shwetanarayan:

woh-battameez:

shwetanarayan:

And done!
So this is my attempt at a steampunk Indian character.  I was irritated into it by bad depictions of Western-aesthetic-pretty Indian Girlies in fake saris. Her hair is partly “inspired” by the Indian-rapunzels, because like Battameez, I cannot imagine an Indian woman with that much hair left unbraided. 

I’ve tentatively named her Amrita Bai, but that’s probably not period-accurate so it’s subject to change as I do more research.  Her family’s from Tamilnadu, & are Vishwakarma caste (specifically metalsmiths, I assume), but they moved to one of the forts under Shivaji’s control, and she’s training under a mechanical artificer there.  — All subject to change as I do more research.  (Plz do tell me if this is faily somehow…)

Real saris are hard.  And group-specific; this is a Tamil-brahmin 9-yard sari, and probably not quite period accurate but I’m not sure how it’d be different.  No blouse, because this is from my no-British-Raj alternate India. I haven’t actually worn a 9-yard sari myself, so I’m not at all sure I have the folds right on this one.  But I did get input from my mother, who has. 

Anyway ya know what’s not hard?  Making her skin dark.  I find that dark skin is so much easier to get looking human rather than zombie than pale skin is, so extra wtf to those whitewashers who say it’s haaaard.

And now I run off to the doctor.

OH MY GOD SHWETA THIS IS PERFECT. CAN I WRITE FIC TO GO ALONG WITH IT. OH MY GOD *BREATHLESS* 

:D

But, ontological question, if you write fic of my original character before I manage to write my story about her, which one is the fic?

(I want to run thoughts about that story by you if that’s okay sometime btw, not that I’m well enough to write yet but hey! Apparently I’m well enough to draw again, which is HUGE, so maybe soon!)

ETA: Name and sari do need more work — they are not caste-period accurate (hmm, must chew this over) 

BUT OH MY GOD. 

Yeah the earliest sari reference I could find is early 1900s, which is of course way too late.  But *something* like it seems eminently practical for engineering work.  Must make use of university libraries. & problem with Tamil names that are actually period will be getting Anglophones to parse them at all - but that is also true for those foreign Maharashtrans XD So her name could get shortened, as mine & my brother’s did, because these northerners can’t pronounce proper Tamil names only (I was Shwetambari, he was Saratchandra, we became Sharad & Shweta).

btw I invented the changeable-size wrench because the pipe wrench is a) Western and b) not invented yet XD 

lulubonanza:

The Riddler and Harley Quinn Rockabilly by ~DenisM79

suicideblonde:

Fan Bing Bing in a embroidered Christopher Bu gown at the Cannes Film Festival opening ceremonies and the premiere of Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, May 16th

Her hair style is a symbol of the Tang dynasty’s noble women and her gown tells the stories of the Four Beauties of ancient China

[three pictures of chandeliers in purple, red and green, shaped like cephalopods]

abbyjean:

Enchanting cephalopod chandeliers by Adam Wallacavage (via Craftzine)

shame i sold my house

steampunkd:

Steampunk Octopus - Portal 2010 cover by ~ninjagirl

Steampunk Octopus for Portal 2010 Literary Magazine cover. I’m still pretty proud of this, and since I haven’t posted forever, thought this would be a good way to get back into it.

I need to Art more.

asunburntcountry:

withthebrightestofeyes:

The random things you come across while walking through the City.

Perth CBD

zuky:

yama-bato:

Qin Tianzhu

via

(detail)

     

Beautiful example of blending traditional and modern Chinese brushwork and composition, with calligraphy which blares a defiant modernity and an elegant minimalism in overall execution where negative space stirs the imagination alongside perfectly executed traditional brush techniques using ink, water, and paper.

nixwilliams:

littlenymphs:

flamingdoodlem0nster:

rats-in-the-walls:

tumblarghdotcom:

I always forget that “Nar Nar Goon” Is actually a place  hahahaha

omfg

Victoria is cooler then where ever the fuck you’re from

LOOK AT ALL THOSE MELBOURNE HIPSTERS.

always the best

fantastiquecollective:

Most fantasy maps are really, really horrible. Here’s some of the worst offenders:

Eragon-world: The At Least One of Everything Fantasy Map.

Goodkind-land: The All the Borders Perfectly Follow Geographic Features Fantasy Map.

Kushiel-world: The Not Trying Hard Just Like Earth Fantasy Map.

Middle-Earth: The God Made It Fantasy Map.

Narnia: The Inconsistent Travel Distance Fantasy Map.

Valdemar: The Place Names Sound Really Made Up Fantasy Map.

Westeros: The Conveniently Paper-Shaped Continent Fantasy Map.

Randland: The Copying Stupid Things Tolkien Did Fantasy Map.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms: The Fantasy Maps Are Mainstream Fantasy Map.

sesamestreet:

Many of the walls at Sesame Workshop, the non-profit behind Sesame Street, are big chalk boards. So it only makes sense that artists who work at Sesame Workshop turned them into huge murals of Elmo, Cookie Monster, and more. One of the artists talks about the process — and shows some more of his work — over on our blog.