#the perspective the colors the outfit details...

[starswallowingsea]

does anyone have a recording of shu in the dressing room with his standard valk outfit? i need it for a project

[anxious-witch]

Okay, okay, fine I am doing analysis of Damon Baker's photoshoots 😂

That said, since a lot of people already analyzed Kris' and since Bojan's has less picture, I am gonna start with his. Also obviously, this is totally subjective, I am not claiming this is one true or absolutely correct analysis, just my thoughts on it.

Under the cut bc this will deff get long

So I cropped the pictures so I can analyze them separately

To start off with these two, because I think they were put like this bery purposefully. On the left, we have Bojan with his arms crossed, his expression is, the reminiscent of "The Fallen Angel" by Alexandre Cabanel (I apologize, someone else already did a comparison but I can't find it rn, feel free to tell me in the replies and I'll tag you). Bojan looks almost angry, his crossed over arms showing he is closed off and the spikes on his biceps emphasizes that. It literally feels like a warning sign. His eyes are downcast, as if he is looking down on something or someone. He is something to look at, but not touch, if you don't want to get hurt.

Then we have a smaller pictures right next to his one, that's almost exact opposite. It feels like we caught him in a momen where he was not meant to be seen. His face look tortured, like he just cried or is about to cry. His hair is messy in a way that doesn't feel like it was on purpose, but rather as if he messed it up during his inner turmoil. There is also a cigarette, which implies he is taking it to calm himself. His eyes are pointed upwards, as if he is seeking guidance from someone above him.

I feel like, for me, from storytelling perspective, these two pictures put together like this hint at Bojan's struggle with anxiety.

He is trying to appear tough and untouchable, the way he feels he has to be, but he is struggling internally. This is overall theme of the shoot, I think.

Next we have this shot of his outfit. My first thought when I saw this was "this looks oddly rugged for Bojan". And I do stand by it. The shirt is half undone, half tucked into his pants, but half outside in the back. Like he got dressed in a hurry. Like he doesn't care or perhaps doesn't have the energy to care about how he is appearing. And then, tbe belt buckle with a broken heart. I think, that's the core element in this particular picture. Especially in comparison to Kris' heart necklace. Despite the rugged clothes, there is something fragile underneath all that. His heart.

Then we have this one. And it's such a stark contrast than the previous three, I was genuinely shook. In this one, Bojan is openly vulnerable towards the camera, towards the viewer. Not looking up or down, but directly to the camera. Also the detail that @theraggedygirl11 pointed out about him wearing Damon's "safe sweater" broke me. It's almost as if he is saying, "look, this is how I am when I am allowed to be safe. This is how I am when I am not suffering".

What a contrast to the above outfit! The open shirt only poised as fake vulnerability, when a truly vulnerable Bojan isn't showing off his skin at all here, but rather his face. His emotions, all on display.

Another thing that strikes me as amazing in this particular picture (can you tell this one is my favorite?) is that his pose looks comfortable and his hair falls gently to the side, freely showing off his gray hairs, that are especially visible in black and white.

Then at last, we come to these three, all in color. Unlike Kris, who had water, Bojan has fire as his "element" in this photoshoot. Fire is passion, light, warmth. It entices you, and it's much more noticable at first. But it can also burn you. There is also a reason why we say we "burn out" as well. Bojan holding a literally lit match in his mouth is such an amazing imagery.

We all know that magic trick of a man extinguishing a match in his mouth, for the entertainment of all. Putting himself in a very vulnerable position. Lips, mouth and tongue are so soft, especially compared to fire that burns. And is that not in a way, exactly what Bojan does? He pours out his heart while he sings, leaving it to the crowd to decide if they are entertained with his preformance. And surez ither do it too, but I think we can agree he is the most on display.

The way he is looking at the camera first, as if waiting for a reaction, and then as the fire gets closer, his eyes close too, as if he is too scared to look.

Just....augh, I love the way Damon Baker showcased his personality through these and how he expressed so much through just a few pictures. Also, please feel free to add your own thoughts, I love hear other ppl's opinions on things like these

[itsyapeepkiri]

Hey @deerspherestudios!!! I finally finished the drawing!!!!! It only took 20 hours... but I hope you like it!!

This is based on Day 1, ending 1 of Mushroom Oasis, so spoilers if you don't know about it.

I'll add tags, but TW for death, bone, decomposition, decay (both human and animal), blood if you squint, body horror (???). Also, this will break your heart, so sorry, but the art gods demand tears today.

TWs UNDER CUT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Some tid bits about this project in no particularly order:

- I started this cause I thought about what it would look like if Mychael had found MC a little bit sooner (than the few weeks that it took for the body to decompose). Plus, I wanted to brush up on my anatomy skills.

- The trees were based on the image of in deerspherestudios's answer to an ask about Mychael's vision, specifically the 'bottom eyes closed' one.

- The cat is an orange tabby cause I thought it goes nice with canon green collar. The MC is based on deerspherestudios actual MC ref sheet. Mychael is deerspherestudios whole-heartedly, but I did use the outdoor outfit we see him in in the 2nd day.

- I would image that MC's and Mychael's bags are just off the page, but I just forgot to add them.

- The tree 2nd from the right was not supposed to be there. Or at least I don't think it was. I don't know how that tree got there, I swear. 😅

- My 1st hour, which ended up being a failed attempt, was based on my sleeping sibling. Then, when they woke up and took a look at my work, they mentioned that the hand was as big as the entire chest somehow. That's when I said screw it, tried to find some reference images, and ended up spending the next 1 and a half hours on a 3-D model website trying to force the pre-made models to bend to my will. After that, it went pretty smoothly. *cries in hating perspective*

- I used BiC Mark it permanent markers, an ultra fine point red Sharpie, a Sakura Pigma Micron 005 pen, some Prismacolor Premier colored pencils for details, and a random school issued yellow pencil and pink eraser to make this.

- You can't really see it, but the flowers that Mychael is holding are forget-me-nots, as a reference to the field he would have taken MC to on the 2nd day. They are also in the rough shape of a broken heart. 💔

- On that note, the mushrooms coming out of MC's eye are also shaped like a heart.

- And yes, our soft boi is crying... 😢

[dokidokitsuna]

RWBY: Next Steps

This is just a design collection (remember when I used to do those? 'Winter Mission', 'Summer Tour'?? Fun times~)...and it may be my last. Its only real purpose is to give me something fun to draw for the NeverFell Projects wrap-up series. The recent Adam and Cinder designs are technically part of this collection, too. ^^

These were much harder to do than those two, though...I've spent ~2 months chipping away at this set, trying and retrying to address several different RWBY design criticisms while still making the girls look good. ಥ_ಥ I've finally begun approaching success, though, so I wanted to talk a bit about these ideas.

Ruby The only one I managed to design in one try. ^^; This was my answer to the question I felt was posed by Ruby's Vol. 7 design: i.e. "how do we do a new Ruby design that feels more 'mature'??" Because I never liked how the V7 design attempted to do that. :/

Between the new hairstyle and the new 'generic adventurer' clothes, it felt less like they were trying to evolve Ruby Rose and more like they didn't like her original design and wanted to get as far away from it as possible. V1-Ruby was such an iconic look (and STILL IS), and yet there's no trace of it in V7-Ruby. None of the goth-lolita style or playful edge that even V4-Ruby managed to preserve...instead they just scrubbed everything out to start from scratch, with a new design that's honestly 'meh' at best.

So what I did was stick closely to V1-Ruby, while adding just a few big changes to make the look distinct. You say a 'combat skirt' is too childish for an older Ruby? Well then we'll make it shorts...but shorts that are just as frilly and cute as the original skirt, with a similar overall shape. You say her original hairstyle is too boring and 'safe'? Well, then we'll change it...by simply shaving half of it off. It's a much edgier look that simultaneously preserves the original shape of her hair: from every angle except front and back, her silhouette will remain the same.

You say you want to give her new shoes, but don't want the fandom to make fun of you for covering them in dozens of belts again? Here's a wild idea: cowboy boots. ^^ A totally unexpected, unique item that still fits in with the antique-ish vibe of her goth clothes.

Basically, I just wanted to prove that you can do something dramatically different with Ruby without completely abandoning her fashion sense.

