Celebrate Bisexuality Day

Le suilon.

This is a relatively new holiday - this will be the eleventh year it is celebrated. It was started in 1999, by three bisexual activists: "Wendy Curry of New Hampshire (but then of Maine), Michael Page of Florida and Gigi Raven Wilbur of Texas" (Sheela Lambert, Celebrate Bisexuality Day: events around the world in 2009).

Part of the reason for this celebration of bisexuality (and also pansexuality, mentions Wikipedia - take that how you will, of course) is due to the prejudice bisexuals receive on both sides - from heterosexuals and homosexuals.

Being bisexual, myself (though, I have also called myself 'genderblind,' on occasion), I've always been particularly irritated by the prejudice from the homosexual end of the spectrum. However, on both ends, I have been told bisexuality doesn't exist - straight people have told me, more than once, that I just "haven't decided, yet."

Other claims are that I'm (or any bisexual is) doing it to be cool, or because I'm (or any bisexual is) not brave enough to come out as homosexual.

The fact of the matter is, sexual attraction is more complicated than saying you're straight or gay. Kinsey is actually quite known for coming up with a sexual spectrum, at which the two extreme ends are monosexual orientations, and in between are varying degrees of bisexuality.

Now, there is criticism that his scale is too simple and restrictive, because there are more sexual orientation identifying labels than just straight, bi, and gay.

Asexuality, for example, or polysexual, or pansexual, are alternative sexual orientation labels that people identify as.

I identify as bisexual, despite the etymologic implication of a sexual binary, simply because that's the label I picked. Perhaps a better term would be polysexual (attracted to multiple genders without implying a gender binary). Or maybe, if I call myself gender blind, some people would say I'm pansexual (attracted to all genders without implying a gender binary). I must admit, learning of different labels does make me wonder if I've mislabeled myself. However, as I am not a label, I feel free to call myself as I desire without it changing who I desire.

The important thing is, these orientations exist, and people identify under these orientations - not because it's "cool," or "different," but because that is their part of their own self identities. No one can force a monosexual orientation on them just because they want to say "You have to pick one, no one is attracted to both, and there are only two genders to choose from."

Really, I'd like to do away with all labels and say I love the person and not the gender, but we live in a society that likes labels and a society that, in some way, needs labels to understand different aspects of people. It makes no more sense to say you can't be attracted to more than one gender any more than it makes sense to say you can't be attracted to the same or opposite gender.

I would like to end this by adding more non-monosexual pride flags, but I could only find one for pansexuality. So, here it is.

Namárië.

Ryuu's Sexism: Entry 1

Boo. Surprise squid appearance.

I've dragged myself out of my little pond to discuss another little issue with Ryuu.

And by little, I mean huge. I'm in a pretty foul mood as well for a variety of reasons, so... Ryuu's in for another ass reaming tonight.

Yes, I'm fully aware of the jokes that sentence may or may not spawn. I can't bring myself to take them. That's too easy. However, if anybody else wants to go for it, knock yourself out.

But I digress. As the title says, Ryuu's pretty clearly a bigot in more than one way.

There were indications of this quite some time ago, though I won't mention them in detail as I've forgotten the source and basically everything but the general gist. But they were enough to make me go, "whoa, hold on there, scooter." Time's passed, though, and other things ate up the space it was using in my brain.

However, it decided to resurface pretty recently, when the lovely She-Elf brought it up in an MSN conversation.

And it hit me again. The man is beyond a doubt sexist.

How do I come to that conclusion? Well, there's a shitload of evidence so hold on to your undies, kids, as we're in for a pretty damn long ride. Which is why I'm breaking this up into a series or we'll be here all fucking week.

Look, I'm the first to admit it: in many cases, I just don't get along with other women. Why, I have no idea. There's too many potential reasons and too few years in a human lifespan for me to get into that. But despite that, I have no tolerance for this sexist bullshit. And that'd be why I'm writing this.

Subject A: His Gerudo character Rebé Anjellia.

Personally, I love the Gerudos. Graceful, fast swordfighters quite capable of holding their own in battle...

I like Zoras for their ability to breath underwater and they look so cool. Gerudos are pretty, and Hylians are pretty much the standard.

I don't know who takes the cake on that.

