#(there are good critiques of those movies but this is not that)

[66sharkteeth]

Weekly thoughts!

Hooboy, the big episode! First off, I think everyone knows by now that you probably shouldn't read these if you haven't read the latest episode, but I ESPECIALLY mean that this week! Talking about some way bigger than usual spoilers.

Phew, this was a big one, both from a writing and drawing perspective. I actually spent a full day on that last panel alone, but writing it took way longer than usual too. Going back and forth between Bell's speech and Jericho's backstory played perfectly like a movie in my head, but it was really hard to portray it as a comic and it was one of the few times I was struggling with the limitations of the format. I think I pulled it off though, since everyone seemed to follow along fine! So while it was probably just a neat scene to everyone else, I'm rather proud of that haha.

As for the actual contents of the episode, I'm also glad everything hit w/ the majority of the audience for the most part. I know a handful were confused about if that was Bell or Jericho who did that, but to those people, I remind you it's been loooong established Jericho can control his extensions (Bell, Charlie, and Claude. Remember, they all took injections of Jericho's blank space?). Also on that note, Bell does not have her own scion... Only Rex and Jericho do. Bell, Charlie and Claude all took injections of Jericho's blank space, thus get to borrow some of his power. I recommend re-reading ep 80 if you need a refresher.

I do consider this ep kind of a big reveal of Jericho's true colors. I mean, you guys have known he's the main villain for ages now, but this is the ep that reveals his "better world for blanks" act is kind of a façade and what he's really seeking is a worse world for humans. The fall of humans benefitting blanks is just kind of a bonus. I'm glad a few people caught onto this with the fact that one of the worst horrors he experienced was having his autonomy taken away from him, then he proceeds to do just that to Bell.

And speaking of Jericho's horrors- Before this season launched, I dropped a bunch of hints about upcoming things. One of them was that the most disturbing scene (in my opinion) was coming up. I was actually referring to what happened to Kallie. I'm not sure if it was as disturbing to everyone else (I totally get like if Claude's leg thing fucked people up more), but being evaporated into nothingness but not dying was an existential dread that really fucks me up haha. If it fucked even a couple of other people up, then I did my job.

I don't have too much else to say about the contents of the episode. It was so hard to bite my tongue for weeks as everyone predicted pretty much every character but Desmond was gonna get it. I'm sorry I don't have too much else to say about him right now given what happened, but I definitely will in the upcoming weeks.

I guess the only other note I have is I might as well address something that bugs me slightly- It's definitely a minority but there's a handful of people who seem done with the series because "too many things go wrong." To which... I'm not sure what to tell ya. I'm fine with critique and criticism to be clear, but honestly, this is one thing I'm actually really confident I'm good at balancing. I'm not sure where people are coming from with "nothing good ever happens in this series" when this season alone has had probably the cutest and fluffiest scenes. Rex has a canon girlfriend, he had his first kiss with her, Desmond was reunited with his sister and learned to accept himself, Lyss learned to move past her trauma and accept blanks, Rex was reunited with Shnee, Rex's scion turns out to be a puppy dog w/ a crush. I'm aware a lot of these got kind of crushed with this latest ep...but that's.. kind of. the. point??? That's how you write tragedy and impactful scenes??

I dunno, maybe this is personal to me because it's ALWAYS bugged me when someone tells me they think a show is bad because it's "too dark." Like no... It's not *bad* because it's too dark, you just don't like dark themes, and that's okay. I TOTALLY get if CoB has gotten too dark for some people- it's definitely hit some hard themes and subjects, but I don't like to accept that as a critique. It just means it's not for you and that's okay. There's a ton of other great comics that are more light-hearted! I think the TLDR of this is it will always annoy me when people say something is bad just because it's not their taste.

Now. That said... everyone is completely valid in their hate of Jericho. I, however, still love him.

#weekly thoughts

[artist-issues]

I truly believe that what contributed to the lack of a good ending in the Star Wars sequels was the fandom culture.

