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~*Nine tiers for ninety years!*~ 

 Happy 90th Anniversary, Mickey and Minnie!

I didn’t get to post this on November 18th (Mickey’s birthday) like the other cool kids, because I couldn’t think of anything to draw until the big day itself. So this is a belated birthday present to Mickey, a something-present to Minnie (whatever you headcanon her birthday to be), and an anniversary present all rolled into one. Either way you slice it, 2018 marks ninety years for the both of ‘em.

And...hoo boy. I was not supposed to spend this much time on it. I was originally doing really simple pictures on that cake, but the longer I went, the more detailed I got, so the quality is aaallll over the place. ‘Cause yeah, I painted everything myself (with references for the most part).

For the cake pictures I didn’t really sketch things in to get anything right, I just blocked in colors and added in lines and tried to be efficient about it. So everything is pretty goofy, especially the faces. I hope painting on my old computer wasn’t a mistake that’s going to ruin the colors. 

The cake tiers were originally supposed to be asymmetrical layers falling/flying/wobbling all over the place, but I decided to just stack ‘em normal. So that’s why the cake is looking like Fauna baked it (of course it’ll be much stiffer when it’s baked). If I had planned to do that from the start, I could have made it more cartoon-y and exaggerated, instead of just kinda...huh.

Aaaand that’s it, I think. Hurray! Edit: changed the size and tweaked the color

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Y’all this 90th Mickey and Minnie anniversary tribute is taking forever to paint and also it’s taking a few years off my life, I better get like, 5 notes

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There’s no way I’m going to finish my official birthday pic for Mickey’s 90th today (because I only thought of the idea this morning and I am so very slow), so here is a placeholder doodle. 

Just so that I can say in a post Happy Birthday, Mickey! You mean so much to me. Thanks for everything. <333

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Hey y’all

To anyone I owe email responses, commission updates, or any kind of interaction in general, I apologize for my silence the last week or two. I was feeling very unwell.

I’m getting better though, and I plan to address everything by tomorrow at least. Today I’m trying to finish a personal project, which...hm, hope I can get it done today. As usual it’s turning out to be a little too ambitious.

Thanks for your patience and support, everyone. ❤️

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Last weekend I was feeling really stuck and frustrated with my art, so I was like, okay, I’ll do a little doodle for Halloween, and it’ll be fast, and the goal will be to not get upset when it’s not great

and then can you guess

I got really upset when the lines were turning out badly and I rage quit, lol. Even though the goal was to not care in the first place. Yea. 

Colored this real fast tonight. Love mice/nightmare before christmas crossover merch, obvs. <3

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Hi! First things first I have to say that I absolutely LOVE the way you draw the mice, Minnie on particular! She always has such a sweet and delicate design to her, especially her clothes. What you do with folds and frills is truly some kind of witchcraft! Anyways, I've been wondering for a while now, but are there any plans to continue the Sentai Seven story you and thebigpalooka made? I'm sorry if you've already answered this, I've just been curious.

This is such sweet praise, thank you! I worry all the time when I draw clothes, so to hear any kind of compliment about the way I do them is pretty awesome. And I’m over the moon to hear anything nice about the way I do Minnie! I love to be as over the top with her daintiness as possible. 

I felt like answering this publicly because over the years I’ve gotten questions on my dA about the Sentai Seven story, and I’ve been pretty silent on the matter. Not for any particular reason to do with that story, but because I’ve been silent in general. I’m sure thebigpalooka has been asked about the story as well. 

I want to thank you, anon, and everybody else for the continued interest in the concept! We actually haven’t discussed Sentais in a looong time (though we’re always cooking up stories with each other), but every time someone brings it up I think to myself ‘hm, what if...’ Because if it were to be picked up again, there’s some things I would revamp for sure. Even though we hardly got anything out there in the first place, lol. 

(I didn’t consult thebigpalooka on this, I just thought I’d just state my little two cents while I had a minute.)

The sad truth is that I’ve been in such a dry spell with my drawings and my writings. I’m not a reliable creator these days. But again, wanna say thank you, anon, and to everyone else. Maybe something will come of Sentais someday. I’d never say never! 

