Merida the Rude Girl

I've been working on this for a week now, and alas it is finally done. This is basically a tribute to both 'Brave', as the movie that completely changed my life, as well as a tribute to my youth as a punk back in the day, which were also the best years of my life. I got the whole idea of turning Merida into a punk (and even a skinhead) when I was watching a vintage documentary about punks and skinheads from the 80's last week, called 'UK/DK : A Film About Punks & Skinheads' ([link]). I got so excited about it, that I picked up my pencil and paper, and just started sketching away, right after watching the documentary. I basically placed Merida in each and every single one of the punk scene's best and worst subcultures in history.

At first, I was planning on working on ten artworks, but this plan was later scrapped because the last two artworks were actually terrible. So, at the last minute, I cancelled the last two pieces and instead decided to upload the remaining eight. I definitely felt comfortable drawing Merida in all the outfits and 'uniforms' of the many punk subcultures, simply because I used to be a rusty and crusty punk myself back when I was only 12! Those were the days for me, running around with my punk friends, listening to old punk records from the 70's and 80's, causing a little bit of havoc here and there, as well as not giving a fuck about whatever the adults said about us. So, for Merida, I can totally tell that she fits right in with the whole punk scene, simply because she herself is very rebelious in the movie, and quite anti-authoritarian too. That is what attracted me to Merida in the first place; she was a real rebel, just like how I was when I was in my early teens and running around with punks and skinheads alike.

Here's a message to you, Merida! Get down on the dance floor and let's start skankin'! Here, we see Merida as a Rude Girl (one of the ska-loving crowd which is an off-shoot of both punks and skinheads back in the late 70's), and she seems to be enjoying herself while skanking (a type of dance to ska music). I was inspired by Pauline Black from The Selecters ([link]) for this one simply because Pauline were one of the first and very few women to ever fronted a ska band back in the early 80's. So, I can really connect this to Merida because she is very rebelious and just wants to do her own thing. Though not a huge fan of The Selecters (my favorite ska punk bands are Madness and The Specials), I really think The Selecters are probably Merida's favortie ska band. This one is defintely one of my favorites.