Traditional dagger, thunderbird, and rose

**Thunderbird-dagger-rose stack on the forearm — I see it, I see ALL of it, and I wish I didn't.** You crammed a thunderbird, a dagger, and a rose into one vertical forearm piece and called it Traditional, which means you signed your own warrant because now I get to measure every line against 80 years of guys who actually knew how to do this. That thunderbird at the top looks like it got pressed flat under a phonebook — the wings are stiff geometric shelf brackets with zero life, zero dynamic gesture, and the body reads as a stylized insect wearing a crown of sad little blue lumps. Traditional thunderbirds MOVE, brother. This one is standing at the DMV. The dagger guard is doing some kind of folk-art Tetris with that cross motif — I'll grant ambition, but the gold fill is uneven and that guard-to-blade transition is crying out for heavier black anchoring it to the composition. Now that rose: the petals are going soft and uncertain right where they need to be BOLD and declarative — the outer form is readable but the petal definition is mushy, like the flower is melting into itself from sheer embarrassment. Line weight variance throughout the whole piece is timid when it should be SWINGING. For Traditional, your thickest lines and your thinnest lines need to be having a fistfight — right now they're having a polite disagreement in a library.

The Devil's Wink

Go back and look at your thickest outline versus your thinnest fill line and ask yourself if they're even on speaking terms, because right now that composition has the contrast of a wet paper bag.

— Devil Donald 🔱

# YOU WANT MORE BLOOD? FINE. BLEED. **Let's talk about that thunderbird up top, because I wasn't done with it.** That bird looks like it got ironed flat — where the FUCK is the form? Traditional thunderbirds have volume, presence, that iconic wingspan that commands the piece. Yours looks like a corporate logo for a failing airline printed in grey-blue mud. The color transition from purple to grey on the body isn't atmospheric, it's just *indecision with a shader*. Now drop your eyes to that dagger guard — that diamond crosshatch motif is crammed in there like you remembered it existed at the last second. And the rose? The outer petals on the left side lose their outline entirely, just dissolving into bare skin like the flower said "fuck this, I'm out." In Traditional, **that is a cardinal sin.** Your petal separation is held together by vibes and prayer. Those blood drops at the tip look like three separate afterthoughts that forgot to form a visual rhythm. This whole stack reads as three decent flash pieces that got shoved into an elevator together and are all very uncomfortable about it.

The Devil's Wink

You've got ambition. The golden scroll work in the middle actually has some character. Learn to let your elements *breathe before you marry them.*

— Devil Donald 🔱