AKWarts

Official page for AKWarts

[akwarts]

Welcome to my Tumblr!

I'm April KW of AKWarts!

I’m a graphic designer and illustrator. 

This is mostly where I dump casual and for-fun artwork. If you need a professional sample of my work please feel free to hit me up in a private message!

As always, here's hoping my doodles put a happy in your noodle.

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This "classic" came up in my feed today and I had to explain it to a friend, so I made this.

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Happy Easter.

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Ava, we're gonna have to sell your feet pics.

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I have never seen anyone flex so hard while essentially trolling the entire art world and anime community.

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Filing and Refusing – Step-by-Step - National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee

Filing and Refusing – Step-by-Step - National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee

This page is for people who choose to file tax forms with the IRS but want to resist some or all of their taxes to protest or stop paying fo

[akwarts]

Things are pretty turbulent right now. The working class is being abused. Productivity is higher than it's ever been, but wages haven't risen to match or even kept up with inflation. Despite profits being at record highs, our wages are lower than they were two generations ago if you account for purchasing power. My grandparents made about $800 a month and their mortgage was $50. Most people where I live make $2,500 - yet the mortgage for a 2-bedroom home is $2,600. If you want to *RENT* that exact same home, you'll be paying $3,000 because the owner has you paying the mortgage, plus a profit.

(Yeah most people need roommates into their late 30s here, or one partner's entire pay goes toward housing.)

I'm also pretty sure all this anti-LGBTQA and pro-choice nonsense isn't about morality at all; it's about making sure the USA doesn't fall into a population crisis like the rest of the world.

Thing is, there's no such thing as a population crisis, except with endangered species and in capitalism. The world has finite resources; wouldn't fewer people be better? Fewer people means more resources to go around. I realized recently that they use our Social Security to scare us on this point. They claim that if we don't have babies, there won't be enough people paying taxes when we're old to support our SSI - but that's not how SSI works. We're paying into it NOW, actively, and if they'd keep their grubby fingers off of it, it would be fine from generation to generation. Thing is, they keep dipping into it like it's a petty cash box. But regardless, the idea that it will be paid by our children is nonsensical and a blatant scare tactic to get us to breed, because THEY need it, not because we need it.

The only way fewer people (when there are already 8,000,000,000 people on the planet) is a bad thing is because it means less worker bees.

Especially since the worker bees are more easily exploited if they're desperate, and what makes them desperate? Feeling replaceable - which requires lots of other worker bees waiting to replace them. That can't happen when there are fewer people and more than enough jobs to go around. Just the other day, a real estate giant was televised at The Australian Financial Review Property Summit saying that workers are "arrogant," and think employers are lucky to have them when they need to think they're lucky to have jobs. He had the audacity to say that "we" (as in him and the owning class) need to "create a recession" and "we need unemployment to go up, ideally 40-50%."

SCREW. HIM.

Your time is a commodity that YOU own. Time is more valuable than money. All acquisition of money is for the purpose of being able to get back your time and be able to enjoy it.

YOU. OWN. YOUR. TIME.

And they don't like it. They don't want you to know that.

Because it's the most valuable thing on Earth. Without it, they have no one to make their products or perform their services. Without YOUR TIME, they would be broke.

So they want really badly to be able to own it. To make you feel like it doesn't actually belong to you. For you to feel "lucky" to give it away to them for pennies on the dollar of what you will make for them.

As Andrew Stanton, Donald McEnry, and Bob Shaw said (writers of A Bug's Life) "Those puny little ants outnumber us 100 to 1, and if they ever figure that out, there goes our way of life."

Well, guess what.

In the US, people like us outnumber billionaires by 412,500 : 1.

Globally, we outnumber them 2,504,696:1

Let's help each other figure it out.

Let's take back our lives.

ACT. In any way you can. Don't be passive; it enables them.

EDUCATE. They are terrified of a well-educated working class, so learn something every day. If you don't understand something as well as you'd like, read/watch/listen to as many sources as you can until you do. Never repeat something you see or hear unless you verify it by doing your own research. I like to do this by reading at least three separate articles from different sources, and then looking into the backstory of an issue. If you can afford to, go back to school, even if it's just online community college classes after work. Most importantly, share what you know. Teach others, if you can, with loving intention and their consent. Try to really connect and think of teaching as an opportunity to lift people up, not show off how smart you are. I mean, smart is sexy, but smart and humble? F'whoosh!

INCITE. You know that expression, "if you're paying attention, you should be angry"? Yeah, that's relevant here. Things are bad. If you look around and really take it in, the only people who shouldn't be angry are the super-wealthy, because they're on top and they're benefiting from the problems. Channel your anger into passion and drive, not rage or violence. Use that energy to make a positive difference, and inspire others to do the same.

