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knight-a3 · 5 months ago

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Heavenbound AU

Masterpost

Angel Dust "Angie"

So I can avoid confusion between Angel and angels, his stage name is Angel Dust but he goes by Angie casually.

Side note: I'm too ace for this guy, yikes. Don't mind me clutching my pearls.

Spider family:

More notes under the cut to reduce clutter. There's info about the whole Spider family and some info about the Mafia as well.

Angie's redesign took me a while to nail down. I looked at other people's designs for inspiration, but nothing felt right. I wanted to give his head shape more structure, but it's too iconic to significantly change. Many people added spider fangs but I think they always look too cluttered and ugly. I also wanted the right balance of masculine and feminine for his outfit.

I am not a fan of heterochromia in character design, unless there is a reason or it's used sparingly. Angie's design is complicated enough with the gold tooth, extra eyes and arms, and body patterns that the heterochromia would just be too much.

Instead of giving him fangs that jut out like a real spider, I chose to just give him a main pair of fang-like teeth, while the rest are smaller.

It didn't make sense to me why he's able to retract his tertiary set of arms, beyond simplifying for animation, but I also do not want to manage all of them all the time, so I'm keeping that little ability. I'm justifying it with the idea that he was only ever somewhat interested in the family business, so he had less of a hand in it than his Pop or Arackniss(both of which cannot retract their extra limbs at all). I also wanted the sets of arms to have a hierarchy in how he uses them. Also didn't like the shoulders canon gives his secondary arms. They look weird to me.

The main set has 5 fingers on each hand and are relatively normal, because they're the equivalent of his human arms. The secondary set is a little smaller and a little more bug-like, with 4 fingers. The tertiary/retractable set are smaller and have 3 fingers.

I tried giving him a spider butt, but I couldn't wrap my head around how he would wear any type of pants. Not that he would be opposed to going around nude, but I just wasn't interested in that.

Casual:

I remember reading somewhere that Angel likes to dress more comfy rather than provocatively outside of work. So I decided his work outfits are the skimpy, sexy stuff. His main outfit is his typicall out-in-the-town fashionable stuff, which tends to cover him up more(gotta pay for those goods). And lounging clothes are just purely for comfort.

Main outfit-

I really wanted something that alluded to his mobster background. He may not really be involved of all that now, but it's still a part of him and that would linger. For as much as he modernizes, he's still a product of his time. Anyway, that's why I gave him pinstripe pants and a blazer.

I didn't want to lean too far into either masculine or feminine styles. He is undoubtedly feminine, but he was raised in an environment where suits and violence was the fashion. I actually searched for 40s gangster costumes for women, counting on the fact I'd find the silly sexy costumes so I could get ideas for a more feminine spin of the classic mobster.

I tried a boob window shirt for awhile, but it didn't let me show enough chest fluff. So I traded it for a V neck, which can work for both masculine and feminine styles.

Eventually I settled on a crop top blazer, since it gives a sort of suit jacket vibe while being feminine. I preferred the short gloves from the pilot, at least on his main arms, and used the longer style from the show for his secondary arms.

In canon, his "skin" color and the white of his clothes just don't have enough contrast. So I used more pink, and had the color of his fluff be a different hue than his shirt. I liked the stripes on his jacket before, but I didn't want to add any more complexity, especially when I already committed to the pinstriped pants.

Overall, I like this outfit for him. Maybe that has something to do with my personal tastes, but I think it suits him.

Body markings:

He wasn't a star until Val came around in the 70s, so he wouldn't have been quite so glam before that. He still had more mobster habits. I used his older, pre-pilot, Zoophobia design as inspiration, which used a low saturated purplish color. I thought it struck a nice balance between his mobster roots, and his later glam style.

I wanted to make the pattern something easy for me to remember. The heart design got pushed lower down because I needed more room for his chest fluff. His hands don't have anything because I didn't like how it looked with his lounge clothes. The stripes on his arms reference the stripes on his canon, pilot, and pre-pilot jackets. The stripes on his legs represent garters(suspenders that hold up socks or stockings).

Human- Anthony "Tony"

Many human versions of him that I've seen make him look too modern. I think they would absolutely work for a modern human au, but not for the 1940s. So this is my take on what he would have looked like while he was alive. The Mafia is almost exclusively Italian, and overwhelmingly Southern Italian/Sicilian. Sicily was settled by the Greeks during the antiquity period, so many people there have Greek ancestry. The vast majority had dark hair and a tanner complexion(less than 7% are blonde in modern day). Northern Italy has more variety, with up to 25% blondes in modern day. I find it unlikely that an Italian-American mobster would have such light blonde hair(darker blonde, maaaaybe). I found only a couple of a blonde mobsters, and the pictures still look pretty dark. I just believe he would have had a more typical Mediterranean appearance: naturally dark hair and olive-toned skin, rather than the fanon platinum blonde more typical of Scandinavian areas.