Criticisms: The details are still lacking; I think I should work some red accents into her corset and boots. Also, I originally designed this outfit with a white shirt, and I kinda want it back (she had the team colors! R, W, B, and Y! ;_;)...the problem is that it clashes with the sheer thigh-highs. One must go...I'm sure I'll figure it out

Weiss The toughest of the bunch: I did three different Weiss designs before landing on this one. ^^;;; The big epiphany came when I realized that Weiss looks her best when she mirrors Ruby. The girls' original design concepts share a lot of features; I feel like the characters were designed to look like they belong together, and figured I might as well honor that.

ALSO-- and this was the biggest priority for Weiss' design-- I firmly believe that she should not look like a princess anymore. From a character designers' perspective, it is ludicrous that they gave her the giant Disney ballgown in the same volume where they put classism at the center of the plot and have her send her bourgeoisie father to jail. That right there is the definition of mixed messages...

I thought the whole point of Weiss' character arc was to distance herself from the uber-rich parasites of her family and fellow 'Atlas elites'. I thought we cemented that when she officially lost her "heiress" title in V4. o_O I expected her next look to ditch the crown and visually show that she's past the point of 'rebelling'-- there's no more authority in her life for her to rebel against; she's free now! But alas...

So as usual, I had to do it myself. This Weiss outfit is definitely still fancy, with the coattailed vest and ruffled sleeves, but there's a lot less 'decoration'; fewer jewels, fewer details. The construction is straightforward and simple. And of course, no more tiara. Instead I decided to give her a li'l snow pea flower and ribbon, which ended up inspiring her new periwinkle purple-y color scheme. Like her original design, it's actually fairly colorful, but does its job and puts the emphasis on the white elements.

Criticisms: ...Not many, this came out pretty good. ^^ I might reconsider the black coattails, but if I do I'll probably just switch it out with the indigo inner vest. I like the idea of her outfit construction mirroring Ruby's, but her color scheme mirroring Blake's, since they have a closer bond in NeverFell.

Blake Blake designs are notoriously difficult; if you wanna hear some great reasons why, I suggest you check out this old Twiins iink RWBY design ranking video, which always helps guide me when I do redesigns for the main 4. Anyway, this phenomenon makes it hard to describe what I did...I guess you could say I tried to combine all the best elements of all her outfits, while clinging to the 'fancy action girl' vibe of her original design.

I'm most proud of her new hairstyle-- I dunno why, I just enjoyed working on it and making those decisions. ^^ It's hard to tell, but it IS shorter; now shoulder-length instead of back-length. We make up for this with additional volume, emphasizing the waves in her hair texture by pushing them outward. And most notably: she keeps the ribbon. She just wears it differently, using it to accentuate her ears instead of hiding them. This way, we keep the point of interest on her head while still showing her character growth.

Criticisms: Infinite, countless. This is a good look, but something is definitely still off. ^^;;; I think some additional detail in certain places (not sure where yet...) might help 'finish' it, so to speak. Maybe some extra yellow accents...? Also, the bow obviously gets lost in her hair this way. I've tried several color changes and don't like any of them; I think I may just have to texture it differently in the final product. Fingers crossed...

Yang Another tough one...I only made 2 design drawings, but the colors took several rounds of trial and error. I think my excitement over finally arriving at a good color scheme TODAY was what spurred me to make this post. ^^;

Anyway...there is a specific piece of Yang design criticism I hear fairly often that drives me up the wall: people commonly complain that she doesn't wear enough yellow; that she doesn't represent her character color well because all she wears is a yellow shirt. And the character designer in me wants to rip my teeth out whenever I hear this, because it blindly ignores the giant fairy-tale-inspired mass of yellow that is her hair, and the purposely attention-grabbing pops of yellow that make up Ember Celica. They're not "clothes", technically, but they're still part of the design! It's like saying a character with green skin can't represent the color green if all their clothes are black...without realizing that maybe their clothes are black BECAUSE they have green skin, in order to draw your attention to it...!! (╬▔皿▔)╯I just jifjkdsnfksahujknsjnfufh

...Anyway, anyway...the point is, it's difficult to take a character design with so much natural yellow in it and add yellow clothes and still have it read well. But because I like a challenge, I decided to take it on. I think the difference between the mustard leather and neon yellow hair is large enough to make it work, while still feeling casual enough for everyday wear. The champagne off-white she wears in her 'Hunter' outfit (which heavily inspired this) looks great, but it feels too 'classy' to me; like something specifically meant to dazzle the audience with her beauty for one special adventure, not for her to wear often.

On that note, my secondary mission with this design was just to make Yang look cute again, by following the structure of her V1 look, and even adding a little skirt on top of her battle shorts, which looks surprisingly natural considering she almost never wears one.

I don't know what happened in the canon to make the character designer forget the 'Yellow Beauty' part of her character concept; tbh even if her gender presentation gets more masculine she can still look pretty. Designs like Ozma, V7 Qrow and V4 Ren show that they understand this, but choose to cover Yang up in flavorless sheets of beige anyway. :T Making sure she always has a boob window isn't enough; the clothes themselves need to say something too.

Criticisms: ...Honestly, none? I think this might be solid. :> We'll see what happens when I draw it properly. I hope the white socks work out, because then she'll successfully be wearing the RWBY color scheme, which fits her (former, implied...) role as the glue holding the team together.

[miss-crazy-rose]

Still riding that Dead Boy Detectives brain rot and

There’s is this creator on TikTok valeria who did a few videos about DBD and some of them are extremely detailed outfits analysis of Edwin and Charles (and let me tell you, the costume department knows his shit. These are historically accurate)

Anyway on their Charles analysis they pointed out that his polo shirt, while originally bright red in the pilot, progressively turns burgundy, then black, then burgundy again, then back to red in the final scene, as a way to represent Charles inner struggles during the season (went back to check this out and it’s true!!!).

First, that’s an amazing detail to add to a character’s costume.

Second, on a more watsonian perspective:

Do you think Charles’s polo just changes color like a polo version of a mood ring?

Or do you think Charles just has a entire collection of identical Fred Perry polo shirts but in different shade of red because boy has an aestheticTM to stick to okay?

[h7jfangirl]

TGS UPTADE (Chapter Cover) ✨🎩

I love this one, I think it's my favorite cover until this point.

Jekyll has his old outfit I LOVE THE REFERENCES

Guys, ITS THE OLD DESING GUYS.

When I saw this cover, my first thoughs of it weren't the most pessimist, really

The colors are soft and lighter, and the place looks beautiful and peacful, it gave me nostalgic vibes but I mostly felt... Comfort

So I though this chapter would be the star of the final redemption arc of Jekyll's and Hyde's relationship, the chapter where all their fight would finally end for good and start to actually accept themselfs and work together as a team

I interpret Hyde's expression as a "Wait what!?" Reaction to actual self-love coming from Jekyll, and read the name of this chapter as something of "We are a team! We are together in this! So if one of us goes down, we are going down together! I would never ever leave you alone!" Like a thing of friendship or Brotherhood even.

But after reading the Comment Section in the page, I finally notice that something was off in the cover, a simple detail telling that this may not be a 'end of the conflict' type of chapter

And that simple detail...

It's Jekyll

I really hope he goes insane in this chapter, like ACTUAL insanity, I love when a calm character goes through a 'madness arc' and sadly I don't see it often so I WANNA SEE SOME GOOD SHIT.

Jekyll is grabing Hyde's clothes very strongerly, you can feel the anger on his grabing and how close he puts his face towards Hyde's.

His body says "I'm about to kick this asshole's ass"

But the thing is that he is also... Smiling. You can't see his eyes but there is a shadow on them that you can tell something it's not okay, something it's wrong with Henry but not in the "Poor victim" type that we always had see him before, on the whole comic

But in "This man is dangerous" type

So, with that grin and his body looking agressive towards Hyde, you can said Edward may be in danger in this chapter.

