I am Mia (she/her). A cryptid who posts once in a blue moon at odd times. (more...) I mainly blog about my art, doodles, and other things and stuff.
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⚔️ BROADS AND BROADSWORDS VOLUME 3 PREORDERS ARE OPEN! ⚔️
Broads and Broadswords is a charity zine and a celebration of varied women, varied genders, and the swords and blades that love them. This zine collects 80 pages of original color illustrations and comics made entirely by 60+ independent artists-- and no AI at all--in a perfect bound book, available in both digital and print format. All proceeds from the Broads and Broadswords zine will be split between the Transgender Law Center and Point of Pride.
There are only 29 left of the ALL VOLUME bundle, so get yours before they disappear!
Pricing details and shipping costs below the cut ⚔️
Pricing:
Digital copy of Volume 3: $9 USD
Physical copy of Volume 3 (includes digital): $25 USD plus shipping and handling
Physical copy of Volume 3 (includes digital) + cover art postcards: $27 USD plus shipping and handling
Physical Copy of Volume 3 (includes digital) + damaged* copy of Volume 1 + cover art postcards : $29 USD plus shipping and holding
Physical Copy of Volume 3 (includes digital) + copy of Volume 2 + cover art postcards: $35 USD plus shipping and handling
Physical Copy of Volume 3 (includes digital) + damaged* copy of Volume 1 + copy of Volume 2 + cover art postcards: $37 USD plus shipping and handling
*Damaged Volume 1 copies are available due to an issue with the bindings during the Volume 1 printing.
**You will NOT receive a digital copy of Volumes 1 or 2.
Shipping:
United States:
$5 USD for the first individual physical copy plus $2 for each additional physical copy purchased
$7 USD for a bundle of 2 books (V3+V1 or V3+V2) plus $7 for each additional bundle of 2 books
$9 USD for a bundle of 3 books (V3+V2+V1) plus $9 for each additional bundle of 3 books
International:
$20 USD for the first physical copy plus $5 for each additional physical copy purchased
$25 USD for a bundle of 2 books (V3+V1 or V3+V2) plus $25 for each additional bundle of 2 books
$30 USD for a bundle of 3 books (V3+V2+V1) plus $30 for each additional bundle of 3 books
⚔️ BROADS AND BROADSWORDS VOLUME 3 PREORDERS ARE NOW OPEN! ⚔️
Broads and Broadswords is a charity zine and a celebration of varied women, varied genders, and the swords and blades that love them. This zine collects 80 pages of original color illustrations and comics made entirely by 60+ independent artists-- and no AI at all--in a perfect bound book, available in both digital and print format. All proceeds from the Broads and Broadswords zine will be split between the Transgender Law Center and Point of Pride.
By reblogging this post you are also a part of our GIVEAWAY! Two winners will be drawn at the end of the pre-order period and one winner will receive a free copy of the Volume 3 digital zine, the other will receive a free copy of the Volume 3 physical zine. (If you win the giveaway but already purchased the zine, you will be refunded in full.) You can only reblog once a day, but the more reblogs, the better your odds, so keep at it!
Pricing details and shipping costs below the cut ⚔️
Pricing:
Digital copy of Volume 3: $9 USD
Physical copy of Volume 3 (includes digital): $25 USD plus shipping and handling
Physical copy of Volume 3 (includes digital) + cover art postcards: $27 USD plus shipping and handling
Physical Copy of Volume 3 (includes digital) + damaged* copy of Volume 1 + cover art postcards : $29 USD plus shipping and holding
Physical Copy of Volume 3 (includes digital) + copy of Volume 2 + cover art postcards: $35 USD plus shipping and handling
Physical Copy of Volume 3 (includes digital) + damaged* copy of Volume 1 + copy of Volume 2 + cover art postcards: $37 USD plus shipping and handling
*Damaged Volume 1 copies are available due to an issue with the bindings during the Volume 1 printing.
**You will NOT receive a digital copy of Volumes 1 or 2.
Shipping:
United States:
$5 USD for the first individual physical copy plus $2 for each additional physical copy purchased
$7 USD for a bundle of 2 books (V3+V1 or V3+V2) plus $7 for each additional bundle of 2 books
$9 USD for a bundle of 3 books (V3+V2+V1) plus $9 for each additional bundle of 3 books
International:
$20 USD for the first physical copy plus $5 for each additional physical copy purchased
$25 USD for a bundle of 2 books (V3+V1 or V3+V2) plus $25 for each additional bundle of 2 books
$30 USD for a bundle of 3 books (V3+V2+V1) plus $30 for each additional bundle of 3 books
Finally, the second batch of my drawings for April’s Guild Wars 2 art party! This has been super fun. ( and ngl i just love drawing charr) I'll definitely do this again at some point.
