Hey there! Welcome to my art and writing blog. Here's some stuff to know:
Please do not repost my art. However, feel free to reblog and comment/add on any of my posts. You can find me on Twitter too, although I only post art there.
Anything NSFW will be tagged #nsft and hidden under a Read More cut. This blog is primarily SFW though.
This blog is for fun and the art here has an intended audience of one -- me. I love comments and I welcome questions (asks open!) but I'm not interested in critique.
My main fandom is Hetalia (I really love China, America, and England in particular) but I regret to inform you that I know very little about actual canon Hetalia content. ๐
Most tags are self-explanatory but I've listed the specifics here.
โจ๐งก๐ SEND THIS TO TEN OTHER BLOGGERS YOU THINK ARE WONDERFUL. KEEP THE GAME GOING โจ๐งก๐
you are so wonderful I literally have no words so I must express myself in art ๐ฅบ please enjoy a winking America as a gift in return for all your inspiring writing!
ๅฝๅบ่ๅฟซไน๏ผso there's this absolutely incredible pair of photographs of Chinese train conductor Han Junjia standing next to a steam locomotive and 26 years later next to a high speed bullet train and I love those pictures so I drew them featuring Mr. Wang Yao himself โค๏ธ๐ค
@thenarcolepticone has a lovely superhero story that features some of my favorite things to see in usukus fic: lots of angst for America ๐๐โจ + love and comfort from England ๐ค๐
china with short hair ๐ณ if it's nationverse I think maybe he cut his hair during the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, which was the end of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China
I think it would be cool if (1) when talking to each other, hetalia countries use nation names in various languages or (2) they use nicknames that reference some inside joke often from decades or centuries ago and (3) when interacting with their own citizens, the countries choose their own human names which are usually inspired by important people or culture or history and (4) have multiple country and human names throughout their immortal lives which means some days they respond to multiple names and other days they forget which one is their current name ๐
for the incredible @demonicpiano and their fic Wrapped Around Your Tail which has the funniest and most adorable scene ft. snake!England being bridal carried by human!America ๐๐
This is one of my favorite artworks I've drawn: the BRICS group ๐ง๐ท๐ท๐บ๐ฎ๐ณ๐จ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ฆ of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa! Also featuring Iran ๐ฎ๐ท and Argentina ๐ฆ๐ท, the two countries that submitted applications in 2022 to join BRICS.
I think this group of countries would definitely be good friends and have a lot of fun together. BRICS was originally coined to group together the five major emerging economies of the world, and the leaders of the five countries meet annually at BRICS summits. Combined, they represent over 40% of the global population and BRICS often serves a platform for multilateral collaboration and connection between countries in the Global South. Many countries other than the seven I drew have also expressed interest in joining BRICS but haven't applied yet.
The beautiful Brazil design is by @ms-dora who graciously allowed me to draw her OC, and the designs for South Africa and Argentina are by me! The design for Iran is the canon Hetalia design for Persia, except I drew Iran as female.
I did a little research and drew each country wearing clothing from their cultures: Brazil with a skirt and blouse design I borrowed from @ms-dora, Russia in a kosovorotka, India wearing a Nehru jacket, China in hanfu-inspired robes, and South Africa in a shweshewe dress and sandals with her national flower, the giant protea. Iran is wearing a dress inspired by some beautiful Persian clothing I saw online (but I didn't draw the fabric patterns) and a headscarf. Argentina is wearing bombachas de campo trousers and a woolen poncho.
Also, in case this wasn't already clear, I don't really do digital painting so these characters are ONLY lineart.
i love making China and America and England all gorgeous and talented and brilliant it makes it so much more rewarding when I smack them in the face with chaos and emotional angst and the never-ending struggles of humanity ๐
tldr: everything is confusing ๐ and I'm just going to focus on drawing what I like
also I'm using the #chaotic nationverse tag for all things involving modern countries and the #extended nationverse tag for anything involving non-country personifications
I'm not exactly sure what qualifies as a Hetalia personification and from what little I've seen, the canon materials don't have a concrete definition either (and considering how complicated this can get I'm not surprised if it's never clarified)
I'm going to write out a few of my thoughts but history is complicated and countries are complicated and human civilization is complicated and identity is complicated and all of this is dynamic and ever-changing so I don't think it's really possible or even necessarily good to have a clear-cut definition of what these personifications are or can be, because that sounds tricky and stress-inducing
definitions are of course nebulous and debated but here's how I generally understand some of these concepts:
nation/nationality = sometimes this term is used to indicate the citizenship of a person, but nationality can also be defined as an ethnic or cultural identity with shared language, traditions, and history
state = a political structure that governs a population and a territory, which in modern times is usually synonymous with government
nation-state = a state composed of one nation, note that nation =/= state
country = a nation-state or multinational-state or city-state
civilization = a complex human society that often includes but is not limited to a political state, a social and economic system, and cultural development
so based on my understanding, what constitutes a Hetalia personification is pretty undefined and doesn't neatly fit any of the above categories. And I think it is kinda better that way, for several reasons (in no particular order):
Countries and borders and states are complicated and ever-changing and that often involves a lot of painful conflict. There's no absolutely correct way to portray this and it's also not really possible to completely avoid it because the concept of personifications is inherently political. Trying to define what a personification is too strictly sounds like very dangerous territory
It's also kinda impossible to distill something as complex as a country or nation or culture or civilization into one individual because none of these things exist as a monolith
