#still learning how to draw the characters. i wanna be able to stylize them in fun ways eventually bc i love when artists do that

[buzzshaw]

you're never gonna guess who played hollow knight, says tumblr user buzzshaw

[ducknotinarow]

MM Raphael - All Symbol Headcanons please uwu

| Send me a symbol and I will write a headcanon about…  For multimuse blogs, please specify! *disclaimer I aint a spoiler free blog I have stated before like with Helluva Boss, this is your warning now there are spoilers in this post.*

I love this little gremlin boy so much. look at his smile pure gremlin uwu from the full trailer we got I knew I would be satisfied with this take on Raph. I can be kind of picky but that's just cause Raph was a character I always loved. I do like that Raph's anger issue was his only character trait least not like all he is about but that they did focus on the fact Raph dose just kind of like to fight in general. I like that he is sort of aware of it though and seems to try and handle it but clearly doesn't know so he turns it towards his more violent tendencies. And dose seem to try and not take it out on people around him. He has anger in him and he's trying which is why I love that he seems to turn towards sports at the end of the movie cause its not often a part of Raphael shows often give much attention to that he loves sports too. I look forward to more from this franchise with my boy ;3; I really just like that you can see for all of the boy they know who they wanna be but havent quite learned who they are.

𝓕 : My muse’s handwriting. (Is it good, bad, difficult to decipher, do they prefer writing by hand or with the help of some form of machine, e.t.c.) 

"I'm not the best with uh spellin, " One of the more stylized writing styles clearly. The boy haven't had proper education for years so I feel they learned a lot from what they saw and Raph liked the subway graffiti they would see when making their way back home and learned to make it his writing style. Raph tries to control his emotions carefully emphasis on tries here of course. Draws attention to himself as seen in a lot of fights he tends not to care much for the whole be stealthy thing when it comes to a fight. Even crowing to get said attention before jumping in. Raph has a more out going personality shown from his large lettering. The gaping in his writing shows Raph enjoys his freedom.

Tends to take being grounded from the surface not well at all and pitting the blame toward Leo. Being able to explore the surface is the only real freedom he had and he dose carry this thought into going to school. Of course the heavy pen pressure come from tension and anger he has. That he doesn't full know the best way to deal with yet. I think having Beep bop and Rock steady however will help a bit but having a friend who gets it will do him even more wonders since they are closer in age. Despite being outgoing the slant of his writing shows Raph is a bit reserved which we see when it comes to April he doesn't talk as much as the other do or did when around her compared to how he is around his brothers even around the other mutants he was a tad more reserved here and there. Or outside of fights. Im pretty positive they will likely be like Splinterson considering Splinter isn't Yoshi but I would be to surprised if they didn't find a way to make use of Hamato for this verse but i'm not changing my tag XD so still under Hamato even if he won't be using that name unless stated he will be Splinterson in MM.

✈ : My muse and  traveling. (If they do it frequently and why, if they never left their home town, e.t.c.)

"Hmm I've been in the sewers, the subway, roof tops shipping yards-" Currently Raphael has only ever been around New York, they have gone to some pretty well know locations like Central Park or Madison Square garden, or stadiums but have yet to ever be out of New York. Of course, he likes the idea of maybe seeing more now that he's able to go to the surface. But hard to say if everyone is still willing to change their tune about Mutants. Even if they have been shown as Hero's this doesn't fully mean everyone and everywhere is ready to accept them or willing.

✿ : My muse and nature. (If they are an ‘outdoorsy type’, like the sound of bird’s singing, if they have never set foot in a forest, e.t.c.) 

"Ehhh I dunno 'bout that. 'ike i'll go I guess if I gotta?"

Despite living in hiding this guy is a pretty much a city guy at heart he is so used to the loud sound of a buzzing and bustling city. But with his wild energy he might love going out to the woods.

☼ : My muse’s first memory. (Where it was, who was with them, how this memory makes them feel, e.t.c.) 

"uh dunno I kind remember stuff as a kid like havin' nightmares and going to pops." I feel Raphael dose vaguely remember the one time Splinter took him and his brothers up to the surface.They seemed young but were able to start their training not long after. Raph sometimes had nightmares about the man that chased after them and would be the one to wake everyone else up and go to Splinter to sleep with. Dad is safe after all ;3;

☙ : My muse’s favourite food. (Bonus: A memory, be it good or bad, associated with said food.)

"Dose bulk up count as a food?"

