chompystark

[chompystark]

NYOoooooooM

So Turtlecon was indeed very tiny, but it was still fun to dip into. Alas, no RotTMNT things- which...admittedly I was not terribly surprised about but still disappointed. Saw a small group of cosplayers though!

Got to meet Ciro Nieli! I made a pic for him- it's been a long time since I've drawn 2012 Raph and the Usagi episodes were one of my favorite arcs.

Was happy to hear this costume was also one of his favorites too!

...off-topic but does anyone get weird messages whenever they tag something with watercolor? Particularly in supposed interest of purchasing them? I'm sure they're robots or scams or scammer robots unless they're just really interested in turtle fanart? XD;

[chompystark]

Guys this show is going to become a problem for me

[chompystark]

Hi! I'm really interested in your Brother Sun AU. Admittedly I've only watched some parts of the series, but I would like to ask: how does Leo handle Raph's (fake) death? You mentioned about the one part of the au where Mikey accidentally takes Raph's pulse wrong, declares him dead, and Leo has a crash out. I would LOVE to hear more about Leo's reaction to the brother he arguable loves the most being dead. if you're willing to share.

aaaaaaaaaaa thank you for asking!!!!!! I have been lowkey obsessed with this AU for the past few weeks and would LOVE to share fhaksdlghlksdg. I do actually have a snippet I'll share of the actual Scene, but in a broader sense:

It happens right around where Leo and Raph both were starting to kind of settle in and like, feel like maybe they could actually stay here? When all this is over? I wouldn't necessarily say they OPEN UP lol, because Leo especially is very closed off, but they're both warming up to their younger brothers and really liking what it feels like to NOT live under Saki's thumb, for their reputations to matter LESS (though it has still followed them). Leo starts MAYBE thinking he'll be able to convince Saki to let the two of them stay in NYC

Obviously, this whole situation ruins that. The tiny amount he'd managed to open up is slammed shut. He still has a job to do, and he'll do it, but his interactions with the family beyond that are as short and impersonal as possible.

He basically tries really hard not to think about it so he doesn't fall apart, and shuts down any attempt to comfort him or talk about it.

I think, in any situation where he has to fight, he loses a bit of his polish. Like, I see Leo as a very efficient killer, while Raph is more erratic and excessive, and in the wake of his death, maybe Leo goes a bit overboard a few times—how else can he express his grief?

Basically any desire he had to stay in NY is gone. Not because he genuinely doesn't want to, but because he can't imagine having a better life without his brother. He doesn't deserve it on his own.

Scene under the cut

Leo was out of the car before it had even stopped moving, hand on his gun. He'd been gone for a day, and already Mom had been kidnapped and Mikey was off trying to save the day. He expected–... Well, he didn't know what he expected, but it wasn't anything good. Chaos, probably. The three of them sprinting away from a burning warehouse, maybe, Raph cackling with delight. 

What he got was Shen at a brisk walk, hand wrapped around Mikey's bicep. 

There was a faint buzzing in Leo's ears as he ran to meet them. There didn't seem to be anyone following, which was good, though he had to wonder how they'd managed to escape without any sort of tail. 

Mikey made a strangled sound, a wet-sounding gasp from their mother's side. Leo had moved to Shen's other side, watching their surroundings, but a quick glance revealed fat tears rolling down Mikey's cheeks. 

There was blood staining Mikey's hands. Splotching his cargo shorts. 

Leo's voice sounded far away to his own ears. “Raph?”

Mikey choked on a broken sob, and Leo's pace stuttered. Shen didn't reply, and it felt like his eyes moved through molasses as they turned from Mikey's wet, splotchy face to hers, staring resolutely forward. 

The buzzing became a dull roar, sending static through his skin. He felt, rather than heard, the scrape of his shoes against asphalt as the world ground to a halt, and Leo with it. “Mom, where's Raph?” 

Shen stopped walking, too, and Leo watched her take a breath, straighten her shoulders. 

Nevermind, he thought nonsensically. I changed my mind. Keep walking.

The whites of her eyes were pink when she looked back at him, but her voice was steady. “He protected the family.” 

