If you can help please do so!

For information about commissions, go here: [link]

Direct yourself here [link] for the deets!

I'm incredibly behind on bills and need help!  I'm willing to do $5 commissions to raise money to pay my bills.

What I'm offering:

A full color drawing of… just about anyone you want from the chest up.

How to get it:

Email me at maggie.amber.davidson@gmail.com with details and send $5 to therumprincess@yahoo.com on PayPal.

If you just want to help:

You may also send a donation of any amount to therumprincess@yahoo.com

Thanks for your generousity

I'm selling $5 lineart for the rest of this week if anyone's interested.  Just comment here or send me an email at therumprincess@yahoo.com and we'll get you hooked up.  Just running short on cash!

I'll be going to Tokyo In Tulsa very soon and I need some prints!  I wanted a few new ones and I have some but I thought I might make two or three brand new this weekend.

So I was wondering... what is your favorite fandom?  It can be anime, American, UK, whatever, I don't care.  Some of my currents are Supernatural, Doctor Who, X-Men: First Class, etc.

Suggestions please?  Tell me a fave fandom, a favorite character or if you have an idea for a specific picture, shoot it at me!

Okay I'm done being booty hurt and will resume some posting here, though I still favor my Tumblr.

There have been a lot of developments since I last posted about my leaving DeviantArt.

A good summary of things that happened can be found here: [link]

Well, I want to make one thing clear:  I dislike +spyed.  I think he's a jerk.  I think he thinks of nothing but how to make the next dollar and how he's going to get it out of us.  He's good at putting on a mask of concern and then saying whatever will placate the masses.

But... I have to admit... Problem solved.

Really.  You can go into your settings right now, choose to be Male, Female or Other, and no matter what you choose, be able to hide it.

I don't like that it's called "sex" seeing as sex is the physical aspect and I really don't feel like it matters what's between my legs.  But even with as much as I dislike +spyed the intention of the change seems like it's coming from the right place.

I don't want to be the person who throws a fit over someone doing something, then they fix it, apologize and I still choose to be mad and leave.

I feel like the right thing to do here is swallow my pride, say "I got my way" and go ahead and stay here.  I'm considering DevART on a probation of sort.  If something similar happens again, I won't see it fixed and then them fuck it up all over again.

~rosalarian is still leaving.  ~split-complex who was the one abused to begin with is still upset, but I think that's because they were never apologized to as far as I have read.  I really think $realitysquared should be held responsible and should personally apologize, but that's not for me to decide.  That's for him to nut up, admit he was wrong, and do.

However, some things are going to change as far as how I use this site.  I will not be posting every little thing I draw as I have been.  I'm going to be more selective.

I haven't been horribly active on here lately anyway.  Admittedly, a lot of the time I come, I post and I leave and maybe once a month I respond to comments/replies, delete all the faves and leave again.

So, for anyone interested in interacting with me more closely, please go to the following places where I am much more active:

My Tumblr Blog - This is my new favorite thing.  I love drawing up doodles of what's on my mind and posting them on whims.  This is the best place to keep up with me right now.

My Twitter - which is updated with obnoxious frequency.

And of course my ParaTivity - My webcomic site.  It's got my webcomic but occasionally the odd post about my life and whatnot.

I'll be taking a break from DA for now.  Thanks for your supportive comments, and while there are things I still dislike about what happened... CONGRATS GUYS!  We technically won. :3

I never really thought I would make a journal with that title for the reals.  

I can at least say I'm not doing it because someone commented on my pictures and made me sad, or anything dumb like that.  My reasons for leaving this site, as they have been for any site I've left, can be chalked up to many different reasons and one big one that broke the camel's back.

Some of the more base reasons I'm leaving are that many of the things I originally liked about this site have been slowly strained out into non existence.  Some of it was the site's fault, some of it wasn't.

This site used to be more about sharing artwork no matter what it was or how it looked so that we as a community could help one another get better.  I remember when I first joined seven years ago (year seven, I'm old) I could post a mediocre picture and get at least three comments.  Back then, people didn't click on just what was shiny or featured characters they knew, they browsed and shopped and tried to help people.

As the site expanded, this went away, mostly because the volume of art was too intense.

