Hey mother nature i love you and shit but like….what the fuck my good bitch

Goodness!

Okay. I’m Canadian so I know a shit ton about staying warm if you’re new to the cold there here are some tips!(add more if you know more!)

1. Wear grippy shoes, nothing is worse than snowmelt freezing on your skin.

2.Do not wear jeans as your outter layer. wet denim is the most body heat siphoning mother fucker known to man or god

3. Have a warm drink with you. It will help. Even just some hot soup broth or boiled water will help keep you warm.

4. Wear a moisture wicking layer close to your skin so you don’t get cold from your own sweat. You will sweat. That is fine and expected.

5. If you start feeling too warm even though you were cold and like you have to take your clothes of DO NOT. Call 911. You are suffering from hypothermia.

6. Bring a blanket and a heat source that needs no electricity with you in your vehicle. You do not want to be stranded with no heat in the case that something happens.

7. If you are struggling on ice as you’re walking, stop. Get your balance and penguin shuffle to a less slippery patch of ground. There’s usually less ice on one side of the walk and it’s better to walk in the snow next to the sidewalk than it is to eat dirt when ya slip

8. STAY THE ABSOLUTE FUCK AWAY FROM FROZEN BODIES OF WATER. Ponds are deceptive as shit even with the “solid blue tried and true” thing. Go around.

9. Keep kids warm. They run at a higher body temperature and will feel the effects of the cold worse than you.

10. Huddling is your best friend. Even if you don’t know the person, remember you’re both cold, especially if they don’t have the right clothing for the weather.

11. Pay attention to windchill. That is how cold it feels. Dress appropriately please. I know it’s tempting to dress for style, but there’s nothing stylish about losing your toes to frostbite

12. Don’t touch metal if you can avoid it. It will sap your heat and likely freeze to anything wet. Like tongues. Don’t fucking lick a pole.

13. If someone licks something metal, pour warm water over their tongue to get them free. If they yank, they will bleed. A lot.

14. Keep your ears, noes, fingers, and toes warm. You’re extremities will get cold first and are the most likely parts of your body to get frostbite.

15. If you see someone who may not have a place to be in the cold, offer to help them find a local shelter or library. The elements, especially the cold, are some of the largest threats to those who cannot avoid them.

16. If you find yourself stuck outside for a long time, sleep during the day when it is warmest, and avoid sleeping on the ground. Stay awake as much as you can at night so you have a better chance of staying warm.

Also, look out for your local animals.   Cats will sleep on car wheels where you can’t see them - it’s elevated, rubber is warmer than the ground, and it’s a little hideyhole where they feel safe.  Check your wheel wells and under your car before you go driving off, you might save a tiny life.

You can also, if you’re so inclined, make a little winter shelter for cats and small animals fairly easily and cheaply.

[Here] is a great (if lengthy) text guide to building shelters for local cats. [Here] is a video from the Ontario SPCA. [Here] is an even simpler (ad possibly cheaper) version of basically the same thing.  As long as you smooth out the opening (so the lil guys don’t injure themselves on it), insulate, and line it, and then put it somewhere where it’s not going to get flooded or the animal snowed in, you’re grand. It might not seem like much in the face of subzero temperatures, but it’s damn well better than nothing.

Everyone, look through the notes for other information too!

Magical gems

I took some historical sword-fighting lessons to make the fights in my novel more realistic - here’s what I learned.

To make the fighting scenes in my low fantasy novel more realistic, I went to see a trainer for historical sword-fighting last week, both to barrage her with questions and to develop realistic choreographies for the fight scenes in the novel. Since I figured some of what she told me might be useful for you too, I put together a small list for you. Big thanks to Gladiatores Munich and Jeanne for making time! (Here are some more pictures if you’re interested.)

Caveat: I’m by no means a sword-fighting expert myself, so take these nuggets with a grain of salt – I might have misremembered or misinterpreted some of the things Jeanne told me. If I did, feel free to tell me.

1.) Weapon choices need to make sense

Let’s start with a truism: always ensure your character’s weapons make sense for a.) their profession, b.) their cultural background and c.) the environment they’re going to fight in. A farmer probably couldn’t afford a sword and might use a knife or threshing flail instead, and someone who doesn’t want to be noticed probably wouldn’t be milling about sporting a glaive or another large weapon. Also, soldiers native to a country with wide open plains would be more likely to carry long-range melee weapons such as spears or large swords, than those from a country consisting of mostly jungle or dense forests. The same applies to situations: if your character is going to be fighting in close quarters (even just a normal house), he’d get little value out of a spear or even a longsword, as there’d be no space to swing it effectively.