Predictions~

Now, everybody agrees that the place we were shown it's actually part of Jekyll's mind, a memory actually. So, I think that somehow Jekyll and Edward will both go inside their memories, to see what were the events that lead them to this specific moment

Maybe with Frankestein's help, in a intent of her to understand the experiment's true nature, also trying to help Jekyll and Hyde to they can finally understand it too (THEY ARE TAKING A THERAPY SESSION TO A WHOLE OTHER LEVEL)

Or

They go both inside their own memories because the transformation got worse, and now their body is unconsious, so it would be only Jekyll and Hyde alone inside their mind, finally being able to stand in the same room at the same time, and netheir of them knowing what will happend outside, now that Frankestein knows their secret and the mob it's still out there

So of course, Henry wouldnt have someone who could help him and calm himself, so he is blaming Hyde for the situation as Hyde avoiding the accusations and also blaming Henry too. The rest of the chapter would be about them looking at their memories and reflecting about their actions

But of course, I can imagine two final scenarios happening, based on the scenario shown on the cover actually happening. They finally go together to see a old memory, and they are both close to the cliff, seeing the place

So, Henry finally has the conclusion of blaming Hyde for all the situation, and snaps angst him, deciding to end this just right there, now that he is able to touch and feel Edward's skin as if he had his own body, as a another person he can fully touch

So there is two options:

Jekyll's grabs Hyde's clothes and makes both of them jump to the water, accepting the death as a end but making sure to drag Hyde with him as well, so it feels actually worth it. Of course this being a moment similar to Hyde's ephifany when he is told that he could take down Jekyll as well.

But of course, in this case we'll see Jekyll's perspective to this words "Taking you down with me" (I love how similar they are, even if they turned out to be so different from each other, somehow they are still the same person)

Or, there is this other option. Jekyll actually dosen't jump to the cliff but instead, he shove Hyde to the cliff in a intent of murder him, being mostly like a metaphoric suicide rather than a direct one (Because they are the same person after all). The reason why Jekyll is also jumping in the cover may be a symbolic jump as "Going insane/Jumping the cliff of sanity" for doing something so brutal that the normal and sane Dr Jekyll wouldnt do... Push a person on a cliff, to kill them. So not only this would be a intent to kill Hyde but at the same time accidently murder the person he used to be, the good Dr Henry Jekyll

(Jekyll also jumping can be more like of "how he feels" rather than something literal, he feels atrap and his only company is Hyde, and I dare to say he is the person Jekyll hates the most at this point).

Of course, in any scenario, nethier of them would actually die (yet) because there is like two chapters left to finish this comic, duh

But I like to think about the Second Option. Because it could also explain those spoiler images Sage share in their social media a while ago

There it was another one with Jekyll with a lot of bottles around but I couldn't find it.

Because I think it would fit in. After pushing Hyde on the cliff Jekyll goes out and takes back the body's control and fix the angry mob problem, thinking he has done right in killing Hyde, when actually you can see that he dosen't has his normal eyes anymore but now has Hyde's bags in him (Of course, it could be for the fact that he climp up the society to get in the roof, but I don't think he would like to being seen very tired) meaning that Jekyll has change, in a more hyde-like way. Hyde is not death, and Jekyll's actions will have more consequences, as long they keep fighting each other there will be no end to their problems.

So, this is the tgs UPTADE. I like everyone in the fandom started to make theories like crazy and I love every single one of them.

Sorry for my bad english hehe bye~

[downbad4fyodor]

Price Tags

Pairing: Chuuya Nakahara x Reader Genre: Unknown Summary: Chuuya takes you shopping, only to find out that it really doesn't take much to please you. Warnings: None

As Chuuya led you through the bustling streets of Yokohama, you couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement. It wasn't every day that you got to spend time with him outside of the Port Mafia. Today, however, Chuuya insisted on taking you shopping, promising to show you the best spots in town.

As you walked alongside him, Chuuya's onyx-colored coat fluttering in the wind, you couldn't help but notice the glances people stole in his direction. With his fiery red hair and piercing blue eyes, he was hard to miss. It made you feel a mixture of pride and curiosity. You were honored to be in his company, but you also wondered what it was about him that captivated everyone's attention.

"Alright, we're here," Chuuya declared, leading you into a quaint little boutique nestled between larger stores. The shop was filled with an array of stylish clothes, accessories, and trinkets. It seemed like the perfect place for Chuuya's impeccable taste.

You followed Chuuya as he scanned the racks of clothes, pulling out various items and analyzing them with a critical eye. It was clear that he had a discerning taste when it came to fashion. He glanced at you, seemingly assessing your own outfit, and you suddenly felt self-conscious. Did you live up to his expectations?

After a moment, Chuuya seemed to come to a decision. He grabbed a few pieces of clothing, handing them to you with a mischievous smile. "Try these on. I want to see how they look on you."

Feeling a mix of anticipation and nerves, you disappeared into the dressing room to try on the clothes Chuuya had chosen. As you stepped out in the first outfit, Chuuya's eyes widened in surprise. You were simply wearing a comfortable pair of jeans and a soft sweater, nothing too fancy. But the look on Chuuya's face was priceless.

"I… I like it," he stammered, clearly caught off guard. "You look good. Simple, but good."

A warm smile spread across your face as you realized the impact of his words. It wasn't the expensive or extravagant outfits that impressed Chuuya. He appreciated simplicity and authenticity. It was a revelation that surprised both of you.

As you continued to explore the store, Chuuya seemed determined to find things that pleased you. But every time you settled on something, it was always the understated pieces that caught your eye. You discovered a delicate necklace with a small pendant, a notebook with a beautiful cover, and a simple bracelet that caught the light just right.

With each find, Chuuya's surprise grew, and a newfound admiration for your tastes bloomed within him. He began to see the beauty in the small, subtle details that often went unnoticed. It was a refreshing change for him, someone who was used to the grandiose and extravagant.

As you left the boutique, bags in hand, you and Chuuya strolled along the streets, savoring the warmth of the sun and the joy of each other's company. You couldn't help but feel a sense of contentment, knowing that even the simplest pleasures could bring delight to both you and Chuuya.

In that moment, as you laughed and chatted with Chuuya, you realized that true happiness wasn't always found in material possessions or grand gestures. Sometimes, it was the smallest things that could touch someone's heart and leave a lasting impression.

And so, as you continued your adventure together, Chuuya's perspective shifted. He realized that simplicity could be profound, and the joy he found in your company became a treasure he would always cherish.

[draychuh]

artist!shinsou x reader

You both were only classmates, nothing more than that. every time you take the seat in front of him, he would watch as the way you rest your arms comfortably on the table as you listened to the teacher in content. the way your hair is done in different hairstyles every day. on mondays you would have it in a tight bun, then on wednesdays you would do low pigtails. he had memorized every little detail, not by choice, but because he would draw you when no one's looking. when everyone's on break and chatting around, shinsou took the time to doodle you in his sketchbook. he drew you during your messy hair days, putting in the effort to color in the vibrant pink of your coat. to him, it was as if you were a manhwa character. he found it cute when you dress up to school, something not many kids in class do. or, maybe, he never payed attention to others but you.

during pe, the boys in class were playing basketball as the girls sit on the bench and watch. You were with your group of friends, giggling as they fawn over their crushes. You watched as shinsou, typicallly one of the tallest guys in class, scored a point with ease. "dang, didn't know the quiet boy was good at tossing hoops." your friends said. you only nodded with a smile. after the match, they headed back to class. as you walked down the benches, you noticed a thick sketchbook laying on the ground.

"hey, y/n! you're coming?" her friend asked as they were about to leave the court room. "i'll catch up to you guys later!" she waved at them as she picked up the sketchbook.

it's a very decorated and stylized sketchbook, the purple cover being filled with cat stickers and random graffiti scribbles. "how cute.." she muttered to herself as she flipped open the sketchbook. the first few pages were doodles of cats. most of them were the same color as you assumed it might be the owner's cat. you found their way of coloring in their drawings to be very cute. if only you knew who this belonged to, you would love to be friends. you flipped over to another page, a little taken aback to see a sketch of a girl sitting in a classroom table from a back perspective. she thought it was really pretty. until the next few pages were almost the same scenario, except the girl had different outfits and hairstyles. all of which she had done herself.

shinsou wiped the sweat off of his forehead, jogging back up to grab his things. his heart throbbed as he noticed his sketchbook was missing, not on the spot where he placed it. "crap- where is-" he looked around the court room, eyes landing at you who so happen to be holding the sketchbook. he could feel his stomach fold, watching as you quietly flipped through the pages.