I liked the sense of community and how relaxed and easy going the place was.  When I joined you could post anything from stick figures to porn to sky's the limit.

Slowly regulations tightened and I followed in without a word of complaint.  I didn't even really say anything when the admins completely changed the organization system of the artwork and then sent me a note to bitch at me for some of my art being mis-categorized.  

I was upset when Spyed went rat bastard and fired Jark from a website that he created himself.  The situation was manipulation, plain and simple.

I've stood by through countless layout changes and attempts to get me to pay money for their services.  I watched everything go from being about the art and the community to being about the merchandising and selling subscriptions.

I stayed here when suspicious ads ran that gave people viruses.  I stayed after trying to help out the community by reporting art theft and getting tart, annoyed responses.  I also stayed after reporting bugs and getting similar replies.

Basically, overtime, the site has become joyless.  Un-fun.  I don't receive constructive criticism.  I don't learn anything.  I don't feel like part of a community.  Coming here has, in the last seven years, become an obligation.  I do artwork and post it here and that's how it should be.

But, it's not so bad, I get pleasant comments occasionally, the knowledge that people fave my work sometimes and I can keep up with friends.

But DeviantArt finally crossed a line that makes me feel that no matter how convenient they've been, it's just too much.  Too much snippy, jerky administration.  Too much corporation.  Too much Microsoft-like business layouts and not enough art for the sake of art.

DeviantArt did this: [link]

I know not all of you will find it as big of a deal as I do.  Not everyone who watches me is as into GLBT rights as I am, and I don't expect people who aren't as into as I am to think it's a big deal.

But here's why its a big deal to me:

1. They basically offered an ultimatum and said "Fall into our definition of gender or leave."

2. He asserted his personal opinion of what gender is in a matter that should have been handled with professional care.  He, in the same paragraph, stated that if the person in question had been born with both sexes that they should just choose one, which is unfair, stupid, and rude.

If a person is born with genitalia of both genders, they shouldn't be forced to be a boy or a girl if they don't want to choose.  They weren't born a boy or a girl, they were born a third gender that modern society doesn't seem to see fit to give its own title. Yes, most of us were born with a penis or a vagina.  We didn't choose, we just were born with one.

A person who is born intersexed was given just as little choice as any of us and therefore should not have to fit themselves into a gender they were not born as.

Why does modern society want boys and girls to stay boys and girls even if they'd rather be the opposite but demand that intersexed people have surgeries which conform them to one gender or the other?

Some of you might be saying "but he can't just go in and change the drop down menu."  My problem isn't about that.

Here is how I would have responded to the inquiry.

"I apologize, but we don't currently offer an alternative to 'male' and 'female.'  I'm sorry that you are being forced to choose one or the other when you don't want to and I will bring it up with the higher ups that we should reinstate the third gender option.  once again I'm sorry I cannot give you a more immediate resolution."

Instead, he patronized, basically said "there is no third gender anyway so just pick one."

3. He used the word "hermaphrodite."  This is probably the least serious offense in this list, but let me make something clear right now.

"Hermaphrodite" is a dated and inaccurate term.  Not only is it completely and totally politically incorrect, it's scientifically inaccurate in explaining the state that an intersexed person is born in.

If a person is born with both male and female sex organs or genitalia, the correct term right now is intersexed.

Maybe he just didn't know that, but the facts are, if he's in charge of Copyright & Etiquette Administration he maybe should practice being a little more appropriate when talking to people of all walks of life.

4. When he was responded to by the person in question that he had offending her instead of resolving the situation he closed the ticket and refused to acknowledge it with a reply.

So let's recap.  So far he's told the person filing the complaint that they can pick a gender or leave and that he doesn't have to care because there's only two genders anyway, unless they are a "hermaphrodite" in which case they should just jam themselves into one box or the other.  When this hurt feelings, he didn't even bother to apologize or explain his reasoning.

5. This took place of Spirit Day.  Yes, remember when the header was purple and the website claimed to be an advocate of GLBT rights?  They were apparently lying

You see the point of Spirit Day was to bring to light the inequity of the the GLBT community and how they were being bullied and misunderstood.  

