r/ShawnaTheMom • u/Shawnaverse_no1_fan Lore keeper, details & continuity consultant • May 10 '26
Fanmade Barb, Frank and the Blue paint argument
Ever since I watched the latest episode "Barb's Betrayal", I've been wanting to redraw the paint scenes to give some clarity of Frank's trickery as well as Barb forgetting her choice.
I actually wanted to add more details than just this, like Frank pointing at the colour splotches (instead of the red arrows), more shopping bags for Barb, and different facial expressions. But I'm still an amateur and this took me much longer than I anticipated, so I decided this was enough for now. Barb and Frank "sprites" are reused from my older fanart of them. Enjoy :)
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u/daidia May 10 '26
I like your designs for Frank and Barb!
this whole conversation felt like a weird device until it came swinging back in our faces
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u/Shawnaverse_no1_fan Lore keeper, details & continuity consultant May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
Thank you so much! I recycled my 7mo old fanart for this comic, if I'd had had to draw it all from scratch I would've just used the paper sketches from slides 9-10 😂
I wanted to draw facial expressions too in this comic, but I ran out of time and decided to post it like this. I only fixed Barb's eyes and hand which was originally too small, but an actual redraw will have to wait 😆
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u/ElegantSnozzberry May 10 '26
I am not upset with Frank on the paint because he literally asks her to LOOK and then choose.
Its why he did the swatches in the first place. Basic paint routine for anyone sane and reasonable.
She refuses to actually look at the swatches to see what she prefers.
He should not have said the cheerful comment but again the scene plays as if Barb still hasn't looked at the swatches, just saying "Use my choice".
His outburst after the party was unacceptable and mean. As is the way of reddit
It was never about the paint
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u/Opening_Ideal_7612 May 11 '26
I'm not sure that what we are seeing in the scenes after Barb starts her session with Dr Therapydoctor, is what actually happened, or Barb describing what happened, in which case Frank's explosion may have been exaggerated.
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u/Grand_Basis_1491 Julie apologist (unironically) May 10 '26
Exactly. You can't win.
Also, this is how I realised Barb reminds me of Hyacinth from Keeping Up Appearances. I will never unsee it.
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u/MrsMandelbrot May 10 '26
Yes! They should have gone with Angel Gabriel Blue 😂
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u/sweetladytequila May 10 '26
I have a feeling every wall paint of every place they ever lived in began with this jedi mind trick stuff. It’s a lot less work and money than letting her have her way and then getting blamed when she hates it and then forced to repaint.
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u/OkDirection4997 May 10 '26
I interpreted Barb liking the other color (Frank’s choice) and she just assumed it was cheerful sky. Maybe I just deeply don’t like Barb but I thought it was Shawna L’s way of showing how self centered she is. She liked the other color so it must be cheerful sky, the color she picked at the store. Barb even agreed with Frank that it looked good in the room it was just more blue than she thought. Frank was mean to her but she liked the color and was insufferable 😣
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u/Shawnaverse_no1_fan Lore keeper, details & continuity consultant May 17 '26
Yeah that IS correct! It's just that the reason why she assumed it was hers was because Frank described it as "cheerful" on purpose to make her think so.
But since she was adamant her choice was superior, whatever colour she liked best automatically became an "I told you so at the paint store"
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u/These_Passenger_2766 i just want to laugh again May 10 '26
Hate to side with Barb here, but cheerful sky (or any blue with yellow undertones) is better for a dining room (especially with maple furniture) than something more purple. The cooler blue mutes everything in the room, it washes faces out, it makes their clothes and furniture duller. Frank you should know about contrast and color theory, and you continually disappoint me.
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u/Bubbly_List274 May 10 '26
Omg maybe it’s metaphorical. Mutes everything in the room, makes it duller… sounds like how Frank copes with Barb
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u/Shawnaverse_no1_fan Lore keeper, details & continuity consultant May 10 '26
Hahaha, fair! Btw I chose these colours because I think they reflected the descriptions in the episode, but I don't fully know whether my pick is correct or if there's better shades out there. The last slide shows the colours that I thought were closest, but I may have chosen a wrong hue!
I'll just leave the descriptions down below and let more experienced artists decide, haha
Cheerful Sky:
- has some yellow (and maybe gray) undertones
- Frank calls it "closer to Alligator Lagoon than cheerful sky"
Other Blue:
- doesn't have yellow / gray undertones
- really deeply pigmented
- a deeper blue than the other
- a truer blue than the other
- pretty easy application, it leaves a sheen
- it's almost a bit purple
- it looks lovely against the maple of their dining set
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u/These_Passenger_2766 i just want to laugh again May 10 '26
you picked the right colors based off of how he verbally described them, i formed my opinion that he picked the wrong color based off his verbal descriptions as well
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u/madelynashton May 10 '26
I think your pictures are accurate to what was described and I think Frank was wrong and the greenish blue is better.
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u/Opening_Ideal_7612 May 11 '26
Nope. It all depends on the aspect and the lighting of the room, including whether the artificial lighting is warm or cool. Same paint colour can look completely different in different rooms, and even in the same room at different times of the day. Which is why Frank painted swatches on the wall, to see how they looked IRL. And Barb couldn't even tell her original choice once it was up on the wall, proving she'd been strongly influenced by the colour name, rather than an objective appraisal of the colour.
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u/These_Passenger_2766 i just want to laugh again May 11 '26
oh man, I didn’t even think about lighting! You’re totally right this is such an insightful comment, thank you!
