#Raptamei

[havethetouch]

Here be pirates

2020 - Siti, Mahdi

2021 - Ila, Mel, Eli, Asa, Ava, Ife, Niv

2022 - Ixtia

2023 - Lev, Ora, Dar, Ira, Ayo, Efe, Nia, Jia

2024 - Nor

Figured I throw them down all in one post because why not most people are not even aware how vast the cast of this lil pirate story is, and those are the characters that got their design down, I have some more that I still play around with a bit on terms of colours and shapes. Aside from Ava and Lev, everyone got their first design try on a quick headshot that felt right and then threw colours on. Ava and Lev just got a ref sheet right away because idk I hit the golden moment with those two. (context: I hate doing refs and it usually takes me ages to do them even if if I have their designs down to a T. Mahdi for example.. is after Siti oldest characters created for this story and I only finally got around to finish his ref what? At the end of last year (2023)? Niv only got her ref like in July of 2024. Like fuck you could not pay me to do reference sheets the only reason I even do them is so that I can hand them to the handful of people I like to buy comms from (and sometimes for AF) who need the visuals bc they cannot just see them in my head otherwise I would not bother.)

The order these are drawn in is also not necessarily the order those characters have been living rent-free in my head either. Like there is Wyn who I vaguely know what he looks like for 3 years now but I have not brought him to paper yet lol. However the first few are. Siti was obviously the first, it started with her, Mahdi came second in my head even though back then I didn't even knew his name yet, he was an integral part in Sitis backstory and had the workname "Mapmaker/Scholar" but I knew while I tinkered with Sitis story that he needs to come back into the picture and then I started developing him. Technically it went like this: In the course of Sitis bg story she is faced with the loss of people she considered family (among them the mapmaker/scholar who she shared the closest bond with) during a vicious pirate attack at sea that she is the lone survivor of but even as I worked on that part I was like... "ain't no way that this fucker died, he is probably messed up but I bet he survived I want him to survive and reunite with Siti down the line" - and then a bit later in my head (mahdi, kicking the door in) "Hello there. I have risen!".

It still takes the duration of a decade before these two reunite. Which is also the starting point of Siti being the captain bc those two yearn for the sea regardless of the trauma.

After came the first five, being Ila, Ava, Eli, Mel and Asa. Ife and Niv followed soon after and then it kinda gets muddy with the rest. I had some rear up louder some just slipped in through the backdoor and at some point I started to design those as well. Nor is the most recent design in the lineup which I adopted from someone else because I had her down at her core but I could not decide on which animal which vibes but I saw demi-reality sell this zebra lady on their TH and I looked once, twice, thrice and went "oh. That is Nor." It be like that sometimes. But yeh so that is Sitis crew, at least those of them that have fixed designs. It is funny to look at the first headshot ever of Siti she changed not really much at all from that one aside from the fact that I got her unique face shapes down better in a way that I could not properly bring to paper back in 2020. So much shit happened around those years too, many losses in my family, among them my own father so many of these characters are intertwined with that grief and brainfog and memory loss that came with that trauma. A wild time that feels like a different life at times and I'm glad to have it behind me now. And I didn't even mean to get so personal about it here but those characters are, like I said, very much intertwined with a lot of that which also reflects in most of the early casts stories. But yeahhhh anyway I keep tinkering around, lots of writing going on in the background among some other stuff I have planned.

[cinnarx]

Artfight attack for @havethetouch <3

Used a lot of time, sweat and tears for this one as I really wanted to give Lev and Noy a worthy attempt. Overall I'm satisfied with the outcome of the rat boy and his pigeon companion :3c

[mushangaa]

5 and 20 for the artist ask game! Hope your day is good!