GLBT stands for Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender and when the name was tagged Transgender was meant to encompass a multitude of people whose gender was not what common society thought it should be.

Commonly, this means a person who is born one gender and feels they are another, thus choosing to make a transition.

However, I feel that while not specifically mentioned this should also include those who feel they are neither gender or who were physically born neither gender.  I am sure there is not an advocate of GLBT rights who would disagree.

When claiming to support this group, DeviantArt was saying it was a safe haven away from such issues, that it supported people whose gender and sexuality was not conformed to a societal standard which is unfair and quickly becoming archaic.

On the SAME DAY the Copyright & Etiquette Administration manager tells a person who identifies as neither male nor female that they are wrong about their personal identification and that they should just choose a gender.

6. When an abuse report was filed, a completely different administrator excused this behavior by copy and pasting the same initial response the first administrator gave.  It's also disturbing to think that a response which is copy and pasted basically says "get over it or leave."

7. He then states that he will no longer discuss the issue.  So obviously it wasn't worth his time.

8. Another girl picks up the issue, is more apologetic but refuses to actually acknowledge the issue that has now become the most prominent which is the blatant abuse by an administrator.  Nothing is done about him nor will they acknowledge he did anything.

Pretty much, this is unacceptable.  I will not be deleting this account just yet or stop checking in.  I would like an online place to post my artwork and will be shopping around for a good one first.  So I will see replies and thoughts to this.

I will let you know where I'm going and please know this has nothing to do with the people who watch me.  You guys have been fantastic.

But I can no longer support a website that is so blatantly rude to people who are different while on the surface claiming to support them.

Sorry.

Going to be doing a Ustream again today.  Still setting up but I should get going here in a few minutes.

[link]

Bored, come watch/talk to me. <3

[link]

Well, I saw it, I came to my own conclusions without letting anyone else's opinions effect me as I came into this movie.  I'm going to break this up into categories.

WARNING: Contains spoilers both for the original series and the movie blah blah blah.

So let's get started.


PLOT

Overall

It was, at least, the same plot as the original series.  However, I feel that the way that it was handled could have been much better.  The selections of what to leave in and what to take out are a little... strange and the way that they chose to combine the first season came out rushed and choppy at the same time.

I don't feel that the amount of exposition was as bad as everyone thought.  Not anymore than the original cartoon had.  After all, you're having to convey a whole world which is caught up in a somewhat political war in a short time.  Exposition is necessary and important.

I feel it only got boring to listen to in one or two places.

However, I do think that we were treated somewhat stupidly.  The cartoon was made for children and didn't feel the need to spell everything out.  Yet, for some reason, the movie did.  I think some things could have been inferred.

The pacing was terrible.  They just threw Yue and Sokka's relationship at you and established it in one sentence whereas they spent 80 million years on OMG Aang's making a tidal wave!  Run!!

I do like that they saw fit to introduce characters early, i.e. The Fire Lord, Azula, etc.  But I felt like if we could spend 80 years on Aang Makes A Tidal Wave, we could have spent a couple of minutes every now in then to add in the typical silliness of all the characters.

That said, there was very little comedy relief in this movie.  No comradery between the main characters.  No development of their relationships, except a brief scene between Yue and Sokka.

But I'll get more into that later.

Over all, I'd say their plot warranted a 4/10

What I Would Have Done

K, so we only have two hours to get this first season compacted into a movie.

First of all, combine the North and South Water Tribes.  Basically move Katara and Sokka and all their village mates into the water city.  Have a pre-established relationship between Sokka and Yue.  

Have Katara already be a formidable water bender instead of a beginner like she was in the series.

Katara and Sokka are outside the city walls when they find Aang.  They attract the attention of Zuko, who comes after them.  Cue a short battle in which Aang is established as the Avatar and Zuko is made aware of his existence.  The trio escapes and brings Aang into the city.

Do some scenes between Zuko and Admiral Zhao.  Zhao then tries to overtake Zuko's efforts to get to the Avatar.

This is the time to do the battle in the Southern Water tribe.  Don't draw it out.  Have them kill the Moon Spirit and Yue take it's place.  This way we've given appropriate reason for Sokka to involve himself in protecting Aang as well as put the trio in a situation where they become allies and friends.  