Leo couldn't remember what happened next. He must have resumed walking, though it was impossible to imagine how, when the ground had so thoroughly crumbled beneath his feet. Must have watched their surroundings as they got into the car, and then climbed in after them. Must have watched the mirrors for anyone following, anything suspicious to be aware of, while Mikey bawled in the backseat and Donnie and Shen’s voices rose. 

He didn't know how long it had been when the static finally faded, but Leo recognized he was in their room, the door closed tight behind him. His breathing felt so loud, each ragged inhale something he had to think about. 

Raph's side was erratic, as usual. Just like him. Not messy, but not organized, either, with a shirt tossed across the bed and jewelry piled on the bedside table. One of his necklaces had been knocked to the floor, and Leo picked it up, rubbing the beads between his fingers. 

Dumbly, he wondered about Raph's stupid sai earring. Leo'd given it to him years ago, more as a joke than a real gift. Bright red and chrome, dangly in a way that begged to be torn out, practically a stereotype of insecure masculinity to wear a fake weapon in his ear. 

Raph had worn it almost every day since. Leo wondered what would happen to it, left on some dirty warehouse floor. Where it would be moved, if it even was. Leo was careful as he drew his legs up onto the bed, not wanting to disrupt the shirt laying across the pillow. It was one of his silk ones, and Raph always griped about how easily they wrinkled. He closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing and allowing himself to drift, away from that voice in his head screaming that he was alone.

fsahkgsklgsdg thank you again!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[chompystark]

So drawn to the set up of the brothers’ dynamics in your au. Raph and Leo as the ones left behind while Donnie and Mikey get blissful ignorance. But I’m a sucker for Raph-Leo stuff soooo

You mention how Raph looks up to him and it’s pretty clear that Leo also cares for him (/frantically/ keeping him from bleeding out, crashing out when he thinks Raph died) but I wanted to ask about them more

You say Leo is pretty closed off and that Raph is a genuinely fun person despite being exposed to violence so young, but how do they act with each other? Even with the “protect the family” mantra, were they ever pit against each other? Since Leo looks like Shen vs Raph being seen as a younger Yoshi, Does Saki treat them differently bc of it? For different reasons? How do they see Mikey and Donnie? How do they see Shen? Saki?

Agghhhhh I’m just having so many thoughts about your au

Vvcfbcdjbds I think every question about this AU is adding to my lifespan

I am also a sucker for Raph and Leo LOL so they've definitely gotten more thought from me. This got long, so adding a read more:

I didn't envision much pitting against each other, honestly! Despite the usual Raph/Leo formula. I think Saki saw more value in using their affection against each other: Leo would never leave Raph behind, so as long as Raph stays, he has Leo, too. And vice-versa, though Leo would be much more willing to drop it all lol.

Definitely treated differently! Raph is his favorite—though that in no way means he wouldn't let Raph get hurt for a "good" reason—because of the lingering love for Yoshi, though. You know. He did KILL Yoshi, so you can come to your own conclusions. But he likes Raph, and is at times more lenient with him than he is with Leo.

Saki is stricter with Leo, pushes him harder. Some of that is seeing more of himself in Leo, trying to turn him into a mini-him, but also I think some of it is because he looks like Shen. In canon, Saki has turned Shen into this perfect figure, his lost love, but I think about like. If she was still around, continuing to be against him? Rather than the martyr Yoshi stole from her, now she's the woman who REPEATEDLY rejects him, works against him, tried to steal his child(ren) from him.

(does this make Yoshi the martyr in his mind? food for thought)

Mikey and Donnie: a mix of seeing them as like, kind of pathetic, and being really, REALLY jealous of them, though they (especially Raph) would never admit it. like, they're soft, they're weak, they just don't know anything about the life Leo and Raph have lived, and it's like, infuriating. It's unfair. BUT you know, they're their brothers and they love them fhksagfshdklg.

Raph and Mikey get along really well, Mikey is kind of starstruck by how cool he is and Raph just is very endeared by him. They're both artsy. But also Raph is particularly jealous of Mikey and how lighthearted and babied he is, and it kind of presents as Raph lowkey trying to "drag him down to his level," if that makes sense? Kind of hard to describe lol, I'm still working things out, but like, he provides him with alcohol when the rest of them are drinking and is a bit pushy about it, talks down to/mocks him for his childishness at times. It's a lot harder for Raph to pretend what happened to them is normal when he's looking at how Shen babies Mikey.

