Wesley or Wes
β They/Them β
main blog: @weswardstars
Crack Taken Seriously
--
I don't take all art prompts, but if your idea sparks joy and I have time, I'll draw it~
--
Art Tag Social Links
Me: "Damn people are REALLY BAD at knowing when to tag their eyestrain art/images...either that or they just don't care about photosenitive epileptic people like me. I feel really sad now."
Person: "But Allison, what if they just don't know or understand what qualifies as eyestrain and what doesn't?"
Me: "You know what? That could be a factor...While it is always better to be safe rather than sorry (so YES people should always tag eyestrain even if they're unsure if it "counts" or not) maybe you've got a point?"
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!!!
Full eyestrain AF page link
"But Allison! How were you able to screenshot that example if you're so sensitive to eyestrain?"
I dimmed the HELL out of my computer screen and looked away while taking the screenshot and did the same when putting it into this post, that's how lol. BUT YEAH ANYWAYS!!! Once again:
PLEASE TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!!! THIS IS ABOUT THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF OTHERS!!!
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
β Live Streamingβ Interactive Chatβ Private Showsβ HD Qualityβ Free Actions
Free to watch β’ No registration required β’ HD streaming
hey did you know??? that if you stop stretching and maintaining mobility in your body then it goes away?? things get tight and you can't move the way that you used to??? and when you decide to try getting a stretch routine going that the first week fucking sucks because you keep going 'damn i used to be able to do this no problem' and then you have to switch gears and be kind to yourself and just focus on getting better from here instead of berating yourself for dropping the good habits in the first place??? and your body never stops aging so you gotta keep taking care of it and sometimes you gotta take care of it extra in certain areas because of things that happened when you were younger and it's boring and sometimes hurts but it's so necessary???
i am yelling this at myself right now i am going through An Experience (trying to get into a routine of body maintenance again for my physical and mental health)
In case anyone finds it helpful because mobility aids are horrifically expensive and inaccessibleβ¦
And for those people who have access to mobility devices but might benefit from a second chair they can abuse without risking expensive damageβ¦
Erik Kondo has made a website, Open Source Innovations, that details plans for DIY wheelchairs. These wheelchairs can be made from common materials like wood, plastic, and pvc. They are lightweight and can be custom fit to the user allowing from the same degree of movement you would get from a custom chair. And they are durable and easily repairable. (he has been stress testing his latest design by dropping it down stairs, dropping it out of a car, launching it across a driveway, and throwing it off a deck). Its 12lbs and I think he said its was in the $200 ish range for parts.
He also is working on cheap, open source, accessible designs for beach chairs, off road chairs, motorized attachments (think smart drive), and so on. Plus he skateboards in his wheelchair. Cool dude, helpful info, pass it on.
It's incredibly sad people have to resort to this, but it's a damn good resource. Use it. Spread awareness. Maybe one day people with physical disabilities won't need DIYs like this. But until then, reblog and share.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
β Live Streamingβ Interactive Chatβ Private Showsβ HD Qualityβ Free Actions
Free to watch β’ No registration required β’ HD streaming
FLY is a story about a boy who gets a second chance. Help his story take flight June 9th 11am EST on Kickstarter. Thank you for being the wind beneath my wings I hope this story lifts the world to a brighter place.
A coming of age story about Black kids who finally have power to fight back against systems designed against them.
Looking for some queer scifi? You've come to the right place! THE CHAMOS PROJECT is a queer adult scifi novel that's available now at all digital retailers! THE LAST INFINITY comes out in August, so be sure to add it to your TBR and sign up to be an ARC reader today!