I'd have to rewatch the first book to really know where to go from there but if you've seen the movie, you see that I just covered everything the movie covered in its entirety in about... oh... 30 min to an hour.  

Did I change a lot of crap from the series?  Yes.  What I had to do to speed along the process.  Complete loyalty to the original plotline creates really strange pacing and whatnot.  We don't have time to establish things that the original series did so let's already have things that don't need explaining established.  Let's combine locations so time isn't wasted traveling there.  

What is important are character development and exposition done quickly and to the point.


CHARACTERS

Aang

What I Liked:

Aang was a cutie.  He was a talented, expressive actor.  He could show a nice depth of emotion and he had the martial arts aspect down pat.  When he fought, he fought like Aang.  His intensity matched Aang's.  Nice.

What I Hated:

Where was the childishness?  Where was the "I can want to play games and jump around and be silly but still be the bad ass defender of the world"?  That was what made Aang likeable and cute.

While the actor looked the part and had serious Aang down, there was no childishness and bouncing around and easily distractedness.

Thumbs down.

Katara

What I Liked:

Beautiful actress, good depth of emotion.  She was very concerned and drawn to Aang as she should have been.  She was moral and quick to do what she thought best.  These were all true to the original series.

What I Hated:

No sarcastic responses.  No "Mama Knows Best" attitude.  No quickness to be annoyed.  No spunkiness and fierce independence that makes Katara a positive female romodel.  

She kinda just seemed there, with no real purpose til towards the end when she showed off some water bending.  She really didn't have enough lines either.  And no development.

Sokka

What I Liked:

Honestly?  Nothing.  He was completely miscast.  The actor who did him was horrible.  He did not look like him or act like him at all.  And whether its the actors fault or the directors, I don't know.

What I Hated:

Everything.  He was serious, angry and pushy the whole time.  He was not smug, not quick to comeback, didn't make stupid jokes... he was kind of a jerk.  Way too serious for the most part and not a source of comedy relief whatsoever.

Not Sokka.

Zuko

What I Liked:

The actor who played him is a great actor, obviously, since he played lead in Slumdog.  He looked how I would think Zuko would look and he played the emotions subtly in a very Zukoish way.  I felt like he was the only actor who really put a lot of work and study into the way his character behaved and acted and responded.

What I Disliked:

I say disliked because I felt this was a good choice and he did a good job so I didn't really HATE anything about him.  But I felt he was too much third season Zuko and not enough first season Zuko.  This may have been on purpose since we won't have the time to do the kind of development that was done on Zuko in the series.  I can forgive it.

Where was his scar?  He had a... birthmark, not a scar.  It should be the first thing you notice about him.  And you should think AGH HOLY CRAP WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?! the first time you see him.  It very weak.

Also Zuko was a bit of a pansy this time around.

Iroh

What I Liked:

He did seem to study his part somewhat and understand what role he played in Zuko's life.

What I Hated:

He did not look like Iroh.  He did not drink tea or play games once. Sad sad sad.  He did not play the much needed comedy relief on the Fire Nation side of things.


Overall:

... Everyone was so sad and depressed and worried all the time.  No breaks for playing around and joking around.  No just being buddies.  Very few happy moments.  Seriously, very heavy characters.

I don't want to touch on the race thing because I feel everyone took it too far.  Race doesn't matter to me and never has.  I don't notice colors.  I wouldn't have noticed Zuko was Indian if someone hadn't pointed it out.

A feminist aspect was mentioned.  That the females are weak and uninspired.  I found this to be COMPLETELY untrue.  While not as feisty as she was, Katara still does what she needs to do whether Sokka wants her to or not.  Yue was every bit the independent girl as she was in the series.  I didn't get this at all.  People are too touchy.

Not enough character interaction, not enough development.  

Overall I give the characterization a 2/10


Visuals

Effects

Very stunning.  So many beautiful shots.  Several that if you screen capped were artworks onto themselves.

The lighting was bad.  Not just inappropriate for the story but just... bad.  

There were times it felt on par with an 80's dream sequence whenever he would go into the spirit world.

Apa and Momo were cute and well done, just needed more appearances.

