emerald-dragonflame

[emerald-dragonflame]

So a few weeks ago I tossed out a random musing of a series like Warriors but with meerkats instead of cats...Warrior 'Kats, if you will. I don't expect to do much with it but I do want to get better at drawing different animals, so after having a little idea for some character concepts over some music I threw together this rough character design.

Introducing...

Stormseeker — A Troubled Leader

Once a highly respected Prophet, able to see things outside of the waking world that others can't, she lost her position and the respect of her clan after defying her mother, a very brutal and assertive matriarch. When the rainy season set in, no one heeded her warnings after she received word of the clan's demise to a growing, sinister force hiding in the shadows of the storms. Believing her to be driven mad by seizures and hallucinations, dismissing her prophesies as crazed ramblings.

In the end, her clan fell prey to the storms, and many of the remaining, weakened members fell prey to dark abominations lurking in the wilds. In the end Stormseeker was the only one left to take charge, not that she came out unscathed. Her vision lost in one eye and haunted by whispers unlike those of their Guardian, she is left to pick up the pieces of what remains of their clan.

I'm not really sure if I'll ever make a proper plot for this and all of it is very first draft-y but it might be fun to play around with from time to time. Stormseeker wasn't meant to be a main character if I did do something with this concept but honestly I quite like her design...playing it fast and loose with the genetics here, though. They can be any color I want them to be. Because I'm in charge here. It is my first time drawing a meerkat though (which is why I put my reference photo next to her) so it's a little odd looking I will admit. But I like it. Artistic license and all that.

[emerald-dragonflame]

Wait, do people not know the masculine form of "brunette" is "brunet"??? And the masculine form of "blonde" is "blond"????

[emerald-dragonflame]

"When all is said and done, you need to tie your tongue—"

Cringe AF picture but whatever im tired

[emerald-dragonflame]

Ive been wanting to do this for so long..... Ross & Hanne are literally Soldier and Zhanna

[emerald-dragonflame]

I think I've kinda given up on making Sakura Sweet Tea like "canon compliant", in the sense of like it's tone. Like, originally I wanted to write it in a way that could pretty easily fit into the TF2niverse, like in between the ending and the epilogue Engie got a girl, and just didn't bring her to the thanksgiving dinner for one reason or another, but sadly I'm not that funny, and I like angst lol.

So baby girls, we be gettin angst, with some funny.

[emerald-dragonflame]

Did u guys know that Charles Perrault (the guy who wrote the most well-known version of Cinderella in the West) also did his own take on Sleeping Beauty, and it is objectively the best version of that story by a long shot.

First of all the actual Sleeping part is only the first half of the story. He does not stop at her waking up and getting married, oh no, that's only the beginning. But even if you don't take the other half of the story into account, Perrault's version is still probably the most unabashedly romantic and best-developed version. The princess actually knows ahead of time who her prince is because her Fairy Godmother (who hand-picked the Certified Best Boy of the Century to pair with her goddaughter) sends her helpfully informative dreams about him, so that by the time he shows up to wake her, she is already as down bad for him as he is for her. And the prince is so in awe of her when he finally sees her for the first time that he doesn't even touch her. He just kneels down next to her, completely dumbstruck. But that's fine, because this version of the sleeping spell only requires him to come within a five-foot radius of the princess in order to break it, so she pops awake, and the first thing out of her mouth is basically "What took you so long?" Which is indisputably iconic of her. Then they just sit there talking for four hours, and in perhaps the cutest line ever written for a love story, Perrault informs us that "Their discourse was not well connected, they did more weep than talk--little eloquence, a great deal of love." 💕🥺💕 The conversation only stops because the servants (you may recall that her parents and staff were all under the spell with her) start yelling up the stairs for the princess to come eat her dinner before it gets cold. After a nice dinner with her parents, the prince marries the princess, and chills at his in-laws' place for a couple of days.

