Superteacher

I'm obviously failing to draw something for the Marvel month, but don't worry, here's some... superhero content.

It's actually an original character design - just me as some kind of a powerful teacher. While creating this character I had Doctor Strange, Thor, Captain America and Scarlet Witch in mind, but I didn't want to overdo it adding too many superhero details, so I added things like an academic robe (which basically became a cape) and a hat, the staff is a big metal pencil with an owl holding a diploma, the shield is a chalkboard and there are other details such as a bag and a book.

Anyway, I wanted him to look like a teacher, especially since there have been some affairs regarding education in my country recently and I had to react somehow. I've been tolerating jokes and misconceptions about my occupation for almost two decades but things just keep getting worse.

Namely, the first lady pressured her son's teachers to change his grades from 4 to 5 (something like B to A) two weeks after the school had finished. What really happened has yet to be investigated, but it was enough to cause reactions and make other teachers speak up openly about their experiences.

I'm not surprised by this affair because similar things happen on regular basis. There's been an open season for teachers for a long time, targeted by students, parents, collegues, principals, politicians, ministers of education, prime ministers or presidents. It doesn't matter if you did everything right, there are always someone else's interests that can easily interfere with your work and law can hardly protect you.

Like most teachers, I've also been a victim to similar pressure, but we're not allowed to talk about it. It happens subtly via messages, phone calls, pieces of advice in school hallways or "friendly" conversations with your superiors but it can sometimes result in a verbal persuasion in a locked classroom until you give in. This kind of behaviour has rooted itself as a rule we now accept without thinking and I often feel sad and sorry for my country. It was born in the nineties but then immediately fell into a coma and it's been surviving on life support machines all this time. No politician or political party have done their job so far and it shows in the layers of corruption, with the education system being just one of the victims. Almost everyone who gets in a position of power takes care about themselves first and gets away with it. We are just watching and electing the same corrupted people over and over again.

My thoughts are with all my fellow teachers involved in this unfortunate charade and I'm not feeling comfortable returning to my work next month knowing that any of us can be next. Again. 😔

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#digitalart #drawing #oc #originalcharacter #originalcharacterdesign #teacher #education #superhero #grdilicious #grdi

Mjölnir or Stormbreaker?

Like I wrote in my previous post, good old fan art is OK, but why not spice it up a little bit, combine it with something different or unexpected? So this is my Love And Thunder fan art in a form of a famous meme made by Jake Clark.

First, let me say the movie turned out to be better than some friends and social media comments suggested. Or maybe it's just me, I like silly Marvel fun and Taika's humour. I can see why it may not be for everyone, but I wasn't disappointed as I was afraid I'd be. It's definitely not one of the best Marvel films, but it's entertaining enough.

Second, which weapon do you prefer, Mjölnir or Stormbreaker? I'm still not sure, so I drew my avatar in Thor's costume not being able to choose one or the other in a modified meme I've mentioned before. I also drew the helmet, but it doesn't make much sense - for example, how to wipe sweat off the forehead and what to do with the glasses? So I improvised and I guess my solution turned out unusual and funny. 😄

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#digitalart #drawing #thor #thorloveandthunder #mjolnir #stormbreaker #meme #marvel #grdilicious #grdi

Portal (CeilingFanCEO)

I've been trying to draw something regarding Portal (video game) for ages, but somehow I never felt like I had the right idea. And then one day I came up with this drawing while scrolling through Reels!

There's a popular TikToker @tugboat_spenny aka Ceiling Fan CEO, whose main act is attaching his camera or iPhone to a ceiling fan and while he's turning around, dancing and lip-syncing famous TikTok songs and remixes, he suddenly puts some kind of colourful caleidoscopic glasses and... well that's it, but it's fun, you have to see it. 😉

The reason why I chose him for my illustration instead of Chell or my avatar was the continuing mystery behind the camera setup he uses in his videos - he never comments on the process of filming and surprising transitions while putting on his glasses. So I imagined GLaDOS rotating around him and filming him instead of the camera attached to the ceiling fan. I added the Portal gun and the weighted companion cube from the game and drew him wearing Chell's orange jumpsuit and jumping shoes. As for the logo you can see on his T-shirt and on the Portal gun, I designed it myself instead of just using Aperture Science logo from the game. It represents a rotating ceiling fan with lights and imho it's one of the coolest logos I've ever designed.

I mean, the whole drawing turned out perfect and I'm happy I came up with this idea instead of just drawing fan art. ❤

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#digitalart #drawing #portal #portal2 #glados #ceilingfanceo #valve #aperturescience #grdilicious #grdi

HMM and CON (Social media)

I redesigned the classic "Drake meme" again, this time replacing a "Pro frame" with a "Hmmm frame" for choices or issues I'd like to talk about that can't be described just as PRO or CONTRA. This time it's about my experience with social media, more precisely the five apps I use regularly.

