"Project: Spiral" - Art Update #21

Another self-portrait, very work-in-progress (as in, barely got started), but the holidays have a tendency to derail so whatevs.

 

Righty-o, then.  See you over the weekend for a chapter update!

Christmas Eve

Christmas was stolen from the pagans:  the winter solstice; the changing of seasons; the darkest day of the year.

Today has been a long day for me.

"A Tale of Fire and Panic" - Chapter 12: Sailing to Salinas

If you are new to Project:  Spiral, then click here to read the teaser, or click here to read from the Prologue.  Otherwise, welcome back!

Content Warning!

This story contains instances, descriptions, and frank discussions of:  depression, personality disorders, and other mental health issues; suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts; child abuse and neglect; graphic violence, war crimes, and institutional/systemic violence; gender dysphoria, body dysmorphia, and transphobia.  Reader discretion is advised.

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"Project: Spiral" - Art Update #20

Yeah, so it just kinda hit me now that this self-portraiture doesn't really have much to do with the story of P:S, but it's something low-stakes that I can pick away at over the high-activity of the holidays, so I'm fine with it.  I got this one done at last!

Click for huge!

I like the grayscale one better than the full-color, and part of that is probably because my color-sampling method isn't the best - I literally pick an area of skin which I think "looks normal," use the smudge tool a whole bunch, then use the eyedropper tool and start over if I don't like it.  This is, of course, in keeping with my only real art technique of "fuck with it until it looks right."  But I'm sure I'll improve with practice.

Anyway, that's all for today.  Cheers!

Transgender Tuesday: Arguing on the Internet, Tumblr Edition!

So I try to keep up on the various social media platforms, but I inevitably stick around on a few of them and don't... really... do much.  That's what Tumblr has been for me, except then I gradually started getting more involved.  Over the past couple of weeks, I got into it with a couple of transphobes.  We touched on a variety of topics that I have been wanting to write posts on, so I was unusually well-prepared for this internet debate (or at least this iNtErNeT dEbAtE), but this will serve as a sort of bookmark for now.

It's a bit long, though, so I'll mainly stick to screenies & transcripts, and keep the commentary to a minimum.

"A Tale of Fire and Panic" - Chapter 11: Leaving Noob Isle

If you are new to Project:  Spiral, then click here to read the teaser, or click here to read from the Prologue.  Otherwise, welcome back!

Content Warning!

This story contains instances, descriptions, and frank discussions of:  depression, personality disorders, and other mental health issues; suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts; child abuse and neglect; graphic violence, war crimes, and institutional/systemic violence; gender dysphoria, body dysmorphia, and transphobia.  Reader discretion is advised.

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"Project: Spiral" - Art Update #19

Sliding this one in under the door!  Look, between the tutoring gig I took on (which just recently ended), holiday activities, arguing with fascists and proto-fascists on the internet, and mental health stuff, I actually haven't been able to do more than 20 hours of work on P:S in the last two months.  This is me getting back on track.  I had a bunch of written material ready to go, but it has all run out, and now it's friggin' Christmas.  ANYWAY.  I'm just writing off the last three weeks of missed updates, because I love myself and sometimes I just fall off the map like most authors and artists do from time to time.  Here's some work on my self-portrait, trying to just bang out the solid color fields:

Click for huge.  I haven't blacked in the lace on the dress,but that's a whole fkn thing and it's my bedtime, so whatevs.

That is all for now.  I'll see you on Saturday for a chapter update.  I've been struggling with this one, because Chapter 11 (Journey to Salinas) is forked in three different directions for most of it, and there are plot points from each of them that I want to include, which makes it way too long.  But if Chapter 11 is split into two, then Chapter 12 (Over the Sands and Along the Coast) becomes Chapter 13 (Hope's End), and Chapter 13 is supposed to be when Pannych dies.  So... uhh... I mean, that was just a happy numerological coincidence, and I'm willing to let it go.  But I spent way too long staring at the screen and trying to decide.  I'm decided now, though, and Pannych dies in Chapter 14 now.  Oh, well.  Maybe I'll smash together a couple chapters earlier on when it's committed to paper.  We'll see.  Cheers!