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Commissions Update

Hey, y’all! Ha, I’ve been spending all this time fretting about prices for commissions, and then I realized that OH YEAH I’m driving out of state this Thursday and I totally forgot. I’ll be busy traveling until the 22nd. 

So here’s what I’m thinking: if you’re just wanting something sooner rather than later, I’d probably just be able to do a sketch for you. I’d do my best to get it done before I leave. If you’re wanting something with lineart or color, it’d be with the understanding that I wouldn’t be able to really get it done for you until after all that traveling is done. 

For prices I’m imagining:

For 1 or 2 characters

Sketch: $10

Lineart: $15

Color w/out Lineart**: $15

Color w/ Lineart: $20

For Any Additional Characters: $5 each Add A Background: $10 (like an actual setting or place, designs and colors, simple elements like flowers or elements and the like are free):

**When I say color without lineart, this can mean one of two things:

Lineless color art, so like this

Or color on top of sketch like this

Sketches can be digital or pencil. For lineart and color, I’m going to stick with digital for now.

I’m willing to draw pretty much anything except NSFW (I’m just no good at it tbh) and no realism (I’m just too out of practice and you’d be disappointed). I’ll be emailing completed images, and I’ll leave it up to you if you want me to post it online as well. 

Since I’ve been going through some things, I won’t ask for payment up front. I will require payment before I send the completed image however, so basically after I let you know it’s done. I can make changes to the art if you’re not satisfied (within reason). 

If you’d like to order, you can either send me an ask or DM me here on Tumblr. If you’d rather correspond through email, let me know here and I’ll send you my address.

Thanks, guys!

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Oh wow! I was afraid to look back at this post (I'm nervous about everything all the time), but I come back today and there are these kind responses and signal boosts...! Thanks so much for your support, everyone. You're wonderful. 😊

I'll think for a minute about prices and such, then I'll probably open up shop. Thanks again, y'all! ✨

Commissions?

I imagine there wouldn’t be a lot of interest for this because I haven’t been active and my art is meh, and my history with this hasn’t been great…but times are tough.

Just wanna gauge how much interest there would be in cheap commissions from me? Trying to see if it would make sense to do those right now for a little cash.

Like or respond if you could see yourself requesting a commission from me. Thank you! ✨

[elera-and-art]

Commissions?

I imagine there wouldn't be a lot of interest for this because I haven't been active and my art is meh, and my history with this hasn't been great...but times are tough.

Just wanna gauge how much interest there would be in cheap commissions from me? Trying to see if it would make sense to do those right now for a little cash.

Like or respond if you could see yourself requesting a commission from me. Thank you! ✨

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ha this is bad but here i go submitting it anyway

Another picture I tried to not dwell too long on. The outfits are based off some adorable plushies I bought at Tokyo Disneyland. I can never pull off the all-over-with-one-color-on-multiply type shading, but yeah, was trying to speed things up because I have other things i’m supposed to be doing. =|

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Subarashiiii ~ ! Mickey Mooouuuse ~ ! Kagayaku star ~ !

Help me, I am madly in love with this song. [Japanese] [English]

The big goal here was to finish something and to not hold myself up with self-criticism. Just finish a thing. Who cares if it’s bad. I...historically have trouble with doing that. But it’s done.

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So in case you haven’t seen Disneyland’s Halloween gear for 2017, you should definitely check it out because ummmmmm, it’s all AMAZING. I would have bought it all if I could.

Buuut one can’t help but play around with Minnie’s design since, to be real, they just kind of recolored her normal outfit, as cool as it is. First I drew Minnie in a ballgown type thing to go with Mickey’s get-up, but then I glance over and see thebigpalooka drawing Minnie as this amazing witch and I went ahead and ripped her off by doing my own witch Minnie mixed with the original merch design. Because I’m rude.

With apologies, here is something I ended up coloring. I have some more ideas for fanart of the Halloween merch where Minnie wouldn’t be a witch. Hope I can do ‘em.

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Last thing for tonight. You deserve a break.

I don’t want to think about it, but these were probably drawn last winter or something. A lot of time passed where I barely touched my sketchbook. 

