<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/6/6a/MapleSophomorePortrait.png)</div><strong>Character</strong>: Maple MacAlistair<br/><strong>Who:</strong>Ken<br/><strong>Where:</strong>Photography studio // Mr Chihak's classroom<br/><strong>When:</strong>Sophomore semester // study hall<br/><strong>Wearing:</strong>Clicky link! (http://www.polyvore.com/strawberry_milkshake/set?id=217949624) Jeans, a pink tanktop, and an army surplus jacket<br/><hr/><br/>"Drawing them because they're hilarious, not because they're magic~!"<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Maple flips through the printouts curiously, but sets them aside as soon as Ken's own work is up. She goes through the lot piece by piece, critiquing each in turn then going back and pointing out through-lines of strengths and weaknesses that come up consistently. She doesn't sugar coat things, but is as quick to point out the good parts as well as the bad and keeps a careful eye on Ken's demeanor the whole time to be sure she's not getting to harsh. On top of his supposed temper (which she'd never seem much evidence of in Assembly so didn't give much weight to) she knew from extensive personal experience that too much negative critique would just make an artist defensive, and thus fall on deaf ears.<br/><br/>The whole time her tone is friendly and open and eager to help. It's clear she views weaknesses in artists' work as speedbumps and potholes rather than brick walls; things that can be fixed or avoided once you know how to spot them, and however negatively Ken views his own artistic prospects she seems to think it's nothing that practice can't overcome.<br/><br/>Eventually she commandeers a handful of pushpins and adds the printouts Ken brought to the wall along side his own work.<br/><br/>"So I think the big throughline in the pieces you like is that they've mostly got very strong emotional narratives going on as far as composition and subject matter, as well as limited and mostly subdued color pallets. You're starting to get that stuff with the birds and...is that Goemon from Lupin? No, wrong hair. Anyway, birds and swordguy. Starting to get some story conveyed there.<br/><br/>"So, couple missions, should you choose to accept them. Mission one, colors. Pick two or three complementary or neutral colors and one contrasting color and do some abstract studies trying to convey a specific mood. Shape and color, no identifying imagery. Mission two, story. Take some pictures like these ones," she gestures to the two illustrations with knights, "and study them and make a list of things that stand out to you and what those specific bits say and how they contribute to the story that's being told. Pose, colors, angle of the camera, stuff in the backgrounds, etcetera etcetera. Stills from movies are good for that too, just pause during the really emotional bits."<br/><br/>She trails off, frowning in concentration as she looks between Ken's two sculptures as the photo of the horses he brought in. "Not really sure what to tell you about these. What is it you like about the pony sculptures? The movement, the materials?"