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brinkle-brackle · 11 months

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Mcflyjuly day 16: Blue Hour

(Okay so this is 2 days late but I finally finished it!!! my first mcflyjuly post yall!!! I got the idea for this one from a show called the moomins, it's a very sweet and heartfelt show and I highly recommend checking it out :) no idea how big the overlap is between moomin enjoyers and bttf enjoyers so this is probably gonna cater mostly to me,, but this came to me as a shower thought the other day and my brain wouldn't let go of it soooooo you guys get to have it now too :D )

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He waited until the rest of his family was in bed.

He wasn't sure why he waited. It's not like they would have noticed him slipping away, anyway.

It wasn't as if he didn't feel cared for. It... well...

...okay. Maybe he didn't exactly feel cared for. He loved his family, and deep down he knew that they loved him, too, but sometimes he felt as if they looked at him and only saw the things they percieved as wayward.

The boy who was dating Jennifer Parker, even though they deemed him too young to be "romping around with girls." (Kind of hypocritical, although he didn't know that yet.)

His pursuits in music-- a very difficult and competitive scene, with hardly any guaranteed income. Getting popular was lucky, staying popular even luckier.

And, of course, the consistent tardies he racked up in school.

He'd learned to live with their constant critiques. They were normal in his family, at least to everyone aside from him. But that was just the issue... Marty was an inherently positive person, and he would have been lying if he'd said that all of the constant negativity-- in general, too, but especially towards the life he wanted for himself-- wasn't starting to wear him down.

Sometimes he felt as if they were so engrossed in their own little worlds that they couldn't really see him... or, at least, the him that he wanted them to see.

How his relationship with Jennifer was more than just a "romp"-- he was genuinely in love with her. How wonderful and sweet a girl she was, how she was genuinely one of the best parts of his day.

The raw passion that he put into his music, and how much sheer joy it brought him to play his guitar and sing. People would hear his music, and they would pick up on that, and they would love it. He was certain.

That couldn't exactly be said about his immediate family.

And, the usual reason that he was late for school-- that he actually had a friend, who cared deeply for him, and he'd lose track of time talking with that friend. Granted, that friend was a disgraced nuclear physicist whose meddling had reportedly resulted in the burning of his own family mansion... but he was also friendly and kind and enthusiastic, and he was always there for Marty, no matter for what or for why or for when.

But they couldn't see that. They always made sure to make that perfectly clear to him, at the dinner table that night and so many nights before.

But they couldn't see him. And they couldn't help him if they couldn't see him.

Marty was coming into himself. He was starting to flourish, he could feel it in his bones. He couldn't do it alone, though. He needed help... he needed their help.

He knew his mother would worry. She always did. But he'd left a note for her, in the hopes that it would be able to assuage her fears, at least a little bit.

He'd left it on the kitchen counter, just below the alcohol cabinet-- that way he knew she wouldn't miss it.

----------

Einstein wouldn't stop barking. He'd been at it for the past five minutes, almost nonstop-- staring intently at the garage door, sitting oddly close to it, and barking as if his life depended on it.

Emmett loved the dog to death, but he knew that although Einie was much smarter than he probably should be, he was still a dog. He had barked at an empty paint can that had fallen over once. He'd even seen it topple off the shelf, and he'd still barked at it as if it were some extraterrestrial being from Mars.

Einstein had his moments. And, apparently, those moments now included barking at the garage door at 11pm on a chilly September night for five minutes straight. Emmett was willing to pass it off as nothing at first.

And then there came that soft knock.

Emmett's eyes immediately darted towards the door, and he frowned. Now, that was definitely not nothing.

He got up and slowly crept up to the door, hushing Einstein with the help of a few gentle pets and soothing words. Who on earth would be knocking on the door to his garage at this hour...?

With a cautious demeanor and eyes filled with apprehension, Emmett slowly opened the garage door to look outside and found...

...nothing.

His brows furrowed in suspicion. He immediately started to comb through all of the possibilities, wracking his brain for any answers.

Had he been ding-dong-ditched...?