Artificer Lucasta - @somekindofweasel
Papri Kka - @shroomlet
Zetmar - ??
Mark your calendars for May 24th as the official start of Vol. III pre-orders! We'll be revealing the final cover very soon but for now, here's a sneak preview 👁️
The first batch of my drawings for this month's Guild Wars 2 art party! (second batch coming later, whomst knows when)
Finally got around to participating and i've been having great fun drawing these! It's been forever since I last got to draw gw2.
Cricket Harespring - @vulturereyy
Render Tigerkitty - @9asurainatrenchcoat
Lleuwybren - @vulturereyy
(I was in attendance on my character, Kalrah Ironforge)
It's been a long ten years and I finally get to talk publicly about what happened behind closed doors.
Please take the time to read this letter linked above and please avoid working with these people. You are more valuable than an opportunity for people like them to use you as cash cow for your work.
Three years ago, I was approached by many artists at Hiveworks asking if their mistreatment was normal. That their feelings of horrible self worth within the company was really just a 'them' problem.
Turns out, it was unfortunately normal in that we ALL felt that way.
Stolen funds, reworked projects without permission, favouritism, opportunity sabotage- These were the common occruances over at Hive. Artists felt used, ignored, and walked all over to pay Hives bills and ego. People didn't know what to do.
I helped co-found the guild in response to so many artists feeling this way, and we slowly gathered together to make a better Hive. Yeah, that's right- we thought we could help change and save the company if we all colaborated, hurt set aside and transparency deeply needed.
Unfortunately, that wasn't in the cards. We spent 3 years going back and forth with staff to understand the debt, the mistreatment, the empty promises only to realise that the staff who was left to deal with the mess (because the CEO and COO went hands off or left) couldn't fix what was destroyed.
Hiveworks was supposed to be a beacon for webcomickers. It was supposed to be an indie opportunity to flourish in the small ways we can. But it became yet another example of a greedy publisher who saw an opportunity to take and take and take.
It was also a vanity project for Isa and Xel too. They wanted the prestige of working in 'publishing' but didn't care a lick about the artists who brought readers in. If you were someone she thought was an artistic threat, Isa would go out of her way to humble you and put you in your place.
That happened Many MANY times to me and my fellow creators. Not only was Hive using our work, it also would remind us how worthless we were in the same breath. Everything felt like some sort of competition, and Isa and Xel made sure artists didn't talk to ecahother about it too. So many instances of the two of them going around gossiping in public about 'the real story' when it came to their mismanagment and inability to handle their job. They would use someone else as a scape goat and pretend they did all they could. It was highschool stuff.
As for my particular case, I was the bane of their existance apparently. I was rumoured to be out for Isas job because artists would go to me for support and she hated that. I was apparently trying to ruin things because I saw those cracks.
Squeaky wheel and all that. I took the risks I did, i didn't care about being 'everyone's friend' or missed out on 'the connections' because I didn't want to play that game. Artists were feeling used, stolen from, and neglected. I spoke up, and many others started to feel safe to do so too.
The more we shared stories (and man, there are HORROR stories) the more we realised that the inner workings of Hive were more tangled than we thought. Our years of organising lead us to approach the cartoonist co-op for extra help. We tried our best to do what we could for Hive to survive.
After we were hit with the 'actually we're in a quarter of a million in debt' and they wanted us to help financially (while owing artists and staff money) it was the curtain call for Hive as a company.
Isa left the sinking ship previously to avoid responsibility, and Xel ghosted the rest of us.
All of this is to say that these kinds of people who promise the world with your work and take advantage are such a common and frustrating thing in not only comics, but all creative avenues.
And speaking up and against them is the only way to make these cycles stop.
Please support the artists who were affected by this. Please spread the word and speak up against people who use artists like this. Hiveworks is an example in a sea of greedy people who want our work to inflate their ego.
Don't let them forget we can bite back, and without us, THEY are nothing.
The full piece I did for 2025 issue of Interlude, a World of Warcraft (fan) comic anthology! I decided to do a nightborne druid hellbent on making her cave a home. She prefers spending most of her time in an animal form, away from people.
Interlude is free to read in digital format. You can also see previous issues in digital format on their site. (I have a comic in the first volume as well and it's also right here on tumblr)
So you can avoid them stealing things from you, the artist/writer, etc.
Pro GenAI websites/Programs:
Facebook
Instagram
X/Twitter (Remember, Grok gives people cancer)
Threads
Pro Writing Aid
Grammarly
Duolingo
Google Docs
Microsoft Word/all Microsoft products Takes from and will feed their machine.