"u-uh. hey."

you looked up, seeing the purple haired boy from earlier. "oh, hi. you played really well just now." you praised him, the sketchbook still on hand. and how ironic it is, that she was looking at the sketches of herself. he gulped, trying to look at her in the eye without attempting to snatch the sketchbook out of embarrassment. "thanks.."

'no problem. see ya in class." she said as she closed the sketchbook, about to take her leave before shinsou grabbed her hand. "wait!"

she turned around, looking at him in a confused manner. "that.. sketchbook."

she smiles. "it's cute right? i think a girl dropped this while she was here. im planning to go around the school and ask around."

"actually. uh. that book belongs to me." he admitted. the last thing he'd want her to do is show his doodles to random people in school.

her eyes widened, glancing at the cutely decorated sketchbook then back at him. "oh.. oh my god! im so sorry. i didn't mean to invade your privacy..! i was just.." she says, immediately returning him the sketchbook. her face was a blushing mess. shinsou gently waved his hand around. "no no. it's fine."

they both stood awkwardly, before she gave him a slight nod and walking away. as soon as she left, he could his cheeks burning at the thought of her going through his sketchbook.

Later that night, you covered yourself in your bedsheets as you thought about the situation. you knew him, obviously, as the tall silent boy in class. he tends to spend most of his free time on his desk while his friends play and run around the classroom. he sat right behind your seat, which suddenly made so much sense to her. she couldn't believe it took so long for her to piece up the puzzles. she should have known, from the way he would look away as soon as you catch him glancing at you. or when he would immediately keep his book away when you walk past his desk.

The next day, you sat on your table as you waited patiently for your first class in the morning. you noticed shinsou walking into the classroom as he noticed you too. he shyly walks over to his seat, moving past you without a single greeting. the both of them were the only ones in class, considering how early they came to school.

you turned around, almost startling him. "good morning."shinsou blinked, his eyes droopy from his restless night. obviously, he couldn't sleep after what happened yesterday. "g'mornin."

"about yesterday.." you turned your chair around facing him. "i'll be honest, i saw a lot of your sketches. you're very good. do you take art classes?"

shinsou blushed. "thank you. and no, i don't." he hoped she doesn't mention a single thing about the drawings of her. whether she figured it out or not, he just didn't want to explain them nor would he know how to.

she gives him a kind smile. "can i commission you?"

hitoshi hums in thought. "i've never done one before actually. what do you want drawn?"

can you draw me?"

thanks for reading! let me know if you want a continuation of this.

[adobe-outdesign]

could you review some of the neopets as animals outfits, like the fennec kacheek, red panda vandagyre, and cockatiel pteri? (those are examples, choose whichever you like!) thank you <3

(Note: I included a random selection of outfits in this post, but feel free to send in asks if anyone wants to see a specific outfit I didn't cover.)

I'll be honest, I'm personally not super big on the "outfit that resembles a real-world animal" trend. First, I play Neopets for the cool fantasy creatures; even the most true-to-life Neopets species have some pretty fantastical colors. I feel like making pets just look exactly like actual animals kind of defeats the purpose of them being Neopets. I get why people would like it and I'm not saying it's bad; it's just not my thing.

Also, the other reason I'm not always big on these outfits is that a lot of Neopets have colours that already resemble real animal patterns. Not only do the outfits blur the colour/customization line quite a bit, but usually I like the colour ones much more, as they keep the actual design of the Neopets in place and just change the patterns and colors, rather than covering up the fun fantasy elements. This also helps them avoid the uncanny valley effect, which I talk about more below.

Also I might be over thinking this but who is making these outfits. None of these animals seem to exist in-universe as far as we're aware. what are the shopkeepers basing these off of. the colours at least have a magic as an excuse

Examples that I think are okay:

Feathery Pteri Outfit: This one's nice! I like the layered patterning on the wings and the high-contrast colors. Most, though, I like that this sticks fairly close to the actual pet, mostly just changing up the tail shape. This almost could've been a paintbrush colour, but then again what colour is up in the air.

(Side note: the eye clipping over the beak is a rendering issue? I think?)

Bouncing Zafara: This one definitely strays farther from the actual pet than the Pteri, but it's a fitting animal choice and it doesn't fall into the uncanny valley, which is all I care about. The body is still somewhat recognizable as a Zafara in terms of shape, and the Miamouse as the joey is super cute.

Freshwater Lenny: Kind of the same case as the Zafara; not super one-to-one with the actual pet, but it's still recognizable as a Lenny and isn't too uncanny. The legs are a particularly nice touch, actually changing the pose to look more heron-like (though they are also the part that strays dangerously into being too detailed).

Please don't:

Adorable Kacheek: Sorry to the fans of this one, but this outfit just resides deep within the uncanny valley to me—like it's a mascot suit instead of just a normal pet. The artstyle is way off from Neopets, looking much more Subeta-ish (except Subeta's art usually isn't so off putting). It's not a bad artstyle, mind you, it's just not very Neopets-ish. I also feel like a fennec fox was also a bad pick for this one, as it's basically unrecognizable as a Kacheek at all.

Feathered Eyrie: Speaking of the uncanny valley, this is another pet that lands squarely there due to having entirely too much detail in the shading and weirdly realistic fur textures. It also just doesn't look very good aesthetically—the beak doesn't fit the face, and the wings are an absolute trainwreck (not only is the perspective wrong, but the left wing is coming from the middle of its back!). On the plus side, you'd be hard pressed to not recognize this as an Eyrie, and it's a fantasy creature instead of a regular animal, so I guess that's something?

Furry Meerca: Hmm... no. This one also suffers from an overly-detailed artstyle and way too much realism, which is especially jarring when placed on top of the Meerca's heavily stylized body shape, resulting in a perfectly round animal with hyper-realistic animal eyes. It's also particularly bothersome because we already had a chipmunk Meerca design in the form of the striped Meerca colour, which is just this but less soul-haunting:

Which is what I meant at the beginning when I was talking about colours vs outfits. The colour is a Meerca that looks like a chipmunk; the outfit is a chipmunk that looks like a Meerca. Big difference.

[markantonys]

Ok I just need to come here and say: got costumes were not that great. They were showing off with the embroidery, but it was made purposefully “rustic” which contributed to it looking unprofessional, and made Cersei look like an idiot. The embroidery was very detailed, true, but you couldn’t see it while watching, it just looked like a blob usually.

The colours were dull, and most of the costumes were not well thought through. And also I don’t really think they fit that well? what looked great on Lena, looked very questionable on Sophie, which was not supposed to be happening. I’m not even going to discuss the jewelry.

Wot costumes are much better, are clearly comfortable for actors to be in (remembering Sophie again and how awkward she moves in the dresses sometimes, and like compared to the way Madeleine and Zoe look and move, even though they have spent most of the second season in uncomfortable clothes), show status clearly without the insane classism of got “you are either wealthy and beautiful or literally live in a pigsty” and are weather appropriate. And they embody the “early 90s late 80s fantasy looks” much better than got. So in my book wot is definitely much better.

Sorry I’m the costume rant anon. Wanted to add that a lot of costumes in got and wot have a similar silhouette and the difference in quality is like. Obvious. I know it’s subjective but like. I think we have been gaslit that got costumes are THAT good

iiiinteresting! i only know GOT costumes from seeing them around social media, so i can't weigh in here since i haven't seen them in context while actually watching an episode, so it is interesting to get a perspective from someone who's watched both shows! (and who knows stuff about costumes and how to judge quality - i don't at all haha i just go "oh that looks pretty, i like it!")

but i definitely agree that WOT costumes look generally pretty comfortable in the sense that i buy real people would actually wear these clothes day-to-day (i mean, except for statement pieces like lanfear's TAR dominatrix outfit or siuan's ceremonial attire). one that jumps to mind right away is one of alanna's s2 outfits - super pretty, but also looks quite cozy for just a normal day at the tower teaching novices!

and that's a really great point about how status comes across in WOT costumes. here, we can obviously tell that moiraine is upper class and egwene is a humble villager, but egwene's outfit is still pretty and well-made and colorful and clean, just simpler fabric & style than moiraine's (and she gets to wear jewelry too despite being a humble villager, just simpler jewelry than moiraine. and her skirt is a cute plaid pattern and she has a nice dash of simple, handmade-looking embroidery on her top - perhaps she added that embroidery herself to jazz up her Best Feastday Shirt!)

