𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐧 ੈ♡˳

“I’m so sorry…”

The point I was making was not that Ben’s perspective is not understandable– the point I was making was what the point of The Last Jedi, the film, is; what commentary on Ben’s actions the film provides. Which is that Ben’s perspective and method of dealing with his problems is not seen as correct by the narrative. Just because I can see Ben’s perspective doesn’t mean I have to agree with it; that is entirely why sympathetic villains exist in any media. He is portrayed as sympathetic but ultimately wrong. His current perspective is shown as one that is causing him agony and which in fact is hampering his true potential; it is something he needs to overcome to be who he was meant to be. 

Killing the past has also brought Ben nothing but pain. This is the entire conceit of TFA and TLJ. Ben does not become stronger by killing his past, and the entire notion that Han and Leia literally abandoned Ben and that their love means nothing is ridiculous in a Star Wars movie, which is all about the redemptive power of familial love. To cheapen Han’s sacrifice by acting like the narrative is going to make it a null and void act of ‘too little, too late,’ is to nullify everything SW stands for, especially sacrificial love. His murder would not even have been a test for the Dark Side had Ben not loved him. And to act like Ben does not love Leia is frankly quite ludicrous, after the entire scene where he tears up sensing her in the Force and cannot bring himself to hurt her. 

Ben is in fact called out for trying to kill his past during the very first scene:

…which culminates in the symbolic act of trying to ‘deny the truth that is his family’, to kill the past, which was Ben’s murder of his father. Which ended with this:

and this

These are an unambiguous indictment of Ben’s attempts to kill his past, which was proceeded by this:

A reminder that no matter how much Ben tries, he cannot kill his past –he cannot kill Ben Solo, son of Han Solo– because he is still Han Solo’s son, because the past does not die. And when he tries, his spirit is split to the bone. He suffers.

And this motif is capped off twice in the third act, here:

And here:

Which then finishes with Ben on his knees in a mine, triumphant in might but utterly defeated in spirit, because he tried to kill the past, and now he is utterly, completely, alone.

The point is not, ‘Does Ben’s attempts to kill the past make sense for his motivations.’ The movie goes to great pains to make Ben sympathetic. The point is, does the narrative of The Last Jedi support Ben’s attempts to kill the past?

And it does not. The murder of his father leaves him in spiritual agony. Luke remarks that Han will never leave Ben, and that if he tries to kill Luke (kill his past), Luke will always be with him as well. Leia gives up hope and says her son is gone, is in the past, and Luke refutes this statement. The narrative gives zero indication of supporting Ben’s perspective. Not in an, ‘is he sympathetic way.’ In an, ‘is he right’ way. 

And extended canon backs this up 100%. Anakin also tried to do the exact same thing as Darth Vader, as did the fallen Jedi who shed their identities and became dark side adherents after the fall of the Jedi Temple.

Straight up. And 

Anakin had just as much reason to ‘let the past die.’ The Jedi Council had separated him from his mother and forbade him from seeing her, then proceeded to use him for their own political agendas, forcing him to marry in secret. He had killed his wife. His mother was dead. There was nothing for him in the past; it has ‘caused him nothing but pain.’

Except that is just straight-up not how SW works. The narrative, across the board, consistently, for every character who tries to ‘kill the past’, be it Anakin, Ben, or the Inquisitors, is that it is impossible. The past cannot be killed, and to deny the past is to blind yourself, to fool yourself, and to hamper yourself to your true potential. Ben is wrong because the narrative sets him up that way. It is only when Anakin embraces the past –his son, and the true identity of Anakin Skywalker that his son represents– that he saves his soul, and this is basic, basic Star Wars logic. It is only when Ben embraces his past and his true identity that he will save his. And I’m going to post this again here:

This post in particular brought to mind issues of difficult empathy. It’s a small point in comparison to the in-depth discussion of how TFA introduces Ben Solo with a poignant tragedy: his personal history of trauma leads him to rage against the light, yet, by nature, he is a light and dark creature. So destructive acts that might seem, to his mind, to be justified and necessary for preserving him as a demonized dark creature are actually destroying his light-dark psyche.  

What Would You Do?

I think the main key to making your art look both painterly and neat is to have the right mix of hard and soft edges and to keep the most strongly visible brush strokes to key focal areas like highlights around the nose/cheek/eye area and maybe mouth. For blending, I use three tools: Mainly the paintbrush, with a rectangular-ish textured brush, relying on having the right color selected and also tablet pressure sensitivity for opacity to blend. Sometimes the airbrush, for the softest gradients on areas like cheeks. As long as you don’t paint purely with the airbrush, it’s a great tool to use. And finally, the smudge tool, which I use pretty sparingly and mostly at the end of the process. I make sure that doesn’t turn into a smudgy mess by using the same rectangular textured brushes I paint with and setting strength to 100%: