#I love drawing cartoony expressions like that it's so freeing

[midnight--capricorn]

I will test out a silly art style by conjuring up one of the blorbos

he looks like a frog /pos

[factual-fantasy]

21 asks! Thank you! :}} 😶‍🌫️

I mean this in the nicest way possible.. but crossing my boundaries/going against my wishes is still bad even if its in private/in secret. Please just don't make any kind of fanart based on my stuff. I just want interactions. 😔

@neo-metalscottic

Hello! My days been a little rough, but at least I haven't seemed to catch that cold yet! <:D

As for the Sun and Moon.. I'm kind'a on the fence about my AU ngl. I don't want a repeat of Octonauts where people just yoink all my ideas and copy all my designs. So atm I'm not open to sharing anything I've made for them.. sorry <:/

As for your Mario ask, the clown cars are a thing! :0 They just are shaped a bit differently and Bowsers doesn't have a goofy face in his XD its the koopalings that painted faces on their mini ones.

@aamin-original

Google translation: "I love your character! It is very original and looks very charismatic! I hope you see this message, I really want you to continue drawing, you draw very beautifully."

:DD Thank you!! Though I don't know when I'll post next.. getting my Octonauts art and my original characters traced has been pretty frustrating.

@obtainedtinyteeth

Uhg, such a shame that you found me through stolen artwork. But hey there's a master post here for all my FNAF stuff so.. there's that.

Also thank you <:))

I have not, so I have no opinion on the story or characters <:/

Sorry, but atm I'm not really open to talking about the plans for my AU. I'm keeping it all private until further notice..

@beryl-shade

I'm not really open to talking about my AU right now.. But I can talk about the NPCs :0

When it comes to the background/crowd NPCs like the candy land citizens, as seen here-

They are not as sentient or as advanced as Gummigoo and his buddies. They don't have unique bodies, personalities or names, they are just bare bones NPC coded to just stand in the crowd and follow a script.

Same as he does in canon. He's just Caines goofy A.I. assistant :0

@glitchhayden418

I have no idea what you're referring to <XD

@paulacooks

I'm not open to sharing much, but I will say I have plans to make Jax more likable. He's so rotten in canon <XD

@jdsstudio

Now why they'd have to go and bring Mike back 💀

Hate to say it but the decision is final, I've had enough of tracers and thieves. I plan to only draw Octonauts in private.

Thank you though <:) I'm doing my best to take it easy.

@rockyztownesys

SCREAMS AAA THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! :DDD This was the major mood lifter I'd been needing <:)) Thank you so much

@rainwwatermelon7

Ah sorry, but I wouldn't be okay with that.. but I mean props to you. Just taking it, coloring it and sending it back without asking would be much worse.

And thank you! :D I'm glad to hear that you like my artwork! :DD

@milk-powrit

Not really sure how those episodes would play out..

@chromchill

Even then, just use free bases or show/movie screenshots. That's how I learned.. but yeah I get what you're saying. That's not nearly as bad as tracing and posting it as your own.

@somcdonaldsamirite

That would definitely be something :0

@kind-of-human1

I wont share much. But I can say that Caine was always like that/was capable of being like that. As time went on in the circus he kept leaning further and further away from "haha I'm a wacky A.I. ringmaster! :))" and more towards "these people really need my help to escape this place- and I gotta do what ever I can to comfort them in the meantime"

@carsaadi

Hello! :D So far I've drawn Caine without canines because its already hard enough to draw his "face"/expressions as he is. Adding sharp teeth would just complicate his face and make it even harder to draw expressions..

Plus so far I'm liking the vibe all flat teeth gives him. He still feels like a goofy cartoon character. Meanwhile adding sharp teeth makes it look like he's trying to be realistic... if that makes sense..? 'm more for cartoony <XD

@caronaro-flipaclip

1: I cant think of anyone who'd say that <XD

2: He might tease Ragatha, but he doesn't bully her and he doesn't bother Gangle at all.

3: I imagine is sound about the same as it does in canon! :0

@asperanna

Other than knowing its gonna have the light and dark looking sky kids from Eden, I cant actually grasp what this season could possibly be about...

I'm excited for it none the less! :)

Also as for the two sky kids themselves- the scene with them in Eden always makes me feel something 🥲

[caitmayart]

Big thank you for the art in this season of Dimension 20, it's fucking fire from front to back, not a single miss!

Do you have any non-spoilery insights into your artistic choices with this season?

I ask because the art is less bouncy and cartoony than not only the previous FH seasons, but than the other seasons of Dimension 20 generally: The colors are cooler and less saturated, the expressions and poses are big, but grounded, the shading is subtler and more detailed, and the way all of that plays with the magical people's designs really feels like you took actual photos of fantasy people. It really captures what makes Fantasy High Fantasy High, I love it so much, and I was wondering if it was a conscious choice, just how you draw, or a secret third option.

Holy wow, this is one hell of a compliment! Thank you so much - I'm not really sure how to answer? I think the truth is that it's just my style, I was given free stylistic rein on the characters, obviously with reference to the past seasons' art.

I was told that one of the reasons they hired me was because of my ability to capture "candid" character moments, and I was encouraged to do that instead of static poses.

In my personal style, I'm a heavy sketcher and I use a lot of toothy pencil brushes. My main brush for the whole project is a lovely brush that can do teensy details but also does textured marker-like shading when sized up. I used it for both the characters and projections :)

Thank you for the love - I'm so glad you like my style!!

[beansprean]

Hii!! Just wanted to ask how you get your poses on characters just flow so naturally? Is it like 2nd nature to you or does it take a really long time to get the poses right and natural? Bcs i've always struggled with that

Just wanted to ask since I really love the way you draw poses and perspective!! (Might be a weird complements but yeah sksnsksosj)

DJGGJHGIG ANON MY LOVE......YOU ARE SO SWEET

its DEF not 2nd nature lol ive been drawing for over 20 yrs now and still struggle with stiffness and line weight and foreshortening on a lot of poses. the best advice i have is to USE REFERENCES!! draw parallel to them, trace a sketch model over them to work off of, cut them up and splice them together to get closer to whats in your head, take photos of yourself, ask your discord friends with diff body types to show you their knees, etc etc etc.

@adorkastock is a FANTASTIC place to find both mundane and dynamic poses. I also recommend fatphotoref.com, publicdomainpictures.net, vishopper.com, line-of-action.com, and referenceangle.com as well as any free use stock photos.

(Protip: on image results on search engines, you can filter by creative licenses! go to the top of the results page; on google its under tools > usage rights, on qwant its under filters > any license, and on duckduckgo its in the 'all licenses' dropdown. u can choose 'creative commons' 'public domain' 'non-commercial' etc. This seems to help filter out AI results lol)

one thing that IS 2nd nature to me and i think helps put a lot of life into my drawings is that my sketch layers are very loosey goosey. when ur doing ur first sketch, dont worry about anatomy or anything, just doodle loose lines that have the shape/feel of what ur lookin for. THEN i worry about references/anatomy etc on a 2nd sketch layer, with my lower layer reminding me where to put emphasis and weight and what type of emotion/expression I was going for etc.

