fearfield:

urbanchimera:

bonefield:

sara-whats-her-face:

texika:

ask-aatrox-the-darkin-blade:

thewolf-inme:

ALL THE AWARDS

(Agreed.)

I will agree with this til the day I die. I never once believed the bullshit that “Mary Sues” exist. They don’t plain and simple…

THANK YOU LORD ALMIGHTY.

Eh, I agree that the term has been thrown around so much that I take any accusations of Sueism with a grain of salt (especially for female characters), but Mary Sues do exist. Traits don’t make a Sue—people can list off any number of superficial “Sue traits” to avoid, and most of them will apply to at least a few well-written original characters. It’s in how those traits are written.

Example: being beautiful does not make a character a Mary Sue. However, if every other character in the story can’t shut up about how beautiful she is and there’s no legitimate plot reason for that, we may be in Sue territory. A Mary Sue in the worst form warps the plot and every other character’s behavior so that it all focuses on her. Why are Batman and Superman putting aside everything else they have to talk about and focus on to devote all their attention to this one original character? Because the writer says so! It doesn’t matter what he or she looks like, or what gender they are, or what powers they have. The reason those traits are associated with Mary Sues is because that type of character is often linked to wish fulfillment, and a beginning writer may not understand how to strike a good balance in character creation yet.

That said, I think Mary Sues get way more hate than they’re entitled to, because their creation is a pretty normal stage of learning to write. And it pisses me off when I see original characters, roleplay characters, or even canon characters dismissed as Mary Sues just because they have an exceptional trait or a lot of friends (especially when there are also male characters in the cast with exceptional traits and a lot of friends, but they’re not nitpicked at).

“Mary Sue” in its original form is just shorthand for “original character I don’t like.” But the dislike has a reason behind it, and that reason is that the character adds very little of substance to the story* yet manages to dominate the entire thing. If your OC doesn’t fit that description, just take it in stride and keep it up if people start lobbing Sue-bombs at you.

*Note: Since the term “Mary Sue” is traditionally a fandom term, my feeling is that if you’re going to add an OC to fanfiction, it’s semi-important to make sure they have a definite role in the story and support the main cast if you want people to enjoy your work. They may turn out to like Clint’s new neighbor, but they probably won’t click specifically to read about him, you know? And his presence in the story is more likely to be enjoyed and less likely to be resented or Sue-flagged if his interaction with canon characters says something about them, the people the reader came to read about. In a similar vein, roleplay characters are more likely to be enjoyed and less likely to be dismissed as Sues if they don’t demand protagonist status or lay out an absolute plot direction (such as close relationships to canon characters/organizations), since you’ve got X number of people you’re RPing with who didn’t necessarily sign up to be your character’s sidekicks.

I’m with bonefield 110% on this one. Excellently said.

The only thing I can say in addition is that if you make an OC that doesn’t work within the rules of the universe (e.g. a butterfly fairy girl in Nolan’s Gotham City—which I have seen done in complete earnestness), there’s a chance your character might be a Mary Sue. Again, it’s a beginning writer mistake. You just need to know your setting and what is or isn’t possible within that setting.

Seconding bonefield and urbanchimera. While I see the point that the photoset is getting at and agree that there are many cases when the term is incorrectly thrown around, just because the term has been abused or used incorrectly on more than one occasion doesn’t necessarily make it invalid or mean that it can’t be a useful teaching tool for people (especially younger artists and writers). Also, it seems a lot like the photoset relies on angry BIG RED CAPS and underlining in order to deliver a point, and also seems like it gives the impression of, “I don’t like or agree with how this word has been misused in the past, especially for female characters, therefore it isn’t valid whatsoever and if you don’t like my writing then don’t read” and disregards all the possible ways in which terms like ‘Mary Sue’ or ‘Gary Stu’ could actually be valuable learning tools. Though writing isn’t my biggest hobby, even I found Mary Sue to be a really helpful learning tool when I was younger and learning about how to make and flesh out characters and how they interact with one another. I think maybe instead of saying “this word has been abused and misused so many times so it doesn’t exist or isn’t valid so therefore has no relevance as a learning tool,” I think more attempts should be made for people to acknowledge that it’s abused, but also to try to educate each other in how the term works and doesn’t work (and how we can keep the characters we create from derailing into unrealistic Sue or Stu territory, which can also sometimes happen with canon characters).

(Source: fanaticality, via rocmonsta)

eyecager:

https://www.facebook.com/Anatomy4Sculptors/photos_albums

Such a fantastic resource!!

(via bldymalice)

infrequentlyinlove:

Hey guys! I’m currently open for commissions!

These are just a few examples of what I do, here’s the (current) full list of what I offer:

 

Chibis: $25.00USD

Sketches: $25.00USD. All of my sketches are fully painted! :)

Portraits: $50.00USD

Speed paints: $80.00USD Without a background. $100.00USD With a Background.

Reference Sheets: $150.00USD

Illustrations and Environments: Start at $300.00USD and will be discussed before starting. :D

 

Extras

All extras are in addition to the base price of the commission referenced above. Designing unique and relevant costumes takes thought, creativity and research and often takes me longer to do than the drawing itself. Designs that require large amounts of research and time on my end may cost more.

 

Design New Costume (sci-fi cloths): Start at $40

Design New Costume (period wear): Start at $30

Design New Costume (fantasy clothes): Start at $40

Design New Costume (armor): Start at $50

 

Currently I do not take commissions that don’t have a visual reference!

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Edit of an edit! Turns out you can only use the read more function in text posts! So I’m going to throw my TOS in another post an link it! :)

How To Order-

Via note on my FA: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/pumpernickelparade/

Or

By email at: Pencakes@gmail.com

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To order, please either send me a note via Furraffinity or My Email labeled: “COMMISSION REQUEST” and include the following information in the message body (if requesting multiple characters, please fill in 1 sheet for each character):

Commission Type: (chibi, speedpaint, ect, ect)
Paypal Address: (your paypal address, I will send a payment request to this address)

Extras: (costumes and backgrounds etc.)

Name:
Gender:
Age: (if look is different than actual age state the age they look instead. Not always applicable for animal characters.)
Race/Species:

Height:
Hair: (include length, colours and bangs if applicable)
Eyes: (include eye shape, colour(s) etc)
Nose/muzzle:
Fur/Skin:

Cloths: (leave blank if commissioning clothing design)
Piercings/Scars/Tattoos:

Personality: (please keep this to a few sentences)
Cultural Reference: (what is the setting of your character? Is it important to you for me to stay true to it? Example: your character’s setting is feudal Japan, but you don’t mind if I draw them in a modern or fantasy setting with a Japanese twist)

Image References:

Mood/Theme Request/Suggestion: (optional)

Artistic Liberty: (can I play with the costume/design/etc?)

Allow Artistic/Tasteful Nudity: (yes or no)

Other Important Notes: (optional)

TERMS OF SERVICE HERE: http://infrequentlyinlove.tumblr.com/post/52965449677/tos

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(via brunettejubblies)

foervraengd:

helpyoudraw:

UNDERSTANDING ANATOMY: part IV (part1) by FOERVRAENGD from DeviantArt

It’s always kinda cool when ppl convert my old tutorials into tumblr-versions.