Course it's pizza, but the bulk up in the crate during their shopping time was funny to me. Of course Raph always remembers the first time Splinter got his hands on a pizza for them. It was some of the first human food they ever tried and the most beautiful thing Raph has ever seen at that time in his life.

♬ : My muse and music. (What type of music they like listening to and in what context, what music they would never listen to, e.t.c.)

"Drake! he's the g.o.a.t!" Raphael likes Rap and R&B the most when it comes to music he dose enjoy Rock and heavy metal as well of course. But his favorite artis is Drake and if he could meet a celebrity he would want it to be Drake. he watched Degrassi solely because he found out Drake acted on that show. He might have a slight crush on the dude but he hasn't really figured that out himself. He also likes DJ Khaled, and Lil Wayne but course hes got his usual go to. He dose like a bit of pop as well here and there. He also will never admit it but some of the stuff Donnie listens to is kind of okay as he would phase it.

↺ : My muse and the past. (Do they live in the past and struggle to let go of past grievances, or move on more easily, is there anything in their past they want to forget, e.t.c.) 

"Eh I sort of do maybe?"

Raphael in a way dose in that he's very aware of the situation he was once in, forever made to hide away from a word he just wants to be part of. Surrounded by the same four faces all his life. It sort of feeds into the little freedom he has and more he'll get. Raphael just wants to be able to meet more people experience things he never got to before all because he never really got to live before, not like how humans do at least. Going to school just being on the top of that list simply because it's such a normal mundane thing but something he thought he never have. That it never even occurred to him that humans themself sometimes aren't all given those same freedoms he thinks they are lucky to have.

☾ : My muse and sleep. (How much they sleep, how much they wish to sleep, if there is something that never fails to put them to sleep, e.t.c.) 

"Eh not 'ike i got much a bed time? oh guess I do now?" Raph's used to staying up late seeing as it was the only time him and his brothers were able to out and about that Splinter could agree on with at least. So Raphael is far more used to being active at night over during the day going to take a lot is adjusting to the change least during the school week. Raphael likes to be up late still often going to bed late in night school night or not. Getting to sleep can be a bit of struggle so he tries to tire himself out in all the ways they tell you not to like aimlessly using the internet thinking he'll pass out. Sometimes he dose but ends up leaving his phone playing videos because of it. So it's always low on battery.

✧ : My muse and art. (If they have an artistic side or not and why, favourite artist if they have one, e.t.c.) 

"I like the stuff I seen on the streets." I pick his writing style for a reason Raphs a fan of street art, he has watched humans in the cover of the night work on their own street art. Murals, tags and such that they come across the city always tends to catch his eye he thinks it looks cool. When he was learning to write he really wanted to sort of have a style like what he saw. Raph tends to doodle out his name and even brothers names with designs things he thinks fits each of them. Course later hell add another name with some hockey sticks and such. It's far more like graffiti he dose and sticker art. He came across some name tag stickers and will put his stuff on that to slap around the city when him and his brothers would run around for their errands in the past. Usually slapped on to the back of signs, street lights, even some bollards, or billboards. It's mostly either his name "raph" or styled stuff showing Sai.

❃ : My muse and social media. (If the muse is/would be on social media and why/why not, their general opinion on it, e.t.c.) 

"Eh I sort use it?"

Raphael lurked in the past mostly making use of video platforms. He has a bad habit of falling asleep when watching tiktok and sending the videos to his brothers accounts. Once they get into school he will use twitter and snapchat, so to be in contact with some of the friends he's made. but he mostly sticks to texting apps like discord or whatsapp. Raphael just isn't much for social media but it was kind of the only way he could be part of the human world, so he did use it to just watch stuff. Mostly used it to watch dumb videos he found funny or keep track of news of stuff he was interested in. Like following Music Artis he likes.

✉  : My muse and others. (If they social and outgoing or more introverted, and why. If they prefer communicating with others face to face or in written form, e.t.c.). 

"I finally got some human friends so 'hats cool." As I mentioned before Raphael is pretty out going in general, he's not shy or even close to being an intervert himself. But he can be a tad reserved as a person. When it came to meeting and being around April of course he doesn't shy away from talking and answering questions but he dose tend to hang back a tad. When they met superflys crew Raph sort of did the same once the idea of afight was dropped with this reveal. We do see him pretty ecstatic around Beep bop and Rocksteady however but he still seems the most comfortable around his brothers even when at the Dance he's a bit more playful with them. But we can see him being open around the kids hes befriending. He's a friendly person and likely willing to talk to anyone but it takes him a moment to warm up and be more okay with all his sides being shown.