Its a lot harder for me to draw smth good without some kind of foundation, and a sloppy sketch layer gives me that AND lets me get out the idea quick and return to it later, while not feeling pressure to make it perfect! i tend to lose a lot of that whimsy and movement during the inking stage, which im still trying to figure out lol - but i think thats pretty universal? My example here is more cartoony so its less of an issue but you can see it a bit in the bend of the fingers and elbow.

Good luck on your drawing journey!!!! i hope this was helpful or at least interesting lmaoo

[bungowife]

I’ve been following your art for a long time and I was just wondering what do you use as inspiration for your stuff, and do you have tips for people who kind of want a cartoony stretchy and very expressive art style (sorry if this is too much to ask I just love your stuff! Also what do you use to draw your stuff)

Thank you!!! Nice to see long-time followers :3

When I was first learning how to draw cartoons I bought the book Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair. It's a really good source that covers all the basics + some animation. When I started animating as a high school freshman I copied his walk cycles before trying anything on my own

This is a very old mini guide I made for a friend on how I push poses so the art's a little outdated but the idea is the same... I think line of action is neat lol I try to make the character follow the line as much as possible with the only thing that might break the silhouette being appendages like tails etc

My personal rule for expressions is that it just has to look like an exaggerated version of a real expression a human could actually do. To me it's not as appealing when artists add wrinkles in random places with no forethought, faces stretch around the eyes and mouth and chin and that's where I usually place wrinkles

I take inspiration from a lot of shtuffs these are just the ones I can think of right now:

-Fleischer cartoons. Favorite 30s studio besides Van Beuren

-obviously 90s cartoons, for Smokey my main inspiration is Twisted Tales of Felix The Cat and Pat Ventura's shorts for Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Animation wise I try to do something similar to season 2 of Space Goofs and Cats Don't Dance

-90s 2d point and clicks. Two big favorites are Toonstruck and UFOs

-anything by Ralph Bakshi. Fully aware it's bad lol but Cool World is one of my favorite movies ever

-underground comix but specifically 80s/90s newave stuff

-music!!! I like psychobilly and ska and it helps me draw. Massive Frank Zappa fan too

I think it's good to vary what you take inspiration from. When I started drawing cartoons I didn't let my myself improve because I only took inspiration from 30s and 90s cartoons and was so bent on perfectly replicating it that I didn't develop my own style. I see a lot of cartoonists blend together because they're only influenced by ren and stimpy and looney tunes that they don't have their own voice or bring anything new to the table

I recently just switched to my relatively new ipad so I'm using Procreate and then Procreate Dreams and Toonsquid for animation. Since 2020 I had been using Firealpaca and pencil2d because they were both free. I used a screenless Gaomon tablet I got for 30-40 dollars. I do all my sketches on paper and then airdrop them to myself since my hand doesn't move as naturally when sketching on a screen

[ask-the-royal-absol]

👌 ehhh I'm curious

(Good. Be curious. Curiousity is the best skill to have.

You. I see you around. You seem real nice, just based on your blog posts and stuff. Definitely one of those people where I'm like, "I should speak to them. They seem cool." You know? Like, feel free to just poke me so then we can chat. Jab my DMs. Because I'm someone who cannot just do that.

Like, Romeo? What a fucking character. I need to just delve into your blog and just find out about this funky gallade. I need to interact with your characters more. Let our characters interact. I feel like Hope would get on just swell with them. Or a future character that I have in mind. That's a thing I need to do. Your art style is something I love. That very cartoony art style which is such a vibe. Definitely allows you to do some fun poses and expressions with your characters. I do look forward to when I see you posting. Let me eat up all your posts. Also, I just love the way you draw humans. That's such a style. Teach me.)

[lubotomies]

i rlly love the shapes u used in the CN post u did it shows their personalities so well can i ask for tips on shape stuff? <3

thank you!! im no shape language pro so take what i say with a grain of salt and just as my process rather than an educated artist who knows what theyre talking about. for that specific piece i boiled them down to two shapes maximum

their main shape and a secondary shape. these definitely arent the most shape heavy or dynamic designs youll see in fact theyre quite tame i think its just the cartooniness of it that kind of exaggerates it. i like to consider what these shapes read as for myself.

edd -> circle (friendly, approachable, comedic, charismatic) with a secondary shape being square (dependable, loyal) for the traits of a protagonist

tord -> triangle (dangerous, unpredictable, cunning)* with a secondary rectangle (stable, logical) *~triangles are also the shape i and a lot of other artists use when drawing foxes so theres that biased association with “slyness” as well

matt -> square (loyal, stubborn, confident) with a secondary triangle (dynamic, stylish, unpredictable), squares and triangles combined can give the impression of cockiness

tom -> circle (goofy, friendly, comedic, clumsy) with a secondary triangle (aggressive, bad temper, unpredictable) hes definitely a funny guy but hes definitely got an unpleasant side to him when he dislikes you

posture also plays a role in things and being able to boil things down to the very basics is good. edd tord and matt are all confident characters albeit in different ways so i like to puff out their chests in mildddlyyy different ways with tords going the farthest (cocky little thang), edds second (self centered) and matts only slightly (consistent confidence ingrained into his daily stature). tom slouches forward to contrast, as hes been drinking in that image so it implies a muddied state of mind etc. differences in personality become more clear once you add the expressions.

since this piece was meant to resemble still characters from a moving work of animation you have to sacrifice some details by rounding them out so the shape language is more subtle

Thanks for the ask i hope this answers some stuff and isnt too confusing if not feel free to ask specifics and ill try my best to answer heart heart heart

[utmbug]

My Good Sir(gender neutral), I must say I simply adore thine Art Style. The semi-realistic with almost cartoony features brings such happiness to mine life and as the lady Marie Kondo says: “it sparks joy.”

The dynamic and silly poses are just divine and the faces and expressions are Wonderful, just Wonderful. I can only express myself here through copious amounts of “Keyboard Slamming” ahfkhsaiurkahfojahfiagf I LOVE IT anfkhsjfiqhjfjajkahdj (apologies for the impropriety)

I must Know, what are thine Inspirations and how didst thou get to this lovely Art Style? (and doest thou have tips for drawing anatomy and bodies like thee?)

Sincerely, Anon✨

Just wanna say that this made me smile and genuinely laugh out loud 🥹

I'm flattered to hear that you like my style so much!! 😭 Of course, every piece of art I see I get inspired by, and I always try to incorporate aspects of other's artists' styles into my own art, so I can never stick with just one style haha

Some of my biggest art inspirations, though, would be KaySD, epseelutely, Kredous, and Mr Kasuy

For anatomy, an artist that really helped me was taco1704. The way they demonstrate how to break the body up into simple forms really helped me understand anatomy a lot more. But, even if you have perfect anatomy, if your gesture and form isn't correct, the figure won't look right/appealing. So I'd say practice form and gesture more than anatomy.

