#I tried to keep the designs similar to the original ones an at the same time semi-historically accurate

[alexandriad]

ofmd but everyone’s a lady

(don’t ask how they do anything around the ship in these petticoats...)

[redbean-nom]

redesign of the Vespa Kids from book of boba fett

thoughts & closeups under cut

so i tried to keep their general appearances/colors intact while adding some actual personality (because i think the main problem with the original designs is that they feel like extras, not side characters).

Red: Zabrak orphan who grew up on Tatooine. 18 years old, was a member of the local insurgent group around the end of the empire era. Has a combo blaster/interrogation droid arm. Speeder is a repurposed version of Maul's speeder from phantom menace.

Blue: Human raised in the non-Tatooine parts of the Outer Rim. 23 years old, known assassin who worked for Jabba. Uses a scavenged magnaguard-type electrostaff. Has basically a version of the mandalorian helmet visors built into his face. Speeder is an abandoned scout trooper speeder.

Yellow: Tusken orphan from the clans around the podrace area. 19 years old, became a bounty hunter after his tribe (and bantha) were killed by the Pikes to expand spice routes. Has a Vader-style chest panel and rocket feet. Speeder is a custom pod attached to one of Sebulba's engines, with attached rancor teeth and horns from his late bantha.

Green: Human who grew up on Coruscant, but family fled the Empire to Tatooine around A New Hope. 21 years old, originally worked as a local enforcer for various Hutts. Has super battle droid arm & leg attachments. Speeder is stolen from local nikto gang.

original designs for reference:

[sesamenom]

redesign of the Vespa Kids from book of boba fett

thoughts & closeups under cut

so i tried to keep their general appearances/colors intact while adding some actual personality (because i think the main problem with the original designs is that they feel like extras, not side characters).

Red: Zabrak orphan who grew up on Tatooine. 18 years old, was a member of the local insurgent group around the end of the empire era. Has a combo blaster/interrogation droid arm. Speeder is a repurposed version of Maul's speeder from phantom menace.

Blue: Human raised in the non-Tatooine parts of the Outer Rim. 23 years old, known assassin who worked for Jabba. Uses a scavenged magnaguard-type electrostaff. Has basically a version of the mandalorian helmet visors built into his face. Speeder is an abandoned scout trooper speeder.

Yellow: Tusken orphan from the clans around the podrace area. 19 years old, became a bounty hunter after his tribe (and bantha) were killed by the Pikes to expand spice routes. Has a Vader-style chest panel and rocket feet. Speeder is a custom pod attached to one of Sebulba's engines, with attached rancor teeth and horns from his late bantha.

Green: Human who grew up on Coruscant, but family fled the Empire to Tatooine around A New Hope. 21 years old, originally worked as a local enforcer for various Hutts. Has super battle droid arm & leg attachments. Speeder is stolen from local nikto gang.

original designs for reference:

[sepublic]

I wonder if part of the reason for Flapjack’s death was to contrast how Hunter handled his own grief over a lost loved one, vs Philip’s response?

There’s the immediate reactions of pushing people away; Philip refuses the kindness of the locals in his search for Caleb and especially afterwards, tries to kill Evelyn, and rebukes his own brother in favor of holding onto bitterness.

Hunter becomes snappy, aggressive, and closed off after losing Flapjack; Like Philip, he devotes himself to a mission of finding a fellow Wittebane, and gets frustrated over any perceived frivolities and distractions.

But eventually, Hunter recognizes that while his trauma is valid, he’s also been pushing Willow away and placing a lot of burden on her as well. It’s okay that he was triggered by the Emerald Entrails photo instead of reassured, but part of Hunter and Willow’s resolution is the former clarifying that yes, her efforts to reach out do mean a lot to him. And Willow means a lot to Hunter too, that’s why he wants to reciprocate and accept, instead of causing her to feel just as ineffectual by refusing help; Willow deserves help too!

Not only that, but Philip and Hunter both created living beings as a coping mechanism, only for one to be unhealthy, while the other actually recovered. Philip is obsessed with creating perfect replicas of Caleb, casting out Grimwalkers for being too different from the mold, not good enough, and keeping them all to himself; The Grimwalkers aren’t allowed their own lives nor any other relationships.

Hunter makes palismen for others, he’s giving people the companionship he himself lost, and he isn’t designing anything after Flapjack, not necessarily; Just whatever a witch needs. Even his personal palisman, Waffles, is visually different while still hearkening to Flapjack, because Hunter is a Clawthorne after all; He can move on and be himself while also honoring his connections with others, and not become unhealthily dependent or averse to them.

Hunter made Waffles and thus must’ve chosen these differences, or carved an egg like Luz did, so his palisman could choose a form. I find that wonderfully ironic, for while Hunter has more control over how his creations turn out, he doesn’t abuse this to create a replica of Flapjack; He enables and encourages variation instead, while Philip gambles to make each Grimwalker closer to the original, eliminating any deviations as if that will alter the odds.

One uses control to give to others, the other has no control and desperately wants it over others. Philip grows and Hunter whittles away, but it’s Hunter who proves more nurturing and free. Both used palistrom wood, but Hunter’s coping mechanism encourages its growth, while Philip hoards and even devours it.

Hunter surpasses his uncle by suffering in similar ways, only to show that you can still recover without hurting others; Philip really does have no excuse, for Hunter is an example of the person he easily could and should’ve been in response to loss. Philip tried to spread his pain by repeating it in others, he killed Flapjack (and projected onto Luz, as if to absolve himself by claiming she should do the same, since anyone else would’ve); But Hunter looked his uncle in the eye and said No, I will not be a vector for your bitterness.

[codgod]

y’know generally i try to limit colour palettes to as few colours as possible to make things more cohesive but despite my best efforts only jay ended up being able to stick to that </3

ANYWAYS here’s the as-of-right-now fully updated designs for these dickheads. these will no doubt undergo even more tweaking as i draw them more but this is a start i guess. also pls open the pictures to look at them properly i worked so hard LOL

some random notes under the cut yaaaay

chip —

he jingles when he walks. somehow he’s still stealthy. i do not know how

kept the platinum ring that bonded him to gillion in the block! because hey he doesn’t really have a reason to take it off (and it’s a nice reminder of how much gill cares about him, and how far their friendship has come since that ice arena)

his tattoos shift and flicker like actual flames, and sometimes (harmless, purely aesthetic) sparks fly off them when he’s excited

i just think smoke coming out of his mouth when he’s angry would be cool :]

chipped teeth from biting rocks and coins all the time :/

he has scars from the red lightning, they’re just mostly contained to his back and shoulders. they’re a similar red to his coat even once they’ve healed

gillion —

the tail sleeve thing is so he can rest it on the ground without damaging his scales, he doesn’t usually wear it when he’s just on the ship because the wood is soft enough that it’s usually fine + it can hinder swimming a bit. it’s mostly meant for places where there’s cobblestone or gravel streets and such. i think his armour would probably have a version that looks similar but covers the whole tail minus the fins, maybe with some armour plating of its own. i didn’t draw it because there wasn’t any room lol

his scars from the lightning are pink mostly because red stood out too much tbh. they softly glow in the dark the same as his coral and the pink parts of his fins

also kept his ring! his hands aren’t really made for jewellery, though, because the webbing means it won’t sit very secure on his finger. so he keeps it on the same chain as the necklace he got from aslana to keep it safe