Raph still wants very much to meet someone who just understands him in a way most don't. Raphael knows he has a lot of anger issue to work through and he tries to handle that best he can but it has made him pretty interested in things that come off more violent like things. Sport, horror movies, fighting in general. Raph isn't a bad person or even trying to be intimating well outside a fight of course, but his interest likely will sort of give him a rep in school as a tough kid, scary dog privilege basically. Look big and mean but when you know Raph? once again scary dog privilege hes loyal and pretty loving very outwardly at that.

Why meeting Casey is such a thing. Casey and Raph hold a bit of rivalry since Raph going into school he wants to just try out for every sport the school has to offer. Of course, this meant the hockey team as well. Raph liked the more contact sports like football over soccer so he tried for the team along with another kid. They were both good but the coah wasn't sure who to pick. Raph wasn't fully set on it but this stupid kid picking a fight with him made him a tad petty so they wound up getting into a fight. To which even after going home with a black eye he told Splinter in a very excited manner he had made a friend. Sure Raph has some like friends least kids he could get along with but I feel thats more outta of convince. Casey is the first person he kind of opens up around to with stuff he hasn't with his brothers even. That got long TDLR: Raph can be reversed and def has the aura of a scary dog like a pit bull so people can be a tad turned off from getting too close to him and his over ethuism for certain things. He got some humans hes friendly with who gotten past that but he can be a tad reserved deepening how comfortable he gets with someone else. And much like many dogs like Pits? Hes actually very friendly, and welcoming.

▶ : My muse and level of education. (If the muse has some form of education, what education they perhaps wish they had, e.t.c.). 

"I only now going to school so?"

Anything Raph dose know was taught by splinter or something he abosrd growing up. I don't see him being the best student when it comes to school either. He dose great in subjects like Gym and even art a bit. (I like to think he'll take some art classes) but as for the rest? he'll have some struggles mostly Math and Science courses.

◐ : My muse and animals. (If they like animals and treat them well, do not care for them at all, e.t.c.). 

" uh 'm a turtle?" I think Raph likes animals I feel i've said this with nearly all them so far? i really just think Raph is a cat person. But I feel MM also is pretty big on dogs as well. Which is why I keep saying hes got scary dog privilege haha. Dogs sort of match his energy but cats are nice and calming. I feel he treats them pretty nicely gently and with care knows ya gotta let an animal come to you sort. And when one dose? hes the happiest turtle in the world at that moment uwu

❒ : My muse and gifts. (If they are good/bad at finding gifts, good/bad at receiving gifts, good/bad at wrapping gifts, e.t.c.) 

"ehh I try?"

I think Raph has found things for his brother like if he spots something they might like or related to it? he'll snag it when on their runs.

☘ : My muse’s relation with their family. (If they speak with each other and how much, if they are close or estranged, e.t.c.). 

"I Love them I do jus'..ya know I wanna know others too? nothin' wrong with it?"

Raphael is very much a teen in that part of his life where he's trying to have his own life. Sometimes he can get carried away with it even no that it's something he can have, rather spending time with a friend over his brothers. It's nothing against them at all more him not quite learning that balance yet. But of course his brothers will always be his top priority when it comes down to it. His brothers mean a lot to him and they were his first friends as well. Nothing can ever get between him and them he will feel bad if any of them feel as if that is the case of course.

Raph very much tries to play cool around his brothers pretending he doesn't care but you can see how thats just an act. That he is playing to around his brothers. Sometimes he lets it slip like mentioning he would like to go to school never fully saying why though. Raph is very close to them all though openly joking around with them just being a full dork and getting up into to trouble like messing with Leo's sword and throwing ninja stars around. Despite him sometimes being annoyed with hoe Leo acts and can be you can also see how excited he gets when leo wants to join in on something for once. He gotta be close enough with leo to not be too upset hes playing with his sword. Even leo sort of joins in a bit when they are playing around on the roof. Raph seems to be able to get his brother into messing around.

Like Mikey dose when he tends to start most the jokes they get into even. Raph's clearly older brother side kicks in around them letting Mikey climb on top of him and such. And Raph being quick to jump in to try and help him and Donnie out when they need it that is. Doesn't baby either of them but is for sure there and ready to get in the mix of the danger.

