Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michele Rosenthal @michelerosenthal.com · 6d

Look I'm just saying...

Michele Rosenthal @michelerosenthal.com · 6d

Ok hear me out, what if cave paintings depict animals more often than human figures because our ancient ancestors were furries?

The lion panel at Chauvet cave, depicting overlapping line drawings of lions and bison

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Michele Rosenthal @michelerosenthal.com · 13d

What a fantastic ending to our Kickstarter. Thank you to everyone who believes in this project as much as I do!

And a special thank you to our marketing team, @xanaroker.bsky.social and @kitsnow.bsky.social, for the work and wisdom that made our grassroots campaign such a success!

Armadillo Stock @armadillostock.bsky.social · 13d

🎉 THANK YOU! 🎉 Our Kickstarter is complete, and we've raised an incredible 150% of our goal!! Late pledges are open if you still want to support us or get early artist access.

We couldn't be more grateful as we prepare for the launch of our beta site later this year. Stay tuned for updates!

Drawing of a happy armadillo and the words "thank you!"

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Michele Rosenthal @michelerosenthal.com · 13d

I can't stop laughing at "of Cuomo, Adams, and Sliwa, I trust Sliwa's word the most"

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 13d

Curtis Sliwa and I don't agree on much. But we do agree on this: City Hall is not for sale.

You can't say the same for Cuomo or Adams.

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Michele Rosenthal @michelerosenthal.com · 15d

*smoking a bowl, gazing up at the stars* I wonder what happened to the Entwives

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Reposted by Michele Rosenthal

Armadillo Stock @armadillostock.bsky.social · 15d

With less than 48 hours left in our Kickstarter, we'd like to take you on a quick tour of our wireframe!

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Michele Rosenthal @michelerosenthal.com · 16d

That's fair, and it makes sense these stats are worse than pre-covid. I would be interested to see literacy compared to, say, 100 years ago. But I'll admit, I'm deeply distrustful of any narrative that tells me the wealthy are broadly more intelligent than the poor

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Michele Rosenthal @michelerosenthal.com · 16d

Ooh, thanks for the stats. My takeaway is that access to education is a class issue, so of course it all comes down to an economic disparity crisis. But also...I don't know if I trust how the government defines literacy, lol

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Michele Rosenthal @michelerosenthal.com · 16d

I refuse to believe we're in a "media literacy crisis" unless someone can point out which period in history had more media literacy than today

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Michele Rosenthal @michelerosenthal.com · 20d

Girl with a Perler Earring

Girl with a Pearl earring made out of perler beads

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Michele Rosenthal @michelerosenthal.com · 23d

I'm so proud of the entire Armadillo team, so grateful for the community support, and so ready to build the best licensing website we can build!

Armadillo Stock @armadillostock.bsky.social · 23d

🎉 We did it! The Armadillo Kickstarter is funded! 🎉

To celebrate, we can finally reveal our mascot's name, as chosen by you. Meet Arlo Strawberry Armadillo, or Arlo for short.

This was a true grassroots campaign, and we can't thank you enough. You still have 9 days left if you want to support us!

We're 100% funded! A happy armadillo says, "Thank you!" in a speech bubble. A name tag reads, Hello, my name is Arlo

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Reposted by Michele Rosenthal

Armadillo Stock @armadillostock.bsky.social · 23d

We're so close to our goal!! Help us cross the finish line so we can build an alternative licensing website for illustrators!

Our Kickstarter is 99% funded! $5,940 pledged on $6,000 goal. 76 backers. 9 days to go.

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Reposted by Michele Rosenthal

Armadillo Stock @armadillostock.bsky.social · 28d

The Armadillo Ambassadors are the talented group of artists featured on our site who supported us early on. Thank you @paulheaston.bsky.social, Kendyll Hillegas, @breelundberg.com, @sonnyross.bsky.social, @feanne.bsky.social, @alannaflowers.bsky.social, and @michelerosenthal.com! 2/2

Meet our ambassadors: Feanne, feanne.com
An detailed illustrated pattern of the moon and stars, and an illustrated pattern of white galloping horses

Meet our ambassadors: Alanna Flowers, agfdesignstudio.com
Illustration of sriracha bottles with lettering that says, "you're awesome sauce," and an illustration of candy with lettering that says, "working with you was a real treat"

Meet our ambassadors: Michele Rosenthal, michelerosenthal.com
An illustration of two women walking through an autumn park holding coffee, and an illustration of a woman trying to walk away from a bed she's stuck to

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Reposted by Michele Rosenthal

Armadillo Stock @armadillostock.bsky.social · 28d

The Armadillo Ambassadors are the talented group of artists featured on our site who supported us early on. Thank you @paulheaston.bsky.social, Kendyll Hillegas, @breelundberg.com, @sonnyross.bsky.social, @feanne.bsky.social, @alannaflowers.bsky.social, and @michelerosenthal.com! 1/2

Meet our ambassadors: Paul Heaston, linktr.ee/paulheaston
A pen and ink illustration of sketching at a cafe, and a pen and ink illustration of an old truck

Meet our ambassadors: Kendyll Hillegas, kendyllhillegas.com
An illustration of circular fruit cross sections in rainbow order, and an illustrated chart depicting different varieties of pie

Meet our ambassadors: Bree Lundberg, breelundberg.com
An illustration of a frog in a scarf and coat watching falling leaves in a river, and an illustration of a distressed bunny carrying a latte with the text, "I have a latte going on!"