Similarly, Leo is most jealous of Donnie, how he got to go to college and be a genius. And where Mikey is really excited by everything that's going on, Donnie is OVER IT, so he and Leo absolutely butt heads.

Shen........... Oof. Both of them are very resentful of her, but Raph has less positive memories of her (just bc he was younger, not anything she did), AND he's more wrapped around Saki's finger, so he feels more animosity towards her, where Leo is mostly really sad and feels abandoned :( But they both were raised to respect their elders, and particularly their parents, so they aren't outright disrespectful. Just... distant. They are still quite susceptible to the (rare) moments of affection from her, though fhsklklasg.

Saki: Raph really wants to make him proud. Even when a small part of him is SUPER aware of how fucked up his life is, he never really connects that back to being Saki's fault. Lot of cognitive dissonance there.

Leo, much less of a positive opinion. There's a distance between them, Leo is very like. Deferent to him. Raph can talk back to Saki (though not in a SERIOUS way, that would get him in trouble), and Leo is more "eyes down, not speaking much."

thank you for caring about my silly little AU fhklsadhkldg 🥺❤️ I can talk about them FOREVER

[chompystark]

someone pls take my tablet away from me 💀but. my boy (again) ❤️from his post-"death" rom-com b plot with Casey LMAO. it was fun drawing him in casual clothes and more like, domestic 🥺 I feel like it totally changes his vibe to take away his jewelry and his outfits and his Asshole Energy (a little bit) and now he's just. a little guy with a lot of trauma and zero social skills

detail under the cut:

he is unimpressed by the shirt situation fshalgkdl. I came up with the unreadable metal band logo myself XD

doing some art 🥰he's feeling very on-edge 1) in an almost-stranger's house while injured and 2) without his brother

casey actually bought him clothes of course fsahglksdg. got him smth Colorful

[chompystark]

someone pls take my tablet away from me 💀but. my boy (again) ❤️from his post-"death" rom-com b plot with Casey LMAO. it was fun drawing him in casual clothes and more like, domestic 🥺 I feel like it totally changes his vibe to take away his jewelry and his outfits and his Asshole Energy (a little bit) and now he's just. a little guy with a lot of trauma and zero social skills

detail under the cut:

he is unimpressed by the shirt situation fshalgkdl. I came up with the unreadable metal band logo myself XD

doing some art 🥰he's feeling very on-edge 1) in an almost-stranger's house while injured and 2) without his brother

casey actually bought him clothes of course fsahglksdg. got him smth Colorful

[chompystark]

when u fuck up at work and the boss brings his two psycho kids to your next one-on-one

MORE brothers sun AU ffhskldgl. Had a lot of fun with this one!

If this were a show, Saki's face would definitely always be conveniently out-of-frame or shrouded or smth up until the last few episodes. Maybe just bc I'm rewatching ATLA and I really love how they did that with Ozai... XD Closeups under the cut

[chompystark]

nothing to see here, just a normal, happy family with zero secrets or hidden horrors at all.

@melonpalooza had the thought that whatever incident the boys are crashing out over is happening simultaneously with Donnie's graduation, which I'm canonizing. bc the juxtaposition is Agonizing.

Closeups under the cut

why is blood SO fun to draw. look at it. I had to force myself to stop or I would've just kept going.

also Raph leaning on Leo ❤️❤️❤️ I loved how his hair kind of scrunching up under the weight of his head turned out

turtle earring <3

I just think they're cute.

[chompystark]

saki's baby's gotta gun, he better run 👀

hayloft ii has become theee brothers sun!leo song to me fdshalkghsdklg. take that as you will. no the shotgun is not canon it's about the VIBE

also realizing how often I've been using bright red backlighting lately fhasghklshdkgl. It's just so vibrant and fun to draw!! closeup below the cut bc I like how his face turned out

crash out of MONUMENTAL proportions.