With Donnie his twin uwu never letting this go when I can apply it. He dose pick on them a tad for being a weeb but it is outta of love, luckily anime is more main stream so I doubt Don will have to worry about being picked on for it but if he was? Raph would stand up for them in his own way "Hey he might be a a major dweed for likin' it and he is a major dweeb for likin' it but least he got better thing todo then pick on someone for it" type of sticking up.

He dose try and show some care into what his brothers like but it's cause he really just needs that himself in his life.

He loves Splinter and respects them he dosen't like be grounded but he'll stick to it and not break it even if he grumbles over it. Raph in part dose understand Splinter just looking out for him and his brothers. Sometimes that means he gets grounded or scolded but he dosen't always take it personally more that Splinter dosen't understand to which yeah some bits Splinter dosen't understand. But Raph still dosen't fault them to much for it. Hes still not ready to have a mom though and a tad grossed out on Splinters relationship but it makes him happy so? As for the rest of his family he is getting used to the suddenly abundance he has. He liked having more family around and is closest to Beepbop and Rocksteady, his sort like uncles he can be found with them the most when it comes to the extended part of his family. They sort of get the anger thing and often offer some advice when he's feeling just a tad ganged up on. I like to think they encourage him on his friendship with Casey since they are such an inseparable pair themselves.

[glimfag]

Hi I freaking loves your arts I'm trying to start drawing people that aren't just standing static but I have no clue where to find references may I please have some guidance? Also thank you and you are so slays sincerely 🌹

Hello and thank you 🌹! I'll preface this with the fact that I am by no means a professional or expert on the subject, but I can tell you some little tips that I find helpful (also - I really like giving critique! So, if you wanna get REAL personal advice, feel free to DM me your work and I can give you more specific pointers :3) I'll put this under a readmore bc I'm gonna include pics.

So! When I'm trying to break out of boring poses, there's a couple things I consider.

Character Personality factors a LOT into posing. When getting more stylized and cartoonier, you can REAAALLY push a character into being energetic or sad or what have you - but this totally applies to more realistically proportioned art as well. The amount of space a character takes up, how exaggerated their motions are, and their body language in general can all speak to their personality. I include these drawings because they're all basic character art - but the variations in posing differentiate them. I once read somewhere in some post about how characters hands should always both have a purpose and it still nags at the back of my mind while I draw even plain poses LOL

Give your character something to do. This also helps you break into larger-scale drawings. Drawing backgrounds, props, angles, all practices that will better your art immensely over time. Ofc, you don't have to do full-blown illustrations all the time if that's not what you want to do, but I'd highly recommend pushing your skills and learning new things. And this doesn't have to be an intense action scene, but just thinking about an environment/situation and how that would affect said character! This goes double for multi-character drawings; characters standing and smiling at eachother? Nice, but boring... Characters doing any activity together? Better! Here's some sketches that are still heavily character focused, but have just a bit of environment and implied story to them that make them more lively.

Now for references! There's hundreds of ways that you can find reference pictures for different scenarios, but often it can be discouraging to not be able to find one that fits your exact vision. I personally prefer just Google image searching whatever I need, but many people use pinterest as well. I also like using 3D model posers to get a more exact reference and understanding of how the body is positioned. My main tip would be that you do NOT have to follow a reference exactly. Feel free to edit a picture and rearrange a models body parts, to combine multiple pictures, to disregard half of the image, edit your sketch, make a new one on top, so on and so forth, THE POINT BEING: a reference picture is a tool, not a law. Don't feel restricted by it. Go nuts.

And as much as I hate to have to recommend it, do the boring practice stuff. Do traditional figure sketching (bonus points if it's timed!), learn about anatomy and line of action and gesture drawing. I unfortunately don't have any video recommendations on it, but I KNOW they're out there for free on YouTube so do some searching! If you wanna jump on in, try out Line Of Action and do some practices there (I HIGHLY recommend doing this on physical paper, not digitally, it just Works Better I swear), but if you've never done figure drawing before, you may need to read up on it. It's more technical and less fun than drawing furries and cartoon fanart, but it's useful and enjoyable in its own right!

I think that's all I've got for you... Hopefully my ramblings here are helpful! I've had about Half a semester of art school so really I'm still learning too LOL but this is the stuff that I found helpful as a beginner :) LMK if you have other questions at all!

[threeleggedart]

from discord: 2, 3, 9, 19, 22

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even)

depends on if the characters asymmetrical but generally dont have problems with either + i flip my canvas to check for inconsistencies. forward is weird because depending on character design its either super easy or a nightmare (ie any characters who were never meant to be viewed facing forward)

(next one was a text doozy so making this a read more!)

