finlaena

[finlaena]

Say you're designing a fan Necramech idea that's basically a combination of Oberon (support) and Titania (crowd control) and you name it either "Puck" or "Goodfellow".

Say you're basing it off of the Tombjockey class, which so far has not been seen properly outside of the Arcocanid, which is described as a variant of said class.

Say you're having one hell of a time trying to come up with a helmet design that works for both the design and potentially Voidrig, Bonewidow, Karnolyth, and Bruntspar.

What do?

[finlaena]

Will you ever draw more Legacy of Kain fanart?

The last LoK drawing I did was back in February for an art contest (I don't count the "Agony" sketch as that was to blow off steam), and the whole experience sucked the wind clean out of my sails for... a lot of reasons.

LoK is still a relatively small and obscure fandom, so yeah, the return investment on time/effort/energy is going to be extremely hit or miss. It is what it is. But at this point I'm absolutely sick of drawing just Raziel, so wygd. There's at least 1-2 ideas (not involving Raziel) batting back and forth in the brain space; the motivation and desire... not so much.

Maybe if "The Dead Shall Rise" is good enough to inspire something, I might revisit the LoK well, but right now?

Ehhhhhh...

Don't count on it.

[finlaena]

Healer of Orowyrms

My Drifter (Tobias) and a certain Orowyrm.

Maybe Orowyrms get smaller when they’re healed? idk, it’s fan art, I don’t gotta explain it.

But I’ve been lowkey obsessed with the concept of Orowyrms ever since they first showed up during TennoLive 2022 and moreso after Duviri Paradox. There’s so much I want to learn about them that I’ve come up with my own theories.

The Courtiers in particular fascinate me and are probably my #1 favorite group of NPCs in Warframe. I’d like to think they can evolve and Isleweaver gave me a spark: if they can develop “cracks”, why can’t those be healed? Maybe healing them would help the Courtiers transform into nuanced beings; they’d still have dominant emotions, but more tempered. (If you’ve seen Inside Out 2, they are a lot more nuanced than they were in the first one, which was nice imho)

idk, I could go on and on with fan fic/comic ideas but that would interest no one.

[finlaena]

Looking at my glyph and it still makes me want to cry sometimes, but in a good way, because it reminds me of how awesome the Warframe community is and how supportive a lot of people have been of my work over the last 5 years. It has truly been a privilege and I am so grateful to and for everyone.

When you're used to flying under the radar for 20+ years, it's definitely a... change to be sure. You get so used to not being "good" enough, fast enough, or prolific enough to get instant 1K everything that you become indifferent to it after a long time.

Now, I don't wanna say it's like the ending to that Doctor Who episode with Vincent Van Gogh, but it does vaguely feel like it sometimes; certainly felt that way at TennoCon 2023+2024 with my art on display in the showcase. And it feels that way whenever I see the Bloo Doofus pop up with a random person in a group while trying to crack relics or the neverending struggle of trying to do Railjack.

And I owe all of it to the Warframe community; it's not perfect and has its warts, but it's changed my life in ways I never thought possible or even entertained.

I just wish I could tell younger Fin, the one who "grew up" online as an artist on sites like Side7 and DeviantArt and was perpetually left in the dust or shamed for drawing fan art, that their efforts ultimately won't be in vain and will actually have some tangible effect on people. A lot of people, really.

It might be a silly icon in a video game, but in a surreal way, it makes some people happy and that's what matters to me.

[finlaena]

My Warframe Creator Glyph has been updated!

Your eyes are not deceiving you, your friendly neighborhood Bloo Wisp has gotten a shiny new look and is ready to be used for target practice.

It's been over 2 years since they originally approached me to contribute a creator glyph for the game (which coincidentally was with the Duviri Paradox update); the poor ol' gal was showing her age and wasn't representative of my evolving art style anymore. After working with DE on the Wisp Community Glyph (that dropped /w Techrot Encore), it was such an incredibly fun experience, I wanted to use what I gained from it to revamp my personal glyph!

And now the lil' Darvo Mote has an actual look and isn't just a beige bowling pin.

If you don't have it yet, you can redeem the glyph using my creator code, FINLAENA, over here on the Warframe site.

(and as before, if you should happen to pop up in a random group with me while using this, be sure you have a wishlist ready...)

If you have my glyph already, don't worry, you won't have to go through any extra steps and it should show as updated when you login next.

Again, thank you so much DE for this incredible opportunity and an extra special thanks to the Warframe community for supporting me over the last close-to-5(!) years.

[finlaena]

Mama said knock you out

[finlaena]

Archimedean Itzam is so adorable, I hope nothing bad happens to him...

[finlaena]

Ambitious, calculating. Chameleon-like. Paranoid. Eyes Everywhere.

Feona Kolins (formerly Pinnata) is, at first glance, a successful hotel and casino magnate in Caelum City who takes care of those in her business empire well. But beneath the surface is a chameleon in the underworld who hides under layers of paranoia and distrust; only trusting a very small few.

Despite her description, Feona is one of the principal characters in the ensemble cast of "Caelum City Blues" (concept in worldbuild sandbox of mine) who has ties to Alloy, one of the protagonists. She surrounds herself in layers of protection to a point of excess, but there are reasons... or so she thinks.