Oh dear fucking god, that was FAST. They beat the everloving shit out of Link in OoT and the best he can say for them is that they're fucking pretty. Hey, Ryuu? Stop thinking with your dick, okay? It'll help. A lot.

Well, maybe her bio will be better off.

Name: Rebé Anjellia

Nickname/Title: Beauty of the Desert

... Or not. I suspect a shitload of emphasis on how PRETTY and GORGEOUS she is, all of a sudden.

Physical Description: Rebé has been described as the "Beauty of the Desert". She well deserves that title. Her long, flowing scarlet hair cascades to the high-backs of her calves. Its flaring shine reflects the sun's light as it streams with her smooth and graceful movements. Her forehead is bare, having no bangs. But sections of hair hang in front of her ears and sweep down like streams of scarlet. They make their end at the lowest reach of her ribs. Her golden eyes shimmer like the sun's rays on the ocean's sunset. Her deeply emotional mind can been revealed by her eyes. Her face is kind of narrow and she holds high cheekbones. Her nose is medium-length, straight and narrow. Her chin is small and her lips are thin. Though often hidden, her lips are a slight silver, much like that of Nabooru. Her ears are more human-like than those of Hylians'. Her body continues her exquisit [sic] appearance. Her neck is thin, but not weak. Her torso overall is very slender, tone, and sexy. Her stomach as nicely trim and her back is strong. She is noticably[sic] busty, but still in good proportion to the rest of her body. Herbottom[sic] is small and her legs are long, smooth and sleek. Her legs make up most of her hight.[sic] Her feet are long in general, but they're also larger then the usual Gerudo's. Her arms are also smooth and lengthy. Her hands are big with long fingers. Her tanned skin is very smooth and soft all over. She shines in the light naturally like those who have had lotion on. Though she has a delicate display like that of a princess, she is as strong as any Gerudo warrior.

Do I win a fucking cookie? Ignoring the fact that reading that was like reading Twilight on steroids, he's gone into every shitting detail trying to portray how goddamn bangable she is. She's a warrior. Who the hell CARES what her feet look like as long as she gets the job done in battle? And 'streams of scarlet.' Good god, where's the locusts,the plagues and the deaths of the firstborn sons of Egypt? As I'm pretty sure that "scarlet streams" were mentioned in the Old Testament of the bible when the Pharaoh pissed Moses the hell off along with all those other fun things.

Anyway, moving on. Last I checked, being 'delicate' isn't good in a fight. Unless you have a death wish, anyway. 'Display of a princess?' What the hell does that even mean? "Dignity of a princess" makes sense. "Regal bearing of a princess" also makes sense. Not 'display of a princess,' as she's dressed in what basically amounts to lingerie in public and generally, fathers of princesses (those small little issues known as 'kings' or 'emperors' in most cases) flipped the hell out at that, especially in medieval times. Even disregarding that, she's a damn Gerudo. A MEMBER OF A GROUP OF THIEVES. You'd think that logically, the fragile ones would be shunned or not allowed to leave the fortress during crises due to their risk of death or something. It's not like you can go rape and pillage if you're going to fucking break halfway to the pillaging location.

Hey, does that look like a princess to you? Because it doesn't to me. It looks like fap material for Ryuu's high school fanboys.

Moving on once more... Her personality.

Personality: Rebé is very caring and loving deep down, but on the surface, she's more thought of as a wandering mind. She's been known to be someone who can't keep her thoughts here on earth. She likes to joke when she can. Laughter is the best medicine, but no number of such doses have had much effect on the reality of her painful past. She speaks her mind and there's a lot that goes on in there. Though the "jokester" is her main title amung[sic] friends, she is by no means a careless woman. She has her serious and very calm moments and she shows respect where it is due - to her standards. You can easily tell her emotions by her face and her voice. She's aware of her body being attractive to men, and sometimes she'll use that knowledge to her advantage... if she can.

I swear, that all seems like a giant attempt to justify the last sentence. If she's a Gerudo, shouldn't she be capable of initiating an ambush or something even if she's not up to direct combat, instead of just seducing people? The Gerudos are, if I'm not remembering wrongly, very proud women, so why on earth would one of their number sink to this? Besides, why just men? Oh, wait. This is Ryuu we're talking about. My mistake. Real life doesn't factor in there.

