#and also making it more compositionally balanced lol

[sophaeros]

if i told you that i had two characters who'd written a song about a secretive doomed relationship together and released a poster for it featuring the two of them holding hands as they drove off a cliff together you'd probably tell me to stop being so on the nose but no. it's real and it's called one way trigger by the strokes

[piichivii]

[Image ID: A sketch on a white background with a warm reddish overlay, depicting a feminine and muscular Wizard101 OC with green hair in a low ponytail, tan skin, and pointed ears. She stands haughtily with a white cane in her right hand and her left hand on her hip. A recolored Enchanted Armament pet in red, white, and gold, floats by her shoulders. Her outfit is a red, white and gold techwear inspired outfit containing red and gold strips patterned with symbols for the School of Balance. She wears red and gold sunglasses and gold earrings. The sketch is signed "PIICHỊVY 2022". /.End ID]

hello wizzy friends, and thank u all for the warm welcome 🥺 u guys r so sweet n i hope the year has been treating yall well

i’ll b answering some comments on my last piece w/ some compositional notes + wip shot below the cut!

im obsessed with the title for this piece like. i dont know ur oc or whatever personal story/AU they've got but even so this is. powerful they're a balance wizard. they're the blind angel of Judgement. they've got Power Nova behind em: the birth of a new star they've got a smile on their face and their stance isn't rigid straight. they're swayed the dark soul is heavier than the light feather of truth are the 5 blades a reference to tarot? or like. blades in wizzy that buff your spells?

also a balance wizard w a god comex is so antithetical i love it

so gonna b real here “god_complex” came from me saving the initial sketch and thinking “man homegirl’s got some bde here” LOL. i’m not entirely sure if she does have a god complex or not, but i love your interpretation of the piece! frankly, i try not to get attached to the little details of my characters since i tend to be more concerned about crafting a larger and thematically cohesive narrative, so their characterization is really flexible. i actually find this concept of an antithetical sorcerer w/ a god complex REALLY saucy, so this has all been a happy coincidence of me just wanted to draw a fun cool scene. when i first imagined this piece, i’m fairly certain it was while my homies n i were pressing the delete button on a random boss LOL so really, it was a bit of my own hubris as a “god complex” than my oc’s! i haven’t gone past polaris yet so who knows! maybe she WILL go down her corruption arc :O

the only concrete thing here is that she’s meant to be a successor to ma’at (judgement), hence the whole judgement imagery. it makes me giddy inside as an illustrator to see that these compositional elements communicated that sufficiently 😊

(like a fool i deleted my sketches so this is the oldest remaining screenshot of my sketch orz)

here r some compositional notes about the piece:

mistress of judgement—blindfold, wings, scales of time (include heart+maat feather) ((i also wanted to make the staff ridiculously huge to be cool; i included a counterweight at the other end but it got covered up by the sandstorm)), halo for the Cool Factor, khopesh ((this was later changed to the sword of kings, then later to dragonblade))

bladestorm encircling enveloped by wings ((or more accurately mechanics-wise, balanceblade+enchant balanceblade+bladestorm+enchant bladestorm+dragonblade; i like to imagine that in a solo context the 4 bladestorms would just stack up to b used later LOL initially i wanted to do the crossed blades, but it ended up being compositionally messy so i scrapped that. while sketching i DID consider tarot imagery though 5 and 4 didn't really fit akdhkfkf anymore than 4 blades encircling and it would've been messy, and less and it would've been lacking. also, initially the blades were pointed down, but i decided against it to better represent them as charms bc i couldn't stop thinking of the sword of damocles which would be more of a threat LOL))

power nova, framed by raised wings ((it's been my aoe of choice + i like the implication that balance as an "element" is part sand part (sun)light; i also wanted to somewhat evoke ra imagery too by having power nova as the sun w/ its rays of light))

swirling sandstorm below ((i was just really taken by the sandstorm animation update bc it's so sparkly and pretty—girl got such a glow up. a bit of a happy accident but my friend interpreted it as chastisement n i was like yea that works too LOL. another happy accident was the red cast ending up evoking balance of power c: although power play was such a fun meme play))

modified alhazzy fit w/ balance pattern trim + cowl + no shoes + inspo from kim kassas’s walk like an egyptian ((hoo boy that collection has so many hot fits. not historically accurate but idgf it fucks. i was having trouble thinking of a suitable design since none of the in-game robes really suited the image i had in mind but this collection was The One. anyways i absolutely Love the balance pattern trim and i'm Very Offended girls don't get to use maroon to match w/ it. i made a csp brush for this bc no way in hell was i gonna handdraw all those LOL. if u want the brush n some other assets i made or ripped from kingsisle u should check the source link ;))) also you can't see the toes in the final render but in my sketches i ditched the ugly boots it's just a lil soleless footwrap now. ALSO i’m distraught that it slipped my mind to give her these earrings that mimicked the pans of a balance scale 😭))