[chompystark]

Inspired by the song "unsweetened lemonade," so everyone thank melon for this one 😂 Specifically this line:

so, all the parental figures that failed him :)

Closeups under the cut

Just a better shot of the faces c: I tried something new with the coloring and I think it looks way more lifelike! ty to my wife for the help with that

Baby's first kill :)

[chompystark]

more of the brothers sun au me and two other people care about fhsadklghklsdg. they've consumed my every waking thought. raph in particular, to no one's surprise. he's SO douchey and SO traumatized ❤️

closeups under the cut

[chompystark]

I blame @melonpalooza for introducing me first to the Brothers Sun, and then the idea of a TMNT au based on the brothers sun. If you haven't watched it, it's on netflix and you GOTTA check it out it's fantastic and only one season.

In this AU, there's 4 brothers instead of 2 obv, with Raph and Leo staying behind in Japan while Shen left for America with Mikey and Donnie. Details and closeups under the cut :)

Like Charles from the original show, Leo is the most lethal member of their gang. Him killing a man at 14 was what convinced Shen that he was too far gone and she had to leave with the remaining kids who could still be "saved"

Saki's son, not Yoshi's, though Yoshi raised him up until his untimely, totally-not-related-to-Saki death. Which is part of why Shen was able to abandon him (sorry Shen, you're not a great mom in this one...)

Sci-fi nerd who would love to write, though he suppresses all that. The only thing that matters is Protecting the Family.

Meditates a lot (He Is Dissociating)

Spitting image of Shen

Where Leo is cold and dispassionate, Saki's dragon, Raph is his rabid dog. Lowkey feral, laughs during fights, always smiling. Bloodthirsty.

Genuinely a fun guy, kind of taking Blood Boots's role from the show

He was 11 when Shen left, so he was exposed to the violence younger and more intimately than Leo was.

Really looks up to Leo, not that he'd ever admit it.

Very little self-preservation instinct. Leo has had to frantically stop him from bleeding out WAY too many times.

Yoshi's son, but he was born at a weird point where he honestly could've been Yoshi's or Saki's, and Shen honestly was pretty sure he was Saki's (or told herself that to assuage any guilt about leaving him)

Saki totally saw a younger Yoshi in him, and was super normal about it. Saki definitely doesn't miss the brother he didn't kill and isn't mentoring Raph and extra close to him as a result. Who said that.

Gets shot when trying to save Shen after she's taken hostage. Mikey fails to take his pulse and incorrectly says he's dead, so they leave him behind. They think he's dead for at least a few days and Leo crashes out HARD

22, already almost done with his doctorate. So incredibly done with this entire situation and wants to focus on his dissertation

Kind of remembers his older brothers, but not super well (he was 7 when they left)

Shen uses him as the main justification for leaving, because he's just SO smart and he would've been wasted in a life of crime. Raph is definitely a bit snarky about his genius and potential

Learned Japanese for school credits, but his accent is ATROCIOUS, which Raph and Leo roast him over

Leo is especially jealous of the life Donnie got to lead, and is cold to him as a result.

Spitting image of Yoshi, but with Shen's coloring

Only 4 when they left, so he has basically no memory of the others or Japan

Donnie had too much Potential, and Mikey was just too Bright to stay in Japan. Too soft and gentle for that life.

Not one for school, but he's in an improv club like Bruce was. Makes friends with literally everyone.

Thinks the whole crime family thing is SO COOL (until it isn't). Super excited to meet Raph and Leo and learn about their history.

Only understands like, a few words of Japanese. Knows enough to order food and ask for the bathroom. His accent is way better than Donnie's though (probably bc he's a big anime fan)

Mondo is his best friend. Him and Mondo both get along well with Raph. Blame themselves for Raph's "death," considering it was Mikey's plan that got him killed.

Bleaches the tips of his hair.

[chompystark]

Decided to be less wishy-washy about the brothers sun boys and just made them definitively yakuza. So, of course, I had to give them the yakuza tattoos 😅 originally just for fun to try out designing them, but I liked them enough that they're now canon... sorry...

And them all lined up together just bc I thought the comparison of Raph and Leo's builds was fun to see side-by-side :)

Random notes beneath the cut

Leo gets the dragon, bc it's a symbol of power and authority. Main character energy fhdsahlghdkgl. As his father's second in command and a very well-known, dangerous figure, I just thought it suited him c:

Leo also has a cherry blossom motif, which is all about the beauty but also impermanence of life.