5. What piece of art are you still proud of to this day? (Show or describe)

Easy. This one. "Listen" 2010/03

It is 13 years old, I was 19 when I drew it. That was the year I moved out of my childhood home and moved into my first flat. A lot of struggles were had that year. I was so young. I had a different name. I was a different person. And this image takes me back to being so young and unsure of myself and the world around me. There is so much of me in this picture, so much emotions I felt at that time and while it is not the most elaborate piece compared to what I can do these days it was very complicated to pull off for past me. Get the lines in the background just right to keep the flow and emotion I felt. My fingers were stained with graphite by the end of getting the lines down and it took ages to line them. I have often contemplated on doing a redraw of this one but deep down I know, even if I could do better I will never reach that feeling and emotional beat that went into the original; so I don't. I simply cherish this one as is and when I look at it I feel peace and a sense of accomplishment because like I said. I was a different person back then. I was so, so young but this young person turned out okay. This young person grew and stood up again and again and handled itself better with each punch life threw and eventually became me. This piece is like an emotional time capsule to me. However I am working on another piece currently, and while it is a rendition of a Gustav Klimt artwork "Judith II" the emotions currently going in this one already tell me it shall be added to the roster of all time favourites. The stage it is at currently already pleases me deeply. I am playing a bit more loose with my interpretation as the key elements that I really wanted to hit with this rendition is especially the hands. The hands of the original artwork just do something for me the way she holds them the way the fingers are curled like claws. Also the way the body is bend. I really wanted these elements in there the most. Also it is a good piece to pull forth my love for detailed little elements that I often use in backgrounds and can throw here in the dress and all that.

The characters in both pieces are mine by the way. In the first, that is Eve, from one of my older stories that experiences a bit of a hibernation as my focus shifted to newer projects. I have around 20 stories to bounce back and forth between and a lot of characters populating those so like... can't do all at the same time. For now I told myself to focus on two, one of those is The Unicorn Paradox of course. The other is "Raptamei" a found family type of deal but with pirates and the lady in the Judith II rendition is Ila (green peacock), she is part of that story.

20. What motivates/inspires you artistically? (topics, emotions, etc)

A lot of things. Music, Movement, Nature, People, Emotions. It depends on my mood and time of day and what is going on in my life in general. But like... it can be out of left field stuff like me zoning out at a river and the light hitting the surface right and suddenly I have an idea. I once chilled out at the bottom of a lake because it is very chill and quiet down there and muted and green and blue and the sun dances on the surface of the water and you know what water is kinda a big thing for me in general to let my mind wander and get inspired. Sometimes my mind just cooks things up when the music is just right. I heard a song recently - instrumental - that essentially wrote an entire scene for The Unicorn Paradox that has not existed prior and changed the direction of the story a bit in a way I have not thought of by then because I had an intense film reel popping off in my head in time to the beat of drums, dramatic violins and I think trumpets? Idk.

And of course emotions are a big thing. If I am not feeling it it ain't happening. Can I draw pretty stuff just because? Sure. But I myself can always tell if I drew something with feeling or just because even years later after the fact. I approach things different too for artwork I do for others depending on either how I feel about the person I draw for or how their works make me feel, and I think it shows`. To me it does at least. And in general, all my stories are tied to specific emotions and those bleed into the lines and colours. If I may refer back to the Unicorn Paradox - that story is born from grief but also hope and healing and it could've been entirely original (kind of) for sure but it popped up on a whim when I drew a cowboy and a sad horsegirl and I was like... you know what yeah. Yeah. Because in a difficult time of my life I became active in the fandom and it brought me relief and a sense of peace during even my off-days and then it kinda became "nah it has to be tmnt actually. it could be original but also not. Not really"

So mh yeah, lot of things do inspire me, sometimes the most random things that only make sense in my head on how they tapped a button in my brain but the biggest thing is Emotions. Music too but that invokes an emotional response so we go back to Emotion mainly. Thank you for asking <3 My day has been fabulous. I hope you had a lovely day as well Wren <3 Feel booped.

[havethetouch]

Judith II

2024/08

And you, you follow philosophies, but me, I laugh, I choke "Well, hello, my hollow Holofernes" I wink, but you don't get the joke "Hold the hand of the god-child, " they said, "as he falls from the sky" "Be good to me, " I beg of him "Be good to me, " I beg of him Be good, be good, be good, be good, be good, be good, be good And he replies (oh), "No, no, not I" -- "The Unwanted Animal" - The Amazing Devil

A rendition of Gustav Klimts "Judith II (Salome)". Funny side note my mom has a print of that one, huge floor to ceiling thing I had to install for her and while I was doing that I heard the amazing devil song and well.. here we are.

It fits Ilas story so well and I could not resist. Took some liberties with the elements to make em suit both my taste and Ila a bit more but what mattered to me the most and draw my eye the most in the original painting by Klimt are the intense stare and the way the hands are positioned and gesturing. Those elements I needed to be there to make it work for me.

(like the sides of the dress allude to her family with the teardrops line with gold and the triangle lines through them, while the middle of it with the wave pattern represents her ocean journey on the ship with her new family etc. the original Judith II has this black and pattern segment on the head that are Salomes hair with a colourful cloth wrapped around it that I switched out for Ilas veil and a shattered valuable metal pattern bc Ila is a woman that comes from a wealthy household, a gilded cage she escaped/ fled from.. there are so many things.. know one thing about me, aside from a few "just because" artworks I usually put a lot of things into my work with purpose behind it.)

