Vampire Pyramid Scheme

J | 35+ | She/He/They | Bisexual | Non-binary & Genderfluid | Black queer illustrator working on a few vampire comics. My spot to post nonsense and art about my OCs and the webcomics taking over my life.

[redgoldsparks]

PLEASE CALL YOUR REPS AND TELL THEM TO VOTE NO ON H.R. 7661, THE TRANSPHOBIC NATIONAL BOOK BAN BILL!

House Republicans have introduced a bill to effectively grant the federal government decision-making power over what books make it into the library. Misleadingly called the "Stop the Sexualization of Children Act," H.R. 7661 is a national-level book banning bill that would ban any book that, according to the bill's language, "(ii) involves gender dysphoria or transgenderism." This means any book about a trans person or the trans experience would be banned from every public school in the United States. You can read the full text here. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce. If you are represented by one of the members of this committee listed below, they need to hear from you. Rep. Kevin Kiley, California (CA-3) (Chair) - entering vulnerable election cycle Rep. Mary E. Miller, Illinois (Vice Chair) Rep. Glenn "GT" Thompson, Pennsylvania Rep. Burgess Owens, Utah Rep. Michael A. Rulli, Ohio Rep. James C. Moylan, Guam - entering vulnerable election cycle Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, Pennsylvania - entering vulnerable election cycle Rep. Mark Harris, North Carolina Rep. Mark B. Messmer, Indiana Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, Oregon, Ranking Member Rep. Jahana Hayes, Connecticut Rep. Summer L. Lee, Pennsylvania Rep. John W. Mannion, New York Rep. Frederica S. Wilson, Florida Rep. Alma S. Adams, North Carolina Rep. Adelita Grijalva, Arizona Call your reps. Tell them they must oppose this bill at every turn. It is egregiously unconstitutional, targets ideas based on ideological disapproval, and misleads parents and the public about the content of children's books. It does nothing to protect kids and will badly harm education. It will tie school material funding into knots and hurt anyone who is a library materials vendor, regardless of content. If you are a bookseller, librarian, or author, tell them your livelihood depends on the next generation of readers. If you are a supporter of free speech, please call your reps and tell them to vote no on HR 7661! Thank you to @authorsagainstbookbans for the graphics and text in the four blue slides.

[ducissatenebrarum]

Pendant in the shape of a skull in polychrome enameled gold, Germany

[prinnay]

Coworkers trying on magic coats

[vampirepyramidscheme]

Got new glasses for the first time in 5 years. I’ll take photos in them tomorrow.

Right now I gotta shrimp and draw and maybe find time for a lil sketching for fun. 🤞🏾

[kurrusu]

[taplingzines]

From ballroom culture to drag to Stonewall, Black Americans have been foundational in queer liberation movements, so of course we celebrate them in our zine! Here’s to all the elders and ancestors who've taught us joy and resilience. ❤️

Get our queer history zine here (only 10 days left on Kickstarter)!

Art by: @fruitgravies , @mspencerdraws , @falene , @vampirepyramidscheme

[taplingzines]

Happy Black History Month! We're so proud to celebrate queer Black joy in our zine project 🥰

Art by: @okenki , ViiMichie (Instagram), @vampirepyramidscheme , @mspencerdraws

[redstonedust]

i hate ai generated photos but especially of things that we already have hundreds of actual photos of. why would you need ai generated images of the eiffel tower people have been taking pictures of the eiffel tower since its construction. you have unlimited eiffel tower photos already. why are you making fake ones. for what purpose.

[alethianightsong]

Ok, so in the original Bram Stoker novel, sunlight is not lethal to Dracula. He just loses most of his powers. I'm bringing this up cuz I want a horror comedy where the hero, sensing dawn, tears off the curtains as a last-ditch effort only to have the vampire go "Aw shit, there goes most of my fancy powers. Guess I'll have to beat your ass the old-fashioned way" then proceeds to just deck the hero cuz a vampire at half-strength is still a fucking vampire.

[aetherograph]

Last ten minutes of the movie is the vampire just beating the shit out of everyone to I'm Walkin On Sunshine. I would watch this.

[trellanyx]

Alternatively -

Hero: Ha! You have no powers!

Vampire:

[vampirepyramidscheme]

NGL I wish more vampire movies ditched the whole “sunlight killing” trope and went back to the reduced powers.

On a more original character note, this is how my vampires work. Their gifts don’t work during the daytime. But I assure you, most of them would beat your ass if threatened.