Hair coloring in the 40s was always done professionally, and primarily used by women, and they usually didn't want it to be obvious. Bleached hair on a man(especially with naturally dark hair) would be far too much to maintain discreetly. He hadn't publicly embraced his feminine side while he was alive. His family was Catholic, and being gay was a no-no. But murder was okay for some reason. Don't question the mobster logic.

His brother and sister knew he was gay, parents did not. Arackniss was too tired to care, and Molly was supportive. She would take him to be her "bodyguard" when she would go out and do fun things, but it was partly an excuse she provided for him to do gay things.

Angie had mixed feelings about his participation in the mob. Sometimes it was fun, other times he'd really rather be partying. But he was a made man and swore an oath of loyalty. He can't just back out.

He spent his free time with drugs, guns, and hot guys. Then died of drug overdose in his early-mid 30s in 1947.

He wasn't publicly out as gay until Hell. His parents hated it and basically disowned him when they found out. But why should Angie care at this point? He's already in Hell. So he just parted ways with them(technically the oath of loyalty ends at death. It's not like the Mafia can really kill him for leaving now, since they all just regenerate anyway) and has kept in sporadic contact with his siblings. They aren't close anymore.

Spider Family:

Ma and Pops were mostly because I wanted to play with character design. And since they have no official designs, I had more room to play with it.

The whole family became spiders because they were involved with the "web of crime" that is The Mafia. Family relation does not automatically mean sinners will look similar. They usually don't.

Pops (real name Enrico, the Italian version of Henry. Nickname "Big Cig". Almost every mobster listed on wikipedia had a nickname) inherited the position of mob boss from a relative. I'm not thinking hard about historically accurate crime families, so this is a fictional family that we will pretend had a significant presence. He died not long after Anthony, in the early 1950s in his mid 60s via gang violence. He never managed to get to the same level of power after his death. He's a minor Overlord at best, but does hold some influence.

In Zoophobia, Angel and Arackniss had a dad named Henroin. A play on "heroin". So when considering a real name for him, I searched for a variant of Henry that sounded more Italian. I designed him before I knew he had a design, but I wasn't exactly impressed by Henroin's design, so I totally ignored it anyway.

Design-wise, I wanted to go for a stereotypical mob boss vibe, and it lends itself well to the more bulky, crustacean look. The resemblance to Mr. Waternoose was unintentional. He cannot retract any extra limbs.

Spider traits- I wanted to give everyone varying degrees of spider traits, partially determined by their level of Mob involvement and how dangerous they are. Pa is venomous(through his clawed hands), has super strength(because spiders are proportionally strong compared to their size), can super jump(cuz jumping spiders is the theme), and can summon a couple of guns. He's too large to crawl on walls and can't spin webs.

Ma was always at Pop's side, helping with the less violent aspects like finances. She did her share of poison murders as well. Ma died alongside Pop and is still at his side. She's arguably the more dangerous of the two at this point. She looks easy to take advantage of, but it turns out she has potent venom.

I didn't have anything canon to go off of, so she's technically an OC. I haven't put a ton of thought into her name, but I think I'll just go with Maria. Molly is named after her, I guess.

Design- Had to go with a femme fetale mob wife. The hourglass motif is because of her venomous nature, and not for any husband-killing. She can retract her extra limbs, because she is more dangerous than she initially seems.

Spider traits- she's more venomous than Pa(through her extra limbs), can wall crawl and super jump with her extra limbs, and spin webs(to ensnare prey. I think it might come from her hair bun and/or mouth, but I don't want to think too hard about it.). She's actually the more dangerous of the two, partially because she appears less threatening, and partially because the way her extra limbs are set up gives her more reach and agility. She cannot summon guns, and she doesn't have super strength.

Arackniss (real name is Giovanni, Italian version of John. Goes by Jon. Nicknamed "Little Cig", "Don Jon") worked as the underboss until Pa died, then took over as mob boss, making sure Molly was taken care of. He died in a shootout with police in the 1960s. He was around 50ish. He is on speaking terms with their parents, and sometimes works with them. He's tired and very addicted to coffee and cigarettes.

Apparently an old QnA revealed his real name to be Jonathan. Not sure if it's still true, but I didn't find anything more reliable. I found no examples of any historical mobster named Jonathan, despite there being many many Johns/Giovannis.)

Design- I wanted him to be unable to retract limbs, unlike Angie, but also wanted to avoid drawing all of them. So I used his overcoat to cover them, and he habitually keeps his hands in his pockets. Again, he can't retract any limbs because he was heavily involved with the mob. I changed his eyes from red to yellow, because I felt the yellow suited him better and reduces the overuse of red in general.

