#Hektor of the shining helm

[re-re-redline]

Avenging Troy

14 hours and 48 minutes, let’s go!! Honestly, the fact that this didn’t take nearly as long as Mehmed’s 1st ascension (≈27 hours) either means that I’m getting better at pain-ting or this piece wasn’t as intense in the detail department. Regardless, I am very proud of this! I suck at drawing profiles, so perfecting it this time around was certainly a major personal victory for me. Now, enough about me patting myself on the back. Let’s get into the behind the scenes for this piece.

The context—or perhaps what this piece IS may be a better way of phrasing—is Mehmed II doing exactly what the title of the piece says, avenging Troy. The top picture is Hector’s duel against Achilles in front of the Trojan gates. His pose is that of his NP, Durindana. The bottom picture is of Mehmed II striking a similar pose to Hector, but instead of calc’ing the angle of a spear it’s the super-awesome-big-fucking-cannon. Pretty cool concept right? Mehmed, 10 years post-conquering of Constantinople, going to what’s left of Troy and saying that he ‘avenged the Trojans’ is a thing that has some evidence to it actually happening (or so I’m told), so it’d be pretty cool for Mehmed to strike the same (or similar) pose as Hector during one of his campaigns as a homage to Hector since the Iliad was one of his favorite books in life.

There’s just one teeny-tiny problem. I originally drew this up with the intention of it being during the Siege of Constantinople because my dumb ass thought he said that RIGHT AFTER he got Constantinople, hence the very specific BFC in the back there. I only figured out my mistake when I was finished and showing it off to my pops who then promptly asked me “Huh? When did he say that?” And then he corrected me and I was in shambles.

Now. I can make the case that, since Durindana was Hector’s most powerful weapon and the BFC was Mehmed’s most powerful weapon, it’d make sense as an artistic parallel to have Mehmed with his BFC instead of some regular cannon and it’s just more iconic that way. It doesn’t have to make sense because of artistic liberties! Which is a neato way of making a positive outta this but…eh. That minor hole will always remain no matter how it is justified.

On to something else more light, you may have noticed that Hector’s section is significantly less detailed than Mehmed’s. It’s completely lineless, no lineart was had in that entire section. Just fills and clipping layers, baby! The reason for this is because Hector is a character in a book, therefore I thought he should be drawn as though he IS in a book. If that makes sense. His arm is a tube, the Trojan gate looks like a cardboard stand and he has no eyes—typical storybook vibes, I’d say. Plus you could also interpret this as Mehmed imagining what Hector’s final moments were as an ‘in-universe’ explanation for why it looks that way.

On the other hand, Mehmed’s section is much, MUCH more detailed. Just look at those lines! The reason for their existence is because I based Mehmed’s outfit on a painting of him walking through into Constantinople (because that’s what his section was originally about) but I couldn’t quite make out the details of his armor was. In hindsight this was probably denial. So, I searched up what Ottoman armor looked like and mother of god it was mostly chainmail. I wanted to throw myself out of a window. Drawing that many circles and shading that many circles would have been a maddening experience, so I got creative and this was the result. Not bad if I do say so myself. His helmet was another thing that made me want to throw myself out of a window. Mehmed II’s helmet is sick as fuck to look at and I bet wearing it gives you a major buff in the style department, but drawing it? Nope. Nope, I am not doing that. There is way too many specifics going there with the inscribed prayers and awesome ornate design, I could never draw that with the helm being this small in the picture. So I opted for a line texture on the green parts instead.

On his greaves? brace? and back plates there is a strange texture. At this point I ran out of ideas on how to fill up the space to make it look cool, so I drew the bog-standard vertical lines but this time I took an eraser with a specific shape (Procreate havers, look at Textures and it’ll be the first one you see) and erased it, leaving behind the specific shape in the negative. I thought that leaving it textureless would be lame, so I put that in.

As for that lovely cannon in the back, it wasn’t that hard to draw. I just had one hell of a time looking for clear crisp images of the pattern on the cannon for reference. Really, the most time consuming aspect of drawing the cannon was painting it. My dumb ass colored it as one whole thing instead of breaking it into pieces, which led me to have to erase a bunch of shit. Thank goodness I thought of using the selection lasso when I did or this would have taken WAY longer.

