Anna Does Art And Shiz

My doggo, Ezri, who rarely barks and mostly borks.

She’s a German spitz - in the same family as keeshonds and pomeranians. She might be crossed with something else as her freckled coat, non-pointy nose, and personality are not standard for her breed (they’re usually a lot more high energy and excitable - she’s super laid back and chill). She’s a bit less fluffy than breed-standard too, mostly because she’s grown out from her spring/summer trim (not usually necessary/good for her type of coat but she gets terribly itchy otherwise). It also makes her look like a puppy of a large breed:

Ezri’s best friend is Murder Cat, who is a gentle friend to humans and Ezri, but does things to mice that would make Hannibal Lecter go “Isn’t that a bit much?”

I got Murder Cat as a kitten, and she used to try to nurse on everything when she was small. Eventually, she settled on her favourite thing to nurse on, Ezri, who has never had puppies and a little confused at first but eventually went with it. She grew out of it, but they have stayed snuggly buddies ever since.

New Years here is full of fireworks outside and Ezri gets Vry Scared. I usually set her up somewhere with a snuggly spot right by me, and Murder Cat comes and does this all night: 

She goes everywhere with me in my bakfiets (cargo bike) and lets me warm my hands in her fur on cold days.

And her ears disappear if I say her name to get her attention.

ok so great thanks for coming to my TED talk about my dog, good night, drive safe

Daughter of the Lillies is a good comic. I can’t stop doodling this precious child.  Each time the style is different.

Will I ever finish one of these doodles?

Orc dad is best dad.

Well I’ve been following @bludragongal‘s amazing comic Daughter of the Lilies for a while, but my goodness let me gush the reveal of what Thistle looks like was amazing and the Cave Elf idea is also amazing, plus the part with the mirror and the smile was so adorable it hurt my heart. anyways after the amazing reveal I felt compelled to draw fanart for their comic

Okay, it’s been two weeks or thereabouts, which should be more than enough time for everyone to be caught up who isn’t! So let’s start taking some serious looks at Thistle.

Thistle’s design has been a long process, which everyone in the $10 Tier on Patreon is already pretty familiar with, as they’ve been patient receptors to a lot of different versions of her that I’ve experimented with and tried out on them. I’m compiling the highlights of that process so you can see every step.

VERSION 1.0 (~2012)

On the left, Thistle, as she was originally drawn in the sketch comics that inspired the entire story. On the right, her colors at the time. Dang, what a babe.

Okay, yeah, y'all caught me: I was a huge Drizzt fan as a teenager. She’s obviously a Drow.

VERSION 2.0 (~2013-14)

Obviously, at some point I was desperate to get away from the connotations to DnD, and Thistle’s hair color and skin tone drastically change to ones not so easily tied to the Forgotten Realms series and their incredibly angsty characters. The words “Dark Elves” disappear from the comic and are replaced by “Cave Elves.”

At this point, I try to push away from the chronic SameFace I was suffering from at the time, and try messing with the exaggeration of certain features to get away from the Caucasian ones that made all my characters look the same. Her face shape completely changes, and, following some feedback from my very talented husband on what makes an appealing character design, her general anatomical and facial proportions change, too.

VERSION 2.1 (2015)

Yikes.

let’s…

not talk about this one

However, this is the first time the long back-hairline concept appeared, something I really liked that helped set her apart from your normal non-human fantasy races, and that stuck around.

VERSION 3.0 (2015)

Thistle’s features slowly begin to smooth out as I try to iron out all the angular features I was prone to draw, to make her more cute and appealing.

Here’s one of the drawings that made me fall in love with the idea of Pointy Toothed and clawed Thistle. Also in this picture, something I’ve also only just noticed while typing this post, are the very, very first trials of giving Thistle bat ears, which I do not for the life of me remember.

Loyal members of the $10 Tier remember me being really, really anxious about Thistle and her design at this phase, because I still had a lot of problems with potentially playing into a lot of toxic tropes common to Fantasy.

VERSION 3.1 (2015-2016)

This is around the time when I get really anxious because I realize, wow, Meg, you gotta be really careful with this, you know, because RACISM, so moving forward from this point, making her an obvious member of a Fantasy race with more monstrous physical traits becomes a huge priority.