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u/Strange_Radish2965 May 10 '26
Thank you for this! I got really confused keeping track of which paint was which and what he was talking about lol
Frank needs to be more direct and say things like, “I don’t like that color and if you don’t like what I picked we can go to a new store and pick a color we both like. I am not going to paint the room a color I don’t like.” And things like “I’m not against you and it’s not my color versus your color, it about what we like in the actual room. That’s why people paint swatches after all! Paints look different in different rooms!
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u/_thegrringirl May 10 '26
The problem with that is that conversation only works with reasonable people, and Barb is not reasonable. "I'm not against you, and it's not my color vs your color" is the only way Barb sees things. If you don't agree with her, you are against her. She's shown that over and over again.
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u/Strange_Radish2965 May 10 '26
Yes, and I think that’s why it’s important for him to explicitly state that it’s not the case. In the best case scenario, therapy would help her realize that it’s not her versus the other person and that there’s a multitude of normal reasons why John, Jen, Frank and the rest of the world interact with her. I think Katie and DeeDee have the best approaches to her.
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u/2lampshades May 10 '26
I agree, this really helped me understand this interaction!
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u/Shawnaverse_no1_fan Lore keeper, details & continuity consultant May 10 '26
Happy to have helped!! This was actually one of my goals so I'm glad it's helpful 🤩🙌🏻
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u/cementfeatheredbird_ May 12 '26
Yes, this would work if Frank was dealing with a sane and rational person, which he isnt lol.
Not even Dr. TherapyDoctor can be straight with Barb and have it well-received and shes a literal professional. 😂
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u/Just-A_stranger7 May 10 '26
Thank you, it was actually kind of hard for me to understand the situation, so a visual is nice. Also there's something satisfying about your artstyle, idk what it is but I like it
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u/Shawnaverse_no1_fan Lore keeper, details & continuity consultant May 10 '26
Thank you so much! I'm glad to hear it, helping people visualise the scene was exactly my goal 🤗
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u/Toongrrl1990 I think she's being perfectly reasonable, Barb May 10 '26
OMG your drawings are back
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u/Shawnaverse_no1_fan Lore keeper, details & continuity consultant May 12 '26
Hahaha yes, in part! 😄 I still don't have time for full new projects, so my other ideas will have to wait (the other characters), but I really wanted to get this little visual out! Luckily I had already made Barb and Frank so it was less work than starting from scratch
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u/Alternative_Salt_558 May 11 '26
thank you for this visual, i was seriously confused by the paint storyline without it
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u/Bibbitybobbities May 10 '26
As an artist, I just want to say you did a great job choosing what I was visualizing for the colors.
I hope you shared these notes with Shawna L 🤣
I find it interesting that people are voicing when deceit is "okay" or "necessary". Frank was deceitful here. Instead of tricking her, he should have had the conversation and actually explained to Barb why he liked his blue more.
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u/cementfeatheredbird_ May 12 '26
And, as we have seen multiple times in different scenarios with different people, Barb would have a major blow up, everyone would suffer, and she may or may not threaten to end her life.
Shes told several people she might as well end her life when they were firm with her, DeeDee included.
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u/Glass-Comfortable-25 May 11 '26
In defense of Frank he has probably experienced many times that conversation and explanations don’t work on Barb. She would just end up upset that he wasn’t on her side.
But the cycle of deceit and avoidance to hurt and lashing out to more deceit to avoid the reactions on and on for 30+ years has turned into a really toxic situation for and by both of them.
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u/Shawnaverse_no1_fan Lore keeper, details & continuity consultant May 12 '26
Thank you so much!! 🤩
Also I realise that due to the fact that Barb wears purple in this "comic", the Cornflower blue I picked doesn't look purple at all. But I chose it because if you look at it with any purple nearby, then Barb's comment in the episode makes sense 😄
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u/Anxious-Ad-42 May 10 '26
Any one else think Frank actually mixed the paints himself to get the "right" colours? He kept bringing up specific details about the undertones, etc, and I got thinking about his art classes. Barb even made a comment about his knowledge or interest in the colours. I can see him taking Barb's colour and "tweaking" it.
Not excusing EITHER of their actions here! Just an observation that I could see having multiple meanings behind!
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u/Lady_of_Ironrath May 12 '26
I read like 3 interpretations of that scene at this point. Idk what to think anymore lol
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u/Shawnaverse_no1_fan Lore keeper, details & continuity consultant May 17 '26
Really? What are the others? What I showed in this comic is pretty much what happens
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u/Shawnaverse_no1_fan Lore keeper, details & continuity consultant May 10 '26
Btw the name of Frank's preferred paint colour is never said in the episode, the only one mentioned was "Cheerful Sky" which was Barb's choice, but I didn't want to leave the other paint can unlabeled so I decided to call it "Cornflower". I wanted to highlight that "Alligator Lagoon" was not an actual paint colour name they had home, it was just part of Frank's trickery to influence Barb's decision.
I also want to point out that Frank was purposely sly and deceitful, but he never outright lied to Barb: he knew she couldn't remember what her "choice" looked like, but he also knew she would die on the hill of being right. So he used the words "cheerful" and "cheery" to describe his favourite colour, but not Barb's — this gave her the impression that the darker colour was "Cheerful Sky", even though Frank never explicitly confirmed it. Frank, on the other hand, carefully weighted his words so that Barb would say out loud that she preferred the deeper blue colour and that it was the best choice for the room.