Please reblog the polls, but KEEP IT SPOILER-FREE to make people read the excerpt with an open mind 💖📚 Title and author will be revealed after the poll’s conclusion.
So, I saw this image on Facebook, and it was supposedly showing what Queen Nefertiti would have looked like in real life:
Now, I thought this AI generated garbage was just truly terrible on a number of levels; first off, she looks wayyyyyy too modern – her makeup is very “Hollywood glamour”, she looks airbrushed and de-aged, and as far as I’m aware, Ancient Egyptians didn’t have mascara, glitter-based eyeshadows and lip gloss. Secondly, her features are exceptionally whitewashed in every sense – this is pretty standard for AI as racial bias is prevalent in feeding AI algorithms, but I genuinely thought a depiction of such a known individual would not exhibit such euro-centric features. Thirdly, the outfit was massively desaturated and didn’t take pigment loss into consideration, and while I *do* like the look of the neck attire, it’s not at all accurate (plus, again, AI confusion on the detailing is evident).
So, this inspired me to alter the image on the left to be more accurate based off the sculpture’s features. I looked into Ancient Egyptian makeup and looked at references for kohl eyeliner and clay-based facial pigment (rouge was used on cheeks, charcoal-based powder/paste was used to darken and elongate eyebrows), and I looked at pre-existing images of Nefertiti, both her mummy and other reconstructions. While doing this, I found photos of a 3D scanned sculpture made by scientists at the University of Bristol and chose to collage the neck jewellery over the painting (and edited the lighting and shadows as best as I could).
Something I see a lot of in facial recreations of mummies is maintaining the elongated and skinny facial features as seen on preserved bodies – however, fat, muscle and cartilage shrink/disappear post mortem, regardless of preservation quality; Queen Nefertiti had art created of her in life, and these pieces are invaluable to developing an accurate portrayal of her, whether stylistic or realistic in nature.
And hey, while I don’t think my adjustments are perfect (especially the neck area), I *do* believe it is a huge improvement to the original image I chose to work on top of.
I really liked working on this project for the last few days, and I think I may continue to work on it further to perfect it. But, until then, I hope you enjoy!
Remember, likes don’t help artists but reblogs do!
So this was a pre-planned (and likely paid for by the Kremlin) show: to invite Zelenskyy, scold him like a kindergartener in front of the press, present him with an unreasonable “deal” – an ultimatum – knowing full well he will refuse it (as anyone in this position would). And then tell the world: “Look, our mighty Orange King could’ve ended this horrible war in a day, but this poorly-dressed, warmongering, ungrateful twat just doesn’t want peace! It’s not our fault, we did what we could!”
The show is so cheap, so transparent, yet still effective for so many brainless people.
I want you to know that the Mexican press is calling Zelinskyy a hero for walking out and putting his people and country first.
So is the Canadian press, who are also reporting that it hasn’t played well for anyone but Trump’s most staunch supporters in the US.
that’s Oksana Markarova current Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States since February 2021. She likely arranged the trip when Trump lied it was a meeting about minerals and peace deal
We can’t treat our allies like trash. Life isn’t a business deal. Grifters can’t save us when all they care about is their own ass.
I think a lot of people are forgetting that on tumblr fandom used to be practiced very differently. now everyone fucks off to their discords or tumblr groups to discuss everything with a select few, making tags be nearly only used for posting some finished fanworks or not at all
a decade ago people didn’t have tumblr groups. people didn’t even have dms. if you wanted to talk to anyone about anything you had to make a post, or send an ask (which more often than not would get published and thereby become a post in the end too)
so next time you think “I have a fandom thought but I have to find a small group of hyperspecifically like-minded people to share it with in private” remember all the freaks you could be missing out on meeting by keeping the tags dead. use tags, make friends. fuck discord.