To date, this remains one of my favorite stages, but it still lacks the appeal and softness that I ultimately wanted. I really love and miss her crazy hair in this design (“crazy” being said with affection and the best of intent), but I already have such huge problems drawing characters consistently, that tracking each shape would have been a nightmare. Ah, frizzy haired thistle, you live on in my heart.

VERSION 3.2 (2015-2017)

This is the loop I find myself trapped in for about a year: trying to combine the previous two versions into one that’s clearly not Caucasian, but doesn’t drift into the dark and dangerous realm of Being Problematic™, with clear Fantastical Monstrous Features, all while fighting anxiety induced nausea if I start thinking too much about the potential backlash if I do this wrong.

VERSION 3.3 (June 2017)

….and then there was a hot second where Thistle had a straight up bat nose. Here’s another idea that I really loved - I wanted each Cave Elf tribe to have a different kind of bat nose to help distinguish them from one another, and it absolutely made them super cool and I loved it and I was really excited

BUT

literally every person I showed this design to didn’t… have an immediate reaction beyond an awkward pause and a “Weeeeehhhhhll…”

Ah, well, maybe for another project.

VERSION 4.0 (August 2017)

UNTIL FINALLY, Milo steps in and saves me again. Here’s a snapshot from the Photoshop file where I finally found the Thistle I had been looking for. On the far left is a quick doodle Milo did, just for kicks and giggles, that I couldn’t get my eyes off of. In the middle, my attempt to recreate the features and proportions he did in my own style. On the far right - another pass that was just me tweaking some of the details, until I suddenly realized I finally had the Thistle I wanted. (THANKS MILO!)

One thing presented in this version that doesn’t make it past this phase is Thistle’s overbite, which makes her pointy teeth visible at all times. I freaking loved this idea, but, again, ultimately had to discard it in favor of a design that made the main character appealing. Now I just draw her pointy, irregularly sized teeth everywhere whenever humanly possible.

VERSION 5.0 (January 2018) THE FINAL:

I need to be careful about the shape of her ears, as I tend to draw Lyra’s on Thistle out of habit. They should look more like how they’re drawn in the previous image, and are loosely inspired by Townsend Bat ears:

chirrup chirrup

This is the Thistle that finally appeared in the comic, a scarce 5 months before her scheduled appearance. I was really cutting it close, but I’m  really happy with this result. Of course, every version has a special place in my heart, and I know everyone will have their favorites. They all live on in my heart in one way or another, so picking a favorite is okay.

I can’t tell you how relieved and thrilled I was at the general response - there are a lot of things to worry about when working on a comic of this nature, and while being aware of them is very important, I’m happy that it looked like I didn’t need to worry nearly as much as I did during this process.

All right, there you go! That’s Thistle for ya.

Intense background and criminal background checks and anything violent automatically disqualifies you.

Make getting a gun/gun permit more like getting a driver’s license:

permit to learn

includes an exam with 18 or more questions on the policies, laws, and etc of guns and gun ownership

if you get more than 8 questions incorrect you must retake it.

30 hours of practical experience at a gun range with a licensed teacher

Must take a 5 hour class on the dangers of guns and how to use them safely which will then yield you a certificate that grants you to take the practical exam and lasts for one year. If you don’t gain the license within the allotted year you must retake the class.

A practical exam with a licensed instructor who will grade you on various skills. If you pass you may be granted a permit on the weapon of your choice, the exams may differ on the type of firearm you want.

Follow the Japanese model where you must have two gun safes in different areas of the house, one to store the gun and one to store the bullets and you must provide the police with information on where those safes are.

No concealed carry and only handguns may be allowed to be out in public.

If transporting a weapon, it must be in the trunk of the vehicle, in a bag or some other case, safety on and unloaded and may not leave the vehicle until you are at the destination.

If you’re a hunter or some other gun hobbyist that requires a functional weapon other than a handgun then the gun must stay on the premises, whether that is a gun range or the Fish and Wildlife facility.

If you live in a rural area where police (and people, for that matter) are few and far between, something akin to a deer hunting rifle should provide plenty of protection from predators and poachers, you still have to follow the aforementioned steps.