If those movies had been made before the age of BuzzFeed, amateur youtube critiques, and viral text posts, the loud lore-hounds wouldn't have warped everyone's expectations.

The Force Awakens comes out. Everyone reacts to it. Most people, especially kids, enjoy it and are waiting to see the next movie. But the loud lore-hounds say two things: "1) it's just a copy of a New Hope and 2) I bet Snoke is -fill in the lore here-/I bet Rey's parents are -fill in the lore here-"

Star Wars benefitted from being something the Everyman, the casual observer, could enjoy. Because it was just simple storytelling, back during the original movies. But then, because of the age of internet fandom culture, casual fans got gaslit and overshadowed by Star Wars lore-hounds who totally warped simplistic storylines and ripped the focus off of what the story was supposed to be about.

The Force Awakens Story said: "Pay attention to this lonely girl, Rey's, need to move forward and act for the greater good."

And then the loud lore-hound fans on the internet screamed: "PAY ATTENTION TO THIS NEW FORCE-SENSITIVE MARY-SUE'S PARENTAGE, HEARING A NAME FROM THE PREVIOUS MOVIES IS WHAT'S MOST IMPORTANT."

And then before The Last Jedi comes out, the audience's expectations have changed. They're not where The Forcr Awakens' story left them. Because in the time that passed between movies, the Star Wars fandom lore-hounds got loud and changed the focus of the audience from "good story" to "franchise mystery bingo."

And it's so irritating. And they're not the only fandom that values a name-drop and a bone thrown to the mindset of "I know more about this series than casual viewers" OVER plain good storytelling.

#Star Wars #fandom #state of the fandom #Rey #Skywalker #sw #Star Wars sequels #hate #love

[fertbutt]

something i really like that's started happening more recently is that whenever a new movie comes out we've started seeing a lot more artists posting their work for the film on their own personal social medias, like ive seen it for Spider-Verse, the Sea Beast, Puss in Boots, etc. even Nico Marlet one of the leading developmental artists for the How to Train Your Dragon movies has recently been posting some previously unseen artwork from like, a decade ago now. Not only is it really good insight into the process of film development, it's really emphasizing that projects like these consist of the work of dozens if not hundreds of individuals, they don't just pop out of the brain of one singular creator like fully-developed athena from zeus's brain. it's really cool to see the individual contributions of all these different artists and see them get credit for their work.

#its even for movies that arent that good #in fact its really useful in those cases to see that even if a movie isnt perfecr #theres still effort and heart being put into it by at least one artist somewhere #its especially important for critics to recognize that even that shitty 2-star netflix kids movie was made by people who loved working on it #like it might just be a product for netflix to produce but to those artists there is an actual effort being made #and you have to be fair to those people when you critique that media

[samadryad]

hey tv show The Boys, a dark edgy spin on for-profit heroes and government corruption. It's really awesome that your Plane Terrorists are arabic. Like with no self reflection whatsoever haha.

#i already knew the writing was eh #i was hoping it was bad in an interesting way like you could pick apart #but its barely different in its racism and those misogynistic themes it portends to Expose from Marvel Movies #this couldve been a really good genre critique if it were written well #scripts really promising when you explicitly tell the audience that “homelander is like jesus” in the first episode #AND THE BPD SHIT FUCK OFF. #and the nail salon shit.

[minscofrashemen]

gos I forgot how trash the transformers movies are

#elyan bleats #Esp the one with Mark whatever #They treat chicks worse then most fucking movies holy shit #Not to fucking mention that these seem somewhat a critique about what the gov marks as terrorism #And how they bend even for those on the wrong side because it benefits them? But then also the first movie is set with afghanistan #And paints all that shit in a good light so pick a god damn side