Instagram is (was?) one of my favourite apps, but only because of its old fame, before it decided to be a TikTok knockoff. True, my posts didn't have that much success even before the change, but I accepted it as the most relevant indicator of popularity of my art on social media. But now, after the sudden turn to video content and insane algorithm that's not generous to art creators... Well, I'm still there, disappointed and angry, but still doing my thing. 😠

DeviantART used to be very popular among artists but now it became a habit and I feel guilty that I don't use it more, interact with users more etc. Nostalgia, I guess - although it seems there have been more likes and constructive comments lately. 👍

I'm not sure why I still post on Blogger, because I haven't had any views, comments etc. for years there. 🤪 No one knows it exists anymore so it became some kind of a backup for my works.

Facebook, ughhh... 🙄 I only keep it because of some contacts, but I wouldn't cry if they closed it completely one day. It's been on my blacklist since the time they bought Instagram and merged accounts, so many acquaintances and colleagues I casually and naively befriended on FB found my IG account that was supposed to be inaccessible to many of them and now follow me without even understanding what I'm trying to do with my art, don't like or even comment my drawings, just lurk and think who knows what. 😒 Usually it wouldn't be an issue, but the person they think they know isn't the same as the silly artsy-fartsy creature I present here and I don't think they really understand it.

And Twitter is the worst - just a cesspool of spoilers, trolls, conspiracy theories and irrelevant opinions that make me puke and I don't really understand why I keep my account there anymore. All I know is that I feel depressed, disappointed and outraged and lose faith in humankind every time I open it. 😭

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Pokémon Summer 2022

This one's definitely one of my most favourite drawings I've drawn this year, it's pure top 5 material! It took me more time to finish it, I was trying to pay attention to as many details as possible and I'm more than happy how it turned out. ❤

Some time ago I created my OC Pokémon trainers Umberto and Espina and I was hoping to explore their story and their experience with raising Eevees and later Umbreon and Espeon, but I got discouraged because they didn't get expected recognition and those unfortunate likes, shares, comments etc. 🙄

But as I've recently embraced that TikTok meme "I used to be nice but now I'm like f... this and f... that and f... everybody" as one of my new life mottos, I decided to return to this project and continue drawing summer illustrations with them as main protagonists - if not for some strangers' acknowledgement and praise, than just for me. And I'm glad I was persistent because it turned out more beautiful than I had imagined. But on the other hand, third time's the charm, so who knows? 😉

P.S. I just love the fact that Espeon is always playful and in good mood and Umbreon is always unimpressed and grumpy. And not to mention the trainers obsessed with their pets and using their colour palette in their accessories and even hair colour. 🤣

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#digitalart #drawing #pokemon #eevee #umbreon #espeon #summer #grdilicious #grdi

Jurassic Frog

"Hey, Green! Eyes on me!" Here's my avatar doing "the Pratt hand" thing while training his Jurassic frog Green. 🤣

OK, I know there weren't frogs like this, it's just my design. Apparently, the first known frog was Triadobatrachus massinoti and of course it didn't have horns and spikes. It lived 250 million years ago, was about 10 cm long (3,9 inches) and even had a small tail.

I chose it as my "Jurassic pet" because of my fear of frogs (if you follow me you probably know about my ranidaphobia). One of the most memorable things about the Jurassic World trilogy was Owen Grady's hand gesture when he communicated with his pet velociraptor Blue. It was so funny that during the screening of Dominion we would mimic this so-called "Pratt hand" every time a dinosaur appeared on screen. And even some of the moviegoers in our row joined us! 🤣

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#digitalart #drawing #jurassicworld #owengrady #thepratthand #dinosaurs #frog #grdilicious #grdi

Honey

Of course there's a weird story behind this silly drawing... 😄 The song "Trebaš li me" sung by Eni Jurišić and Matija Cvek is currently one of the hottest hits in Croatia and during an entertaining skit about misheard lyrics a couple of local radio hosts interpreted the refrain "Javi trebaš li me" (Tell me if you need me) as "Javi trebaš li med" (Tell me if you need honey) and the rest is history - it's become my earworm for the next couple of weeks that ended in me drawing this illustration! 🤣

It represents my avatar dressed as a bee yelling "Tell me if you need honey" while posing as some kind of a soldier, holding a staff resembling a honey dipper, a shield in a honeycomb style and standing on jars full of honey. Just... don't ask why. I know it doesn't make sense, but that's just how my mind works from time to time. 🤪 BTW, the song is really great, I like it a lot and this drawing was just for fun.

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#digitalart #drawing #honey #bee #song #trebaslime #med #misheardlyrics #croatia #grdilicious #grdi