Maleficent Has Arrived!

My Maleficent design "Beware" is available as a $10 shirt at teeVillain! Limited time only. At the time of this post, there is about 21 hours left!

My design "Beware"

Available in 3 shirt colors:

Share with fans of Maleficent. :)

Maleficent Shirt and Trailer

If my entry for most shirt design contests doesn't get picked, then I still have to wait a few month to submit the entry somewhere else. I'm able to now use the Maleficent text entry I did for Shirt.Woot.

"Beware"

On RedBubble, you can get it as a shirt:

On Society6, you can get as a mug or tote bag. Both sites have a print.

I have two other ideas with Maleficent, who is one of my favorite Disney villains. The movie for this 2014 spring motivates me! Here is the first trailer:

I like the scene when they interact!

Maleficent

I started entering ShirtWoot!'s weekly derby contest for shirt designs. For the theme text-as-art, I drew Maleficent from Disney's Sleeping Beauty:

If you're a ShirtWoot customer,
then you can vote for my entry "Beware."

I find female villains in fairy tales interesting especially if they are not the evil (step)mother. Evil mothers feel threatened by their daugther's outshining youth. The less wrinkled face reminds the evil mother that she is closer to then end of her life. Evil female authority feel just as threatened by young princesses.

In the fairy tales, Maleficent's character is not invited to the new princess' introduction either because she was old and forgotten or the king didn't have enough matching plates. This sorceress is insulted not because she cared to see the princess, but because Maleficent's existence was not acknowledged for the future the princess represents. If she was forgotten while she lived, then she will be forgotten when she is gone. If she has no place in the kingdom's new reign, then get rid of it by killing off the princess. Or at least be remembered longer for trying to do so.

A poem by Dylan Thomas comes to mind:

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Impact on a Child

I thought the following chinese proverb from my daily planner was worth sharing.
"A child's life is like a piece of paper on which every person leaves a mark."

There are humorous villains who cry about the toy he didn't get or not being hugged enough.  However, the quote applies to everyone as the influence and as the one influenced.


Here are three villain examples with an impacting childhood moment anyway:

Gru from Despicable Me,

Ego the critic from Ratatouille (Spoliler),

And Megamind.

Megamind at the top.
Metroman at the bottom.

The last two are cast into the roles of villain and hero according to looks and homes.

Can you think of an example? It does not have to be a villain or from a movie.

MegaMind - appearances

Just saw MegaMind at a $3 theater.  I did not expect much from the movie, but I found myself laughing and  surprised.  Also, it has a lot of character exploration for MegaMind.  Along with learning his life story, I think the audience cares for him because his character design is not all threatening.

From memory, I thought MegaMind had a sharp, pointy chin but he doesn't. Although the lower portion of his head is angular, his head is mostly round.  Sharp angles look threating while round is safer.  Yes, he does have the sharp studs, but they're tiny.  His collar too has points, but it rounded with the curves like his elbows. His body too creates a long curve.  The long, skinny body makes him odd-looking, which could be perceived as strange enough to be feared.  However, he says odd, funny things so the odd look is considered funny as well.

Aku from Samurai Jack has pointed ends, edges, and angles that make him look like a real threat. Look at just his teeth.  The way they curve out is strange, which this time does evoke fear. Aku can be funny sometimes but he is still recognized as a threat.

Look at these two:

MegaMind looks threatening only by the larger studs.   The collar is taller now but has lost its points. Titan/Tighten on the left looks more menacing just by his expression.  His face is round too but more angular than Mega Mind's face. Perhaps the Tighten's fiery colors add to the threat. He looks like dangerous fire.  MegaMind could look threatening with the blue and black by evoking a cold and dead personality but he shows emotions that gain sympathy. The red/pink/purple on his ears, nose, and cheeks too make him look less dead. The color reminds us that he's a living being with blood running through him.

Overall, MegaMind looks like a villain but he doesn't sell it like Aku and Tighten.

Although I'm talking about a movie, these visual factors can apply to a prose description of a character too.  A villain with a sharp chin rather than a round or large chin sounds more threatening. Colors can also portray the character's personality and nature but because the reader has to visualize the image, just a few colors should be used at a time.  An author points out the features to look at by stating them.

It's up to you writers and artists if you follow or break down the first impression of characters, but a first impression should be given for the audience to react to the character's arrival.