Doing 10-20 minute gesture and figure drawings everyday (or at least multiple times a week) while breaking the body down into 3d shapes and focusing on the flow and movement of the figure is what really helped me understand the human body a lot more. Of course, I'm definitely not a pro, a lot of my drawings still feel flat and have wonky perspectives and such, but that's just my two cents lol

And you know what they say: learn the rules before you break them

Edited to add: feel free to DM me if you have any other questions!!

[lumiidragon]

Do u have any social and tips on drawing?

Not sure what ya mean on 'social' but I do have drawing tips!

-Practice! This is probably the tip you will hear from ANY and EVERY artist, but it really is true. You will not improve if you do not practice. When I say 'practice' what I mean is this: Draw as much as you can when you can. If you only draw for 5-minutes once a month, you're not going to improve like someone who draws daily. How much and often you practice will also be determined by your lifestyle. Work, school, social life, other hobbies ect are important as well, so remember your balance. Also, PLEASE use references. No, using references is not and will never be cheating. Anyone who tells you otherwise is full of it. Also, draw as much variety as you can as well. Always be willing to work out of your comfort zone, but also don't feel as though you have to force yourself to draw things you don't want to all the time. Balance. When practicing, utilize tutorials that you can find literally everywhere and try watching speedpaints/draws. They help me a lot!

-Learn your anatomy! Your art will improve so much quicker when you take time to learn anatomy. For some, learning anatomy in art is fun while for others, it's a bit of a drag. However, it's super important. Once you know your anatomy, you can push things in terms or art style because as the saying goes 'You have to know the rules to break them'. So before you go all cartoony and wobbly with your anatomy for a style, try to know the actual anatomy first. it helps!

-Artist > Tools! No, you don't need an expensive tablet or art program or marker set or brush set ect, ect. The tools do not make the art, the artist does. Yes, tools can make things easier and can be fun to experiment with and eventually everyone finds what they prefer more, but the more expensive your art equipment is doesn't mean that your work will turn out better. If you're a beginner artist, play with cheap mediums first. Crayola crayons and MS Paint can still make art. Only put money into supplies, tools, and programs that you know you will utilize to its worth. If you're brand-new to digital art, for example, don't go looking into a tablet that costs hundreds of dollars. I started digital art with Gimp (a free art program) and my computer mouse. I've used a mouse longer than I've used my tablet so far and even though I've traded in my mouse days for my tablet, I was still able to make some good art with the mouse.

-Get Inspired By Others, But Don't Compare! Every artist, big and small has looked at someone else's work and told themselves "Why can't I draw like that? My work isn't as good as theirs.". This is a good way to put yourself down and to take the fun out of your art along with turning a blind eye to the progress you have actually made. Instead, look at other people's work and inspire yourself. What about their work do you like? Is there any technique that they do that you can try out? Break down how they put their art together and maybe you can learn from it. Of course, never copy a person's artwork or directly steal, but take away inspiration. Do you like how they do facial expressions? Do you like they way they do anatomy? Do you like how their lineart looks? Do you like how they color? What about someone else's art do you love, and take inspiration. Take it from multiple sources and you'll find all sorts of unique ways people make art that you can try out for yourself!

-KEEP YOUR OLD ART! Especially if you're a beginner at art, this is important. It's super easy to look at your art and go 'ew', before deleting it or throwing it in the trash. Don't do that. Your future self will thank you for hanging onto all of your old art so you can go back and see just how much you've truly improved. Also, it's fun to go back and redraw old art!

These are just some tips I have and I do hope they help!

[i-consume-content]

THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS: PILOT

A Promising Premise with a Playful Plot

SPOILERS AHEAD

I’ll be upfront: I don’t like clowns. I’m not afraid of them, but something about them makes me… uncomfortable. Overly joyous, bright and flashy, and more effective at drawing in a crowd of those goblins we call “children” than a box of Capri-Sun. The Amazing Digital Circus (which will henceforth be referred to in this article as TADC) plays with the vibes I get from clowns perfectly, goblin children and all.

Quick plot synopsis! We find ourselves inside the titular Amazing Digital Circus, a virtual world in which a wacky cast of characters have been trapped for an unknown amount of time. The story follows Pomni, the newcomer, as she tries to escape the circus and get back to the real world without losing her mind. After meeting the other suckers trapped in this world (and then running away from one of them), Pomni finds an exit door free-standing in the middle of the tent. After running through a Backrooms-like facility, her efforts turn out to be all for naught, since the ringmaster Caine hasn’t even finished building the exit. Whoopsies! Yeah, a bunch of other stuff happens, but the B-plot isn’t really as interesting as Pomni’s journey.

I’m going to start the actual review part of this article with the art and animation. The love and care put into making the characters feel alive is not to be overlooked, and it’s clear that the team behind TADC took care in making sure the animation was the best it could be. The characters are expressive in the way they walk, run, and use their hands. Each design is unique and fun, with none of them being standout great and none lagging behind. My personal favorite design is Caine, who is as wonderfully ridiculous as the circus he runs. An honorable mention to Gangle, whose ribbon body leads to some genuinely funny goofs and gaffs in the show. I think the only character design I have problems with is Zooble, a mishmash of multicolored parts of many styles. It’s a neat idea in concept, and Gooseworx’s previous works prove abstract designs can be pulled off well, but Zooble is way too cluttered for my tastes.

Something I really enjoy about TADC is how well it pulls off sound. Music production and voice acting are my hobbies and sound work is my job, so it's always nice to see a show or movie pull off sound well. Goofy character movements are often accentuated by bouncy and cartoony sound effects, and the overall mixing and mastering of the episode is high-quality. At no point did it feel like any character was too loud or too quiet, too bland or too overeffected. I like the subtle changes in reverb as the camera switches to a new point of view, a thing that in hindsight seems obvious but many people may miss when making a show like this. I must also commend the voice actors and voice directors for their amazing work bringing these characters to life and giving them personality. As soon as I heard Caine in the promotional material, I realized it was a complete no-brainer to bring on Alex Rochon to use the Spamton voice from his Deltarune dubs. I also must point out Michael Kovach's work as Jax, being just obnoxious enough to make you want to hate him but not enough to stop you from absolutely loving him. The music is also fantastic, as one comes to expect from the talented hands of Gooseworx. It should come as no surprise that my favorite track from the pilot is Your New Home, and I seem to be far from the only one with that opinion.

Unfortunately, it's not all sunshine and rainbows with TADC. I do have one major gripe with the show, and that's the writing. The story is intriguing and entertaining, but a lot of dialogue near the beginning of the episode falls flat for me. It's a good script assisted by great VAs, but it really does feel like some of the dialogue is trying to cram in lots of information in a shorter time frame, to the point where some of it feels stilted and drags on. However, I suppose I can understand why this is the case. A pilot is a way for a show to tell the audience what it's doing, what it's about, and why you should watch. Thus, it's reasonable to put more information into a pilot than feels necessary, so that you don't need to take as long to get someone hooked.

All in all, TADC is a lovely show that I highly recommend checking out if you haven't already, and I wish the best of luck to GLITCH, Gooseworx, and the rest of the team in funding a full season of this show.

