get things like the Paris exhibit which took an insane amount of planning, loans, insurance etc. All the paintings had to be inspected before they were shipped over seas, in case damage was done to them over there. These paintings are BIG and in the hands of many different people, so it really took tons of effort and (sadly) money to do it, but it's something like (can't recall exactly) 179 paintings. The biggest Rothko show since 1978.

People on tumblr do sometimes (as we all know) take stuff from here or from my other social media accounts and I know it's typical social media behavior, as people like the credit and notes to their own blog, but I mention this now because I have some things coming up that almost no one has ever seen and I don't want to lose this privilege because I won't be able to show you cool stuff and big scans.

So, sorry for the ponderousness, I just thought a little background might explain that I'm not just being grumpy about it. I think people may see it as "It's the internet get over yourself" but I honestly feel a responsibility to do the best I can for people following these accounts and I am just trying to keep doing it and hopefully, expand as I go.

This blog started on out tumblr and it was the support of all of you that made me continue it, I will be 10 years in July. I can't take a lot of credit for it, it's not my art. My only idea was the once a day aspect. However, I try to do my homework and striving for accuracy is part of that, including copyrights and credits.

So even if someone is technically/artistically able to create something on the level of a gallery piece (and, to be honest, I think substantially more people have that ability than anyone would be likely to admit) they do not exist in an environment where they have the financial freedom or recognition for that to be possible or worthwhile.

I assure you that there are millions of people who absolutely could and would want to make Pollock style abstract paintings or giant time-consuming sculptures made with garbage or whatever, but they're currently stuck in a low wage job and if they quit in order to make their masterpiece then nobody would bat an eye and they would go broke because they wouldn't have the sociocultural weight to impart that special numinous reverence that "high art" is granted, and which makes it financially viable as a thing to spend your time doing.

It is also true that a lot of people who have that cachet are able to spend their time making pretty much whatever, and will still be able to support themselves even if the art itself is fairly mediocre outside of the time dedicated to its creation.

I am thinking about art and thinking about how there is a vast gap between the parts of art observed from life and experience and that which is inspired by other art. And I am not denigrating one in favor of the other.

I think art sort of requires both. But I guess I am focused on the modern "Why is my YA space opera not as respected as Toni Morrison" and I think there's something to be questioned there.

I was inspired to this train of thought in comparing my own work to that of Jean Genet, and his minutely observed portraits of the French Underclass men he was attracted to (and who frankly he was) and then I was thinking about Tolkien and his endless imitators, and how much of his work is deeply inspired by the like... actual experience of being a linguist and his time in the trenches. And like Toni Morrison is not at all a writer who resists the fantastical in her work, but again there is that core of experience derived from life that informs the work.

So, it's not that you can't write a good or interesting or artistically meaningful space opera, but I think your source material must include not just other space operas, but also some of your own actual experiences. And I think perhaps as more and more of our lives have been consumed by the most mind-deadening labor, and our leisure time increasingly devoted to the consumption of media rather than the experience of life... perhaps art has suffered as a result of that?

I am someone who adores reading, and who loves art and artists very deeply, but I do see a lot of stuff we're getting as a photo-copy of a photo-copy of a photo-copy with relatively little added. And I think as well in a world of the sort of atomized cloistered banal horror at lot of people live in, it can be very tempting to throw all the lived experience of being one's self out of art, except perhaps for some shallow nods to identity category to make the full escape into fantasy more effective.

I also think perhaps the... rise of the aesthetic over the subculture is also somehow connected to this.

A subsculture was rooted partially at least in connection with others, and also with the lived experience of being oneself.

But you can have a cottagecore aesthetic, a cottagecore fantasy life while working at a call centre. It is derived fully from fantasy and disconnected from actual experience.