I Was Morally Obligated To Make This. Behold: The Victor Smile Moodboard: The Lightning Warrior Edition.

October can’t come soon enough

My entry for Draw the Princess! I could not choose which Princess to draw, then I remembered that I didn't have to!

Freeze! ✧ ─=≡Σ((( つ•̀ω•́)つ You’re under arrest for being so lovely. Copy this message to 10 other blogs that you think are beautiful and deserve it. Keep the game going and make others feel beautiful!

I don't usually like chain messages but this one's cute so >.<

Thanks Blue! ❤

Elena of Avalor Appreciation Week 2020 - Beach

There is one episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender called "The Beach", and this and this prompt reminded me of it, so the pose is based off a scene from that episode.

 [Image ID: Pencil and ink picture of Ash, Chatana, Pili, Esteban and Tziloco.  End ID]

A certain person asked me how I paint with watercolors so I guess I'm going to tell you all! Now I'm not professionally trained, I just learned what I know from experimenting, asking questions, and looking up tutorials. So this may not be what the experts do, but it's what works for me.

How I paint:

Materials: I have a watercolor palette, a little jar full of water, my paint brushes, some paper that is thick enough for watercolors, pencil, and some paper towel to help mop up excess water. I always put down some kind of rag cloth or newspapers down on the table first so I don't get any paint on the table. Watercolors don't stain as much as other kinds of paint but it's best to you be careful.

I always use a watercolor palette to make my paintings. This is a very different system from oil paint or acrylic paints or even liquid watercolors or watercolor pencils, so you need to keep that in mind with the rest of the things I tell you

Step 1 (Start): I decide what I'm going to paint and make a little pencil sketch of it on the paper, It doesn't need to be detailed it just needs to give me a rough idea on how big it will be and where various shapes will go. (I sketch it very light so that you don't see the pencil lines on the finished painting but you can make it dark if you still want to see the lines).

Step 2 (Layers 🧅): I decide which colours would be best to be put on the bottom layer and which colours should be put on the top layer and then begin painting accordingly. For example I painted Mirabel's skin before I painted her hair, so I could have bits of her hair going down on top of her skin. I mix the colours together on a scrap piece of paper first just to test how they look.

Step 3 (How to apply paint): I dip my paint brush in water and then swirl it around in the needed colour until I have my desired amount, then I begin to paint in the shape that I want. Whenever my brush needs more colour I put a very small amount of water on it and then rub it gently against the paint palette then brush it again on the paper. For dark colours I swirl it around longer in the paint to get more paint on it and then lay it on thick. For lighter colours I put more water on the brush and less paint on it and then use the water to spread the paint even further across the paper. Important tip: Never press your brush too hard against the paint palette or the paper when you're painting, otherwise the bristles could be bent out of shape or fall out. Use the same amount of pressure you'd use if you were petting a kitten with the paintbrush. (You shouldn't actually do that, it's just a metaphor.)

Important tip: If you ever have too much water on your paintbrush, use a paper towel to mop some of it up. You can also use a paper towel to help get unwanted paint off your brushes.

Step 4 (Waiting): After filling in one shape with a specific colour, I move on to the next colour. If I don't want the colours to mix together I wait a minute or two for the first part to dry before I continue on to the next part. But if I do want a gradient then I start adding the new colour and brush them together a bit with water.

Step 5 (Small details): Watercolours mix together really well but that means to get good looking light colours you have to apply them directly to the paper, where there isn't any paint, otherwise if they are mixed with a dark-colour they could become muddy looking. For things like Mirabelle's glasses I painted the skin around them first, leaving a white blank space and then once the paint had dried I very carefully added the light green, making sure not to get the brown paint wet again. (I also use this process for the butterfly on the accordion and the earring.)

Step 6 (Optional Final touches): Sometimes I used paint for the pupils of eyes but they never seem as detailed as I want. So instead what I do is I leave the eyes as blank white circles, and then once I'm finished painting everything else, and everything is completely dry, I use a small pen or marker to draw the black outline around the eyes as well as pupils and pencil crayons to colour the iris. I also use pencil crayons for the eyebrows, lips and dress butterflies.

Repeating these steps for a very long time eventually leads to a finished painting. If you have any questions let me know.

REACT COLLECTION

What a stunning collection of reactions I saw on this post! I simply have to share it with the world:

I am pleased. Thank you @brickwhartley!

