Happy Halloween Everyone!

I'm hard at work painting new works for the Gender Portraits series, but that doesn't mean I can't take a little time to make a Halloween costume. I was April O'Neil this Halloween. Not just any April O'Neil, an April who kills shredder herself without waiting around for the Ninja Turtles to rescue her.

If you are wanting to do a cool feminine character for Halloween, but aren't happy that she is the damsel in distress, too dainty, or just doesn't hold up to your feminist values, don't forget that you can always change the story yourself.

Being an artist working on a crowd-funded project, I don't have the ability to splurge on expensive costumes. I chose April O'Neil, because I already had the yellow clothes (and I'm a HUGE Ninja Turtles fan). So creating the strong female narrative I wanted on a small dime seemed daunting. Luckily, if you're creative, you can make something amazing with very little.

Here is a step by step of my dead Shredder accessory creation: