#Original Xenofiction

[redneaththedogwood]

Introduction

Hi! Call me Red.

I am a queer young adult artist with a passion for making stories! My pronouns are he/they/it.

Red 'Neath the Dogwood is a feline centric xenofiction world building project that is inspired by the blogs @/barrenclan, @/bonefall, @/trinitywc, and @/cathedralcomic, as well as published works such as Warrior Cats, Ratha's Creature, Guardians of Ga'Hoole, and Watership Down. Other influences may show through, particularly the horror aspects present in media such as The Magnus Archives and Old Gods of Appalachia.

My goal with R'NtD is to create compelling groups with their own religious beliefs, food cultures, and a unifying language. The overarching story has not been decided yet, and while I flesh that out I will focus on characterizing the groups and who resides in them, along with creating unique roles and government systems for each.

This blog is a passion project and it is mostly just me working on it, with language help from my good friend @elkpaws.

Things To Know

Red 'Neath the Dogwood will not be a project for children and will include serious discussion of topics ranging from mental health, cultism, oppressive structures, and more. If these topics upset you, that is absolutely okay! This project will likely not be for you.

You are not bothering me with like spam or reblog spam! I appreciate the love and engagement :)

I ADORE seeing people talk and reply in tags and replies, it makes my day!!

I love asks! I will read them all!!! I might not get to all of them if I ever get super popular, but as a smaller work I will do my best to answer.

Please do not ping me on other people's work. It feels very rude!

The main theme I want to portray with Red 'Neath the Dogwood is generational differences, finding one's sense of self, and what drives people to fall into fascist ideas. GROWTH, CHANGE, and PROGRESS, for better or worse.

This will likely be a story that follows many characters and will grow to reflect that, with different "arcs" and offshoot tales about characters within the three groups present. I will do my best to tag for organization's sake, but be warned that I am forgetful and might lose posts.

I will also try to remember to tag for triggering or otherwise upsetting subject matter, but if I miss something send me an ask and I'll take care of it as best I can.

Closing Thoughts

For now I believe this covers everything I can think of, and as this project grows I will likely rewrite this pinned post to reflect those changes. In future I hope to have several original tags set up for this blog, including things specific to food, culture, and character posts.

Thank you for taking the time to read this! I hope I can make this blog worthwhile.

Ask Status: Open

[ch-falk]

—

My strength was of no concern. I found myself on top her chest. I climbed until her eyes were beneath me. Two fragile lumps of gelatine. One wrong comment and I’d pop them like ripe grapes. My tusks rested a tiny distance from her pupil. My claws forced her lids to stay open. I hinted panic. I found pleasure in anger.

“I won’t let you look at me without respect,” I shouted. Her gaze flickered. I pressed down. My legs were light, my whole body trembled. She could shove me off and kill me. But she didn’t. Somewhere in her primitive synapsid brain a survival instinct had kicked in. Something paralysed her.

I paralysed her.

—

Small sketch I made inbetween editing chapters. Riina and Serva are getting along just wonderfully.

[sparkylurkdragon]

A detail I really love in the Watership Down comic is how every rabbit in Cowslip's warren is almost constantly smiling widely. It is incredibly unsettling, given the characters usually have minimally anthropomorphised expressions.

Like, here's a smile from (I think) Pipkin. Note how it still reads as a small little bunny mouth and is just barely enough to tell he's smiling.

And then there's THESE SHADY MOTHERFUCKERS.

Like, here's some with Strawberry side-by-side with Hazel and Bigwig so you can see the contrast.

It's a wonderful tell that Something Ain't Right.

[wanderingokali]

Witch Hat Atelier artstyle study with Kalops and some elements from chapter 1. Mostly wanted to replicate the little chapter illustrations that usually feature one character and some nice visual elements and frames.

[selkra-souza]

zero gravity alien spaceship TV dinner

[kattheerat]

[xaeyrnofnbe]

Death Claims His Champion

(info under cut)

hrgfhvngn i went into a trance for about four hours drawing this

the drawing depicts some OCs of mine, Ifre (the god of death/time,) and Walker (or Walks On Time Itself, Ifre's champion.)

Once Walker was old enough to comprehend what was happening to them, Ifre made his presence known, revealing himself to the young cat. Walker, orphaned before their eyes were open, was promised survival by Ifre to their mother's spirit, on the condition that his champion-to-be would help him settle a cosmic bet against his sisters once they were older.

these are characters from my personal worldbuilding project, Athzurea, which has been a work of passion and love since i was a preteen. i am endlessly happy to gush about them or their world, and my asks are open to anyone who wants to hear about them!

[ririarts]

Important question!

OC from my webtoon The Rabbit's Foot

[feliniakattus]

hey sorry i haven’t updated in a while! here’s dark and crane as an apology gift

[leopardsealz]

some doodles of my boy riptide to practice

[redneaththedogwood]

Writing up a post to talk about the three focal groups rn and augh, it's already so long and I've only talked about one

[styllwaters]

FIRST LIGHT

First Light is the only surviving Higher Arrow. Many years ago they were a bioweapon for Genizix, but manage to escape their hold. Soon after Genizix left Hanidias for good and the war ended. Light is now the head Arrow ambassador for the Zhagaviit Galactic Community, and live a comfortable life with their post-human partner Kota Hayes.

Light's palette is very unusual. They are a leucistic Arrow of the Dart ethnicity, although their colouration used to be darker.

Although she bears the scars of her past, Light is and has always been a kind and understanding individual.

[burrferns]

Art of my OCs I want to make a comic about!

Marion is a little cat wizard on a quest to save her friend, Artemis is a wolf who was turned in a statue for attempted murder until Marion accidentally set her free…im having a lot of fun with them

[wanderingokali]

Got a burst of Saspi energy and busted this out in like an hour lol gotta love it when an OC gets a grip on your attention like that

[selkra-souza]

One alien ref down, two to go!

Donelja works as a hauler who transports bio samples between a lunar nature preserve and a planetary research facility in the university they earned a degree they didn't want. They're bitter about their academic failures leading to "grunt-work" when their dream carer is to be a xenobiologist among the nature preserve conservationists. Don hopes that hauling enough samples will get them noticed enough by the scientists they transport them for to offer them to work their way up in their dream carer.

In the meantime, Don is coasting in space on-ship with their platonic partner Rutan, and their newer much more annoying roommate Vertex.

[kattheerat]

been playing around with procreate dreams, it’s real neat

i’ve stuck with doing the only kind of animation i know, the humble walk cycle