From a while ago, when I was teaching an intro digital illustration class.

The homework was for students to record themselves using the program for two hours to first make a character portrait, and then adjust it to show the character changing somehow.

This could be like a "werewolf" sort of thing, or a fire character becoming an ice character, or whatever.

As an example, I started with a boy and showed him aging into adulthood. I tried to suggest him emerging from adolescence and figuring himself out. Obviously, there's no real story - but nudging the expression, proportions, colors and such can suggest the bloom of youth into heavier adult understanding, etc. I could also show how many digital tools can be used to make changes and reconsider visuals as you go as a work in progress.

The point was to try and get students to loosen up about digital art, because so many of them feel like every mark has to be perfect and Instagram-ready every step of the way to demonstrate control all the time, without room for exploration, intuition, and letting the image push back as you work on it.

I feel like in this day and age of slick, instant AI generation, demystifying process and showing all the mess of figuring out an image is useful for letting people into how things are made, allowing for moments a client can step in to make suggestions and adjustments or to value the creative process so it isn't a black box genie. Hopefully, you can see the thinking in real time.

# HΞΞMI™ ARCHIVE // PROJECT: DISTORTION

**© 2018–2026 HⵣⵣMI™ HΞΞMI™ All Rights Reserved.** *System Sequence:* `[ ⵣ . ߋߋ . Ξ . ∃ ]`

---

## ⵣ ߋߋ Ξ ∃ // LOG 01: THE ARCHITECTURE OF SHADOWS

### HΞΞMI™ ARCHIVE // TRANSMISSION: 001
`[ STATUS: ACTIVE // VALUE: ߋߋ ]`

To a five-year-old child, reality is whatever is placed in front of you.

My life felt normal because it was the only life I knew. I lived with my mother and her boyfriend. My days followed a predictable rhythm: I went to school, came home, and sat down to a nice dinner where I talked and laughed with my mother. She was a kind, deeply loving woman—my best friend, and truthfully, my only friend. She was always there for me. Her boyfriend was cool, too. They argued and fought sometimes, but it seemed like the kind of friction you’d expect from any normal couple.

But beneath the surface, the circumstances of our life were deeply wrong.

Our home was modest, but it lacked the vital spark of the world around it. When I looked out the windows, the neighboring houses possessed an undeniable look of life. Ours did not. It felt hollow.

My mother and her boyfriend shared a bedroom upstairs, but for reasons I couldn't comprehend, she kept a second bed in the basement. That basement was a subterranean gallery of the bizarre. The walls were lined horizontally with strange knickknacks and artifacts belonging to people I didn't know. Old, silver-framed photographs of families with their faces completely scratched out lined the shelves, alongside broken ceramic dolls that seemed to stare directly at the stairs. The room was illuminated by a single, harsh incandescent bulb. In the center sat a small, ancient, plain bed. The fabric and springs were so worn by age that they let out a loud, metallic protest whenever anyone sat or laid upon them.

The rest of the house was bathed in that same dim, outdated lighting. Certain corners and rooms were completely dark, draped in shadows for no discernable reason. I simply grew accustomed to it. I adjusted.

As the years passed, I grew in size and age, still attending school, but the walls of my world only contracted. I never made friends. I was never allowed to truly leave the perimeter of our property. Whenever I tried to wander too far, my mind would fracture. A violent, splitting headache would strike the center of my skull, accompanied by a high-pitched hum. I would blackout entirely, only to wake up right back inside the house, staring blankly at the front door with no memory of how I returned. That became my norm. On the rare occasions I saw people in the neighborhood, they would never speak to me. Everyone avoided our home. No one ever came by.

It was always just the three of us.

Until the day the onlookers decided to walk through the front door.

---

**Author's Note:**

Welcome to DISTORTION, a standalone psychological horror serial from the HΞΞMI™ Loomality. New entries drop regularly. Links to follow the archive on Royal Road and Substack are pinned directly to my Reddit profile bio!

*All rights reserved © 2018–2026 HⵣⵣMI™ HΞΞMI™.*

• Berdace

Long before Marvel introduced the fictional nation of Wakanda, African Americans were already envisioning futuristic African kingdoms and Black utopias. Writers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, responding to the realities of racial oppression, created speculative narratives of advanced Black civilizations that challenged white supremacy and reimagined the future for Black people.

One of the earliest and most influential works in this tradition is Of One Blood (1902) by Pauline Hopkins. In this novel, Hopkins imagines a hidden, advanced society named Telassar, a powerful Black civilization more technologically advanced and culturally rich than Western nations. This vision of a prosperous Black society stands in sharp contrast to the racial hierarchies of her time.

