That’s The Song We Danced At Chloe’s Party, Remember?

maybe your fanfic doesn’t have to change someone’s life maybe it can just brighten someone’s day for a bit

Emo Marinette and Toxinelle fanart, from Miraculous Paris Special episode. Find me on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aulyasela.bsky.social

Hey DG! Been following ur blog for a year now, and i love your positive support to this fandom :)

Do you think Apritello in 2012 was in any way abusive/toxic looking back not that the show is over?

I don’t think this myself at all, i just wanted to know your opinion on this claim because i trust your judgement.

Oh wow, thank you so much! Sorry I’m not really active on this blog anymore (though I’m still around and still compulsively check it lol). But I’m glad you’ve enjoyed my past posts! (My apologies for my lack of gifs in this post; my Apritello gifs aren't on this computer.) As for Apriltello being toxic or abusive, I wouldn’t label it as such. They certainly had their moments where each of them said or did the wrong thing, but they’re teenagers who have no idea what they’re doing, romantically or in life in general. But they learn and grow as individuals over the course of the show, and in doing so, they grow closer together.

Let’s start with Donnie. One of the major complaints I’d hear about him was that he once kinda wound up stalking April back in Season 2, which we all agree wasn’t healthy for either of them.

Now, disclaimer/PSA: Ladies, if a guy is following you around without your consent, do not try to rationalize it. You don’t know what’s going on in someone else’s head in real life. If someone is doing something that makes you uncomfortable, don’t gaslight yourself, or try to justify his behavior, or try to see it from his perspective (which you can’t be sure of anyway). Just get away and stay safe.

With Donnie, he’s a fictional character, so we, the audience, did get to see things from his perspective, and he wasn’t following her with creepy intentions. He wanted to talk to her and patch things up, but he wasn’t totally sure how to approach her, and used that time hopping from rooftop to rooftop trying to figure that out. What he should’ve done is figure that out from home while giving her space. But he’s a teenager who grew up in isolation from the world, not even watching as much TV as his brothers, and he's learning how to socialize for the first time. It doesn’t make his behavior correct, but it makes it easy to forgive so long as he learns and grows from it, which he did. Besides, there was an alien race after April. Keeping an eye on her wasn’t a completely terrible idea. He should’ve just gone about it differently.

Another complaint I’d hear about Donnie was that he still wanted to protect her, even after she’d learned to fight and control her powers, like in her fight with Shinigami, for example. To which I offered the counter-argument: what kind of jerk would Donnie be if he just stood there and didn’t care that the woman he supposedly loves was getting her butt handed to her? The writers needed to show Donnie distressed over April being hurt, but they also needed to have Raph hold him back, because it really was April’s fight. His desire to protect her wasn’t because he thought she was weak or incapable. It was simply because he loves her and hates to see her hurt. A third complaint I’d hear against Donnie was that his feelings persisted a long time. One blogger even referred to Mikey’s crushes on multiple girls as the most “realistic,” out of the turtles’ romances. It may be more relatable to that particular blogger, but it’s not unrealistic to have feelings for one person that persist a long time. I had a huge crush on a guy friend from 5th grade through 10th grade, and that crush resurfaced briefly during my senior year. Some feelings can’t be switched off at will, so what matters is how you handle those feelings while you have them. And while Donnie didn’t always know the best way to handle them, he was a teenager, perfectly entitled to his mistakes, and not toxic or abusive towards April.

Now it’s April’s turn. This teenage girl lost her mom under mysterious circumstances at a young age, then lost her dad (multiple times throughout the series) to an alien race that was ultimately after her so they could terraform the planet. She lived alone a lot of the time, and still had high school, extracurricular activities, and massive secrets to keep. That’s a lot for a minor to deal with. Now add having a big mutant turtle friend awkwardly crushing on you. Would any of us have known how to handle that at that age? Most of us didn’t even know how to handle crushes on fellow humans at that age. For much of the show’s earlier seasons, Donnie’s flirtations and near-confessions came at times when April was up to her eyeballs in chaos she didn’t know how to handle.

She got a lot of crud from fans in particular for kissing Donnie right after he’d told her he understood he was making her uncomfortable and he’d back off, especially because Donnie said after the kiss he understood nothing and he was even more confused than before.