But like I said, that's only the first part of the story. See, there's a slight complication: the prince's parents have no idea where he is or what he's been doing. Additional complication: he can't tell them the truth because his mom is half-ogre (this crucial piece of information is just dropped like a bombshell in the middle of the story with no preamble whatsoever, and I love it), and not only is she jealously overprotective of her baby boy, but she also periodically eats children. So for six years, the prince is hopping back and forth between his parents' kingdom and his wife's enchanted castle, miraculously managing to dodge his mom's increasingly-suspicious questioning, despite being the worst liar to ever exist. He and the princess have two cute kids named Morning and Day, and Perrault makes a point of letting us know that Day is considerably better-looking than his older sister, which does not factor into the plot in any way, and only serves to reinforce my theory that old Charlie had some major beef with his own sister. But eventually, the prince's father dies, and he has no choice but to return to his kingdom full-time to rule as the new king. So in what is possibly the most awkward homecoming ever, the prince, the princess, and their two kids all move back to the prince's castle, and he has to explain to both his mom and all of his subjects that "oh by the way I've been married for six years. Sorry, forgot to tell you guys. Also I feel it goes without saying, but as your new king I should still remind you all that there will be no eating of minors or beautiful women in this kingdom, MOTHER." Surprisingly, this actually works to keep his mom from eating his wife and kids....for about two years. Then a neighboring kingdom decides it's been a while since they've invaded anyone, and the king has to ride out with his army to repel them. He's gone for maybe all of 12 minutes before his mom goes full mask-off, ships the queen and her kids to a prison, and starts menu-planning. This is, of course, very illegal, but also, she's an ogre and the former queen, so it's not like anyone can feasibly stop her.

Thankfully the head chef (who is the real hero of this story, tbh) is able to pull some shenanigans with some roasted lamb, goat, and venison respectively, to make the ogre-queen think she's eaten her grandkids and daughter-in-law, when in reality the three of them are all bunking at his place until the war blows over and the king comes home. Also worth noting that during all of this, Sleeping Beauty spent several days believing her children were dead, and was genuinely relieved when she thought it was finally her turn to be eaten, so she's going to need lots of therapy after this is all over. And as if that wasn't bad enough, children are, of course, notoriously Very Loud, and it only takes maybe a week for the ogre-queen to hear them making a ruckus in the servants' quarters (I know I said the head chef is the real hero of this story, but even I will readily call him out for keeping them in the flipping castle). At this point, the ogre-queen is more upset about being disobeyed than she is about not getting to actually eat anybody (in all fairness, the chef's replacement dishes were delicious), so she just goes "screw this," and has an enormous tub filled with venomous snakes, plus some toads for intimidation, and orders the queen, the kids, and all the castle servants to be thrown into it. And this totally could have worked too, except for the fact that the king turned out to be really good at warfare, and was also in a hurry to get back home to his wife and kids. So he shows up at the castle way earlier than anyone anticipated, walks in on the attempted execution of his family and staff, and presumably says something to the effect of "WTF," though the text does not explicitly confirm this. The ogre-queen, finally realizing that she can never have nice things, throws herself into the tub of snakes in a fit of despair, and dies immediately.

This is how the story of Sleeping Beauty truly ends--with two thankfully uneaten children, their thoroughly traumatized parents, an ogre's corpse, and a tub full of snakes and toads to deal with. And this is also why fairy tales continue to be my absolute favorite form of literature, because where else are you going to find stuff like this??

[emerald-dragonflame]

THE BASTARD MAN FINALLY HAS A MORE HISTORICALLY ACCURATE DESIGN! Personality is still the same; stereotypical greedy merchant, with a secret heart of gold, but don't let him know you know that. I really wanted to keep his long braid, but it didn't really work with the turban. We'll just say he hides all his hair up in there, lol. Also been trying to find a balance between designs that are easy enough to draw over and over again, and adding lots of detail (my anime roots betray me). I really just need to sit down and figure out my "graphic novel style"…

Anyway, enjoy the boat man!

[emerald-dragonflame]

Working on something kinda fun

[emerald-dragonflame]

THE BASTARD MAN FINALLY HAS A MORE HISTORICALLY ACCURATE DESIGN! Personality is still the same; stereotypical greedy merchant, with a secret heart of gold, but don't let him know you know that. I really wanted to keep his long braid, but it didn't really work with the turban. We'll just say he hides all his hair up in there, lol. Also been trying to find a balance between designs that are easy enough to draw over and over again, and adding lots of detail (my anime roots betray me). I really just need to sit down and figure out my "graphic novel style"…

Anyway, enjoy the boat man!

