Nerd Art Blog

art and words

[freckledmoss]

has everyone read this poem by Kym Deyn because i had not read this poem by Kym Deyn and now all i will think about is this poem by Kym Deyn

alt text below the cut:

Sir Gawain Fucks the Green Knight

Here’s a tale ripe for telling. Can’t say where I heard it first—in pretty French or Dutch. Perhaps as a young lady walking ‘longside the Rijn. I’ll spin it for you in an English tongue, fine as frost on lace, sweet as malmsey wine. So it goes that young Gawain, strength kissed into his limbs, fresh as the bright dawn, comes trembling down to the Green Chapel. You’ve heard this tale, I know. His breath makes peach fuzz in the air, fear into him like worm to apple. Christmas Morn is too soon, time is short. You have your own life to save, he says, picking through thorn and bough to an ivy-clad cave.

The creature is the Jack O’ the Glen / forest prince / the wood’s own laughter. Beard of lichen and eyes like dark elder. I need not repeat their exchange—my boy’s flinching heart—a songbird in a rattled cage. It is after the blows are dealt, he asks, what god is worshipped in these green trees? Boy, the Knight replies, boy, were you not just down on your knees?

The Knight is the tang of sap / bark rough and petal soft / everywhere leaves scatter / easily crushed / Gawain clings / hardly knows what he clings to / he is the forest and the flower / a turmoil of roots / where god and tree meet and melt / the birch the oak the fern the deer / mushroom maggot crow / here Gawain is branch and bud / blow returned for blow

Originally published in “Queerlings” Issue 7

[camplease]

hiiii this is my first time ever posting my art on tumblr in my over a decade on this site 🫢

this is for makinglovecraft’s fic “hit me where it hurts” for the locked tomb big resurrection event!

[freckledmoss]

made this based on a conversation with a friend. he said it’d be a hit on here

[friendamedes]

apocalypse wrapped

you killed 1.5 billion cows!

you were responsible for the death of all your friends!

your top stream was on june 10th, 2028, in which a corpse flipped off PETA! it had 20.8 million views!

you resurrected the earth as barbie!

you murdered zero billionaires and every member of the working class!

you made catholicism woke!

[harlecore]

it's because you're always on that damn JSTOR

[freckledmoss]

gideon nav is dean winchester coded

[mintfoam]

tower princes commission for @yeopsmith + a meme 

[sufficientlylargen]

OP: [makes a post]

OP's mutual: #this looks like a 10k note post to me!

OP: No! You can't do this to me!

Me: OP says they don't want notes, so I can ruin them by giving them more notes!

Me: However, a clever poster would CLAIM they don't want more notes because they would know that only a great fool would take them at their word. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose to add more notes to this post!

Me: But OP must have known I was not a great fool; they would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose to scroll past this post!

OP: You've made your decision then?

Me:

[sufficientlylargen]

Me: Because your post was about a problematic character! As everyone knows, problematic characters are exclusively liked by criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me! So I can clearly not choose to add more notes to your post!

Me: And you must have suspected I would have known your profile pic's origin, so I can clearly not choose to scroll past your post!

OP: You're just stalling now.

Me: You'd like to think that, wouldn't you! Your header image is mostly red, a colour with more positive than negative meanings because of a legit thing called color theory, so I can clearly not choose to add notes to your post.

Me: But, your username is a clever pun, which means you must have studied… and in studying you must have learned that man is mortal! So you would have tried to keep other tumblr users as far from you as possible, so I can clearly not choose to scroll past your post!

OP: Make your choice.

Me: I will, and I choose… [pointing behind OP] Are those female-presenting nipples?!

OP: [turning around, while I quickly switch the "Next page" and "Reblog" buttons] What? Where? I don't see anything.

Me: Oh, well, I… I could've sworn I saw something NSFW. No matter. I choose… to ignore your post! [I triumphantly click "Next page", which is actually "Reblog"]

OP: You have chosen… poorly.

Me: You only THINK I chose poorly! That's what's so cringe! I switched buttons when your back was turned! Ha ha, you fool! You feel victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is never get involved in a flame war on Twitter; and only slightly less well known is this: Never go in against a shitposter, when notes are on the line!

Me:

[lehhoh7822]

bestie. what the fuck

[ruffboi-mags]

This is art.

[freckledmoss]

I know some of y’all aren’t ready to hear it but Ianthe and Kiriona are Like That™ because the latter has never had a friend-friend before in her life! Sure it’s an incredibly toxic friendship and they also hate each other but like… are you telling me you don’t think Ianthe would build a creepy human skin blanket fort that Kiriona begrudgingly entered bc she’d never had a sleepover in her life??? Because that’s just not the world I live in.

[freckledmoss]

okay, but... the ringtone in MAG 166? it’s the Nokia ring... because it’s the only cellphone strong enough to survive the apocalypse

[ochi-nervura-art]

Fuck it!! Agnes Montague

[freckledmoss]

okay i just love this style??? it’s just so soft, like the reds on her shoulders and rosy cheeks. i’m not sure if it’s the texture or the brush used but it feels weightier than a plain gradient, which lends it a lovely ruddy feel. the gentle leaning curl of her body and swaying auburn waves mimic the movement of the fire at the bottom of the frame. can we just take a second to appreciate that the silhouette of her hair and body mimic the shape of a flame? cause we should. the circles of light in the dark background contrast her body against a silhouette of stars while also making her the metaphorical sun in its sky. that feeling of the emptiness that desolation leaves in its wake (whether or not intentional) reminds me of a bonfire on a summer night

and her expression! it’s the perfect kind of shy almost smile that you find in the cute awkward girl in the coffee shop. the gentle green if the eyes, the little tuft that hangs off the side of her face, just such subtle characterization for an avatar of absolute destruction that i think really captures Agnes Montague.

the line work here is also stellar. the subtle brown lines really allow the color work to take the forefront. the warm highlights on her arms contrasted with the cool shadow on her forehead, for example. Just good all around, amazing work!