Happy Pride! THE CHAMOS PROJECT ebook is on sale from June 1-7. If you're interested in a queer scifi with characters who are over 40, grief, loss, and cute robots, check it out today!
i actually wanted to elaborate on this and say that i think itβs a really bad habit of a lot of artists, influenced by current media casting practices, to unconsciously or consciously make every single character they create super pretty, like everyone is just hot in that very boring, homogenous way, and this also comes as a result of people using actors and celebrities as character references or faceclaims and AI facial generation programs like Artbreeder being trained on people who are generally very pretty-looking. it results in alienating, uncanny worlds and drawings completely devoid of people who just look like regular people. it results worlds populated by mannequins fresh off the CW. I feel like whether a character is attractive or not should actually matter, be part of their character, because that kind of thing absolutely affects the way you move through the world and the way the world treats you.
so i wanted to throw in some suggestions that, whenever Iβm trying to find a character reference or otherwise draw very interesting-looking yet regular-looking people, which i usually have to do for bit characters in @ikroahβ or something, I tend to look for references in the following places. these are far from the only reliable way to get inspiration, this is just a non-exhaustive list of places iβve looked before for visual inspiration when needing to create a character, whether starring characters or background ones:
pre-2000s television (The Sopranos and Twin Peaks especially having incredible character design)
extras in comedy sketch shows
esports players
real photos (not staged stock photos) of line cooks
70s baseball players
athletes from more obscure olympic sports like the javelin toss or greco-roman wrestling, especially if youβre looking for a specific body type
ska, jazz, and blues musicians
firefighters
improv troupes
for teenagers, searching βhigh school english class projectβ on youtube and sorting by Upload Date
state senators, small-town mayors, and generally obscure local government positions like comptroller or treasurer (yes i know politicians can be bad sometimes but smaller elections especially donβt really depend on looks)
people who walk by your window (if you live in a city like I do)
and again these are just, in my opinion, deep and easy wells to dive in if you want to get a good idea of what regular people look like. these suggestions arenβt the limits on where you can possibly find inspiration for character design
Yes!!! Thereβs an entire book called Felliniβs Faces thatβs nothing but portraits of his actors thatβs phenomenal for this kind of thing, though itβs fairly rare to get a hold of today.
Dick Bayford, Botswana's attorney general, removed anti-gay language that courts struck down years ago. (Photo courtesy of the Sunday Standa
Local LGBTIQ+ organisation LEGABIBO welcomed the governmentβs move, describing it as βa necessary and long-overdue step toward restoring dignity and aligning our legal framework with constitutional values of equality and human rights.β
The group said the change sends βa clear message that LGBTIQ+ persons are not criminals, and that their lives and relationships deserve protection, not punishment.β
LEGABIBO noted that the colonial-era provisions had long cast a shadow over the lives of LGBTIQ+ people in the country.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
β Live Streamingβ Interactive Chatβ Private Showsβ HD Qualityβ Free Actions
Free to watch β’ No registration required β’ HD streaming
Compiled some basic information I know about drawing fat characters for beginners since I've been seeing more talk about absence of really basic traits in a lot of art lately.
Morpho Fat and Skin Folds on Archive.org (for free!)
Thoughts on thumbnailing from the process of OPTING OUT by Maia Kobabe
I drew these two pages in my sketchbook about a year ago when I was trying to explain some of my thought process on thumbnailing while working on Opting Out (which was initially titled Saachi's Stories). Since this is a middle grade book, clarity of action and storytelling was really important to me, so I decided pick a basic page- a six panel grid- as my base, and only deviate from it when I thought it served the story to do so. I co-wrote this book with Lucky Srikumar @diamoric-comix and it's out in stores on May 5 2026 <3
Transcript below the cut!
PAGE ONE:
For most projects I pick a "base" panel grid for normal pages that don't need extra emphasis. For Saachi, that was a 6 panel grid. I made a digital template to drop in every page. There are easy variations that include an establishing shot (single tier on top, middle, or bottom). Shifting the gutters to give some panels more space. Occasional 3 panel tier. Dropping panel borders.
4 tiers-used for a specific character or when Saachi is uncomfortable.
9 panels- used for phone calls and hard, wordy conversations. I like to alternate characters in 9 panel grids to create a checker pattern.
In grids I also like to alternate close-ups with medium or long shots on diagonals or patter speaking characters on diagonals.