FINAL RATING:

A Breaking Point out of 10

- Rock

[holopossums]

Heyo! For the artist question I was wondering about 3,4, and 8! I love your art! Its so dynamic and nice one my eyes ^^

Aww thank you so much for the compliments! (I'm actually a bit insecure about that stuff, so this is very nice to hear!) c:

Anyway, your questions!

What are your favorite subjects to draw? (OCs, your fan faves, etc.)

This comes as no surprise that I draw the blorbos the most! Krow/Casey Jones Jr. and Baron Draxum live in my brain rent-free 24/7 and they haven't left for years. Beyond the obvious, I like to draw my fursona as well as a few ROTTMNT OCs, and occasionally my current D&D character. Generally most of my posted art is fan art, but who knows if that will ever change. In terms of broader subject matter, I really like drawing figures/portraits and facial expressions. I love exploring the range of body types/looks and emotions in people. I like drawing non-figure subjects too, like landscapes, but it's difficult to me to feel as satisfied with those.

What's your least favorite part of the body to draw, if any?

Definitely the feet! While hands are complex, for the most part they can be broken down into simple but flexible rectangle and tube shapes. I can deal with that. But feet are kind of weird shapes - they're like long pyramids but slightly warped and rounded in various places, and they look totally different at different angles. It's difficult to get the hang of them. Shoes follow the same form as the foot and are just chunkier, so you can't really cheat by adding shoes. In fact, I hate drawing feet so much that one of my bad habits is not attempting full body as often as I should and cropping the art simply because I don't want to deal with the legs/feet. I'm getting a bit better about not doing this as much, though.

How would you describe your art style?

Bright/colorful, hard lines, blocky shading, dramatic lighting, cartoony/anime, emotional, often detailed, many pieces tend toward cooler tones but not always. Sometimes takes inspiration from aesthetics from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. Evokes some sort of strong mood with color choice, lighting, and character expression/pose. I think that's the best I can do lol.

[smolldust]

1, 2, 4 or 7 for the ask game :3

1.) how would you describe your style

Ummmm id probably describe it as a cartoony style with a bit of anime influence. The Owl House, Splatoon, and the Hooky! webcomic are HEAVY inspirations and influences on my art style too.

2.) what's your favorite thing about your style

I like how it can look very serious and emotional when it needs to be but can also be silly and weird without the change in tone looking like a complete change in art style.

4.) favorite thing to draw

In general, I like drawing my ocs and my favorite characters. More specifically tho, I like drawing faces and expressions. It’s very fun. I also LOVE designing characters and I actually want to be a character designer.

7.) show us a WIP

Here’s a lil sneak peak of a rough animation I’m working. This is an animation of my oc Tempest transforming from their more humanoid form into their full dragon form. I’m still in the early stages of this animation so I don’t know how soon I’ll post it

Thank you for the asks!!

here’s a link to the ask game btw!!

[brinkle-brackle]

Thank yall so much @mjf-af @cheriboms and @alex-a-fans for tagging me!!! This is gonna be a fun one :D

This year:

1. How many times would you guess you watched the first Back to the Future movie?

I think around twice!! Once in a hotel room and once at a friend's house for labor day, plus the last 7-ish minutes when we found it on TV in another hotel room over Thanksgiving break :D

2. Did you get any sweet bttf merch? If so, what!

YESSS I DID!!!!! My dad gave me a Hot Wheels DeLorean from the third movie for Christmas, and my bf gave me a Doc and Einstein funko pop that I'd been losing my mind over 😭 those off the top of my head, I'm sure I bought myself some other things that just aren't coming to mind lol

3. How many cans of Pepsi Free did you chug this year?

I don't think any,, I'm more of a regular pepsi enjoyer myself

4. What was your favorite bttf fanfic you read this year?

In all honesty I didn't read much fanfic this year, but it was always a pleasure to read @bg-sparrow's mcflyjuly and doctober drabbles!

5. A favorite bttf fanart you saw this year? (please give us a link, not a screencap/repost!)

Ohh jeez I cannot choose just one so here are...

^^ this one from @cineshemp, the colors and lighting of this piece are so pretty (and it's true to life too!! I live a few hours away from the actual mall where they filmed and the sunset there looks so similar to this), and both Marty's pose and expression are so on point it's crazy. Like the cheeky little half-grin?? That's him. That's his spitting image. That's so him that's my Marty McFly <33

^^ this one from @fiddlstyx, I love this one because 1) just fiddl's art style in general is so cute, and 2) because this is so true to the scene! Fiddl nailed Marty's spooked expression, and the hand vibrates my brain so good. Both the shape of the hand (I struggle so hard with drawing hands lmao) and also especially the transparent effect, which is hella impressive to me on its own but on top of that it's traditional art,,, I would've struggled so hard to achieve that effect on paper so this totally blew me away!!

^^ and finally this one from @cheriboms!! I absolutely loved the perspective and expression on this one, I adore how cartoony it is :D cheri is somehow always able to draw doc looking incredibly doc-like while simultaneously making him look entirely her own (same goes for Marty too) and it never ceases to amaze me. This fandom is filled with such incredibly talented people and I'm so lucky to be friends with them <33

^^ OH OH AND!! THIS MARTY THAT MY BESTIE @goldendoodlerlockerlove DREW ME FOR MY BIRTHDAY TODAY :))) THE SEROTONIN I GOT WHEN I OPENED MY PHONE TO SEE THIS SILLY GUY

6. Did you create any bttf art or fanfic? If you did, what one(s) are you proudest of?

I did!! I didn't draw or write a whole lot of bttf stuff this year, I only did a few small things but I'll link em anyway cause I'm still proud of em :)

^^ the one mcflyjuly prompt I had the time and energy to do!! I based this fic off of a few episodes of the 90s cartoon iteration of The Moomins. The episodes I based this off of are about a child who turns invisible because of her bad family life (Marty's circumstances in this fic aren't as severe, but he's still Going Theroux It™️). I wrote this a little angsty throughout but with some hurt/comfort at the end,, and I really love how it turned out :)

^^ and then this is I think the one piece of bttf fanart that I drew the whole year 😂 just a lil Marty I drew on a to-go cup during my work shift. I'm very proud of him tho I feel like he's very Marty-y :D

7. How many times were you late for school this year?

Uhh not very often!! I think I showed up a little late to maybe 3ish classes? Which isn't too bad haha

8. Did you watch any other movies/TV shows with BTTF actors in them?

Yep! I watched Clue (1985) for the first time which had Christopher Lloyd, then had one one of my friends watch Star Trek III: The Search For Spock with me which I actually forgot had Christopher Lloyd as the main villain 😂 my college friends and I also watched Over the Garden Wall twice in the fall (Elijah Wood voicing Wirt and Christopher Lloyd voicing the Woodsman), and then my family and I watched Elf on Christmas day which had Mary Steenburgen :)

9. Was there a memorable moment you heard a Huey Lewis song this year?

I don't think anything really groundbreaking, just a few times when I was in a store and one came on and I started jamming haha

10. How many times did you fall down this year?

Probably a lot but the only moment I can immediately recall was eating it hard on the residence hall stairway right after saying goodbye to my parents for the semester LMAO 😭

11. Did you get to see BTTF: The Musical? What was your experience like!

Sadly no, although I really want to 🥲 I still gotta look up the clip from the Thanksgiving day parade that I missed!