Eh... it was probably all just part of the fun, he supposed.

It wasn't uncommon for the neighborhood kids to try and spook each other with stories of the mad scientist who had burnt his own mansion to the ground. He'd had his fair share of teenagers knocking on his door and then making for the hills, for nothing more than a cheap thrill. A chance to catch a glimpse of the crazy old man who lived in the husk of what was once a home. But at this hour...?

He leaned a little bit out of the garage door, peering down at the grand driveway and gate that led from his garage to the lamp-lit street below. But there were no swift silhouettes of children running down the street. There was no raucous laughter of teenagers who had just pulled off the most juvenile heist of the century. In fact, there was no sign of noise or movement at all. Just the empty street below, the sidewalks dimly illuminated by the soft light of the streetlamps, and the slightest whisper of a breeze playing through the trees.

He turned to regard Einstein again with a quirked brow. But the shaggy goob just sat there softly panting and staring, a big doggy smile on his face. His tail swished back and forth rapidly, as if there were a friend outside the door.

A frown etched itself onto the scientist's face. No, no, no... that couldn't be right... but...

After a few moments Emmett decided that it didn't matter, because evidently there was no one there. Grumbling to himself, the scientist looked back down the street, then turned away and started to go back inside. "Damn kids," he muttered under his breath, reaching for the door handle again.

That was when he heard the rustling noise.

Emmett instantly froze in his tracks, ran a hand through his frizzy white hair, and then whipped around, hoping to catch the source of the noise off-guard.

His vision was met with a simple, folded note... perfectly smooth on one end, but creased and crinkled at an angle on the other end, as if someone were holding it out to him.

Except... well... there was no one standing there.

The note appeared to be floating in midair in front of him.

He gasped a little and stepped back, nervous eyes trained on the phantom piece of paper. A flashing neon sign suddenly appeared in his mind and refused to leave. GHOST. GHOST. GHOST.

The notion wasn't unheard of, he realized. His mansion-- er, garage-- being haunted. The place was certainly old enough to have harbored a ghost or two over the years. He'd just... never thought about it before.

But, at the same time, that didn't really make sense either... if his property was really haunted, why hadn't there been any strange happenings until now? Why tonight, of all nights?

The note moved forward slightly, toward him, a silent plea from the ghost... or... whatever it was.

Emmett regarded it warily for a few moments, but then eventually reached out to take it. Something didn't add up, he told himself, and he needed to figure out what it was. He had a feeling, a very strange feeling, that this was something exceedingly important.

The scientist took the note in his hands, carefully unfolding it with his fingers before drawing it up to his eyes. Upon registering the formatting of the note, however, his eyes went even wider than they had been before.

The handwriting... he recognized it. He knew it all too well.

"Great Scott..."

He wanted to look away from the body of the note, for the moment, and study that blank space in front of him. Comb his vision around the nothing, desperately try to make out some form of physicality, any form of physicality. Ask it... beg it to talk. He had to know what was happening. What was happening?

Instead, he slowly read over the note. It was only a short string of words, but his inquisitive brown eyes scanned over it and took in everything with the utmost care.

He froze as he came to the end of the writing, clutching the slip of paper tightly with both hands, and slowly looked up at the nothingness in front of him... which, as he was now certain, couldn't be nothing. This note...

He read it over and over again, then looked to the nothingness again in disbelief.

He'd heard stories of things like this happening to people who were sad enough... but he'd never even given pause to the fact that they might have been true.

No... oh, no...

The scientist hesitated, but then slowly extended one of his hands, as if to make absolutely sure of the situation. Almost instantly, he felt the nothingness take it and squeeze hard.

And those things happened to other people... not...

Emmett squeezed his eyes shut and inhaled through his nose.

He knew that grip.

"Great... Scott..."

He'd felt it first a few years back, when he'd come home to find that someone had broken into his garage. The thief (no, he wasn't a thief... break-er and enter-er??) had shaken his hand, and in that moment, somehow Emmett had known that he would never forget what that hand had felt like. He'd felt it after he'd successfully tested one of his smaller inventions-- that hand meeting his in an enthusiastic high-five, accompanied by an excited exclamation of "Doc!!"