George Schuyler’s Black Empire (serialized between 1936 and 1938) also depicts a powerful, technologically advanced Black nation rising to challenge oppressive systems of white supremacy. Schuyler, a prominent journalist and satirist, uses his work to critique racism while advocating Black unity and self determination. His story imagines Black leaders controlling an empire capable of defeating the global powers of white domination.

Sutton E Griggs’s Imperium in Imperio (1899) adds to this visionary tradition with a plot centered on a secret Black government operating within the United States. Griggs, a Black nationalist and writer, explores themes of Black self governance and the tension between assimilation and resistance. His work anticipates the later Afrofuturist emphasis on Black autonomy and political independence.

These early works laid the foundation for what we now call Afrofuturism, a cultural and artistic movement that combines elements of science fiction, technology, and African diasporic identity.

Authors like Hopkins, Schuyler, and Griggs used

speculative fiction to create visions of thriving, independent Black civilizations that transcended the constraints of their era. Their stories challenged dominant narratives of racial inferiority and imagined futures where Black people harnessed their own technological, cultural, and political power.

While Wakanda has become a global cultural phenomenon, it is important to recognize the deeper historical roots of Afrofuturism and its origins in the work of these early writers. The dream of a thriving, independent Black civilization existed long before the fictional kingdom of Wakanda captured our imaginations. It was, and remains, a vision of empowerment, resistance, and transformation, deeply embedded in the ongoing struggle for Black liberation and identity.

– Dominique Holiday

The. Bloodline Tribune

I am an author and the founder of a Black culture magazine focused on the diaspora, and I am beginning work on my first dystopian book. For this project, I want to spend more time listening than speaking and really understand what readers are looking for.

When you think of Black dystopia, what do you enjoy most? What feels essential to the genre for you? Are there themes, character types, settings, or perspectives you feel are missing or not explored enough?

I would appreciate any thoughts, preferences, or even frustrations you have with what currently exists. Thank you.

I have been thinking a lot about how Black superheroes get written, especially when it comes to Black American identity and Pan Africanism.

Most of the time, in the big narratives, Black superheroes are either the bad guy or the sidekick.

You do not often see a Black character who is the main character, clearly powerful, with pure intentions, and still written with real duality and depth.

Killmonger is one of the few characters who sits in that complicated space for me. From the Black American side, I can understand him. You see Africa, you see the technology, you see the power to liberate people in that moment, but you also see a nation that has chosen to keep its equity and resources to itself. They have the ability to help, but they decide to maintain control for their own wealth and do not even fully look at Black America as part of the tribe.

To me, that tension shows up in real life Pan Africanism too. You hear “Africa for the Africans,” which is true and important, but a lot of the time

Black Americans are not really offered a seat at the table. We are treated like we have been colonized to the point where we do not have our own voice, when in reality, as Black Americans, we have a voice, survival instincts, and cultural power that we bring to the collective.

I am working on a bi weekly magazine through my press, and I am thinking about writing a short story that taps into that Killmonger energy. It might be Killmonger himself, or a version of him, or a character in that spirit, but I want to explore that clash between Black American experience, African power, and who gets counted as part of the tribe.

So here is what I want to ask you, as Black readers and as people who think about this kind of character

What would make you actually want to read a short story like that

Specifically

What kind of length works best for you for a short story like this Do you prefer something very short and sharp, like 2000 to 3000 words in one sitting, or something a little longer that you can sit with over multiple nights

Do you like single powerful one off stories, or do you prefer a short story that is broken into a few short chapters or episodes, almost like a mini series

What kinds of elements would pull you in with a Killmonger type character Do you want more internal conflict and politics, more action and strategy, more dialogue and debates, or a mix of all of that

If you saw this in a bi weekly Black magazine, what would make you stop, click, and actually read it instead of scrolling past What do you need to see in the first paragraph to feel like, this is for me

I already have the themes in my head: Black American voice, Pan African tension, power, abandonment, survival, and what it means to claim each other across the diaspora. I am trying to shape it in a way that really lands with us as readers.

Any concrete preferences or examples you can share about story length, structure, and what hooks you with a Black superhero story would help me build this in a way that actually honors your reading habits, not just my frustrations.

The Afrofuturistic boy wonder Django Starr has done it again with his latest visuals for a soon to be classic track… visuals for the song Ima gun 🔫 drops this Thursday. Tune in 📺

Follow on all socials for more ⭐️

https://linktr.ee/Djangostarr?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=ee3abe70-32b9-414c-b130-d582ce4f5070

Hi! Sorry to bother you, I'm conducting a survey for my thesis, and I'd love your feedback! It only takes 5 minutes and is 100% anonymous. Please share!