Youtube (taking advantage of people who are hearing impaired. ==;;)
Adobe Products. All of them. If you HAVE to use them (Some businesses require it), save offline because there is a film of at least some privacy protections there, so if you have to sue, you can say it violates US privacy law. Remember, contracts do not circumvent US law.
Corel won't feed the machines, but still uses AI stolen from other artists. Which sucks since Corel Draw is the second best overall for vector programs. (Plus I love Painter, but I bought the offline version to avoid AI). (Canadian company)
Canva Takes and feeds their machine.
Deviant Art Not only supports AI, but put a tool in and said they are going to steal your work if you like it or not for their machine.
Sketchup went Pro-GenAI. The thing is that you can do the same thing in Blender these days with precise measurements.
Autodesk has stated they are Pro-Gen AI here. It is not clear if they will use your models to feed their machine. But be on guard. They make Maya and 3Dmax. You can replace it with Blender.
Neutral ground:
Tumblr (there is a way to opt out [Link] and they don't have an active AI machine.) https://www.tumblr.com/dookins/743519550598987776/heres-how-to-disable-third-parties-like-ai
Etsy allows GenAI, but still has some (minor) restrictions. I'd still be cautious. (Also be cautious of drop shippers). Complaints about too much AI and AI images+patterns made by Ai still exist on the website. They lean slightly more pro-AI, but still won't let it run completely amok, say like Facebook. They won't feed your work into a machine, but also don't ban it through robots.txt.
Bluesky They don't use an AI algorithm except for in the "Discover" section of their website, but while they are anti-GenAI strongly, they don't seem to block the Gen AI bots from entry, so you'd still have to use Nightshade or Glaze (links below). There is no opt-out because they don't need an opt out. (Leaning towards strong position on AI, but I wish they would block GenAI bots).
Searxng- If you super want to screw over Google, in general, and have some tech savvy, you can set up your own search engine through searxng. It's easier on Windows and Linux than it is on a Mac. (Mac you need Docker), but if you're determined on privacy, Searxng adds a layer of privacy. Some of it sometimes uses bits of AI, but most of it doesn't and you can fuss with the settings so it doesn't spit out AI results. At sheer minimum Google will stop spitting out weird videos on Youtube at you because in your private browsing, you searched for the origin of ball bearings while not logged in for a book and Google likes to break privacy laws.
Strong positions against AI:
Scrivener (Creator vowed against AI) Writing program. There is an active forum, and versions for Mac, Linux and PC. It is paid, but at ~60 USD, it's cheaper than most programs. There is usually a holiday sale around Christmas. It has a learning curve, but with an active forum with the programmer of it there to ask obscure questions it's not a dead zone. They often take suggestions and implement them over time. (Especially if you rank the importance, applications, etc) US company.
LibreOffice Open source and free Spreadsheet and Word processor program that can replace Microsoft Word. Some people might have seen older versions where it was called Neo Office (now extinct) and Open Office. LibreOffice is still populated, plus the forums are super helpful if you get stuck. The UX is pretty intuitive if you've used Microsoft Word. Scrivener, BTW, supports exporting to odt (the native file) as well as .doc, and this can open both. The slight thing is that sometimes it doesn't export to .doc smoothly. And I DO wish more magazines, and agent (big clue here) supported .odt files since it is free. Part of the reason .odt isn't as supported is because Microsoft and Adobe have a deal with the devil with each other, so Adobe's Book formatting program InDesign doesn't support ODT. (BTW, if you have a good open source replacement for InDesign that supports ODT, let me know.)
Dabble (as suggested by SF stories, see reblog) is a writing program. Similar to Scrivener. Has vowed against AI and to resist it. 108 dollars a year for Basic. It is almost twice the price of Scrivener who lets you update for fairly cheap. 29 dollars a month, v. 59 dollars for the whole program (Scrivener) for the same features of Premium. You choose.
yWriter is a free Writing program and like Scrivener, and has vowed against AI Last I looked it had some UX issues, but some people swear by it. The learning curve is higher than Scrivener which is saying something.
Ellipsus is an online writing program and vowed against AI. The main feature I like (which Scrivener doesn't have) is the ability to change spellcheck based on region/language. It is a requested feature of Scrivener, but lower priority. So if you have a Brit, you can get the spelling for the character. They are a British-based company.
Cara.app (The creator of the website sued GenAI there is no chance they'll convert) is an artist website. Cara is trying to institute an auto Glaze/Nightshade into the website if given enough funds. People see it as a soft replacement for deviant art. (which went fully AI) If you believe in human art, please donate if you can. Zhang Jingna, the Creator,is Chinese-Singporean. She lives in Singapore.
Clip Studio Paint added AI, but saw the light and decided to protect artists instead because of protest and removed it. There are tutorials and a good forum if you get super stuck. Based in Japan, so the UI and UX is really clean.
