#ask lioness

I do, actually! I considered it a lot years ago and made a list of possible voice actors for every character I had planned at the time (with example performances where I thought I best heard my characters in pitch and intonation because we all know great voice actors can have a great range of voices). I won't list all my characters since I've never mentioned most of them outside of a Discord server, but I can mention the big four here.

Note: This is subject to change at any time, but this is what I have from the last time I binged voices. Enjoy. :)

Daemon Thuringia- Troy Baker (Tailon - Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Joel - The Last of Us, Greed - FMA:B, Booker Dewitt - Bioshock Infinite) & John Hopkins (Marius - Ryse: Son of Rome) (I could never decide which one I liked more, so if I could combine Troy and John's voice performances into one, that would probably be it)

Althea Voronina - Laura Bailey (Ioreth - Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Serena - Skyrim, Lucina - Fire Emblem: Awakening) (As you may have noticed, Althea has a voice performance alongside Daemon's in Middle Earth, so if you want to closest thing to an audible conversation between them, watch the opening of that game.)

Althea Voronina (elder) - Pam Hyatt (Frieda - Silverwing, Kaede - Inuyasha) (For Althea in her 80s. Wanted a wizened voice, but a strong one. Probably one of the most likely to change however.)

Draven Thuringia - Travis Willingham (Roy Mustang - FMA:B, Isaac Frost - Fight Night Champion, Spartan Paul DeMarco - Halo 4, Zavok - Sonic: Lost World, Reggie Rowe - Infamous: Second Son) (Yes, I find this very ironic and a bit weird since Laura Bailey is married to Travis, but is what it is. He's got the tone and depth I want here.)

References.

Almost every time I draw, I have references open on different screens or devices. Most of the time, they are photographs of the real animal that I'm working on, but I do look at other people's styles and artwork if I feel like mine is missing something, or if I want to try a different style.

One tip, if you are just starting out, or just feel like you can't get an angle or limb right, is to not feel bad about tracing pictures of the animal in question for practice. Doing that has helped me plenty of times before, especially with proportions and how movement affects body/limb shape.

Another tip would be one that I've learned from other artists. If you feel you need practice on a subject (like an animal), pull up your references on it and then go crazy with some practice sketches! And DON'T just draw how you would do things (or strive for that perfection hole). Make a mess of a collage! Draw the creature in different styles. Mess with proportions and your drawing methods. Go outside your comfort zone. Try realistic, then go simplistic. Draw a young animal compared to an old one. Just fill up a page with nothing but various attempts at drawing that animal, each in a different way. In doing so, you might find something you really like, like a new style, and all the while you'll figure out the animal faster as you do.

And finally, the third tip is something that has passed between artists again and again....

PRACTICE. The whole 'the brain is a muscle, so you have to exercise it' spiel. Do something like the first two tips over and over again until you feel like you're a biologist with a specialization in this animal species.

Once you're in that comfortable spot, you can either move on to another subject, or keep refining your artwork with that chosen animal. Do whatever you want to do!

Hi!

I suppose you could call it a fandom, but it’s more of a collection of artists/writers/creators who have developed their own nutcracker characters/adaptations based on the story, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King", as well as the ballet and the many media adaptations out there (ex. movies like Barbie and the Nutcracker, The Nutcracker Prince, etc).

It’s really just a bunch of people, me included, who like nutcrackers and/or the original nutcracker story, and have created their own stories and characters based on that story, ranging from making their own version of the original book, creating their own kind of sequel to it, or just taking the basic concepts and creating a completely original story (involving nutcrackers)!

Honestly, there is no way for me to list out every creator with their every nutcracker and story! The list just goes on and on, and more people keep joining in with their own works and interpretations! 

Currently, we’re in the middle of Nutcracker Month with the nutcracker month drawing challenge (which only covers maybe less than half of the “fandom” by the way), so I and some others have been drawing different creators’ nutcrackers in celebration of this strange phenomenon of nutcracker-centric creativity (even though I’ve been drawing them as animals, but that’s my thing really). 

Really, I think the best way to understand is to take a look at the different creators we have here and their own work. If it helps, I include links to the original artists and their nutcracker content in every piece I post this month for the challenge. If you want to explore the different realms of “The Nutcracker Hell” yourself, you are free to do so. :)

Have fun!

Um . . . I mean teeeeecccchnically writing stories about a nutcracker in gory/terrifying situations is a Christmas/horror writing? That said, The Bindings of Monsters story I’m currently creating would fit that bill once the later chapters get added.

To what, exactly? Technically, any song can be a theme/opening song within the right context.

