#woe gradient map be upon ye

[sweetmapple]

He is washing his clothes 😃 much needed

[calypsolemon]

i’m always in awe of your use of texture whenever i see the burning kai art !! it’s seriously so satisfying and beautiful

why thank you! I'm going to take this ask as one for the "analyze your own art" prompt lollll so sorry if you weren't looking for a ramble about the meaning in the piece but also. woe, analysis be upon ye!

so the caption of the original post of this piece is a line from Astana's Favorite Daughter. Fair warning the music video linked contains nsfw/horror elements, but it's a gorgeous piece of evocative animation set to an even more evocative song. I dont actually think the song itself fits Kai terribly well when taken in whole, but it's what prompted the image to come to my mind in the first place, so it's relevant

I really had fun playing with shapes in this image. Someone pointed out the teardrop shape where his neck and shoulder meet, which i also incorporated into the shadow where his right hand is, as well as the shoulders themselves and some of the negative space between licks of flame.

The shapes focus is also why I drew this in black and white first. I used a gradient map to color it, which is new for me!

The way kai is holding himself has a dual meaning to me. It could imply self-love, like hugging yourself, but it could also imply a sort of fear of vulnerability and hiding of oneself, since his arms are wrapped around his naked chest.

The expression is meant to be a little bedroom-eyes-y lolll, but I kept the actual view the audience gets of his expression limited to the one eye to again have something "hidden."

Pretty much all of this is in service of exploring multiple meanings that I attribute to fire. The idea of something warm and alluring and necessary, that also gets dangerous and destructive when you get too close.

Dwell as long as you wish on the transgenderism of me (transmasc) drawing a (male) character I kin naked staring directly at the camera set to a song with the word "daughter" in it