#i like the idea of a neck tattoo so i'll use it and just redesign it as something else later but i got attached to how silly it looks

[ruushes]

canvas: Does your OC have any scars, piercings, tattoos, or other markings? Do they display or cover them up at all? 😊

canvas: Does your OC have any scars, piercings, tattoos, or other markings? Do they display or cover them up at all?

so many lol, they're my sparkledog oc, i just keep adding things to them 😂 they rly like body mods in an unconscious/unexamined bodily autonomy way, im thinking abt redesigning their tattoos since they've changed a lot as a character since i made them tho

[ohnoitstbskyen]

hello mr skyen... might i ask for opinions... for an elise thing im doing

Oh, this is interesting! I am not 100% sure what kind of opinion you're looking for - is this meant to be a skin idea or a full-scale redesign of the character? I'll give you some thoughts, with the caveat that these are off-the-dome impulsive reactions, and whatever I bring up is not meant to be prescriptive "this is wrong do it different" criticisms, they're just me bouncing ideas off of what you are presenting.

If anything I say is useful, then hooray. If it is not, or if it misses the point of what you are trying to do, please discard it without a second thought.

Bringing in some 1920s and 30s fashion energy is an interesting idea. Elise is meant to be this high society socialite who has literally been around for centuries and killing people, so there is definitely a solid idea in using an aesthetic which would be olde timey to modern eyes, but also a bit anachronistic and odd and instinctively a bit out of place in a high fantasy military state like Noxus. I think that's really interesting, and definitely more interesting than the somewhat directionless black leather lingerie her base design keeps her in.

We're playing around with gender presentation it looks like, which I think is a really solid play. Elise is generally presented as a fairly standard type busty sexy video game babe in League of Legends, with Legends of Runeterra opting to show her as a bit more spindly and flat chested. I think her general archetype definitely requires a level of sexiness, sensuality and seductiveness, she is an archetypal Black Widow character, but I don't think that means she necessarily needs to be stereotypically femme in body and presentation. Plus, the LoL universe has more than enough classic femme fatales already, anything that adds variety would be good.

I very much like the red and black fashion - she looks very credibly like an eccentric Noxian socialite, especially in the first two outfits.

I kinda feel like I'm missing something up around her collarbone and chest? A necklace? Tattoo? Cosmetic? I can see the idea of having the collar be exposed flesh for the allure of it, but I feel instinctively like it's conspicuously "empty" next to the highly made up and elaborate makeup and hair, and then the fashionable costuming.

Given that Elise is a transforming character, you could futz around a bit with her proportions? The shoes extend her legs by lengthening into points already, which is a good thing to carry over from the base design, but I think given the importance of long spindly legs to spiders, you could push it even further. think something like Bayonetta for example:

additionally, you could use something like a wrap-around collar, or a necklace, to play around with extending her neck, too, to make her even taller, and push a bit into the uncanny if you want. covering the neck up makes it easier, in my experience, to lengthen it without it looking too obviously odd.

it sort of depends on the impact you want her to have though. very tall, very slender, very long proportions are striking, and carry a vibe of the ethereal, maybe slightly mystical. height also often codes for power.

if you want her to be a more down-to-earth presence in her human form, though, especially if you want her to pretend to be harmless and/or vulnerable as part of her seduction and manipulation play, making her shorter is usually a better shortcut to achieving that vibe

hm... what else...

Well, the spider leg spikes on her arms are cool - I really like the idea of concealing them as some sort of high fashion eccentric accessory, although it's not 100% clear to me from the art here exactly how they are attached to her?

I really like the fashion design of the middle idea. I like giving her trousers and going right up to the edge of letting her have a naked upper body. It's a good way to play with the tease, I think, the allure of almost seeing what is hidden.

I'm not 100% sure about the green markings on the body. on the one hand, she DEFINITELY needs something Shadow Isles coded in her design, since that's where she draws her power from, on the other hand having it that much out in the open feels maybe a little... obvious? at least in her human form?

Of course, this again depends on the intention with the design. if you're designing this as a design to appear in League of Legends, whether as a champion update or a skin, then making her source of power obvious on her body is actually crucial, it's really important for in-game visual language. If it's for something like an appearance in Arcane, you could probably dial it back a couple of notches and make it more subtle.

Like, maybe the same idea of glowing tattoos that light up when she uses her powers, but they are subtle little spiderweb patterns on her skin that look like elaborate decoration when not in use? something like that?

anyway, that's all I can think of as a reaction just off the top of my head. this is really cool, I hope you keep working on it!

[19orionis]

Emoji OC asks: Ben and Reid 🥛🍷🌶️🧇🥔

Benedikt:

🥛 [MILK] What is your OC's relationship with their biological parents like? What about their relationship with any non-biological parental figures?

Whew. His relationship with his mom is bad. They've been no-contact ever since he was kicked out by her in his late teens. She's been a pretty self-centered individual for as long as he's known her and also was generally never equipped to properly care for him. He was kinda parentified, had to spend a lot of time caring for his little sisters (and expected to grow up to be a wife and mother, too) and very limited in his self-expression as a closeted trans boy in a Catholic household. Religion loomed over him for a long time and it heavily affected how he saw his magic. His mother feared him for it and very much thought it was ungodly, but he feared her, too. She also had a weird jealousy thing over his hair (which he gets from his bio dad, more on that later), but didn't know everything about how to treat even moderately curly hair like his, so he fought with her a lot when he was little about brushing it. It's why he cropped his hair very short in his early twenties and only let it get truly long again sometime in his mid-thirties. Living with her just sucked. Ben's bio dad is some Finnish wizard guy who has no idea he exists. His mother had an affair with said Finnish wizard guy, without knowing he was a wizard, and the dad Ben grew up with/his mom's husband figured it out on his own some months after Ben was born and his suspicion caused him to go snooping. Ben really wishes his parents divorced each other over it, honestly, but they never did and often their dynamic seemed more like roommates than a married couple. Because of all this, Ben's known dad did not like interacting with Ben all that much. Ben preferred that to the way his mother would breathe down his neck, though.