Ila, the captains scribe and crews barber.

[havethetouch]

Bind her with a golden Band

2022/01

"Take it from a man no longer young If you want to hold a woman, son Hang a chain around her throat Made of many carat gold Shackle her from wrist to wrist With sterling silver bracelets Fill her pockets full of stones Precious ones, diamonds, Bind her with a golden band Take it from an old man" -- Hadestown Chant II Ila, a member of the Raptamei.

Like many before her, she came aboard Sitis ship to leave her past behind and start a new life. She is one of the youngest among them to need a restart.

Normally she has wing-arms, for the sake of this image I left them out, but for in canon images her wings are never optional. This one though is more… mhh a blatant nod towards past transgressions in Ilas life.

I had a bit of a different concept in mind at first but I can't quite pull it off the way I want to anymore so imma revisit the idea later on in another piece, maybe.

(I am also very behind on uploading some pieces I noticed XD I had assumed I already uploaded this one to tumblr, turns out I did not, but you kinda need this one to ease you into a new one I have in my backpocket. Lol)

[havethetouch]

Oceanborn

2024/03

This also started out as a chillout piece in terms of doing shapes but this time I did plan to put someone in the middle of it (unlike the piece with Siti lol) What can I say? I try to shift my focus on two things this year but I also love jumping subjects frequently so like... *shrug emoji* But ey, this is one for my pirate story. Efe is... peculiar, I guess that's a word to describe them, I kinda wanna say don't let the regal pelt and the bling fool you this person is the embodiment of failing upwards but like... it's hard to describe their deal honestly. Bit of a wildcard of an OC that popped up like last year and very amusing to me personally for a major aspect of her that I do not want to spoil yet. I guess what I can say about them is... she is a reluctant (and admittedly dangerous) addition to the Raptamei's crew, she does belong there however, Efe just does not know it in the beginning that this is the best place for them to be but it will come to her in time. Until then Efe has the watchful eyes of the ships Captain on them and there is a silent understanding to not step out of line or the next one will be on the plank.

[havethetouch]

Ocean Queen

Most sea captains are married to the ocean - Siti sees it as her kingdom. Siti has been surrounded by the ocean since birth, what with growing up on a small island somewhere in the Indonesian archipelago, and has a rather deep connection to it, but it was only in her youth that she joined an Exploration Crew's ship that discovered her island that she made the ocean more or less her home for a while and her need and love for discovery was born. There is a timeframe where Siti will be landlocked once more for a while dude to story related reasons, but she will in this time: Find new pieces of family and first crewmembers, grieve and heal a bit, realize that many lost souls could use a place to go to, like she once did before she took to the ocean, find a ghost and lastly become Captain and take back to the ocean where she belongs.

I have finally figured out how I want to convey most of the story, and it will be a healthy mix of images, maybe some text and more importantly short comic sequences. A full-blown comic would be dope, but that takes a lot of time and I would need to go overboard to get some progress in bc imagine I pace myself out to one or two pages a week, that is not much in a year. Short comic sequences allow for more freedom both timewise, but also allow me to jump up and down the timeline as I please, depending on which part I like to tackle and given that the story itself is more focused on character development and personal stories that intertwine on board the ship it just makes more sense. I just uhh.. need to design a ship I guess and figure out some logistics here.

Image wise, I gotta say... AF was a blast of course, but I was glad to take a break before, intending to finish up the final revenges and rest my hand a bit. (and the fact that one revenge had a 'lil accident and needs to be redrawn and the resulting frustration from that also had a hand in opting for that break to go at it with a fresh mind) So I like to warm up my hands with shapes, Zen triangles and whatever because it is great to get my hands back into gear and activate that fine control muscle memory after a break, and thus I like repetitive motions and patterns to get me in a focused mindset with art. This time around, warm-up time with shapes became a bit more ocean themed and suddenly a Siti appeared and of course I just rolled with that.

[havethetouch]

Nor

2024/04

Look, look I compromised. I did not completely create a new character... okay I did. I fucked up. But I did not design the lady itself the design credit goes to @demireality.bsky.social who offered up a zebra lady for adoption and today I clicked on her like three times and decided "you know what fuck it she already has a name in my head..." and bought her. Like. a couple of hours ago. And she already has a personality and some bullet points of a background story and this is just how it goes sometimes you feel me.