[homophyte]

can i be so honest. every critique ive read of nope so far has been very lacking

#myposts #genuinely it seems like the only way people feel comfortable with interacting w this film is through the lens of 'spectacle bad' #without ever really defining what 'spectacle' means for the record! #it often takes of these contradictory meanings even in the same sentences which makes the whole thing feel worse bc like #i dont think YOU know what YOURE talking about #and the same w how the movie talks about race #earnestly if the only thing u think it has to say about race is like. people of color are either excluded from or tokenized in hollywood #then ur going to have to square that w ur critique that spectacle is bad end of sentence #is it the characters saving grace that they are exempted from an exploitative industry or should that industry be exploiting them?? #bc if ur saying hollywood is bad bc excluding ppl of color + spectacle exploitation u seem to be implying that we should want #people of color to be spectacized and tokenized. and i dont think most people making those statements would agree w that #i genuinely think its the fault of this overreliance on the word spectacle as the thing that holds it together #which sucks actually bc i havent even seen people super digging into the word itself and how fascinating its usage as the bad miracle is #idk. i think theres more to the movie--way more--than just the sin of looking #witnessing and understanding through the look is so significant and so good in it. it is OJ looking at emerald him Seeing her #that gives jean jacket its name. its recognization #we learn to be less afraid of the monster when we understand it--when we see it--and know it doesnt want to be looked at #do you see what i mean? #and thats aside from how it complicates the black horror narrative itself--how it highlights desperation induced by poverty #induced by racism and racially justified disregard as legitimate problems that cant be solved by galacybraining 'nopeing' out #they try to leave--and try to Not Look to abandon the spectacle as spectacle based critique says is the main concept of the movie #and thats not possible. it doesnt work. they go back and going back necessitates looking and engaging w spectacle #like literally the answer is not as simple as 'to spectacalize is Wrong' bc the victorious endstate of the movie #is for these characters to reclaim the history of spectacle theyre denied by disenfranchisement. she takes the frame by frame pictures #their names are attached to it forever and cant be forgotten as the jockey is. how can you square that?? honestly #idk. just watching this yt video where some white woman is talking about how nope is about and only about the entertainment industry #its just not the whole picture

[little-cereal-draws]

Overall, I think natm 4 was a pretty good movie! I do have a few critiques tho. Jed and Octi did seem a bit one dimensional and they did forget about them for long periods of time and Attila's character was really only used when they were fighting (he's my baby boy and I'm crushed that there's almost no content of him both in canon and in the fandom). And ofc Ahk wasn't there at all! I knew that already bc I checked IMDB a few months ago but they showed his sarcophagus and everything! They could've at least mentioned him! idk

But the movie was cute, funny (I laughed at several points), and gorgeously made. I'm considering it canon. It's not my favorite out of the series but it wasn't bad; it was a good movie! 7/10

#pls don't take those critiques too harshly i still loved the movie #it was very good and i think everyone in the fandom should watch it #natm #natm 4 #night at the museum 4 #night at the museum #natm 4 spoilers

[austencollins]

I miss the days when the average marvel movie criticism was actually good at being criticism.

#Like the YouTube video about how the soundtracks to most of these movies don't stand out & are kinda generic #Or a lot of the peak-MCU-era discourse about how the MCU handled black widow (& female characters in general) #media discourse discourse #Those were good critiques!

[ssaalexblake]

fttttyfdjfd i just went on imdb to look up and actor who was in black widow and once again, nerd boy media that it badly rated on imdb is a sign it’s good. Over and Over again the pattern persists. 

#i mean like... the stuff traditionally marketed to white guys who like to gatekeep out anybody else #Those things #if they have a medium not good but not Terrible rating on imdb #that it a genuine sign it's a good movie/show #or at the very least has thought provoking morals or societal critiques that don't ask for opinions from said nerd boy group

[silverislander]

have discovered a new enemy while doing research for the honours essay. why are you pretending to understand psychology and BLATANTLY misinterpreting actual terms and concepts in order to tear down a movie aimed at teenage girls, my good bitch. i'm going to start biting

