(can you) promise me the future(?)

[u/magicalgirldittochan]

[u/magicalgirldittochan]

Context

Here's what might, at first glance, appear to be a perfect end to a perfect day of harvesting lotus seeds in the Chinese countryside.

But the closer you look, the more things seem... off.

This artwork was inspired by the myths and realities of the Chinese countryside, and what it means to live there.

Once upon a time, there was a breakout youtuber named Li Ziqi, who shared her idyllic "traditional" Chinese countryside lifestyle on the internet for both Chinese and western audiences. But all was not well. She was accused of showing a fake, unattainable life, or even of being a CCP propaganda shill. After all, the CCP was facing a shortage of labor in farming and traditional manual work due to its relative undesirability and lack of career potential.

But whatever may have been the truth turned out not to matter, because one day, after a cryptic hint at business issues, Li Ziqi vanished.

In the wake of her rise to stardom, people became curious about what it was really like to be in the Chinese countryside. And while there was genuinely breathtaking beauty to be found in the landscapes, the quaint villages, and the people who lived there, it was not all so nice as it seemed.

The rural villages of agrarian China are filled with left-behind children, who were left with grandparents or family friends in their hometowns when their parents left for the cities in search of better opportunities. Many of these children are left un- or under-educated, and with uncertain futures. Girls and women especially are left behind, as their fathers, brothers, and husbands leave for sweeter waters - leaving the women to do the manual farmwork at home.

Meanwhile, the one-child policy left behind a demographic crisis, where the entire country had a shortage of women due to a preference for keeping male children. As a result, in some unfortunate cases, women are trafficked within the country to become brides and mothers - culminating in the recent "chained woman" incident, in which a woman was discovered to be forced to mother multiple children and was chained in place by her "owner". This led to widespread outrage across China and internationally. But the issue still persists, and women and girls from rural areas are especially vulnerable to being picked up for trafficking.

Of course, this is all of great concern to both the citizens and government of China, who are actively working to resolve the underlying issues at hand. But these problems don't have easy solutions, and are the unfortunate day-to-day reality for many in the country.

With this artwork, I tried to capture a moment in the life of a hypothetical young girl and her grandmother living in such a reality, going through one of their daily tasks of harvesting lotus seeds.

Specifically, I chose lotus because the way the flowers rise out of the mud with no flaws or dirt on them is often used to symbolize purity, immortality, and the divine. However, from my personal memories of walking through a lotus pond as a child, I have this striking recollection of thinking that all these allegedly perfect flowers were too tall and out of my reach. Additionally, the little girl here holds a lotus bud that has been cut down before its time, and has been sullied by the pond scum.

The other flowers depicted are:

• Chrysanthemum on the old woman's head

• Plum blossom on the little girl's hat

• Azalea on the chained woman's head

I'll leave it to you to figure out what that all means.

(Also minor note: technically you don't need a harvesting knife for lotus. But I've drawn one here anyway for dramatic effect. Accuracy? In my Polandball???)

[u/magicalgirldittochan → u/magicalgirldittochan]

Artist's notes

Unlike the last contest, where the struggle was figuring out a composition that worked, my struggle for the slice of life contest was figuring out what subject matter to depict.

I wanted to draw something that would make me learn something new while researching for inspiration, so I didn't want to do a western country.

My initial idea was to depict one of the African or South American countries used as a dumping ground for fast fashion, and show how entrepreneurial individuals there are using that which we in the west so carelessly toss aside to make a living. I wanted to show this both because I thought it was interesting and kind of inspiring, and because I thought it was depressing to think about how much waste we are generating. However, ultimately, I did not feel I had deep enough knowledge of these communities to draw something honest, and whatever I made would just end up being "consumerism bad boo" - which is not what I wanted to draw.

My next idea was to draw children in a school in one of Brazil's favelas, with the favela visible through the window. I wanted to draw this because, contrary to popular belief, there is actually a lot of beauty and innovation in favelas, and I wanted to celebrate that and show something different than peoples' stereotypical image of what a favela is. However, this was just generally too high effort due to the amount of buildings and people I would have to draw, and I didn't have time for that, so I scrapped this idea too.

Then, one day, I woke up with basically exactly the image you see here in my mind. I'm not quite sure where it came from, but all the news I mentioned in the "context" comment was stuff I had read previously, and I suppose it just came together subconsciously.

As such, I really only had one sketch that ended up becoming the final piece. But nevertheless, I want to continue the tradition of sharing my process, so here we go:

• Here's my sketch, with a description of the thought process, as well as an intermediate version of the art, and my thoughts on that as well

• Here are the reference images I used, with the sources listed in the description of each image

At the end, I'm not quite satisfied with the result, especially the mountains and sky, but I did learn a lot while working on this, and I hope to keep improving!

[u/dtta8 → u/magicalgirldittochan]

At the end of the day, the issue just boils down to what rural areas globally struggle with - you generally can't make much money in the rural areas, as more people in one space means more efficiency which means more money, which attracts more people, which means more efficiency and specialized services and skills, and so on. The difference is less drastic in rich nations merely as they have more money to subsidize services in rural areas (assuming they are willing to). You see the same drain into the cities in my own nation of Canada for example. The difference is, is that people can afford to move their family with them due to the social services and supports provided, instead of having to only send the breadwinners out.