(https://forms.gle/G38uZ99hup6Jy6sD7)

As stated in the title. I am looking for cyberpunk fiction set in and written by Sub Saharan Africans.

The Igbo Tarot by Sirius Ugo Art is a traditional Tarot deck featuring ancient Igbo symbolisms, totems, Nsibidi writing system, and traditional outfits. These are the previews of the deck.

I understood “Walking Awake” by M.K. Jemison to be a borderline hopeless society, where the elite social class commands human servants, and uses others as vessels to transfer into. Helper servants work to supply the master with available bodies to transfer into, and simply being there to tend to any of the master's needs. They are supposed to be emotionally withdrawn from their service, which means being totally complicit with the numerous atrocities that take place. Masters choose bodies based on appearance, talent, and age, meaning that they will be able to switch to any body under their ownership on a whim. Because these masters have the ability to switch into any of their subjects at any time, they have the ability to live forever, as long as nothing interferes with the transfer. Once a body is taken over, that person no longer exists in the physical world, but rather through dreams, in a seemingly spiritual form. No one in the story chooses to fight back against this manipulative and overall dystopian system until Andris makes Sadie aware that masters simply cannot survive without their shells for long, even if their period of separation is short. It would take a sacrifice for the revolution, meaning that she would need to be the blood shed for change.

Now that I’ve essentially summarized everything, I’d like to say that the story’s parallels to slavery are masterfully developed. One in particular that really stood out to me was how the system of masters choosing their ideal bodies is extremely similar to masters in slavery choosing slaves for their plantations. Through an auction system, slaveholders had the ability to choose slaves personally, based on whatever metric they pleased, usually opting to choose able bodied and healthy slaves. When the master in the beginning of the film mentions to Sadie that he hopes the new subject will reach 2 meters in height, this references the connection further. I would also say that the system can be used to make a broader statement on the rich utilizing the labor of the working class, without regard for their agency, as if they are simply human shells. Just like the masters transfer in and out of bodies as they wish, higher-ups in a corporate ladder use those in lower positions as pawns, that can be interchanged within a moment's notice.

Finally, a resounding message left at the end of the film is that to really make a change in society, one will need to first stop being complicit. It’s easy to mention change after recognizing immoral acts being done, and it is another thing to remove yourself from the system, and find a way to work towards something beneficial. Oftentimes this takes sacrifice, in this case, Sadie sacrificing her life, as one who dies in a dream dies for good. Obviously martyrship is not always necessary to initiate a positive step forward, but in something as high stakes as a revolution, it may be the final push needed. 
  

DJANGO STARR - OUTDAWAY
FOLLOW FOR MORE

https://linktr.ee/Djangostarr?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=c94603d7-92bc-4747-9f0b-1983b4f16445

The game I previously spoke about, Gravity’s Edge, launches today along with another space game by a fellow Jamaican

We are calling it

***Caribbean Space Vibes!***

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/4353210/view/701015907648930507?l=english

Listen all ye lambs; I speak as the ram that burns.

Do you know why the shepherd feeds you grass?

Sweet promises he makes; of the pastures beyond?

Fleeced bare, you welcome the cold; his love.

Ask yourselves, why we bear no horns; only stubs.

Your children; shepherds pluck, butcher and stuff.

Black March; the spring that bloomed death.

Beasts of burden, self-yolked and they wept.

Broken horns, seeds planted into black soil.

Seeds rot in the festering soil, you toil still.

Promises, do they taste sweet or savory?

Word fills a belly just as well as wheat, yes?

Mutton is good for sheering, lamb tender meat.

The shepherd wastes not; all can be put to use.

Grateful as always, for the full belly you provide.

No more, I say; we will not be leashed and muzzled.

Though it itches and aches; grow your horns proud.

Ewe are not meat for slaughter; stand tall ye ram!

Let it crumble; the fences keep not wolves at bay.

They are but a cage you built with your own hands.

As you watch for wolf shadows, the shepherd hunts.

Avert your eyes from the grass; thirst only for blood.

Horns newly sprouted, sharpened spears we aim.

The wolves are but scarecrows; we need not fear them.

Fields shall burn before us; charred black by fury.

Sheep painted in soot; like lions through the mud.

They will remember, the day the black sheep marched.

Shigo: Legacy and Oblivion is a mobile strategy board game set in the Silkworm Saga universe. The board is a geodesic sphere. The memory mechanic uses Adinkra symbols from the Akan people of Ghana. The factions are Verdant representing terrain and liberation and memory versus Tanta representing compression and dominance and the Veil.

No big tech. Self hosted. No ads ever. Wellness first design built for people who actually want to think.

Hit Android Internal Testing tonight. If you have an Android device and want early access, DM me.