The lightning was originally supposed to tie in with Raph, who had red lightning, to together represent Raijin and Fujin, twin brother gods of storms and wind, respectively. The red lightning got lost at some point though, so now Leo just has some random lightning. I think it matches the dragon alright though, and just looks cool :)

Raph's main figure is a demon/oni, which apparently represents the duality of being a force of both evil (criminals) and good (protectors), as well as just strong emotions in general.

Raph also has some koi fish (representing resilience) and a majestic turtle (represents longevity and good luck I think but mostly @melonpalooza brought it up and I thought giving him a turtle was funny lmao. Plus they kind of carry through an aquatic theme.

Raph's flowers are peonies, which tbh was just for some pretty filler :P Represent prosperity and ambition, which isn't really something I specifically associate with him, but I liked how they looked.

I read like a million random articles and Wikipedia pages and Reddit posts just to figure out the designs but I have like zero confidence that any of this is correct fdshghasdgFHSAGKL. Still, wanted to write down the thought process 🥰 Also, canon details:

They got them young, like 16/17, at Saki's. Encouragement. Because they're adults now :) And he trusts them to protect the family and the clan :) It's an honor, they should be proud :))) The fact that they're also yet another barrier to them ever leaving and living a normal life was just a bonus

Leo pretty much always keeps his covered up. Partially bc he's a bit more disillusioned with everything, partially because he's deluded himself into believing he's more subtle than Raph is about being a criminal fhasghksgkl.

Raph keeps his covered up on a day-to-day, obviously, like that's why they're designed the way they are. But he doesn't have any qualms about people seeing them.

I doodled up their pool fits as a demonstration which ended up taking way longer than I intended FDSHAKGHKDG but here.

[chompystark]

more brothers sun au 😭 i'm sorry i love them your honor.

closeups

broody guy. it looks so dramatic but the scene I had in mind was just raph being really annoying at the beginning of the fic fshadlgksldg.

he's such a BRAT I'm sorry I love his rude annoying ass. you just know he's insufferable.

judging u <3 I just love the idea of them being so close and in-tune with each other yk? just constantly exchanging Looks and you know they're having a whole nonverbal conversation

and then I had to fill in that white space lol so. karaoke night. spoiler alert: they're not good. also they're drunk, but they wouldn't have been good either way 💀

[chompystark]

Kind-of companion piece to this one lol. What's a guy to do when his brother goes rogue and now you have to Protect The Family FROM your brother? Not thrive, that's for sure. Closeup + rambling under the cut

My baby boyyyyy he's TROUBLED. he's DEEPLY UNSURE about this entire situation. he's super loyal to Saki, but also trusts Leo more than anything? so you can understand how confusing this all is for him fhsakldghklsdg.

I just really wanted to draw his feelings during this part of the story, like. he's being pulled from so many directions, and he's lost. I wanted him to look like, young and kind of vulnerable, despite his stance and the threat of it all. ostensibly he's Saki's protection, but does Saki look like he NEEDS protection? he's this looming presence over Raph, he's completely unbothered by whatever supposed threat Raph is defending him from.

Also, a slightly-lightened version, bc I couldn't decide if the version I went with was too hard to see lol

[chompystark]

EDIT 6/8/2025: Now has a companion fic :)

I really do draw like. the same kind of thing over and over fasdglkshdklg. but i love them 👉👈 Baby Raph almost dying, contrasted with his adult self. I imagine this as the exact moment Leo turned around and saw that Raph had been hurt c: burned into his retina for the rest of his life, probably.

inspiration for this one was "return to sender" by lulyam fshdlkagsdg. he has MOMMY ISSUES.

Details under the cut

i love a good look of terror <3 that stunned moment before he can even comprehend what happened. he's 14 here, so I had some fun trying to balance "he's a full-blown gangster who already has a reputation as being dangerous" and "literally a baby."

and then in his freak era. I've been drawing him being all cute and domestic lately so I had to draw him being feral again. what a guy. clearly no long-term psychological impacts from his upbringing.

also this ORIGINALLY wasn't on purpose, but @awzominator pointed it out on the first draft and I decided to lean into it. baby raph's shirt is koi fish—peaceful, symbolize good fortune and perseverance—and lotus blossoms—purity, life, resilience. And then his adult shirt is dragons—strength, power, protection. And of course the blue vs the red. Idk I just love a good contrast 🥰

[chompystark]

we must stay focused brothers we MUST stay focused....