2.) Boldness often beats skill

In real swordfights, recklessness was often more important than technique. The fighter less afraid of getting injured would often push harder, allowing them to overpower even opponents with better technique.

3.) Even a skilled fighter rarely stands a chance when outnumbered

While a skilled (or lucky) fighter might win a two-versus-one, it’d be extremely unlikely for even a single master swordsman to win against superior numbers, even just three and if they’re below his skill level. The only way to plausibly pull this off would be to split the opponents up, perhaps by luring them into a confined space where you could take them on one by one. The moment you’re surrounded, you’re probably done for – because, unlike in Hollywood, they wouldn’t take turns attacking but come at you all at once.

4.) Dual-wielding was a thing

… at least in some cultures. I often heard people say that people using a weapon in each hand is an invention of fiction. And while my instructor confirmed that she knew of no European schools doing this—if they did, it’s not well-documented—she said it was a thing in other cultures. Example of this include the dual wakizashi in Japan or tomahawk and knife in North America. However, one of the biggest problems with the depiction of dual wielding in novels/movies/games are the “windmill”-type attacks where the fighter swings their weapons independently, hitting in succession rather than simultaneously. Normally you’d always try hitting with both weapons at once, as you’d otherwise lose your advantage.

5.) Longswords were amazing

Longswords might seem boring in comparison to other weapons, but they were incredibly effective, especially in combat situations outside the battlefield. The crossguard allowed for effective blocking of almost any kind of attack (well, maybe not an overhead strike of a Mordaxt, but still), the pommel was also used as a powerful “blunt” weapon of its own that could crack skulls. Though they were somewhat less effective against armored opponents, the long, two-handed hilt allowed for precise thrusts at uncovered body parts that made up for it.

6.)  “Zweihänder” were only used for very specific combat situations

Zweihänder—massive two-handed swords—were only used for specific purposes and usually not in one-on-one combat as is often seen in movies or games. One of these purposes was using their reach to break up enemy formations. In fact, one type of two-handed sword even owed its name to that purpose: Gassenhauer (German, Gasse = alley, Hauer = striker)—the fighters literally used it to strike “alleys” into an enemy formation with wide, powerful swings.

7.) It’s all about distance

While I was subconsciously aware of this, it might be helpful to remember that distance was an incredibly important element in fights. The moment your opponent got past your weapons ideal range, it was common to either switch to a different weapon or just drop your weapon and resort to punching/choking. A good example of this are spears or polearms—very powerful as long as you maintain a certain range between you and your opponent, but the moment they get too close, your weapon is practically useless. That’s also why combatants almost always brought a second weapon into battle to fall back one.

8.) Real fights rarely lasted over a minute

Another truism, but still useful to remember: real fights didn’t last long. Usually, they were over within less than a minute, sometimes only seconds – the moment your opponent landed a hit (or your weapon broke or you were disarmed), you were done for. This is especially true for combatants wearing no or only light armor.

9.) Stop the pirouettes

Unfortunately, the spinning around and pirouetting that makes many fight scenes so enjoyable to watch (or read) is completely asinine. Unless it’s a showfight, fighters would never expose their backs to their opponent or even turn their weapon away from them.

10.)  It still looks amazing

If your concern is that making your fight scenes realistic will make them less aesthetic, don’t worry. Apart from the fact that the blocks, swings and thrusts still look impressive when executed correctly, I personally felt that my fights get a lot more gripping and visceral if I respect the rules. To a certain extent, unrealistic and flashy combat is plot armor. If your characters can spin and somersault to their heart’s content and no one ever shoves a spear into their backs as they would have in real life, who survives and who doesn’t noticeably becomes arbitrary. If, on the other hand, even one slip-up can result in a combatant’s death, the stakes become palpable.

That’s about it! I hope this post is as helpful to some of you as the lessons were to me. Again, if anything I wrote here is bollocks, it’s probably my fault and not Jeanne’s.  I’ll try to post more stuff like this in the future.

Cheers,

Nicolas

Dynamic poses tutorial by me. I saw one just recently and I just got reminded by my past experiences with those kind of dynamic poses tutorials. 

The basic gist of doing dynamic poses is contrapposto, so this is mostly the tutorial.

