#it IS a pretty complex design

[theviolenttomboy]

Oh dear, Yamamoto admitted that it takes awhile to draw Miraidon. This month's release apparently features the bike 'mon a lot and he almost didn't finish the manuscript on time.

[bite-the-bloody-hand]

Knight Commander Zell

--Detail shots and Ephemera under the cut!--

It's taken two weeks, but he's D O N E!!!!

This was a huge challenge, and I'm so happy with it. I've wanted to do a custom portrait for a while, but my skills weren't quite caught up to my ambition. UNTIL NOW.

My goal was to reflect his multicultural heritage and well-traveled life while still keeping it close enough to the aesthetic of the in-game portraits. He was born and mostly raised in Hongli (sorta-kinda Mongolia) until moving to Ustalav (I like to make it sorta-kinda Czechia). In the background there's an Ovoo - a border marker normally found throughout Mongolia, Tibet, and surrounding areas. The mountains themselves are a little bit Altai, a little bit Orlicke.

His jewelry consists of hammered silver, turquoise, coral, carnelian, jade, and a little bit of amber, from a friend. The jewelry designs and embroidery I designed to try and pull from both backgrounds - thankfully both Czech and Mongolian artisans love tiny beads and horse-shaped things. The pouch is where he keeps his spindle; he keeps the spinning fleece tucked into his outer robe :3 He spins from the fold, btw, for those in the know:

Speaking of fleece, I love how the fleece on his robe came out:

Look at that. COZY.

As for Zell himself, decided one of his Dhampir tells would be ridges on the inside of his ears, like a fruit bat:

It pleases me greatly.

I decided to go with a wry expression because, well, I know what I'm about. I know that in my head, Sosiel is painting this portrait of his friend while Daeran is standing over his shoulder, making loud and goofy commentary about his future husband, who is down bad but trying so hard to keep a straight face for this portrait.

Anyway, it's time I take a little break before going in and adding the endgame, full Azata details (because of COURSE I'm doing a full Azata version.) and then I can rest up before... Perhaps... offering portraits of this type for commission.

[sysig]

Pretty clothes for you! ✨ (Patreon)

[gay-little-izzet]

You mentioned potentially redesigning characters as Compleated in a post a while back, and if you’re still interested in that, I’d *love* to see how you’d go about compleating Teferi! There’s a lot of potential there I feel like

Sorry for the (checks calendar) two month delay, but I wanted to give this some thought

I kind of went a bit overboard with this, cuz I wanted to explore a few different ideas

I added some notes, I hope they’re legible (side note but I found some old art of mine and apparently my handwriting has not improved since i was about 10 years old)

Also I felt like doing something shapey so I did a very straightforward (by which I mean barely changed) porcelain host design. I think the gold inlaid in the porcelain looks pretty good, as well as being a bit of a hint at his true autonomy (gold hued metals being much more associated with mirrans and the resistance than any new phyrexian faction, from what I can tell)

I think a design combining porcelain and chrome would be cool, but alas, is spent a lot of time on this already, so that might come later

Anyways—thank you for this suggestion, I ended up having a lot of fun with it, and I might have to draw more teferi art now, because I adore his visual design.

[tubes-the-ann]

Yoo whadup guys I've been drowning in school work- But I finished it so I can present it

The "butterfly" is actually loosely based on a hummingbird moth. The phoenix is a phoenix, referencing old depictions of them in my country. The values are definitely clearer irl lol.

We were supposed to do only one design but my mom told me to do 2, so ye..... ended up submitting the phoenix(both grey scale and colour). The moth is to keep and frame at home.

[crystallizsch]

stop getting more oc ideas omg im gonna

[myhomiesarestuckathome]

I started kind of working on my Earth C AU for the trolls a while back, and this is my Feferi design for it💕

[phantom-alpha]

happy rollo event rerun

[bimbvx]

Have you ever posted a full reference of Kate's tattoos? I absolutely love your design for her! 🖤✨️

THANK YOU!!!<3 and bold of you to assume i plan things out before drawing them 💀 however thank you for asking and therefore giving myself a reason to make a reference sheet which 1. is confusing 2. who knows if i’ll ever use it

i’ve also included some lore: kate used to “play” the synthesizer before the mysterious disappearance of their bandmate skully, so tim promoted her to be the bassist (also a very important moment in their career because from that day on they stopped desperately trying to sound like the doors and she proceeded to carry the band with her amazing tunes)

[lovefrombegonia]

Can't even lurk around twitter arcane fandom without coming across vi haters with zero media comprehension. I guess, this is what I get for loving characters that 70% of the fandom dislikes.