#you got the WRONG BITCH bc you just hit on two of my biggest interests (zombie movies and psychology) at once #FIRST of all. you dont have the credentials to be talking abt this and it shows bc why dont you know what psychotic means!! #simple shit!! you want to pretend you know psychology dont fuck up psychopathology psychopathy and psychosis! all different things! #you can BARELY conceive of narcissism. a one off joke about how a character recognizes his flaws and wishes he was respected more #is NOT proof to label someone as a fucking narcissist oh my god. id actually argue the complete opposite #you are accusing A Zombie of being abusive based on (checks notes) being scary looking eating brains and /protecting a girl/ #bc uhhhhhhh smth smth dark triad smth smth twi/ight #last time i checked thats literally just fucking normal ass zombie shit + him being NICE!! #its not male gaze 'ocular aggression' bestie he cant blink. hes dead. #talking about how the zombie is unrepentantly creepy when he Literally worries about coming off as creepy In The Movie out loud #SECONDLY to circle back why are you so stressed about twilight. thats not even the subject of the chapter #(there are good critiques of those movies but this is not that) #your book came out in 2015 why were you still shitting your pants and crying that girls were having fun 3yrs ago at the EARLIEST #reaching so fucking hard to 'um ackshewally [thing that teenage girls like] bad' im shocked you didnt throw your fuckin back out #your arguments are nonsensical your positions reveal an alarming level of sexism and you should be ashamed #levi.txt #believe it or not im having fun rn. im funny complaining not angry complaining #w@rm b0dies isnt a Good movie but i will go to bat for it actually. let teenage girls have fun garbage #god knows adult men have enough of their own to choose from ESP in this genre #and its a movie that has a lot of interesting shit someone could analyze!! im focusing on it as a representation of changing feminism #but id love to see a reading of its portrayal of zombiehood as disability + its cure narrative #or critiquing how it writes its female characters bc admittedly theyre bad ngl #or on how survival is represented in comparison to films like zomb!e/and (which i also love) where you 'earn' survival with competence! #genuinely there is even smth to be said for the problematic nature of the brain eating element. id be intrigued by that paper #i dont think its much worse than the play the movie is based on? but its not nothing #it Is ultimately a little bit fucked up and i dont think the movie explores it enough #but noooooo we gotta talk about how the zombie is a narcissistic abuser bc of the brain eating. ok

[gokutitties]

So I've realized that my tolerance for misogyny in films and generally women being mistreated in movies is mostly focused around whether or not it impacts the greater message of the film. Like I didn't like blade runner cause the point of the movie is what is a human, what makes us human and its like caring for one another and all that but I don't think the main dude would have cared about the android girl if he didn't want to fuck her so the message is lost. But with movies like the gladiator and dark knight who just use the women to further the plot of the guys and all that I do think that the men care when they need to, to have a breakdown and all that or they're obsessive and controlling and that's the point. Like with taxi driver it was like was there even a downfall or was travis supposed to suck the whole time and I couldn't tell. Like was him and Betsy supposed to be charming at the beginning cause I didn't like it from the start so it's like not that much of a fall. Cause with older movies I can't tell whether that was just how it was at the time or if the movie was also saying he sucks

#so yeah like if the movie is about dudes and all that and the women are just kind there but it doesnt change the message then its whatever #i dont love it but it doesnt upset me that much as long as the movie is still good and the points get across #and i know this is also and aging thing with the movies especially when theyre older and times were different #but that doesnt mean i wont critique them and think it wasnt successful cause otherwise what would be the point of change #or anything for that matter #but yeah im really in my film era and watching a whole bunch of shit #loved godfather tho those were fantastic

[sirfrogsworth]

Do you remember that Aussie sword guy who used to talk about medieval weapons?

And, like, he seemed pretty good at talking about swords and shit. He seemed to have a good grasp of the history and tactics. He'd analyze movie weapons for their realism and that was fun. He did demonstrations with real weapons. For a time I really looked forward to his videos popping up in my feed.

He seemed like a harmless sword-fighting aficionado.