(from the cities in dust fw 13 lookbook)

buff lady of the blades ((another happy accident was the final product exuding "muscular women think they're gods/know your place" energy. i'll draw that later after i finish some of the stuff i've been planning, if i remember about it LOL))

the "u know im cool" grin bc we abt to delete some mobs 😎 ((fun fact: my friend wants her to aoe him))

nyways thank u again wizzy friends n i wish u all the loveliest day and if someone is ruining it for u, we accept offerings to feed ammit she’s gettin hungy

[illegiblewords]

Big ramble about character design, especially in FFXIV.

One thing I love a lot in character design is visual storytelling. I think with FFXIV there’s a lot of room to just chase what we find exciting and do wish-fulfillment regardless of practicality or background, which is legit. But for me personally--I know I tend to think about individual personality/relationship with body and presentation, background culture/climate, present culture/climate, job, social class, body type/tradition surrounding body type, composition/color theory/silhouette, etc. Loads and loads of info basically.

It feels a little like I get to play Sherlock Holmes with presentation, where I’m trying to discover and communicate as much as possible. One layer I learned growing up in terms of fashion is that you basically need to acknowledge the body shape that exists, then add additional elements or shapes through hair/clothing/makeup according to what you want to emphasize or de-emphasize. For example, if elezen have broad shoulders, long necks, and small heads--I’m going to want hair styles that frame the face and add volume so that the head doesn’t look small and does look balanced. I’m also going going to want to avoid anything that makes the shoulders look broader because that will make the head look small (unless I want a disproportionate effect), and ideally will want clothing that focuses on vertical visual focus over horizontal--face-neck-torso-legs rather than shoulder-to-shoulder. If I want an hourglass shape, that means more volume at the hips for legwear. If I want a dorito, that means less volume at the hips. For femroes, I know it’s broad shoulders/larger chests and muscular builds. If the desired shape is an hourglass, emphasize the narrowest point in terms of cinching--likely under the bust. Low cut top is better and will elongate the neck/de-emphasize shoulders and bust compositionally, while a high collar risks making the bust and shoulders look wider. Some exceptions apply--the ruffles and collars of certain outfits (ex. high house justaucorps and most sky pirate gear) are designed in such a way that still creates vertical as opposed to horizontal eye direction, and so still works. The songbird top’s cut creates horizontal direction emphasizing shoulders though, so bust and shoulders look wider.

All techniques mentioned are ultimately tools to communicate. If you want to create a broader impression with emphasis on muscles and bulk, you can do that. If you want a character to look like they are uncomfortable with their body or hiding in their clothes, there are options for that too. Although final fantasy as a series gives a hell of a lot of wiggle room, I do think it’s slightly less important whether a design is fashionable when OCs are concerned than that it communicates information about the character effectively. On color palettes and weather, we as players can do funny stuff like running around Coerthas in cherry pink bikinis lol. But if the goal is to create specific impressions of character, background, or relationship to the environment--that takes a bit of thought. Besides color theory stuff (how you use color families or complements for eye direction) and playing with patterns/textures, it makes a difference whether your character goes bright or muted in their palette so far as impression goes. Is this someone who is commanding attention or sinking into the shadows? Are they loud or quiet, sheltered or weathered? And the style of clothing also reflects this--does this person look nautical in a way that would indicate involvement at Limsa Lominsa? Are they wearing leathers, furs, feathers, and beads that scream Black Shroud? List goes on, and it’s worthwhile to pay attention not only to what NPCs in the area wear but what cultures that shaped the region might include. And then there’s like... ‘is this a character who moves a lot or is more stationary’ type questions, which can also inform choices depending. Idk like this is just me geeking, but basically I think design and fashion are their own types of storytelling/communication. I think the whole process of creating an impression of who a character is/what personality and origin they have before they’ve said a word is completely exciting!