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Makeda Lewis; Visual Artist

Makeda Lewis is an Atlanta-based Afro-Feminist. A proud voice on Twitter she is the author and illustrator of Avie’s Dreams. Lewis’ works with lines, her artistic style is pure but elaborate. The care for details makes her work intricate and provides an almost dream-like quality. She’s not afraid to play with composition and often her subject matter is posed a specific way or stylistically embellished to create an ethereal mood.

On her Tumblr she once described a process as wanting “the space between ur hands and ur vision to be as small as possible not only to represent your self-perceived skill but also the love, care & attention you have for ur subject.” This is inherent in how she views her work and the results are clear. Interpretation is key to her work because she doesn’t necessarily draw things as they are but how she sees them and she shares her vision with you.

My favourite pieces from her are her sketches. Because Lewis often does linework you can see where her focus is. Her line structure is often fluid – she fills big spaces with delicate touches. Each piece seems like a piece of introspection and her work as commonly has been referred to as such. There’s something intimate about the way she works.

Often as I look at her work it feels like walking into an art gallery for the first time. Her work is simply in its delivery but plentiful in the same breath. A beautiful storyteller Lewis’ work continues to intrigue and I’m hoping for more to come.

If you’d like to buy her book you can purchase it here. Makeda is on Twitter.

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Trungles; Visual Artist

Have you ever felt so overwhelmed by how beautiful something is that you can’t point out what makes it so great but that it simply is? That’s the feeling I get when I look at Trungle’s work. Trungles, or Trung Le Nguyen is a Vietnamese comic book artist and illustrator. With a hefty portfolio Trungles is best known for his distinct drawing style. Easy to point out, Trungles is nothing but consistent in his work.

If there was one word to describe Trungles’ art it would be details. As an artist, he is a master at filling space with the most intricate lines. A lot of his work feels ephemeral – there’s a movement to it that makes it seem like it’ll jump off the page at any moment. Trungles has somehow managed to capture that moment right before an idea leaves you. His work gives you the impression it could disappear at any second, so full of life it seems that much more precious to see.

The highly stylized methodology of Trungles’ work doesn’t hinder his content. In fact throughout Trungles’ career he has covered a range of content. There are certainly some subjects he has returned to; a common influence amongst his work is the cherished manga series Sailor Moon. The influence can be seen in Trungles’ work which often captures that sense of early wonder and fervent joy that marks the series in question.

The magic girl archetype seems to have heavily influenced much of Trungles’ work as he often revisits such fantastical characters such as fairies, mermaids, and magical girls. His work captures the charm of a magical, elaborately mythical world. You can lose yourself in it with any of his published comics.

He has a number of previous comics and is currently writing Vampire Buddy! Exclusively on his Patreon. A mix of quirky and cute humour with Trungles’ colorful drawing style.

Trungles often mixes drawing mediums. Some of his notable works are done with ballpoint pen. He doesn’t shy from exploring and doodling and that whimsical nature is present in much of his work. If you’re looking for something gorgeous that simply leaves you feeling good Trungles is definitely an artist not to miss. His art will capture your imagination and his humour will make you want to stay.

To see more of Trungles’ work visit his site and his Patreon.

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Roxane Gay’s Difficult Women

Roxane Gay’s collection of short stories Difficult Women covers the lives of women across a spectrum of backgrounds. The only thing that ties these women together is the idea that they are difficult. Difficult is a hard term to envision and doesn’t necessarily mean the negative connotations they imply. Difficult doesn’t mean these women are problematic but that they don’t fit the singular idea of what a woman should be. The ability to adapt to their circumstances, their hopes, ideologies, and simply their agency is what makes these women difficult. They don’t feel the things people think they should feel and they refuse to be described through one monolithic view of what they should be.

This anthology is separated by different sections. Each section contained a number on stories. The last of the first section is aptly named the self-titled Difficult Women. Gay doesn’t quite explain the choice but it leaves a lasting impression that that particular story is one to be remembered. This story in particular covers a number of different women, some are relatable, and some seem to exist to torment the reader. That none of these characters fit any particular mold show the craft of Gay, they are difficult women in no traditional sense of the word but that in itself is the magic of their existence.