But then I guess he wanted to spread his wings. So he started down an anti-woke path. Giving questionable critiques about media and feminism. He started defending boob armor by showing historical examples even though most of those were decorative and not battle ready like in the games.

Then he admitted he was a fan of The Daily Wire.

And that was disappointing.

I missed him nerding out about swords, ya know?

Well, Shad decided to spread his wings again.

He has become...

*bad French accent* An artiste.

You see, he types words into a little box. Then a little robot does a google image search and steals a bunch of art. Then that robot reconfigures that art to be nearly indistinguishable from the source material. Well... aside from the occasional artist watermark.

Whoops!

A.I. art is very difficult. Sometimes when you type words into the box you get a woman with 5 lopsided anime tiddies. Or 20 fingers on one hand. It takes time and effort and experience to type in the perfect magic words so that you get something close to your imagination that doesn't belong in some sort of Lovecraftian horror ripoff.

For example, check out this cool "pirate hat" I asked A.I. to place on my head.

Clearly, I am not skilled enough at typing words into a box to get a proper pirate hat.

It. Is. Not. Easy.

I heard someone say you have to type things in a box for 10,000 hours before you start getting truly masterful generations.

I mean, you can't type "marathon runners" and expect that to actually work.

THIS REQUIRES SKILL, PEOPLE.

And I am a lowly amateur. I can only dream of becoming the box-typist Shad has honed himself into.

The thing is... Shad is very upset.

He is upset that you don't like his "art" and he is ready to die on this hill.

So... before he croaks on a mound of bullshit, he has something to show you. He has created something truly brilliant and when you see it, he is convinced you will validate his considerable efforts.

Before I show you his "Not. Easy." artistic masterpiece I'd like you to sit with what he has said for a second.

Ruminate in the verbiage.

Process the ideas and points of view presented.

Digest his plea for you to accept and love his hard won battle after typing words into a box to manifest his imaginings.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Have you sat?

Ruminated?

Processed?

Digested?

Okay, here it is...

#long post

[diobrando]

Dirty Dancing my beloved ♥

#been a few years i should rewatch it #a strong loving couple (only in the movie) & a heavy critique about socioeconomic inequalities esp for the youth of lower income families #also great for gender and sexuality analysis for a movie that does not shy away from the very physical attraction of the characters #and the harsh judgemental expectations that come with being a celibate women vs not meeting those expectations in the 60s and dealing with #the politics of abortion like 'Baby youre too good to be hanging around people like that'-her dad 2 seconds before i beat him up #and Baby's family is Jewish too irc? their family also not quite fitting in with the country club scene. a lot going on in that film #PLUS the killer soundtrack!

[tocomplainfriend]

Hey, hear this!

I'm not black and don't know that much about voodou. There are lots of people ready to talk and explain their concerns about their representation in HH. Please hear them! (the amount of disrespect done by a bunch of non-black people upon the topic is disgusting!)

The demonizing and villainizing of this religion has existed since the time of slavery. Using this symbols and closed religion to make a character more "edgy demon evil" is awful. This was Viv doing exactly. I do not believe Al was even supposed to be black/mixed until Viv got told about the use of the religion she was using. All of her main black characters have 0 features. They are just black to profit of "diversity" while she makes no effort to show it or be respectful.

To the people being like, "Aren't you also mad about her representing Christianity wrong???" Based on the fact of how she has talked about Christian people before... YES (I have a whole post about worrying it). But the point brought up is about a religion that's under discrimination based on racism and colonizer mindsets. About a problem that existed when slavery started. Viv is not making a critique or tribute of Voodou she is just using it to make Alastor seem "COOL AND EDGY".

I also do worry of the point she is trying to make about Christianity and believing in it. Specially cause that means her story about heaven and hell could be the blandest immature criticism someone could make. -and sell more people into the idea of "all believers of Christianity are bad people". Which I still hope, it doesn't happen directly in the show. Btw, I'm not Christian! I'm queer and have faced a lot of discrimination that a lot of people justified in their Christianism, I know the level of frustration people feel relating to that. But I have grown to realize, not every person that believes in God and Christ is a bad person. And that I don't get to throw all of those people under the umbrella of "bad" because of how I have been treated.

