DID YOU MISS KACHINAS??? I DID
THIS TIME WE HAVE SOME DUDES BASED ON: A really bigshot flower kachina (remember how the hummingbirds were all about flowers? This guy just straight up is a flower) and a squash. Seriously he is just a squash! His head! Is a squash!
sigh why are they all so perfect~
ALSO should have added this when I first posted but I am dumb so here’s an ETA: Yo I changed the wording on captions to the other kachina arts! This relates to that “lady paints kachina — GETS CANCER” ask from before.
After I answered that ask the person clarified what they were trying to say, and it was not OOOH EBUL CURSES, it was more like — They were trying to get into my head how seriously Hopi take kachinas. WHICH: I misunderstood obviously. But I wasn’t clear with my intentions for this series either so LEMME TELL YOU:
I am not even going to pretend I’m drawing THE ACTUAL KACHINA. Kachinas sort of - the way I understand, it’s like, if you’re representing them, in a carving/painting/etc, it’s sort of like you’re drawing upon their essence/power/there is probably a better word for it. But you have to nail the representation to not totally ruin everything and be a dick. Obviously I am not well-versed enough in Hopi culture to get them for realsies right. So that’s why I went back and edited things - The hummingbirds, say, are BASED on Tootsas but they are not THE REAL MCCOY because that is a door I don’t even have the key to open. I’m drawing these while I learn, to help me remember, and hopefully encourage you guys to learn more too, but - to word things like “I’m drawing X!” with no qualifier and act as if that’s just as legit as an actual kachina dancer, or an actual ceremonial doll… It’s no bueno and belittles something I’m trying to celebrate.
Think of them as drawings off a live model. They might look similar to that model but a drawing is still not a substitute for the living, speaking person. It was flip of me not to make that distinction in the first place and I’m sorry for that.
I want to thank the original asker for coming back and dropping that knowledge on me because without them I would not have known. They are a champ. Tumblr, this is why we don’t treat every interaction like a contest, you might end up learning something if you take the time to talk through your misunderstandings.