[a-drama-addict]

yuo should yap about chronos i want to know why he is everyones specialest guy ever

OHHH the real chronos lore. Okay okay he’s my special guy because he’s fucked in the head

Chronos was my most popular oc in terms of follower/mutual appreciation, pretty sure it was because he had huge tits long hair and moustache. There was a big thing that his powers was stored in his moustache and that he was popped outta the womb with it already grown

chronos was also my first case of yapping i think. posted screenshots and talked about his relationship with the bull a lot. kinda my standard for an oc now if im invested but that was rare back then

He’s also just the hottest guy oc i have does that account for anything. Oh and trans. Hooray!

MY HANSOME MAN

[mania-sama]

Repetition in Mondstadt (Genshin Impact Analysis)

In response to @sleepytwyla42's request for my thoughts in Old Mondstadt, I present you this: something that is not quite Old Mondstadt but kind of sort of is. If you squint. :)

One of the most common and sensible theories for Genshin Impact's main storyline is that the Traveler is going to return to Mondstadt for, essentially, Round 2 of Archon quests. This is backed namely by the fact that the Mondstadt storyline feels very unfinished, especially in comparison to the other nations. There are several mysteries left yet to unfold, with their proximity to Khaenri'ah being one and the upside-down tainted Anemo Statue of the Seven being another. However, I'd like to present a slightly different point of view on why we are probably going to be returning to Mondstadt before this game is over:

Mondstadt's theme of repetition. Yes, I think it has even Sumeru beat out on this theme. Here's why.

Everybody knows the story of Old Mondstadt and Decarabian. It's fairly straightforward: Decarabian, the god of storms, and Andrius, the north wind (god of ice and snow, if you wish to interpret it that way) get into a small war with each other during the chaotic, power-struggle time period overall known as the Archon War. Andrius covers the land now known as Mondstadt in ice and snow, making it virtually uninhabitable by humans, which causes Decarabian to gather his followers/people into a sectioned-off area. He encases his segment in protective winds, and although it does a good job of keeping out the cold, he also completely traps his people inside. They cannot escape (for the most part), he treats them terribly, hides in his tower to "watch" over them, and is overall an evil tyrant. When evil tyrants rule, revolutions tend to happen. After encouragement from a small wind sprite giving a blessing to a group of Gunnhildr's that left Decarabian's land to live in the cold, Mondstadt's people uprise and overthrow Decarabian's rule. No, we do not know where Decarabian is now. We are not quite sure where his body is or how they managed to contain such a powerful god.

Anyway, now that we have a brief summary of Old Mondstadt, it is time to move to what happens next. Decarabian's (ex) followers all leave to live in the little sprite-blessed town called Mondstadt. The wind sprite strikes up a deal with Andrius; Andrius stops terrorizing the land and gives up his title of Anemo Archon to Barbatos, and Barbatos proceeds to terraform the land to be more habitable to his newfound people. These people pack up and move to Cider Lake, which is then terraformed to keep the city strategically protected.

Now we have (New?) Mondstadt and the Anemo Archon. Here is where our repetition begins.

The Genshin Impact manga depicts two times of Mondstadt's history: one, the Era of Aristocracy, which was Venessa's early life in Mondstadt as a slave battling for her freedom. The second is Diluc and Kaeya's timeline, about 3-4 years before the main timeline events, where their father dies, they fight, and Diluc defects. For right now, we will focus on the Era of Aristocracy.

Here is this thing about aristocracy: it doesn't come out of nowhere. Generally speaking, based on actual human history, ruling clans, factions, and families tend to come from the early founders of a certain city/state/nation. They could also come from the noble classes of other cities/states/nations, and they just use their wealth, power, and status to establish dominance in whatever region they are taking over. Really, truly, the whole of Mondstadt is pretty reminiscent of French and English history.

To tie into Mondstadt: Really, truly, the whole of this nation is pretty reminiscent of French and English history. We see that Decarabian is overthrown by the people. What we don't see, at first, is that the ones leading the charge would later become the major and minor noble clans. Some of them probably already were noble families (case in point, the Gunnhildrs probably were. They most likely used some sect of their power to escape the storms and brave the Monstadt's snowy wasteland). A tyrannical ruler is never going to rule alone. They are always going to have an upper noble class that they have in their pocket to quell the common people and stomp out uprisings. You have to have friends to defeat your enemies. Or, you want to keep those wealthy who are happy, appealing to other proverb keep your friends close but your enemies closer. The noble class can kill you. Typically, peasants cannot.

Until the peasants do kill you. In this case, they probably still did have help from some rich people. See: the likelihood of the Gunnhildr family being high nobles. MOVING ON.

