AO3 Has Been Scraped, Once Again.

on repeat 🎶

tagged by @barkingatthemooninsteadofwriting, tysm! i love seeing what everyone’s listening to.

here are my current top 10 most listened to songs:

peace by Taylor Swift

Kiss Me by Ed Sheeran

Going Home by The Aces

Hold It In by Jukebox the Ghost

cardigan by Taylor Swift

Late Night Talking by Harry Styles

Bitter by FLETCHER and Kito

Until I Found You by Stephen Sanchez

Dive by Ed Sheeran

Your Song by Elton John

tagging @madefortherain @neege @littleoldrachel — would love to see what y’all are listening to :))

basic fandom etiquette rules if some of y'all forgot

1. don't put ship tags in your hate/anti posts

2. if u hate someone opinion/hc just block or mute them and move on

3. never leave a criticue under people's work, it's not a published book, juts close the fic and find something for your taste

4. always ask artist for permission to repost their art and always use credits

5. if u don't like something click the button mute

6. if u like a art or fic please leave something nice in comments, it will inspire creators and keeps them motivated

Time to listen to some records 💫

I've seen your posts about AI. I also know it's a pretty polarizing topic and what the majority opinion is, especially in regards to art and writing. And being an artist myself, I totally agree that it sucks, like you have to pay attention and all, but.... I hardly dare to say this because I know how emotional the discourse around AI is, especially on a platform like tumblr, which sometimes seems so strong that I don't participate in a discussion about this topic at all because I feel like people here would hound me for it, but I still use different AI software, but not in the way that I use it to create something that I can publish and pretend that I spent hours creating it myself. I think it can be really helpful.

If I need information about something quickly, it's more efficient than spending a lot of time searching different websites for a particular piece of information.

I also like to think of it as a group member when I'm working on projects. That doesn't mean that I get the ideas from it and then just copy them. In the same way that group work is beneficial, you pass the ball to each other with the AI and exchange ideas that you can then develop further. Or it can help you if you're looking for another word to describe something better, like a dictionary. And I still know how to use real dictionaries or do proper research, because I know that AI can make mistakes and you shouldn't believe everything. Just like it is with information from the internet in general. Anyway, now I come to the actual “confession”, which is that I also use it, not to let the AI create the art, but as a tool to help myself creating it. I usually use reference images for drawings to help me get the scene itself or the anatomy correct etc. Andy capture it properly. But sometimes I have a very specific scene in mind and can't find a suitable reference, and it can take me hours to find something that fits. So I like to use AI to create that reference for me, because unfortunately I don't have people modeling for me and personally it helps me extremely to have examples to work from.

Idk where exactly I'm going with this. But since the general opinion on generative ai seems very clear here, I wanted to finally get this off my chest because I always kept my moth shut being afraid of how others might react, even though I think that my methods are still quite legitimate, as I still do the real work myself. Anyway, I'm looking forward to your opinion.

Ahhhh okay, well, thanks for the vulnerability here.

You know my opinion on AI. I’m not going to tell you you’re a terrible person or anything for using it, but I’m also not going to justify your personal decisions. Instead, I invite you to change your perspective.

My opinion is this—and it’s more of a question: why are you creating the art? I’m going to hit a few of your main points and just pose questions because I think this gets to be more philosophical than a cut-and-dry “if you use AI, you are a bad guy.” Because I don’t think that—I also don’t think you should use it.

The reason I don’t blame people for being attracted to using AI is because as human beings, we’re designed to find the most efficient way to do things. Thinking and using creativity is a huge caloric expenditure. Right? Naturally, we’re attracted to ways that things can be done FOR us and reduce our cognitive load. Your brain is working as it was designed! But this is also a really cool way to take away your voice and mold you into someone who cannot think for themself.

(This is also what you’re doing by “confessing” to me. You’re unloading your cognitive/emotional burden so you can keep on doing the thing you know is probably a bit shady.)

First of all, I don’t know you, so I don’t know what your art training is. However, you need to train your brain to start coming up with stuff on your own. I am really sorry, but I don’t buy the “I don’t have enough references.” When there are free resources like Unsplash.com and even just looking at buildings around you, the furniture in your house, etc, you DO have the references. But you need to learn how to use them. This is a tool.

Second thing, if the reference isn’t exactly what you need, then you need to start learning volume and shapes. You need to study anatomy. Eventually, you will be able to look at a reference and understand how perspective works and be able to transform a reference in your head to what you need. OR - start combining references. If I’m doing a full scene, I probably have about 5-6 reference photos I’m working from. This is a tool.

Third, start taking photos of yourself for reference images. If you can’t find what you need, do that. I periodically have to go into my camera roll to delete the god-awful reference poses for myself. This is a tool.

Fourth, start a collection of things that “strike you.” Start a reference blog. Have a folder filled with images that intrigue you. Personally, I take an insane number of photos when I’m traveling. For example, I went to a mansion for a tour and took photos of all the early 20th century objects and rooms so I would have these in my arsenal. This is a tool.