Last post, I said that this would be a trial run for Mehmed’s hypothetical 3rd ascension. It’s based off the aforementioned painting and I figured that Mehmed would need actual battle attire (y’know, armor) since his 1st and 2nd don’t exactly scream “I conquered Constantinople and almost got Europe” now do they? I like how I did the armor for this piece, but as an ascension it feels lacking. Like it needs MORE but I’m not sure what to add. A cool cape? A cool light halo? Or should I just say fuck it and make it a mech? <-Never drawn one before. Wouldn’t be the first time that happened in FGO, but it feels cheap! It should make sense but also look as bombastic and awesome as the man himself! So, if anyone has suggestions, please let me know.

During me fiddling around with the finished picture, I thought it would be cool to make Hector’s section desaturated to make it look like a flashback. But I found that it didn’t look as good. Even an orange hue for sepia vibes didn’t make the idea any better so it was scrapped.

Annnnd them’s my thoughts as well as the making of this piece. This had been gnawing at me ever since I learned that Mehmed said what he said and that Iliad was one of his favorite books. it’s such a cool thing, y’know? When if Mehmed comes to Grand Order, I really hope that his NP has him doing the pose as a call back to Hector. Would it make sense? Probably not. Do I care? Nah! I’d just be jumping for joy that Mehmed was in the game in the first place. Lasagna better make him one of the best buster archers to have ever lived, I hecking swear—!

Anywho, under this red line (ha-ha) are the individual pictures for Hector and Mehmed’s sections as well as a bonus black and white version of the sultan. It doesn’t jive with what I was going for, but it has a cool vibe to it that I just couldn’t let sleep. Plus it shows off my linework, so that is a plus. I hope you enjoy these and the piece itself. Oh, and I hope you have a good one!

—Redline, over and out.

[roosinii]

So the legend states that it was Thetis who bathed Achilles in the Styx. But no baby has the willpower to withstand the Styx as Riordan describes, nor the requisite connection to mortality. So what if Thetis tried the Styx, but was warned off somehow, and resolved to ensure her son bathed in those waters later in life.

So when Achilles does go to the Styx, he probably fixates on a lover and/or love interest like Percy does. A love interest who donned his armour ten years into the Trojan War, and dies in battle against Prince Hektor Of The Shining Helm himself. The fate of Hektor, and thus subsequently the city of Troy is well known.

i am once again thinking about the implications of the blesing/curse of achilles in pjo

[iliadinspired]

This extremely plain and pale look is meant to express the moment in the Iliad when in the middle of duelling Achilles Hektor realises his brother, Deïphobos of the pale shield, was actually nowhere near him and that he had been tricked into facing Achilles instead of continuing to run. The faint hints of bronze at the corner of the eye are meant to represent Hektor himself, his shining bronze helm to be exact. The rest of the eye is a blank white with the bronze reaching out into it and quickly fading away. This ‘empty’ space is meant to be the moment where Hektor realises his brother is not there with him. I.e. Hektor reaching out to nothing.

[iliadinspired]

Hektor is called Hektor of the shining Helm multiple times in the Iliad. In reference to his shiny bronze helmet I have used bronze shades and glitter to represent him here.

[iliadinspired]

Apollo assists Hektor as he flees from Achilles, running three times around the city of Troy. Without Apollo lending strength and speed to Hektor Achilles would have caught Hektor instantly. But in the end Apollo eventually stopped aiding Hektor when they completed the fourth lap of the city and that was when, as mentioned previously Athena tricked Hektor into thinking his brother was near so he would stand and fight Achilles. The stylised lyre on the eyelid of this look is mean to represent Apollo and the bronze colours to represent Hektor and his shining helm. When the eye is closed the lyre is in full view, however when the eye opens the lyre is reduced to blotch and all detail is lost. This was meant to mirror the way Apollo assisted Hektor but then abandoned him.