actually maybe i DO understand this fucking phenomenon cause i just remembered how often tumblr loves to take a piece of media, be it a tv show or movie or book, and make headcanons and AUs and fanfiction SO far removed from it that it becomes its own thing. the threads tying them to their original work is thin, it's just names and character design-- everything else can be different. and i see this happen in both a (Derogatory) way, when people headcanon and interpret a character in a way that is just NOT them and make someone else entirely, someone that is more fan content than original work, and an (Affectionate) way where people make such intricate AU's and redesigns and fanfiction, it's so detached from the original work, again it's more fan content than canon, but the fan contents fucking good and better than the original. it's genuine creativity

so of course everyone's nuts over goncharov. because all we have is a setting, a synopsis, faces and names. everything else is for us to play with.

HOW DID YOU GET SO TALENTED AT DRAWING?!!

Your Cad Bane is amazing. <3

Like, seriously. Everything of him I see that is your doing makes me go gaga.

I know that's sort of a dumb question, but you are very talented. Alternatively, what draws you to Cad Bane?

As cliché as it might sound, it's a lot of practicing, studying and observing. I've been drawing for as long as I can remember, and I've always been fascinated by two things: Anatomy and animation. I spent many hours staring at and learning how things look, move, attach, ect while also being very drawn to the expression achieved in 2D animation. The result has been my semi realism style which is also one of the hardest to pull off. Sometimes I wish I'd just picked one or the other lmao. But I am very happy with the response that my art gets and it keeps my motivated to keep working at it. Seeing my Cad Bane drawings from a year ago til now has been fascinating. I've grown a lot.

What drew me to Cad Bane at first was probably what drew us all to him: he's fucking cool. Unrestrained, intelligent, resourceful, rarely loses. His design is genius, expressive, simple yet not, iconic, and just very fun. His personality is someone who is very confident, calm, and in charge. Not to mention he has a voice that absolutely melts me. I could be in the middle of a breakdown and he'd just have to say "Yer alright" and I'd calm down immediately.

I discovered Cad Bane at a time when I really needed something to hold on to. He's a bit of a blank slate character in that his backstory and personal life is unknown, which makes him very fun to work with. I have met a lot of cool, fun people over the years through this small fandom and it's brought me a lot of joy.

Exploring this character has given me things I didn't know I needed. I watched the entire Dollar Trilogy and now Few Dollars More is one of my favorite movies ever. I play Red Dead Redemption most days because it's both calming and gives me story ideas and concepts for him. I also have a Cad Bane tattoo on my wrist. It's my first and only tattoo and I love it.