[julidiot]

Finally done. Please don’t ask about Spurt.

[freckledmoss]

okay there’s a lot to unpack here but first: holy shit. so let’s talk about composition, the circle in the background obviously unites the whole piece, but you’ve granted each figure it’s own pose that feels in character and also creates a dynamic fluidity to the piece. Yasha is the stalwart, solid, centerpoint from which all of the movement branches outward, past the imagined bound of the circle’s edge.

and just- the color of it all, oh my god! you’ve created micropalletes for each character but they all meld together so well. it’s not quite muted or pastel but it is such a gentle richness that reminds of watercolor.

the line work is stellar and understated, allowing the shapes you’ve carved with color to really take on their own weight. i think the overlap in colors, how Jester’s blue coordinates with Beau’s robes, Caduceus’s hair and Molly’s coat, the olive tones that shift from Calianna’a skirt, to Nott, to Shakäste’s cloak, the orange of Caleb’s fire, Nila’s shirt and Keg’s hair... whether a cognizant decision or the effect of unconscious skill, the way the colors are reflected across the composition further unify these individual renderings into one central image, a singular vibe.

i could go on, the way that Caduceus/Nila’s staffs pseudo-bound the plane of figures, how Jester, Beau, Molly, and Fjord extend diagonally out from the vertical line of Caleb/Yasha/Nott, just the faint white outline of each figure that sets them apart from the scene, as if they were pasted into a beautiful collage.

Sooo many good things! Also I’ll just assume you did one figure at a time, and by the time you thought about Spurt 11 days had passed 😉

[magnusgenerator]

can fear itself eat you? Yes

[reader-writer-fucker]

Out?

[magnusgenerator]

[klimtsonian]

⚜️ not good, but important ⚜️

honestly feeling some kind of way after learning essek’s alignment is neutral evil.......... wrow he’s That drow 😳🥺

[freckledmoss]

okay first of all i love him. second of all, i love this positioning. you did a great job of conveying the weightlessness of levitation with the concave arching of the spine and angled feet, and the fabric’s movement helps add to this sense of floating without seeming exaggerated, like he’s just risen straight forward.

the warm oranges and golds of the background and accents work so well to complement the purples and blues of his outfit and skin. the former of which is so beautifully rendered, especially with the bunching in the sleeves. I also love how the purples of his skin are reflected in the undertones of his blouse and robe, it ties the pallet together very well. I feel like undercuts can be particularly difficult to illustrate, but his is coiffed with that like purposely casual look that i would imagine he works to make seem effortless. I love the dynamism of his wavy hair.

The mandala-like patterns of the robe also are so good! I love when people incorporate geometric shapes into their dynasty representations, it fits so well, imo. This is just so well done, everything down to the sash and the slight shading on the icosohedron.

Idk if you’ve ever looked at the design of mosques/Persian architecture, but the coloring of this reminded me of the interior of the Isfahan Mosque, which I think you might appreciate (?)

[bogskeletons]

May I offer you a soft Yasha in these dire times?

based on a painting by Bruno Di Maio

[bi-blue]

[ID: A painting of Yasha facing the side. Her head is down, and her right arm is up, pulling her hair back from the left side of her face. She looks contemplative. She is draped in a cream-colored silk and her left shoulder is exposed. The background is blurs of orange and peach.]

[freckledmoss]

this is such a gentle color palette. i love the warm tones of the fabric; usually yasha is depicted with cooler color schemes, and the pink and golden hues really give her the soft quality you mentioned. the contrast of the yellow background and blue face paint provide a nice balance here.

i looked at the painting i assume you based it off of, and it was an excellent choice for this figure study. you successfully carried across the same visual composition while adding a bit more weighty and indulgent shading. i love it so much! the hair is beautifully textured and i also am really into the slight shadow cast by the silhouette of her face on the fabric, idk it’s just a good detail that i appreciate, makes it feel more dimensional

also just... hot goth wife 😍

[freckledmoss]

hey um i dont post art on tumblr but i do in other places and like, youre really out there doing gods work by writing out longer reviews on art, rather than just "cool pic". it usually means a super lot to the artist. also super cool tma entity quotes post :')

oh thank you! yeah i just figured posting art is such a vulnerable activity it deserves a bit of recognition, and most people have trouble articulating what they like!

[freckledmoss]

some (more) typographic illustrations of my favorite quotes from the Magnus archives, in no particular order. part two of two. (part one)

Quotes are transcribed below:

“In the grand scheme of things, it’s all much of a muchness. The Vast”

“And my heart was aglow with love. The Desolation”

“The moment that you die will feel exactly the same as this one. The End”

“Mostly though, life on this planet ends violently. The Hunt”

“I have this thing that takes all of that rage and it holds it, tells me it’s right, that it’s me. The Slaughter”

“Perhaps I have never seen a beach. The Web”

“I know what you did. The Beholding”

“The Magnus Archives is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Comercial Sharealike 4.0 International License.”