Strengths: She's well skilled in the art of Gerudo swordplay. Her slender body and skills with the desert style of dancing make her a perfect attraction and distraction where needed. she also has a strong will.

Okay, here's my biggest issue. She's a skilled swordswoman but her main skill is serving as a stripper/distraction? You gotta be out of your fucking mind, dude. She CAN fight but she would rather defeat enemies through dancing around in skimpy outfits. Yeah. That's gonna work GREAT. Assuming she 'distracts' some furious, sleazy jackass a head taller and much stronger with no self control to speak of ... It's likely she'd be in for a world of trouble.

Oh, but wait. There's more!

Even though you'd probably expect a sole Gerudo to be able to care for herself reasonably well, Ryuu's given her a bodyguard. A male, Queen Gohma ripoff of a bodyguard.

On her way out, she bumped into a massive beast named Morphious. Morphious stayed with Rebé for a while and heard her pour her heart out into her sorrows. Morphious was normally a hardened creature, but this tale softened his heart and he kept Rebé by his side. They have been together ever since.

So, basically, because of this display of sobby distress she caused a cynical, hardened... Male (for lack of a better word, as man doesn't really apply to a great, hulking mutant spider) to become soft and refuse to let her leave his side. Hokay, as a cynical FEMALE, I'd just like to point out that that doesn't work that way, jack. Ryuu's knowledge of human nature at the time the bio was written: None, clearly.

Rebé was always the kind to show off her body from the start, the one character who knew of her beauty and wasn't afraid to flaunt it some. But she was never bragging about it or came off as a show-off in the sense of constantly making emphasis with her words - she always let her figure do that for her. (What the heck, I mean if they don't notice how well she's kept herself by looking at her, words aren't gonna do squat anyway.) Not much really changed over the years, just her outfits. She's fun to make outfits for. But that was it for a while.

... That seems like one. Giant. Contradiction.

Walking around in outfits like she wears... Yeah, that's basically bragging about it. Or begging for 'indecent exposure' charges in some areas. I'm not sure. In any case, if you're wearing clothes that would logically cause people to mosey on over to you and ask "how much for anal," you have a problem.

And he basically admits she's a text-based version of a Barbie doll crossed with a blowup doll. Because of course, women can't be anything else.

This one is actually one of the few who were originally intended for LoZ. Rebé was my first Zelda-based female character and she was made at The Forest Haven. She was always a run-away Gerudo from the start, but her description said she was motherly. She never really was played that way, so her description changed to be more of a wild-spirited diva, as she is here. It was this RP forum she met Morphious, the intelligent Gohma, and the two characters have been near inseparable since, despite the fact he rarely shows in my gallery.

Oh for the love of all things bubblegum flavored.

One, way to fuck up your OWN DAMN CHARACTER. Two, he still has no knowledge of human nature. Three, "diva."

There are so many negative connotations there it's not even funny.

It's now time for Vocab Lessons With Cala.

From Dictionary.com:

di·va
   /ˈdivə, -vɑ/ Show Spelled[dee-vuh, -vah]
–noun, plural -vas, -ve  /-vɛ/ Show Spelled[-ve]
a distinguished female singer; prima donna.

And she's a distinguished stripper (oh, I'm sorry. "Dancer") and I didn't see anything in there about her singing voice, that leads us to definition two.

What is a 'prima donna?' Also from dictionary.com:

pri·ma don·na
   /ˌprimə ˈdɒnə, ˌprɪmə; It. ˈprimɑ ˈdɔnnɑ/ Show Spelled[pree-muh don-uh, prim-uh; It. pree-mah dawn-nah]
–noun, plural pri·ma don·nas, Italian pri·me don·ne  /ˈprimɛ ˈdɔnnɛ/ Show Spelled[pree-me dawn-ne]
1.a first or principal female singer of an opera company.
2.a temperamental person; a person who takes adulation and privileged treatment as a right and reacts with petulance to criticism or inconvenience.

In essence? Since the first definition obviously doesn't apply here, we're dealing with a spoilt, egotistical brat. Actually... That definition sounds a HELL of a lot like Ryuu to me.

Anyway, the sobbings of an egotistical brat caused the coldness of a known cynic to break? Uh... Huh.