My fundamental question is this—why are you having an algorithm create what’s in your head for you? Why not learn how to do these things instead? Your imagination is so cool. The process of creating is making happy mistakes. What do you think Bob Ross would say to you? When you use AI, you’re just copying. The imaginative part has been done for you. You’re just a tool of the robot.

We do so much to avoid frustration, but frustration is the part of creating. When we can see the skills we need to learn, that’s how we know we’re improving. It means you’re trying, and when you press through that discomfort, that’s when you grow. Stop seeing this as a block to your end goal but as an opportunity to continue your infinite journey as an artist. Celebrate that there are so many beautiful things to learn.

Additionally, please don’t see AI as a group project. A group project indicates that all parties involved consent to participate, and I know most artists do not want their art to be used in this way. Imagine if you learned to do all the things I’ve described above and taken time/years/frustration/love to develop these skills, and someone years later then took your work and said “It’s okay - we ALL contributed to this.” It’s just not true.

The artists you see online don’t simply sit down and draw a bunch of cool stuff without practice. I watch Youtube videos of professionals. I draw a gazillion sketches of just MOUTHS or hands so I can create my own references in my mind. Why would you deprive yourself of this?

Look, I think it comes down to this: if you’re looking for efficiency and ‘getting it done’ quickly, then why are you doing it? Are you enjoying the process? If you aren’t, why are you even doing it?

If you need a robot to imagine something for you, then you don’t actually want to do it.

☆

i dont accept any of this bullshit where remus is cold and harsh and cruel towards sirius in wolfstar fics bc he'd be head over heels, obsessed, pathetically in love !!! this is my pathetic loser lover boy remus lupin

remus does not now how to exist in groups (before the marauders at least) and ends up following them across the whole school even though he was supposed to turn 10 minutes ago but he didn’t know how to interrupt them to say bye and he didn’t want to just disappear in fear of coming across as rude so he stayed silent and kept following

✨ this or that ✨

tagged by @neege, thank you! <3 tagging @brandileigh2003 @raindragon-20 @missmoonfrost

coffee shop or flower shop

au or fix-it

enemies to lovers or childhood friends

angst or fluff

love at first sight or pining

modern au or historical au

soulmates or unrequited

fake dating or secret dating

break up & make up or proposal & weddings

get together or established relationship

oblivious pining or domestic fluff

hurt/comfort or crack

meet the parents or meet cute

this was way harder than it should’ve been omg i’m awful at making decisions/picking favorites 😭

OK, fandom, here’s a thing about Remus Lupin we don’t hear nearly enough about: sometimes, being a werewolf wasn’t an unrelenting cycle of angst.  Sure there was a lot of suckage, but sometimes there was fun.

‘And they didn’t desert me at all.  Instead they did something for me that would make my transformations not only bearable, but the best times of my life.  They became Animagi.’

(Chapter 19, The Servant of Lord Voldemort, PoA.)

Where are you all hiding the fic and arts when teenage Remus gets to actually enjoy some full moon high-jinks?  There’s more misery and moping around the hospital wing than you can shake a stick at and, I get that, I really do, we all love a bit of h/c, we hurt the ones we love the most and all that malarkey.  But surely there’s room for more?  The roaming the school grounds, running about the Forest, wild animal adventures?  Most times there’s not much willingness to even admit that Remus ever had any fun, instead just a grudging acceptance that his Animagi friends made full moon a bit less bad, maybe even tolerable.  but Remus very clearly says otherwise.  To repeat:

‘The best times of my life.’

Look, it’s not like Remus didn’t have enough misery, can we not let the poor bastard enjoy the one bit of fun canon gives him?  Oh, and while we’re on the subject, he goes on:

‘And there were near misses, many of them.  We laughed about them afterwards.’

Think about that for a minute.  Remus came close to attacking people during the full moon on multiple occasions, but far from being consumed with self-loathing and regret, managed to laugh about it afterwards.  I mean, he had a bit of a conscience about it, but:

‘I always managed to forget my guilty feelings every time we sat down to plan our next month’s adventure.’

Sure, he knew what he was doing was dangerous, and sometimes he felt a bit bad about it.  But it didn’t stop him doing it, didn’t stop him laughing off the dangers, didn’t stop him regarding the full moon as an “adventure.” 

There will always be fans of long-suffering Remus and, hey, knock yourselves out if that’s fun for you.  But, oh, what I wouldn’t give for a little more of canon Remus who is no sort of soft doughy cinnamon roll but is a bit of a thrill-seeker, not entirely honest, and definitely capable of having fun.  

Don’t @ me unless you’ve got recs or are up for planning next month’s adventure.

no one told me that titling fics was so hard omg this is basically the only thing holding me back from posting the first chapter of my trans remus christmas fic