A fanfiction in which Armando saves Avalor

  “Armando! Marlena! You have to help us!” exclaimed Luisa as she and Francisco ran into the room.   “Huh? What’s wrong!?” Marlena replied, almost dropping the Danaus plexippus she was holding.   “Oh, sorry to interrupt you two from your caterpillar counting, but we have an emergency at the palace!”   “That’s alright,” replied Armando “there’s still a few days until the next caterpillar race, we have time, what’s wrong?”   “Well, I was looking out the telescope at the observatory earlier today,” Francisco explained “when at exactly 4:44 in the morning, on this day on the 4 months of the year, on the 4 year of the decade-”   “I think they get the point about the date, how it lines up with the prophecy.”   “You’re right mi amor, I just never thought I’d live to see this day…the day a giant meteor that shown bright as a star fall from the sky, gently bounced off several clouds, and landed directly on the palace.”  Armando stiffened, out of all the legends he’d ever heard it his life this one inspired the most fear and awe in him. Marlena noticed his anxiety and took his hand in hers; it made them both feel mildly more at ease.   “And we don’t know what to do, I’m from a chocolate making family, I don’t know much about this. But with your family’s background you are the expert on this kind of thing. So, we need your help” said Luisa “or else according to the prophecy…”   “…It would vaguely become a big nuisance.”   “Si.”  Armando nodded “Then I’ll give it my best shot!”

Clippity-clop Clippity-clop Clippity-clop Clippity-clop (they rode on horses to the palace)  Now the universe is vast and unfathomable, everything we see is but a fraction of its majesty. There is so much out there beyond human understanding, even within the understandable, from the forces which dictate the movements of electrons, to what truly happens to matter inside a blackhole. Humans have not yet discovered the answer to these mysteries, and maybe they never will. But one thing is certain, when confronted by the answer to one of these great mysteries, everyone will have a different reaction. When our heroes arrived at the palace, a spectrum of reactions is what they saw.

 Cheese was everywhere, people were running around screaming, casually chatting with each other, twirling around, touching the cheese, not touching the cheese, and doing ever more noticeable things as well.   “Who needs sea shanties when we can sing cheese shanties!” yelled Naomi, who proceeded to sing nothing, for she did not know any cheese shanties.  Victor was standing with one hand over his heart, the other in a fist he shook at the sky “Way must the sky tempt me so? It knows that cheese is the best thing of all to steal, and yet, if I were to steal it I would rid myself of everything I hold dear! And yet, temptation remains, way cruel fate, WHY?!”  Carla was facing the wall, with the air of a teacher educating the masses “Did you know that on the planet Skelecki, they put their cheese into orbit so it can become fluffy from zero gravity?” she said.  Gabe was standing beside her also looking at the wall, “I did not, did you know that in the delta quadrant, a creature called a grakel produces a milk was called schplict, which can be used to make a green colored cheese?”   “I did not, did you know that did you know that-” this conversation had probably done on like that for a while.  Mateo was on the floor, touching the cheese. He was constructing a terrible effigy into the cheese, it looked reminiscent of a cartoon electric mouse, but it the shape on a man. It was unsetting.  Ixlan was just standing there, expressionless “As you can see, I am filled with a sense of awe in the universe.”   (Anyone I, the narrator, have not specifically mentioned has ether yet to be mentioned, or just wasn’t there at the palace that day, it was a pretty slow Saturday after all, minus this main problem.)   “Wow,” said Marlena “I never knew people could have such strong reactions over cheese from outer space.”   “They where here when it collided with the palace, so it’s probably one of these ‘you had to be there’ situations.”   “That makes sense.”  Dr. Crabington, the palace’s beloved doctor was walking in a straight line past them. Their eight tiny, exoskeleton covered legs moving them straight forward instead of sideways!   “Oh no!” exclaimed Francisco, “Even Dr. Crabington, the palace’s beloved doctor is affected! Will no one be able to escape the influence of the majestic space cheese!?”   “How did this cheese even get here, where did it come from?” asked Marlena.  Armando put his hand on his chin, “If I remember correctly, its because our galaxy…”  She nodded “The milky way galaxy…”   “Is made of mostly milk, and when there’s milk there’s often…”   “Cheese!”   “Yes, and when the stars and calendars are in alignment, the celestial cheese will intersect with planets and cause glitches with reality.”   “And who better to fix those glitches than the royal glitch fixer.” Said Francisco.  Armando smiled.

  “Hay where are our nietos?” asked Luisa “normally they are in the middle of problems of this magnitude.”   “Oh I know where they are” said the ghost of Lucia “Hi mom, hi dad.”   “Hola mija,” replied Luisa “it’s good to see you aren’t affected by the cheese power.”  She nodded “Well ghosts are immune to the effects of galactic cheese, so it makes sense, but both my hijas and sobrino certainty are not.” She pointed at Elena, Isabel, and Esteban, who where in the corner.  Elena was doing stand up comedy “What do you call a cheese made out of cheese? A cheese!” Then she laughed at her own joke.   “Oh Elenita, what has happened to you?” said her concerned mother.  Isabel looked up, “Hi mom, I’m testing how much cheese can be put in a sock before it explodes, for science!” she was throwing socks at the cheese.   “Isa you’re supposed to use your science powers for good, not this!” she told her, “But I do have to say I am very proud of you for getting that science degree, and you always making such brilliant inventions, and for always being your wonderful self. I love you.”   “Thanks mom, that’s always good to hear, I love you too.” Said Isa, as she through a purple argyle sock onto the cheese.  Meanwhile, Esteban was gazing at the cheese in awe “Cheese-chan you are so amazing; I feel inspired enough to maybe do a traditional Satu fan dance for you!” he exclaimed.   “I’ll help you find them Ex-Chancellor!” exclaimed Higgins, who was also there.  Luisa shook Armando’s shoulders “Oh no, Armando, you have to do something before he finds where I hid all his fans!”   “Right, this is pretty serious, but I have a plan, but we need one more thing to complete it, and there’s a special sale on at the store for it, vanilla extract!”   “Vanilla extract? Are you sure?” she asked.  Yes, in ancient times the Maruians gathered together a counsel of their most trusted wizards, and rowdiest citizens, to vote on what would be most likely to safely get rid of space cheese, and Vanilla extract won the vote in an overwhelming majority.”   “Then it must be true!”   “What are we waiting for? Let’s save the world!” said Marlena.  