3. What ideas come from when you were little

this ones gonna be weird bc i dont think i can be sure on a lot of these lmao

bio/zoology + monster stuff definitely came from childhood interest, i likea tha critters :) i wanna say my interest in bots/mechs + funky inanimate object stuff too? i did play metal slug a lot as a kid and a bunch of childhood favs were mechanical characters. also ive found fanart of putt putt, captain underpants villains, and the brave little toaster in my childhood journals lmao

oc -wise, selena herself (and vicks) also are funny in their own ways. i can say for sure they were always distinct ocs in my mind but i never actually Materialized them till very very recently. selena was based on a childhood pokemon trainer oc (but noot entirely self insert? its hard to describe) and vicks is kind of. a catharsis character for me. i have been thinking about making an entirely split oc from vicks recently bc the character i view in scenarios i want to visualize has been vicks, but i dont really wanna anymore bc she deserves to be her own deal now

...i also would argue probably the reason why mws huge cast + me just being able to. establish how they interact with each other so quickly also came from childhood ocs i never put down on paper or knew how to articulate as characters. its something im very weird about bc i straight up had a "cast" of fundamental ocs (proto-selena was one of them actually) from childhood to high school that were so personal to me i never wrote or visualized any of them bc Crinj they were just for lil ol me lmao. they liked to hang out with each other :)

finding connections between my fixation on my current characters and stuff i thought about as a kid is a thing i think about a normal amount teehee

9. What are your file name conventions

stupid and goofy but still understandable to infer what it is for personal stuff, labeled straight for work stuff. "sketchbook" files have scratchpad in the name, pieces that include characters that arent my own usually include the persons username, and annual based stuff have the year

i like to be sillay but also i am a freak about keeping my files organized lmao

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.)

sid industrial machinery is really fun for me, buildings tend to be too basic and geometric for me to enjoy drawing... i wanna do more extremely stylized furniture and prop stuff (i really like those drawings that are character inventory layouts), i actually do wanna make fake object assets for my settings eventually bc i love that kind of stuff. bottles and containers are aesthetically pleasing but havent figured out rendering the sweet spot ive seen other drawings hit, at least for me

environments are something i wanna do bc those pics of super expansive landscapes with either huge structures or so open you can see the horizon stretch for miles are really cool, but still in the general learning process so itll be a while before i can even try reaching for that effect

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any

:)

i sometimes do a little wrist wriggle or crack it a bit, or ill wring my arm/shoulder, but unless my arms got a weird feeling i dont really do too much...

i squeeze both my biceps with my hands too sometime bc thats actually where i normally experience soreness from drawing

[tgunn64]

Favorite Villains - Emily Nelson (A Simple Favor)

A Simple Favor was one of my favorite movies of 2018--all I really knew was it was based on a book and I needed to pursue my never ending quest to make absolutely certain Anna Kendrick always has five dollars in her pocket when she needs coffee--but this movie was beyond a pleasure, a truly unique crime thriller that isn’t afriad to be sort of bizarre and even funny, but never in a way that undercuts the dread bred by its villain--who shockingly exceeded my darling Anna Kendrick (forgivemeplease) as my favorite character, Emily Nelson. Emily is the quick friend of Stephanie Smothers after the two meet picking up their respective sons from kindergarten. Right off the bat they have an extremely interesting dynamic, as both are outcasts among the other moms but for opposite reasons. Stephanie is an overly eager people pleaser who over exerts herself fulfilling duties within the PTA, while Emily is a foul mouthed drunkard who wouldn’t give a second thought to the finer parts of mommy culture or giving a damn about her son’s classmates and activities outside school hours. The two bizarrely bond and actually learn about one another. We learn that Emily is affluent, and domineering in about every element of her life, having total control over her husband and her superiors (only in title, truly) of her office job. Things seem awry when she asks Stephanie to pick up her son along with her own from school because work has her tied up (a...SIMPLE FAVOR, IF YOU WILL)...following which she mysteriously disappears. Her husband, coworkers, and superiors all give different explanations, and before we know it she is simply off the grid.