tried to make him look a bit bulkier and more his age than in my original design? i feel like i was leaning too much into the naivety and. shortness. originally lol. he also has thicker eyebrows now and i’m still trying to decide how i feel about them but i think? i like it? i don’t tend to give many character thin eyebrows so it could’ve been a unique thing for him but alas

i think i made the sword too small but like ignore that

also forgor to include pretzel </3 that’s okay though she can get her own design sheet later. she’s special like that

jay —

i believe in tall jay supremacy

blue magic! i was considering gold but that’d look a bit more like a canary than i wanted for her wings so. blue jay :]

her hair is supposed to look kinda like fire to mimic her dad ! kinda showing that even if she runs from her family and the navy they’ll always be a part of her. and also i just like drawing messy hair

i gave her sturdier gloves just because i feel like it fits her better. also changed up the shirt to more of a button up solely because i don’t like tank tops very much LOL

i did WANT to make her outfit a bit flashier to match the boys better but i couldn’t quite figure out where to Put the flash. maybe that’ll come later, the way the story’s going i might get to design some cool prosthetics for her or something

overall —

because there’s just so many fucking colours i triiied to add at least one or two colours from each of them into the others designs. jay has her necklace with each of their main colours on it, her wings are the same blue as gillions eyes, her jacket and right eye are the same dark blue as destiny’s blade, her hair is the same orange as the lighter part of chips tattoos. chip has a dark green sash under all the belts, the same as the hilt of destiny’s blade. they all use the same shades of black, gold, and brown

the only real exception is gillion doesn’t have anything from the other two because he has Such a specific colour palette and he already had so much going on as-is orz jay was obviously the easiest to do this with because she has both warm and cool colours in her palette by default lol (and i did her design last, so that helps)

[eveningrainstorm]

my take on teenage raz and lili!

some design notes under the cut:

They're intended to be about 16 here! I didn't go for anything too drastic in terms of changes -- these are largely just what I'd consider natural evolutions of their canon designs

For Raz, my main focus besides just making him look older was to add a bit more resemblance to the other Aquatos in his design, since his relationship with them wouldn't be strained like it is during canon

Raz is shown with very straight hair in canon, but since most of his family's hair is more wavy or curly I tend to imagine he styles it that way on purpose as part of his Sasha Nein cosplay or whatever. He wouldn't still feel the need to do that at this point, though, so for this design I wanted to make it more curly, similar to Augustus or Frazie, while still similar to his canon style. This turned out to be incredibly difficult and I'm still not entirely happy with where I landed, but it's good enough

I didn't think he would still wear the helmet but I didn't want to discard it entirely, so the goggles were a compromise. I meant to give them some visible scratches and wear and tear since they're presumably the same goggles he's been wearing since he was 10, but I forgot. rip

Obviously the most notable change to Raz's outfit is the scarf -- I wanted something that would tie him visually to the other Aquatos while still fitting with his general look. I imagine they gave it to him as a gift, sort of an acknowledgement that even if he doesn't perform with them as an acrobat, doing his Psychonaut work is his own way of being an Aquato

Raz's outfit here is honestly very similar to his PN2 outfit. This is because in my eyes "long coat and turtleneck" is Peak Character Design and cannot be improved on. (Hence why I may not be the best person to redesign Raz.) He has an actual coat rather than just an oversized blazer this time though, so that's an improvement. With the turtleneck I was was vaguely intending for it to be color-wise something of a middle ground between the Sasha-style green striped turtleneck and the Aquato blue/green and white stripes, but it ended up basically just being the PN1 stripes with the PN2 color. which, you know, that works

I went back and forth on what their heights should be -- I thought it would be kind of funny if Raz ended up short and Lili ended up taller than him, but then I decided to just make them more in line with their families, with Raz being tall and lanky and Lili being average verging on short. Except then I accidentally made Lili tall anyway because I was only vaguely considering her height relative to Raz. I guess Lili's probably taller than her dad now? good for her ig

Most of their facial features are just slight variations of how they look in canon -- slightly smaller eyes and so on. the only real specific change is that Lili has a more defined nose now, similar in shape to her father's

Lili's outfit here is more different from either of her canon outfits than Raz's is, but there's still not much that really requires a ton of explanation. The goal was to make her look vaguely cool and fashionable, although as I am neither of those things I cannot guarantee I was successful

I tried a couple different hairstyles for Lili, and I'm still not entirely set on this one -- Originally what I settled on was to give her two braids, which I did like, but I kept doing sketches of her where I just drew the top part of the hair and was like "ngl this kind of works on its own" and so I ended up going with the short hair. I also briefly tried an asymmetrical haircut but I couldn't get it to look right. I think this one suits her though

Lili's tattoo (on her left wrist) was a later addition to the design, and even in the later stages of drawing this I wasn't sure whether to keep it. I like it conceptually I just haven't figured out a consistent design for it yet, only that it has to be of plants

god these notes got way longer than I meant them to be I am so sorry. Uh basically I'm still figuring out the details of these designs but for now here's Raz and Lili, they're teenagers now, thanks for reading

[dontmixpaintinyourcoffee]

Anyways drawing Spring Unsprung Briar gave me a wild amount of creative energy so here's my pitch for a Spring Unsprung Darling costume

Some details just for fun under the cut:

•Since Lizzie is the designer of the original SU outfits, that's also the case here. Lizzie is perceptive enough of Cerise and her style to very specifically fit her needs without even knowing what those needs are (heavy hood, long hair, big jacket, all very good for keeping covered, no?). The same would happen with Darling. Lizzie might pick up on her fascination with Wonderland, the jewelry fashioned like chainmail or bracers, and decide to incorporate it into her design. I don't know if Lizzie even realizes how perceptive she is, she just has an eye for what brings out someone's real personality.

•In terms of actual design, my main inspiration was chess! I let go of the literal shape pretty fast, but I really liked the idea of her looking like a fancy chess piece as a nod to her wonderland shenanigans. Cerise, Kitty, Lizzie, and Cedar all have black and white recurring patterns with 1-3 main colors, so I tried to mimic that here. I mostly just used the color scheme from my ref sheet I did a hot minute ago

•The hair flowers and colorful makeup were non-negotiable of course. I did want to make the flowers have some kind of relevance, but in the end I just gave up and made 'em generic yellow flowers. Any flower symbolism nerds who want to throw their hat in the ring be my guest!!

•I basically just tried to orient the whole thing around asymmetry and reflection, and I think that worked really well in this case, I think it really makes her pop

•She isn't wearing her typical Charming crest, but the symbol is spread out in a couple of pieces. Heart gem at the center of the neck like normal, and the wing is made into one of those ear cuff things

•The background was just kind of a whim, but there is a reason for it. I decided a while ago that the Charming family animal is a lion, so any heraldry or heirloom or anything like that is probably gonna have that winged heart and/or lion imagery on it. If Daring is the peak of the Charmings, then Daring is a lion. Similarly, Darling is a borzoi. It's just different enough to communicate that she's the black sheep of the family, but has enough similar traits to make it clear that she's not in opposition with them. Plus I think borzois are whimsical as hell with the right lighting and I thought it would look neat

•You can see it right in the corner of one of her eyes, I was playing with maybe giving her partial heterochromia? I think I'm gonna stick with just brown eyes but I'm keeping the concept tucked away in the back of my brain for another character

[blossomthepinkbunny]

Hazbin Redesigns pt.2

These characters are mostly ones, whose designs I never had big problems with, I just had different ideas for them sometimes.

Sir Pentious is female in my AU because her backstory requires it. Also I thought she would be cute as Ms Pentious. I made her colours more earthy and gave her a more serious look, since she will probably be an antagonist (she is still very excentric, she mostly pretends to be serious). I gave her design some elements that resemble steam and clouds to fit with her inventor theming. I kept the eye hat thing because I think it's fun.

