I've never been very good at emotions. In fact, I'd say I'm rather terrible at it so to naturally one of the next steps (of which there are a billion) to becoming a better artist is to practice emotions. I've always wanted to draw angry faces or sad faces, so here we go, here's angry Elsa! (What do you think, looks angry enough or not really? There's something a little restrained in her face I think)

Art Tumblr: [x]

Here is my fan art/concept art of wee little Moana based on Tuvaluan design! Disney still hasn't released where in the South Pacific this film will take place. Many Polynesian people have speculated she may be from Hawaii since Moana is a Hawaiian name, but it's not really in the South Pacific, according to them. It's kind of North which is problematic. Though if the rumors are true that Moana will feature Gods and Goddesses from Samoa or Tonga and Moana is a navigator then maybe she travels all across the South Pacific to save her family.
In any case, I am kind of hoping Moana won't be Hawaiian because people always seem to think Hawaii is the only Polynesian culture. There are plenty others which need representation in media.
I ramble too much xD Ha wupps

 

References:

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My Moana blog: [x]

Nothing to much to say! A couple of days ago I thought I'd try drawing Princess Aurora. I absolutely love her style in the film! She's so beautiful and I feel the way that she was drawn was so unique, especially with her hair. And everyone absolutely loves her "peasant dress" Just as beautiful is her concept art. I absolutely love concept art, especially simple pencil renderings of her without any colour. It reminds me of the beauty of 2D animation which sadly (even though I do like 3D) is starting to feel like a forgotten medium in today's big animation companies (ahem Dreamworks, Disney...will we ever see another 2D film from you? Looking doubtful...) which is why I love Studio Ghibli so much, and I can only hope in the future we will see more 2D animation. Especially those with unique styles like Sleeping Beauty or The Secret of Kells. So before I keep rambling on here's a quick doodle I did of Aurora using old concept art of her as my reference
To me Aurora is very beautiful but she is definitely hard to capture!

 

Art blog/Tumblr: Black as Obsidian

Disney's Moana - Moana Waialiki

I'm sure many of you know by now that Disney is making a new movie, hopefully to be released in 2018, that is currently known as Moana.

"…it’s an epic, or even mythic, adventure set around 2000 years ago and across a series of islands in the South Pacific.
The lead character, Moana Waialiki is the only daughter of a Chief in a long line of navigators. She’s really a bit of nerd, but a nerd about sea voyaging, and when her family need her help, she sets off on an epic journey. Some of the other characters are demi-gods and spirits drawn from real mythology."

There has been no officially released concept art of Moana yet, and we know literally nothing about this film but it has certainly been arousing the interest of Disney fans. Many are hoping that after Disney's long reign of white representation that even more cultures and countries will be represented, which explains why everyone is so excited for Moana to be released as a woman colour (many fans even hope she'll be a Disney princess). But of course where there is excitement, there is also some anxiety. Representation is important and many fans (and of course Polynesians from every different Polynesian culture) are nervous about Moana. Representation is a double-edged sword, it can be very good and bring awareness but it's possible if not enough research is done Moana could be a botched-up, bastardized representation of Polynesian culture. It's difficult to know anything about the film this early of course, and without any proper setting to which Polynesian culture and location Disney is referring to it's difficult to make accurate fan art. Polynesians aren't just one group of people together who wear tube tops and grass skirts all the time, and we certainly shouldn't make it a stereotype. I hope any artist reading this will consider doing research before doing any Moana fan art.

Anyways, I have made 3 pictures of my concept of Moana. I really hope she has short/medium hair! And I hope her body won't be a size 0 with impossibly tiny waists like a good chunk of the Disney princesses. I know many of us fans are hoping she'll be quite voluminous. I'm personally hoping she'll be busty with some wide hips! As important as representation of culture, so is appearances/bodies! I really want more variety in all media, and I hope Moana will have some kind of beauty marks on her face. Disney tries to keep things symmetrical and at most have freckles, but I sincerely hope they'll venture out of this idea of a perfectly symmetrical face. I love the "imperfections" and "flaws" of people.

Goodness, look at how long this post is, anyways here is my own Moana fan art/concept art thus!

 

I'll admit that when I made the first two images I didn't have a specific Polynesian culture in mind so unfortunately I unintentionally contributed to the Polynesia = Grass skirt, random flower in hair, tube top stereotype so I sincerely apologize for that!

This time I did my research for making this design! Not knowing where Moana was set, I decided to base this off of Maori culture. It's just such a beautiful culture and I hope I captured this right, although I didn't give her a moko so I may add that later, and I've been told by some fellow Polynesians since Moana is the chief's daughter (aka a person of significance) she would mostly likely a cloak for formal events and a poi. Sadly, someone also told me Moana may not be from the Maori culture at all as apparently they don't have an 'l' in their alphabet, hmm, time to research more Polynesian cultures!

All my Moana art work can be found on my moanaswaialiki blog or my art blog

Wow, I have no idea what I'm doing on blogspot, this site is so foreign to me. Also, it just butchered my beautiful icon
Gaaaaah, I hate anything that forces you to login via google