#also I think it’s mildly funny the first time I’ve drawn artemy and Clara have been as birds

[trash-can-sam]

What if they were birds. Did anyone ever think of that.

Reasons I made them the birds I did (any discussion on symbolism is done with very surface level research, if I got something wrong I apologize):

Daniil: Fish Crow- I knew I wanted him to be some type of Corvid (because smart and cunning yk) but I settled specifically on fish crow because they’re smaller than the American crow and a lot smaller than a Raven. They also look really funny when upset.

Crows also tend to symbolize death and misfortune while at the same time symbolizing intelligence and loyalty, being good and bad omens, and I feel like that describes Daniils place pretty well yk. I did give him a bag just because I thought it would be funny and suitably pretentious like of course he’d do something no other bird is doing by carrying around a small bag everywhere like ofc he’d do that. Im not sure if any birds will use separate carrying containers but to my knowledge they don’t.

Artemy: Broad Winged Hawk- I’m going to be completely honest and say I just wanted artemy to be a big bird who’s also pretty threatening and cool, so I looked at a bunch of hawks and the broad winged hawk just fit his vibe the best. From what I gather, Hawks also have strong spiritual significance in multiple cultures and often symbolize determination, fitting for artemy. Also there is nothing cooler than seeing a hawk just sitting somewhere, always kind of like they’re looking over the land if you get what I mean, to which Artemy has a similar sort of purpose.

Clara- Black billed Magpie- Magpies have pretty positive connotations in many cultures, representing luck and fortune as well as mischief. In Ancient Rome, they represented magic and fortune telling. However, because of Christianity, it also became a bad omen, associated with thievery and death, and referring to someone as a magpie typically carries a negative connotation. This sort of strong meaning in both positive and negative as well as the association with magic is very Clara I feel. As juveniles, (which I drew Clara as for obvious reasons) their feathers don’t have the blue-green type sheen of an adult and their eyes are less dark, showing up as blue, grey, or violet, I also thought this would be a pretty cool, kind of mystical type of thing. I wanted to give her a beanie so bad but there was 0 way I could rationalize it because it would definetly just fall off so I just stuck to a scarf type thing.