Hello, loves!

I just wanted to give a shout out to all of you who have ever notified me when seeing my art elsewhere. Most of these notifications come privately, but you know, there are a *lot*. People, it seems, steal my art all over the place! It's on deviantART (under other people's names), it's on photobucket, it's even sold sometimes in places I'd never think to look! So thank you, dear friends, for taking the time to let me know! I am deeply indebted to you for it. You know who you are.

Also, apologies for not having uploaded anything in a long while. I swear I will be back, and there will be coolness! I have some really fun ideas I want to try. It's just very tricky around the holiday season and during school.

I hope everyone is very well, and that you're nearing the end of the school semester, or getting some time off for the holidays, if you're busy working!

Ta!

Howdy all!

So I am finishing up my Dragon*Con prep. I just want to give a shout out again to anyone from devART who will be there--do please let me know! I've talked with a couple of folks about meeting up but if there are others going, do tell me! I'd love to meet you in person.

Also to everyone who commented on the borders: thanks! Your input was very nice, very helpful! It's good to hear what is working!

***********************

Oooooh, tangent! Deviant Supaslim is having a contest:

[link]

If you are a fantasy creature or anthro artist, you should enter because you can win a subscription! And with it also comes a full color request from Supaslim, which you should take advantage of because she is a fabulous artist! All you have to do is create a griffin, preferably with a background story of some kind--see her journal for details. The world could always use more griffins (and griffin artists), so be sure to enter! (Note that although the deadline is listed as July, it has actually been extended to August 22nd, giving you a bit of time still)

So you probably know, Avatar: the Last Airbender is being made into a movie. Actually a trilogy of movies. It's based on the Nickelodeon cartoon, a very exciting show that has endearing characters and smart writing and complex themes. It's one of those rare kid's shows that doesn't play down to its audience, and it has won the loyal following of millions of fans all over the world, young and old alike.

In the show, the Water Tribe are obviously inspired by Inuits, the Fire and Earth nations appear to be East Asian (Korean, Chinese, and Japanese influences—including in the names, like Zhao, which is a Chinese surname). The Air Nomads are styled after Buddhist monks and nuns. The writing system is composed of Chinese characters. In the Earth Kingdom they wear hanboks. Everyone eats with chopsticks.

[link]

Given all of this, you might mistakenly assume that the characters are in fact Asian and Inuit.

Wrong.

For the Hollywood live action version of Avatar, the characters are being played by white people:

[link]

To which I have to say: W. T. F????

(Anything else I might add consists of too many unprintable expletives to be communicated, so I'll just go stabbity stab stab something instead)

Now, before you get all, "Well maybe they just picked the best actors" (Hah!), or go arguing that this is just a freak or isolated Hollywood incident, lo! Edumicate yourself:

Earthsea, 21, Anansi Boys, Dragon Ball Z.

You will, if you search these films, notice a pattern whereby the final products differ a little in "color" from the source material.**

And this does not just happen with movies. It happens in book publishing, too. Recently there was a book that caused quite a bit of a stir, about a young black girl who was depicted on the cover as a quite pale Caucasian. The book is called "Liar," and you can read about the controversy here:

[link]

All of this just sucks. I am certainly not going to see the film--I try to avoid "entertainment" that makes my blood boil. I can't stand sexism, I have to turn off movies where characters fake Asian accents (mostly older films that are really offensively racist), and I definitely can't watch white folks playing Asians. Someone asked me once who I'd have act as me in a movie about my own life, and I said, "Someone unknown; I don't know any Hapa actors." Why? Because we are never cast in movies. Not even when the main characters are supposed to be Asian.


**In fact Anansi Boys isn't a film. There were companies interested in rights to the story, but Gaiman turned them down when he learned they were going to insist on changing the story so it wasn't a fantasy story with black people in it.

Hello loves,

I am currently testing some new ideas with prints and as a result will be submitting a lot of familiar images with special borders. This is terribly dull. I apologize in advance for flooding your message lists with such things.

It will all end soon. After which your regular dose of nifty fantasy art will recommence!

Hugs and kisses

--- Ico

Howdy all!

Just an update to let you know that I will be at this year's Dragon*Con! I have some gallery space in the Art Show, so you'll see some special edition prints of mine there for auction. I'll also have some regular prints in the prints shop.

I'll also have some cards with me with artwork on them, and if you run into me and are one of my watchers or friends from deviantART, say hello! We'll chat! Talk shop! I'll give you a card with my artwork on it and a message saying how much I love you!