Sparkly-Clippity-clop Clippity-clop Clippity-clop Clippity-clop (they rode on unicorns to the store and back to the palace, because they are faster then just running there)   “It’s time, are you ready, should I go over the lyrics again?” said Armond as he stood in front of the palace.  Marlena held her guitar in her hands, “No, you explained them really well on the unicorn ride back here.”   “Okay great, are you both ready?”   “Guitar!” yelled Francisco, summoning a guitar out of thin air because his guitar servant was on vacation.   “He’s ready and I am too.” Said Luisa.   “Great, then we start in three, two…” he poured the bottle of vanilla extract on the space cheese to make the song effective. “One…NOW!”   “Cheese, cheese, go away on the moon is where you’ll stay.” They all sang, with guitar accompaniment.  It began to float upwards.   “Cheese, cheese, go away on the moon is where you’ll stay.” They sang ever louder, and it lifted completely off the palace.  Even you, the reader, sang it in your head “Cheese, cheese, go away on the moon is where you’ll stay!”  It was going, it zoomed off the palace, into the sky, and landed on the moon, where it would live the rest of its days in peace and tranquillity.  After that everything at the place returned to normal.   “Let’s make cookies for a celebration party!” exclaimed Isabel five minutes later.   “How many?” asked Lusia.   “More than you can shake a click at-I mean stick at!” she replied. Everyone had a good time at the party, Armando was given a medal of problem solving, but the biggest reward of all for him was the felling on a job well done.

(Author’s note: Raul was not at the palace because he was being the dungeon master at his ghost table-top roleplay group, and cancelling would have been a let down for everyone, but he arrived for the cookie party afterwards.)

Hide and Seek in the palace garden.

[Image ID: A pencil crayon and ink drawing of Esteban, Elena, and Victor, from Elena of Avalor, as children. They are playing Hide and Seek in the palace garden. Elena and Victor are hiding in front of a yellow rose bush. Esteban is at the base of a tree in the background looking for them. End ID]

I loved reading “The Choas Codex of Ultimate Doom”! It was so cute once you understand that these were Isabel, Esteban, Elena and Victor playing together as children! And I was just smirking at all the irony and foreshadowing. Little do those four children know just how many real, magical adventures they’ll all have together in the future. I hope you’ll write more young Flores cousins and Victor fics! They’re all just too cute!

Thank you so much! 💗

I'm glad you enjoyed the cuteness as well as the irony, it was fun to balance those out.

I do have a couple other ideas for possible childhood stories, so hopefully I'll get around to making those in the future.

Elena of Avalor writing requests. Choose one character from each list, and I will write a mini fanfic with them!

List 1: Elena Naomi Gabe Mateo Isabel Esteban Luisa Francisco Doña Paloma Victor Carla Ixlan

List 2: Skylar Luna Migs Dulce Antonia Olivia Zuzo Armando Higgins Quita Moz Carman Julio

❤️

❤️= Favorite ships? ⚔️ = Unpopular opinion? I'm going to answer both at once, because why not. 

One of the things that really sold me on the show in the first place was the fact that it didn't have any of the main characters constantly pining, like most other shows in it’s genre do. Don't get me wrong, I still love those other shows, but I feel like most of the romantic subplots with the main characters were the weakest parts of them. Only occasionally does Elena of Avalor have episodes on romance as the focus and that was always with grown ups and/or side characters. I feel like shows should do that more often.

That being said as far as ships go, well… I like all the cannon married & dating couples, I don't have any problems with any of them. But as far as most fan-made ships go, I'm pretty neutral about most of them (or I am a big multishipper with them). I see a nice piece of art/fic for them and I'm like “Oh that's a nice piece of art/fic” but I wouldn't live or die for that ship. 

But I have to admit I do absolutely love Rafictor, it's definitely a favourite, but I like some other ships that have either of them in them as well. Ixlan/Antonia is another favourite, (although I guess the show was the one that suggested that ship in the first place). And I really like any of the possible combinations of the four Amigos with each other, I'm just very glad that the show didn't explicitly say that any of them are cannon, because that makes them all equally valid. (Although I guess I'm biased towards a certain one of them if you look at a couple of certain posts of mine).