#somehow the real challange was making him even more emo than normal hahaha

[erisluna35ocblog]

This week on my Reverse AU OC portrait series, I'm using Blake to study how to do leather. Leather is such a complicated material to work with, its supposed to be so reflective hence the more intense highlights in his jacket compared to how I did Shizuke's black shirt and Blair's romper. There's also the contrast in rendering black fur compared to Blair's white fur coat. Rendering black in general is a whole different thought excersise compared to the whites on Shizuke and Blair.

Introducing the black cat for my OC's reverse AU, Blake Crawford! Compared to Blair's ring, his silver ring has an orangey tint, a referrence to how he's the fox in the original timeline. The inspiration to tie his hair back is from Attack on Titan's Eren, for the depressing edgyness. Unlike Fiona who's design took some cues from Ladybugs (Marinette and Bridgette), Blake's inner clothes is based on Nathanael's akuma form, Evillustrator. It's cause his original design takes cues from Nathanael. The reason for the aversion to referrencing Adrien and/or Felix is, other than their outfits just aren't very edgy emo, it's to signal he isn't supposed to be seen as a love interest for his Ladybug partner. I wanted there to be something of a hint with his role despite being the black cat. Instead of paralleling Fiona, his outfit parallel's Blair's more. The black fur lining and an oversized black jacket, the white (light gray) shirt underneath, the way his hair is parted, the stripes, the round details... I picked him to be the black cat so he can be more active with his arc where he's looking for his sister.

Why are the twins separated?

Much like in the original, he and Blair lost their parents and got separated because of the foster system. Blair ended up with their abusive relatives while Blake ended up with the Liungs... except they never got Blair back. It's too late by the time they found out those relatives sold Blair off to the Supreme.

Blake tried everything he could to reach his sister but the Supreme blocked him every time - she's their newest little child soldier, they still had use for her. Eventually, there was an attempt on his and the Liungs' lives. The only reason they survived was because the Resistance saved them.

There, Blake learned everything. His parents and the Liungs were members of the Resistance. Mrs. Liung, the only one left alive, stayed in contact with the Resistance despite semi retiring to focus on helping him get Blair back - it's the least she could've done for her fallen friends and husband. Yet they can't reach her no matter how many strings they pulled, which is really saying something as Mrs. Liung was a former celebrity and her strongest string is the Resistance Leader, Lorelei, who is the mayor's sister-in-law. They suspect the Supreme had something to do with it.

So to tally, the Supreme has: killed his parents, killed Mr. Liung, abducted his sister, tried to get him and the Liungs killed... Blake has plenty to be mad about. This is why Blake joined the Resistance.

At first, Blake was obsessed with taking down the Supreme for taking everything from him. He fought them from the shadows. He takes out his anger on their goons for getting in his way. It doesn't matter what they throw at him, he will destroy them all... This went on for years.

But alas, Blake is still young. After years of fighting the Supreme, things are looking more and more futile. He grew tired, both emotionally and physically. He was always fighting, always hiding, making sure the Supreme doesn't catch wind of both Blake surviving or the new black cat on the prowl... the stalemate was taking its toll on him. Nothing seems to be changing.

That is until Keagan brought a girl to their base.

It was a mistake, the fallen prince said. But Lorelei saw something in the girl and declared her the new Ladybug, his partner. The time to fight in the light has come.

Not long after this, the Supreme called in reinforcements to crush the Resistance. First was the infamous Ox-wielding Miraculous hunter they've imported from Japan. Second was their shiny new-bee who's brimming with potential... Blake's sister.