AAOC TIMES #151

Kodya 05/12/22

116

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:new_moon: 𝘈𝘈𝘖𝘊 𝘛𝘐𝘔𝘌𝘚 ୨୧ ≫≫

.│𝗡𝗢. 151 ˚·. ༗ :traffic_light: (_ _).｡o○

˗ˏ✎*ೃ˚release date ⨾ ↶

ੈ ❏ :bridge_at_night: ۰ ۪۪۫۫ 05.12.2022 *✧

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“AAOC Times is a weekly newsletter that features amazing artists, tips and tricks for new and experienced artists, as well as updates in what’s happening around the amino!”

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Highlight of The Week......................0 1

Feature of The Week..............0 2

Ambush Writing advice......0 3

Goodbye & End Credits....4

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AAOC TIMES <a href='/c/Arts-and-OCs/tag/151/'>#151</a>-⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀

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❝ Highlight of the Week❞

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Hello there!

I am Kodya here with the HOTW!

Let’s get started!

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𖧧 || Soft Artist ꒱ ↷

Jax

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-`,⿻ First up, we have

Jax!

With their soft artwork!

The way they draw is so adorable and smooth, the rendering in their style is very pretty and I just love how talented they are! The eyes and face features look so soft! Very inspiring,

every art piece is incredible!

Checking their art out would be appreciated! ੈ

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𖧧 || Semi-Realistic Artist ꒱ ↷

Sharbear

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-`,⿻ Next up, we have

Sharbear!

With their Semi-Realistic style.

Having each piece with such brilliant vibrance within, I would love to see billions more.

The style is also very unique! From skin shading to small details on each art piece, wow!

Check out their art! ੈ

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𖧧 || Digital Artist ꒱ ↷

SlightlyDepressedSloth

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-`,⿻ Second to last, we have

SlightlyDepressedSloth!

with their digital art!

They have such a clean and outstanding style. I love the unique shading and colors with the style and would love to see tons more!

Their artwork is creative! So make sure to check them out! ੈ

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𖧧 || Cartoon Artist ꒱ ↷

Yui

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-`,⿻ And last but not least,

we have

Yui!

With their cartoon style artwork!

The way they draw is just so brilliant! I love the sketchy work of the art pieces. They have such an adorable style!

Very well done, an art style that needed to be shared! ੈ

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That will be all for this week’s highlighted artists! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Bye bye~

٩꒰๑ ´∇`๑꒱۶

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❛ FEATURE OF THE WEEK ❜

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Hello hello AAOC! It's me, Tsu and I'm here to bring you all a lovely Feature of the Week article. This week, we have the lovely Elf & Fairy in crime!

Absolutely an exquisite piece for two beloved OCs by their owners! Adore the characters and the ion the creators have for them to create this wonderful artwork.

Bold: Interviewer - Tsu.

Italics: Featured artist - :fallen_leaf: FlυғғyRαccooɴv :fallen_leaf:

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QUESTION O1:

What was your inspiration for this piece?

❛ Surprisingly, it was an old piece of art that I made last year! It's the same characters as well which was why I wanted to remake it. ❜

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Question O2:

Did anything about this piece challenge you? If so how did you overcome it?

❛ Well— I will say it was the shading that was the difficult part because of the colors I used and lighting. The way I overcame it was I tried my best to push through until it looked perfect — in short loads of patience :+1: ! ❜

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Question O3:

What’s your favourite thing about the piece? Why is it your favourite?

❛ Hm, I think it's actually the characters themselves that are my favorite mostly because of the scene I put them in, it's just a wholesome piece I could just look at for quite a while! ❜

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QUESTION O4:

Speaking of the characters, who are they? you can talk about them freely!

❛ They're just adorable to me -w-

❛ Ok so they're both original characters, the elf is named Era who is a Legend of Zelda OC that I made for an AU of mine that I've messed with for maybe a few years. She is 13 and I have a whole lore on it but I rather not ramble too much on that because there's A LOT— and for the green forest fairy her name is Elfina which is a friend of mine's OC. She is also 13 and is the partner of Era both romantically and quest wise. Oh and random fact she can also turn human, which is pretty cool in my opinion. ❜

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QUESTION O5:

How was the process of redeg her? Did you have fun or learned something?

❛ The process of deg Era was actually really fun to me! I was mixing certain Zelda game designs together to make one big design, adding my own ideas into the AU for her and also having Era's old lore made me improve her even better! I made her a whole reference sheet and I'm proud of it :D! ❜

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And that's all for this week's FOTW! It was a blast interviewing them and hopefully you all may check them out! They have wonderful OCs with an adorable art style to pair with. And thank you for reading this week's articles!

That's all from me, adieu <3

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Hey hey AAOC!