Anyway she shall join my pirate crew on their voyage and thus become reinforcements for Momma Ava because she absolutely needs a middle aged lady friend who enables her wild side now and again and maybe more who knows :)

[havethetouch]

Rain

2021/10

Lil thing for a monthly challenge I cooked up that I might pick up again. We’ll see.

Here we have Ava, my red river hog, the pirate mom to end all pirate moms. She went outside into the rain to sneak a quick smoke bc you can’t start a fire on a wooden vessel when everything is wet so she takes advantage of the weather. Might have overdone the see through effect on her undershirt a wee bit but eh it's thin and white and I guess that works somehow XD I used only 4 different ink colours in this picture. Rose pink, Orange, a greyish Brown and Blue.

The Rose pink and Orange went into her fur, the greyish brown was used for shading and for anything black or grey on Avas body and all three went together for the wood. Blue got mildly mixed with the greyish Brown to make the rainclouds (the pure state of the blue can be seen in her eyes by the way).

[havethetouch]

Deep

2021/10

Lil thing for a monthly challenge I cooked up that I might pick up again. We’ll see.

Went with Mahdi for this one. "Deep" relates to the scars he carries on his body, most of them have been deep wounds at some point and left an equally deep impact on his life. He received the brunt of them a decade ago before he joins the Raptamei crew. He almost died but pulled through and now lives with chronic pain due to nerve damage. But he is doing okay all things considered. Because 10 years ago he did not just almost lose his life, he also lost Siti, his sister in all but blood and believed for the longest time she had died (she thought the same about him). But 10 years later they will meet again and set sail together again. I need to draw that scene out bc all my feelings hurt every time I think about those two living with survivors guilt and believing the other to be dead until they meet again. Ah- this is coffee by the way and the only regret I have about that is that I forgot how much of a bitch coffee is when it needs to dry bc it dries forever if you want some nice poolings and you literally sit there for hours. But yeah coffee <3

[havethetouch]

Brand new Day

2023/04

"… Freedom, you see Has got our hearts singing so joyfully (Just look about) (You owe it to yourself to check it out)

… Can't you feel a brand new day?"

My golden babe Siti, welcoming a new day on the Horizont. This picture is rather multi on the symbolism because Change is afoot in my life a lot recently what with moving out and moving out of the city and living on my own in some rural town for the first time (from 19 to up until now I lived with my best friend who I know for over half my life) and there is a lot of adjusting and excitement and all that jazz obviously. And usually when I got this much going on I create less / only do sketching stuff if at all bc the tasklist in my head got jammed again XD But eh, recently unplugged that hence why I figured if I go full illustration again after about 2 months then it gotta be Siti. On another note regarding changes, while I do not wish to speak of this topic more than I have to (because I do not wish to waste my time unnecessarily) - Siti, and my other pirate characters were tied up in a collaborative story before as some of you are aware - this is no longer a thing. I no longer associate with the originator of that story or their characters. Hence why Siti and Co. get a new story, and some slight changes to their story beats - thankfully there is not that much I have to rewrite to make this work as a standalone thing because I created these characters rather solidly; so you'll see more of 'em soon, along with some new faces I had not had the chance to introduce yet.

[havethetouch]

Eli, son of

2023/12/31 A quick one for the end of the year. Eli is one of my pirate characters of my story Raptamei. He is.. peculiar you could say. Originally from the Ionian Islands (under Venetian rule) he was found in the woods by his previously childless parents and they felt very lucky and blessed about the whole thing. Eli himself just kinda got skipped over the blessed part because bad luck seems zu follow him. He of course carried his misfortune with quiet dignity- oh, oh no, that was a joke. Eli does no such thing, he is the most dramatic Greek bitch to grace the Ionian islands and rather put out by the thing his parents dubbed a "curse". Which lead to overbearing overprotective parents and Eli running away as a young lad from said parents, attracting trouble left and right while he is at it, which ultimately ended with him encountering (found stranded on a rock-bank in the middle of the ocean) four vagabond, treasure loving people (gremlins, menaces) he decided to join (adopt) on their adventures because at rock bottom things can only go up right? It was a spontaneous thing, really, to claim them as his siblings and be claimed by them in turn (absolutely not) but it was the best thing Eli ever chose (true) even if they probably will lead him to an early grave with their antics (absolutely true).

Eli and his siblings join the Raptamei due to a medical emergency and kind of don't leave after. (read: the second best thing to happen in Eli's & his siblings live)

[havethetouch]

Solitude

2021/10

Lil thing for a monthly challenge I cooked up that I might pick up again. We’ll see.