Backing up a little I wanna talk about how Emily strikes the moment she steps on screen. She’s played by Blake Lively, who I think is perfect in the role. She strikes the almost unreal physical beauty that makes Emily seem almost not of this earth, which is bolstered by her apathetic, assertive attitude, as if everyone else is a peon next to her. She’s written and performed in a way that really makes me laugh, the way she casually decides she wants to hurry home and drink after picking her son up from school to the way she pokes holes in the sweater clad, homey world of Stephanie when they meet.That said she’s peerlessly intimidating. You get the feeling that the people in her closest circle are never safe, least of all her husband. That said she gives Stephanie a lesson in self respect and healthy entitlement that she needs. She especially makes a point not to let haughty business types “fuck her in the face”, words that save Stephanie’s skin later on. Emily might quite possible be the greatest instance of a wardrobe impacting me in film. She’s dressed almost as if a stylized supervillain lived in your suburb. The way she flaunts her style and toys with her clothes depending on who she is around speaks a lot--one of her earliest appearances is her in a suit of many pieces, which, as she grows more comfortable around Stephanie she disassembles the outfit as one casually would as they relax and get more comfortable, but in a way that translates herself opening up and putting down her more intimidating facade she uses to keep the other moms at an arm’s length. Her power is never lost because she explicitly makes the decision, but it’s a very clear indicator of her state of mind. From her she parades walking canes, sunglasses, and adorable floral sundresses to unsurpassed gravity.

Emily’s charisma isn’t hard to grasp--but it becomes equally apparent what a toxic person she is the longer you stick around her. One of my favorite indicators of this in the writing is through her son, Nicky. Nicky, especially after his mother’s disappearance, proves to be temperamental to the point of physical violence, far too comfortable with swearing, and disrespectful in a matter his mother has clearly cultivated (“Mommy was right! You ARE a loser!”). It’s hard not to pity a kid at such an impressionable age, who is clearly between a rock and a hard place with two unfit parents. And yet, Emily has a great deal of love for Nicky, most probably the only person she truly cares about through thick and thin. You get the idea that it’s not that she doesn’t care about Nicky so much as it is she never had a proper parental figure in her own life. Nicky’s bond with his mom becomes more apparent yet when he starts to see her eerily around town...long after she has been assumed dead on her business trip. Stephanie has begun to pursue the deceased Emily’s husband only to hear chilling anecdotes that Nicky sees his mommy outside the fence at recess. Made aware of how vindictive and sevre Emily already was, these supposed visions are bone chilling, as are notes Stephanie is left reminding her of the secrets she’s confided in Emily.

Plot wise, I’ve revealed nothing that wasn’t apparent in the movie’s trailers--and I’m actually gonna try and keep it that way. A big part of these entries are equally so to draw readers to the works I’m writing about, which is why the rest of this entry will be a bit more vague, since A Simple Favor is a mystery work, after all. I won’t say how she disappeared or, as the trailers made apparent, faked her death, but I still wanna give credit where it’s due. Starting with the fact that despite being pretty evil a person, Emily doesn’t start fights, she finishes them. I really respect that everyone she slights has slighted her first. The area she crosses is that of severity and opportunities, she’ll pay back two fold what you deal in areas you can’t really blame her for fighting in, which is a really interesting way to handle a villain. Emily’s disappearance was not something she initiated, but something she saw gain from, and I think that’s her most sinful element and one that makes her a delightful villain. She’s also incredibly intelligent--pulling off machiavellian schemes and almost totally off the cuff most of the time. She’s a great improviser, working pretty quickly within the moment but also with totally confidence.

Ultimately, I think what really speaks to me about Emily is her sheer power and gravitas. Whether it’s because you think she’s dead or you’ve become aware what she’s capable of, any character being in her proximity feels like a death flag times one dozen. It’s the kind of movie that makes your whole body just clench, and Emily is a huge part of that. That said she isn't at all an unsympathetic character. The more you learn about her the more you realize that her surroundings were a recipe for a broken person, and as I stated above, her son is what she values above all. I can assure you even with all I’ve wrung from the details in the movie’s trailers, I haven’t scraped the surface of the twist of Emily’s character or her rather brilliant plot, and I think the fact that I’ve been able to gas on about nuances of these things all on their own speaks volumes about what a powerful and charismatic villain Emily is. If you wanna connect the dots, I can’t recommend enough that you check out A Simple Favor, and it’s sexy, stylish, and scary villainess.

[internetremix]

Did any of you guys go to art college or art school? If so, do you have any advice for that? (Portfolio, applying, all that nonsense.)

Hi anon! Kristen here, this has been sitting in our askbox for a bit and now I finally have time to answer it. Warning this is very long, as are most things I type. I’m also gonna hit up other Artsy IR members to see if they have any thoughts.

