Tattoo Tweet Expanded

Originally on Twitter [Expanded for blog purposes]:

Not an expert, but as an artist who's done pro work and in this writing game for 20+ years, if your OCs/characters have tattoos (personal, cultural, or group/gang/syndicate), for the Love of G*d, change them up! They're IPs, many are culturally-unique, and a number are attached to investigated groups.(End)

The reason I say this is, I don't see much creative information about portraying tattoos and other skin art in prose or in illustrative or sequential artwork. What I have learned is, though I bear no tats myself, nor will I ever (personal, spiritual, and health reasons, and fear-of-needles phobia), I appreciate, respect, and enjoy tattoos on others because this form of art is so unique and personal to those who wear them. First and foremost, commercial tattoos whether done by a pro or an amateur, are IPs or Intellectual property. They can be considered copyright ©️ as the tattoo artist/practitioner is creating it. Someone else's skin is simply their paper or canvas.

For cultural purposes, it becomes even more mired. When a tattoo is from a particular culture, there is a lot of significance placed on certain images and symbolism only known within the group/community. It's why when outsiders get tattoos like this, they not only mess up the meaning, but they offend the culture and are shamed for it. Also, in several global indigenous cultures around the world, tattoo artists aren't only seen as a profession, but as a spiritual calling. Which is why skin artists and skin art is prayed and meditated over before they start. There are even rituals tied into these procedures long before the ink even touches the recipient's skin!

Now we come to the last part... Which should terrify most of us. Prison and secret society/gang/synidicate/organized crime tattoos. I can't stress enough that as an artist and writer to carefully consider making up one's own tattoos in these cases as well. I mean, a lot of these tats are marked identifiers to police and the FBI/CIA and other bodies of global law enforcement. It's simply not worth it. 

Septimus, my new favorite!

I'm currently working on an art series with now one of my favorite secondary characters, Septimus. And I came to a realization today while sketching the sixth piece... 

Septimus is an updated version of my boy, Sonny, a hightop fade teen bear-boy I came up with back in middle school! Septimus is instead a dog instead of a bear, an adult, lighter-skin, more excitable, even more outrageous, and q*eer. 

I know I promised my Pride Month artwork and will do so after this post! Again, thank you Dear Readers for indulging me!  

Another "Linkage" illustration

Linkage has been a nebulous original character. They started out as a cisgender boy, and when I revived the character a few years back, I thought they were a trans teen. Imagine my surprise and delight when I decided to make Linkage nonbinary and suddenly, the character became this cheeky little [insert your expletive of choice here] and so much more interesting a personality than my first draft ideas.

Linkage is descended from South Asian
peoples of Old Earth, specifically from several Indonesian ethnic groups. I wanted to showcase Linkage finding out their old earth roots with some headdresses and emblems from different Indonesian cultural groups in yellows, oranges, and reds while showcasing their hacking profession via digital text and Linkage's virtual headphones(they can activate these psychically) are in blues.

My mom told me how she appreciates the fabrics on my characters and that they look like the fabric they're emulating(she sews and makes clothing). 

All I can think about was that time in high school art class when one of the fashion design folks left her seat from the front to walk around and view other classmate's work and she became angered by how dare I, the 'cartoon/comic artist', draw such an incredible dress on one of my characters(who was an anthro cat, no less!). 

The character's accessories and outfits should also reflect their cultural background and sense of modernity in the far future, yet not look bland as scifi clothing tends to. I mean, clothing in fantasy often looks interesting and culturally significant, so why can't science fiction clothes too?

I also love SF book covers which tend to highlight other aspects of the character's life or several characters' lives in the story. 

Here, Linkage has a pet from another world they once visited. I deliberately create my aliens, but sometimes, an alien, or its species, turns up on the fly. When that happens, lI'll use that first sketch as a template to further expand. 

So I will be expanding on this cockatrice-type creature later on!

Hope you liked this post about me explaining my process! You can see the entire slide show from start to finish on my Insta @ Handdrawnbycarmenjr

Until next time, Dear Readers!

Decolonizing my own work...

When I drew a cat character back in high school, this was around the time I began to formulate characters for my Tabber the Red series. One of the more important female characters, a male student called her 'thunder thighs'. A male character 'looked gay'*.When working on characters for my scifi dog comic, one athletic-looking female character 'looked like a lesbian', as if one's body type determined one's orientation! 

I have gotten a lot of flack, criticism, and insults towards my OCs (original characters) since I could put pencil/pen to paper. And when people attack my characters, I feel as if they're attacking me. One particular hurtful comment was when a close friend and fellow artist told me to kill off my main female character because she wasn't 'good enough for the main male character', who happened to be a gangster! 

Now you probably noticed a pattern here. Most of the harshest critiques are towards my female or femme looking characters. We already know why this is and I can discuss it another time, but, the point of this post is to understand how important it is to me as an artist to show diversity even within my speculative fictional worlds. That's why even my anthro cat characters will have locs and braids. That's why I make sure that this October artist month, when I show my Tabber the Red fantasy-sword&sorcery characters who happened to be tattooed, scarred, or wearing mendhi and/or henna, I put a footnote that all those body markings have nothing to do with war or becoming a warrior and everything to do with cultural/ethnic/tribal/national identity. 

Since I pull inspiration from real-life beliefs and practices, the same respect I will accord to others, I will do so for my fictional people. To me, culture and ethnic identity is important and not to be appropriated as gimmick or 'trendy'. I'm doing my research. I'm speaking to others. I will learn, so that when my characters express themselves, the identity will be as seamless as the 'air they breathe'.

There will be more 'decolonizing' for my OCs and in my writings. Just you wait and see.

*That character that was called gay? It seems that even if that person meant it as an insult, I realized while writing the character that he is indeed QUILTBAG and I'm writing in his sexual identity and orientation into the story. So, I guess that long ago person did me a favor by 'outing' my cat character!