🍷 [WINE] Where on the 'wine aunt scale' is your OC?

Ben is less of a wine aunt and more of an Uncle Acid ;)

🌶️ [HOT PEPPER] Who would your OC declare their sworn enemy if they could meet them?

IF he could meet them? I'm assuming this question is asking about famous people. If so, then it's gotta be Ronald Reagan. Really, Ben, in his middle age, is SO mellow compared to when he was younger. It's pretty hard for him to really consider any regular people his enemy. Maybe his mom, but he doesn't even fully count that anymore since he'll never have to interact with her again. He did have some insane beef with a past student that had some extremely conservative ideals, and keeping himself composed and professional when this kid would say his takes about art during class was a struggle. In the end, though, that student turned in genuinely shit work and the satisfaction of giving him a deserved failing grade was the end of it.

🧇 [WAFFLE] Using shape language, how would you redesign your OC?

I already use shape language a lot, so I don't fully know if I can answer this for either Ben or Reid! But I'll try. I could explain why I use the shapes I do in my current designs... I think Ben being made up of mostly round shapes, combined with the context of his character, kinda helps convey his laidback-ness and flexibility. Him being really lanky and made of limbs like I used to draw him did too, but there's just something about the way I draw him now that's really fitting. He's not rigid, and especially never severe, though with his height, he is capable of having a quietly intimidating presence. His nose, eyebrows, and eyes have some fun angles and I think that draws some attention to them. Having his hair be kinda cloud-shaped is fun, too, I want (and hope) elements of his design (like the dark clothes) come together to evoke smoke, and one of his tattoos does that directly.

🥔 [POTATO] What do they have that others see as a flaw, but they don't care about?

Ben falls more under the pop definition of hedonism than the actual, modest, Epicurean one talked about in philosophy (so he does know about OG hedonism and what it really means), and not everybody is down with that way of living. He loves having fun and feeling good-- the words "I shouldn't" aren't in his vocabulary. He's also a pretty frequent stoner, but doesn't really see anything wrong with his current usage, though he did have an issue with overuse, psychological dependence, and poor money management while in undergrad, and he will admit that. The wrong kind of people, I'm sure, would also see an issue with his polyamory, maybe call him indecisive or disloyal, but the people who would react like that don't even know he's polyamorous. It's something he's pretty discerning about when it comes to bringing it up.

Reid:

🥛 [MILK] What is your OC's relationship with their biological parents like? What about their relationship with any non-biological parental figures?

...Also bad. I'm really compelled by bad parents, which is interesting, because mine aren't bad. I heard lots of questionable tales about each of their parents, though, and plenty from some of my friends, and I guess it's rubbed off. Reid's dad was straight-up an abusive, homophobic dick, without any religious component, and both of their parents touted their little brother Jack as the golden child-- Jack happened to be the least defiant, and also the most gender-conforming, so everything was Reid and especially Lou's fault instead (Lou is their older sister). Reid's a middle child, by the way, which is a part of their desperation for literally any kind of attention that's followed them throughout their life. Crime and swindling have been a part of Reid's family for a few generations now, and Reid and their siblings were sometimes put in dangerous situations-- or more often neglected while their parents were out-- as a result. They found peace playing outside, stomping through the woods of Appalachia. Having so little guidance growing up definitely affected their view of other people and how they relate to them, and they went decades seeing no problem with taking from others because it's what was modeled to them.

🍷 [WINE] Where on the 'wine aunt scale' is your OC?

Oh she is SUCH a wine aunt! Wine aunt. That is where she is.

🌶️ [HOT PEPPER] Who would your OC declare their sworn enemy if they could meet them?

ALSO Reagan! They lived through that shit! Ben was born in 1970 and didn't move to the US until '92, so he hates Reagan for the aftermath, but Reid was an adult LGBT person in the US during his presidency, so their hatred is firey and it is personal. She's still far from leftist, economically, but he was just too shitty in all respects.

🧇 [WAFFLE] Using shape language, how would you redesign your OC?

Reid's shape is meant to emulate and evoke other chaotic or con artist-y characters throughout other media (or interpretations... remember how people would draw human!Bill back in the day? LMAO), and also to look very animated, wiggly, and expressive. SHE is all limbs, and her eyebrows are simple curves that can be pushed and exaggerated a lot in her expressions. She's got a rounder eye shape and a generally more alert look to her than Ben does (and smaller pupils, usually), but her other features are very sharp and bold. SHE wants to look memorable, and dresses and wears makeup in a way that pushes that even further.

🥔 [POTATO] What do they have that others see as a flaw, but they don't care about?

This one is very dependent on at what point in Reid's life this is being asked at, so I'll just go with the biggest/most interesting one. During the height of their scheming days, they really don't see it as an issue, and think everyone else is the problem. They push a lot of blame onto other people when they're disliked or their hustles don't go their way. When asked why, they'd go "everybody does it! Er-- not everybody, but enough of 'em! What's the point of playin' by the rules if there's always gonna be some other asshole who doesn't?"