[cr0cutacr0cuta]

Loving Darius Deamonne: A LONG tumblr essay about my favorite character from The Owl House, and why I think his potential was missed but hinted at.

Hey heres an edit: forgot that Gus existed, my bad. :sob: I love him too just not as much.

Darius Deamonne is a great character and you should love him too and here's why.

It goes beyond me just loving him for being black and pretty obviously gay (at least some sort of mlm) in my eyes. Which is good! He's black and somewhat feminine and it's never played for laughs. He's still treated like a threat and like a very powerful and influential person. Which I wholeheartedly appreciate it.

Which is the first thing I wanna touch on I guess?

I also want to say that some of this is based off of interviews that Dana Terrace has done for the show, as well as piecing theories together based on the information we DO know about Darius.

And no I won't proofread this because I have anxiety about re-reading anything I write, so sorry for the typos in advanced. :,)

I was going to do this in parts but everything is bleeding together so much that I can't. I'll sum up all the most important things in bullet points at the end!

This will probably be my shortest section here. Darius is very reminiscent of effeminate Disney Villains such as Scar or Gaston. He's very into fashion and self pampering. He even has a menacing sounding French/Greek roots last name that DOES invoke demons. Even if that's not the true meaning behind the name, but we'll get back to that later in this section.

Darius is first hinted at in Season 1 Episode 13, "The First Day". His simplified visage appearing on the Abomination Coven banner.

Man, look at how sinister and mysterious they made him look. He also appears to MAYBE be wearing a different outfit than he does in the rest of the series proper. There's not a lot to say or analyze here, I just think his banner is super neat.

The second time we see Darius is in the flashback segment of "Young Blood, Old Souls". We see his younger design first before we even get a glimpse of his present one. I just really like that detail and the implication that Darius was a character that was very heavily on the writer's mind from the jump.

Now his real, first proper appearance is very wild. Very important. I don't know too much about cinematography and framing, but I do know a little bit of the basics.

Let's look at his first true appearance in Season 2 Episode 6, "Hunting Pailsmen".

We do see his shadow in the shot before this, but I just want to point out that Darius is straight up the first coven head we see in the introduction to all of them. (We do see Mason in an earlier episode but it was in a more comedic role and he doesn't speak.)

This framing putting Darius front and center doesn't stop here.

In the first proper serious group shot of the coven heads, Darius is in the middle. Firstly, the perspective frames Darius as the biggest person in the shot. Maybe besides Hettie, but she's also pretty tall and scaled down because of the perspective. He's also the one in the center of the shot, in the center of some of the most powerful people and most influental people in the isles.

This does imply importance.

It even goes further in the next shot.

Darius is at the side here, sure. But he's put next to Mason who probably has the plainest design out of all the coven heads. (I'm sure he's fine.) But it almost feels like he was put next to Darius to make Darius' framing look more important. With the rest of the more uniquely designed coven heads smaller, at the back, and rendered in less color because of the light from the cauldron (?) in the shot.

Even in the storyboard, Darius seems ot have a bit more detail than everyone else. And if not that, his expression is more clear and intense than the other's.

This makes me wonder how important Darius was to the narrative before the show got canceled. Like yes, Raine ended up being the most important person here in the end. Rightfully so. I still just wondered what was there intention with the compositions of these scenes. Was Darius meant to be more important, or was this a misdirect?

He's in such a unique spot in the story, that I doubt it was unintentional. Darius was supposed to be explored much more according to Dana.

Snippet of the interview from TV Tropes.

So we know Darius was supposed to be explored more as a character in a hypothetical, fully realized season 3. I really would have done anything to see that, honestly.

That's all I have to really say for this section. I'm just bummed that all this foreshadowing and planning was destroyed because of Disney's mismanagement of the show. It also sucks that the main black character we see in the show is one of the biggest causalities from it. Moving on.

So back to Darius being like renaissance era Disney villains...He's vain, he's powerful, and quite possibly...He's manipulative. Mainly, it seems, towards the other coven heads.

Remember what Hunter says in "Any Sport in a Storm" about the coven heads...

This is very much speculation on my part. But I think Darius has been in the rebellion game for a while. I can't say he's a direct leader and I can't say he has an entire group behind him until Raine comes along. But I wouldn't put it above him to use mind games to help slow Belos' progress. I think Darius may have been purposely sowing discourse between the other coven heads.

Mind you, a lot of them are already conniving on their own. But I don't put it past him to stoke the flames to cause chaos for Belos' plans.

This does beg the question, how long has Darius been at this? How long has he been TRYING to dismantle the Emperor's hold on the Isles?

Again, speculation warning, but I do think Darius may have been at least skeptical of Belos and looking into what he was doing since his mentor died.

Imagine, your mentor is the leader of the Emperor's Coven. The Emperor's personal right hand man. Then he just...dies one day. And since Belos says that all the previous guards had in fact, betrayed him, what's to say that the previous Golden Guard didn't tell Darius he was going to betray Belos?

Like yes, he could have not told Darius in an attempt to protect him. Darius obviously meant a lot to him and he obviously meant a lot to Darius. Though I also think that he would want to save Darius and everyone else. And if he couldn't, he would want Darius to save himself and everyone else. I can't prove that Darius was told anything, but I wouldn't be surprised.

So Darius may have just...Straight up been in the trenches for years at this point. He does say that he rebelled because he found "The Day of Unity suspicious"...But Darius has exaggerated on screen before. He's also been straight up lying to a lot of peers for possibly years. He can be an unreliable narrator here.

This also means he is a stereotypical renaissance villain turned on it's head. He looks very evil, but my mans is just semi goth, loves fashion, and is an anarchist. He's not a villain, just an anti-hero.

With that said, let's talk about his relationship with Hunter, which seems to be pretty complicated.

Darius starts out seemingly looking at Hunter with distain. I think about what Dana says about Darius' main motivations not only being to help people, but to care about the ones that he loves. The implications that Darius' main driving force is love, not only for people personally in his life, but for his community, the people of the isles, seems pretty significant.

I think love maybe Darius' main, true character trait.

Love, especially when it ties into grief, can really make people lash out. Not everyone reacts this way, but we've already established that Darius can be pretty full of wrath when he wants to be.

To me it's very clear that Darius is projecting the anger he feels from his grief onto Hunter. Which yes, is messed up. There's no excuse for it. He eventually seems to grow and change at least, and that's good.

I can definitely see WHY he would feel the way he does towards Hunter at first though. Your mentor is murdered one day and you get little explanation, he also may have hinted at something deeper and darker happening within the leadership of your community before he does. Then he's replaced by some kid that, probably to you, came out of nowhere. He's the emperor's nephew. Didn't his family die a long time ago? Did his mentor have a child that he didn't even mention?

Which does beg the question...Does Darius know that Hunter is a grimwalker? I don't know? I don't think so. I think he's very suspicious of the whole situation at the very least. You're also frustrated with the kid about being a follower, about not looking at the bigger picture, about just being a soldier and not his own person. Because you're sure that being a follower, being subservient, is what lost your mentor his life.

Darius definitely could have handled this better. He could have not projected his grief onto Hunter. He could have been more open about what he wanted him to do. He could have told him to go be a kid and make friends. But he let his grief get in the way of it all. He's flawed, and that's relatable.

Seeing Hunter make friends and show some sort of autonomy seemingly broke him from seeing Hunter as just a replacement. He started seeing Hunter as his own person as Hunter did. I think that's a very important step in their growth together. I find that super interesting and very poetic.

There's also the fact that Darius probably couldn't tell Hunter about the scope of everything because he wanted to protect him from it all. I don't think Darius ever wanted Hunter to get hurt. Even if he was cruel to him initially. He was so upset in "Hollow Mind" that he shoves Raine out of the way when hears about Hunter being stuck in Belos' mind.

He also may have been scared of what Hunter would see if he had known that the Emperor had something to do with his mentor's death.

Also I guess I should mention it here because of it all tying into Darius being part of the rebellion but...There's a scene in "Eda's Requiem" where Darius is more angry about his clothes getting messed up than the fact that Raine has committed treason...Which is great foreshadowing, actually. I love the fact that Eberwolf has to remind him of the treason part so their cover doesn't get blown, probably.

Let's keep the ball rolling on the most important relationships in Darius' life.

