“untitled aubrey meme thing”

Artist Commentary

I typed up this whole big cross-site description in advance except now putting it all here without the deviantArt-styled quotebox feels too casual?? Heck it, it’s getting published here first but I’m sticking this in a dA blockquote anyway:

Didn’t plan on going the whole nine yards with color and everything here but ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Saw this version on my front page today (TIL Goosebumps fanon real??), artist actually linked the source*, went 👀👀👀

Fanon version is not derogatory, to be 500% clear!! Fanon gonna fanon and people want Undyne 2, that one face gives off the vibe, I can get that (and I really cba to get mad about people’s character interpretations anymore); I actually had a lot of fun going ham on the exaggeration! (Can someone explain the “slap on bandaids everywhere” aesthetic, though?) Ironically this is more the character I thought I was going to get, too—I just got my heart pummeled into dirt instead 😄

It’s kind of a wild change of pace, tbh, not wanting to go all My City Now on the source material (er, silly joke doodles notwithstanding). Actual canonical character development will do that!

*eta: Was not able to archive this for some reason. Here, various links: Twitter, Nitter, and just the archived image.

+additional indulgent Aubrey rambles:
Essentially something I try to keep in mind is that, despite the “>:D haha yeah we’re gonna beat you up” face being decidedly canonical, that’s a front. Aubrey spends like 2/3rds of her Faraway screentime wanting you to go away, and in the remaining third I’m like 85% sure that expression only shows up again when she’s 1) talking to Kim and 2) telling Sunny to “break a leg” (word choice,,,,) in the buildup to the Omori fight, which isn’t even Actually her.

I probaby do ignore that side too much sometimes, she did very much backtalk a priest, but in a majority of official art her expression is just so goddamn flat… my go-to attitude for her is a lot more “aloof, or trying to be” than “c’mon bro let’s start swingin’.”

Anyway, I keep wanting to do this one fandom template-meme-thing comparing the actual cast portraits to how the artist draws them, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ maybe some other day. For now I saw an A+ excuse to draw The Favorite™ and ran with it \o/

Time taken: 5 hours, over a couple sessions

Referenced a very specific art for the “canon” version, and nothing in particular for fanon but this post pretty much defines my impression (hence the pose shift).

+bonus, if you wanted to see That Face in my usual style: Full canvas is in this month’s roundup. Gotta love air fryer memes.

++ With thanks to a dA commenter, the “bandaids everywhere” aesthetic is called decora! The more you know.