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1Unicorn-on-the-cob — Tapestry
#anthro #child #crush #dog #kelpie #lamb #love #mother #sheep #smitten #studies #assistantmayor #boyfriendgirlfriend #canine #teenagers #bellwether #zootopia_disney #zootropolis #dawnbellwether
Published: 2017-02-27 05:02:34 +0000 UTC; Views: 1899; Favourites: 37; Downloads: 9
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Have not posted in a while, so I finally put the finishing details on this in between working on other pieces. The timing's pretty appropriate, considering Zootopia bagged the Academy Award for best animated picture tonight.Anyways, these are just practice sketches as well as some scenes and faces from my version of Dawn's past. Something about smol mistreated characters just does it for me.
ETA: Apparently you can only put stamps in your description if you're a Core member? Pooh. Well, I'll just say it then: yes, that's a dog there. If you don't like the idea of there being dogs in Zootopia...
And people who hate Dawn can just hit the X button at the top right-hand corner of your browser or the back button. Either or. I don't really get why someone would go looking for fan art of Dawn if you dislike her other then you just enjoy getting angry and salivate at the thought of picking a fight with total strangers for liking a cartoon sheep.
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Comments: 31
Amazing art! I love how you're able to portray her at different ages and stages of her life. I want to see more Zootopia art from you. Ignore those nay-sayers. Fanart is how the creator perceives the characters and their backgrounds. I love the concept you've portrayed here. Keep up being awesome!
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Thanks! I had to really think about how to go about portraying her in her younger years, since her features are kind of childlike to begin with. I definitely plan on doing more Zootopia stuff, primarily with Dawn and Judy since they're my favorites. And exactly! That's the fun of fan art, and I wish more people could realize that. But I suspect a bunch of them are of the mindset that other fans must cater to their tastes.
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Canon Cops/Nazis. The argument is that because no humans in Zootopia = no dogs. But there are domestic pigs, and the sheep are clearly of the domesticated variety. So how can you explain that away? I did get told that domestic livestock resemble their wild cousins more closely, but that dog don't hunt if you'll pardon the pun. Wild sheep and pigs look totally different from their tame counterparts. Plus, pairing a sheep with a sheep-herding dog was too good an idea for me to resist.
Now watch someone come along and try to fight me on this.
Thank you! I love her huge adorable eyes and floof. XD
LOL.
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Thanks for favving this!
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I really like these! It's awesome to see different sides of her. Is that an older version of her at the bottom? This makes me want to learn so much more about her and who that dog character is!
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That's her mother there. I've been calling her Barbara, but she may or not keep that name. The (nameless for now) dog is, believe it or not, her ex-fiancee who she first met back in high school. I plan to touch on Dawn's background in a later DND story called Dawn And Out (a working title since I almost never settle on a story title this early on).
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I really like how you've captured her through these. I'm particularly curious about the final image, is that an older version of her or someone related to her?
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Thank you! 
And I see I will have to be going though your gallery...
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You're very welcome! You've definitely now peaked my interest in this father and Stepmother mention.
Who's gallery are we talking about?
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Oops, sorry I wasn't clear. 
*If someone wants to do that, they can. I more then likely won't be looking at it though, LOL.
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Aw thank you, I thought it was an interesting topic to pursue on; especially since there wasn't a great deal of closure for Bellwether in the first film.
How would she be able to find them on their Honeymoon if she had been in jail, though?
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Yeah, that's one of the things that drew me to her too. Her story doesn't have to end with the film.
Logic and realism mean zip in this fandom.
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Well, if we're looking at shipping a fox with a rabbit, logic means little.
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I know what you're saying, but people shouldn't use that as an excuse to throw realism and logic out the window. In almost every fictional world out there certain 'rules' are laid out and followed by the pro writer(s). They help to keep the story and the world it's set in grounded.
It'd be like if someone wrote a fic where Nick and Judy are chasing a suspect, so they summon a dragon, hop on it, and it proceeded to fly them around Zootopia, LOL. I'm someone who picks and chooses what bits of canon to follow as I see fit, and even something like that would make me go, "Wha -- why am I reading furry Game Of Thrones all of a sudden?"
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That's true. I mean, where are they going to find a dragon?
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Nick is now a wizard, that's how.
Honestly, an interspecies coupling is actually the most plausible thing I've seen in Zootopia fic, and I'm not even into the Nick and Judy ship.
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Same. If a lion and tiger can do it; if a zebra and a horse can do it; even if a dog and a cat can do it, surely a fox and a rabbit can do it too!
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I like the one where she smiling and the hearts are above her head
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Hee. 
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Yeah, I think she fell victim to her own bitterness and hurt rather then being psychopathic or born bad too. And I actually buy it with her. Some villains that fans do this with I don't see as being innocent little angels even when they were young. But that's totally the fun of characters like Dawn, where we're not told about their backstory. We can speculate to our heart's content.