For Cherry bomb I kept a lot of stuff from her original design. Her colour palette, her tights, her shoe situation and her hair looks pretty similar too. I toned the brightness down and made her look more Punk (because i'm pretty sure that she is supposed to be Punk). I gave her a prosthetic since I can imagine that she would loose a limb in an accident with her bombs. Ms Pentious made her the prosthetic (she and Cherry are officially dating here and are both antagonist from how it is now). I tried to make her look chaotic and spunky so her design was very fun to figure out.

The main issues I have with Velvettes original design is that she doesn't look like a demon really and pretty much just like a human with weird eyes. Also she suffers from the fact that Viv makes all her black characters grey. I made her a Vampire/Bat Demon because Vampires are creatures of the dark and it reminded me of how people on the internet often are. For her outfit I was mainly inspired by fashion dolls like Monster High. She is supposed to look modern and like a fashion influencer. Her redesign is very bright and obnoxious kinda to reflect the overload one can get from the internet and trends.

I wanted to make Vox older and boxier looking. He is an old TV show host who is upset that he has to stay current with the trends to keep being relevant, even though he doesn't view modern television as "real" television. He is jealous that Alastor can afford to keep his older format and style. I gave his outfit a similar colour sceme to that of Alastor. Vox is meant to look slimy and kinda pretentious. Other that that he isn't so neon anymore and has a less modern TV as a head.

I have some ideas for Valentino but I didn't make the effort to actually make a full drawing for him, because I didn't want to (not for him). Also he probably won't really appear in my AU (still figuring out wether the Vees will even be important at all). He is not a moth here because Vaggie is already a moth and I didn't see the need for two (not related) characters with the same gimmick. He is a scorpion, since they're more intimidating. His outfit isn't all too different (from when he opens his coat in the show). Val would be more muscular and in general more menacing and still very manipulative.

Final character lineup.

Feel free to ask questions/give suggestions for my redesigns/rewrite.

[mask131]

Kind of a continuation of my Medusa post? But this time about Poseidon.

I talked in my Medusa post of a trait that... seems to be lost on many people when it comes to the characterization of Poseidon? The fact that Poseidon has not just a bad side, but a dark side, and that he is supposed - in many ways like Hera - to be one of those ambiguous villains or anti-villains of Greek mythology. There's the misinformation that "Hades was a bad guy" and the new false take that "Hades was a good guy", when truth is "Hades was a neutral guy". There's the name TV Tropes and Idioms used to designate falsely presenting a bad god in a good light - "Everybody loves Zeus", and I get it is supposed to be a reverse of "Everybody hates Hates", but this is part of the wave of Zeus-hate by the Internet that literaly covered the fact Zeus was supposed to be the BIG GOOD of Ancient Greece. And the third brother also very clearly falls into the series of mischaracterization as there's this sort of cliche of Poseidon as some sort of chill guy who just hangs around the back of the Greek pantheon and is a cool dude...

... And I blame Percy Jackson for it. Don't get me wrong: I love the Percy Jackson books. But it is not because I love them that I don't recognize their flaws, and that I am not saddened at seeing how their fans warped what Greek mythology is. "Percy Jackson" and affiliated series, due to being a book series about the son of Poseidon, presents Poseidon as this good, benevolent, chill, positive deity. And I respect that, and in fact it came off as a true TWIST back when they were released, and I loved this twist because Poseidon had always been one of my favorite gods. Not only that, but Riordan made clear he knew about the dark and bad side of Poseidon, and tried to work it in his worldbuilding, by having key moments of his books relying on Percy confronting his half-brothers (Procrustes, Polyphemus, Anteus, etc...). In fact, a strong point of the original book series was Percy having to deal with the fact his father could love as much him as these monsters... But unfortunately Riordan apparently did not work on this point enough since the Internet basically decided to make Poseidon an uwu god.

So let's break it down. And if you didn't understand anything I said until this point, don't worry, I explain it all here.

Poseidon was... not supposed to be a wholly good, benevolent, and certainly not kind deity. I mean he has his positive point and his goodness, like all gods - because Greek gods are always neither wholly black or white, but grey (except for these minor gods that are personifications, and that do obey a black-and-white morality). And when you crack open the first Greek mythology manual for children you will often find the description of Poseidon as being just as temperamental and mercurial as the sea: sometimes Poseidon is a calm, quiet and kind god reflecting the peaceful sea ; other times he bursts out in anger and violence like a sea-storm, and his mood can change very, very quickly just like the oceanic weather. The Greeks were heavy sailors and fishermen: they knew the sea was their best ally and their more treacherous enemy, that they should worship but not trust it.

In terms of mythology, this is reflected by Zeus being the "dark twin" or at least "darker double" of Zeus. Zeus and Poseidon are plenty similar: both are one of the "big three" as the PJO series calls them, both are notorious for being lustful womanizers that keep having babies left and right, both are heavily implied in the great epics of heroes... The same way Hades was the "Chthonian Zeus", Poseidon was very much the "Oceanic Zeus". But the difference is that Poseidon was supposed to be much more dangerous, and much darker than Zeus.

Zeus embodied the law and the rules. He was a keeper of oath, a punisher of criminals, a rewarder of the goods, he embodied order and justice. Poseidon? No such thing. With his dual nature of helper and persecutor of heroes, with his sudden mood changes, with him surrounding himself with monsters and hybrids, Poseidon rather reflected a form of chaos. This was reflected for example in the quarrelsome nature of Poseidon, who kept getting into fights with other deities about the ownership of specific human cities or islands. His two most famous battles being his dual against Athena, for the ownership of Athens, and his trial against Helios for being the god of Corinth. But other tales of him feuding with gods for pieces of land exist...

And to that, it should be added that Poseidon was one of the most famous antagonists and hero-persecutors of Greek mythology, thanks to him being the big bad of "The Odyssey" and the archnemesis of Odysseus. This status as the antagonist of one of the two fundamental works of Greek literature puts him at the same place as, for example, Hera, the by-default persecutor of great heroes (just ask Herakles or Dionysos). It should be especially noted that The Odyssey takes a great care into painting Poseidon was maybe originally rightfully mad, but pushing the persecution beyond the reasonable. The beginning of the Odyssey has Athena plead for Odysseus' case before Zeus, pointing out the unfairness of his situation, and Zeus fully agree with her... but explains he can't do anything because Poseidon is still on the case and just will not let go. Poseidon is definitively a grudge-holder, and the Odyssey is not subtle about it.

But the final trait that confirms and illustrates well the dark, evil, chaotic side of Poseidon is his entourage, his children especially. As I said, Zeus and Poseidon are both father-figures in Greek mythology, and both are gods who just keep sleeping with everything around them. But Zeus' constant lust was depicted in a positive light, as him enacting his role as "father of gods", "father of men", as king, and god of justice and protector of civilization: because from his loins were born the greatest gods of the mythology, and the most admirable and benevolent heroes, and the great kings that founded the Greek civilization. But Poseidon? Oh, Poseidon was the "shadow" of Zeus as I said, a sort of dark twin. And so what did he gave birth to? Monsters and criminals and murderers.