As a fan, I love the kiss. As a grown-up, I gotta say it wasn’t the best decision she could’ve made in that moment. Actions may speak louder than words, but for someone like Donnie, words would’ve been a lot easier to understand. I think what went on in this scene was that April finally realized she did have feelings for Donnie. She wasn’t ready for a relationship with everything going on, but she didn’t want Donnie to give up on her just yet. At the start of the next episode, a still-confuzzled Donnie tried showing off in front of her again (“Check me out, April!”) and she ignored him and walked right on past, further confusing Donnie and irritating the fans. But I think April was trying to overcorrect. Maybe even she thought the kiss was going a little too far, and she was trying to make sure Donnie knew she didn’t want a relationship yet. April’s biggest crime as far as Apritello goes was just not verbally communicating with Donnie. She was young and it was a weird situation and she didn’t know how to handle it.

But after that moment, things did change between them. They really started getting closer as friends, which became a wonderful foundation for them. Donnie started to relax around her a little more, which helped her relax around him, and her feelings were allowed to develop without pressure. They care about each other, protect each other, fight for each other, and respect each other. Things were awkward between them at first, and they did inadvertently hurt each other here and there, but they just needed to grow up a little. I mean personally I don’t think anyone should even date before their prefrontal cortex reaches maturity at age 25, but I don’t think Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles could ever go on that long. lol

This is their first photo together))

Tbh, I respect people who, in their works, make a friendly relationship between Donnie and April. They deserve to be best friends!

(Unlike the canon)

OMG GIRL I LOVE YOUR ARTs SO MUCHHHH~

I'm your big fan since 2020 or 2019 I DON'T REMEMBER!!! help😭💀

HI !!! Thank you 😭💜 I know I'm not posting as much nowadays, but I'm still glad people like my stuff!!

“Never make fun of someone’s passion because that’s the thing that saves them from the world.”

— Unknown

Dear TMNT

That little itty bitty teeny tiny piece of Apriltello we got in the season finale made me smile. I can’t be the only one who misses this… 

I don’t post much stuff like this because it’s a hater magnet, but… I’m not even gonna be shy about it anymore.

The show started off with it being a pretty major thing - it’s because April called Donnie’s attention that the whole story started really - and it was such a sweet relationship to see develop from a stupid crush to this great friendship, so cosy and full of trust, even if Donnie was still learning not to be stupid about it. And then we had a KISS - which in itself isn’t clear what it meant. And it just kinda… went a little silent there. I really really miss it.

And I really hope it wasn’t dropped because of some negative feedback from some people. Shipping aside, if none of it is really explored anymore -and it’s not even about Donnie ending up with April anymore, although I wish - that would be one major story arc just flushed down the drain, to be honest. 

I just wanted this out there. There’s a lot of people who actually enjoy the fluff -I think all the fanart speaks for itself haha- and we’re starving for some. *snif*

Hope you don’t mind that I tag you, peterdicicco XD

And if you guys agree, reblog, signal boost it by Darwin’s beard!

Can't afford art school?

After seeing post like this 👇

And this gem 👇

As well as countless of others from the AI generator community. Just talking about how "inaccessible art" is, I decided why not show how wrong these guys are while also helping anyone who actually wants to learn.

Here is the first one ART TEACHERS! There are plenty online and in places like youtube.

📺Here is my list:

Proko (Free, mostly teaches anatomy and how to draw people. But does have art talks and teaches the basics.)

Marc Brunet (Free but he does have other classes for a cheap price. Use to work for Blizzard and teaches you everything)

Aaron Rutten (free, tips about art, talks about art programs and the best products for digital art)

BoroCG (free, teaches a verity of art mediums from 3D modeling to digital painting. As well as some tips that can be used across styles)

Jesse J. Jones (free, talks about animating)

Jesus Conde (free, teaches digital painting and has classes in Spanish)

Mohammed Agbadi (free, he gives some advice in some videos and talks about art)

Ross Draws (free, he does have other classes for a good price. Mostly teaching character designs and simple backgrounds.)