Later on, as my love and I got to thinking on her more, we started solidifying what she would be like in Child of the Triforce. She gained Ganondorf's TP headdress with Twinrova's giant gem on her forehead. She gained a vest-like shirt, no bra, puffy Gerudo pants and metal shoes, as well as some nice gloves and snake-head swords. Her hair is mostly down, but in certain times in later stories, it's elaborately braided and woven in rings like Shiva of Final Fantasy X. While this is an absolute keeper for her Morrowind version, it's an on-off thing for her LoZ version.

I'm beginning to run out of expressions of "what the shuddering fuck" besides, well... What the shuddering fuck?

So you're gonna steal shit from... Well. Let's count. One, two, three! Three different characters! And then he calls her original? If you're OK with this entire set-up, please go take a cold shower and think about this. If the method listed doesn't help... Well, I don't know if we can help you here.

Ryuu's blatant thievery aside... Lack of bra in a vest. With large boobs. Oh my GOD, that is a recipe for disaster.

Unless he's only seen plastic tits his entire life, he should know that if a female has anything over about a B cup... Going without a bra is a fairly bad idea. Especially if you're GOING TO BE IN A GODDAMN FIGHT. Too much bouncing around can be painful if you're over a certain size.

So overall, she's basically just Hooker Barbie to him. That's just MILDLY sexist, not to mention creepy.

In closing, compare and contrast a standard Gerudo with Rebé.

Standard Gerudo:
- Somewhat skimpily dressed, as is kinda to be expected if you live in a gigantic desert. Parkas won't be pleasant there. Still, it won't be enough to get them arrested.
- Very capable swordswomen in direct combat or in ambush situations. They're thieves.
- They're proud. This, I believe, is evident in most games they're in. If my brain isn't failing me.
- Even the evil ones are powerful: Ganondorf is an all around massive threat, Koume and Kotake/Twinrova are the last temple boss. Even the little old ladies of the Gerudo don't need a damn bodyguard.

Rebé
- BEYOND skimpily dressed. To the point where if she wore equivalent clothing in this era, it's likely she would be the subject of a sex sting due to people (cops included) mistaking her for a fucking hooker.
- Supposedly a skilled swordswoman. In practice? A dancer who serves as a distraction in battle. In other words, a stripper.
- Clearly lacks pride, as she's a spoilt brat as well.
- She needs a gigantic Gohma to keep her out of trouble. Yeah, Ryuu, way to rape everything everyone knows about the Gerudos and twist it to suit your specifications of women.

What I'm taking from this is that strong women aren't possible to him. Physically and mentally strong women capable of actually fighting. Or dressing reasonably for someone who would expect to see battle. Or not being a spoilt little child who needs a bodyguard.

Someone go wake Ryuu up. The 21st century's asking for him. Apparently it wants to smack him upside the head a few times.



Sources (for whatever reason, the HTML is being a rampaging pile of shit so excuse any dead links, etc.):
Favorite Race Thread
Ryuu's Character Lists
Ryuu's Own DA Journal

How to be a guy what can draw well.

Okay, I myself am now in a mood (Rinku knows why) so there will not be my usual paragraph of being silly, so buckle up we're charging right into it. It being how one goes about not sucking at art.

First off. Art school is not magical nexus of instant artistic knowledge, its a school. Grades, structure, study, tuition, school. Everyone who has declared that they can't be a serious artist because they don't have the time or money for art school, that they are just hobbyists, that they can't be serious unless they're professionals. I want you to shut up.

No, I am not some elitist art major, or a snobby veteran of countless art classes. No, I am a hobbyist who is dead serious about his hobby. And why shouldn't I be? I love drawing, and nothing pleases me more than to draw well, except perhaps to draw better than I ever have before. And I am for the most part self taught by trial and error and constantly bugging a guy who knows what he's talking about for critique of my work (Thank you Rinku!).

Which brings me to the point of this long rant. I want to share a small portion of my practice with you, our non-existent readers.

At the moment I am teaching myself how to do the human body properly, from the bones all the way to complex poses using a few books I picked up cheap at a used book store. Before this I briefly ate up a few pages of my sketch book just drawing basic shapes, Squares, circles and triangles, plus their corresponding three dimensional shapes (more on why later).

These are the books.