And he'd felt it right before the kid had taken his driver's test-- trying to reassure him as they walked up to the DMV building together. The poor teenager's hand had been shaking like a leaf, but it was still the same grip.

Emmett's heart dropped.

He'd heard stories of things like this happening on rare occasions. Strange... sad stories, that he'd been convinced were nothing more than myth or urban legend. But one look at the note in his hand and one shaky squeeze to his other hand said it all.

And then the scientist saw a single droplet, slowly sliding down what had first appeared to be thin air... sliding down, slowly tracing the uneven lines of a face that wasn't there.

Something stabbed into Emmett's gut and twisted a little.

"Oh, no..." the scientist murmured, squeezing back just as tightly. He sighed in sadness and deep worry as he used his other hand-- the one with the wrinkled note in it-- to push the garage door open wider. Einstein jumped up to his feet and yipped, his tail wagging in excitement as if he could sense that Marty was there. (He probably had all along.)

Yes, Emmett had heard stories of things like this happening... but he also knew that there were solutions. He could help.

That was why Marty had come to him first, he realized. He'd known that he could help, and that he would.

He gave the invisible boy a sad smile.

"Come on in," he said softly, nodding his head in the direction of the extra bed. "Make yourself at home. I'll grab some Burger King."

#this is my first fic I've ever posted ever I think so I hope you guys enjoy it 🥲#bttf #back to the future #back to the future fanfiction #back to the future fanfic #marty mcfly #doc brown #emmett brown #doctor emmett brown #moomins #moomin #(kinda?? inspired at least)#the invisible child #mcflyjuly #mcfly july

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luniise-kel · 2 months

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redesigned the evil fellas and rewrote some of their lore,,

for any1 who cares, basically donella is now a healer / medic. when she and ulla found the eternal library, they still got into an argument but this time don wanted to go home because they found what they wanted to find while Ulla wanted to keep going deeper. accidents happen and ulla is cursed to stay in the library while don is cursed to stay out of it. don then dedicates her life to trying to get her bestie out of there. The curse also caused her to get a lazy eye plus a scar. Hugo used her scar eyebrow slit as inspiration for his own eyebrow slit. Most of the people who work for her are people she has healed / provides medicine.

her muscle for hire (cyrus) got a massive design overhaul bc i thought they both looked far too Evil. He works for Don because his brother is a bit ill and he cannot afford the meds normally, so he acquires them through don instead. I think hes a bit like laios from dungeon meshi in terms of personality, kinda goofy and well meaning. when he has to attack Varian and Co, hes like keeps apologizing because he feels bad hurting kids (hes like 30is).

Hugo comes to work w don bc of his arm (in me and my sister’s rewrite, hugo doesn’t have his left arm no more (blonde and no arm trope) ) and don is the one who made sure he didnt bleed out so he kinda owes her. also she helped to Make his arm. She tends to set him up with jobs here and there, before she sends him on the Eternal Library quest mostly to test his trust.

In terms of visual design, don gives people that weird metal wrist band to show other rogues and criminals that they are under her protection. She gave hugo one but he mistook it for a Strange hair tie and uses it as such. He uses a wrench to tighten it btws. anyways, don doesnt say anything about it because she dgaf.

uh sorry for the long ramble, i just have a many of thoughts about vat7k (specifically my ver) uh but yeah, i have more to say but just so the post isnt too long lmao (also funny snufkin doodle bc i was watching moomin)

#vat7k #varian and the seven kingdoms #donella vat7k #cyrus vat7k #luniise art

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hyacinthuuss · 1 month

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Post about Fyonk because I love her