SamDoesArts (free, gives good advice and critiques)

Drawfee Show (free, they do give some good advice and great inspiration)

The Art of Aaron Blaise ( useful tips for digital art and animation. Was an animator for Disney. Mostly nature art)

Bobby Chiu ( useful tips and interviews with artist who are in the industry or making a living as artist)

Sinix Design (has some tips on drawing people)

Winged canvas (art school for free on a verity of mediums)

Bob Ross (just a good time, learn how to paint, as well as how too relax when doing art. "there are no mistakes only happy accidents", this channel also provides tips from another artist)

Scott Christian Sava (Inspiration and provides tips and advice)

Pikat (art advice and critiques)

Drawbox (a suggested cheap online art school, made of a community of artist)

Skillshare (A cheap learning site that has art classes ranging from traditional to digital. As well as Animation and tutorials on art programs. All under one price, in the USA it's around $34 a month)

Human anatomy for artist (not a video or teacher but the site is full of awesome refs to practice and get better at anatomy)

Second part BOOKS, I have collected some books that have helped me and might help others.

📚Here is my list:

The "how to draw manga" series produced by Graphic-sha. These are for manga artist but they give great advice and information.

"Creating characters with personality" by Tom Bancroft. A great book that can help not just people who draw cartoons but also realistic ones. As it helps you with facial ques and how to make a character interesting.

"Albinus on anatomy" by Robert Beverly Hale and Terence Coyle. Great book to help someone learn basic anatomy.

"Artistic Anatomy" by Dr. Paul Richer and Robert Beverly Hale. A good book if you want to go further in-depth with anatomy.

"Directing the story" by Francis Glebas. A good book if you want to Story board or make comics.

"Animal Anatomy for Artists" by Eliot Goldfinger. A good book for if you want to draw animals or creatures.

"Constructive Anatomy: with almost 500 illustrations" by George B. Bridgman. A great book to help you block out shadows in your figures and see them in a more 3 diamantine way.

"Dynamic Anatomy: Revised and expand" by Burne Hogarth. A book that shows how to block out shapes and easily understand what you are looking out. When it comes to human subjects.

"An Atlas of animal anatomy for artist" by W. Ellenberger and H. Dittrich and H. Baum. This is another good one for people who want to draw animals or creatures.

Etherington Brothers, they make books and have a free blog with art tips.

📝As for Supplies, I recommend starting out cheap, buying Pencils and art paper at dollar tree or 5 below. If you want to go fancy Michaels is always a good place for traditional supplies. They also get in some good sales and discounts. For digital art, I recommend not starting with a screen art drawing tablet as they are usually more expensive.

For the Best art Tablet I recommend either Xp-pen, Bamboo or Huion. Some can range from about 40$ to the thousands.

💻As for art programs here is a list of Free to pay.

Clip Studio paint ( you can choose to pay once or sub and get updates. Galaxy, Windows, macOS, iPad, iPhone, Android, or Chromebook device. )

Procreate ( pay once for $9.99 usd, IPAD & IPHONE ONLY)

Blender (for 3D modules/sculpting, animation and more. Free)

PaintTool SAI (pay but has a 31 day free trail)

Krita (Free)

mypaint (free)

FireAlpaca (free)

Aseprite ($19.99 usd but has a free trail, for pixel art Windows & macOS)

Drawpile (free and for if you want to draw with others)

IbisPaint (free, phone app ONLY)

Medibang (free, IPAD, Android and PC)

NOTE: Some of these can work on almost any computer like Clip and Sai but others will require a bit stronger computer like Blender. Please check their sites for if your computer is compatible.

So do with this information as you will but as you can tell there are ways to learn how to become an artist, without breaking the bank. The only thing that might be stopping YOU from using any of these things, is YOU.

I have made time to learn to draw and many artist have too. Either in-between working two jobs or taking care of your family and a job or regular school and chores. YOU just have to take the time or use some time management, it really doesn't take long to practice for like an hour or less. YOU also don't have to do it every day, just once or three times a week is fine.

Hope this was helpful and have a great day.

"also apologies for any spelling or grammar errors, I have Dyslexia and it makes my brain go XP when it comes to speech or writing"