I went to art college- Kendall College of Art and Design, starting back in 2008 and graduated in 2012. I went for traditional illustration because I wanted to do children’s books, though I also self-taught myself digital illustration and applied a lot of what I learned to said digital work. I have a Bachelor’s degree, yaaaay.First of all, if you really want to go into art as a career, there are some things you should consider. 10 years out from when I applied to art school, we’re living  in a different world. Art school is a lot of money and student loans are a monster I’ll be stuck battling for some time... and now-a-days, that stuff isn’t really necessary. There are a variety of online tutorials and courses you can take for free or for considerably cheaper. There are thousands of art communities, and with hard work and good networking you can make it just as far if not farther than someone with a degree. We’re very much in an age where being a self-made entrepreneur is considerably easier than it ever was before. So you need to throughly consider if the price tag is worth it to you.Art school does do a few things. A good school should have some solid foundational classes that give you the chance to experiment in everything and often force you to do so. If I hadn’t gone to art school, I probably wouldn’t have tried traditional watercolor work at all, and that’s what got me my first serious illustration job. Also a good school should give you access to professors who have been in your industry who can give you solid advice and also, gasp, connections.

Connections are a pretty vital thing, especially depending on what you want to go into. I’m not an expect on animation, but from what I know a lot of people who are currently working in the field got their start at California Institute of the Arts. Depending on where you are in the world, if you’re in a hotspot for whatever industry you want to go into, a big name school can be a major help for you. If you don’t really live in a place where that’s an option, i.e. you’re me and you live in the void  Michigan, you’re not paying for as many networking opportunities, so you may want to seriously consider if art school is worth it.

Art school also gives you the benefit to really focus on art hard if you play your cards right. I was able to go it full time due to grants and scholarships, which was intense but definitely pushed me through some major improvements. However, I knew other students who worked full time on top of being in school full time, and they didn’t get as much out of it. The big thing about art school, as is the case with any school, is you really only get what you put into it. Your professor can show you all the techniques in the world, but until you know what that technique feels like in your own hands, it’s useless.If you decide to go for a school, be sure to look into things like post-graduation hiring rates. Also ask current students there how they feel about the school- depending on the department at Kendall, people had very different things to say and they weren’t always positive. Thoroughly consider where you want to specialize, different schools will have different specialities even if they supposedly offer a bit of everything.

If you’re unsure on your speciality, that’s okay! Definitely still take foundational classes either online or perhaps at a community college. The more you experiment, the closer you will get to finding what you want, and that will make art school a lot more useful to you when you decide to enroll.

If you ever take any art class, ever, and it’s something you want to do for a career, take that shit seriously. I know I said up there “you get what you put into it” but I gotta say it again. My first year of art school I was going through a lot (not entirely my fault) but I also took several classes not terribly seriously because I was like “whatever man I don’t want to do this, this isn’t my major.” In retrospect I thoroughly regret not paying more attention in those classes, because those foundations would have helped a lot with struggles I had later on. If you want to do art as a career, you gotta REALLY want it and you gotta really focus.

I can’t really tell you if art school is right for you or not. I personally don’t regret my time there or my slightly scary debt, but I also benefitted from some grants to make my loans at least manageable and a number of other factors have gotten me to the point where I’m a full time freelance illustrator.If you decide to go for art school, check the portfolio requirements for every place you apply to. Different places will have different requirements. For me, I was required to have over half my work showing off my various foundational skills- still lifes are good, life drawing is good, oooh look ma I can use pastels AND I’ve got a tablet and can do digital stuff wowowowowow. I was told to try to keep anything cartoony/stylized down to a few pieces- unless you’ve received A TON of positive feedback about your personal style I wouldn’t use it too much because you’re probably still developing and that style’s gonna change A TON as you go through school.

Keep an eye on the acceptance rate at the school. If it’s EXTREMELY HIGH, that may show a lack of standards. This is actually bad because this means the school is basically letting people show up, taking their money, and then going “welp here’s your degree, good luck somehow getting a job in an EXTREMELY competitive field.”

Another thing you may want to ask is hey, how well does this school prepare you for marketing yourself once you get out of school. Most people I know who graduated from Kendall don’t have art jobs, and the primary reason for this is our teaching for self-marketing was really not great.