The tradition of "the sea giving birth to monsters and chaos" is a very old one, in fact it is a trait of the Indo-European religions, as old as the Babylonian or Summerian mythologies. Even before we get on Poseidon's case, we can remind of the fact that the oldest and most dangerous monsters in the Greek world were given birth to by Phorcys and Ceto, two old and ancient sea-deities that predated Poseidon's rule, and were associated with sea-monsters and sea-dangers (Ceto/Keto herself shared her name with whales, any kind of huge sea beasts, and many of the creatures we describe now as sea-monsters or sea-dragons). Ladon, for example, the dragon guarding the Golden Fleece, was Keto's child ; and so was Echidna (aka the mother of monsters, who birthed with Typhon the rest of the monsters of Greek mythology). And speaking of Phorkys, Poseidon ended up sleeping with two of his daughters.

One was the nymph Thoosa of which we know barely anything - but her child became famous. Polyphemus, the monstrous and savage man-eating cyclop that became such a terrifying image through the Odyssey. The other was, as I said before... Medusa the Gorgon. And as I explained before, in the oldest recorded versions of the myth, there was no transformation: the Gorgon was born a hideous and terrifying monster. The snake hair, the petrifying gaze, the monstrous face that embodied everything the Greeks deemed ugly, the metallic claws and wings... And all that seduced Poseidon somehow, and he made her his lover, and they even had children together - which in turn were also monsters. The benevolent Pegasus, and the mysterious Chrysaor (who in turn later gave birth to Geryon, the three-bodied monster Herakles had to fight).

This trend of Poseidon choosing the most unusual, dangerous or terrifying consorts to give birth to monsters heroes will later have to face is confirmed by the recurring image of Poseidon having slept with GAIA out of all goddesses. And who are the children attributed to this unon of Poseidon with his own grandmother (not only that, but to my knowledge it is the only time an Olympian slept with Gaia, who usually mates with other primordial deities)? Charybdis, of the dreaded Scylla and Charybdis (Scylla is also sometimes identified as Poseidon's daughter - though she was before that a daughter of Phorkys, and it seems she became a Poseidon daughter simply because through time Poseidon absorbed Phorkys within himself) ; Laestrygon, the ancestor and first king of the Laestrygons (another race of brutal, man-eating giants like the cyclops of Polyphemus island), and finally Antaeus, yet another murderous giant (though he didn't eat people).

If you weren't certain of the fact that Poseidon was supposed to be "mostly a bad guy with some good sides" in Greek mythology, just wait until your hear about Theseus' legends! Now everybody knows of Theseus slaying the Minotaur... But before that, Theseus did another whole set of heroic feats. You see, as he left his birth-place to reach Athens in hope of finding back his father, Theseus actually did his first real heroic feats. The roads of Ancient Greece back then were infested with all sorts of robbers, thiefs and murderers - some psychopathic humans, others humanoid monsters, some human working with monsters... And Theseus managed to kill the most dreadful and dangerous ones during his journey. And... surprise surprise! Most of them were children of Poseidon!

Procrustes, the guy who loved to cut people he just invited to go to bed? Son of Poseidon. Cercyon who forced travellers to wrestle to death against him? Son of Poseidon. Sciron who pushed people from a cliff after asking them to wash his feet? Son of Poseidon. Periphetes who smashed people with a big club? Possibly a son of Poseidon.

And then, you have to count on the fact most of the evil and wicked kings of Ancient Greece ended up being "sons of Poseidons" at one point or another: Augeas with his filfthy stables ; Pelias the antagonist of the Jason legend ; Polydectes who antagonized Perseus was in later texts a Poseidon son ; there's also Amykos who had some common elements with Cercyon...

And THEN, not criminals on the road, not vicious kings, but the friggin's ALOADS. The monstrous giants that tried to destroy the Olympians and take over Olympus? POSEIDON SONS.

When something good comes out of Poseidon, it is generally a surprise and has to deal with a lot of the bad stuff their own father produced. (In some variations of the Theseus legend for example, Theseus becomes a son of Poseidon, which completely changes the angle of his stories - as his opposition to the Minotaur and his battles against the bandits make him look like the "good son" of Poseidon having to get rid of all the monstrous sons or indirect creations of his father...).

Even the more neutral or benevolent sons of Poseidon are freaky or disturbing. The first son of Poseidon and Amphitrite is Triton - half-man half-fish, and probably the origin of the origin of the triton species. Some consider Proteus the son of Poseidon, and he is a frightening shapeshifter. And then there's the whole host of "talking magical animals" Poseidon gave birth to, which reflects how "primitive" and... let's say "inhuman" the god stays - from the ram from which comes the Golden Fleece to Arion the fabulous horse. Usually, gods who have such a parent-relationship with animals, in Greek mythology, are not good guys (for example Ares in the Cadmos legend, and his relationship with the dragon Cadmus/Cadmus killed...).

If you ask me who my favorite fictional Poseidon is in media, I will say without a doubt, the Poseidon of "Mission Odyssey" as you call it in English (I always found this title silly, in French it was "The Odyssey", and that's it):

Now, I know that "Mission Odyssey" is WILDLY inaccurate to Greek mythology and they clearly tried to stretch as much as they could... everything. Just a look at Poseidon's design above tells you that they clearly do not want to give a "traditional" retelling of the Greek myths.

But, that being said, there's a reason why I love this cartoon, and its because for everything inacurracy they have something that is done perfectly right, and in fact well ahead of their time. For example Hades: they did Hades right, as an imposing, frightening deity... but a neutral and fair one, that shows to be understanding, just and generous, and that only acts unfairly and antagonizing when tricked by Poseidon (and promptly apologizes when he realizes he was tricked). And Poseidon's characterization is also done, for me, right, because they truly manage to represent what Poseidon in the Odyssey is supposed to be.

A bad guy, yes, the antagonist of the story, a grudge-holder and a schemer and a bully who is ally, boss or father of most of monsters and criminals of Greek mythology, and is driven by pride and anger... But who is also shown to care about his children (in his own way), to try to respect the divine law and rules as much as he can (though he breaks them whenever carried away by his ego and anger, and doesn't shy from "cheating" at the "divine game") ; and that is shown to be well-liked and positively-seen by many gods and Greek cities, outside of the Odysseus-plotline. In fact, not only does the story hints and offers glimpses at the good side of Poseidon despite focusing on him as a bad guy ; but it also explains why the good side is "outstage" by turning into a story-tool the villainization of Poseidon. As in, the god is shown, just to obtain a petty win against Odysseus or satisfy his obsession with him, to trick, cheat and bully his friends and allies, who later turn against him when they realize the treachery or the deceit, and as a result over the course of the story he gets more and more alienated by all those that loved or respected him... Precisely because of how he plays an antagonist to Odysseus' story.

If you want a Disney's Hades-like villain (as in a recurring divine villain in a Greek mythology story that allies the sinister and the funny), but that is much more mythologically accurate than Disney's product, take Mission Odyssey's Poseidon.

And I just love the design. It is Asterix meets Ursula and I just LOVE this (but given this series came from the same studio that did things such as Martin Mystery, Totally Spies or Team Galaxy, cool unusual designs are expected).

[factual-fantasy]

25 asks :}} MERRY CHISTMAS! 🎄🎄🎄

Jevil and Seams world still exists, its just so horrible that they don't ever want to go back to it..

Grillby and River persons AU were both destroyed/de-stabilized..?? Their worlds don't exist anymore.. they cant go back.

Goner Kid's AU still exists, but another version of her already exists in it. Its like a duplicate..? Of her was created when she fell into the void. When she tried to re-enter her AU, it was hurting the other Goner Kid. In order for her to go back, someone would have to kill that other Goner kid. But that Kid has a family, real memories, emotions.. she's a person too... no one had the heart to kill her. She cant go back..