Fantasy pages! Some pages contains stories, daydreams, or poems and these break out of the grid entirely and often have no borders!
PAGE TWO:
I use a large panel on top with just two below, or two on top and one below, when introducing a new setting- big establishing shot
The fight scene gets diagonal gutters- rare.
A fairy tale gets rounded panel borders.
Sometimes I "shrink" the last panel on a page at the end of a scene to transition to a new setting. Two times I used 4 tightly packed panels in combo with border-less panels in storytelling-mode.
There are only 5 full page images in the book. First & last are in the "real world" and the middle 3 are in Saachi's "poem world"
Most used Saachi page layouts- 181 of the 253 pages fall into these 8 categories:
85- 6 panel grid but with adjusted size
52- even 6 panel grid
20- even 3 tiers
5- full page
5- even 4 tiers
5- square 4 grid
5- establishing shot either above or below an even 6 tier grid
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
β Live Streamingβ Interactive Chatβ Private Showsβ HD Qualityβ Free Actions
Free to watch β’ No registration required β’ HD streaming
I know we all have a lot of sad readings about robby giving whitaker the keys to his house for o b v i o u s reasons, but can we quickly indulge in the sitcom version of this story? cuz there is a happier universe version where this plays out where trinity gets lonely quickly and invites herself over (to "make sure huck didn't die") and then she's crashing for the afternoon, and the next time she comes she brings garcia with her to have a movie night which dennis lightly protests, but in actuality he's been getting lonely too, so it's nice. and then the pittlings all go out for drinks after work one day and they're too drunk to all split up, so trinity invites everyone to robby's place cuz it's nearby, and dennis starts sweating because once the seal is broken, now everyone in the ED is treating it like a crash pad, and like -- no one is DISRESPECTFUL. nothing is getting broken or vomited on -- well, except the bathroom after the bar night, but they all cleaned it up spick-and-span --
but now javadi is regularly crashing whenever she wants to get away from her parents, and becca is obsessed with watching elf in beautiful surround sound, and samira never realized how much she missed having a quiet backyard until she keeps curling up on robby's back porch with a book on the weekend, and somehow night shift got wind of the setup so ellis is using robby's massive kitchen to meal prep, and trinity refuses to go more than four days without seeing dennis, who at this point is in SHAMBLES cuz this house-sitting situation has gotten out of HAND --
and tl;dr, robby returns home early to a house crawling with his co-workers and residents and a panicked dennis who does NOT have this under control, and maybe he would have lost his cool pre-sabbatical, but ellis offers to turn her meal prep into a family dinner, and mel was about to pickup snacks for movie night if robby had any requests, and shen's playing unexpectedly good music on robby's stereo, and after dennis spent 3 months coaxing robby's garden back to life it's actually NICE to sit out there and have a big family dinner out in the backyard again and--
HOW I TRY TO AVOID WHITEWASHING MY GIFS (FOR THE PITT)
hey! so, the show i've undoubtedly been giffing the most lately is the pitt, which features a whole lot of characters of color! it also happens to be a show with mostly white & cool toned backgrounds and bright lighting. unfortunately, those are circumstances in which it can become really easy for gifs to slide into whitewashing territory - whitewashing in this case meaning that characters of color are colored to be a lot lighter than they were in the unedited version of the scene.
DISCLAIMER: these are some examples of whitewashing that i encounter in my gifmaking process and actively try to avoid. this is by no means comprehensive, nor am i any kind of authority on what does or does not constitute whitewashing. furthermore, i myself have an issue where gifs look surprisingly different on tumblr on my pc vs my tablet, so truly, i think it can even depend on what device you're viewing gifs on. there are some cases that are pretty straightforward to me, but sometimes my tablet makes gifs - that looked perfectly fine on my computer - suddenly look kind of too pale.