We've covered Hunter and his mentor, so let's move onto Eberwolf.

Eberwolf is pretty heavily implied to be like a sibling to Darius. There's a lot of unexplored territory here and it makes me really sad. So this'll probably be the most sparsely talked about relationship here despite the fact that Darius and Eberwolf spend almost all of their screen time together.

I think the thing I want to point out was that Darius was not willing to let Eberwolf harmed or possibly killed during their fight with other coven heads on the day of unity. I feel like this may elude to a few things.

Darius cannot bare to lose someone in his life again. Or can't bare to see it, possibly again. He backs off immediately and the fear in his eyes is real.

Which shout out the animators for making that very apparent.

It's also very apparent in Eberwolf's expression as well. The expressions just say so much and tell so much of the story between the two that we don't get to see. We get shown and not told...Even if we weren't shown in a more direct way.

Saw this in another post but the scenes following where Eberwolf and Darius appear, also imply pretty heavily that when the spell started working, Eberwolf wanted to run to Darius. But he was in too much pain himself to make it over to him.

Darius knew they were all going to die if he didn't do anything but he chose not to anyway because the pain of losing Eberwolf right in front of him in such a terrible way stopped him. Darius let his fear of loss of someone he really cared about potential damn everyone on the isles. Another flaw, but another important note to tack onto his character.

Like yes, he would have saved everyone else but he probably would have caused him more heartache that he couldn't handle. He'd already been through a lot losing his mentor (and his best friend/possible love interest, but oh we will get to you, Alador Blight.), and this kind of implies that he probably couldn't do it again.

Though Darius acts smart and kind of logical, he's very driven by his emotions, his love and grief in particular, seemingly.

That being said, let's move on from Eberwolf. We're going to skip the obvious for now, and go onto why Darius is probably the best coven head or at least in the running next to Raine.

I'd like to let you all know that the abomination coven is pretty consistently stacked. Not only do they have Principal Bump, who has been shown to be a powerful which in his own right from his debut episode, but Alador, who's Darius' rival yes...But it's pretty lightly implied that Darius and Alador had shared their innovations and interests in abominations when they were younger. Alador probably knows some of what he knows from Darius. Though you could probably say the same the other way around, Alador didn't end up becoming the coven head. Darius is obviously the more skilled abomination user of the two.

Then you have up and coming prospects like Amity who's consistently been shown to be pretty powerful.

Willow even says in "I Was A Teenager Abomination":

"There are better opportunities on this track." when referring to the abomination tract at school.

Now don't get me wrong, coven system = bad. But I don't think the sense of community the coven system provides for witches is ALL bad.

I think the implication here, though subtle, is that Darius is fostering probably the most powerful coven in the entire system.

He's investing and nurturing new prospects. He's providing opportunities for witches in his coven that other covens are not. Darius truly cares about his community. He truly cares about his craft and furthering it through communal growth. He even wrote a book to show his knowledge with the people of the isles.

Darius has been shown to be on of the few characters who can change his form. He does this at will (seemingly) without the help of a curse of any kind. Darius is just powerful enough to change into an abomination monster and he's the only character who can do it. Which is impressive considering how stacked the rest of the abomination users in the show are.

Even Alador has made pretty rad innovations to the craft, even if Darius doesn't completely agree with them.

I also want to say that this points to Darius maybe being a engineer like Alador...but to contrast Alador being a mechanical one he's a genetic engineer, and that might be what's going on with his form. But that's again, pure speculation just from his seemingly opposite theming to Alador.

So it seems like Darius is also a good leader. One with a sense of duty and nurturing towards his community.

Now last but not least...

Let's fucking talk about.

AlaDarius.

Man I have so much to fucking say about these two HOLY SHIT.

They are literally only on screen together like 4 times and it's in the epilogue but just the implications we get from the little breadcrumbs we do have...Oh man.

So Darius and Alador were friends. We can prove that. They seemed to be on good teams in "Thems the Breaks, Kid." Alador talking to Darius and laughing once he flicks some abomination goo onto his face. With Odalia observing, unfortunately.

There's a lot that can be inferred by this. I don't think Odalia was always like she is now. But power, and maybe the prospect of it, corrupts. There's a lot that could have happened between these three.

Some theories:

It's possible that Odalia didn't have as many prospects as Darius or Alador coming up. Which might be why she pursued Alador in the first place. Alador's family has money, Odalia has a manipulative business sense, Alador is socially awkward and probably can't conduct business as well so that maybe got her in good with his family.

Maybe she even manipulated Alador into loving her over Darius by whispering lies in his ears and fueling the rivalry between them. Maybe she got Alador to push Darius away.

There's also the prospect that Alador's marriage to Odalia was arranged for whatever reason. Maybe his parents also told him to push Darius away because of that because they knew Alador and Darius were catching feelings for each other. Alador could have thought that this was normal and had a sense of duty to his family that he put over his love for Darius.

This could also be why he was okay with Odalia telling Amity to cut ties with Willow. Alador may have been forced to do the exact same thing.

And we've already established that when Darius cares about someone, he cares about them very hard. He loves and he loves deep. He already lashed out at Hunter because he loved his mentor so deeply, so why wouldn't he lash out at Alador for essentially abandoning him?

I think it's very clear that Darius loved Alador. Maybe he still does after all these years considering how he acted in the epilogue.

I mean look at him.

He shakes Alador in excitement and pride and pulls away all embarrassed. Pretending he still doesn't have feelings. He even like, touches his chest it's insane and insanely cute. Alador not knowing how to feel is also funny because he probably thinks Darius had either let go of his feelings or he's just surprised that he'd show him any kind of affection after everything.

I also have a theory that Darius possibly been wanting to reconnect with Alador for years. I think the rebellion and wanting to protect Alador from possibly getting threatened if he himself got caught might be a reason. It also might be anxiety. Maybe he's scared Alador might find a reason to abandon him again. Maybe he's actually actively traumatized by that prospect and he has work through it (god I wish this show had more time). Maybe it's all habit at this point too. He's just used to pushing Alador away at this point. Hell, maybe he even thinks that Alador should just be focusing on his children considering their mother is no longer in the picture and they're all healing as a family and he feels like that has nothing to do with him.

There's a lot of speculation.

I'm willing to bet SOME of this is right.

I also don't think this should be downplayed considering that Darius never mentions Odalia when seeing the abomaton in "Eda's Requiem." He didn't have to say anything at all but he's so hurt and so petty about being hurt by Alador SPECIFICALLY that he tells Kikimora to tell him that he's a hack.

There's something going on and I want to know what it is and I'm 80% sure that it's romantic.

I also want to also point out that we see Alador and Darius standing together in the very last shot of the show.

Like they do genuinely look like a family unite here and I truly appreciate it. It might take some time but but that's alright. I think they can figure it out. I think they genuinely can mend their relationship with each other since Darius was able to mend his with Hunter and Alador with his children.

They're both so flawed and had to grow in similar aspects. They're both so different but have these little bridges that truly connect them. Their love for abominations. How they both weren't the best father figures at first but learned to be better for their kids.

There's a lot of undertones with this relationship I truly enjoy.

NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT HIS DESIGN.

I've been writing this essay for over 3 hours so I'm going to try to make this fast.

I won't go into how Darius is very effeminate Disney villain again, so I'll jump straight into his color palette.

Darius has 5 basic colors/shades in his design.

Black: Black invokes a few things. They all kind of pertain to Darius. Black can mean mystery. His past is very mysterious. He's basically a spy, which are mysterious. Black can also mean elegance and power. He loves fancy clothes and is very powerful.

Purple: Darius has a few shades of purple on him. This can be a nod to his craft as the abomination coven head. Purple also invokes regality which might be a nod to his influence in the witch community at large. Though not a ruler, he does have a presence that does seem almost like royalty. It's also the color of imagination. The abominations are somewhat like living sculptures, like art, eluding to imagination. He also sews, probably making his own outfits, which is a very creative endeavor. Purple also invokes compassion, enlightenment, and encouragement. It's also attached to those who are emotional and sensitive and sometimes immature.

Green: Green is a fantastic contrast to purple. I'm guessing this is why Darius' eyes were changed from purple to green. It made more sense with his design and gave it a bit more pop. While green is the color of envy (possibly eluding to his possibly jealousy of Odalia and Alador's relationship), it's also the color of judgement (again, looking at Alador) and materialism (my man loves his clothes). The positive side to this is green representing healing and growth as well. They represent things that Darius needs to let go and things that he actually needs.