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There are lots of amazing fanarts and probably fic too of Mickey being the Phantom to Minnie’s Christine, and that is absolutely the best version that could possibly exist - y’know, where Mickey would be a nice phantom who just wants to make people happy and not a murdering, possessive, erm...troubled lad.

But I’ve also always wanted a version where he’s Raoul and the Phantom Blot is the phantom. I think the Blot could really pull off an iteration of the phantom that’s out of his skull and 100% murdery and creeper-like with no redemption whatsoever. Basically I’ve just always liked the idea of Mickey playing detective and trying to protect Minnie...scenes like him following the boat across the lake during the spooky “Phantom of the Opera” number...or being held back by several men as he’s struggling to run out on stage during “Point of No Return” because the Phantom’s out there with Minnie, kentchya see!?

To make it work and make it cool, Mickey’s gotta be a more active character who embodies the good traits the Phantom has, especially the musical prodigy part. As always, I turned to my best friend thebigpalooka to brainstorm, and always she provided the most amazing ideas to build the story.

We came up with Mickey being an orphan of sorts who becomes a stagehand at Minnie’s father’s opera house which Mickey comes to call home. He knows Minnie when they’re younger and naturally they adore one another without voicing their feelings. A stunning thing happens when it’s revealed that Mickey is the heir to a great family fortune. It becomes apparent to Mickey that he can no longer rely on the opera house to be a home and Minnie’s father to provide for him his wages, and so Mickey goes out into the world to try and make a success of himself as a musician so that he can do Minnie proud someday. Of course, nobody recognizes his genius and he struggles to break out. 

Meanwhile the Blot is a maniacal composer who covets Minnie and her voice and is constantly demanding to have his own work recognized. Minnie’s father constantly rejects the Blot’s ideas for the ghastly opera house and at some point in Mickey’s absence, Minnie’s father tragically dies...or perhaps was murdered. The Blot is disfigured somewhere in the incident and is driven into the depths of the opera house to conduct his evil, and yet he still maintains a lofty, stolen position as a manager (where he hides his mangled face somehow, not sure, haha). He’s able to manipulate the inhabitants of the theater both as a monster in the shadows terrorizing the cast and the crew and as their boss in public. And naturally, he preys on Minnie and bestows upon her his “lessons,” although it should be noted that he drives Minnie too far and sees her voice as a tool for his own ego, and it’s sucking the life out of her. 

All the while, poor Mickey has been sending letters and music he has composed especially for Minnie, but she never gets them. The Blot, jealous and only capable of writing grotesque scores, steals Mickey’s music and manipulates Minnie with it. She is obedient because she’s lost her father, she thinks she’s lost Mickey, and the music she’s hearing from the shadows is undeniably for her...

Mickey returns, applying to be a composer at the opera house. The Blot tells him that now might now be the right time, so why don’t you be a good lad and fund the opera house instead or be a stagehand? Thinking Minnie never liked his music and that was why she never wrote back, heartbroken Mickey takes back his old humble job and also provides funding. 

But despite the misunderstanding, it’s undeniably love at first sight between teh two mice. Mickey helps Minnie while she practices her ballet when she needs a strong pair of arms to twirl or lift her. He is the one who vouches for Minnie’s ability to sing and turns her into a star. He plays music for her to practice to and there’s no denying the magic between them...and all the while, the Blot watches, and the Blot seethes. Especially as Mickey starts to meddle and Minnie starts to run farther and farther from the Blot’s reach, seeking Mickey’s company instead...

And so on and so forth. Thanks for putting up with and making beautiful stories with me as always, the bigpalooka. 

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Some (weird) little mermaids. I was gonna draw the rest on the left side of the sketchbook, the opposite page y’know, but there were a lot of drawings on the previous pages and I got nervous about smudging ‘em. 

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Random fluffs from the last month and a half or so. My scanner continues to be awful and old.

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Was just gonna post Scrooge, but I kind of liked the idea of providing evidence that I’ve really been trying to fill up the pages of my sketchbook this year. Even though Goofy’s snout is too short and I didn’t look up refs of the nephews who I have drawn maybe twice in my life.