Spamton's AU still exists, but he doesn't want to go back. There was nothing for him there. He had no friends, no family, he hated his life. And being in his own world for some reason causes his pain to be more extreme/less tolerable. So staying away from his AU brings him some relief..

Asgore's AU still exists, but he cant go back. Or else he will continue turning into dust and eventually fully die.. staying out of his AU is the only thing keeping him "alive"..

@abaroo

I don't know if their boss status really played much of a role.. mostly their friendship started with Jevil helping Spamton, and then sparked into something more by them having a similar sense of humor. :00

As for the phone person? I haven't decided if my Spamton had that phone guy or not.. but if he did, I might make it so they're different people. Or maybe the same person but from different aus..?? 👀👀

The group might not keep in touch consistently. But I can see them occasionally returning to this AU to seek shelter, knowing that they're safe here.

Like imagine they got in a wicked fight and some of their toughest members are all beat up. They retreat to this AU and hide out in the forest to rest. Some of the Queens guards find the group and bring them to her. She's surprised to hear that they've been living in the woods.

"Why did you not return to my castle?"

"We didn't want to intrude or overstay our welcome..."

"Nonsense! You are always welcome here."

Now as for Seams relationship with her? I imagine its complicated.. Of course he thinks she is wonderful and very gracious. Having freed him from his chains and continuing to welcome them into her castle..

But Seam can't help but be afraid of her. She is the same species as the Spade King. He cant help but be reminded of the king when he looks at her and feel uncomfortable or intimidated..

Seam is probably stressed and uncomfortable being in her castle, despite how kind the Queen is.. Everything just reminds him of the King and all the horrible things associated with him.. its just.. man, its complicated.

@tanileaf

WAAHAHRHHDHF THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING!! 😭😭💖💖💖

@mishishiwritings

Aw its ok! <XD Don't worry, it really is mostly a design choice now. But to go over the story again..

When I was designing my sona I wanted something to be on my hands. Gloves? Different skin color? I didn't really know.. Now at the time my fingers/knuckles were covered in band-aids due to dry skin and cat scratches.

So I thought hey! I can give my sona edgy bloody bandages! And I can call them my weathered artists hands! XD And so I added them.

Although my hands still aren't in the best shape today, I'm pretty hard on them- the bloodied hands don't have any darker or concerning origin. Just cat scratches and dry skin. I appreciate the concern though! 🥺💖💖💖

Also thank you! Happy holiday and a happy new year to you too! :}}

@taizarack

Yeah, my sona is kind'a all over the place <XD for funsies I made this little chart that might help explain the strange forms I take XDD

Basically, the drippy-ness and blood is when I want to emphasize my exhaustion and/or emotions is some way..?

And the "stable" version is usually seen at the start of comics before I've consumed any energy. Or in posts with 1-2 drawings that don't take much time/energy to make. Also being a drama queen is fun. Does that make sense..? <:D

@purplelordscp035j

THNAK YOU SO MUCH!! :DDDD

I'm assuming you're talking about the ruin mask? If so, that would be very bizarre.. they wouldn't know what to make of it. How is this thing even possible?? <XDD

@lizard-queen-things

Wow, 2020? That feels like forever ago-

And well I just kind'a lost interest in tfp. <XD I never even finished the show due to lost interest- such is life :/

@citrusfruitman

XD You're the first person to ever send me that I believe. Season's Greason's indeed :}

Nooo, <:/ I had already planned out my AU before the Ruin DLC came out. No room/reason to add prototype Freddy.

@starrypaint09

Fank u! :}}}

Here's a link to my FNAF master post! (Its also in my pinned post <XD)

I got an ask about this recently, :0 I'm sad to say that I'm actually unfamiliar with this game.. sorry! <XD

Part of me thinks it would be very foreign to their (probably cruddy) Fazbear brand pizza. <XD Chica would love it though!

This is a really good question! :0 I had to think about it for a sec XDD

For Freddy and Glamrock Foxy I imagined their vice would be the same, hoarding. They would try to latch onto things and objects that make them feel better. At first it would start with collecting certain posters of event that they had a good time at. Or if someone gave them a plush they would hide it from employees so that they could keep it. But then it would quickly spiral into something worse..

They would both start stealing from the other animatronics. Taking things that they see as valuable and worry the others might throw away. Or if they had a nice time at a kids birthday party they would try to collect souvenirs. Like the present wrapping and bows. Trash and plates with food still on them.

Freddy would collect all this trash and stuff and hoard it in his room. The food would get moldy and make his room a hazard. But Freddy would become very protective of his room and his collection. The employees would try to clean if but Freddy just wouldn't have it. They would have to clean out the worst of it little by little so Freddy wouldn't notice..

Foxy would be the same except once his room got too full, he would extend his collection to Pirates cove. Parents would complain about Pirates cove being dirty and about there being trash all over the floor. But just like Freddy, Foxy would be very protective of his collection and it would be a hassle to clean..

For Glamrock Bonnie however, his is harder to describe.. but I imagine he is completely opposed to change. Maybe OCD you could call it..?

I can see Bonnie being hurt by all the change in his life. When Freddy and Chica died that was a huge change. When the glamrock era began and they threw out everything familiar to him.. it hurt. It was a big change.

I can see Bonnie hating change. For 5 seconds, he wants everything to just, stay the same. This might manifest in Bonnie not allowing any employees in his room. Becuase he doesn't want them moving anything around. He wants to come back to his room after a stressful day and have his room be exactly the way he left it. This would mean Bonnie's room gets very dirty/dusty but he wont allow anyone to clean it.

Not sure how this could spiral to something that effects other people.. Maybe he doesn't like the new songs that they are told to sing. He just wants to sing the same familiar songs he already knows. This could cause problems for the other animatronics because Bonnie wont cooperate? Things like that. :0

I suppose anyone who doesn't have a river person in their AU would be spooked yeah <XD Poor river person :(

XDD Yeah "Mommy look! A Kangaroo!"

Bonnie:

Yes, Seam is absolutely devastated with guilt. Not a day goes by where he doesn't feel horrible for what he did to Jevil.. And despite your point, Jevil holds nothing against him. Not anymore, and here's why.

Jevil was there when the king threatened Seam. When the king commanded him to lock Jevil away. It was very clear from the situation that the King would hurt or even kill Seam if he did not obey. Seam was torn, tears streaming down his face. He was shaking.. He had no choice. It was lock Jevil up, or face the Kings wrath. He had to.. if he didn't, both of them would probably have been slaughtered..

He doesn't resent Seam for locking him up. He knows he had to. But after years of being down there.. Jevil did develop a bit of resentment over Seam never visiting him. He always expected Seam to sneak down to the dungeon to see him.. but he never did.. that he resented a bit.

But as soon as he escaped, and found out why Seam never visited.. that resentment all vanished.

Seam tried to visit Jevil. But he was caught. And what was his punishment? His eye was gouged out, his mouth stitched shut, and heavy shackles clasped around his neck and wrists. He was told of he ever tried to visit Jevil again. The king would kill them both.

How could Jevil hold any resentment after that? There was nothing else Seam could have done..

I think it was the opposite. Jevil saw the danger of the situation. It was clear that if Seam didn't lock Jevil up, the King would likely kill them both.

Seam was extremely hesitant. He was crying, he didn't want to lock him up..

Instead of begging the king for mercy, knowing the king would not listen. Jevil probably just tried to comfort Seam..

"Seam.. i-its ok... j-just.. just do it... just do what he says.."