8/10

Costumes

Pretty for the most part, but I felt certain parts could have been part of a cheap cosplay?  I dunno.

6/10

Overall Review

There was no good balance between what they did exactly like the original series and what they did differently.  At times they seemed like they wanted to do it completely loyally and at others they did whatever they wanted.  No inbetweens.

What I did see what a love for the series and what seemed like trying too hard.

In the end, that mixed effort is what killed the movie.  Even if I'd never seen the original story it would have come off as confusing and cheesy.

I know it's not "cool" right now in movies to have comedy relief but maybe the creators forgot:  This is a children's series and should have been done like one.  It was far too heavy and in the end disgraced the original.

The bending itself was artful but didn't even seem to go together with the movements of the elements themselves.  

In short... a trainwreck.  A scrambled effort that did not come together in the end.  Less time trying to stay so loyal to the plot, and more time studying the characters.

So the question becomes... should the sequels be made?

... I'm going to say yes.  If the creators will listen to the reviews.  Put more effort into the characters.  I will go see the next movie in theatres.  But I hope they will take what the fans will say to heart and correct a lot of the basic issues.

I hope they will also take some chances and change up the plot.  I know some people out there are purists who whine at every difference but the fact is, to keep pace, you have to cut things out, change things around, combine, seperate and add in things.  There will always be grumbling but at least that would be the only thing people could grumble about.

As for the allegations that the acting was bad, I disagree.  I think the actors were mediocre to good actors trying to deal with really bad dialogue.  This happened in Star Wars too.

Hayden Christiansen is an amazing actor who got screwed over by terrible writing.  Try watching him in Life As A House someday.  He's an amazing actor.

I feel the same about a lot of the actors in The Last Airbender.  So the writing really needs to be taken up a notch.

My overall score for the movie?  3/10

[link]

^ so check it out, I commissioned this song for my roommate for her character, Tae.  I'm probably going to get another one for Jinn.

If you too would like a character song, you should follow the links in the video.

Speaking of commissions, mine are still open.





email me at maggie.a.davidson@hotmail.com

$10 = A sketch, up to 2 people. + $2 per person after that

$15 = A black and white line art, up to 2 people, + $3 per person after that.

$20 = a full color picture of one person. + $5 for any extra person.

$30 = full color picture with one person and a background, +$5 per person. I reserve the right to add more to the cost depending on how complicated the background is.

I will draw anything from anime to anthro to any other style to the best of my ability.

I will draw X-rated things most of the time as long as you discuss what specifically you want.

I will draw original characters with either a good reference picture or a very detailed description.

I will draw fanart from almost anything.

Will be doing a UStream at 5:25 PM today.  So basically... here in a little over 5 minutes.

[link]

^ Join meh~

I quit my job recently, so commissions are back open.

email me at maggie.a.davidson@hotmail.com

$10 = A sketch, up to 2 people. + $2 per person after that

$15 = A black and white line art, up to 2 people, + $3 per person after that.

$20 = a full color picture of one person.  + $5 for any extra person.

$30 = full color picture with one person and a background, +$5 per person.  I reserve the right to add more to the cost depending on how complicated the background is.

I will draw anything from anime to anthro to any other style to the best of my ability.

I will draw X-rated things most of the time as long as you discuss what specifically you want.

I will draw original characters with either a good reference picture or a very detailed description.

I will draw fanart from almost anything.

Come check it out!

[link]

So I know this probably won't work but I was asked to take the next two days off of work because all my bosses are so out of pocket for the next two days they won't be able to keep my work flow steady.

So, that's gonna hurt my next paycheck a bit.  To make up for it just a little, I was wondering, would anyone want to buy a $5 sketch?  For the next two days only. :3

I'm about to start here in a few minutes.  Come check it out!

[link]

Tune in next time. :3

[link]

Come watch me drawing the comic!

I'm not sure if all of you realized it, but ParaTivity does still exist and update.  I just got lazy about updating it here.  While, eventually, I plan to upload all the pages to DA, if you'd like your ParaTivity fix sooner, please visit the official location at [link]

The reason I don't update regularly here is because I get money for advertising on that site whereas I cannot set up advertising here, and the more money I get for the comic, the more I can work on it, yes?

Loveya~~