It's more interesting to if you can make an OC personification for anything you like, and also allows for exploring interesting ideas that might otherwise be difficult to execute
When I look at the world today, I'm filled with hope for the future. I think it's much more interesting to focus on the positive moments and interactions and possibilities within and between countries. I'd rather do that then think too hard about exactly what a personification is tbh
Arguing about the definition of a personification would definitely happen and leaving it an undefined category means we avoid a lot of that arguing, which is probably good. Because it's fandom, no one can technically stop you from creating something, but also your work is not above criticism. Dislike and disagreement are not oppression and both are a fairly normal part of creative activity. However, I think writing out very specific criticisms of specific fanworks can be an exercise in frustration and overall one's energy is probably better spent elsewhere
if anyone actually read this entire messy post of my thoughts, I appreciate you and we should be friends ๐
anyway, this is all very complex so overall I think I'll stick to using my #chaotic nationverse tag for all things involving actual countries and I'll use another tag (#extended nationverse) if I ever create any art involving characters that are not literal countries because otherwise I will become too confused ๐ญ I think "nationverse" given it's two definitions feels like a reasonable and flexible-enough category to fit all my ideas
I forgot to add that I don't believe in countries being related or in countries dying so I will also put historical but no longer existing countries in #extended nationverse if I ever draw them
tldr: everything is confusing ๐ and I'm just going to focus on drawing what I like
also I'm using the #chaotic nationverse tag for all things involving modern countries and the #extended nationverse tag for anything involving non-country personifications
I'm not exactly sure what qualifies as a Hetalia personification and from what little I've seen, the canon materials don't have a concrete definition either (and considering how complicated this can get I'm not surprised if it's never clarified)
I'm going to write out a few of my thoughts but history is complicated and countries are complicated and human civilization is complicated and identity is complicated and all of this is dynamic and ever-changing so I don't think it's really possible or even necessarily good to have a clear-cut definition of what these personifications are or can be, because that sounds tricky and stress-inducing
definitions are of course nebulous and debated but here's how I generally understand some of these concepts:
nation/nationality = sometimes this term is used to indicate the citizenship of a person, but nationality can also be defined as an ethnic or cultural identity with shared language, traditions, and history
state = a political structure that governs a population and a territory, which in modern times is usually synonymous with government
nation-state = a state composed of one nation, note that nation =/= state
country = a nation-state or multinational-state or city-state
civilization = a complex human society that often includes but is not limited to a political state, a social and economic system, language/writing, and cultural development
so based on my understanding, what constitutes a Hetalia personification is pretty undefined and doesn't neatly fit any of the above categories. And I think it is kinda better that way, for several reasons (in no particular order):
Countries and borders and states are complicated and ever-changing and that often involves a lot of painful conflict. There's no absolutely correct way to portray this and it's also not really possible to completely avoid it because the concept of personifications is inherently political. Trying to define what a personification is too strictly sounds like very dangerous territory
It's also kinda impossible to distill something as complex as a country or nation or culture or civilization into one individual because none of these things exist as a monolith
It's more interesting to if you can make an OC personification for anything you like, and also allows for exploring interesting ideas that might otherwise be difficult to execute
When I look at the world today, I'm filled with hope for the future. I think it's much more interesting to focus on the positive moments and interactions and possibilities within and between countries. I'd rather do that then think too hard about exactly what a personification is tbh
Arguing about the definition of a personification would definitely happen and leaving it an undefined category means we avoid a lot of that arguing, which is probably good. Because it's fandom, no one can technically stop you from creating something, but also your work is not above criticism. Dislike and disagreement are not oppression and both are a fairly normal part of creative activity. However, I think writing out very specific criticisms of specific fanworks can be an exercise in frustration and overall one's energy is probably better spent elsewhere
anyway, this is all very complex so overall I think I'll stick to using my #chaotic nationverse tag for all things involving actual countries and I'll use another tag (#extended nationverse) if I ever create any art that 'extends' beyond nationverse to characters that are not countries because otherwise I will become too confused ๐ญ I think "nationverse" given it's two definitions feels like a reasonable and flexible-enough category to fit all my ideas
if anyone actually read this entire messy post of my thoughts, I appreciate you and we should be friends ๐
introducing my first ever hetalia OC: the beautiful country of Laos!!! Here's him and China celebrating the new China-Laos high speed rail line that opened in December 2021 -- photo from this article. (disclaimer: this is art, please do not sit on top of a moving high speed train ๐ญ)
I tried to make their outfits something casual but still inspired by traditional cultural clothing of the respective countries. Also, that little hair flick on the top of Laos' head is supposed to be referencing the shape of the country, but that's probably hard to tell for anyone other than me ๐
โAre you actually wearing that sixty-two carat wreath from the first time I caught you?โ
โIโm sure I have no idea what youโre talking about, Inspector, but if that really were the case, itโd be kinda charmingly sentimental of me, donโt you think?โ
-- From "Chapter 18: Can't Run Forever" of The Thief of Spades: Season One by the brilliant and incomparable @alifeasvivid