Mel quietly keeping to themselves by the shore, far away from their village. Mel is a hybrid, ostracised by their people for being well, an impossibility.

[In Universe hybrids are frowned upon at best and seen as abominations that need to be culled at worst. “Natural” hybrids like the child of a donkey and a horse or different canids, felines, etc. same subfamily babies basically are usually undetected/not minded, but when you cross outside of that (ex. A horse and a wolf) that is already crossing a line. Hybrids between classes of birds/mammals/reptiles/amphibians in any combination are very rare and very vulnerable to the scrutiny and violence of society. Mel, being the child of a coyote and a whiptail lizard falls into the latter category.]

Before they “join” the Raptamei crew they don't exactly have the best life to put it mildly, but the worst thing about it is the lonliness. And Mel is so, so lonely.

[havethetouch]

I haven't set up my pc 'n scanner yet so take a tablet foto sneak peak rofl

Working on something to get back into the art groove and I'm coming back swinging with my golden babe. Also trying out some new approach to building up ocean water which means waiting in between layers drying a lot but hnnngh should be worth the outcome testing my impatience with backgrounds xd

[havethetouch]

So there is a lovely on-off rainstorm going on rn which naturally meant frolicking in the grasses to show the ticks a buffet they can't munch on and then legged it over to the neighbours to haul my ass into their pool to rouse my brain back to working order. Had the moment of "ah, forgot more than one thing actually" underwater while the rain made lovely sounds on the waters surface and of course now it is time to draw sniddy.

Because what is artfight without beholding the almost last 24 hours before go time and thinking "yeah I could totally swing one more reference in there"

Which I do not like doing actually ref sheets are boring as fuck and a chore but also Niv is a snake with no leggies so that seems do-able without much of a hassle (they say with confidence, as if this character has not been ref-less since her creation in *checks notes* 2021. Hands down, if it wasn't for AF and the occasional commission I would not bother with refs at all ngl)

But yeah so snake with sniddys and arms and eyelids but no leggies just a long lady because a snake with legs is obviously were my suspension of disbelieve ends. No but like... Niv (from my pirate story) is fun to figure out conceptually in the setting she is in I'd like to think that she, when sleeping, she is literally sprawled all over the medbay because she is just that long and if not curled up fills a lot of space I wrote a little scene where her ward just climbs all over her to get to some stuff in the cabinets (and then gets boosted up with the segment he is standing on bc he smoll and can't reach the top shelf. cute shit) And on the ships deck I just like to imagine that the crew just adapts while working and going about their days when she is out and about hopping over her tail ducking under a coil whathaveyou while her ward maybe is just sprawled over her on some other section of her body for a nap i actually want to make like... a whats the word when you do three seperate artworks that are connected but like it would be just Nivs body spanning over all three of those with the crew mingling and working around her imma need to get to that at some point. Also the idea of her moving about in general is so funny she is hard to miss even if her front half is halfway down the deck or something you can tell were she is or where she is going bc it takes a while for the rest of her to reach a room completely.

2021/11 just.. her you know?

Beat by Heat. Brain is mush. thinking straight is overrated. Pretty sure I forgot something but beats me what and instead of music I have just a word on repeat stuck in my head: Sniddy. so yeah AF prep be prepping I guess I submit myself to temp insanity for the coming month and whooo turning 33 soon dang.

[havethetouch]

I'd like to see more narrative/story-telling bits of your OCs! They're all so interesting and I only know little bits and pieces. You portray the emotions of their experiences so well that they do feel familiar even without this context though. :)

Oh that is a wonderful ask <3 And a spot on too because I have a lil booklet were I currently thumbnail comic sequences in my downtimes. Especially for Raptamei and another story I have now concrete plans on how to approach and pull off. Story illustrations for written things is nice and all but I have specific sequences nailed down I wish to present in comic format. Not a full blown comic, mind. I rather tell the important story beats and i will probably need a masterpost for chronological purposes XD But yes, you shall receive what you ask for. I have too much to tell about them and specific mannerisms and quirks, emotional shifts and moods are better conveyed in more than one singular illustration >3 Tho I am glad (and thankful ;w;) to hear that I can convey emotional beats well in the handful of illustrations I do have until now. There shall be more. I want to lure you in and live with them for a while, suffer, laugh, cry and overcome by their side. Raptamei is a big wild ride, mostly because it is so character driven and there are like 20 castmembers to get to know so... yeah... got my work cut out with this one.