tips on how to draw raph? :3
I’m a raph lover but he is so hard to draw 😔
hey an!! listen i get u completely, this big spikey boy can be a real challenge
my main advice would probably be to recognise raph’s structure? his shapes and how he’s formed, etc. and the best way for that imo are references! i have a tag for this actually
and here’s some raph refs!
if u wanna know how to draw the entirety of the best boy this post wouldn’t do it justice so here’s some main things:
if you’re trying to replicate the show’s style keep in mind how angular everything is. raph's main shape is a square because of how bulky and rigid he is (helps to encourage his character's role too! love that they made him such a fucken tank)
raph’s head shape is basically if you widened leo’s head- they’re both pointed too
one main thing i do for any head really is keep in mind the eye placement and the cheeks
if u happen to draw faces with the fabled circle and two lines- i use the horizontal line to mark where the bottom of the eyes are- and where the start of the cheek begins (i’m doing my best not to make this into a ‘now draw the rest of the owl’ moment)
if that makes any sense. heres a really shoddy 'tutorial'
i kinda just blank out on my canvas and raph appears out of sheer will
but also just like.
figure out how you like raph's head to look (maybe u want his snout longer, or his jaw shorter, etc etc)
figure out where his brow ridges are located and how they're moving (is he grumpy? is he angry??)
make a mask for his eyes to go in (jebus take the wheel)
pronounce snout (it protrudes, which makes it easy to figure out his facial planes)
do whatever feels right for his mouth- im not exactly rigid with how i draw as of rn, i just do what feels right
ive drawn raph with a more pronounced snout too, and oscillate between designs if i feel like it (truthfully i also sometimes begin his head shape with a square (i mean if im doing a different style), feel free to do that if it helps i dunno-)
if you want to draw his shell and plastron here’s what i do:
being able to carve out 3D shapes will help a lot with the border of his shell
by blocking out the main shape and then carving away at it you can then see how raph’s shell is structured (just. try decipher my sketch if u can pfghjhj)
for the actual shell itself it’s a lot like mikey and leo’s where it has a big curve and then dips at his midsection (where his belt goes!) also keep in mind the spikes of his shell follow those same curves (ft. dr belle)
with his plastron (chest plate) i basically make sure it’s the same length of his clavicle? the jagged edges of it i mean. it helps a lot to map out where his shoulders meet his arms
(pls keep in mind my art’s inconsistent and i don’t even follow my advice- the hole in his shell changes every time i draw it 💀)
his body shape is also just in general wider and stockier- if i ever see people draw him skinnier than he is you'd be able to hear my soul exiting my body
all of him is wider in general! hes bigger than the rest of his brothers so dont forget to show it instead of just giving him a height difference. he BEEG.
i’m not sure how else to describe the process of drawing him other than just. draw him?? 😅 my best advice would be to draw him repeatedly based on references- and study your favourite raph artists’ way of drawing him (mine would be jacocoon and itz_jazzy_jazzin)
and it helps to study bc it can answer these questions
how do you want to draw him? do you like the way a specific artist stylises his features? do you want him more spikey? more sharp? maybe you want to draw him bigger! (i myself like to give him a tail, extra markings on his spikes + a few scars post movie and his mismatched eyes)
repetition is super important to get it all engrained in your brain- and it’s why i don’t really even use refs for him anymore fldjs
dont forget a very important rule: appreciate the big boy in all his glory
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Yes, I would be very interested hearing your head canon (@tim-ribbert-56) (in response to this post)
I have decided for my personal entertainment that Clarisse de Cagliostro is related to Lupin III, and here's why.
-pulls out Arsène Lupin's Wikipedia page-
In the novel La Comtesse de Cagliostro, a young Arsène Lupin (at the time going by the name Raoul d'Andrésy) was courting Clarisse d'Etigues, a young lady of a well-to-do family, and trying to win her hand, despite her father's disapproval.