[emerald-dragonflame]

redesign of my OC x Cannon for Demoman. Her name is Lorna. She's a blacksmith with a fascination with haunted/cursed objects. In battle, Demoman ends up breaking Eyelander to the point of needing repair, which is how he meets her. And then they would fall in looooveee 💕💥

full image of her + more info under the cut so the post wont be too big

I imagine her as a reserved contrast to Demoman's rowdy personality. She's very shy and closed off at first, but upon hearing that Demo has a very cursed sword she opens up immediately. Her passion for dark things is hard for her to contain, and she has a hidden fire inside. Their relationship might be a push and pull, with Demo being wary of getting too close & letting his guard down, but she is quite patient and understanding. I really just want happiness for Demo :)

[emerald-dragonflame]

THE BASTARD MAN FINALLY HAS A MORE HISTORICALLY ACCURATE DESIGN! Personality is still the same; stereotypical greedy merchant, with a secret heart of gold, but don't let him know you know that. I really wanted to keep his long braid, but it didn't really work with the turban. We'll just say he hides all his hair up in there, lol. Also been trying to find a balance between designs that are easy enough to draw over and over again, and adding lots of detail (my anime roots betray me). I really just need to sit down and figure out my "graphic novel style"…

Anyway, enjoy the boat man!

[emerald-dragonflame]

Not to sound mushy, but stories about two lonely characters from vastly different worlds finding solace with each other always appeal to me

[emerald-dragonflame]

“What if I write it and it’s bad-”

WHAT IF YOU WRITE IT AND ITS GOOD? WHAT IF YOU WRITE IT AND ITS EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANTED? WHAT THEN????

[emerald-dragonflame]

THE BASTARD MAN FINALLY HAS A MORE HISTORICALLY ACCURATE DESIGN! Personality is still the same; stereotypical greedy merchant, with a secret heart of gold, but don't let him know you know that. I really wanted to keep his long braid, but it didn't really work with the turban. We'll just say he hides all his hair up in there, lol. Also been trying to find a balance between designs that are easy enough to draw over and over again, and adding lots of detail (my anime roots betray me). I really just need to sit down and figure out my "graphic novel style"…

Anyway, enjoy the boat man!

[emerald-dragonflame]

THE BASTARD MAN FINALLY HAS A MORE HISTORICALLY ACCURATE DESIGN! Personality is still the same; stereotypical greedy merchant, with a secret heart of gold, but don't let him know you know that. I really wanted to keep his long braid, but it didn't really work with the turban. We'll just say he hides all his hair up in there, lol. Also been trying to find a balance between designs that are easy enough to draw over and over again, and adding lots of detail (my anime roots betray me). I really just need to sit down and figure out my "graphic novel style"…

Anyway, enjoy the boat man!

[emerald-dragonflame]

THE BASTARD MAN FINALLY HAS A MORE HISTORICALLY ACCURATE DESIGN! Personality is still the same; stereotypical greedy merchant, with a secret heart of gold, but don't let him know you know that. I really wanted to keep his long braid, but it didn't really work with the turban. We'll just say he hides all his hair up in there, lol. Also been trying to find a balance between designs that are easy enough to draw over and over again, and adding lots of detail (my anime roots betray me). I really just need to sit down and figure out my "graphic novel style"…

Anyway, enjoy the boat man!

[emerald-dragonflame]

THE BASTARD MAN FINALLY HAS A MORE HISTORICALLY ACCURATE DESIGN! Personality is still the same; stereotypical greedy merchant, with a secret heart of gold, but don't let him know you know that. I really wanted to keep his long braid, but it didn't really work with the turban. We'll just say he hides all his hair up in there, lol. Also been trying to find a balance between designs that are easy enough to draw over and over again, and adding lots of detail (my anime roots betray me). I really just need to sit down and figure out my "graphic novel style"…

Anyway, enjoy the boat man!