Fyonk is a young fillyjonk. She also has names such as Filifröken, Färlan, Vilineiti. Fyonk's place of residence is moominvalley's forest, in a small lodge. I did not gave her a clearly confirmed age(because none of moomin characters have confirmed age), but she is around 14-16 years old. Fyonk tries to make her own jewellery, but her maximum is making pearl necklaces and bracelets. Fyonk was growing up with her parents, but then decided to travel for funsies without telling anyone, she got inspired by pirates. She moved in moominvalley right after the events of book "moominpappa's memoirs", and moved out right after the events of book "moominvalley in November". Fyonk is really straightforward, some even think she's rude, maybe that's true maybe not. She really loves anything that is related to pearls, so she collects them. Fyonk is a hopeless romantic, who can be offended really easily but she's also too forgiving. She almost always talks, even to herself. Fyonk hates to take responsibility on anything. She is kinda bossy. Fyonk is good friends with Snorkmaiden and Mymble jr. Fyonk doesn't hibernate in winter. She really loves summer and snorkeling because that's how she gets and collects pearls. Her favourite food is strawberries, and she loves strawberry compote.

I don't have anything else important to say about her!!!

That relationship chart thingy ↓

#fyonk #moomin oc #shussel's drawings #moomins #hell yea fyonk

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lilliths-httyd-blog · 27 days

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so i'm writing an original novel, right? and the characters were pretty much all kinda inspired by the cast of 1969/1972 moomin because sure.

y'all know how it's kind of a joke in the moomin fandom that everyone has a gut dislike for 90s/2019 sniff?

the character who was inspired by sniff is my favourite character and this happened entirely on accident.

#moomin #moomin 1969 #moomin 1972 #original fiction #original writing

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rosebloodcat · 1 year

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It been a while since I've drawn something and was inspired by @phenyxsnest 's fluffvember 2019 story "It's So Fluffy". It's such a fun and cute story I just couldn't help myself.

I actually enjoy little stories like this, and kinda wish there were more with the same premise. But that's just me.

#Moomins #moominvalley #Snufkin #Moomin #snusmumriken #moomintroll #Plush toy moomin #Springtime trio #Love me a good ot3 #rosies art #Rosies fanart #Fanart #snufmin #snufminden #is that the ship name?#in addition to the springtime trio?#I have no idea

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mew-less · 5 months

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could u tell us more abot the snorks in ur au ? i dont remember if uve expanded on them or not....

Of course!!! Thank you so much for the ask!!!!

So in the AU the Snorks are actually sort of a type of fairy. They have wings and also possess magic like the Moomins who are witches, but it’s more “static”?? It’s hard to describe… For Moomins, the ones that are witches are born with some magic ability if they come from a family heritage that has witches, but anyone can train to become a witch and any witch can choose what path of magic they want to take which can diverge several different ways. But for Snorks, all Snorks are fairies and rather than them having direct influence on their magic it’s instead something that grows and changes with them naturally. I’d say in the AU witch magic is more of a focused energy while fairy magic is magic that has to *be* focused, if that makes any sense lol.

Snorks’ wings don’t serve a lot of purposes at the moment except for being a by-product of their evolution. (I’ll probably have a purpose eventually I just haven’t thought of one yet lol). The way Snork wings move is actually more inspired by fish (tail) fins rather than bug wings, so I imagine Snorks in this AU are more closely related to Sea-trolls than Moomins are (Sea-trolls in this AU possess a pair of fins on their back that are somewhat similar to the Snorks’ wings). Both Snorks and Sea-trolls also have more southern origins, and the standard Snork is actually less fluffy than the standard Moomin, as an adaptation to the warmer climate. Snork, Snorkmaiden, their parents, etc, are actually the start of a subspecies of “northern” Snork, since they moved up to the mountains north of Moominvalley some time ago.

The Snorks tend to live in kingdoms, however the rulers are always a pair of siblings rather than a married couple, unless if there is any valid reason two siblings can’t lead (ex: one of them is dead or missing, one is too old to lead, one is too young to lead, stuff like that). This shared leadership between siblings is to represent the familial bond between two ancient siblings who were part of the 6 “Pillars of Magic” (which I will go into detail further once I have the mental energy to explain all the ancient folklore i’ve created for this AU lmao 😭).