Gay moves back and forth through her tales, some seem to be connected to others but there’s no clear indication of which ones share a universe or if they all share one timeline. The tone of each story differs, some seem to fit a specific tone familiar with Gay’s other writing and some look like they came from completely different authors altogether. The choice to change her voice evokes an interesting challenge for the reader as it asks which stories make you comfortable and why.

Some stories are more difficult to read than others. The content varies from domestic familiarity to brutal violence. Every story is a progression of survival in some way. As a reader you’ll learn to sympathize or judge all in the same page. These characters are full of depth and there’s no right way to receive them.

Gay’s writing style is incredibly engaging. It raptures your attention and brings you down a rabbit hole of emotions. It’s through her writing you feel the need to finish these stories even as they leave you lost or alone. Gay makes a point to say a story can be finished whether or not you’re comfortable and that in itself is its own comfort. Her characters find this equilibrium in their own way – some choose to connect with others, some find it in themselves. They’re stories of love in all of its different ways, a poignant message with the distorted vision of the anthology’s cover. Gay describes it as “Pretty isn’t always about what you see. Sometimes pretty is what you feel.”

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Cockville: Mobile Gaming Just got Cockier

My Rating: ●●● ○ ○

Play it here: Nutaku

If you’ve ever played Farmville you know how addictive Cockville is going to be. This NSFW gay game is a cheeky version of your mobile favourites starting from the winking asshole featured in its logo. Where the reward for Farmville was one upping your friends or building a decent stash of produce here it’s the relationships of the in-game NPCs.

The gameplay is easy enough, you have plants and animals to receive items from and those items create food items you deliver to each character. Your reward for delivering each food item is a chance to interact with each NPC. Each NPC has a specific personality (albeit a bit one dimensional but that’s to be expected). You gain a better relationship if you answer correctly but you won’t be punished if you answer wrong.

Every once in a while you get a photo from your NPC after making deliveries. These photos range from innocent enough to NSFW in a couple of minutes. The hardest aspect of the game is maintaining your inventory and storage. This encourages microtransactions to quicken the pace of the game without blips or set-backs. Of course you don’t have to actually spend money. The game is actually quite fast in comparison to some of its competitors and you can easily play without spending a dime. Of course there are plenty of items that do require a long weight time but if you aren’t the type to keep checking back every two seconds you can leave it in the background until it’s ready.

The art style in this is quite cohesive, the gameplay is bright and cute and the photo responses are downright pretty. Kudos to the art team for not slacking on any of the aspects of gameplay. This one-ups the game in many ways that other similar games lack. It’s bright and aesthetically pleasing enough that you’ll forget the game is more of a farm-based game with rewards than a nsfw game demised by a slow paced farming aspect.

If you like these mobile style games it’s cute and worth the download. You don’t have to keep it open all the time and you can visit it when you’ve got some free time. You can currently download it for desktop and Android. There are features in development so we’ll hopefully see it on iOS in the near future.

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Skimline; Visual Artist

Skimlines or Skimcasual is an artist who goes by the name Skim. Skim is a well known Korean currently living in America who often uses her unique perspective throughout her work. Skim works in various mediums, of them, her notable works are her web comics and her pottery.

Skim’s art has a light feel to it. The colours she uses, her backgrounds, and expressions provide an almost whimsical atmosphere. Her work embodies an almost fantastical feel reminiscent of popular comics such as Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon or Lee Yunji’s Something About Us. Her two webcomics strive to build those familiar relationships with its readers – growing emotional tethers as the reader learns and lives with the characters.

Skim’s ongoing webcomic You Were Always By Me is a YA romance in which its protagonist Lydia searches for romance with the women in her life. The palette Skim uses is soft, but not quite pastel. Pairing the colours with Skim’s style the world you’re witnessing was built for its medium – it highlights a story that doesn’t quite come to life without the airy nature of Skim’s visual aesthetic. Her characters’ expressions, hair choices, and outfits create a world that is familiar and pleasant. Like great stories before it, Skim manages to built a foundation of trust through great visuals and narrative for its reader to feel the heartbreak, the betrayal, and the love of its characters.  