BTW, this person got blocked by Viv:

ALSO, THIS IS STUPID!

You are crazy to say this. They are many criticisms of Disney, specially this movie. You just didn't see it and decided to tweet this without even thinking of searching for this? Like, have you never heard of people complaining about how Tiana as the first black princess becoming a fucking frog for most of the movie.

Dr. Facilier is a demonization of voodou! Also, Mama Odie is the "Good magic" but realize how she doesn't use the symbols or African masks. But only the bad magic, has it? Most of the representation of the religion is Facilier too, and it's wrongly represented.

EDIT:

NAHHHH. GIRL

#vivziepop critique #vivziepop critical #helluva boss critique #helluva boss criticism #helluva boss critical #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel criticism #hazbin hotel critique #discrimination #antiblackness #disney criticism #disney critical #anti vivziepop #Youtube

[08luvmailz]

⌨︎ ⁩◞ HERO FANBOY 2 — ! ❪bakugo katsuki❫

SYNOPSIS ୨୧ ! which a certain hero from ua crushes (hard) on a idol !

FANBOY BAKUGOU! He looks like he doesnt listen to kpop but he does

HE STAN YOUR GROUP SINCE PRE DEBUT bro from casula listener to hard stan 4life

He participates on selca day but only post blurred pics of him BRO WAS KNOWN AS THE PUNK AESTHETIC BUT A BOT BOYFIE MATERIAL

falling inlove with you because of your personality and he thought your hot like hotter than his explosions (but he would never admit that)

Has a collection of your album and sells some of his duplicate

send death threat to haters everyday THATS WHY THE FANS LOVE HIM FOR THAT

intimidating fan has some casual mutual on twt but never really interacted daily BUT OH BOY HE ACTIVE WHENVER SOMEONE TALKS SHIT ABOUT YOU

a known defender of you from haters, can see his tweets cussing this user or this user BRO HE DEFENDS YOU AND YOUR MEMBERS EVERYWEEK

he gonna start a war

who’s in denial about his obsession with you bro better have reality check on him

watches vids of you everyday, before going to school, after training, eating or before going to sleep BRO NEVER LACKS ALWAYS STREAMING YOU

has a secret album on his phone, photos and vid and edits of you. he never notices he has a creepy giddy smile whenever he watch those

almost got caught by kirishima BECAUSE HE WAS SMIRKING SO BAD he thought he was just watching some horror movie

goes to a photo booth because you have a collab with them BRO SPENT HIS MONEY JUST TO TAKE A PICTURE WITH YOU

be delulu fr he was so happy, got many copies of the strip

best at hiding being a fan of yours

he wants to go to your fan meet but changes since he has to keep his " intimidating and doesnt listen to girly pop songs " oh but he does

smirks whenever like some random critique person on the internet compliments your voice BRO AGREES

you will never know he is a fan of yours

and he will always be good at hiding that

except when kirishima.... founds out when his phone is open and sees your face as his home screen

bro almost blows up his entire existence

kirishima lightly tease him but not to much since he is talking to a ticking time bomb that will explode everytime

#ANOTHER FAN BOY BRAINROT FR FR #bro i swear he stan twice #bnha x reader #mha x reader #x reader #Bakugou x reader #Katsuki Bakugou x reader #Bakugou Katsuki x reader #Bakugo x reader #Bakugo Katsuki x reader #Katsuki Bakugo x reader #imagine #bakugou x reader #mha fanfiction #bakugou drabble #bakugou katsuki x reader #drabble #bakugou katsuki #katsuki bakugo mha #bakugo headcanons #fluff #katsuki bakugou x reader #bnha bakugo katsuki #bnha bakugou #katsuki fluff #bnha katsuki #bakugo katsuki #katsuki bakugo #tootietalks #bakugo x reader