12. How many times did your mom retell the story of how she and your father met?

Mmm probably around 3-5? But it was never really the same retelling,, it was more like she just told me new details or stories about when they were dating. It's always really sweet :)

13. If you could describe your year in a BTTF quote, which one would it be?

"Ah, wait a minute, wait a minute Doc--" (this year moved WAY too fast lmao)

14. ⚡️LIGHTNING ROUND⚡️ Did you get to: go on any trains, skate on a skateboard, ride a horse, drive a DeLorean, run in the rain, go to a dance, hang up a clock, play the guitar, pull an all-nighter, read science fiction, or drive thru Burger King this year?

15. Your future is whatever you make it! So what are you going to make of this coming year?

I'm gonna try to make more of an effort in my classes, and I'm hoping to expand more upon a play I started writing for class last semester! It was initially just for the assignment but now I've gotten attached to the characters and I have a little lore down so who knows >:D

Gonna be honest I have no clue who to tag lmao. I feel like a lot of the people I know have probably been tagged already so! If anyone else sees this and wants to do it feel free to :D and thank you so much @mjf-af for making this game, I had a blast doing it!!

BTTF Year-End Tag Game!

This year:

How many times would you guess you watched the first back to the future movie?

Did you get any sweet bttf merch? If so, what!

How many cans of Pepsi Free did you chug this year?

What was a favorite bttf fanfic you read this year?

A favorite bttf fanart you saw this year? (please give us a link, not a screencap/repost!)

Did you create any bttf fanart or fanfic? If you did, what one(s) are you proudest of?

How many times were you late for school this year?

Did you watch any other movies/tv shows with BTTF actors in them?

Was there a memorable moment you heard a Huey Lewis song this year?

How many times did you fall down this year?

Did you get to see BTTF: The Musical? What was your experience like!

How many times did your mom retell the story of how she and your father met?

If you could describe your year in a BTTF quote, which one would it be?

⚡️LIGHTNING ROUND⚡️ Did you get to: go on any trains, skate on a skateboard, ride a horse, drive a Delorean, run in the rain, go to a dance, hang up a clock, play the guitar, pull an all-nighter, read science fiction, or drive thru Burger King this year?

Your future is whatever you make it! So what are you going to make of this coming year?

I tag: @agentmcfly24601 @moonlightandstarshimmer @brinkle-brackle @bg-sparrow @bttf-dork @mrfutureboy @pepsifox88 @tsukinikawatteus @itsthemorph @synthsays and anyone who would like to answer these questions! as always, no pressure!

[luminull]

Heya!

This is the art blog of luminull-space!

This post will be similar to the introduction posted on my main blog, but since this is an art blog, there's a few differences in relevant info.

I do enjoy like/reblog-spamming

If you want to go through liking and/or reblogging a bunch of stuff, feel free! I love reading commentary, it makes my week!

I don't answer instant messages

Please use the ask or submit boxes instead I ignore all chat attempts, and might panic-block if you reach out that way without warning

You can use my art:

As a profile pic or banner with credit link For a tattoo (tell me first, and send pics!) To color in when specified For reference and unposted personal-practice For "Draw This In Your Style" challenges (with credit) Reposts with permission and credit link

You cannot use my art:

Without credit Claimed as your own For profit unless you have commissioned it and informed me in advance To train AI To make NFTs For hatespeech

I occasionally take drawing prompts, which fall into two categories:

Active Prompts I make announcements about, when I'm specifically seeking suggestions These tend to be: characters, challenges, and expressions

Passive Prompts I'm open to gathering all the time, generally for broad inspiration These tend to be: palettes, poses, and outfits

Bear in mind, sending me things does not guarantee I'll draw them, including the active suggestions

I currently am not taking commissions

You're welcome to send me an ask about the possibility, but I do not have any pricing or commission structure set up

I may do art trades

I have some health issues that prevent me from following through on all the things I want to, so I save most of my energy for July to be able to participate in Art Fight You can find me there under the same username, if you want to try your luck!

I don't tag by request

I have nothing against people who want to have content warnings, I just also have to be considerate of my own mental health

I don't draw:

Nudity With Bits Genitalia Nipples of any type

Heavy gore Intestines/organs Detailed wounds Exposed bone (exception for skeletons)

Political art Current events Political commentary

I may on occasion draw:

Clean nudity About as (if not less) explicit than a kid-friendly doll

Scarring All depictions are old healed wounds Some may be of the self-inflicted variety: these are exclusively in the spirit of the character, and not a reflection of personal circumstances or encouragement to do so

Injuries Bruises, clean cuts, and generic blood placement Impalement or lodged items (occasional blood/ichor) Severed body parts (no graphic detail)

Mild to moderate body horror (most often cartoony) Excessive numbers of eyes Insect/spider-like limbs Unnatural growths Large (not gory) gaps Extreme stretching/distortion

Tagging system and their explanations below:

Non-Art:

distant chatter Disclaimer: I use the XKit Rewritten extension (specifically the "quick tags" option) to automatically add tags in certain situations, in this case original posts (for the sake of my main blog) My hope is to use this tag specifically for announcements, but there's a strong chance I'll forget to take the tag off regular artwork

the void replies For answered asks, in case anyone wants to chat!

Art Styles:

sketchdump Catch-all for works-in-progress I may or may not ever finish

pixels Right what it says on the tin, my pixel art

palette A post with a distinct limited-color palette Can be artwork featuring a clear palette, or a post of just the palette itself

lineart Whatever sketch I've cleaned up enough to count as "lined", things I've actually lined, and coloring-book-esque art

lineless Not to be confused with painterly Lineless is flat-color with clean lines and minimal texturing (usually just an overlay)

painterly These tend to be messy and on as few layers as I can get away with

animated I don't do animated stuff a lot, but I'm hoping to get more into it! Most of my animations are simple pixel loops, so you'll see a bunch of overlap there

3D At this point, basically whatever I can manage to cobble together in blender

sewing and embroidery Mostly plushies and patches If a plushy, I'll include whatever pattern I'm using (since I only use free patterns, or ones I make up myself) Warning: posts with these tags will probably feature sewing needles/pins

comic This is a pretty loose tag: it covers basically any drawing that has more than one "panel", more than one bit of dialogue, or both

rambles Poetry, one-shot/short stories, bulletpoint-form aus, actual multi-chapter writing if I ever manage it- This blog is primarily meant for visual art, but it's good to keep things open, so I might make individual tags if I do more of these sorts of things

Misc:

has id This goes on all the art I manage to write an image description for (hopefully all of them, but that may be subject to change depending on my capacity to keep up the extra step) Please keep in mind that this blog is my first attempt at doing image descriptions, and (as you can probably tell by my intro posts) I'm Maybe A Little Wordy

ocs Original characters! I Have A Lot Of These, please ask me about my brain blorbos- Note: some characters featured in the ocs tag belong to friends, I'll link them appropriately

fanart This tag is paired with the franchise(s) it's referencing

au I make... a lot of aus Some of it's for fandoms, sometimes it's just me and my brain blorbos in 10,000 different situations Aus I use a lot will get their own tag, probably

relaverse This is for a specific set of characters that are all grouped together in the same concept Individuals will be listed on a different page, but the tag is relevant (heh) enough that it felt like a good idea to put in this post

/tags This isn't a tag, it's actually a page of tags, containing all the characters I've posted (and some I haven't but are part of the same group), as well as au names

[aleakybiro]

Over the garden wall - On kind deeds and saving the world

It's been a while since I've written anything, and I'm not much good at reviews, but here's something that's been floating around in my head for a while.