Skim’s other webcomic The Herder Witch is about Morie the Witch who goes through adventures alongside her half-beast helper Yanna. The Herder Witch is a black and white comic that showcases Skim’s world building skills. Although the webcomic only features seven parts it is full of content for its readers. Skim’s universe has characters with history and detail. The backgrounds featured in this gem show a particular eye for creation as they’re teaming with detail and depth. One of the best features of The Herder Witch is the visual representation of the characters, starting from the hair to each rendered detail of the outfits. The outfits for each character are carefully presented; they provide context and make each character feel unique. Skim makes characters that are aesthetically pleasing and contextually rich. As a reader you’re dropped into this narrative and witness to Skim’s world building. There are so many small details that draw you in, leaving you pleasantly filled with a sense of wonder and contentment.

Skim translates her skills to other mediums. She is also an active potter and often sells her artisan crafts through her Etsy shop. As a potter Skim translate her history as an Asian living in America into tangible objects. Skim is known for her respect and love of the craft, her Twitter account is filled with anecdotes about her love for her history. The craftsmanship is beautiful. Her pottery often has imagery that Skim personally crafts making each piece special.

To view more of Skimline’s work you can visit her website and contribute to her Patreon.

The mentioned webcomic are You Were Always By Me and The Herder Witch.

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Zahira Kelly; Visual Artist

Zahira Kelly is an advice columnist for The New Inquiry. She is an outspoken artist known for her commanding online presence, strong opinions and ideologies; she backs up her thinking with facts, logic, and personal anecdotes, when applicable. She often challenges social structures and cultural phenomena. She is a Black Latina and her voice is not one that will be silenced.

As an artist, Kelly poses her views front and centre in her work. The first thing people note about her portfolio is the subject matter - her pieces focus on Black women. For Kelly, this is more than a political statement, an ideology, it’s about life. This is her world. These figures are not titillating, foreign, or exoticized – they simply are. Kelly is unapologetic in displaying both the nonchalant and the enthusiastic as slices of life for her subject matter. In some cases, these figures are ethereal; they can take the shape of religious figures, mythological creatures, or princesses. In other pieces women are lounging, existing without the care of the audience’s gaze. Both of these ideas present a version of Kelly’s world where Black, with a capital B, is the descriptor of an identity rather than a character.

 Virgen Negra

Kelly’s subject matter is powerful, but beyond that, she’s simply talented. One of her strongest skills is her use of colour. Her palette can range from muted shades to vibrant, neon hues. What is unique about Kelly’s approach is that she doesn’t shy from experimenting with colour combinations that many would deem unsuitable or jarring. Her skills translate into relationships where colours create a sense of spectacular sensation and wonder. The colours are saturated and vivid, but they aren’t overwhelming; Kelly creates in such a way that these clashing hues look natural existing in a single canvas. In other pieces, Kelly reigns in the intensity; she knows the required spectrum for maximum affect. In these pieces, she doesn’t require the in-your-face focus, she shows you muted tones – comforting colours that create a different feeling and message. In these pieces, Kelly forces you to see how full, rich colours are still impactful; how colours that are rich and deep can you still produce a lasting impression. Both experiences are intense and impactful but in different ways.

Across Kelly’s work one can see a matured artist style. The subject matter and the themes may change but regardless of the stylistic choices, they all feel uniquely hers. One of the artist’s tools is her linework. Her outlines replicate real life - they lack hard edges and straight lines. Most of her outlines are round and whimsical – they provide the impression of fluidity and movement; none of her pieces seem static or motionless. Even her clothing patterns look like they can rise and dance before your eyes. It takes a lot of skill to create this effortless whimsical nature in one’s work, Kelly does it remarkably. She creates pieces that want you to understand and feel their presence.

Geisha Pinup

As the audience, you become transcend the position of an observer and become engaged as you step into the shores of her world. What Kelly provides for you is an experience, a challenge that not many artists can express through their work. She lets you know she’s here, she’s expressing herself, and you can witness the growth of her artistry or be left behind.