I looked at your meme, and agree with most of the choices there. Personally I don't realy think of Agatha as being a villain myself. I guess to me she was more of... an antagonist or even a force of nature, rather then actively evil? I never hated her or anything though. I definitely agree about Callaghan. Fun fact: he's in my number one spot for favorite Disney villain while Dawn's number two. I love 'em both though! Pretty ironic how they're both hated by people in spite of actually being a little more complex then most Disney villains are and not obvious bad guys (even though there are a few characters like that I like).
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With Dawn's backstory, I wanted to do something different instead of her being bullied in school. I’m not bashing on that idea if fans want to do that/like it, but I just like to be different from everybody else. So I came up with the idea of her being a product of divorce. Her overbearing mother detested her husband’s new wife (a predator) and told Dawn her stepmother was responsible for taking her father away from them. Then Dawn wound up in a relationship with a predator (the dog guy) that ended very badly. No abuse or anything, it just ended badly and that was her breaking point.
I’ve never seen Ringing Bell of Chirin before, but heard a little about it. I’d be curious to know how the creators originated Dawn's character too. I did read that her design was based on some previous sheep characters in Disney animation. I also heard about people comparing Dawn to Trump, which is stupid. At first glance the Hitler comparison makes a tad more sense -- until you sit down and really think about it. He and Dawn are totally different. She operated on spreading fear, while Hitler was outright wiping out anyone who didn’t live up to the ideals of the Aryan race. So no... not similar.
Well even if Agatha wasn't an evil villain, she was still a sympathetic and tragic character that didn't deserve what happened to her and in most ways, her actions are understandable and justified in a way.
Oh no, I never said that I didn’t find her character unsympathetic or anything. Just that I never really thought of her as a villain.
This is a theory, but I think what it is that these more complex villains are too human-like. it's easier for people to sympathize with crazy, over-the-top characters like Joker and Jafar because they’re so.... well cartoonish and far removed from reality, versus more down-to-earth characters motivated by prejudice or feelings of sadness, bitterness, revenge, etc. Jafar and Joker are also clear-cut bad guys, whereas our dear sheep, Callaghan, etc aren’t, and that confuses and upsets fans because it takes too much thinking to process what they're seeing. I’ll just copy and paste what my friend because I think she hit the problem on the head XD: "It's also harder to project whatever you want onto a villain who is more complex. It also throws our whole black and white thinking of good vs evil into question even if we don't actively acknowledge it.”
Also, in the case of Zootopia, I’ve come to notice a bunch of fans are really obsessed with Judy and Nick. Judy’s my second favorite character in the film, but the fanbase takes their love to an uncomfortable level. Anyone who threatens her or Nick is a source of pure undiluted evil, and to them, Bellwether is just that.
Even reformed villains had once murdered, or even attempted murder like Kenshin (Rurouni Kenshin) and Xena: Warrior Princess.
People conveniently forget about stuff like that, especially if they’re trying to prove how right they are.
Funnily enough, I’m more of a hero fan then a villain fan. I actually don't mind villains who are evil for the sake of being evil, but that totally depends on the story being told. Different plots require different types of villains, yknow? I do think that you can’t judge every single villain by the same merits though.
I once got attacked by someone for mentioning I love Bellwether and he/she took it like I was supporting real life terrorism.
That’s crazy. I notice people are far more receptive towards female villains if they're attractive. I’m willing to bet you anything that if Dawn was more traditionally pretty (I certainly don’t think she's ugly or anything, but she isn’t designed like the typical gorgeous female character either) these same detractors would be slobbering all over her. I'm kind of conflicted with people like that. On one hand I don’t like giving them attention, which is precisely what a bunch of them want when they lash out at others the way they do. But on the other, they do need to get called out. Maybe you guys just need to block him.
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Thank you, I'm glad you like the idea!
You can find Ringing Bell of Chirin on YouTube which really will make you cry to see how the main character starts from being born a lamb until he grows into a wolf in sheep's clothing.
I'm still gonna watch that movie! Things have been kind of busy around here, so I haven't gotten around to tackling it yet. People... ship Dawn and Trump? Or did I misunderstanding you?
I hate using real life comparisons with Dawn Bellwether, because her ideals are different. Hitler started on concentration camps, and killing of babies, children, and families, making himself known right away.
Actually, the concentration camps didn't come around until later, after Hitler had reached power and after a rising series of hostile actions and violence against Jews. But I know what you meant. No, Dawn wasn't promising to return Zootopia to power/or "make it great again." She didn't want to murder predators or throw anyone into a concentration camp (plus she was only the mayor. How could she even have that kind of power??). You also never heard her say that she thought non-predators were superior. So the Hitler/Trump comparisons are even stupider and flimsier when you break them down.
