born to trouble as the sparks fly upward

09:46 pm: IBARW requests, day 4
I have some bad news for you guys. I've just been informed that tomorrow we're going to Canada, and I'm going too, and therefore I probably won't be able to finish all ten of the ones I promised I'd do - for sure! - by the end of the week. That doesn't mean I'm not going to try, but I might have to postpone the completion of all these till next week unless by some miracle I can knock out two more pictures in the next seven hours (which will require me not sleeping, as well).

This makes me very cross.

On the plus side, though - if I can't complete all ten by tomorrow morning, I'll just do all six of the remaining requests next week, since, you see, I won't have any time constraints to worry about after that.

Anyway. Here we go.

All images 500x500px.

First: ( Dutch, for simargl_wings )

Second: ( Noguchi Machiko, for ilyena_sylph )

Tags: ibarw

09:03 pm: IBARW requests, day 3
Yes, yes. I know. But I've set up a system, and I'm damn well going to follow that system even if it doesn't make any sense.

All images 500x500px.

First: ( Lala Gonzalez, for furikku )

Second: ( Shilo Norman (Mister Miracle III), for alephz )

Tags: ibarw

12:12 pm: IBARW requests, day 2
Images, same as before, 500x500px.

First: ( Beatriz da Costa (Fire), for kefanii )

Second: ( Blaise Zabini, for wyomingnot )

Tags: ibarw

10:45 pm: IBARW: this is my life. this is a white lie. this is why you fight.
I did not intend to make this post.

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This is not a post about fun things, or good things, although it should be: I am so fucking honored that eid_ka_chand wants me to do art for their month o' Ramadan character-spam, I cannot tell you. I'm kind of floating on vibes of pure awesome right now.

Which is why I made the mistake of telling my mother "Yeah, I've got an invite to do art for this fan comm for Muslim characters in fiction during the month of Ramadan, it's totally awesome!"

Naturally, she wants me to be careful it's not some sort of clever attempt at brainwashing me into converting to Islam and/or a sekrit terrorist front.

What I said was: "It's just for fun."

What I wanted to say was: "Get the fuck out, I can't believe you'd even say that."

But I don't have the relationship with my mom where I can say that and she'd listen.

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A conversation between two of my friends at the local Chinese restaurant, two days ago:

"Of course you like noodles, Chris, you're Asian."

"Actually, you know, since I'm Korean, if I had a stereotypical food I liked to eat, it'd probably be kimchi. But I've never even tried it. I think it'd make my mouth explode."

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It's not in the past, in history, where it can't touch anyone, and is only an ache like some people have when it rains; it's here, all around us, every day. It is all-pervasive, it is slick, it is larger than life and bigger than the Beatles.

It is white boys in doo-rags listening to Geto Boyz and thinking they know shit. It is a convention attended mostly by Americans that proudly claims it is the "Convention of Otaku Generation" (sic). It is "why are all those anime characters white?" It is "black people on book covers don't sell". It is THE BOONDOCKS disappearing from the funny pages because people "didn't like its tone". It is nobody batting an eye at Illinois Nazis while Barack Obama has to answer for the mistakes of Louis Farrakhan. It is people finding SIXTEEN CANDLES funny.

It is all those little white lies, told every hour of every damn day, solidifying into a malignant cancer of the conscience.

And sometimes the best we can do to fight it is to sit down at a computer and type words into a little box, and hope that someone else sees them, and knows what we're talking about, or will learn.

The best we can do is exactly what we have to do. Cancer doesn't die by ignoring it. You have to kill it. So we have to kill the lies. Open our mouths. Put fingers to keyboards, like horses on battlefields, and change the world with words, one line at a time, one voice at a time, one listener at a time.

Fight back.

Tell the world: Come get some.

That's why we talk about it; that's why blogging is necessary. Sometimes we can do nothing else, sometimes there is nothing else left to do (because we're already doing enough of everything else).

Sometimes you just have to say something.

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I didn't intend to make this post. But I had to say something.

Tags: ibarw, racism: why would you ever

08:14 am: so! IBARW has started.
That means I'm going to do what I did last time I was in a situation where I had the time to do something like this (because the results turned out so well), and open this up to anyone who wants to swing by:

Give me the name of a character of color and I will draw them. If you have a preference for hairstyle and costume, all I ask is that you provide me with pictorial reference so I get it right. I am, because of the theme, specifically looking for CoC who don't live/weren't born in the US; however, I'll draw anyone.

Going by the last time I did this, I'm going to say I can only handle ten requests if I'm going to finish them all by the end of the week (I AM SO SLOW ;o;) - so, first come, first served, first ten responses (cumulative across all three journaling services I crosspost to) are guaranteed a drawing of some kind. I can't be sure I can pull it off, after that!

Requests Taken

01: Lalah Sune, by thelastsong. COMPLETE.
02: Shuuichi Nitori, by kanata. COMPLETE.
03: Beatriz da Costa (Fire), by kefanii. COMPLETE.
04: Blaise Zabini, by wyomingnot. COMPLETE.
05: Lala Gonzalez, by furikku. COMPLETE.
06: Shilo Norman (Mister Miracle III), by alephz. COMPLETE.
07: Dutch (no last name), by simargl_wings. COMPLETE.
08: Noguchi Machiko, by ilyena_sylph. COMPLETE.
09: Inanna, by havocthecat.
10: Nemesis, by erf_

ALL TEN REQUESTS HAVE BEEN TAKEN. However, I will take four more on a provisional basis, provided y'all understand I may not actually get to those in time; I just hate to say no. :(

11: Teyla Emmagan, by tielan.
12: Roman "Rome" Pearce, by katarik.
13: Charles Gunn, by lady_ganesh.
14: Soheila "Sol" Aboujib, by chomiji.

And that's, well ... that. Thanks for all the requests, you guys. THIS IS SO MUCH FUN YOU HAVE NO IDEA.

Tags: ibarw