There Needs To Be More Hugging!

There needs to be more hugging!

Pro tip: if you’re stressed out just start dressing like you’re Magnum PI. There’s something about the mental dissonance of being anxious while wearing the most obnoxiously patterned Hawaiian shirt on god’s green earth. It doesn’t compute. Especially if you also have the jorts. It’s like fake it till you make it but it’s dressing like you don’t know the meaning of anxiety.

finally got time to draw again, so of course I had to torture myself by going back to trying to draw likenesses

character is Jarod from The Pretender (I’ve been on a 90s shows streak recently) don’t be fooled by his death stare, he’s just a silly goober.

Started watching White Collar. Would highly recommend

One of my favorite screencaps in existence. Head pats have a special place in my heart. (White collar, S1E10)

different art style than usual for me, so slightly eh, but it’s always fun to try new things

Writing Descriptions

I was just musing recently about this, so thought I’d share some bits about how I try to build compelling descriptions of scenes/environments. Normally I just post fan art but eh, diversifying lol.

Having an agenda

I found both reading and writing descriptions that if I don’t have an objective for them they end up feeling aimless and sometimes forgettable. I am always trying to build a narrative. It can be as simple as “this building is old/unused” or as complex as ‘contrasting a bright atmosphere with an underlying coldness as an allegory to a character’s crushing isolation in the face of their personal grief/pain’. What does every line and descriptive word contribute to what you’re trying to do? What emotions or vibes are you trying to evoke? How does every part of it tie together into a cohesive picture instead of a bunch of disparate parts?

2. Utilizing descriptions as a tool

descriptions inherently tend to center a story in a specific setting, or serve as our senses to experience the story alongside the characters — but I try to use it as more than that when possible. How you can use it may vary with what person you’re using, but even third person (what I typically use) descriptions can give you a glimpse into the headspace of your character. This can be really helpful when writing a character who isn’t very emotionally self aware, or a character who is stoic. I typically use this one of two ways.

First one is seeing through the eyes of the character. How do they see this other character? How does their emotions, history, etc affect their impressions about different settings? For example, a characters with religious trauma might have a more negative/emotionally loaded perspective when walking into a church which can manifest at different levels of subtlety within the description of the environment.

second one way is just to get the reader on the same page emotionally as a character. If the character is desperate, incorporate that emotions/vibe into your description of the setting or even of them. If they’re lonely invoke that, etc. Note that this can also be used for plot beats and not just character moments.

Also total side note, but I’d reccomend not taking any writing advice too seriously. Explore how people write their stuff, take little tidbits here and there when it speaks to you and your style, and toss aside anything that doesn’t work for you.