I don't think I ever gave them claws.. I suppose if the situation calls for it they'll magically have them XD Not sure about scratching post though, they'd more likely just want to use a nail file :0

I sat on this ask and thought about it for a while.. and every time I think about it I picture the same scenario..

Asgore comforting a neutral route Undyne..

@beryl-shade

I'd like to think that Bibi can because he's very cat-like. but Cici? Mayyybe not? <XD She's more mouse-like to me.

@britneyt

WOAH HANG ON!- I cant make THAT many arms! XDD

Also thank you! Good night/day to you as well! :}}}

Oh yeah, it likely happens a lot. :( And you know Jevil is either gonna deny it, or curl up under a blanket and refuse to let anyone touch him in an attempt to not spread it..

[possumsarenice]

Villain Couple Showtime AU

The idea of villain couple Showtime popped into my brain and I mixed it with this theory (plz read it first) to make this AU. Though I will say that  in this AU, instead of it being completely automated, their human-selves are spawning disaster-events. They are actually affecting the game, but only to make things worse for the characters. This is so our silly little guys a little bit more of a motive. Also, I have a bad habit of making AUs and then abandoning them, so if you want more, please send me asks about it.

A few years after Caine and Pomni start dating, the cast starts digging into the game’s code. They find out The Truth about what they are and what their “real” selves thinks of everything. They all (expectedly) do not take this well. Within the next 3 days, everyone abstracts expect for Pomni (and Caine since a can’t) because having Caine with her managed to keep her stable enough… just barely.After all that, Caine tries to dig deeper into the code and (with the help of Pomni) manages to sneak into stuff he wasn’t supposed to mess with. He manages to find were the A.I.s of the performers were held before they abstracted, including the ones that were there before Pomni showed up. Their code is glitchy and incomplete now, but Caine can use it to make what are basically imperfect clones (as in, they differ from the originals). While Caine is trying to figure out all that, Pomni, who was already starting to lose it by being in the game for so long, decides that it’s revenge arc time. She still wants to leave the game, but instead of trying to go back to reality, she’s trying to break into different games, programs, and websites. Someway, somehow, she is going to make their human counterparts suffer. By the time Caine finally gets the hang of making the clones, Pomni has convinced him to join her. And with the clones, we enter into the villain part of this AU. Because while it’s generally agreed that being angry at someone and wanting them to get some sort of punishment is good, doing it yourself in ways that hurt innocent people is bad. And… oh boy. Pomni’s plan was to immediately tell the clones everything so they could help with the revenge thing, it sorta broke all of them and they all abstracted. But Caine does have back ups for all the clones, and each back up is the same as the OG clones so it’s basically regular cloning now. And with that, Caine and Pomni begin to look to ways to reveal the truth about everything to each the clones without them abstracting, with trail-and-error. Countless clones are made and abstracted as they try and fall over and over again. Pomni justifies it to herself with stuff like “the clones are all basically the same so they aren’t really dying” and “I respect the dead unlike my counterpart, I gave the originals and the clones failed bodies’ a grave.” But her biggest justification is the fact that they have had some success. Not entirely sure which ones just yet, but they do eventually manage to get all the right conditions to tell a clone without them abstracting, who then go on to help Pomni and Caine… because it’s not like they have a choice.

That’s it for the story rn. But I will say this, despite the fact that they’re both A Little Fucked Up Actually, they have a surprisingly healthy dynamic. The vibe is Pomni villain-monologuing to Caine to tell him the plan and as a sign of affection, and him thinking it’s adorable. But I will say the two are seeing this through different lenses. Pomni refuses to admit she goes too far and constantly justifies everything to herself, meanwhile Caine can see the writing on the wall and just goes “Oh boy, evil time!”

I haven’t really sat down to come up with designs, but I do know that Pomni and Caine will be mostly the same, just with a bit of the other’s themes mix in. And the clones will also look similar to their canon counter parts, but their designs will be just ever so slightly different from them. But I have decided that everyone has heterochromia, with one of the eye��s colors being an indicator of how much they know and for how long. Blue is “does not know the truth.” Green is “has just been told the truth and Caine and Pomni are waiting to see if they abstract. And Red is “knows the truth and seemingly isn’t in danger of being abstracted.”

[lightandfellowship]

My first draft of a Halloween Town Vor design. Just a doodle while I try to figure it out. (She's a fairy and a sphinx).

Though this probably won't be the final design, and I may even change my mind about the creatures I picked, here's some design notes to explain my current thought process:

Nomura has stated that his Halloween Town designs for Sora, Donald, and Goofy mix two different creatures together to create a more unique design (Goofy is Frankenstein's monster and a werewolf, Donald is a mummy and an invisible man, Sora is a vampire and an imp) so for the sake of pursuing authenticity, I wanted to make sure that my design incorporated two creatures as well.

Though a fairy may seem like an odd choice at first and something that would fit Christmas Town more (sugar-plum fairies and all) I'm thinking of the more traditional concept of a fairy that is mischievous and a little bit dangerous. (Though certainly if Vor were to visit Christmas Town, I think her design would become that more benevolent and cutesy kind of fairy.) Which I think fits Vor pretty well: she seems small and sweet, but don't underestimate her.

I wanted to balance the mischievous side of Vor with her observant/wise side (she's named after a wise Goddess after all), so I thought a sphinx would work there. Thus the lion paws and tail. In addition, the sphinx is known for asking people riddles, which I felt made for a nice reference to the Magic Mirror that's so important to Vor's story in the game, since it, too, speaks in rhymes and riddles. The sphinx also has eagle wings along with their lion body, which I think allows her sphinx and fairy side to be incorporated together well enough, since both creatures share the design element of wings. (Also, the big rope bow on Vor's back in her original design kinda resembles wings already). I tried to do something sort of similar with her ears, giving her the long ears of a fairy but adding fur to the tips to give it that cat-like appearance. Again, trying my best to marry two different creatures together that have vastly different visual aesthetics. Could be better, though? It's kind of hard to mix them together and make it look good/cohesive, I think.

I noticed two things about Sora's Halloween Town design that I felt were relevant and important for Vor's design: one, though Sora's design is drastically changed from his default KH1 design, the silhouette and shape of his clothes is mostly the same. And two, Sora's crown charm still exists on his Halloween Town design, it's just been changed from a necklace to a brooch on his bowtie. In light of these two things, I tried to keep Vor's clothes relatively the same shape with just some minor changes here and there (such as simplifying her big collar and making her shoes look more whimsical and fairy-like). And much like Sora's crown, I kept her "Terra's Mark" emblem (that's the canon name for it apparently), and just changed the ribbon around it to be more curly and Halloween-esque.

Vor has two different prints/designs on her original design: a column of circles on her sleeves, and curved rows of circles on the bottom of her jacket. I changed the sleeve design so the bottom-most circle is a yellow cat eye, which I think feels appropriately sphinx-like and Halloween-y. As for the design on the bottom of the jacket, I'm not quite sure I like it. I just changed it to a simple spiderweb design, because (1. I thought it would look nice there and (2. Sora's Halloween Town design has the jack-o'-lantern mask, so I felt like a more "cliche" Halloween motif was needed somewhere on Vor's design; the eyes just wouldn't cut it. If I end up refining this design more, the cobwebs may be exchanged with something more fitting.