Snork and Snorkmaiden are prince and princess of their little northern Snork kingdom, however they don’t serve much role in their kingdom because they currently reside in the quiet Moominvalley… sources (me) say that the reason they were left there with Moominmamma is that their mother is quite anxious about them getting hurt ☝️ I wonder why… totally not lore related lol. Kinda interesting that Snorkmamma doesn’t have a sibling to lead with though… haha…

#mew mews #moomin au #moomins garden au #moomin oc #asks #again thank you soo much for the ask aaa 😭😭 hope my answer expanded on Snorks enough for now!!! :3

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can-of-pringles · 7 months

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Which other fictional couples remind you of your OC ships? Which fictional parent-child relationships remind you of your found family OCs?

(I'm also potentially going to add implied fictional couples not just canon)

I've kinda said before that Marigold and Peter remind me of Jake and Amy from Brooklyn Nine-Nine (except without the beginning rivalry)

Rosie and Allison remind me of I think.. Luc Noceda and Amity Blight from The Owl House (but not the enemies(?) to lovers part)

Jelaa and Ahsoka remind me of Asami and Korra from Avatar: The Legend of Korra

Arith and Iriel kinda remind me of Tao Xu and Elle Argent from Heartstopper (which might be mainly because they're British and also the fact that Tao's actor is Arith's voice claim lol)

Kaia and Odel remind me of Marceline and Bubblegum from Adventure Time somewhat

Silas and Copia remind me of Snufkin and Moomin from Moomins

Dannie and Murphy remind me of maybe Adora and Catra from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power? I don't know I was really wracking my brain..

That's all the ships! Now onto the familial relationships

Van and Eleri kinda remind me of Applejack and Apple Bloom from My Little Pony Friendship is Magic (I know it's a bit of a stretch because they're the apple sisters but I'm still counting it, especially because they don't have parents)

Lee and Dream remind me of Joel Miller and Ellie Williams from The Last of Us (which is kinda intentional since I was inspired by the series and characters lol)

Arline and Viktor remind me of Tech and Omega from The Bad Batch

Also I don't know if Kaia and her fathers really count because I view them a bit differently from found family since it's more like straight-up adoption, but whatever I'm adding it as a bonus. Specifically little Kaia and her fathers kinda remind me of the Heeler family from Bluey

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flowerbloom-arts · 1 year

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Well howdy! I hope you know without you my mind wouldn't be this plagued with visions about the whole Muddler familia and every moomin character in general. Like none of my fixations lasted longer than my moomin one, and you're the one to blame

(and I mean this in the most affectionate way possible, if I have to tell you how inspiring and incredibly talented you are at art and giving me The Thoughts a hundred more times to make this very earth explode, you bet Muddler's ass I will, it's a promise)

My question is: Who is your favorite fictional antagonist of all time and why? Or Who is your favorite moomin OC of all time and why?

First of all: Good. (And thank you)

>:]

Second: Ooooo good questions!

There are ALOT of antagonists over the years, and so many of them fit so many different niches I enjoy that I can't simply pick one. Heck, I'm kinda blanking on a few just trying to come up with an answer. So I'm going to divide them into categories (sorry if most of these are Disney I'm sadly a big Disney fan at heart, I also may be forgetting a few things):

Evil family: Lady Tremaine (Cinderella), Mother Gothel (Tangled)

Both of these are evil non-bio mothers, I know, bug they're so realistically evil in their evil motherliness but in different ways.

Tremaine had a big case of cruel favoritism that upheld her 2 biological daughters over her step-daughter who she turned into their servant. She's a very terrifying and cunning force to be reckoned with and Cinderella 2 and 3 added alot to her character without taking away her fear factor which is difficult to find in other Disney sequels but they really nailed it with her.