TO NON-GIFMAKERS: absolutely feel free to look at these examples and if gifs strike you as way too pale for what you saw on screen just consider not interacting with that set. maybe you might even shoot the creator an ask/reply telling them that they may have veered into whitewashing.
okay, now that that's out of the way, let's just take a quick look at what i mean when i say whitewashing - let's look at this (extreme, cartoonish) example:
now you might say, "that's absurd, nobody would color it that way," but the thing is, something like this in different forms is easier to get to while coloring a gif than one might think.
and both skin tones (again... duh) and lighting can differ drastically from character to character and scene to scene. i've tried to assemble a few gifs of different characters of color to explain what i try to avoid and how i avoid it when i color.
BRIGHTNESS & CURVES
the most obvious and probably the most widespread (i think) thing is that when you originally screencap a show/import a video into photoshop, it's kinda dark. it just looks nicer to most gifmakers when we make it a little brighter. the issue with that can come when we do too much with our curve or brightness layers.
(the little circles show shades that i picked with the color picker tool at hopefully pretty much the same spot for all four gifs)
so you can see that i'm a bit of a hypocrite - i made her lighter with my standard psd! that's why i say that i personally think this is a matter of degrees. as far as i'm aware the difference between the unedited and second gif that shows how i usually color is within the margins. it's still fairly vibrant and brown whereas with the two lower gifs i'm firmly in pink/light beige territory (which is not sepideh moafi's skin color).
this one's pretty easy to avoid, in my opinion: just don't go too far with curves or brightness. i try to keep it in that margin that still approximates the color of the unedited version.
THE BLUES & GREENS
i feel like this is the most complex one. like i said, the pitt is a show with a lot of blue in the background and what can happen is that in trying to make those colors pop or reducing reds & yellows, we distort skin tones maybe a little too much.
layers this can become an issue in: selective color, color balance, levels, channel mixer, hue/saturation.
how i try to avoid this:
selective color: the red & yellow tabs of selective colors are crucial to me here. in those, i try not to increase the cyan or decrease the magenta or yellow too much -> of course it depends on the scene! if it's a very yellow scene, i can probably decrease the yellows of red or yellow without running the risk of actual whitewashing
levels: i usually keep my hands off the individual color levels for this - that's just a personal preference, though. if used, i'd apply the rules of color balance and channel mixer
color balance: i pretty much only use "shadows" and "lights" for color balance and here i try to take care with the cyan/red slider (and in some rare instances the yellow/blue slider) -> too much cyan and i create that pink-ish hue in the spots where the light hits the character, and that doesn't really belong there; with other characters too much cyan almost bleaches them out
channel mixer: no increasing reds in the green or the blue channel, basically
i made another example for this in combination with increased curves/brightness:
VIBRANCE
i don't see this one as often anymore because the pale gif trend was years and years ago (and personally, i'll never participate in it again bc i didn't like it), but for completion's sake i wanted to include it because pale gifs had a HUGE whitewashing problem.
as you can see, victoria looks sort of grey and ashy in the bottom two gifs. if you add more brightness/curves on top of that it becomes very, very pale which was sort of the trend for a while.
again, easy to avoid because i have to add a hue/saturation or vibrance layer and drag the dials into the negatives.
PALE COLOR GRADED/LIGHTING SCENES
sometimes the show does the deed itself, although i'm not super sure if that can still be qualified as whitewashing. in any case, sometimes i'll load screencaps into photoshop and go, "why does she look so pale??? i've giffed her before and she didn't remotely look like this."
at that point, i come to kind of a crossroad - do i try to color correct in addition to my usual coloring or do i just proceed as normal and go off of the skin tone presented to me in the scene?
i skew towards the latter... the top two look bad To Me but i don't know if there's an actual right answer to this conundrum, to be honest.
and that's it for now!! i hope this is maybe a little helpful? again, this is not meant to encompass everything or even go into much detail on individual colorings but moreso the general considerations i try to make when i gif. i hope it makes sense! tysm for reading!!
Crack Taken Seriously @weswardart - Tumblr Blog | Tumlook