Gold: Gold represents luxury, success, triumph, and loyalty. I feel like that's all pretty self explanatory considering all I've discussed so far. Darius studied hard under the olden guard to be successful, he triumphant and became the coven head, he's loyal to everyone he loves and his community. And he does enjoy a bit of luxury, too. :)

White: White actually means a lot of things. The ones I think pertain to Darius most are actually cleanliness, coldness, and purity believe it or not. Obviously he likes to be clean. Coldness because of how distant he starts towards Hunter, and how he maybe pushing away certain people because he doesn't want them getting hurt if he gets found out in the rebellion. This cold also be why his gloves are white. They're a symbol of his coldness over his hands. His coldness keeps him from touching other's, literally. It keeps him distant. Now purity maybe the surprising one here, but it's most so about his intentions, and his sense of duty, and his need to protect. Those things all come from a pure place, a pure good. Even if he himself isn't pure good. It's still in him. Also shout out to perfection as a meaning too but it's not confirmed but he seems like the type who would be a perfectionist.

Overall, his palette actually tells you everything you need to know about him. His silhouette is also pretty memorable. You can look at just that and know, yeah THAT'S Darius Deamonne. You can also tell little things about him from his silhouette through his posture and shapes of his clothes.

I'll also briefly mention his name.

Darius is a name of Persian/Greek/Latin Origin. It means "possessing goodness". And man that feels like a dead giveaway for him not being a bad guy once I type it now. The name can also mean "rich/king like" which...TRUE. And also it can mean "he who holds firm to good". Which is also true. It's also a very popular name among Black folks in the US.

Deamonne is... A little more complicated. It's both French and Greek oddly enough. There's not a lot about this name out there, honestly. Usually when you look it up on google most of the results pertain to well...Darius himself.

Deamonne might be a reference to the word daemon, itself a previous form of the word "demon"...But Daemons themselves are pretty different. The Greek meaning of the word seems to be "A divinity who or supernatural being of a nature between gods and humans." I wonder if MAYBE it's a nod to his status of being able to transform into abomination matter, making him maybe a hybrid or somewhere between being a witch or abomination? Who knows? Hard to say with this one.

I guess that's it! Maybe I'll reblog with an update if I can think of more. But this is my genuine exploration of why Darius means so much to me and why he deserved way better than he got.

These are all breadcrumbs really, and that's what makes his story so, so alluring. Because if they could tell this much with this little, I wonder what the could have showed us if he had even just a full episode to himself.

Here's the tl;dr with all the important points:

Darius probably had a bigger part to play in the Owl House's plot that got cut because of it's cancelation.

Darius' main driving emotion and motivation seems to be love.

Darius may have been planning to betray Belos for longer than we thought.

Darius is probably very scared of losing someone he loves again.

Darius come off as a little cold and distant because of those fears.

He'd lay down his life for people he loves.

He might be the best coven head in terms in leadership.

His color scheme and name lay out his character pretty bare.

I'm sure there's more here but thanks for reading. Sorry this ran long. I actually probably forgot some things in the summery above because I've been writing this for hours.

Have a good day and remember:

I'd give my soul and all my money for a Darius Deamonne spin off.

[elderwisp]

breakdown from this whole arc bc i mentioned there were little tidbits of information/tiny details throughout!

a borrowed hoodie

✩ ah yes this hoodie was also used here from our unnamed sim. we'll get to know more about him in the far future but alas, he is somewhat of a lingering whisper

eye contact

✩ within the first few frames of that convo i had taryn maintaining eye contact with with the end table until in the next post it was revealed what she was looking at and in that earlier conversation she pieced together what secret atlas had been hiding. adding to that, a lot of the frames she was in it was in a perspective of her observing

a breakdown of dynamics

✩ in my little brain i feel like these two frames puts into perspective his relationship with his friends but more specifically, his sister, frances. his shoulders almost curl up in that first photo and his demeanor shifts in that moment. how many time did she experience him like this and how much shame he must've felt every. single. time. so much so that he's done an excellent job at hiding it up until now

cool versus warm tones

✩ taryn reminds me a bit of sunlight while atlas reminds me of moonlight so i wanted to play off of that concept and add warmth to taryn's frame while atlas was much cooler and seeing the slight blending of colors of two contradictions coming together

my freaking obsession with styling

✩ in the intro of this, atlas is still wearing his outfit from the previous scene except his hair is much more unkept and throughout he has this smudged layer of eyeshadow like he's applied it, cried, and reapplied it some more. then we have taryn's put-together hair and outfit only to to come undone as the chaos of the night overwhelms her

i feel like i had more but tbh i waited too long to put this together and i forgor

[blanketorghost]

Its GloMasq time in the EN server you know what that means

If you guessed more gay little outfits for Yuu then you are 100% correct :^)

Yuu gets gifted the 'Esmeralda' ensemble at first but since Yuu is part of the Rollo fight in my own version of events, I thought up of the idea of his initial fit being burnt up partially/smoke burnt so for the final masquerade he gets a different outfit that reflects Clopin better.

I also like the fact that the Esmeralda fit has very bright colors which is something Yuu doesnt like (and also makes him stand out like a sore thumb compared to the other NRC boys) which really reflects how little Rollo knows Yuu and how he only sees him as a pretty little doll that's 'uncorrupted' by magic. But since Yuu has more agency after the fight over what he wears, he chooses much more muted colors for his main and some bright accents here and there.

I may toy with the Clopin's colors a little bit more but I like this combo so far.

Old versions of the fits + extra doodles after cut!☝️

Also extra illust of a scene between Yuu and Azul that I wrote up for a fic :^)

I'm tempted to write Azul's perspective on just this small snippet alone because i am insane

Omg old design jumpscare

I ditched the half mask it didnt look good at all LMAOOO

Also i died every time i had to draw all those details in the old design

If you squint you can notice the new design is actually simplifed :^] (it is not)

I tried making one similar to grim's but i didnt like it :^(

Back to the drawing board i guess :,^(((((

Another design pass for Yuu's lil Clopin outfit. I like the mask design since Yuu's fit is already full of sun/moon motifs but I dont know if it'd actually look good on a face LMAOOO I also wanted him tall ass boots with heels but I like how Yuu and Azul are alrwady v similar in height so I scrapped that

[pinkpinkstarlet]

some of my favorite YouTubers! Some of these are coquette but some of them are not, so I’m still going to tag the coquette tag but it won’t apply for all of these

CZsworld, a horror themed channel that focuses on the intricate histories, theories, characters and stories of many horror movies, books, and sometimes tv shows. He also talks about people/figures from real life in more parody-esque horror history videos. He’s extremely cool and an amazing channel to watch to get into the Halloween mood during October, but watching him at any other time is enjoyable as well

glamourdaze, a collection of different videos from the 20th century, such as beauty and healthcare videos, or just videos of people from different decades in this century living out their lives. What makes this channel one of my favs is that they revive the clips of people from decades such as the 1920s to color them and slow them down (to make it look less choppy and more realistic in how the people move) and it really gives a whole new different perspective on these eras and makes us realize that this wasn’t too long ago.

Erin Parsons Makeup, a very talented makeup artist and vintage collector who’s really cool and someone I love seeing talking about makeup and fashion from history. She’s very similar to glamourdaze except she mainly focuses on vintage/antique fashion and recreates retro looking styles in her looks and it’s just really neat :>

Schafrillas Productions… yeah he’s just very neat and I like watching his movie/tv show reviews. Though his content where he’s passionate and excited about a piece of media is enjoyable, watching him rip apart something he genuinely despises with an infinite amount of rage is funny as all hell

Micarah Tewers, a very talented, artistic, and funny seamstress who makes different types of dresses and outfits in her videos. I love how much dedication and detail she puts into her work to make it stand out and look amazing whenever she wears it, and I also really enjoyed her prom dress videos. She’s also really funny and I love all the extra hijinks she shows herself getting into in between making her project and the video itself lol

Nylijah Myeesah, aka the channel of @/lovesickbrat is a really great coquette channel, and she also has some very good points on different parts of the coquette community and how some aesthetics (such as traumacore or doelet) need to be criticized more because of what they promote.

