Beginning Of 2016 Vs The End Of 2016

IM HAVINGASTROKE (yes @what-is-the-meaning-of-life this is 100% right)

My school created a God.

I am a student at an art university.

There is an infamous building on our campus, called “Montgomery House” or more commonly, “Monty.” Monty is the building for animation, game design, special effects, sound design, and basically everything that requires highly powerful, highly specialized computers and software. The building is infamous for a couple of reasons. It’s located pretty far away from any other building, for one. The building itself used to be a coffin factory, no joke.  Another is the building has no windows. None. There are also no clocks anywhere. Once you enter Monty, you are completely separated from the flow of time and the light of day.  Probably the reason Monty is most known though is because students in the “monty majors” have to spend a lot of time there. A lot. It is not uncommon for somebody to spend more than a few days exclusively within the sunless, dark walls of Monty. If you go to the building, it is not surprising to see students sleeping on the floor, on the few chairs available, on the computers. Some bring sleeping bags and rations. Some just forgo sleep, buy espresso shots and work. The entire building just smells of coffee and sweat. It really seems like an exageration, but its not hyperbole. 

Why I bring this up is because of something that’s started recenetly. Inside the building, the school has hung up artwork on the walls from other majors as is typical on campus. One of the artworks was a self-portrait painting of a man with long, scraggly brown hair and a full beard looking pensively off into the distance. The painting became known as “Monty Jesus.”

Students, in their desperation for their files to render, or the computers to work, began to offer prayers to Monty Jesus. Soon, they began writing their prayers and taping them next to the painting. The wall is now covered, completly plastered, in prayers to Monty Jesus for things like “Fix the wifi” and “let me live through finals” and more simply “help me.” Candles have been added. Literal candles are placed around Monty Jesus in hopes he will help them.

This is how religions are born. Monty Jesus is considered a “joke”, but people at Monty still hold…. quite a lot of superstitious faith in the concept. There is even talk of a “Monty Satan” that creates software failures. It might be in jest, but these students really are hoping for some force to help them. And they’ve given it a name, an image, and respect.  Monty Jesus is real, and I’m sure of it. The desperate students have created their own spirit and their own form of worship, out of need.

Religion, spirituality, didn’t stop being relevant. It didn’t stop being something people need and want, and have the desire to create. It’s still happening, and it always will as long as their are people.  The spirit of creation, new deities and new worship, is alive and well today and should not be ignored simply because it is “new” or “a joke.”

Being a diehard Hamilton fan is awesome because it means your faves aren’t problematic 

New digital print on my etsy!

Next up: more cuttlefish 👀

You used to have so much fun here, remember?

Ɛ>

i love my mc, quinn

Self care is doing the exact opposite of whatever the hell Kurapika is doing

I FINALLY FINISHED MY PLUSHIE!

Meet Cinderheart, everyone!

This little lady has taken almost exactly a year to make! She's my very first plushie, and I'm SO pleased with how she turned out. I was inspired by the absolute unfettered ugliness of the official plushies-- they made me so upset that I spent the next 12 months making something better. Funny thing is, this Cinderheart plush was supposed to just be a warm-up for making Hollyleaf, but this one took so long that I kiiiinda don't wanna go through all that again. Plus Holly's long fur will make her a pain in the neck to sew, so that project'll have to take a rain check for the foreseeable future.

So a little backstory about Cinderheart's design! Some elements were taken from my absolute favorite AMV, namely the striped tail and the tan markings at her neck. However, I'm super proud of how the back stripes turned out, as they were my own design! I was planning on having them just go straight across her back, but she ended up looking like Bumblestripe. So I changed up the design so that when the two halves of the body came together, it would look like her stripes made heart shapes across her back! I also really like that it ends up looking like she has little pixie wings from the side.

She's made mostly of minky, with her eyes being made of felt. I used a LOT of satin stitch to make details like her eye sparkles, eyeliner, eyebrows, and paw pads. She's sewn entirely by hand, which is a BIG part of why she took so long!

The plushie pattern that I used was bought from this lovely etsy seller, which was wonderfully clear and easy to follow. I had to make a couple modifications to it to fit in her body and leg stripes, but it all turned out well!

This was a lot of fun to make, and I learned so much! Let me know what you think, or if you have any questions about how I made it!

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!