not the vampire you are expecting! (Patreon)

perhaps one of the most controversial vampires ever.

I was, indeed, Team Edward back in the day. What a surprise. Please put your hand up if you were also incessantly bullied for daring to be a teenage girl who had a crush on this sparkle man. I think Robert Pattinson has an incredibly interesting face, and I have doodled him a lot years and years ago. Caught some kind of virus that made me want to take a crack at that sparkly vampire skin! I don't actually like to paint actor's likenesses really because I bellyache over it, but here we went anyway. Of course after looking at it for hours I feel like it looks nothing like him. I'd like to take a crack at his Batman look some time because I absolutely love it. The Lighthouse is another of my favorites lol... I /do/ like painting in B&W...

Anyways, I will admit that I am a huge Twilight defender because I could never disparage something that made me feel less alone when I was a little girl. Yes, there are serious flaws worth discussing, but I think a lot of people took (and STILL take all the years later) it as an excuse to just bully vulnerable people.

I am reminded by the same dudes who love commenting on my art about how they stake Astarion every time they start a new BG3 game. It gives me total whiplash to being embarrassed by boys in middle school saying that Edward was ugly and that I was an idiot or whatever lol.

A reminder to be kind, and to remember what used to make you happy as a kid. Don't cringe about it- you owe it to little you to be kind with your memories.

Hope you all are well. ♥

~Lily