Colin LooksBack, a Disney based channel that focuses on the characters and movies/other media from Disney, as well as the behind the scenes details of how classic Disney films were made, especially the animated movies made during Walt Disney’s life/career

Karolina Żebrowska, a history fashion themed channel that you probably have heard of. She makes a lot of historical videos as fashion videos and she’s just very talented and intelligent and you should check her out.

Finally, Lavendertowne, the channel I have the fondest YouTube memories of as she was the one who inspired me to start art. I used to love her creepydrawstas and her videos where she drew different stuff as people, as well as her art tutorials. I wouldn’t have gotten to my point in my art journey if it weren’t for her, and overall she’s very cool and sweet.

[void-writing]

"Leaving so soon...?"

"Queen of the Mountain" Chapter 8

My interpretation of what it looked like for Shanzha--queen of our hearts, though not the mountain--hunted down a yellow-bellied chicken for sport :)

@centuryberry

(a few little details:

The design I made for Shanzha's fancy fit includes a pink sheer sash that's draped over her arms. Here, she's used it to tie back the long sleeves of her outfit so they didn't get in the way of her draw :) I took archery classes when I was younger, and one of the principles they drilled into us was that if you have long hair, you either tie it back or resign yourself to the likelihood of getting a chunk of your hair yanked out by the bowstring. I figured this principle would also apply to fancy clothes with elegant, flowing sleeves (Shanzha's hair is pulled back enough that she decided it was worth the risk to take the singular shot she needed without binding it further).

You can't really see it, sadly, but on the little seals at the ends of Shanzha's bow, I wrote out the (simplified) Chinese character for "ice". It's a small detail that sadly didn't render well, but it's there.

The flowers in Shanzha's hair are hellebore (the pink one on the viewer's right)--representing peace, serenity, and tranquility, though also anxiety, stress and scandal, which I think encapsulates Shanzha's otome game route AND her present life pretty well--and glory of the snow (the two blue ones on the viewer's left)--meaning hop, renewal, and resilience in the face of adversity, which I think also fits Shanzha's character pretty well, with the added bonus of it being a winter flower as a nod to the frigid climate she lived in before.

She also has archery bracers on her arms! For that detail, I also was calling upon my experience in archery class with this because these guards are meant to protect the archer's forearm from getting smacked by the bowstring. I had put one on Shanzha's left arm because it was more central and easier to see before tricking myself into thinking it wouldn't make sense for her to have an arm guard on the arm holding the bow (which was a whoops on my part because that's where you're supposed to put it. I guess I was mixing it up with the finger guard tab that you have on your draw hand) and so Shanzha has one on both.

This has the fun implication that Shanzha is an ambidextrous archer (say that five times fast), meaning she can draw on either side (another fun archery fact is that the arm you hold the bow with is determined by what your dominant hand and eye is. In my case, it was my left eye, so despite me being right handed, I used a left-handed bow. However, it's possible to use any bow, especially if it doesn't have an arrow shelf--the little hook an arrow can rest in as you line up your shot, which is frequently what determines if a bow is right or left handed (the arrow shelf being on the opposite side of what the name would imply, meaning a left-handed bow is held in your left and drawn with your right and vise-versa). Shanzha's doesn't, so it's an ambidextrous bow! It just happens that in the case of this image, she's firing left-handed because her quiver--and thus her draw hand--is on her right.

Art process notes:

I ended up only using like...2/3 of the canvas lol and didn't realize until I had already done up my line art. So that's why there's a big empty blue space in the bottom 1/3.

Rim lighting, my beloved.

I used two of the color palettes from @fantasy-angelo 's Yue reference in coloring Shanzha (Dreamscape and Heather House). I mostly tried to stick with a cooler color palette which I think helped make those gold accents pop.

I did a little concept sketch on a sticky note before actually buckling down to do it, but when I started with the line art, I decided to push the perspective and line of action more, which led to the wonderful little detail of Shanzha having her foot planted on Peng's back and her resting her right hand on her quiver.

(The sketch in question)

I kind of phoned it in a little with the ice and the metal armor highlights and used an airbrush to give it the glow effect, but I'm actually really happy with how it turned out regardless! Work smarter not harder lmao.

The waterfall behind Shanzha (aka, the entrance to Water Curtain Cave) was done with a watercolor brush. This was actually my first time painting a waterfall and I'm very pleased with how it looks! The foam at the base of the waterfall was, once again, an air brush (specifically a droplet one, which gave it that nice splattery particle effect). I liked how the waterfall looked spilling over the boarders, so I didn't erase it :3

And now, I leave you with a meme:

(I was originally going to have her hold her bow, but I didn't like how it looked so I changed it to the big ass knife Shanzha cut the lion's head meatball with)

[yakool-foolio]

see maybe this is just me, but As A Character Designer Myself i think the rain code designs are some of komatzuzaki's best work yet. they're weird and campy and yet they work so well. i do think the characters' personalities shine through on first and second glances. I don't even usually like neon colors but I think the combo of bright neons with understated neutrals is so fascinating and memorable. no one else does it like this. a lot of the small details on the designs are actually packed with symbolic meaning (esp. yakou's - I'd love to see you unpack all that) and the overabundance of logos is evocative of the corpo-cyber-future setting. the rain code designs feel much more cohesive in terms of that setting than the DR designs do - which makes sense bc DR is more about disparate people being united by their circumstances - dialed to 11 in v3 where the designs are at their wackiest. but this ain't about her this is about rain code.

I love that characters you wouldn't expect (zange, fubuki, priest...) have weird facial piercings and tattoos. I love that the animal ears are never explained. I love desuhiko's tboy swag and yeah, the golden yellow and the dirty blonde and the neon yellow accents don't look great together - and I think the clashing colors work wonders to establish his personality. this kid dressed himself and thought it would make him look cool. you idiot. aphex's hat is stupid. zilch's ears are stupid. vivia's bandages-instead-of-clothes are stupid - and yet reading into that choice is very insightful. (he puts on a lazy air but if he was really lazy he'd just put on an oversized emo band tee instead of wrapping himself up like a mummy every day. he actually does care about how he comes across to people.)

there's a few videos about fashion YouTubers judging the DR fits, and at one point they brought in Yuma and shinigami and they hated yuma's outfit so much because it's dorky and they wouldn't wear it. but like!!! that's the whole point is that it's dorky!!!! his little trainee shorts. his stupid fkin bowl cut making him look like a little boy whose mom still cuts his hair. (which of course turns out to be a meaningful deception. his haircut influences how the audience and other characters see him to great effect.) and yet he has the coolest fkin shoes ever and when he puts his hat and cape on he's got such an iconic silhouette. teru teru bozu lookin ass /pos.

anyway yeah. i wasnt a fan of komatzuzaki's designs in the beginning but over the years ive come around. I'm a firm designer that a character design doesn't necessarily have to look good to be a good character design. I like it when they aren't afraid to make the characters look cringe - I love cringe. I eat it up. thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

Even more perspectives! I think your take of 'bad-looking designs can be good actually' is a great way to look at Rain Code's characters. To put it simply, it's unique! 'Nobody does it like Komatsuzaki'-kind of campiness. Honestly, Rain Code's designs remind me a lot of Danganronpa 2's designs in terms of color. That cast is full of much brighter colors compared to the lesser saturation of DR1 n V3's cast colors. And it makes sense cause it's a brighter game overall in terms of setting and upping the ridiculousness of the killing game in every way! Rain Code sorta follows that with its own designs by crankin' up the neons to really ride the idea home that this game is wacky right from the get-go and it's a Resident Evil game in disguise! And y'know what Resident Evil loves to indulge in? Campiness! Rain Code wears its inspirations on its sleeve, and that's totally chill.

As a sidenote to your sidenote regarding Yakou's clothing details, I have actually written a bit about how he might perceive them, but I haven't yet written about what they could truly mean in terms of how they relate to him narratively. The meaning of the phoenix patterns are painfully obvious though heh. And I also greatly appreciate the recognition that Vivia really does care about his appearance despite his 'laziness'. His hedonistic lifestyle includes his own attire, wearing whatever he pleases no matter the effort! Like I've preached before, Vivia has the energy, he just prefers to use it only when necessary.

Thank you for the TED talk *golf claps*