Hi! I really appreciate your blog, it's so interesting!
This question may be a bit off-topic, so my apologies, but I was wondering if you could share a bit of practical examples and/or advice on how you conduct research. I'm really interested in the art & cultures of the world but nobody ever taught me how to do research so I've been slowly learning it over the years. I don't really have any peers to ask for advice, but I thought that maybe you have some experiences with things that you've learned about researching!
I find I've learned a lot of useful information from just seeing how other people do things, even if what they do is hyper-specific and not something I can replicate, because it broadens my picture of what is possible, and practical tactics/techniques are invaluable. So basically, no need to be comprehensive, that's not what I'm asking.
Anyway, great stuff, thank you for the awesome blog!
I have a couple of posts/reblogs that detail online sources and the research process:
The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | I’m wondering where do you get all this info... (tumblr.com)
The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Does anyone have like an exhaustive master source... (tumblr.com)
The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Are there any similar blogs like yours (whether... (tumblr.com)
How the hell do you find every accurate representative culture fashion for the avatar gang? Like it pains me the hell how people... – @atlaculture on Tumblr
Your art never fails to amaze me, but what got me every time is how detailled and varied the clothes/jewelries you draw are! Do... – @atlaculture on Tumblr
Where do you get the cultural information for writing? – @loopy777 on Tumblr
I always wondered 2 things. 1 what are and how many cultural influences avatar has. And 2 how and where do learn all of this... – @atlaculture on Tumblr
The process, in its most basic form:
Wikipedia > Further Googling > Using text from culture of origin + Google Translate for deep dives > Repeat ad infinitum
You do that long enough and you eventually develop an instinct for identifying culture of origin for things through sheer exposure/familiarity.
Finally, don't be afraid to just ask your followers for help (respectfully) if you're having difficulty researching some aspect of a culture. People sharing information about their cultures online is a pretty recent phenomenon, so it oftentimes doesn't even occur to many people to record or explain certain cultural practices because it seems so mundane to them. I've learned so much about other cultures from people responding to my posts.
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