Throughout the course of the novel, Lupin meets and falls in love with Joséphine Balsamo, aka the Countess of Cagliostro, and abandons Clarisse in favour of her. To clarify, Joséphine is not actually countess of anything, she is (or claims to be) a descendant of Giuseppe Balsamo aka the Count of Cagliostro (who was also count of jack shit), a famous conman from the 18th century.
Shenanigans ensue, which I will not go into in details on, but oh my god I am insane about Raoul and Joséphine, I want to dissect them and study them under a microscope. It turns out Joséphine aka Cagliostro is evil as fuck, Raoul/Lupin realizes that and goes back to Clarisse (whom he had previously abandoned like an old sock, I fucking hate this guy), marries her, and a few years later has her kid.
Unfortunately Clarisse dies in childbirth, and Joséphine, who was still around and very very pissed at Lupin (and jealous as hell of Clarisse whom, may I mention, had never personally antagonized her in any way whatsoever, Joséphine is just fucking bonkers). Joséphine also kidnaps Lupin and Clarisse's son, Jean, and raises him as her own son. (I have not yet read the following novel The revenge of Cagliostro so I don't really know what Jean's deal is, I just know he's an antagonist).
The following is my headcanon, based on these events. In the universe of Lupin III, Joséphine Balsamo was actually countess of the small kingdom of Cagliostro (maybe Giuseppe was count, maybe he conned his way into becoming count, maybe he bought the land and built a fake kingdom with a fake history, who knows).
After the events of The revenge of Cagliostro, Jean settles down in the country of Cagliostro, gets married, has a child, and that child will later have a daughter of their own, who they name Clarisse, after their late grandmother. Clarisse de Cagliostro, of Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro fame, would thus be the great-grand-daughter of Arsène Lupin, making her Lupin III's cousin/niece/whatever you call this specific degree of separation.
I am choosing to make Clarisse de Cagliostro a great-granddaughter of Arsène Lupin, rather than a granddaughter, because Arsène Lupin was very young when the events I described unfolded: he is 20 years old when he meets Clarisse d'Etigues and the whole Cagliostro debacle happens, and 25 by the time Jean is born. I'm assuming he had Lupin II much later in his life. So Jean and Lupin II (half-brothers) would have a significant difference in age, and so Jean's hypothetical child (grandchild of Arsène Lupin, so of the same generation of Lupin III) would be much older than Lupin III. Clarisse de Cagliostro is younger than him, maybe around the same age if you stretch it, so she's have to be a great-grandchild.
Now I need to read The revenge of Cagliostro and study Arsène Lupin's wikipedia page in more detail to determine when exactly Lupin II was born and who his mother was. And also where Albert's family branched out, because the fact that he's called D'Andrésy should theoretically place him as a descendant of Arsène Lupin's mother but not of Arsène Lupin himself; but Jean was also going by that last name, so who fucking knows.
No I am not insane I promise, I am just a gigantic nerd.
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If Kory and Dick ever had a chance if rekindling. What do you think that would look like? There’s something beautifully about lovers coming back to each other after so much time has passed and now being more mature with a slice of hurt and tragedy of the past still hanging over what happened to their relationship. They were so young and had so much on their shoulders when they were introduced to each other and now they are older and wiser.
i agree it can be so beautiful !!! there’s always a bittersweet tinge to the whole thing like “what we had was good”. Kory and Dick are 100% a “right person, wrong time” case to me. They were just really young and going through a lot of changes and add the whole tumultuous superhero double-life thing and things get messy. The cards were stacked against them. But i do feel like if given the chance, years after the fact and after both have grown up and softened, they could make it work. It would need a lot of work though, especially from Dick’s side. He would need to be more understanding of Kory’s point of view and confront his control issues. For Kory, she would need to work on her self-esteem and abandonment issues. While the two can absolutely help each other with these issues, it would be better if they tried to resolve them on their own because these two can become codependent. They would also need to work on their (excessive) sense of duty. This is where I feel like both can help each other out. Dick’s always had issues regarding his undying loyalty to Bruce and often needs a third party to pull him out of it. And for Kory, i get the sense hers has something to do with her abandonment issues. Like ‘if i don’t do this then everyone will leave me’ type thing. Having someone there to remind her that no, you are loved and wanted and you don’t have to do this would help her loads. This doesn’t mean they should never help out gotham or tamaran, it just means that when things get out of hand, the other is there to support.