Gothel needed a tight grip on her adopted daughter only for her personal gain and did everything in her power to keep it that way. She was such a charismatic character that you could see why Rapunzel saw her as a mother and how well she was able to trap her, not by fenced windows but by making her believe the world is no place for her (it's honestly terrifying to hear real mothers trying to say she really loved Rapunzel and she shouldn't have been villainized and killed but I digress). And Tangled: the Series added another layer of screwed up to her character with giving her Cassandra for a biological daughter and adding even more to how obsessed and self-centered she was.

Antagonist to friend: Teru (Mob Psycho 100), Clarabelle Cow (Mickey, Donald, Goofy and the Three Musketeers), Discord (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Teru really added to the series' theme of Powers Not Making You Special by having Main Character syndrome and then getting sense knocked into him after getting beaten up and seeing the whole world from space. He's a silly guy with a very serious side and I loved watching him throughout.

Clarabelle was uhm. Haha. I liked her alot while watching the movie. The writers adding an antagonistic side to her you don't see elsewhere was such a fun choice and she was a joy to watch. I also was a HUGE Goofy x Clarabelle shipper (don't @ me they are my one Disney OTP) and lemme tell you when that love song came on it became my favorite part of the movie. So glad they ended up together.

My Little Pony had alot of good reformed antagonists throughout the series but I had to pick Discord just because he's the most fun guy out of any of them, his friendship with Fluttershy was so sweet (and I was a very low-key Fluttercord shipper) and so was their friendship arc, but also watching him still be a pain in the rump for the other characters was a treat everytime. Honorable MLP mentions I wanna include are: Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, Trixie Lulamoon and Cheese Sandwich (although Cheese is a very minor one).

Friend to antagonist: Cassandra (Tangled: the Series)

Oh the fall she went through was so heartbreaking and her moon powers were so so sick. Her will-they-won't-they friendship with Rapunzel was very captivating and her whole Ball of Issues was great to watch. I rooted for her to come back to the light side so much and gaaahhhhh I loved her.

Flamboyant Villain: Hades (Disney's Hercules), Queen Chrysalis (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Disney has sooooo many great flamboyant villains that are so unapologetically evil but I had to pick Hades because I had a Greek Mythology phase as a kid (despite Disney's Hades being an obvious misrepresentation of the guy) and his interactions with Megara and his henchmen were the most hilarious I've seen. I would also like to honorably mention Jafar and Ursula for this.

Queen Chrysalis was one of my blorbos back in my MLP phase I think, I even made a daughter OC for her and had this whole backstory formed that connected her and Cadence - she was just so fascinating to me and I loved her from start to end. My Day Aria was a banger I had on repeat and her voice effects were cool and her design was awesome and just aaaaaaa everything about her!!!! I don't CARE if you don't think some stuff about her doesn't make sense or was poorly written, she's masterfully written TO ME!!!!

Ok finally, second question:

I think my favorite Moomin OC has to be the Confounder just by virtue of having the most content out of all of mine? I think about Moominpappa's parents ALOT still and plan to make a comic about them in the near(er) future but as of now I have Connie in the top spot for alot of reasons.

#fb asnwers #long post

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k00299539 · 3 months

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Animation Brief 01 - Week 1 - Research

Above: Moomin

After being formally introduced to the animation course and forced coerced to listen to Radiohead, it was time to crack on with the "World Building" brief itself. The first step in plan was a group trip to the Limerick City Library...

...I didn't go.

To be honest I'm still just a wreck of a person and insomnia has been kicking my ass. There are things I can do while sleep deprived but engage in social situations is just not one of them. I felt like I was starting to panic so I just called it a day and went home.

I didn't stop working however, and like any bad maths student I may not follow the correct process to get a given answer, but right or wrong; I'm still getting to that answer. So basically I made my best attempt at following step one of our brief's outline, just alone and tired.

Above: More Moomin art to lighten the mood...

So step one of the brief, and the whole reason we were supposed to go to the library was for research. Our tutor Yvonne Sweeney outlined this for us. The idea was to look through the children's section in particular and find an aesthetic or the inspiration for an aesthetic to emulate for our upcoming work.