Like if you pull this shit on Sidney during one of their darker times (out West in the 1880s or in 1930s Chicago) they might just shoot your ass (not dead mind you…just incapacitated) and then call it even. 🤣

[goryhorroor]

do yourself a favor and watch blaxploitation horror movies. they are legit some of the most fun and campy movies you’ll find in the horror genre, but they’re also some of the movies with some of the deepest themes with all black casts!!!!

• blacula (1972)

• blackenstein (1973)

• ganja & hess (1973) (highly recommend this one)

• scream blacula scream (1973)

• abby (1974)

• sugar hill (1974)

• dr black, mr hyde (1976)

• jd’s revenge (1976)

• petey wheatstraw (1977)

• black devil doll from hell (1984)

• tales from the hood (1995)

• killjoy (2000)

• bones (2001)

• snoop dog’s hood of horror (2006)

• the blackening (2022)

[kawareo]

Tumblr is like our elderly dog and when she makes an especially scary cough we apparently think "oh god it's the big one"

[kawareo]

The tumblr scare of 2026

[libertineangel]

Zoot suits look kinda stupid but I gotta respect the cultural context & symbolism of the things

"Fuck the military and fuck the war, look at all this good uniform-worthy fabric I'm wasting on a fuckoff giant suit" is a very solid basis for a subculture

[knxfesck]

I actually really love to talk about zoot suits and their associated subcultures. The amount that the silhouettes of the zoot suit have shaped american fashion and trends of oversized clothes is so understated. And, yk, I'm biased as hell, but it is kinda crazy how influential zoot suit culture was

I always love the og zoot suits made by black americans in Harlem, I really like looking at the changes from these clothes from the 30s to some of the more exaggerated renditions from the 40s. It's also so interesting to look at how fast the subculture spread, and especially in the american west integrated with mexican diaspora and pachuco culture to the point that that's what a lot of usamericans associate them with.

⬆️ long wallet chains and pork pie hats were classic accessories for mexican diaspora zoot suiters. Zoot suits/their components were also really popular with women and were a way to symbolize independence and a choice to move away from strict gender roles on top of the existing countercultural message ⬇️

Anyways it's kind of impossible to talk about zoot suits without mentioning the racism and violence that followed them. On top of a zoot suit making someone a target for individual racial violence, the national reaction of white america to zoot suit culture was part of the beginning of clothing and presentation being read explicitly as signals by police and justice systems, and the broad association of youth of color with gang violence through this specific excuse. Gang culture and how it's percieved in the western US and especially California is very influenced by this era. The most famous events from the zoot suit era are the collective zoot suit riots and the media characterization of all mexican american, filipino american, and black american youth as violent anti-american baby gangsters. Which, even if that was broadly true I mean. I'll take the opportunity to be flippant hell yeah??

As a side note, while making more new zoot suits during war rationing was pretty sick, most people weren't buying from the black market tailor shops and just wore what they already owned because the style had been popular for years already. People bought clothes less often to begin with back then. I think that misconception comes from the reasoning white americans gave to go beat up people of color with baseball bats in the street; i.e. it was racial and xenophobic violence to begin with and the nature of the suits themselves has been mushed around a lot to serve different narratives.

More zoot suits! ⬇️

They can definitely look kinda goofy- mostly the exaggerated cuts and badly tailored modern recreations- but like you said you gotta respect them.

[blackfilmmakers]

"The ultimate in clothes. The only totally and truly American civilian suit" - Cab Calloway

[vampirepyramidscheme]

18th Century Feast (Sidney & Ellis)

My piece for the #BIPOCVampDay Vampires of Color zine - a little glimpse into the past with Sidney & Ellis.

You can still get digital copies and a few leftovers in our shop. All profits benefit the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America

[bunnyycocaine]

not now kitten mommy is typing a banger 0 note post

[vampirepyramidscheme]

….i should post art and comic updates here again…

But it does so poorly it makes me sad.

Except for that one IWTV fan art I made for an anthology.

*cries in original artist*

[vampirepyramidscheme]

Claudia's Dear Diary... (2025)

My full piece for @thevelvetcompote's Blood and Brocade zine/artbook. Forgot to share the full image sooner - but I'm fixing that now.

You can still purchase digital copies of the zine here.

[taplingzines]

J Clarke ( @vampirepyramidscheme ) is illustrating a romance between two Black baseball players in the women's league in the 1940s USA, sneaking away after a game to celebrate their win together.