Spider traits- He can wall crawl, has super strength(which most don't expect because he's pretty scrawny), has super jump, and can summon guns. He cannot spin webs, and his venom is non-lethal and inflicted via bite(which isn't super useful to him).

Anthony/Tony "Wild Tony" was a soldier in the Mafia. He could have been a Capo(caporegime) if he was more committed. But he had a tendency to party and goof off. Technically, membership of the mob ends through death. Being the first to die, he was separated from the mob and didn't care to recommit. Angie partied hard and enjoyed gun violence, until Valentino came along. Valentino swept him off his feet with promises of fame, fortune, and love, convincing Angie to sell his soul.

Design- already covered most notes, but for organization: he can retract one set of extra limbs because he was involved with the mafia, but he was lower level.

Spider traits- He has less than the previous three. So he can super jump, spin webs(via mouth...he can make it kinky), and summon guns. He technically can wall crawl, but not for very long, and he usually uses it for things like pole dancing. He is not venomous at all, and does not have super strength.

In canon, Molly is in heaven, but I don't find it likely because of how the Mafia works, so she's in Hell now. (Real name is Marietta, which is an Italian version of Mary, and Molly is a nickname)She was the spoiled daughter and knew about the family's criminal activity. She knew, profited, and didn't care. She's guilty by association. Anyway, I'm gonna say she died about 10 years after Anthony, approx 1957, around the age of 40. Haven't thought too hard about how she died. Then she probably went and found some powerful, hot guy to sell her soul to. Not sure.

Design- I was going to give her an extra set of legs, but I couldn't wrap my head around the anatomy of it and just decided to stick with extra arms. She can retract all her limbs because she was "hands off" with the mafia.

Spider traits- she has the fewest because she was the least involved with the mafia. Aside from the obvious physical traits, she can only spin webs(because it is symbolically more domestic. Also via ponytail and/or mouth, but I don't want to think hard about it). She cannot wall crawl, or super jump, has no venom or super strength.

The Mob:

The Mafia is very patriarchal, so all members are men, as women were never formally initiated. But women were still significantly involved in a variety of ways. Most often by instilling mafia culture to the kids, drug trafficking, finances, or economics. Some helped as launderers, couriers, shills(con artist), drug traffickers, informants, and other typically non-violent roles. Some acted as proxies for their husbands in prison(which is becoming increasingly common in modern times).

Quick chart for Mafia organization, via the FBI.

Simple rundown of terminology because I didn't know the difference between Mob and Mafia, and I've now done too much research to not write it down in a relevant place:

mob- a group of people, usually disorderly

gang- crime group, ranging from loosely organized street gangs to structured syndicates.

syndicate- group of individuals or organizations that unite for a common goal. Can be legal or illegal.

cartel- (type of syndicate) a group of individuals or organizations that collude to control a business market via supply and demand. Can be legal or illegal.

The Mafia- originated in Sicily. Ethnically Italian gangs, referred to as "families" that may or may not have actual familial relationships. Characterized by a distinct hierarchal structure.

The Mob- the American extension of The Mafia. (ie. it's the same thing)

The Commission- the alliance of the various Mafia/Mob families. Older generation members, called "Mustache Petes", only worked with fellow Italians, sometimes even only Sicilians.

The National Crime Syndicate- multi-ethnic alliance of various criminal organizations. Most prominent being The Mafia/The Commission and Jewish syndicates.

All somewhat organized crime groups are gangs. Crime syndicates have a higher level of organization, and cartels deal in specific businesses. Eventually the terms mafia and mob were applied to other ethnic gangs that operated similarly. Such as the "Jewish Mob" and "Russian Mafia". But THE Mafia and THE Mob refers to Italian gangs.

(Jan 28, 2025- fixed the tags) (Jan 31, 2025- added a couple more notes about his human design, particularly the hair color)

#hazbin hotel #hellaverse #angel dust #angie #hazbin anthony #arackniss #hazbin molly #hazbin spider family #angel dust's father #angel dust's mother #human angel dust #hazbin hotel redesign #heavenbound au #a3 art #fanart #character sheet #digital art

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knight-a3 · 2 months ago

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The Carmines

Hazbin Masterpost

Heavenbound AU

Design notes under the cut, plus human designs!

These ones were a little tough because there's not really a canon time period they're from, as far as I'm aware. I ended up running with 1940s, because I needed to commit to something, and I guess the 40s was it.

--Carmilla--

Design:

--Color pallette- I wanted to use a steely cold grayscale, but include an accent color. I stuck with this for all three of them.

--hands- I didn't like how bulky canon made her arms, so I just altered them to be more aesthetically pleasing to me. It balances with the rest of her design better, imo. The main idea is that she was an arms dealer, so her arms were enlarged.