Whether you decide to go to art school or not, here’s some stuff you should really be working on if you want to go into art or get better at it:

FIGURE DRAWING plz. Please do figure drawing. Honestly, the more realistic you do with this, the better. “But Kristen I wanna do cartoons!” I get it, I do too. However, learning realistic anatomy actually benefits cartoony stuff a lot. Once you get a feel for how something actually works and is proportioned, it’s easier to exaggerate and adjust proportions without making it look weird. Draw a figure standing enough times and you’ll get a feel for how weight is positioned, and that means when you make those legs noodles they won’t look awkward. This website is a great tool for online figure drawing work for you to practice on your own, I highly recommend it! Or sit down and do it with a friend, it’s fun!“But Kristen, figure drawing is booooori-” Then once you’re done drawing the figure, make it a character. I actually have a lot of figure drawing and gestures that I turned into IR characters because I’m very cool.PRACTICE DIFFERENT BODY SHAPES BOYOPERSPECTIVE This one I am a lot worse at. But this has some good points on perspective. What I like to do is find a photo of a room or something and try to draw it to the best of my ability, then add my OCs to it. I LOATHE the perspective part but it’s good practice and usually at the end you have a nice day-in-the-life kinda feel to things, it’s like “wow my characters exist in a world instead of white space amazing.”Do some COLOR SWATCH CHALLENGES!

Also just... try everything. Even stuff you hate the first time. I hated watercolor when I first did it, but as I said before, that’s what I got my first job doing.

Above all else, make sure you draw every day. If you want to do art as a career or just want to get better at the hobby- the difference between someone who makes this thing a career and someone who doesn’t is the person who cares about it so much that they make time for art even when life is chaos around them.

I have other thoughts but this is long enough as is. Uh, thanks for coming to my TED Talk and I hope you find this useful, haha.-Kristen

[manabingu]

Sorry for the Death Note Spam

Sorry for all the Death Note Spam! But liek, ya ever rewatch a show and then you feel like, dang! I remember when I first watched it, this show left a huge impression on me? Like, it’s kinda like that. I’m currently rewatching the anime and I am having a blast! The dub cast is SO talented, I am having flashbacks to when I met Brad Swaile at a con , I’m still like...YEARS LATER gushing at the fact that I got to meet him. He plays so many of my faves including Light Yagami, Quatre Reberba Winner, Fujiwara no Sai & others, he needs to come back to a con here TTwTT I miss Brad. But I wanna meet Alessandro Juliani SO bad cuz like...L is an icon man. I think the art style is what caught me the most. Takeshi Obata is - BEYOND words man! Before Death Note, I was used to anime looking very “moe” or incredibly over the top cartoony stylizations. And this was the first show where I was like. 

“Oh dang! It’s definitely anime but like....it’s also incredibly realistic!”

And I love shows that try to stand out from the norm, who take things into a different direction and make you think deeply (whether it be the storyline, the art or both). It also made me become a fan of psychological thrillers, I think this story has so many layers to it & I think it’s fun to just explore range and topics & themes like this, because a lotta people are not open minded to even check out shows like these (even though it’s almost like watching a show like NCIS but with a TEENSY bit of fantasy in it). I am impressed by how Obata makes his character designs too, he always makes them look believable yet quirky. And that’s why I think his artwork is able to withstand the test of time. I look at all the other shows Obata has worked on like Hikaru no Go and Bakuman and I just keep being blown away at how he can make everyone look unique. I think when I first tried to draw Hikaru no Go, I found it surprisingly easier than what I was used to XD (the cutesy shows I watch) and my brain was questioning 

“HOW AM I ABLE TO DRAW THIS EASIER than say....uhh Pokemon or even Tokyo Mew Mew XD?”

Maybe I was just having one of those dumb luck days where I am surprisingly good at art for no reason XD? But I was super proud of myself for being able to draw Obata’s characters. I’m gonna keep studying these shows, cuz I love learning and improving from great artists who influence me ^^! And I think after Death Note, I also was drawn to shows that did similar things to stand out. Like Fullmetal Alchemist, Darker Than Black, Attack on Titan, Uta no Prince-sama, Ghost Hound and others. XD this is primarily my art/personal blog but occasionally I will reblog things that inspire me as an artist. Or things I enjoy and just cant help but share =W=;! But yeah don’t worry, if you were thinking I turned into a “Death Note only” blog. I was mostly having it on queue cuz it’s currently the show that I happen to be hyped about. I do this with ANY show that happens to catch my eye in the moment ~But I am still hyped about others! Sooo don’t worry yall!