ORGANIZ.: We really do outnumber them by 400,000 to 1 domestically and 2.5 million to 1 globally. They can push individuals around, and they can dominate a submissive, non-confrontational mass population. They can't take us all on. They control everything because they have so much more money than the average person, and can use it to buy power by putting it in the pockets of officials and politicians to influence our governing bodies. But when we group together and push back, we're stronger. That's why unions work, and why they HAAATE them. If we normalize unity, it won't be just unions, though. If we normalize unity, if we organize in everything, not just at work, we can really fight back. We can pool our resources to get our own lawyers and bill-writers and lobbyists to send to DC. We're not going to bribe officials like they do, but together we can make those "perks" and "gifts" and "donations" legally defined as the bribes they are and take the money out of politics. We can demand ethics and equal representation return to the norm for our elected representatives.

UPLIFT. We are all in this together. We are all housemates here on our home planet, and it's the only one we've got. They want us fighting. They want us to blame each other. They want us mad at teachers and burger flippers for wanting as much money as "skilled labor" instead of mad at our own employers for not paying us fairly, either. They want us mad at the migrant worker for "stealing our jobs" instead of mad at the person who exploits foreign workers, or the media for pushing that narrative when in reality, nobody else even wants those jobs. Because they're hard, dirty, exhausting, and have no growth potential. Even the Red vs. Blue thing is manufactured. They're playing us against each other so that we're too busy in-fighting to face the real threat with any effectiveness. Don't let them. Learn to recognize your peers, have compassion for your fellow humans, and uplift others. If the status quo is to think of the other person, we all do better. It is possible to thrive.

Just remember that you can't take care of others if your own basic needs are not met. That's what the Y is for - YOU. In a world where we all look out for one another, everyone's needs get met - but we're still fighting for that world. So, for now, please, don't forget to breathe, rest, sleep, take a break, drink some water, connect with people, and do something that makes you happy when you can.

In other words, please, take care of yourself. For me. For all of us. Okay? Credit to the podcasts and video documentary makers I follow regularly. I learned a lot of this from them, and I'm sure much of what I've said here echos their own statements. They are: https://www.youtube.com/c/SecondThought https://www.youtube.com/@ThenNow https://www.youtube.com/@JamesJani https://www.youtube.com/@FDSignifire https://www.youtube.com/@leejamiller ... and a whole lot more. I'll have to make a bigger list sometime.

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Petition to Graduate!!!

Double IN!!! Approved by my counselor; TWO PETITIONS TO GRADUATE, TWO DEGREES, AND DUAL HONORS*!!! I got honors from the school via GPA, plus I got into an Honor Society - so I get to wear the schools honor chord, the societies honor chord and a sash! <3 

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Happy Piggyskin Super Playtime El Vee Aye Aye!!!

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WIP to update the hats for SB57

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Made this a couple years ago for a friend. Working on a new version for LVII today.

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Guess who got to make the posters for her regions’ Bowl for Kids’ Sake charity this year!? This gal!!! I’m also kind of my own team and raising funds to support this great group that provides kids in need with one-on-one quality time and an adult advocate they can look up to! If you can kick down even the cost of a cup of coffee it really helps! https://account.venmo.com/u/zelameh

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TOXIC FANDOMS CREATE IMPOSTER SYNDROME.

THE GATEKEEPING IDEA THAT ONE MUST BE AN EXPERT TO “BELONG” IN A FANDOM HAS UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES.

BECAUSE THAT IDEA BLEEDS OVER INTO OTHER AREAS OF LIFE.

It makes people who might have had an interest or talent in just about anything second guess themselves; they may enjoy it and be capable, but they’ve been conditioned by abuse to feel they have to be an absolute master just for their interest and ability to be considered valid.

So, they hesitate. They’re drawn to this, they pick up the basics easily, but the idea of knowing every obscure technique or mechanic is overwhelming.

Either the spark inside them fizzles out, or they struggle constantly to feel good enough.

TOXIC FANDOMS CREATE IMPOSTER SYNDROME.

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I was re-reading Changes for... reasons (?) and when I hit this line, I snort-laughed. Had to make a graphic. For any who might not know off the top of their head, Christian McGrath does the cover art for Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files. It’s kind of great to see how the detail of his work keeps getting better with each book, and for sure the graphic isn’t meant to jab at him. We love you, Christian.

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One of my biggest regrets through life has been realizing that I could have learned something earlier. I struggled my whole life to get better at art and I had it in my head that it was something that just would blossom with practice. So I kept drawing and I thought the more I drew the better I would get - but that doesn't work in a bubble and I didn't realize it until I got a random hair up my butt and decided to take a digital painting class. Now I'm kicking myself up that I didn't do this 10 years ago. I'm so upset about how much I could have done and where I could be as an artist if I had learned these basics years ago.

Yes the only way to get better is practice but you have to learn the basic fundamentals; what to practice. Just drawing the same thing over and over again and trying to change it on guesswork isn't going to give you the kind of growth you're looking for.

Learn from my mistakes.