I prefer using fictional villains for comparisons, or for differences in how they start their reign of terror, like Fire Lord Ozai and Kuvira, responsible for real mass genocide once placed in power, and even make themselves known rather than doing it all too slowly. Dawn has nothing in common with those guys either.
That makes more logical sense. I agree that Dawn's not like those villains either.
Oh actually I only mean to say that whether or not Agatha was truly a villain of the film or antagonist, I still wanted to add her on the list and give reasons why felt sympathy for her.
Understandable! The best kinds of villains are the ones you can look at and understand their actions. IHMO, of course. And it really bugs me that people feel more sympathy for characters like Scar, Maleficent, Frollo, etc and try to excuse their actions, but then turn around hate and characters like Dawn and Callaghan. The other villains you mentioned seemed more well-liked for whatever reasons (or at least don't get as much hate aimed their way AFAIK).
People can ship Nick and Judy if that's what they like. I have my own ship preferences, but don't care what other people do. I was just pointing out that I've noticed a number of fans who act like Nick and Judy are the only characters in the entire film and obsess hardcore over them/pairing them. Like God help you if Dawn's your favorite or you want to pair Judy with someone who's not Nick. There are perfectly normal folks out there who like them I'm sure, but the crazies are always more noticeable. I need to actually go out and buy the movie to see that scene you're referring to, since I don't recall the fine details. But yeah, people go overboard. For example, I just recently saw this fic about Dawn and Doug getting executed on live TV. It was really... 
I hope nobody actually tried to make that argument, because it really demonstrates an incredible level of ignorance and childishness. Exactly. Demona from Gargoyles is another villain who hates a different species (humans) and is easily a hundred times worst then Dawn ever was in the film. Like she's actually an out-and-out mass murderer. Yet she's beloved by a bunch of people, in part because she looks/dresses like this: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/o… Sexy characters can get away with a lot.
But I don't do it to give them attention, I only do when I think they need it, and after that, I just warn my friends and others to avoid spamming or trolling on their page in the future.
Oh, okay. Well that's good.
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All these are ideas I've only just recently put together, so I have yet to work out all the details. The Dawn background story will be coming later on down the pipe, so I've got plenty of time to work on and fine-tune it, don't worry. Secondly, it wouldn't be wise of me to go around tossing out spoilers for it willy-nilly. What I can tell you is that the story will be part of a series where she's forcibly teamed up with some other Disney bad guys in a sort of Suicide Squad type deal. Also, I respect that you see her as a bullying victim, and I'm not making light of that or bullying in general, but I honestly want to do something that's more unique because everybody seems to do that with her character. I've always preferred to make my fics stand out from the crowd. Once I get the story posted, you're more then welcome to comment.
If you can't find "Ringing Bell of Chirin" on YouTube, you can find it on KissAnime.
Cool, thank you!
Even Villains WIKIA and Disney WIKIA pages do not give a clear answer why she hates predators, but only say something about their numbers in population which doesn't make any sense, so that's not a real answer.
That's where the fun begins. We can all theorize about why she is the way she to our heart's content.
And no, I don't think Dawn is so far gone that she'd want to hurt/kill a child either. In fact, a story idea that I think would be interesting is if she found a carnivore child (preferably not a canine or a feline -- I feel like those species are overused in this fandom at this point) and starts raising him/her.
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Well if any Dawn-haters did come across this, it wouldn't be because they were looking for fanart of her, but for Zootopia fanart in general. Either that, or they're just trolls with no life. Either way...
Great artwork, though! Makes me curious about what you have in mind for Ms. Bellwether's past. I'm a little on the fence about there being dogs in Zootopia, since dogs are supposed to be domesticated descendants of wolves, and since humans never existed in Zootopia... but then again, this *is* fanart/fanwork. Plus it hasn't been confirmed whether or not domesticated animals *can* exist in that world, so right now you have a free reign. x)
Btw, the dog reminds me of Blitz. xD
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I was wondering who that mysterious canine was LOL. These are very cool sketches depicting Dawn here. The one where she's touching her cheek in a lovingly way interests me and makes me curious as to what happened there. Now I'm curious as to what her backstory here with all the expressions and gestures. Nice work!
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I'm glad you like it! He's an ex of her's. A sheep and a breed of dog known for herding them hooking up was too good an idea to pass up. XD I thought "what if she had a more intimate connection to a predator, but the relationship soured?" That could certainly make someone bitter and vengeful (though it's not the only factor in the picture).
The sketch of her acting all twitterpatted is just that.
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Ah, I see. An ex of Dawn's...DUN DUN DUUUUN. That is a brilliant idea. I dig it!
Ohohohohoho, I think I know whom you're talking about.
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XD Thanks! I look around and see everyone going the "she was bullied as a child" route and wanted to try something different. You might like to know hat I'm planning to write a story set in the DND-verse about her past as well as do some more doodles on the subjects.
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No problem!
Ooooh, more doodles and a story set in the DND-verse about her past? Color me intrigued! >D
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