Yesterday I watched Over the Garden Wall for what must be the fourth time, this time with my sister. The show has always stood out to me, drawing me back in every time for how different it is from most cartoons. The soundtrack of classical music, the bleak, unsettling background of the woods, the dark themes the show centers on...paired with characters like Greg, who's just a kid with a silly attitude like any kid his age, or by the bright character designs and cartoony expressions that lift the show up and make it nice to watch. But my favourite thing about the show is the depth of what it explores, without the drag of labouring every point. There's so much to find, but you find it for yourself every time you watch those ten episodes.

This time, what stood out to me was the idea of 'making the world a better place.' In many modern cartoons, especially in the adverture-fantasy genre, the focus is saving the world. The character sets out on their journey and the final challenge they face is to take down the evil empire or the primal evil and then the world is saved. Star vs the Forces of Evil, Gravity Falls, Avatar, to name a few. And this isn't a bad thing - many of these shows handle it well. Often, these shows are equally as centered on characters and relationships. But as it appears in more and more modern cartoons, it makes shows like Over the Garden Wall stand out, because they break away from this ‘saving the world’ business. And then there’s so much more freedom to do something else.

In Over the Garden Wall, there is a final evil, yes - The Beast. But our main characters never set out to destroy him, and in the end they don't. Their only intention is to go home. They don't save the world, but they do help the people in it in many different ways throughout the show. They free Beatrice from the bush, later giving her the scissors to help her family. They help the animals at the school, get Fred the horse a job, unite Mr Endicott with his love, cheer up the frogs on the ferry with their song, free Loma from the evil spirit, and you get the point. But they don't do it because they set out to help people out of the goodness of their own hearts.

Beatrice and Fred help them with directions, helping them with their final goal of getting home, they originally intended to steal from Endicott and were distracting him by looking for the ‘ghost’, they joined the band on the ferry so they wouldn't get kicked off the ferry, and they only met Loma because they were hiding. The ways in which they helped were all opportunities born from selfish intentions. (Selfish not necessarily being a bad thing.) Everything they did, they did to get home, stumbling across the opportunity to help people through that and choosing to take it.

The exception to this is the school. This doesn’t help them get home, in fact it’s a complete detour on their journey. Beatrice tells Greg that "The world is a miserable place," and being a kid, he wants to make it better. And they do. They sing with the animals, raise money for the school and end up helping accidentally with Jimmy Brown and the gorilla problem. This act is of intentional kindness, this act makes the world a better place, and it does it in a small way. Wirt and Greg are just two boys, not people who can change everything. Not people who can save the world. Like most of us, making the world better is done through small acts of kindness, local action, and most of all, as in the rest of the story, a series of accidents and chance opportunities.

There are a few acts of true self-sacrifice in the story, where our characters risk their goals. Beatrice sacrifices potentially her only chance at becoming human again to free Wirt and Greg from Adelaide, Greg gives himself up so his brother might escape becoming Adlewood, Wirt runs through a snowstorm and comes face-to face with the Beast to get him back. But it's not out of some responsibility to save the world or protect humanity. It's for people they truly care about. And I liked that. For shows that handle the whole 'saving the world' idea well, they do the same. Motivations are more personal, and that's especially true in Over the Garden Wall, where they don't save the woods. The save each other, because that's what matters.

As I've grown older, I've found myself less compelled by the high stakes in a lot of media. In real life, the stakes may not be high in the grand scheme of things, but they are important to us. We sacrafice for our relationships and personal goals, and I find myself connecting with that more when I see it in media.

Throughout the show, there are two main enemies 'vanquished'. Adelaide, and The Beast. However, the boys are not directly responsible for either. Beatrice opens the window and destroys Adelaide, both because she wants to free her friends, and because she is unhappy that Adelaide's asks have put her in conflict with what she thinks is the right thing to do. So when she does what she thinks is right, it's much more compelling than if Wirt or Greg were to kill Adelaide.

And, most importantly, the Woodsman is the one to kill the Beast. After years of grinding the wood to keep the lantern lit, the Woodsman is fed up, and being confronted with the idea that his daughter was never there tips him over the edge. Being a father, he cares for the children in a way, saying "children's souls are not to be traded like tokens," and the decision being left to him, him putting out the lantern despite the chance his daughter is in there  is again much more personal and compelling. For him, it is an act of letting go, a step in overcoming the loss of his daughter. 

[love-takes-work]

Notes on SU Commentary Tracks

I watched the commentary tracks on the Complete Steven Universe DVD Set and I took some nerd notes.

The episodes with commentary tracks are “Reunited,” “Change Your Mind,” and “The Future.”

I’ll bold stuff that was maybe bigger news or more surprising for easier reading. And yes, some of this was already known from podcasts, other Q&As, or interviews, but I listed it if they said it again here.

Read on after the jump to read these and other highlights:

Steven’s original wedding speech

Older ideas on dialogue for Lapis when she came back to the beach

Scrapped concepts for the scene that ultimately included Steven communicating with the others in a mindscape

Discussions of earlier concepts for White Diamond having a power to “freeze” Gems into statues to make them perfect and having a gallery of them on Homeworld

Pink Pearl’s original fate

The translation of the writing on Obsidian’s sword

The origin of Pink Steven’s design

What Rebecca did to pitch the “SHE’S GONE” scene

Earlier plans to include Shep in “Change Your Mind”

An unused concept of how Steven feels about Biggs

The inspiration for the Heaven and Earth Beetles’ healed design

How Volleyball/Pink Pearl was almost a mini-villain

Discussion of how they did not get to share the origin of the Diamonds

Jasper’s scrapped participation in the movie

“Reunited” - 

Commentary with Rebecca Sugar, Ben Levin, Matt Burnett, Hilary Florido, Joe Johnston, Ian Jones-Quartey, and Kat Morris.

In 2015, an episode idea called “If You Love Yourself So Much” was discussed but rejected. It included some early ideas that ended up getting incorporated into “Reunited,” most notably Garnet marrying herself and putting rings on both hands.

The idea of the Cluster arm wrestling was planned for a long time. A scrapped idea of Steven banging his fist on a vending machine to get some Chaaaaps was supposed to visually parallel some of that scene, but it was axed.

When they got pushback on the wedding idea, they kept adding more and more “high entertainment value” items like a big musical number so the episode would be absolutely unmissable and appealing to everyone.

The song at the beginning of the episode was meant to check in with the entire cast and sort of remind you they exist and what their state of mind is going into the wedding.