To view more of her art visit her website and contribute to her Patreon

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Coming Out on Top; Review

My Rating: ●●●●○

Buy it here: Obscurasoft

One of the first questions I asked myself after starting up Coming Out on Top is “do I want this to be realistic? Or do I want this to be easier?” Not in an existential way – I wasn’t hoping to live vicariously through a 2D rendering of a college boy (although a very cute and well done college boy) but in the way where I wonder whether I want to be able to build the story I want immediately or actually have to work for it. I think I went in hoping for a little bit of both; I was prepared to work for it but also wanted it to end my way even with the errors.

With that bias in mind the first thing I took from the game was that yes, I had to work for it, no, it was not going to turn out the way I wanted even though I chose what I thought would be the “correct” answer. This, of course, shows good narration skills. You’re playing as a college kid who came out – not everything is hunky dory and you’re trying to have fun, you’re not building your Jane Eyre novel. Still kind of bitter I didn’t get more than two cut scenes for my couple of choosing though (it was Brad; the athletic straight boy is pretty much the porno stereotype at its finest.) I appreciated the more realistic vibe of not getting what you want though because you never know in real life what makes you more appealing and what lets you score with certain people.

The game is good at a sense of realism because you get to face lots of different personalities and they don’t always make sense (sometimes it’s less like real life and more like you’re waddling through the season finale of Gossip Girl) but none of that takes away from the trickiness of the game. In real life you never know if you saying that one word got you rejected or you being in the right place at the right time ends up being the ticket to your happy ending.

I can honestly say the depth of the narrative is compelling in a way lots of interactive games just aren’t. You get to choose your ending and each path comes with its own surprises because you may think you have the ending you built your path around but instead a different love interest comes in and sweeps you away. It’s an interesting take to be able to switch love interests. Too often an independent interactive game makes you fail or win a specific path or get stuck on a specific pairing. Coming Out on Top lets you explore and switch interests at multiple points (it’s like cancelling on boy A because boy B showed up with that bouquet of flowers). Of course, you’re not given total control; you can’t go back and say sorry. But suppose in real life its best to move on anyway (no matter how many times you lament that life you could’ve had with the guy you met once).

The only bizarre thing about the plot is probably the week just before the graduation. No spoilers but you’ll definitely know what I mean when I say it was just plain bizarre. I can respect that last week in the game because it’s not so completely unrealistic but as a player I can’t help but laugh at the protagonist and tell him to stop being so silly.

The issues I had with the gameplay didn’t have to do with the narrative itself but the game’s functionality. In no way is this game bulky or difficult to navigate but there are definitely some awkward handles. The skip issue is one of the major buttons that can be improved for second play. The skip button fast forwards through the scenes so you can’t see anything (great for skipping the introduction for the billionth time) but not so great when you realize the fast forwarding continues until you encounter a move you haven’t made. If you choose a path you’ve already played previously the skip doesn’t pause after the interaction, it fast forwards as if you hadn’t stopped at all.

If you’re playing hoping to go over a scene it can be bothersome if you don’t notice how fast it’ll speed. Of course there are work arounds, playing with a keyboard instead of a mouse is a much simpler way to avoid skipping through the game by accident.

Another odd thing is the text itself. The art is amazing, cut scenes are really well done and the general game play is great but its very distracting to have a plain white bar at the top that stays the same size throughout the gameplay. It’s very…basic looking, especially surrounded by detailed rendering of characters and occasionally busy backgrounds. Perhaps the game would’ve looked better with more focused speech bubbles – similar to a comic rather than a giant blank space that hovers over top the players.

These, however, are small grievances and don’t take away from the game’s overall good qualities. Those being an engaging game with great art (essentials for an interactive game). Overall, Coming Out on Top is a great game for its genre (interactive game) and even better for its status as one of the few LGBT focused games with polished production values. A lot of  LGBT videogames lack a look of completion – often focused on a rush job to flood the market rather than a project that feels complete and simply fun. Coming Out on Top is engaging though and it’s definitely worth the play. Hopefully it will open the door for more LGBT games to come out (pun intended) in a more engaging and difficult build. All the best parts of Coming Out on Top relies on its ability to run like straight interactive games but of course focused on LGBT values and relationships.

Would I recommend it? Yes, of course. Not just because it’s a LGBT game but because it’s simply fun and really well done. If you’re looking for an interactive game that goes beyond A-B and challenges you to play it again and again this is a game to try.