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @tinypaint

My name is Michelle Fus. I’m a Jewish, non-binary artist. I graduated from the School of Visual Arts for Computer Art and Animation in 2011. I’ve interned at Pixar and worked for a few years at Dreamworks Animation. Over the past ten years, I’ve self-published two books and have run three successful Kickstarters. I now work with Skybound (The Walking Dead, Invincible) in developing my webcomic, Ava’s Demon, as a physical book series for stores. I like hiking, cultivating plants, caring for my cats, and hanging out with my beautiful husband. You can read my webcomic at avasdemon.com.

Check out our interview with Michelle below!

How did you get your start in art, and more specifically, with Ava's Demon?

I’ve always been into art since I was very young. I started to gravitate towards it in first grade, where we were required to keep a daily journal. I found myself drawing in it more than actually keeping entries. From there, I got more and more interested in honing my skills as an artist. I started making my own comics for fun. I signed up for classes outside of school and put together a portfolio for the School of Visual Arts, where I majored in Computer Art and Animation. After getting my first job in the field, I realized that it wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life. After working my day job, I would come home and work towards building a career in comics for myself by creating and uploading my webcomic, Ava’s Demon.

What is one habit you find yourself doing a lot as an artist?

Looking things up to learn more before I make art or write. For instance, how many livable planets are in a Galaxy? What does a black hole actually look like, and can it give off light? How long would it actually take to travel through space if you had the fastest ship possible? I look up all of these things and then ignore most of them for the sake of writing a fun story and making fun art.

From idea to final piece, how long does it take for you to create something?

It depends on the feeling I want to convey. Sometimes I’ll work for a whole week on a drawing and then delete it because I just don’t feel good about it. Other times I’ll make something in a day that I absolutely love from beginning to end. Some drawings I never delete nor finish, and instead, the files just kind of sit in a folder. The time it takes varies a lot.

Over the years as an artist, what were your biggest inspirations behind your creativity?

I really love good stories. So movies and books with captivating stories usually motivate and inspire me; stories that stay with you permanently, with twists and turns that you can’t stop thinking about. I also love finding characters whose struggles I can deeply relate to. I try to hold onto those feelings and emulate them through my art.

What is the hardest part of your process?

Actually finishing a drawing. The anxiety of it piles on me sometimes. I’ll work for a while on a drawing and constantly ask myself, “Is this drawing really finished? What terrible things about it am I not seeing?”. My desire to avoid making something terrible can sometimes put me in a mental prison where I keep chipping away at a drawing until I no longer know what I am looking at.

What is one interaction you had from a fan of yours that has stuck with you over the years?

In general, I like letting young artists in middle school, and high school know that I wasn’t very good at art at their age (I really wasn’t, I didn’t have the same resources they have now, and I didn’t have any perspective on what it takes to have a career in art, it’s a different world). Kids have come to me at conventions with their work for critique and advice, and I have to tell them that they’re already miles ahead of what I could make at their age. I have to tell them that it’s okay if they can’t make what all the professionals make online, to know that they have SO much time ahead of them to work at what they love. If you love making art, do it often, study art throughout history, and over time you’ll be able to create everything your heart desires.

What is something other people find hard to draw that you find enjoyable?

I have no idea. Sometimes it feels like drawing anything is suffering, even if you like what you’re making.

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

@loish has been consistently inspiring me since my days in high school. Every new painting has so much grace and power and is so excellent to look at. Her skill in shape and form seems limitless, and I hope to someday achieve even a small fraction of her understanding of art. Seeing her new work on my timeline also makes my dopamine spike, so I’m always looking forward to updates from her.

Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing, Michelle! Be sure to check out their Tumblr blog over at @tinypaint and follow their webcomic, Ava’s Demon, over at avasdemon.com.

#creator spotlight #artists on tumblr #webcomics #michelle fus #ava's demon