Personally I love the aesthetic of children's media like picture books, so this suited me fine. There's something so raw about illustrations made with the idea of engaging little kid brains. I find a lot of the most memorable children's artists had something idiosyncratic about their style, something imperfect or unusual is more captivating than the opposite. You have to keep looking to satisfy the brain's desire for understanding; "what is it about this that makes it look off-kilter"?

So with all that in mind I went looking at children's books for research. There's a lot laying around my house, not just from my own childhood but my siblings as well. It's pretty fascinating to look back and try to examine why the media we consumed back then had the hold on us it did.

Above: The sin of Gluttony...

When thinking about books I read as a kid for some reason my mind goes immediately to the insatiable insect above. That cover is burned into my subconscious... Although until researching it for this project, I wouldn't have remembered how uncanny the catterpillar's face looks. It's cute in it's own way but also not unlike something you might see in a horror. I'm kinda reminded of the "redeads" from Ocarina of Time.

Above: I don't trust this guy's smile...

If I had to describe the art of Eric Carle in one word it'd probably be texture. Through the use of collage, his work takes on a very three dimensional, tactile quality. This was used to great effect in the Hungry Caterpillar book, with the titular character memorably biting holes out of the books pages.

Above: The flag of California I think

Beyond just what it evokes, on a technical level a lot of Eric Carle's stylistic traits line up well with the medium of animation. An animated scene is assembled, layered from foreground to background. In a simple shot moving these layers at different speeds can create the illusion of depth. This technique employs the parralax effect, having close objects appear to move faster than those further away. Similarly Carle's collage inspired aesthetic is all about layering, and the optical illusion of disparate parts making up a cohesive whole.

Above: The Dumping Ground

Another artist I wanted to highlight is Nick Sharratt, children's author and illustrator best known for providing the artwork for Jacqueline Wilson's Tracy Beaker books. I actually hadn't heard of Sharratt 'til now, despite having known his art forever. Sharratt employs a simple style with uniform line thickness and flat, vibrant colours. There's a loose, playful kind of energy to his work that I feel really speaks to children.

I was impressed to learn how dedicated Sharratt is to kid's media and education. He's been an ambassador for children's charity Theirworld for years, campaigning for children's right to a fair and equal education, regardless of gender, race or circumstance.

Above: (◕‿◕✿)

I don't actually know much about Yotsuba&! It's a long running Japanese manga series by Kiyohiko Azuma ostensibly aimed at children. It depicts the everyday adventures of a young girl named Yotsuba as she learns about the world around her, guided by her adoptive father, their neighbors, and their friends. I know a lot of people use it as a resource when learning Japanese because of simple, easy-to-understand nature and limited use of difficult vocabulary and grammar.

The art, like a lot of manga and comics in general, is more character than background focused. That said the covers have a lovely watercolour aesthetic with surprisingly muted colours for a children's series. I appreciate Azuma's emphasis on light and time-of-day in his illustrations. He recreates the world in the warm, optimistic light you'd expect from a child's perspective.

All that said, I'm pretty sure it's a series co-opted by 4chan type incels for whatever reason, so I'm somewhat uncertain about lumping it in here with genuine kids media.

Above: A more trustworthy smile

The last artist I'd like to mention is Tove Jansson, best known for her children's novel series Moomin, of which I've already posted some artwork above. Moomin is another one of those series I had no real contact with as a child. I stumbled across Jansson's work online, often seeing animated clips and illustration's of these bizarre yet deeply charismatic characters.

In some ways her artwork isn't the most suitable for this project, as her illustrations are dominated by the character with the background being there only to frame them. It's exactly because of this though, that I find her backgrounds so appealing. They represent a kind of warped space, where reality contorts itself around her characters.

Above: Less Moomin

Jansson was also prolific, producing many paintings and illustrations outside her domain of children's books. What I find fascinating about her work is that you can see the same elements appear whether she was working in service of children, adults or no one in particular. That in itself may be getting at what made her such a powerful children's artist, she created art in her own single minded vision, unperturbed about what others might think. I feel that philosophy is at the heart of creating authentic children's media.

#lsad #animation #art #research #world building

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