If i had my way, in pre-52 continuity, they would have rekindled after Dick’s batman era. He’s done the ultimate “bearing my father’s burden” duty and frankly needs to reconnect with his own ideals and identity again. We all know the big role Kory (& the titans ofc) played in helping Dick step out of Batman’s shadow and forge his own path so this could be like a callback to that. Both are older, mature and now have gained a new understanding of each other’s circumstances (Dick finally recognising Kory’s duty and devotion to Tamaran and Kory understanding more of Dick’s thought process and morals while assimilating into Earth). They’re acutely aware of the others (and their own) faults that lead to the breakdown of the relationship in the first place BUT can also recognise that what they had was good while it lasted. And they still love each other, even after all these years. It doesn’t matter where they are or what mask they wear , they’ll always be there for the other and see them for who they truly are. And you know what, why not give it another shot? They’ll figure things out as they go because they both know that when they’re together - it just feels right.
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i really love dc x dp tbh but i hate how so many fics end up making the batfam dumb as shit. and i don't mean in a "loveable goof" kind of way but in a genuine "these people don't have the skills or intelligence to be heroes" kind of way. which is just antithetical to their entire thing
sometimes it's because the writer just genuinely doesn't know anything about the batfam or what they've been through so they come across as idiots. and other times it's because the writer is writing op ghost king danny or just generally op danny and they genuinely think he could outsmart or beat them. more often than not, it's a combination of the two.
it's just so sad. like not only is it disrespectul to the batfam, essentially getting rid of all the skills and experience they have just to prop up danny, but it also makes things a lot more boring imo. don't get me wrong, i don't mind the occasional "main character is super op" kind of story, but it's boring when like 70% of fics are like that and there's no real challenge or obstacle for him. part of why the show danny phantom was so fun was that it was exciting and chair gripping to see danny have to deal with his new ghost powers, figuring out how to deal with ghost attacks or vlad, and dealing with school and his parents on top of that.
but often, dc x dp fics just,, get rid of any challenge for him. sure batman is a skilled detective but danny will always be able to trick him! sure cass has been trained since birth to read people's body language but this random ghost teen knows how to conceal and control everything!! yeah damian has also been trained since birth to fight and kill but this random guy from the midwest who just started fighting in his teens is so much better!!! like, alright. it's fun every now and then but it sucks when so much of the dc x dp content is just people acting like the batfam are the worst vigilantes/detectives in the world.
and honestly i still feel this way even with the ghost king danny fics because how? he's never had to deal with people obsessively reading his body language or reading between the lines. he's had to deal with hiding stuff sure but his parents aren't the most observant people - their whole deal was being neglectful. even as a ghost king, why would he know how to outsmart, take advantage of, or beat the batfam in any capacity when he would still mostly deal with ghosts. it's a completely different skill set here - one that he likely wouldn't be prepared for. it'd be fine if they at least attempted to explain why danny would have those skills (like league danny aus) but most of them don't.
and i'm not saying danny couldn't do it at all, especially if it's a ghost king au, but i'm just tired of seeing the batfam constantly downplayed in these fics Just to make danny look better, smarter, stronger, etc. ik most people in the fandom are just danny fans but it really shows with how they treat, characterize, and shit on the dc characters just to prop danny up. it also serves to occasionally make danny look like an asshole when he intentionally messes with them and basically commits psychological torture for a goof.
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