Her race is based off of nudibranchs (sea slugs), so they all vary in appearance and build. She herself is what they consider an "errant", aka someone who adopts an identity outside of cultural norms (occupation, societal standing, etc). There's more to her than she lets on, that's for sure.

[finlaena]

Artificial. Pale Imitation. Trickster. Aberration.

Drazen-47X, an advanced android whose head and heart have their own minds, from my personal sandbox/worldbuild, "Tales from Delta Caeli" (which encompasses 3 separate concepts) and in particular the concept called "Caelum City Blues".

A character born from the question: "What would it be like if an artificial intelligence chose to love instead of rebel?" Because "AI goes rogue and kills everyone" stories are so trite and boring imho.

[finlaena]

My entry for the TennoCon 2025 Community Showcase: Yareli Pandea and Hunhow!

It's kind of funny how you don't realize limitations can be a good thing until you're stumped for ideas; this year is open to anything whereas last year was limited to content related to WitW to 1999. ngl, I was ready to throw in the towel a couple months ago because I just couldn't come up with any ideas (and offline life was in "Shit Hitting the Fan" all of March and into early April, with family members going to the hospital to me suddenly losing hearing in my left ear) until...

I saw this Silver Surfer cover (by the late Marshal Rogers) from the 1987 run and got hit with an idea out of the blue: Yareli Pandea as the Silver Surfer and Hunhow as Galactus! It's an open secret I have a... thing... for "Big Person + Tiny Person" dynamics and ever since reading the update page circa "Jade Shadows" the thought of doing more art with Hunhow and Yareli has been rotating in my brain like a rotisserie chicken.

This has gone through several iterations: originally, Yareli was going to be holding Roky then the Operator; Kahl's Garrison would've been in the spot of the Fantastic Four... it's changed significantly enough from being an homage of the Silver Surfer cover, but the inspo is there! A little sad about having to jettison the Garrison, but it is what it is. I also did the logo from scratch which... oooof. =~=

(Side note, the Fantastic Four movie opens the weekend after TennoCon and the Silver Surfer in that is Shalla-Bal as opposed to Norrin Radd, so....)

But as the Hunhow and Yareli parts developed, decided to scuttle everything and put the focus on those 2. Still kept the comic book look with the dressing (incl. Excal in the Barcode spot whereas in the original reprints, it was Spider-Man) and had to come up with something very capeshit-y for the text.

Regardless of what happens, I'm still proud of it because it's something I finished after 2 months of not having the will to draw anything and life doing it's RKO thing.

[finlaena]

Yay! I'm finally free from NDA so I can share this now!

For the upcoming Techrot Encore update, DE asked me to draw Wisp for Community Glyph Pack #3. Yeeeeeah!!! This was a lot of fun to work on and I learned a lot.

More info here:

Legend has it if someone uses one of my Glyphs (both Creator and now this one), end up in a group with the artist, and you have a wishlist, a surprise might follow...

See you all on Wednesday! <3

[finlaena]

Nyx Heirloom - Fan Design

Decided to take a crack at designing a Heirloom skin for a Warframe and the dart landed on Nyx. A bit of a challenge, seeing as Nyx is not a Frame I normally play and Eleanor doesn't really do it for me. Still, a challenge is a challenge and a great way to test your chops as a fan and an artist.

Nyx Heirloom's design was inspired by 3 things:

Emma Frost from 'X-Men'

Morgaine LeFay of Arthurian myth

Scarlet Witch from 'The Avengers' (comic version)

The aim was to have things (like details on her suit) aim upwards towards her head, and the glow is inspired by placement on her default skin. Insinuated eyes were recommended by a couple of people, and they help put it together, I think.

This couldn't have come fully together without the input of others in the community and for them and their feedback, I am truly grateful.

[finlaena]

"This deed will redeem me and then, all Nosgoth."

Mortanius the Necromancer; Guardian of the Pillar of Death

An incredibly underrated character, relatively speaking, but one of the most important and arguably as tragic as Kain and Raziel. There's a lot that's unknown about him (hopefully the forthcoming encyclopedia fills in the blanks) but what little we do know about him is incredibly fascinating: A tragic figure who did so much wrong yet in the end, knew he was wrong and tried to set things right. But, as Kain so eloquently put it, the game was rigged from the start.

His brief appearance in Defiance is one of the more memorable sequences in the game and, dare I say it, far more meaningful than his appearance in Blood Omen (though tbf, anything is better than Blood Omen's writing for numerous reasons for another time/place) and I say that as someone who's played every single game in the series.

Wanted to do something similar to my Soul Reaver 25th Anniv. drawing from last year, so the similarities are intentional, incl. text, which I normally don't use. :V

[finlaena]

Participated in a small secret santa exchange with some fellow wf artist creators!

Zell and Vilcor for the lovely @.finlaena |ovo)/

[finlaena]

Palladino and Rook - done for LeoDoodling as part of the Warframe Creator Partner Secret Santa

This was a lot of fun to work on! Always wanted to draw these two, so this was a great opportunity.

[finlaena]

Hope

This took on a lot of different meanings over the past week I've been working on this, and the overall theme I ended up conveying came through pretty well, I think!

[finlaena]

Waiting for our ship to come, but our ship's not coming back