I'd prefer to say there's one end all book on the human figure, but there really isn't. Most art books have their strengths and weaknesses, and you'll do well to do research and buy a mix of books that will balance out each others weaknesses. As for me, this was the best I could get at a reasonable price. You will also be aided by a solid understanding of basic shapes as mentally breaking down the complexities of the human body into simple shapes will vastly improve your understanding of them and your ability to draw and remember them.
That said, let us examine my efforts so far.

1. 1st attempt. Focus: Shapes______________2. 2nd Attempt. Focus: Shapes of Skull

3. Detailed focus on skull, minimal use of reference for drawing on left.

(I apologise for the pixelation, just click on the image to zoom in, that'll fix it.)

This was mostly done with reference to Anatomy for artists. In the 1st and 2nd drawings you'll note how I laid out the basic shape of the skull as a set of squares. This was my own observation independent of the book, and the basis for my attempts in the third drawing. While this isn't a perfect shape, its a simple visual short hand for the actual thing and good for fleshing out the size and proportion before doing details. The grid was drawn in by me, though I wish I hadn't as it gets in the way of the shading.

While this isn't a bad start, the real trick will be when I can reliably and and (much more) accurately draw the bones of the skeleton without reference, after that will come learning musculature. And while it certainly is tempting to just skip to practising people practising the framework of the body gives you a good sense of what the human form can and cannot do. It's the basics, and it's surprisingly not that boring to practice them after all.

Straps Straps Straps

Everyone out of the goddamn way. I am in a mood.

So! Ryuu complains because a lot of the pictures we critiqued in the past were older pictures, even though he hasn't really improved much since then. Well, then here's one that he uploaded a few hours ago, as of this writing.

Some days I can tolerate his shenanigans, and then some days I just want to get out a fat red marker and point out everything that's wrong with his stuff. Because he gets so much fekkin' praise for making the same elementary mistakes over and over and over and over again, and doesn't seem to give a damn about making it any better.

I suppose it's appropriate to ask why he should improve. He gets so much fekkin' praise for it, after all, so why should he go to the effort to get better? I dunno, maybe because he's supposed to be an artist and improvement is what artists do? Then again, I guess it isn't any of my business if he wants to continue to draw like a sixteen-year-old when he's well into his twenties. It must feel really satisfying, impressing teenagers with the same half-assed doodles of rip-off characters on lined paper, day after day.

Well, nothing encourages a want to improve like pointing out how ridiculous everything is. And I'm here to put the 'ridicule' in 'ridiculous', because that's what I do.

Ohhh-kay. So what's wrong with Ryuu's picture?

How about damned near everything that isn't tits and come-hither looks?



Oh yeah. That feels better. Very cathartic. Maybe I'll make this a regular thing. Or maybe not. It's hard telling anymore. Anyway...

"The CotT cast is going to have their swimsuits on. But there's more to these pictures than just bikini wearing women or shorts wearing men. You can get those anywhere, I figure.

It's funny he says this, because the picture not only looks like every other cheesecake shot in the history of EVER (except maybe a little blander than some), it doesn't look any different from the pictures already swamping his gallery. Chick standing in an awkward pose, dead center in the composition, with a sloppy, half-assed background and those horrible pointy toes of Ryuu's that I hate so much. There's nothing distinct about this whatsoever. Nothing exciting -- no, not even the ponytail chick with the dislocated hips and the sticky fingers. Seriously, are there no noseeums in Hyrule?

Obviously, there doesn't have to be much style or thought put into cheesecake, because stimulating the intellect isn't the point. But god damn, Ryuu, if you're going to brag about how incredibly original and special your cheesecake is, maybe you should make some effort to actually make it distinct. Maybe look at some real cheesecake and see what makes it varied and interesting and apply it to your own art.

You know, if you don't want to come off looking like a tool.

Here, their swimsuits are designed in a way that also says something about the character his/herself. The style of the form and pattern will portray something that's true to the wearer, thus no two swimsuits will be the same!

And what does Eye's swimsuit say about her? That she's a Sheikah! Because she has straps! Straps straps straps straps straps.

Straps everywhere! Teeny little straps, all wrapped up in awkward places, for no god damned reason. Even on her one-piece. Because Sheikah wear straps, you know. That's just what Sheikah do.