So three big clans established Mondstadt on Cider Lake with the blessing of freedom and independence from Barbatos: Gunnhildr, Lawrence, and Imunlaukr (which seems to have faded into obscurity in modern Mondstadt, but I digress). You may be thinking: what about Ragnvindr? I imagine they were a noble class at this time, along with many unnamed ones; they were likely lesser nobles and weren't those founding Mondstadt like the big three.

What do nobles do when they gain power? That's right. THEY BECOME TRYANTS! Even though Barbatos gave them their independence to escape tyranny, rich people did what rich people do best and they became rulers and tyrants. This is where we see the first major repetition come into play in Mondstadt's history. Even though they all knew of Decarabian's tyranny like the back of their hand, history still repeated itself. Like it always doomed to do.

And like Venti is always doomed to do, he wakes from his slumber to give his blessing to his people to overthrow the tyrannical Lawrence clan. As for the other clans, people tend to herald the Gunnhildr clan mainly for being awesome and helping the people, but they were still a clan that did NOTHING until the common people revolted. Which is also pretty common in real-life history. Rich clans tend to only cash in when it seems profitable, and in order to not be exiled with the "bad guys", even though their inaction was still aiding the tyranny (proverb: "Evil persists when good people do nothing"),

We come to the modern day, where the clans are still evident in different ways. While the Lawrence clan and Imunlaukr clans have both lost significant power and relevance (due to their previous exile) and are more just an occasional societal nuisance, the Gunnhildr and Ragnvindr clans are still extremely prevalent in modern society. And while I am not saying that either of them is going to repeat their ancestors' mistakes any time soon (moreso Diluc than Jean, no hate to my queen though, it's just the archetype of intense, overworked protection leading to Accidental Tyranny), it still shows that Mondstadt cannot let go of the scars of the past. Their aristocracy still exists, it just breathes a different air.

It seems inevitable that one day, it will be the Gunnhildr's turn to be tyrannical. It's just how this thing goes. Or, someone else is going to come in and take over to terrorize the Mondstadt citizens. I am going to use this as a shitty transition into the second repetition: Dvalin and Durin.

By the time Dvalin comes around, the Archon War is finished and done with. This also means that dragons are Not Liked by General Populous, so nobody really likes this new, innocent creature. Nobody tries to befriend it. Except for, well, Venti. Venti and Dvalin the Dragon become friends. They are ride or DIE, okay. And then the abyss strikes.

While Mondstadt's people fight a war on the ground by sending out a squadron to the apparent source of the abyssal monsters (Khaenri'ah), Venti and Dvalin fight a sky(?) war against the Khemia-dragon named Durin, who is most notable for being Evil, corrupted by the Abyss, and for terrorizing the citizens of Mondstadt. Dvalin and Venti manage to defeat Durin, but not without grave hits to their health. They both seem to follow the path of deep slumber to recover from the abyssal corrosion they suffered from the fight. And while Venti seemed to heal... Durin, with an immense lack of Venti's archon power, is not so lucky.

Durin is then woken from his slumber and his abyssal corrosion from his fight 500 years ago is used to by the Abyss to be Evil and terrorize the citizens of Mondstadt. Sound familiar? Yes, because this is the second major repetition. While it isn't the exact same circumstances, it is still similar. Proper measures were not taken to root out evil (like the Mondstadt aristocracy), and thus, evil came back with a vicious bite. Thankfully, the Traveler's ability to cure abyssal corrosion seems to have solved the biggest of these issues. Still don't know what's going on with Durin's heart, though. That's kind of. Concerning.

But on the topic of dragons, we do have another pretty important and relevant repetition, which concerns both the first and the second half of the Genshin Impact manga, and now with our favorite evil organization: the Fatui!

The Era of Aristocracy is a painful time in Mondstadt's history. It is also a point in time when Ursa the Drake was roaming around Mondstadt. For those unaware, the creature drake is essentially just a dragon/dragon-like animal. So, by accordance to our pre-established rules, Ursa was not very well liked at this point. She was also a bit of a foul creature, unlike Dvalin, who was pretty innocent and unassuming at his point of roaming Teyvat originally.

Vanessa and her tribe run into Ursa the Drake while traveling in the Mondstadt wilderness, which is what leads to their seeking of refugee, capture, and subsequent enslavement by the high nobles in Mondstadt on Cider Lake. They do eventually have to fight Ursa the Drake again in the gladiator-type arena while attempting to win their freedom, and while they think they've killed Ursa, they've merely driven her away.