Main meat is pic number 2.

I also made some transparent Starfleet insignia icons just because

#come through baba

Hey guys if you haven’t this movie its called The Breadwinner and last I checked it could be streamed off of Netflix. It’s an amazing film about a girl who disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family, who is living in Afghanistan during a dangerous political climate. It’s beautifully animated and incredibly well-written. Me and my younger sister (she is ten years old) thoroughly enjoyed it. So did my mom and dad when we watched it with them later. 

It is based on a book of the same name. I read the book when I was in Elementary school. It is great. I also encourage you ne read it.

It’s also made by the studio responsible for Song of the Sea and Secret of Kells, both of which are phenomenal. Unfortunately they also weren’t very profitable. These people really deserve a lot more recognition for their amazing, beautiful work, and if you think so too you should definitely keep your eye out for their upcoming project, Wolfwalkers 

this ones for the girls

the water warriors fighting for access to clean water for all

the teenagers imprisoned for fighting back against oppressive regimes 

those fighting for access to education for all

for the future of the planet 

for gender equality 

for safety and protection from gun violence

for governmental representation and engagement for youths 

for the rights of immigrants 

for syria and the rights of refugees 

for literacy and the representation of WOC in books

for trans and queer rights 

for protection of girls against forced marriage and child slavery

i hope that one day we live in a world where children are allowed to just be children, where they dont have to fight tooth and nail for their rights and their futures, but i could not be prouder of this generation 

(from top to bottom: Autumn Peltier, Amariyanna “Mari” Copeny, Ahed Tamimi, Malala, Greta Thunberg, Melati and Isabel Wijsen, Artemisa Xakriabá, Ridhima Pandey, Jamie Margolin, Rowan Blanchard, Jaclyn Corin and Emma Gonzalez, Shamma bint Suhail Faris Mazrui, Sophie Cruz, Bana al-Abed, Marley Dias, Jazz Jennings, Sonita Alizadeh, Payal Jangid)

Velma photoset will be available tomorrow. Stay tuned.

For now enjoy this.

The more this gets retweeted the more I lose my mind that it’s just normal photos I took, and yet my cosplay gets only a few hundred in comparison.

…flex all day I guess.

Witch and Wizard Hat Sewing Patterns

Choly Knight on Etsy

See our #Etsy or #DIY tags

Ah yes finissshed. Beats the shit out of my last drawing of her. I’m so proud of this yes I am.

Art By IG: @jennifertaylorart | Pinterest: @artwoonz 

Twitter: @artwoonz_ quotes

“A Thread of Tips” by Shelby

• #16 is missing but to find out more tips, follow her on twitter; be sure to thank her! 😁

Bless you

da inquisition characters as quotes i have up on my wall

Blackwall:

All that remains is a single truth: There will never be an absence of grief, only reasons to survive in spite of it. 

Cassandra:

The ocean never handed me the gift of swimming. I gave it to myself.

Iron Bull:

These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb. 

Cole:

I want to be so kind it echoes backwards in time and undoes the things that hurt you. 

Sera:

Carry around your happiness in a pendant to remind yourself that the world can be good, that sometimes things do work out. 

Varric:

What is to be gained from keeping the heaviest of treasures behind your teeth?

Dorian:

There is no such thing as destiny. There is nothing you can’t control.

Solas:

What tried to destroy you didn’t have the strength. Still you stand, sturdy and smelling of smoke. 

Vivienne:

We did not crumble. We did not back down. We stood eye to eye with violence, and it blinked first. 

Cullen:

Even in the winter, the cold isn’t always bitter, and not everyday is cruel. 

Josephine:

Its like her body makes forgiveness the way mine makes blood, the way it flows from her when she is injured. 

Leliana:

Even if I don’t see the sun, I know it’s there, and there’s a whole life in that,in knowing the sun is there. 

15 min warm ups

is it?

is it,

griffin?

is it-

is it-

is it almost like some

of your

imagination

sucked my hit points away from

me,

me, having deeply fallen out of the practice of writing poetry: I can’t write any more, I am now a Talentless Hack

the voice of my 11th grade journalism/12th grade creative writing teacher who rly did know everything: if you stop writing for a while the words will build up and stagnate. to clear the water, you will have to open the dam completely, and accept the fact that what initially comes out will not be palatable

This. This is so true. Starting again is more important than what you actually write. You are rusty. You’ll build up momentum again. All you need to do is start.