Davinci Resolve Pro is a film editing software that's super good. There is a free version and a paid version. The forums are responsive. The programmers aren't always present. There is a healthy group of tutorials. US company. Clean UX. It does take a little bit of time to remember the shortcuts.
Tahoma2D is anti-AI and open source animation program. Takes a little getting used to, but is good for animations and doesn't crash as often as Animate. Programmers are in the forums and some bugs are fixed within hours. The forums are super responsive and helpful.
Krita open source and free, no AI. I'd rank it secondary to Clip Studio Paint (which is paid) I haven't tried the forums, but it's pretty intuitive and can stand for a lower level replacement for Painter, and do a lot of the basics of Photoshop. It's usually ranked higher than the equally open source Gimp.
Writer P AKA Writer+ (app for when you're on the go) is a simple word processor app for your phone that doesn't use AI. The original programmer stopped updating, so Writer+ person took over and isn't out to make a profit since it's free in the spirit of the original app. It has subfolders you can use. Since it was programmed before GenAI it doesn't have AI. Intuitive, easy to use. Fairly easy to upload the files through three dots->share. The files can save to your card or phone with some settings fussing. Simple word processor.
Inkscape is a free vector program and no AI. It is harder to use than illustrator and has less features. But if you're doing smaller vectors for one-offs with less complexity, it'll do you after some learning curve. Best of the lot. I hate Affinity Designer which is the same thing, only paid. (Neither Affinity program was worth the money paid)
Affinity (Designer, etc) swore to be AI-free and does Vector and Photos. The UX is messy, I dislike the program and regret paying for it. Inkscape and Krita are better UX and do the same thing. The forums aren't as friendly since there has been an onslaught of people seeing it's supposed to be a replacement for Photoshop and Illustrator, but the programmers aren't present. The people on the forums are often on edge about this assertion. And the capabilities of the program don't outshine basically Krita or Inkscape capabilities (both free). What is usually intuitive is not. UK company. If you're going to pay for a program, go for Clip Studio Paint which rivals Corel Painter.
Blender is a 3D art program and does not use GenAI. It can do 2D animation, but Tahoma is easier to use in this regard. It's open source and free. Plus there are plenty of tutorials. The forums can be touch and go sometimes, but there are plenty of sub Blender communities that might be responsive. It can also do animation.
Handmade vowed against AI and promised to never sell itself for stock prices to prevent AI (as a replacement for Etsy.)
Discover a world of creativity and craftsmanship through Handmade, an innovative platform connecting passionate artisans with discerning buy
Proton (to replace Google Suite) as suggested by SF Stories (see reblog) Vowed against AI. They are missing a spreadsheet, but have online and offline capabilities, plus a built-in VPN.
But you need a pro website...
Look up robots.txt and AI bots: https://www.cyberciti.biz/web-developer/block-openai-bard-bing-ai-crawler-bots-using-robots-txt-file/
Use cloudflare:
Use Nightshade:
https://nightshade.cs.uchicago.edu/whatis.html
which will poison the algorithm
Use Glaze:
Take Away:
The thing is you think you doing it alone will do nothing, but the more AI feeds on itself, AI images, the worse they become, and the less detailed so, denying it the images, adding poison or not being able to read the human text is eventually going to lead to an AI collapse.
Analysis shows that indiscriminately training generative artificial intelligence on real and generated content, usually done by scrapi
And why not help that along?
I don't want to give cancer to poor people [Link] or make the planet burn faster [Link]. So GenAI collapse is everything I dream of. GenAI apocalypse is not.
This year's issue of Interlude, a World of Warcraft (fan) comic anthology is finally out and I have a little comic in it! This year's anthology is focused around the theme of Home, in celebration of WoW coming out with its brand new housing system.
Interlude is free to read in digital format and is open for pre-orders in physical format. You can also see previous issues in digital format on their site. (I have a comic in the first volume as well and it's also right here on tumblr)
It’s a Miranda Priestly birthday miracle! Applications to be a zine contributor have been extended until November 2nd! Don’t disappoint Miranda, apply now!
📆 September 28 - November 2
🎨 Artist Applications
✒️ Writer Applications
🎵 Video Editor Applications
Be sure to check out our Carrd and Info Doc before applying!
nothing gets me to instablock someone faster (outside of AI garbage) than posting someone's art without sharing the actual goddamn credit. because who's to say you won't be doing the same to my art? or any art i may reblog from someone else? N O ❤️
just saying "I'm not the original artist"/"credit to original artist" is not enough, ffs. That's next to useless! MENTION. THE ACTUAL. NAME. ask permission to share their work. even better, just reblog the original art post.