--hair- I did not like the horn styled hair. Her daughters have actual horns, so I wanted Carmilla to have real horns too. Her hair is now in a bun because it feels like a more businesswoman look, as well as being reminiscent of a typical ballerina hairstyle.

--outfit- the shapes on the canon dress is just a tad too complicated for my liking. So I wanted to simplify them a bit. So I tried a few different things. I tried things more similar to the stereotypical tutu, but it didn't feel right. So I eventually found a blazer that felt right. It had just enough of a 1940s powersuit vibe while resembling her canon look and hinting at a skirt.

--ballet- she clearly has a strong ballet theme. I spent far too much time trying to understand how the leg wraps work. But I got it mostly worked out.

--ice skates-One thing that I do not understand about canon, is that they gave this character plot relevant bladed feet, but didn't make them ice skates. Ice skates are literally blades strapped to feet, and can be deadly.

Many figure skaters will have a ballet background, because the skills translate decently well. So I am making her an ice skater too.

--Background--

Life: She was an ice skater and ballet teacher, and two of her students were Odette and Clara. Their biological parents were either out of the picture or abusive, so Carmilla started treating them as if they were her own daughters. They all emotionally adopted each other.

Life got a little difficult during WWII, and Carmilla ended up taking advantage of the weapons market. Particularly the black market. Not sure how a ballet teacher ends up doing that, but whatever. She has a shady background, I guess.

She's Latina, but I don't have a specific nationality in mind.

She's in hell because she was in the weapons smuggling business. And also I think something happened to Odette and/or Clara and she killed the perpetrators in revenge.

Death: I haven't decided. Either early 1950s or mid 1960s. Cuz that's just what my instincts say. Probably died in her 40s or 50s, so she has that "mom of young adult children" vibe.

Afterlife: She made it her entire purpose to protect her "daughters". Everything she did was to make their life in hell as palatable as possible.

She got into the market of weapons manufacturing. Since hell is full of people who like using weapons, it was very profitable for her. She's only recently discovered the potential of angelic steel with the help of Odette's scientific curiosity.

--Odette and Clara--

Ballet: Both of them are ballet themed because of their relationship to Carmilla. Swan Lake specifically because it is very famous. And Odette is the name of the main character. Odette is a white swan, while Clara is a black swan. BUT, their roles do not match Swan Lake's Odette and Odile. Clara does not parallel Odile, who is the secondary antagonist in Swan Lake. (Except that maybe she is used by her father to do bad things, but idk).

All three have thematic parallels because of their familial bond, despite not actually being related. Demonic features in sinners are not hereditary. They're determined by life circumstances of the individuals, but sometimes the relationships they have will give them similar features. (Angie's family are all spiders because of the nature of their mafia involvement)

Odette and Clara turned to Carmilla as their parental role model because their actual families were awful.

Swan Lake vs Science: Odette is Swan Lake themed because of her name and ties to Carmilla. Canon minimizes the ballet theme in favor of a scientist instead. So, I feel that implies her interest lies in science. But I wanted to emphasize the ballet aspect and give her clear swan design elements. Her hair and dress is feathery, but the dress is also reminiscent of a lab coat. I removed her glasses in favor of the face mask design. Doing both was too cluttered.

Clara was harder to pin down since we don't know much about her. But I went with black swan to match with Odette. She is similarly feathered.

Life: Odette didn't really want to do ballet, she wanted to be a scientist. But her abusive parents forced her. She was a victim of forced dieting to achieve the ideal ballerina figure. Odette tolerated it because of the relationship she developed with Carmilla and Clara. She eventually went to college and majored in science. Not sure what she did to end up in hell. Maybe she killed someone, idk.

I don't have a clear idea for Clara, because I only have the swan lake motif to go off of. Not much canon info. But her family situation needs to be bad so she gets attached to Carmilla and Odette.

Death: Haven't solidly decided on anything. Probably in their 20s. There's just not much canon info for me to base anything off of. I'd have to take some pretty significant creative liberties. Even if I go a completely different direction than canon, I still like having more canon info to use as a springboard.

Afterlife: Again, not much on Clara. Odette is involved with the research and development of Carmilla's weapons manufacturing business. It was her scientific curiosity that led to the discovery of angelic steel's potential. It's still a recent development, so it hasn't been incorporated into their products yet.

I thought they introduced the angelic weapons a bit too quickly. I wish they'd let us get more familiar with what happens when characters are killed in not-permanent ways. Why do they avoid getting hurt as if it's actually a threat to them? What is regenerating like for them?

Human designs: I wasn't super committed, so they haven't gone through much refining. Carmilla is in her arms dealer business outfit. I gave Clara something called a "Play Suit" because her canon outfit does not fit the time period I was going for(1940s).

(Edit notes will go here as needed)

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel redesign #hellaverse #carmilla carmine #odette carmine #clara carmine #heavenbound au #a3 art #fanart #digital art #character sheet

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