Ian made a comment joking about “All 15 people in Beach City” being in the audience.

Just about everyone on the Crew touched this episode, despite that there are four main storyboarders credited for “Reunited.”

In 2016 Ian Jones-Quartey proposed marriage to Rebecca Sugar. They felt like the characters based on them (Sapphire and Ruby) HAD to get married in the show now because otherwise it wouldn’t be honest. But then their characters got married before they did.

They really love the idea of having characters get married who have known each other for a really long time, versus the fairy tale trope of movies ending with weddings between people who have met very recently.

Steven’s speech as officiator at the wedding used to be longer in its first draft--it was described as being weird and full of jokes, and there would have been a scene with Pearl getting weepy and pulling tissues out of her pearl.

Ian mentions loving a joke Jeff came up with having Greg play one chord to make Steven fall asleep--it’s sort of a “dream” chord you hear in cartoons a lot before a dream sequence.

The Crew discussed what it might be like if someone had never seen the show before and started with this episode.

Ian really wanted Steven’s psychic powers to figure into the episode.

Blue using a sadness wave to attack the Gems was a very old idea they’d planned for a long time. So was Lapis’s arrival.

There was a discussion of having Lisa Hannigan performing her lines as Blue VERY early in the morning.

Ian was happy the sword got broken because it was so momentous but it was just a sword. And later appeared on a shelf in the house as an artifact.

Miki had drawn a torn dress for Garnet at one point so she could be shown fighting and moving around more accurately, and this led to a long discussion of whether Gem clothing can even actually get torn the way human clothes can. They concluded that no, it shouldn’t be torn, so they backed up and gave Garnet an open-front dress from the beginning so the fighting version would make more sense.

Lapis originally might have had a longer speech upon arriving back on the beach. They eventually decided to just have her say “Hey.”

The barn falling on Blue Diamond was an intentional Wizard of Oz reference.

They point out that Steven even once said “drop the barn on the beach” (in a previous episode, “Can’t Go Back,” which was also a Miki episode).

Destroying the house was a big deal, and they always thought they’d end up doing it but backed away from it until “Reunited.” They almost even did it back in “Coach Steven”! But it just ended up with a little damage to the porch.

The Crew thinks Miki is really good at drawing ensemble shots.

Rebecca was always overwhelmed whenever she got to have Patti LuPone record for Yellow.

Originally the giant figures of everyone’s statue bodies in the mindscape were too dark and had to be revamped so they could be seen.

An earlier idea of Steven’s “psychic-ghost-situation” had him as a ghost actually trying to interact with the other characters during fighting action, but it was pulled back to this mindscape so there wouldn’t be as much confusing action to keep track of and more focus on what Steven was doing to encourage his teammates and contact the Diamonds.

Hilary was glad not to have to block out a fight.

Ian mentions loving having Bismuth back in the group.

They originally wanted the “Diamonds sensing Pink’s energy” plot to happen when Steven was in the palace somehow, but everything got moved to this scene--which the Crew all agrees turned out incredible, like how cool it was to have Steven essentially reminding each character why they fight and summing up their whole arc in a sentence.

“Change Your Mind”

Commentary with Rebecca Sugar, Ben Levin, Matt Burnett, Hilary Florido, Joe Johnston, Ian Jones-Quartey, and Kat Morris.

They like to refer to this episode as “The movie before the movie.”

They loved incorporating “princess tropes” into Steven’s time on Homeworld, which is why there were so many references to “mice” (well, Pebbles) making clothes, being locked in a tower, being reminded of his manners, loving animals and freeing imprisoned pets, etc. 

Deedee did the voice of the rainbow worm pet. She apparently didn’t find it memorable and was surprised when she was reminded she did the voice.

Rebecca was super excited for the confrontation with Blue.

There was some discussion of how Steven would have died of starvation if he didn’t have someone practical like Connie to remember to bring food.

They love working with the huge scale the Diamonds present.

The Crew always wanted to put someone in Blue’s hair loop. Originally they wanted Blue to tuck Greg in there when she kidnapped him, but they didn’t end up being able to do any hair-loop-carrying until this episode.

The Crew bantered back and forth about what the heck those Pebbles’ names were and how hard it was to track them.

They agreed that Paul draws the best Yellow Diamond, which makes sense since he also drew the first episode with Yellow (and her stink face). 

The scene where Yellow asks Blue to stop using her powers on her and then realizing she’s crying on her own was one of Rebecca’s favorite scenes to get to finally.

Steven Sugar thought Gems would spend a lot of time in their own chambers/rooms just not really doing much of anything unless they had to fulfill their purpose.

Some of the Homeworld ideas were based on a Soviet artist’s concepts, Boris Artzybasheff, and also many ideas were inspired by Busby Berkeley regarding how people were objects and furniture.

The mech was an old idea. Once they had the hand ship from “Jailbreak,” they knew there had to be bodies somewhere.

They focused a lot about what could be the coolest and funniest way for something to happen. The concept of the yellow and blue spaceship arms appearing out of the sky to smack the White Diamond mech around was one of those.

Rebecca really wanted things to look more and more cartoony and bizarre as you get deeper into Homeworld.

They spent a very long time trying to decide on characters’ new outfits.

The trash can lid is said to be a reference to “a flying bear cartoon” and they dance around speaking a direct reference because they’re not sure they’re allowed to say its name.

In discussing the powers of the Diamonds, there were debates on what White’s power would be; with Yellow being physicality-based and Blue being emotion-based, they thought White as identity-based made the most sense.

Different ways to express this were played with before settling on the idea that she thinks she’s perfect and others’ colors make them less like her and less perfect. But then she becomes a hostage to her own beliefs about herself because if she does anything that reflects on everyone else, so it’s best to do nothing.

They had some cool earlier ideas of White’s powers making statues out of other Gems and having a gallery full of frozen Gems, frozen by White to make them perfect.

They also weren’t sure what fate befell the original Pink Pearl and discussed whether she might have been destroyed. 

Rebecca discussed how creepy it was to have White Pearl speaking in Christine’s voice and not Deedee’s--that we should find it fundamentally disturbing at this point.

Tom Herpich came up with the crack on White Pearl’s face.

In real life, pink diamonds aren’t understood as well as yellows and blues. It’s more known what makes a diamond yellow or blue, and some of those facts Rebecca researched were originally woven into the speech White gave about their “impurities.” But it turned out to be too dry and most of it got cut.

Rebecca loves having Lapis with pants and sandals for easier cosplay.

Ian had to draw the scene where Steven is falling and fusing with inert characters--he wasn’t able to properly explain it to Rebecca so she had him draw it.

They really wanted Rainbow Quartz 2.0 to have a scarf, but they couldn’t figure out how to get that into Pearl’s design. They miss the scarf.

It was really important to have these Fusions display call-forwards of the Gems’ new outfits which we hadn’t yet seen.

Rebecca points out that Sunstone’s design breaks a design rule and she feels like Sunstone should have Garnet’s pant leg colors on their legs, but at the same time she understands the rule of cool and likes it like this.

It’s discussed how none of Steven’s fusion weapons are exclusively offensive weapons either.