Oh, and there's a religious symbol on the tit of her BATHING SUIT, because that's not disrespectful or blasphemous at all. I wonder how many Christians run around with crucifixes appliquéd on the asses of their swim trunks, encouraging the eye to look at wholesome and godly sexual parts.

I'll tell you how many: not very god damn many.

Overall, simple and straight to the point; comfortable while still a tease to onlookers.

Yeah, comfortable. I wonder if Ryuu has ever had to swim with little straps of cloth tied around inexplicable places. Particularly because wet cloth tends to swell and get heavy and fall off, if if it doesn't get really snug because of... you know, swelling with absorbed water. Not to mention it gets rather clammy on warm days, and stiffens up when it dries. And unless it's immodest to show one's ankles while simultaneously displaying their freshly-waxed bikini line, there's nothing coy about STRAPS AROUND YOUR WRISTS AND ANKLES. And your hair... which tends to tangle in the water. You idiot.

Unusual, yet not flashy, for no one is to suspect when a ninja is around to strike.

In her fucking bathing suit.

Something else about ninjas: they tend to not wear ridiculous accessories that serve no other purpose than to titillate fanboys with no taste in good porn, who want to impress their high-school friends with how clever they are for putting straps on a Sheikah.

And as an accessory, she has an ice cream pop.

And what does this tell us about Eye? Absolutely nothing. Except that she's too dumb to know how to properly hold ice cream on a stick. That's the only bit of information I can glean out of her backwards-fisted, melting dessert treat. Maybe she likes wasps and biting flies, too. I guess there's that.

My one concern is the background. I know in OoT, Lake Hylia was surrounded by some kind of wall, but I don't recall what it was made out of. I just remember it was brown. So, I did the wall to best of my memory, but ignore it at will.

Ohh, Ryuu... That wall is the least of your problems. And for the record: telling me to ignore the background doesn't mean I'm going to, or that I'm even obligated to. In fact, ignoring it is probably the worst thing that I could possibly do, because it means you can get away with it and not have to worry about how distractingly shitty it is, and never strive to improve on it. Hell no, the ignoring stops now.

PERSPECTIVE.

You need perspective -- in a lot of places, but for the moment, I'm just talking about the background. It's not hard to draw a little grid, there, and make sure that you're not building Legoland models and six-inch docks for toy sailboats, and turning acres and acres of lake into a little goldfish pond. Seriously, it's silly; imagine Eye turning around and walking toward that dock.

And that tree.

What the hell is up with that tree? It's made of whale flukes and slugs and tentacle branches. That branch up top is especially confusing; I seriously spent several minutes thinking that branch was actually smoke drifting out from behind the fence. For one thing, it touches the fence itself -- which obliterates the perspective even more -- but for another, BRANCHES DON'T WORK LIKE THAT. Not even dead branches.



Seriously, WTF.

And even though you said that you couldn't remember what the fence was built like, and so you weren't sure of how accurate it was, you still fucking half-assed it. That's no excuse, ever. That's just laziness and apathy. If you're going to make a mistake, then at least make it well. You don't have to know exactly what shape and color the fence was in order to realize that a bunch of random floating lines and a jaggy little sawblade shape on top is ugly and lazy. You don't have to know how tall or how wide the bits of fencepost are in order to draw them as actual pieces of functional fence, instead of just some flat, iconic symbols that look really fake. You might as well have drawn an arrow pointing to it with the word "fence" written next to it, because that's pretty much what you did.

That's kindergarten stuff, Ryuu. Are you in kindergarten?

Oh, and don't cry about how you never went to art school, and so you can't possibly know this stuff. There's nothing magical about going to art school. It's not a secret society where you learn the secret tricks of the masters and gain super special art abilities that will make you PHENOMENAL ARTIST BLACKBELT OF THE SECOND DEGREE. It's called sitting down and doing the research and practicing.

You know, the stuff that you're too lazy and up in your own ego to bother with.

And I know this is the case, because you completely ignore sound advice when it means that you can't just whip out a DeviantArt tutorial and copy it for instant success. You claim you want to improve, but aren't privileged enough to get the knowledge, but the truth of the matter is that you don't want to go to the effort. And it shows. It shows aaaaall over your gallery.

Think I'm wrong? Then prove it. Prove me wrong. Do the effort and grow up beyond making sixteen-year-old fanboys hot in their pants.

Or don't. It's your call.