#whiravi

[getvalentined]

I've decided I'm gonna try drawing my OCs until I feel like I can draw again. I think everyone knows Whiravi already but it's been a while, and I've never drawn him with his "ears" open so enjoy the obscenity of his frills.

[kingofbeartraps]

18: Misfit

Couldn't get through "Ancient," which is today's prompt, so I backtracked to one that I'd started and not been able to finish.

Whiravi is the last of a particular subspecies of alien similar to Earth's nudibranch; the others in his race tend to be more...compact. Whiravi has no issues with standing out so much, but he's still definitely a misfit. (Pretty sure he likes being as intimidating as he is, not that he'd ever say it.)

For the uninitiated, Alice Alive is a currently-conceptual visual novel that is one part Alice in Wonderland in Space, one part sci-fi horror and one part dating sim. Good times.

High-res image (and full artist’s comments) on Patreon

[getvalentined]

didn't know you have ocs. would you like an opportunity to talk about them? (setting/story/fun facts/[free space])

I have a lot of OCs! I don't talk about them very often because my faves are mostly quite weird, and I've had multiple people outside my small friend circle reblog art of them tagged with "body horror." That's not at all the intent, so I kinda keep them to myself and my friends to avoid that.

As for the one I posted today, Whiravi is the equivalent to the white rabbit in a story that is kindasorta Alice in Wonderland in Space, referred to as Alice Alive. It's conceptualized as a visual novel, but those are complicated to set up and I do not have the patience to draw all those characters over and over so he basically just stays in my head. (Except when I have artblock, at which point I doodle him a lot.)

In-universe, Whiravi is an independent agent in the alien exotic acquisitions trade and the only agent in the entire Galactic Standing capable of selecting, transporting, and delivering humans as companions, catering to the highest-paying clients in the galaxy.

He's also spent the last thousand-plus years orchestrating a complex revenge plot against the people responsible for wiping out his species, which happened a very long time ago by human standards. Because he's not just the last living member of a sentient species, but the last of the only sentient species to ever be wiped out by the government in an act of violence that literally led to a complete restructuring of the Galactic Standing, Whiravi is legally untouchable; this is how he gets away with essentially abducting humans without getting in trouble with the government. (It's fine, I promise. This is not a slave trade, it's complicated, trust me here. He calls it "rehoming," and for very good reason.)

He's also the ultimate love interest on the forever-incomplete visual novel from which he originates. This was not my intention when I started plotting it, but when I first started showing art of various members of the cast to friends, literally every single one asked something along the lines of "You're gonna let us date the white rabbit, right?"

[getvalentined]

I don't always doodle my OCs—but when I do, it's usually* Whiravi.

He's the white rabbit in a story that's basically Alice in Wonderland in Space that I'd like to make into a visual novel someday. Gotta set up the whole thing in Twine first.

*When it's not Whiravi, it's Myn or Salmac. I can admit to having favorites.

[kingofbeartraps]

Sometimes I like to remind myself that my art has improved.

(For reference, here’s the same character from just over a year ago.)

[kingofbeartraps]

So most of my sketches end up in the Patreon sketchbook these days, but I miss the feedback. Trying to find a balance between fairness to paying patrons and getting the feedback I need as an artist.

The face is off-model here, but the White Rabbit is complicated and his face is detailed, so drawing him at a smaller scale is hard. Especially when I haven't drawn much since before the hospital, and I haven't drawn this character in quite a while.

Someday I'll get proper art of everyone in this story, but it's gonna take a while. It's a visual novel! In progress.

[kingofbeartraps]

Let's get a better sense of scale for Whiravi in here. Lu gives approximately zero fucks once she gets past the fact that she's dealing with an alien.