And finally, the most obvious and simple to explain change...her color palette is now much more desaturated to match Halloween Town's gloomy, dark atmosphere. Though I did depart a bit from Nomura's approach here: for Sora, Nomura made his color palette almost completely black/grey/white. For Vor, however, I felt her original purple and gold color palette already lends itself well to Halloween, so I decided to keep her color palette relatively the same, just desaturating it heavily. I also simplified her palette in areas, such as making her belt a plain blue instead of its usual brown/gold/white, and removing the gold from her shoes.

[disgruntleddemon]

so i decided to redraw the doo family tree from the scooby doo encyclopedia! these designs def aren't set in stone, but it was rly fun! I tried to keep general poses and expressions the same. i couldn't figure out a good way to squeeze the names in there, but they're in the same order as the original pic. here's some design notes:

Dixie Doo got the most drastic change. i hate her cannon one. for my design she's inspired by Dolly Parton. no more lipstick, but she can have eyeshadow. and i left it intentionally up to the viewer if her darker cheeks is blush or her actual markings

Scooby Dee looks the most like an actual great dane, since that's how she looks in cannon. i think it's funny how different she looks to other dogs in the family, so i left it

i wanted Skippy Doo to look like a scruffy version of his dad, but he ended up looking like Spooky Doo lol

Dooby Doo intentionally looks a lot like Scooby, since the ep he's in the fact they look really similar is important

i'm not entirely pleased with any of the grandpas, but ehh, whatever

i added a lil hair and chin fluff to Whoopsy Doo. i think it looks cute.

anyway, feel free to ask if u have any other questions on the designs! This was rly fun! original pic under the cut:

[mauesartetc]

Faux-compositing Hazbin Hotel for more visual clarity

A while back I recolored a screenshot from the Hazbin Hotel pilot to make the overall palette look more cohesive. Here’s the original:

And here’s the result.

And I figure, hey, that was fun, and folks (myself included) seemed to learn from it. Why not make some more? If you subscribe to the “every frame a painting” philosophy, this is the post for you.

I’ve always had two criticisms regarding Hazbin’s colors:

1. There’s entirely too much red in the environment. I know it’s Hell, but this is really overbearing. There are ways to make the setting feel oppressive other than bombarding viewers’ eyes, y’know?

2. The background characters have so many disparate palettes that they don’t feel like they belong in the setting. This could’ve been avoided by giving the fans who designed the characters a master palette to use as a guideline. Here’s the one I used for my hellhound designs:

It contains colors derived from canon Helluva Boss characters, which makes the new ones feel like they fit in the same world rather than hailing from completely different shows. For the faux-composite above, I sampled colors from Charlie and the background, and used them to rework the surrounding characters. For other shots, though, I may use the hellhound palette as needed since Helluva Boss is set in the same universe.

Let’s get to it!

To start with, there’s a lot going on in this scene. We have a detailed foreground character, a detailed background, and a middle ground character caught between them. In the left side of the frame, it’s hard to read the wolfman’s silhouette against the background elements since their values are so similar. Meanwhile, the cowboy stands out fine for the most part, though his hat brim gets a bit lost in the trim of the building behind him. So basically I needed a way to make all three layers look distinct from one another.

I settled on cloaking most of the background in shadow and doing the same for the cowboy, except for rim lighting and a glow from his cigarette to highlight his face. The wolfman and cart full of bodies have minimal shading; enough to give them some dimension but not so much that they blend in with everything behind them.

We then have more background characters to deal with at the news station:

In these cases, I simply painted over the crowd with purple on a couple Multiply layers (same as my initial recolor of these folks), erasing bits here and there to suggest rim lighting and glowing eyes. Charlie’s silhouette stands out much more clearly now that the heightened value contrast has cemented her as the focus.

I tried a similar approach with the demons outside the TV store:

While there was never any doubt that Alastor was the focal point here, I felt the ancillary characters’ color schemes could be more unified, and that their shading could reflect the light sources surrounding them (mainly the TVs in front of them, and the fire surrounding the horned skull demon). I also felt the wall on the right was blending in too much with the background, so I threw on some shading to make it pop.

Now we get to Charlie’s phone call:

I found it odd that the stained glass in the doors was illuminated from the inside when the previous scenes showed us that the hotel was dark. We did see a check-in desk with functional lights, but it was located waaaay down the hall from these doors. Thus, the glass is now in shadow, with some added texture on the edges to suggest its thickness.

Charlie is now also covered in shadow to fit the gloomy mood of the scene, though the rim lighting and her unshaded eyes keep her separate from the background.

Finally, the skyscraper windows in the second screenshot were way too bright, which gave them a contrast that drew attention away from Charlie. It’s never a good sign when animation backgrounds upstage the characters. So I slapped some color on them and shaded that front row of buildings to boost the overall gloom factor.

Then, Alastor arrives:

Given the darkness of the previous scene in the same location, I figured it’d make sense to kill the lights in the awning for this one. And now that most of the hotel is in shadow, Charlie and Alastor stand out a lot more (especially Alastor’s hand, which was practically invisible against the red wall). It really helps that the saturated yellow of the awning is toned down so it won’t be such an eye trap any longer.

Alastor makes himself at home:

...And the hyper-detailed background threatens to swallow him up.

Look, guys- I get that you’re proud of your rendering skills and all, and it’s admirable that you put so much love and care into these layouts. But, y’know, we don’t have to see the whole thing, especially not at the cost of the final frame. The portraits and wallpaper are especially distracting, battling Alastor for visual dominance. A little shading ensures Alastor is the focus without obscuring the portraits completely. Let ‘em be fun Easter eggs fans can study when they pause the video, not the stars of the show.

Alastor then regards the two grumps on the couch:

There was a noticeable lack of shading in this scene (except the default shadows on what I’m guessing were 3D models), making everything look flat. With the help of my good friend the Multiply layer, I gave the background some dimension and brought the characters forward.

Vaggie warns Charlie that Alastor is bad news, and Charlie takes it into consideration:

Again, we have the issue of background portraits attempting to steal the characters’ thunder. In the second screenshot, look at how much those bright greens and cyans stick out like a sore thumb against the dusky pink of everything else. Was it really necessary to keep all the colors of that illustration exactly how they were for the final product?

To remedy this, I desaturated the portrait’s colors and skewed them towards red so the image would better fit the context of the scene. And parts of the picture frame next to it were blending into the wall, so I added some shading there to make it stand out more.

Sometimes, changes made to a confined area can make a world of difference:

I muted the bright greens of the balloon and the flag so their saturation wouldn’t dominate everything else in the scene (again, eye traps), and shaded the stuff behind Alastor so his side of the frame wouldn’t look so busy.

I used similar tactics for when Niffty enters the picture:

For the first screenshot, I plunged the left side of the background into darkness, shaded the center with mainly lighter colors, and left the right side alone since that’s where the light emanated from. This resulted in a sort of gradient effect in the shading, which let Alastor and Niffty pop out a lot more.

In the second screenshot, the vase on the right was a bit distracting in how detailed it was compared to its surroundings, and it was the only pink thing in the frame besides Niffty. I shaded it so it wouldn’t steal the spotlight without disappearing completely. There was also the matter of adding shadows to the rest of the environment, particularly the stretch of hearth the firelight doesn’t touch, and the skeletons on either side of the furnace’s opening. Just some little touches to help the world feel more solid.

Then we meet Husk, and things get tricky.

Husk’s bar was a challenge due to its plethora of light sources. The green rim lights on Husk and Alastor suggest the light’s coming from the green blackjack table, but then we also have light coming through the window, lights in the sockets of the skulls above the bar, a yellow glow from the top of the bar itself, and a faint green glow from the top edges of the wooden wall. And in the third screenshot, the window grabs a lot of attention since it’s almost smack in the center of the frame and it sports some pretty saturated colors.

