Using Polls to Create Art #8

                                                    Previous parts: #1, #2, #3, #4 ,#5, #6 and  #7. 

Hello everyone, 

I'm back with another installment of using polls to create art! 

To summarize what this series is about, I post a poll asking what I should draw. People vote, and whichever choice ends up winning, I draw. Unless otherwise stated, every drawing was a majority vote.  Also I should add, some of the drawings this time around are redraws of Pixton comics I made when I was a child (I was about twelve or thirteen I think?) I had voters vote on which of them I should redraw. While the others are the usual drawings you'd see in this series. 

Here's the drawing that came out of the poll in the previous post in the series. 

Felix Moore from Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass ended up winning. So I drew him as a merman. 

I had a lot of fun drawing details in the drawing like the suit and tail. 

I also made a video showing my process of drawing it. 

I did a poll where I redrew a painting in my style. The painting that the drawing was based on was this one. I thought it made sense for Ophelia to be using the crystal ball, given that she likes that type of magic. 

I had the voters decide on which of my characters I made in Pixton I should redraw in my style. 

Lieutenant Williams ended up winning. She is a half Klingon half human. 

Here is what she looked like in the Pixton style: 

I wrote the comic she was from years and years ago, and there were a ton of spelling errors in it.

But, I find it nice to revisit old stories and characters-- especially because they can show how different 

my stories are today than they were back then. 

 

Speaking of old stories and characters, I had the voters decide between having me redraw this Pixton comic  and another one.  The second one won, which is Edward's and Willow's wedding. I decided in the redraw not to draw them in the same pose but instead draw them in different poses. In the comic as a whole I would use real photos as the background while the characters would be Pixton characters. 

 Looking back at it now, the backstory of how they fell in love is really not romantic. The comic itself retold the story of The Little Mermaid (leaning towards the Disney version, not so much the Hans Christian Anderson one) but with dryads and wood cutters. And in this version Willow literately caused the shipwreck and then when she saw how handsome (and in pain) Edward was, she changed her mind. She didn't do this for the several wood cutters before 🤔-- 1,712,302 of them to be exact, I'm not joking: that was the number I wrote in the comic, minus 1. 😆

I don't know what child-me was thinking! 😂 Especially since Willow never once tells him that she was the dryad that did that at all. 

This is a drawing of Elm. I had the voters vote on what I should draw her wearing out of several options for outfits. This outfit ended up winning. I really like how the outfit looks. However, I feel her arms are a little too short proportion wise. But other than that I like the drawing. 

This is a character from the same fanfic that I wrote years ago. I had another poll, about which character I should draw in my style, and she won. She is called the EEH (Emergency Engineering Hologram). I was inspired by the Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager when creating her. I wondered why there were no holograms for emergencies involving engineering. (That we can see in the show). 

In the (Pixton) comic she is an enemy of the doctor on her ship. They don't have a particularly good relationship. And she was activated when most of the crew on the ship was kidnapped by aliens. So, she plays a similar role that The Doctor in Voyager plays.

This actually turned out to be a drawing that came out of a poll, and I somehow forgot that I had drawn it for that reason. This drawing was actually included in this post, though I combined it with a drawing that didn't come out of a poll. 

Anyway, I had the pollers vote on which character I should draw, and what they should be doing. And Oak doing archery won. 

Now for a new poll: 

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Which drawing is your favorite? And would you like to have a wedding out in the woods? 

Or did you tell any funny stories when you were little? 

-Quinley 

Reintroducing Arisias

I finally have a name for the character that used to be called "Annabelle." 

Since it is such a major change to the character, I decided the best way to introduce the change would be through a video, so people both on my blog and YouTube channel would know about the change. 

Here's the video: 

Also, I have finally updated the character profile page which you can read here. Her new name is Arisias it is pronounced like Er-is-ius or Air-Sy-Ris. Arisias prefers the first pronunciation. It took me a while to come up with the name. I smashed together two names create Arisias which were the names of two figures from Greek mythology: Tiresias and Ariadne. 

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Have you ever renamed one of your original characters? Or if you haven't, do you have a character whose name you really like? 

-Quinley 

Once and Future Fantasies: My First Conference

(The background image is from Pixabay, the drawing I did myself)

                                                       Greetings Adventurers,  

In July, I presented at a conference with the The Centre for the Fantasy and the Fantastic at the University of Glasgow, virtually. I could not attend in person due to the fact that I had a surgery (tonsil surgery if anyone is worried) and also because of other health reasons, but it was a fantastic experience that I wish to share with you, along with my paper and my experience writing it. 

The conference was called Once and Future Fantasies playing on the title of the book, The Once and Future King by T.H. White, which is a retelling of the Arthurian legends. The Conference on the other hand was about the past and future of fantasy. So, here is my experience with the conference: 

                                                      Writing the Paper-

(Image from Wikipedia, 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changeling#/media/File:John_Bauer_-_The_Princess_and_the_Trolls_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)

 I feel like I should mention this part before I talk about my experience with the conference itself. I first heard about Once and Future Fantasies through a request for papers from The Centre. And I decided to submit a proposal to them. Here is my proposal: 

This paper will begin by looking at the theme of the Changeling Child in Celtic fairy tales. It will show the similarities between this theme and present-day dilemmas of parents of disabled children. It will demonstrate that there are parallels between the parents’ appeal to magic in fairy tales and the parents’ appeal to medicine in today’s world. In both contexts, parents call on special powers to “recover” the child that they expected to have. In spite of this, trying to recover the child can cause a disconnect between the parents and the child, because it communicates that they do not love the child as they are, and that the child needs to be “fixed.” As someone who is disabled, I find researching and analyzing this analogy between fairy magic and Western medicine to be interesting. In Folklore, a parent gives birth to a child; the child is not what the parent expected, and it turns out their real child was replaced with a Changeling. The parent tries to return the changeling to the fairies in order to get their real child back: that is, the child they expected. In our modern-day world, a parent gives birth to a child; the child is not what the parent expected, and it turns out the child is disabled. The parent turns to Western medicine to find cures for the disability in order to get their “real” child back: that is, the child they expected. Comparing these two contexts helps to highlight the flaws in medical-centered “cures” for disabilities and in the thinking of parents and doctors about disabled children.