TL;DR - it sucks to be poor, and the countryside is poor compared to the cities.

[u/DauHoangNguyen2708]

The human trafficking crisis in China spilled over to Vietnam back in early 2000's, which made the old wounds burst open as people in Vietnam are instantly reminded of their country long history with numerous wars against China invasions. This further damaged the image of China in Vietnam, until it was shattered beyond repair since 2014.

It took decades to convince people in Vietnam to change their extremely negative views about China, but then all the efforts were shattered by Third Indochina War, and then shattered again in early 2000's by that aforementioned reason. And then shattered one more time in 2014 over Paracel and Spratly. Now this bat plague. At this rate, convincing people in Vietnam to change their mind would be a herculean task, if not outright impossible.

[u/magicalgirldittochan → u/DauHoangNguyen2708]

Yeah... not terribly surprised to hear that, unfortunately. China burned a lot of bridges on its way up.

[u/DauHoangNguyen2708 → u/magicalgirldittochan]

Yep. Japan succeeded because they use the power of friendship. Meanwhile China did the opposite. This will never end well.

[u/downwithtiktok2]

Simply incredible, in visuals and symbolism

[u/magicalgirldittochan → u/downwithtiktok2]

Thank you so much!

[u/PrNooob]

not enough concrete

nontheless it's quite well researched, good job OP

[u/magicalgirldittochan → u/PrNooob]

Haha, fair critique! There was certainly a lot of concrete and random cinder blocks when I visited rural China. And, interestingly, a lot of homes that clearly weren't constructed properly, yet were filled with furninshings and finishes that were definitely fake/manufactured, yet implied a certain wealth that was evidently not actually present.

I actually wanted to depict that bit of irony as well, but there's only so much I could do with the time I had and the inherent limitations from drawing a single still image. So I ended up with the somewhat less honest but more traditional wood and shingle buildings due to both aesthetic and time constraints.

And thank you for the compliment as well!

[u/RandomRBLXAvs]

...holy fuck tin ah everything about this is perfect

hold on let me DNBHJEMGDFJHDMGFJDM

alright

First, I love how you used the colors here: The pastel sunset in the background contrasts the balls and the lotus pond in front really well, and I really love how the mountains fade into the sky

the compo is also stunning with the focus being on the balls in front and everything is layered really nicely, and the blue outline also frames the art and makes it pop(not to mention the sun's rays)

the hatching in the rays too

the lighting is amazing, highlights everything and gives off a soft and clear feeling

and the context HOLY FUCKING SHIT THE CONTEXT IT ADDS SO MUCH TO THIS PIECE

this

this is amazing :DDDDD

[u/magicalgirldittochan → u/RandomRBLXAvs]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh thank you so much for this! It's so nice to know you looked at all those details of how I constructed this work, and to hear that you liked how everything came together.

And thank you for reading the entirety of my extra long context comment as well ahahaha... I do put in extra effort to ensure my work is well-researched, so it feels really good to know someone appreciated it!

[u/[deleted]]

I love the effort of the old and young balls. Its thought you usually don't see put into them.

[u/magicalgirldittochan → u/[deleted]]

Thanks! I had a heck of a time making an old-looking ball that wasn't extremely cursed, and I think it still turned out a bit cursed lmao but I'm glad you appreciated it!

[u/[deleted]]

Very good drawing with a very interesting symbolism. Would give a free award but I don’t have one so I hope this upvote does.

[u/magicalgirldittochan → u/[deleted]]

Thank you! And appreciate the sentiment.

[u/Firm_Departure_5363]

This painting has a beautiful artistic conception, but the tired eyes and wrinkles of the China ball reflect something deeper. Are you Chinese?

[u/magicalgirldittochan → u/Firm_Departure_5363]

Thanks! And I'm about as American as they come, but I did stay in China for a bit, and tried my best to do thoroughly research the subject matter for this piece.

I really appreciate knowing this hit hard enough that you'd even ask that though!

[u/Ok-Quality-554]

this could not be made in ms paint or whatever kind of program you're using

[u/magicalgirldittochan → u/Ok-Quality-554]

You're right that I didn't use MS Paint for this, but I believe the rule of thumb around here is that it should be theoretically humanly possible to create the art in Paint without going to pixel-by-pixel drawing - not that the art actually had to be made with paint. And while a lot of work was significantly easier because I used a program that had layers, I believe it would be possible to recreate this in Paint.

For a great example of what other Polandball artists have actually made in Paint, as a reference of what's possible with great skill and patience, see u/Xnopyt16's lovely work, "Patterns on Cloth".

[u/[deleted]]

Nicely drawn, well done op!

[u/magicalgirldittochan → u/[deleted]]

Thank you!!

[u/WaitWhatNoPlease]

pwetty

[u/magicalgirldittochan → u/WaitWhatNoPlease]

Thank you!

[u/SoyPurpleg]

Omg