I did my best to shade things in a believable manner without using too much of a single color. I’m happy with how the purple worked to tone down the window, though I might change the brightness of the blackjack table. It’s still pretty saturated and a bit distracting from Husk and Alastor, though at least they stand out from the wall a bit better.

Now for the part where things get PINK:

Like wow, SO much pink. Holy hell.

I layered some yellow over Charlie and Alastor’s faces, bodies, and limbs so they’d be more discernible from the background, with extra emphasis on their faces to show just how enraptured they are during this musical number. I even left some glow in the negative space between them, representing how connected they are in this moment. Two auras become one. Or something. (Look, I am by NO means a Charlastor shipper; I just think a little more creativity in the visuals of a dance scene could convey more energy and chemistry between the partners. Especially when everything on screen is this monochromatic, like damn.)

Anyway, Sir Pent is here.

That blue in the tunnel of his airship was WAY saturated, and while the reds and yellows barely managed to pop out against it, I thought I’d give them more of a fighting chance. The body of the ship is also more consistently shaded to make it feel 3D, and I added some rim lights to the tips of Pent’s hood so they’d stand out against the dark tunnel.

But Alastor’s eldritch horrors dispose of Pent in pretty short order:

The extremely light glow on the left side of this screenshot caused the hotel to compete with the tentacles for dominance. And once again, there was the matter of the skyscraper windows being so bright they drew too much attention to themselves. I colored these windows with the same orange as the sky behind them, cloaked the hotel in shadow, kept a yellowish glow around the characters, and darkened the evil spirits to make them pop out.

Finally, we get the characters’ reactions to what just occurred:

Figured I’d handle both the normal lighting and the “horror” lighting for this scene. The normal version’s pretty simple: Color in more skyscraper windows, eliminate that weird ray of light that seems to come from nowhere, darken the top of the sky for more contrast with the characters, add some rim lights to Alastor to make his form more clearly defined, and remove the pentagram planet-thingy that looked like it was awkwardly resting on Husk’s hat.

The horror lighting involved some of the same steps, but with more addition than subtraction. The glow from the tentacle demons now hits our characters, lending them a greater sense of volume. Light purple shadows on the gang in the back offset the yellow glow, and Alastor now sports reflections in his shaded areas. There’s no character animation in the transition between the terror and the levity, so if a person wanted to paint this stuff in After Effects, then fade out its opacity to reach the regular lighting, they easily could. Hell, you know what?

Do with this information what you will.

So what’s the takeaway here? I guess, in a nutshell: Don’t let your animation backgrounds upstage the characters. Don’t make them so intricate or busy or saturated that they hog the spotlight. They don’t need to wow the audience with how impressive they are; they just need to serve the story.

Will the Hazbin series learn from past mistakes (including those made in Helluva Boss)? Fingers crossed. As always, I hope y’all found this post insightful or enlightening in some way. See you in the next one!

[midnightmah07]

hello, if you don't mind answering, how did you start posting your art and twst ocs? Do you have any advice for doing it?

I hope you have a great day/night, and don't forget to keep yourself hydrated

Hello hello thank you!! I hope you have a great day/night as well!

I just... Started posting? Like I just went to twitter (and Tumblr, once I started using it; same about TikTok) and posted the first little Daisy introduction post similar to this one, but less nicer and with Daisy's old design:

(I have deleted it because someone back then mentioned to me that the template was stolen from someone else, and since I didn't know the original person I decided to take it down)

I just started posting anything I had come up with about Daisy, mainly her relationship with Ruggie, until I gained a following here and on TikTok (I never got a following on Twitter I swear I tried that app is skdjkejsjd UGHHH–) and made a few friends :]

While I am scared of criticism the love that people gave for my art (and admittedly, my relationship with God as well) helped me be more confident with what I post, so I just do it as if it's second nature!

In short, I say just start posting, don't let anything hold you back from it but most importantly: have fun. I cannot stress this enough, if your art is only a hobby (or the things that your posting about are hobbies) then there's no pressure on getting great too quickly, or getting a following fast, as long as you're having a great time these things will come naturally, and if they don't, at least you're just having fun with it!

I hope this was somewhat helpful? I tried my best dkjdkrkdkdk

[balanceoflightanddark]

Restless Souls: the Origins of the Most Evil Godzilla

It's no secret to anyone that Godzilla has run almost the entire morality spectrum in terms of morality in his 60+ career. He's gone from being an allegory for the hydrogen bomb to a destructive force of nature to a defender of the earth and back again, sometimes within the same film. It is to be expected for a series that's been around for so long with various creators having their own interpretations and view of the character, and how societal norms have changed over the years.

In this regard, the version seen in Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack (or GMK for short) is...unique.

This particular version of the king of the monsters is widely considered to be the most malevolent he's ever been. Granted, he's no stranger to being a bad guy and causing catastrophic amounts of death and destruction. But this incarnation is especially monstrous. There's a number of times where he almost seems to smile or sneer at the terrified civilians he's killing, whereas most versions are just rage incarnate. Even his design looks wrong, with those milky white blank eyes making him appear more like a ghoulish harbinger of death as opposed to any actual animal.

Well...there's an in-universe reason for why this particular Godzilla is so destructive than normal.

Hirotoshi Isayama: “This animal contains the restless souls of the countless people who perished during the terrible battles that took place during the Pacific conflict.”

Yuri Tachibana: “Their souls? In Godzilla?”

Hirotoshi Isayama: “In Godzilla, the souls of all those people have combined to bring life to the monster. Believe me, I have tried to warn people but they refused to listen. They think I'm mad.”

Yuri Tachibana: “But tell me, why does Godzilla keep attacking Japan? Why does it want to destroy us?”

Hirotoshi Isayama: “Because the Japanese people want to forget what happened... They have deemed it preferable to forget the pain and agony they inflicted on all those people!”

(Copied from Wikizilla)

To sum up, this version of Godzilla is explicitly said to be supernatural in origin. He's effectively the amalgamation of millions of souls that were killed in the Pacific and Chinese theaters that were unable to rest in death possessing the corpse of the original Godzilla that was killed in the first movie. And when you have that much undiluted hate and malice in one giant undead monster, you have a recipe for a particularly malevolent entity.

Interestingly enough, Japanese folklore does tell of a similar entity which might have inspired the creators.

According to Yokai.com, the Gashadokuro is a particularly terrifying yokai. The amalgamation of the souls of fallen soldiers who were denied proper burials, the Gashadokuro is a gigantic skeletal monstrosity formed by the bones and skulls of the deceased and animated by an unearthly hatred for the living that denied them their rest. Nearly unstoppable due to its size and strength, the Gashadokuro was a nightmarish being who's whole existence was to wreck havoc and death upon the world.

Given how spiritual beliefs and legends play in the narrative of GMK, Godzilla does have an uncanny resemblance to the Gashadokuro. Him going out of his way to kill civilians and innocents lines up perfectly with the Gashadokuro's hatred for mortals. Even his design looks less like a living animal and more like a corpse, with dead blank eyes, bony spines, and a bloated stomach full of decomposing gasses. And ultimately, he was almost unstoppable in the film, killing off three monsters awakened to defeat him and the majority of the JSDF. All of which lines up with the legend.

Which is what makes this version of Godzilla so destructive and malevolent. All that rage and hate of the restless dead created this monstrosity who's only purpose was to hurt and kill. Effectively, he's less a living being, and more an unrelenting engine of death and hate.