If you are referring to my stories, a lot of them are inspired by music, but a lot of that music I end up considering as “end credits” songs while I'm writing (which in some cases can be considered a theme song?). Anyway, I always mention songs in the notes of my stories that I listened heavily to during the writing process. For the songs that get me hyped over my own chapters and stories, I always end up imagining them playing at the “fade/cut to black” end portion of the story/chapter, rather than at the beginning or in the middle (unless we’re talking about the song, The Middle. ;3).

But that’s just me. I’m an end-credits person. 

That’s my little rant on song placement in my little world.

Yes, that, and a lot of my stories (both completed and WIPs) are actually inspired by songs in the first place. Great example, my story, Dance in the Middle of Time, was written because the idea popped into my head while I was listening to The Middle by Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey on one of my walks to class. The story was written in time with the lyrics of the song (which you can clearly see in the story).

My ‘Ghost Nutcracker’ spin-off series also had some songs that inspired certain parts (I believe I mention them in the notes for those stories on Archive). 

‘The Bindings of Monsters’ story I’m building was started because I listened to the song “El Matador Del Mar” from the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and I just . . . took off with the help of shinyzango and friends. The story also has/is going to have an end credits song at the end of each chapter (because I write my chaptered stories like TV episodes playing in my head).

So yeah . . . . music plays some BIG roles in my writings. 

It just takes one good song to hit me like a sledgehammer to get me started (and then take 5 years to finish XP). 

Well, I could give you advice on making “quick” villains, as in villains whose only purpose are to cause the conflict you really want to start, without setting them as a main, continuous villain whose story intertwines with the hero’s inseparably.  I have more experience with them whether than long-term bad guys. Although, I know you can develop long-term villains this way. There’s never just ONE way to make a villain.

For me, I like to start with a single scene of conflict. Just one anguished, tragic, or heart-racing scene that I really want to try with no set villain or enemy; the villain is just a faceless shadow or floating idea in the background for now. I think of how I want the scene to play out; what emotions are there from the main characters, what’s the damage done, what are the potential outcomes (Example: -From the first idea of my story, ‘Another Reason’- I want a scene that damages the heroine psychologically, but not permanently. A scene that causes the hero to snap immediately upon witnessing and causes a huge scare for all involved. For this, I chose and so imagined a scene of sexual harassment/assault.)

Based on that central event you’re excited to implement into a story, who would be the perpetrator? What reasons would they have to do this? What kind of behaviors and beliefs would best suit a person who would willingly (or unwillingly if you want to play it that way) cause such a scene? What potential backgrounds can they have that made them like this or put them here in the first place? What are their abilities, strengths, and weaknesses that would help make this scene you picture happen and help its resolution?

You can come up with a number of different versions of your villain trying to answer these questions and more, creating a list of different combinations that you can try out (Example: For the assault, the villain should be attracted to the heroine or be hateful towards her in some way. Villain could be a bandit/criminal who has frequently gotten away with such crimes. Could be a wealthy man used to getting what he wants. Maybe a combination? Is there maybe more than one person causing this conflict? Would it be for their own sexual pleasure or just to torture the heroine? Does the villain(s) know her beforehand: yes or no?).

The consideration strengthens when you have more than one important scene/conflict you want to use in the same story and can actually help narrow down your options. Like, “This person would do this, but also has to be capable of this and this.” You’ll have to do the extra work of finding ways to link the events in your story together, along with deciding on the traits of your villain(s), but that’s a good way you can build both the story and the antagonist off of each other, trying your combinations and throwing out the ones that don’t quite fit the way you want them to (or don’t make sense).

Also important: USE REFERENCES. Don’t be afraid to look at and study existing villains from other creators. Read/watch how they act around others, how they react to different situations, even how they walk and talk! There are actually a lot of good villain lists (not just Disney) on YouTube that you can look at for sampling (I actually find lots of new villains to look at through voice acting lists.) The only thing I warn about when doing this is to make sure you’re not making your villain a carbon copy of another existing villain. Make sure to add your own flair or tweaks to him/her/it if you really like another villain’s personality and design (Example: The villain I created for ‘Another Reason’ was based on the behaviors and tactics of criminals that I’d seen for years portrayed on Law & Order: SVU and criminal investigation shows, not just one person from one of them).

All in all it’s really just all brainstorming. Bouncing ideas around and writing down possible scenes and persons to try. Taking what you know, what you want, and what you haven’t considered before and trying out the combinations. Make some rough drafts of your story with some of your best/closest designs of your villain (Like, a sentence or two per scene kind of draft with dialogue here and there). 

Making a written bio of your villain also helps you visualize them better and keep their personality consistent in your mind, having a written character log to look back on and edit if need be. There are actually TONS of character templates and forms out there that you can use and fill out to help you decide and cement what your character would be like in your mind (any character, not just villains).

Here is one that I think has plenty of material to use for pinning your character down and I have used it once or twice to get my ideas straight.