Meet our ambassadors: Sonny Ross, sonnyross.com
An illustration of brick buildings on fire, and an illustration of a camper in a dense forest

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Reposted by Michele Rosenthal

Derf Backderf @derfbackderf.bsky.social · 28d

Photo of an artist's photo-reference morgue. A really nice one.

Before the Magic Electric Internet, artists & cartoonists had to create their own Google Images, by clipping photos out of magazines and filing them according to topic.

I had a morgue until the mid-1990s. Not as good as this one.

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Reposted by Michele Rosenthal

Armadillo Stock @armadillostock.bsky.social · Sep 8

Here are answers to a few common questions we've gotten. Let us know what else you'd like to learn about the project. And thank you for helping us reach over 3/4 of our goal, let's keep it going!

Cartoon armadillo with the heading FAQ. Q: How will you keep the website AI-free? A: Artist accounts will be invitation-only to start, and we'll ask for a portfolio link of human-made art to approve new accounts. If an image is flagged by the community, we'll work quickly to investigate and take it down.

Cartoon armadillo with the heading FAQ. Q: Will you allow artwork that's not safe for work? A: Yes! We welcome mature content that doesn't depict minors or bigotry, as long as it's appropriately tagged

Cartoon armadillo with the heading FAQ. Q: Can an artist put limitations on how their art is used? A: Since negotiation happens off the website directly between artists and buyers, the usage terms can be anything both parties agree to

Cartoon armadillo with the heading FAQ. Q: How will the site be funded in the long term? A: In the future, we'll fund the site through premium memberships, offering perks like larger portfolios and higher search rankings for artists, and shareable folders of liked art for buyers

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Michele Rosenthal @michelerosenthal.com · Sep 8

I was not expecting to learn Tal Bachman lore today

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Michele Rosenthal @michelerosenthal.com · Sep 7

I think social media has flattened it so much. Fine artists have to compete to promote themselves and their work to the general public like everyone else does these days. The markets do function differently, but there's a lot of overlap, and imo it's all essentially commercial

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Michele Rosenthal @michelerosenthal.com · Sep 7

This is exactly how I feel about fine art vs commercial art

G. Willow Wilson @gwillow.me · Sep 7

My hot take: there is no such thing as literary fiction anymore, if by literary fiction we mean intellectually challenging high-brow fiction. It's all just a battle for eyeballs now. If you've been asked "who is this book for?" by PR, congratulations, you are writing commercial fiction

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Reposted by Michele Rosenthal

Armadillo Stock @armadillostock.bsky.social · Sep 3

Thank you so much for supporting a licensing platform for illustrators! We're well over halfway there, and we couldn't be more grateful! #illustration #kickstarter #noai www.kickstarter.com/projects/dia...

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Michele Rosenthal @michelerosenthal.com · Sep 2

It was so wonderful to talk to Julien about @armadillostock.bsky.social, illustration licensing, artist organizing, and more! There's even audio if you prefer listening to reading. Thank you for the opportunity to talk about the things I love!

Julien Porquet/Posture @julienposture.bsky.social · Sep 2

I’m so excited to share this interview with @michelerosenthal.com about her alternative licensing platform @armadillostock.bsky.social!

We discuss:

🖼️ The economy and ecology of stock image platforms
🤖 Their relationship with AI
✊The role of organizing for freelance artists

Licensing platforms: is there no alternative? (Yes, there is.)

An interview with grassroots licensing platform Armadillo's founder, Michele Rosenthal

open.substack.com

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Michele Rosenthal @michelerosenthal.com · Aug 29

After one day, we're about 50% funded!!! I'm so proud of the work we've done, and excited to finally share what we've been planning. I hope you'll support us and help spread the word!

Armadillo Stock @armadillostock.bsky.social · Aug 28

The Armadillo Kickstarter is LIVE!

Help us launch a community-built, free-to-use platform for licensing human-made art directly from illustrators!

Find out more: kickstarter.com/projects/dialmformichele/armadillo-stock

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Reposted by Michele Rosenthal

Armadillo Stock @armadillostock.bsky.social · Aug 28

The Armadillo Kickstarter is LIVE!

Help us launch a community-built, free-to-use platform for licensing human-made art directly from illustrators!

Find out more: kickstarter.com/projects/dialmformichele/armadillo-stock

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Reposted by Michele Rosenthal

The Marriage Braggart @bombsfall.bsky.social · Aug 21

James Dobson dying is a staring into the middle distance type of event. You have likely directly suffered bc of him. Few have done more to harm humanity at large in the past few decades. A principal architect of our current nightmare. No redeeming aspect. He was a rat made entirely out of plague.

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Reposted by Michele Rosenthal

Armadillo Stock @armadillostock.bsky.social · Aug 21

It's finally happening! Our Kickstarter launches next week, so we'll see you there!

August 28 Kickstarter, with an illustration of an armadillo and a megaphone

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