Which is why she comes back, 1000 years later. Ursa the Drake serves as sort of our third and fourth repetition. For now, I will just focus on the third major repetition: the mere fact of her return. Just like always, something that is not properly vanquished will come back to bite in Mondstadt. And so it does: Ursa does not merely terrorize a group of traveling tribesmen. Ursa indirectly kills Crepus, Diluc's father, which leads to a massive political scandal. Eroch, a high-ranking member of the Knights of Favonius, tries first to make Diluc take credit for killing Ursa (at this point in time, Ursa had only been driven away again, not killed). Eroch suggests this because Diluc, newly 18 - quite literally, it was his birthday - and promoted in the Knights, was the only one there at the time of Crepus' death. Diluc, enraged by the suggestion, promptly quits the Knights and flees Mondstadt entirely after a fight with his adopted brother, Kaeya. Eroch takes claim for the defeat, but that is quickly uprooted and dismissed.

As I've repeated, nothing that is not killed comes back. Nothing that is not defeated will bite. Ursa does not come back again, but she is killed by a Fatui Harbinger: Il Dottore, the Doctor, the Second of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers. And the big thing to understand about Dottore is that he is not a dumb man; he does not do something nice for the sake of nicety. No. This action of eliminating a major threat to Mondstadt makes Mondstadt indebted to Snezhnaya and the Fatui Harbingers.

You all have (presumably) played the Archon Quest. You know that the major point of concern for our leaders of Mondstadt is to make sure that the Fatui have no hand in eliminating Dvalin. That would put them in an incredibly horrendous position with Snezhnaya, and they could not afford it. Hence, our fourth major repetition: a dragon that terrorizes Mondstadt and leads to immense pressure from Mondstadt and the Fatui Harbingers. A problem that is not killed or defeated coming to bite them in the ass, as always.

It is also at this point that Venti makes a reappearance in Mondstadt. He wakes up again to help his people, as he always does when it is apparent their freedom is in danger. So far, this has been recorded in these instances (excluding the Archon War/and the years following. Only starting from when he first relinquished full freedom to his people): the Era of Aristocracy, the Cataclysm, and the Stormterror.

... But it really isn't Stormterror, is it? Because we know that Dvalin was never really out to kill anybody. He was being hurt and manipulated. That situation is quite unlike the Cataclysm, in which he likely also received a calling from Celestia and the other gods to, I don't know, do something??????????? So it can't just be Stormterror. Venti knows that his people's freedom is at stake.

And, well, that Abyss issue was never really resolved in Mondstadt, was it? Durin's heart is still beating, Venti's statue is corroded and upside-down, and the hilichurls and other Abyssal creatures still have strongholds and are forming true offenses against Mondstadt. And the Fatui are still, you know, around. They were never defeated. Only minorly wounded, a mere setback in their plan.

If I know anything about Mondstadt, it is that their oversights will eat them alive.

At least Barbatos is sticking around for this one.

[jazzzzzzhands]

Inktober 2023 Year 8 Day 25: Dangerous

I'm sure she is perfectly safe! Just experiencing some Digital Hallucinations!

[mumpsetc]

Rough Spottedleaf Design

[krogans-give-the-best-cuddles]

Reading Asunder and I think I hate this more than the first two. The first two were often poorly done in a technical sense, and often had a lot of sexism. But Asunder is the "video game developers idea of gray morality" problem fucking distilled. The sexism is still here, and most of the technical issues are fixed (though certainly not fucking all) but like

Every two damn minutes it's: the noble and pure and pretty Evangeline (ignore the fact that like a kid starved to death under her charge and she is actually a threat and jailer to everyone around her just bc they were born different) who is so noble bc she.... believes the beliefs of the organization doing all the bad stuff. But she believes it really genuinely, that she's helping, even when working w the bad organization. And she's pretty, we'll mention that again.

Versus Adrian who's described as pretty never and often described as mousy and irritating. And she wants all the mages to be free but she's like soooo angry and loud and mean. Did you hear how she's too angry? She's soooooo angry, the redheaded fire Mage. So angry. And she's super judgemental. No one's as judgemental as her, even Wynne (a character who's greatest and most consistent flaw is being judgemental) will call her out as being too judgemental. And of course like, maybe she has some points about Mage freedom if she just wasn't so angry about it and obsessed with it. And she's not pretty.

And of course. Both. Are in a love triangle with our main male POV character. In fact he at one point dated Adrian, although it's impossible to tell why, bc he only ever thinks of her in the worst ways possible, so like. What did he like about her? What does he even like about Evangeline other than that he thinks she's hot? No one knows.

Something about it being written slightly more competently makes me like it even less

[kresnikcest]

I commissioned netarrow again! This time is for my violet-eyed Elle lives AU where Victor!Ludger saves his partner!Elle, but as a result the battle at Lake Epsilla over the Key happens with violet!Elle instead 😢