JJ's Seal of Approval (credit goes to Corinne Duyvis for the idea)
I have been more ranty than rave-y on my blog lately, so this morning I decided to remedy that by having a Dealmaker Week. This week I will make a series of posts about what “makes my book”, so to speak. Today I will start with Character Types (and tropes) I love.
New Photo Friday this week! This week’s theme is Subway Shenanigans and The Coming Fall in New York City.
I love yellow leaves. They're my favourite fall color.
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Aperture f/1.8
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 800
This morning I tweeted about lusting after Pottery Barn monogrammed towels and then felt the need to defend the fact that I have a yen for interior decoration. But why? It was a throwaway comment I made after Pottery Barn sent me an email blast about what was on sale. I don’t think any one cared or judged me for being unabashedly “girly”, yet I felt the need to qualify myself. That’s silly, so I am going to out myself, the way I came to terms with being Korean.
I’m a girl and that’s okay.
I admit it: I like playing dressup, makeup, and interior decorating.
This train of thought was brought on by Natalie Whipple’s post on “strong female characters”, but more than that, I find myself mulling about “feminism” and “femininity” and “femaleness” more and more these days. I’ve had a weird relationship to being “a girl” almost my entire life and it’s only recently have I been able to articulate my issues and then try and come to terms with them.
Last night, in a fit of insomnia, I rewatched most of Nostalgia Chick‘s videos, which probably isn’t the most helpful in getting the brain to shut off, because I spent more time thinking about the questions she brings up than trying to get back to sleep.
If you aren’t familiar with Nostalgia Chick, I suggest you all remedy this immediately, especially if you were born between the years of 1980 and 1990. She is the Distaff Counterpart to the Nostalgia Critic, who examines the media of our formative years (e.g. Transformers, Animaniacs, etc.) without the rosy-colored nostalgia glasses.
Of course, I’m fonder of the Nostalgia Chick (who doesn’t update often enough, grrr!) because she tends to analyse and ask questions from a feminist perspective. In the video I posted, the Nostalgia Chick looks at several cartoons from the late 80s and early 90s and ends with a very, very important question: why is it that we believe that everyone can relate to a male protagonist, but only females can relate to female protagonists?
To that end, why is it that when a girl is awesome, she’s labeled a “strong female character” and not a “strong character” period? Or worse, why is it that the notion of a “strong female character” necessarily requires that she be “kickass” or “strong in a typical masculine fashion”?
A few days ago, I doodled this sketch of The Kitchen Girls, mostly experimenting with underlying shapes. Wicked Cool Riley is an oval, The Inimitable Bex is a diamond, and yours truly is a rectangle.
Then I decided to go ahead and quickly paint Bex. I shifted her pose to make it less stiff, changed her hands, and added her ever-present cup of coffee. I’m starting to like this mostly-digital thing, and I’m getting a little bit more comfortable with Photoshop painting. But I don’t deny that I rather miss natural media–I love the organic look of it–but it’s kind of nice not to have to carry around several brushes and paints; I just need my tablet and I’m good to go!
At some point, I will return to posting about books and writing and publishing. I will. But until the art bunny moves out of my brain, you will be subjected to stuff like this. (I ought to name the art bunny something.)
My very first (beer! Sorry, skydiving tic) entirely digital doodle. Usually my sketches are drawn by hand in my sketchbook, but I decided to try and expand my drawbling into the digital realm so as to stop relying on the annoying scan-and-ink-in-Photoshop method (which is essentially like drawing the same thing twice). Still getting the hang of the Photoshop brushes, but in general, I kind of like it.
Not much going on. I keep forgetting to do my Photo Fridays, but I don’t have any exciting photographs to show you, really.
A girl waits for the N train.
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Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 100
The art bunny continues its stranglehold on me. Sketched this on the train ride home and then quickly coloured it in Painter.
Poor Bear. During the winter I always want to play Lyra Crosses Svalbard, but Bear is usually not up to playing Iorek and White-Harp doesn’t want to play a male daemon.
I’m not sure where this came from. It’s not even winter.
I have recently been struck by the art bunny and have been spending most of my free time sketching. The art bunny is nasty and vicious and a close relative of the dreaded Rabbit of Caerbannog. Once it sinks your teeth into you, it doesn’t let go until it’s satisfied.
This is a 25 expressions drawing exercise, except in my case I had to do 50 because of White-Harp. It was actually pretty fun to do.
I am by nature a verbose and loquacious creature, but sometimes, words fail me and pictures are necessary. I’ve been trying to restart my blog in fits and starts, but I think this cartoon pretty much sums up my state of existence for the past few weeks.
Apologies for the low quality of the drawing. I took pictures of my sketchbook with my Argos the D60 and then magically stitched them together with Pixlr.com, adjusting the levels and so forth. I briefly entertained the notion of starting a comic strip called Adventures in Publishing, but I don’t have enough time as it is…
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