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JV West

@jvwest.bsky.social

2.3K followers 1.7K following 6.2K posts

Creator. Comics, TTRPGs, pinup artist. Black Pudding zine, GOZR, The Pool, Doomslakers blog. Human rights FIRST. Human made art ONLY. he/him person. www.jvwest.art Reshare my posts if you like. But be cool about it.

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JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · Sep 7

Hello. Here's some #art I did. I also do #TTRPG stuff, #comics, and whatever I feel like doing at the time.

Color drawing. Goblin god with spectral goblin warriors attacking party of adventurers. This was the GM shirt for Gary Con

Color drawing of a wizard with a smoking pipe crawling out of a disgusting well in a city. Two yellow imps hover nearby with his towel and book. He's dripping.

Color drawing. A space station interior. A bunch of weird characters that look like Conan, Batman, robots, demons, ducks, etc.

BW spread of a woman with a sword, a wicked moon and sun, a worm witch, bunch of waves and water, and narration about the destruction of an island. From the comic Hellion Cross, 2024.

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 15h

Go check out Daria's monster capture game!

Daria LeFevre @hodagsoup.bsky.social · 20h

Thank you so much for the awesome character sheets @jvwest.bsky.social! These sheets for Creature Capture Cards are absolutely rad!

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 1d

I think because of the big tent approach and massive cultural penetration, you're just going to always have a LOT of players who are there for the socializing and fun. They don't care about systems or any of that. Just just want to laugh, roll dice, have a good time. And that's ok, but y'know...

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 1d

you got that right

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 1d

Right. Movies have always been brutal to the wealthy, which is great. Even at the height of the 80s. But they also celebrate capitalism quite a bit, so it's a mixed bag.

The current conservatives here take a page or two from Ayn Rand when it comes to greed = good.

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah, see that's what I'm talking about.

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 1d

To piggyback off that... there's also the factor that D&D has always been a game about killing and stealing. When you water it down to make it about "everything", you erode what it was, which makes it less interesting.

There are good games created for broader purposes that are more compelling.

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 1d

TTRPG opinions are cheap, I know. Here's my 5e one: It is boring because it wants and tries to be "for everyone". Any art that is for everyone is probably not very exciting. Maybe fun in a social setting when you don't care too much about it. But not satisfying creatively.

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 1d

It's not that I don't like kids or anything, I just am not particularly fit to create art for them. My instincts lean pretty hard toward the edgy or not for kids type shit.

See, I can't even make a post about it without cussing. I'm dreadful. Thank goodness I got mine 99% raised.

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 1d

I remember seeing Time Magazine covers showcasing CEOs, which is what I mean by a celebration. The powers that be celebrated them, even if common people did not.

And you are correct, they were rewarded with HUGE bonuses.

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 1d

You are 100% correct. There have been lots of events to push this but a huge one was Reagan. He won the Presidency in an actual landslide... TWICE. And he was the President for the rich. He sold us on the idea of "trickle down".

Boy were we duped.

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 1d

This album is really good. Riffy, heavy, with a nice kind of 2000s guitar tone. Reminds me of a band called Harms Way from the 2000s. I guess this is just straight up stoner rock? Anyway... good shit.

Slomosa - Cabin Fever (official music video)

YouTube video by Slomosa

www.youtube.com

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 1d

Cool beans. Nice lines!

Molly Mendoza @mollymendoza.bsky.social · 5d

I liked the inks almost more than the final but I’ll share the final soon when I scan!

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 1d

That sounds like a hoot of a good time! I need to find some zine fests around here. They exist... I just never go.

Thanks for the shout out.

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 1d

I mean... the war industry already proves the case, right?

The prison industry as well. Just lock a bunch of people up and let them rot so we can funnel tax money into the prison system and make a few rich people richer.

Pretty disgusting when you really think about it.

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 1d

In the 80s, CEOs became celebrated business heroes for laying off thousands of workers to help bolster company profits. That trend has never ceased.

What happens when it becomes cheaper and increases profit to just kill a bunch of people? It's not hyperbolic to suggest that shit is a real threat.

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 1d

One of the coolest album covers of all time!

Sadly, I didn't get into Kreator when I was younger. I've been exploring them more lately. To me, they were in the same category as Candlemass back in the day. I just didn't have an ear for it.

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 1d

Sinister!

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 2d

I thought the first was Vinnie Vincent Invasion for a moment... lol

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 2d

Can't wait!

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 2d

Don't trolls in MB have an escalation of power? Not the same, but the impact is similar.

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 2d

I'm meandering here with some thoughts. But I'll wrap up by saying that even though I understand the need to veil sexual imagery so that children aren't bombarded with it, I also know that we're way too fucking uptight about it. The Ghostbusters insinuated blowjob didn't hurt me as a kid. 4/4

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 2d

I understand why we filter sexual imagery. I don't want to sit with my relatives and watch a tits n ass movie. And I damn sure don't want to have an erotic D&D night with the guys.

There's also hyper-violence. Torture porn, as they call it. That, I think, is also a no-go for sharing broadly. 3/4

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 2d

...well... that's a bit different, right? The purpose of an erotic image is to make you horny. We get very uncomfortable getting horny around mixed company. Sexual feelings are shared with intimate partners or when we are alone.... not while watching movies with Uncle Jim and Gramma. 2/4

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 2d

Regarding violence vs. sex in art... I said I don't get it, but that's not really true.

Violence is easy to abstract into a broader "resistance" fantasy. Seeing Conan slay a bunch of goons is a power fantasy. You can share that with a room full of whoever, mostly.

But erotica... sex stuff... 1/4

A fat barbarian lady leaping and slicing a snake in half with a big fucking sword.

JV West @jvwest.bsky.social · 2d

I agree. And honestly I don't want to bitch too much about Bsky. It's the best we got right now, and it's not too bad. I just grouse a lot about this topic regardless of platform. I have never been comfortable with how we treat eroticism or sexuality, particularly in light how we treat violence.