In the months after my proposal got accepted, I worked hard on my paper in order to get it to the point where it could be presentable. This required a lot of research and reading to find the sources I needed to get my points across. Though it was a lot of work, it was very fun because I got to read a lot of books I had not thought I would read before and I learned a lot while doing so. Some of the books I read were: Fairies: A Dangerous History; Disability, Deformity, and Disease in the Grimms' Fairy Tales; and a lot of Irish fairy tales and folk tales, as well as folk tales from other Celtic and European cultures. 

When writing the paper, I talked about my own experiences with my disabilities as well as those of others, so this paper was pretty personal as well as academic. 

I should say, for those looking to write a paper or essay for a conference, that like novel writing you will go through several drafts, and you will do a lot of research before you arrive at an end result you're happy about. (I had to read several books, some of which did not end up getting included in the final paper). I began writing in February, and didn't deliver the paper till July, so I had a lot of time to research and write. 

                             The Paper and My Experience Presenting-

(Image from wiki commons, 

                                https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Z%C3%89LIE_AND_THE_FAIRY_CANDIDE_PRINCE_CH%C3%89RI.jpg)

My paper was pre-recorded, so I spent time editing and recording it before the conference. To me it was really similar to the experiences I've had with recording my acting videos-- though a bit different since I was not in character. I was very happy with the end result. On the day of the conference, I had to wake up very early, but it was worth it. The video for my paper was just posted on The Centre for the Fantasy and the Fantastic's YouTube channel, so you can check it out: 

I also want to give a huge thank you to the Centre for the Fantasy and the Fantastic for allowing to present virtually and making this a wonderful experience. I want to say "thank you" to them, also, for posting the video of my paper on their channel. 💙 This experience has inspired me to want to be a professor, because I won't be doing acting, writing, animating, etc. as a full time job. Having a job as a professor would allow me to continue to do those things professionally-- while still having a "day job" that I like. 

After I presented, the audience asked a lot of wonderful questions about my paper, such as how disability is presented in current Fantasy media-- or even how disability should be discussed and presented in classroom settings, and what resources to use. I am very happy that my paper sparked discussion and questions. And I am so happy that I got to present at Once and Future Fantasies. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Have you been to or presented at a conference? And do you have a favorite folktale involving Changelings or the Fair Folk? 

-Quinley 

Introducing Some Characters: Ghosts (P.1)

Here are some ghostly spectres, who I think deserve a proper introduction, since I didn't really give them one before. I am working on my novel, Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass this month, and I thought getting into the spooky mood was appropriate. And also I must add, I may or may not have been influenced by Debra's post to be in a "Summerween" mood. 😉

Since this is part of a series (that I started in 2017), you can check out the other installments of it here. (It will be under the "Introducing Some Characters" section). 

Here are the ghosts, the stories of these ghosts are not for the faint of heart: 

                                            The Solitary Violinist 

The Solitary Violinist is a performer, who was murdered. She performs while waiting for her killer to come back, so she can make him dance to death. However, he has yet to return. Many people watch her perform from a distance and hear the sound of her violin playing next to the tree where she died. 

She will often ask passersby, if they know where her killer went. The answer is important. For if you give the wrong answer (that is, if you answer "no" or "yes"), the ghost will be unhappy with you, because you will have either given her false hope or no hope. And you don't want to know what she will do--it is said many have met their demise or been lost forever in the woods. So, it is advised that you don't stop and listen to the music, and don't answer her question, but instead carry on as if you never heard it. 

                                  The "Painted" Devil 

The "devil" is a doll sewn from a woven bag that has the face of a devil embroidered (not painted) on it and a strange marking in red. The doll is possessed by a vengeful spirit which someone summoned into the doll for their own selfish reasons. 

The doll has been found at different antique shops and purchased by different owners over the years. Whoever owns the doll always reports strange ghostly activity and sudden unexplainable deaths. However, no one who has had these experiences has owned the doll for long, for it always mysteriously vanishes. Then it seemingly reappears in another shop. No one is safe, are you next?                                                

                                        The Ghost Bride 

"The Ghost Bride," as she is called, was a woman who died on the day of her wedding. She is seen walking around wearing a wedding dress and veil. How she died is unknown, but it is speculated she died of a sudden illness. 

She won't stop her haunts until her dying wish is granted. She is said to even go as far as possession to achieve this--which is why young women who are to marry are advised not to stop by her grave. And those who aren't getting married but want to appease her, often leave little presents or "wedding gifts" for her, so that she feels less restless. 

However, it is unclear whether this will actually stop the spirit. For she has plans...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Which character is your favorite? And, which of their backstories scared you the most? 

-Quinley