Rebecca still really wants a suction cup Sunstone toy.

Sunstone’s ability to transcend reality and break the fourth wall was a joke that exploded in the discussion room among the Crew. As soon as the idea was pitched everyone kept coming up with ideas. Sardonyx’s fourth-wall-breaking is more snarky, but Sunstone’s is helpful.

Rebecca was disappointed that the rule about Steven’s clothes wasn’t always followed with having his clothes appear on Obsidian’s hand, but she was delighted that you could see them in one scene.

They spent a lot of discussion time on making sure Steven-Obsidian was different somehow from Rose-Obsidian. The hair is different.

Old versions of Obsidian were drawn with wrapped-together Twizzlers legs, which sort of is reflected in the present design.

The sword had been planned forever--and it first appeared in “Bubble Buddies.”

Miki worked on the Ninja Turtles show so Rebecca was really excited to see her depictions of Bismuth and Sunstone.

An early plan to have Obsidian draw the sword from their mouth was complicated because fusion weapons should be combinations, so they finally reached the solution of having them combine to make the hilt, then get the blade out of Obsidian’s mouth.

The blade of the sword is thought to say “We’ll always save the day,” but you’d have to ask Steven Sugar.

Another really old idea was climbing into the White Diamond mech eye.

Rebecca was disappointed that some of the merch made of White Diamond did not feature her cape sparkles.

There were many debates early on about where Rose might “actually” be. There were tons of references to this fundamental question throughout the show--introducing Lapis as a Gem trapped in an object, having Pearl ponder pulling Steven’s Gem out as a baby, straight-up wondering what would happen to him in “Bubbled” when Eyeball was trying to take his Gem, etc. They all decided Rose was definitely gone but that the idea of her possibly being inside him should be on his mind a lot, leading to disturbing images like dreaming about coughing up her hair.

Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond both challenged Steven about things he was very confident about, but White’s question of his identity got to him because he in fact is not confident about that.

The black and white eeriness of the fuzzy background and the other characters having their colors washed out helped make the scene in White Diamond’s head so disturbing and creepy.

The split screen showing Steven’s two perspectives was exciting to Rebecca, and was a pretty old idea. And she points out it sort of “breaks the show.”

The Gem Steven, Pink Steven, was represented by a slightly modified version of his model sheet. Everyone laughed when they saw what was getting used.

They decided that an earlier idea of Pink Steven looking angry should be replaced by an emotionless version of him. All the emotion should be with Organic Steven.

In the pitch meeting for this episode, Rebecca herself screamed “SHE’S GONE!!” and shocked the hell out of everyone. She pointed out how no one expected this of her because she’s pretty quiet, but she just wanted to shock everyone the way Steven would in the show.

They point out this is the first appearance of the geometric shield that got so much use in Future.

The fact that Steven is Steven is the ultimate reveal of the show. Usually in fantasy shows there’s some other kind of revelation, but Steven just being amazingly human and amazingly Gem and amazingly himself is wonderful here.

They like having the pilot reference with “What’s your excuse?”

If Rose had somehow still been alive in him, all of this would have been cheapened.

Ian loves that you can faintly hear Sadie’s concert from way out in space as the camera approaches Earth.

They got a lot more use out of the Beach-A-Palooza stage than they thought they would when it had to be designed for “Steven and the Stevens.” There was a joke about how at one of the conventions a real Beach-A-Palooza stage was constructed and they had a thought about how oh good, it’s getting reused.

Sadie having green hair in the finale was a late change but they liked showing her progression. 

They had originally kicked around the idea of Sadie already having her new partner Shep at this point, but decided to develop that in Future instead.

They compare White Diamond’s stepping gingerly into the fountain to skeptically getting into a public pool.

Some silliness they didn’t get to use was that Biggs would be “beloved by everyone” except Steven. They never got to cover it, but originally Steven was just going to not really understand why everyone loves her so much and doesn’t personally much care for her.

The Heaven and Earth Beetles are based on the Mothra Ladies.

The healed Gems’ horns are supposed to be side effects of the corruption that they continue to bear in the present.

Larimar and Orange Spodumene ended up different in the ending scene than they became in Future. Many of the designs were retroactively pulled into this scene after being designed for the movie.

Rebecca wrote “Change Your Mind” as a personal song to express her feelings surrounding her fight for the wedding.

“The Future”

Commentary with Rebecca Sugar, Kat Morris, Alonso Ramirez Ramos, Hilary Florido, Joe Johnston, and Ian Jones-Quartey.

The animatic for this episode ran SO long--they’re supposed to be just over 11 minutes but this one was 17 minutes.

Steven’s calisthenics routine, a callback to “Future Vision,” was on the chopping block to make the episode shorter but Rebecca wouldn’t allow it to be cut because she wanted to show that Steven’s been taking care of himself.

They were very excited to get a chance to cover some of the things in Future that they couldn’t squeeze into the original show, like the unbubbled Rose Quartzes, Volleyball, etc.

The new writers on the show also helped bring forward the idea of Steven finally making some of his OWN mistakes to fix.

This also helped construct the idea of Steven essentially being the “final boss” of his own battle.

Usually stories that involve someone being in a fight and winning don’t explore the effect just being in a fight has on a person, regardless of whether you won. 

Rebecca really wanted to play Ocarina of Time after beating it so she could go back to all the places and see how people were doing. She wanted this epilogue series to explore that a little too.

Little Homeschool is sort of a Tiny Toons reference--older cartoons teach younger cartoons how to be cartoons, and this is Gems teaching other Gems how to be Gems on Earth. 

Lamar came up with the silly joke about receiving that art set with all the different media types in it--the one artists are always getting from a well-meaning relative at holiday time.

A scrapped plot idea involved Volleyball/Pink Pearl as a sort of “mini-villain,” with a focus on her activating the un-activated Pearls.

There’s discussion of how victimization turns people into villains sometimes. But since showing that happening with Volleyball wouldn’t have served the interests of Steven’s arc, they couldn’t fit it in.

There was also a “very specific” Gem origin and Diamond origin story that’s quasi-religious in nature--it’s very cool and complicated. But they do not tell us what it is.

Ian and Joe both really wanted to have Jasper living alone in the woods and stacking rocks. They’re glad they got this series to do that with her.

There was originally an idea for a B-plot involving Jasper in the movie. They don’t discuss the specifics.

There were many ideas they didn’t get to work on because they would have started new arcs and Future was not about kicking new plots into gear.

“Mr. Universe” was the last episode they wrote/finished.

Miki really wanted to include a kiss between Connie and Steven to show their relationship was okay. Among the Crew everyone knew their relationship was basically eternal but Miki wanted to make sure WE knew that.

Steven driving conveyed momentum for Future; in the original show, we always came back to the laundry hand, back to home, but in Future that’s changed and home isn’t what it was. 

They were really excited that a gourd family made it to the crowd scene in Future.

Thanks for reading!

Note: The movie had some commentary tracks too, but the one on this DVD set is the same as the one released on the original standalone movie DVD, so I did not outline it here. Here is my post about the DVD commentary from the movie.