Author Ambush here with another session of Author Amb’s Writing Advice. A section where I, Amb, give you, you, advice to help better your lovely writing! In todays issue: writing disabled characters.

Disclaimer before we get started!

I myself am not disabled in any way. All information presented here is things I’ve learned over the years from videos, documentaries, listening to disabled people about what sort of representation is good or bad, and just plain research. It’s always important to do research when writing about something you haven’t experienced yourself as to not fall into stereotypes, spread misinformation or accidentally say something that’s outdated/offensive.

Alright, let’s get onto it. Now this segment is going to specifically be covering how to write someone with a physical disability and not a mental disability. I’m not as confident in writing that as I am in writing physical disabilities and I don’t want to give anyone bad or out dated advice. So let’s start simple:

Know what You’re Writing

This step is arguably the most important step, just as important as the writing itself. Knowing what disability you’re writing is very important, you need to know what mobility aids your character may use, as well as how they’ll use them. Let’s use my dearest Remus as an example.

Now I couldn’t tell you exactly what happened as I’m not a doctor and don’t know proper , but essentially Remus is in a wheelchair because he messed up his back, which messed up his legs. In my own words, “legs no worky”. He needs a wheelchair to get around everyday, and help getting up and down steps. So knowing he can’t use his legs, I write him as using his wheelchair constantly. Don’t look at the time he didn’t.

Knowing (more or less) why he’s in a wheelchair helps me write him better, as I know what he can and can’t do. I know his legs no worky so I won’t write him walking around like Broken does, I write him grabbing his wheelchair and moving into it so he can get something. On be other hand, Remus used to be able to stumble a few feet to get the remote off the TV stand for example, so I’d write him walking those few feet but with great difficulty. Because his legs didn’t really work anymore, so it was really hard for him to move.

It’s also important to mention some people don’t need mobility aids. Such as blind people, people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and more. Some also may not use their aids everyday, or only use them when going long distances. In these circumstances, it’s best to do proper and thorough research into the specific aids your character may or may not use, when they’d use their aids if necessary, etc. as again, I can’t really fit all the little details about every physical disability into one segment, and there’s always things I don’t know.

Don’t ignore the disability completely, but don’t make it a Thing either. Remus is in a wheelchair, I write him like a normal person, just a little shorter now that he’s in a chair. Of course that’s not to say he doesn’t have struggles, I just write around them the way a real person would work around them. Need to get plates for dinner and can’t reach? Put them in the bottom cabinets for next time. Don’t want your chair in the middle of the living room? Move it into a corner where it’s still accessible. Need to make popcorn for your husband who’s half ed out on the couch because he was an idiot and got himself punched in the head again? Open the microwave with a spoon and throw the popcorn bag in there.

Mama Let’s Research.

One of the most important things: research! Especially if you’re writing something you haven’t personally experienced. This goes for anything, not just writing disabilities. As I said before, I myself am not disabled, but I’ve watched way too many documentaries and interviews on the topic. I can only offer an outside perspective on what to write about, and how to write it.

Asking people who are disabled to help is always a good idea, so long as they’re comfortable sharing. Some people aren’t and that’s ok! The internet is a big place for a reason. A YouTube channel I highly recommend, who’s disabled and talks about a lot of bad disability tropes in media (and how to fix them!) is Okawyrm. He’s got dozens of videos explaining how and why certain characters disabilities wouldn’t make sense/are generally bad, as well as how to fix them.

It’s Normal

Disabilities, especially physical ones, are normal! Plenty of people have them, it’s not a life-ending thing. So write it like that! Of course it’s also normal for someone to be upset when learning they’re going to need a wheelchair for the rest of their life, but don’t let that drag on the story. What I’m getting at here is don’t treat a disability, physical or otherwise, like it’s a burden a character now has to live with. While living with a disability can be difficult, it’s not impossible.

A way I do this is just… having Remus roll instead of walk. In anything Remus has appeared in since he was wheelchair bound, which is a lot, he’s just rolled places instead of walked there. It’s that simple. Of course, you always have to take into other things, like how dependent a character is on their wheelchair, on other people, etc.

When researching always be mindful of where your information is coming from. Websites ending in “.org” are always a safe bet, as they’re educational websites and not just something someone slapped together in their basement. “.org” websites can have a lot of very wordy information with a lot of medical though, so if you can find a first-hand of someone with what you’re planning to write that also helps. For best results, try a mix of both!

In conclusion, don’t take this as gospel. As I said before I myself am not disabled, all information here is from my own research and experiences I’ve heard about from other people. This is by no means a set in stone rule for writing disabled characters, more of a first step guide. I couldn’t possibly hope to cover all the little intricacies of writing disability in one section in a random article, but I do hope this was able to help anyone get started!

Thank you thank you for reading, I’ll catch you in the next issue of AAOC Times! ٩( ᐛ )و

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