#these sketches are a massive oversimplification

[thunderboltfire]

Peoples of Isaldi, ft. the Wanderers. I've wanted to make the scheme of how fantasy races work in Isaldi, but it looked a bit bare, so I sketched faux-manuscript inspired illustrations of various Wanderer knights representing each of the peoples. I've decided I shouldn't reference everything only to my main OCs, so some of the side characters make their first proper entrance:

Persi, Oster, Shnár and Hedwinne are Kestrels, Wanderers trained in Wirjenów castle and knighted during the war. Persi and Oster were Argo's roommates in the castle. Ilveyn is one of the masters who supervised the training and "Spearhead" Manasi is a historical figure, as in the time of the events of the plot, there are no gnomes among the Wanderers.

In general, humans and elves are more biologically similar to each other than to any of the shorter people, and vice versa - dwarves and halflings are related closer to each other than to any of the taller people. The only known interspecies unions that produce offspring are humans + elves (the outcome is a half-elf) and dwarves + halflings (the outcome is a gnome).

Half-elves are very diverse - they inherit traits from both parents in a way that cannot be foreseen, the only constant is that their ears are almost always pointy, but shorter than elven. Lifespan, eye color, iris shape, bodytype, resistances to toxins, allergies and intolerances, even body hair patterns vary wildly from one half-elf to another. Oster, for example, passes for a human more easily than Igna, but sees better than her in low-light conditions (he also happens to be near-sighted, but that's an unrelated issue).

Gnomes, in contrast are a subject to hybrid speciation. They tend to be rather similar to one another in terms of physical traits - instead of forming a spectrum in between dwarvish and halfling-like apearance, they have a distinct look consisting of a similar set of dwarvish and halfing traits they often inherit from their parents. There are entire gnome settlements, and they're considered a people of their own to an extent half-elves are not.

[mutodaes]

Happy pride month everyone!!

What better way to kick the month off (for me, at least) than by showing off the main cast of Hematemesis.

Because Hema takes place in an "alternate" Earth, gender and sexuality doesn't exist as we know it. Many societies and species have different gender and sex structures than humans do. The above labels are what the cast would say if asked by a human, but none of them would personally label themselves this way (beyond Rhyvet, at least)

Lets talk about it under the cut!

Howdy, nice to see you here!

Firstly, I want to cover the fact that Ausvardian/Seivei, Szolka, and Ofrians do not have the same gender structure western cultures have in our world.

Ausvardians/Seivei (Aus, Mhere, Jaxx) have one the most analogous structures that humans do when it comes to sexuality and genders! These cultures span across multiple "bisex" species that have sexually dimoprhic traits, so western identity labels can be easily placed without much room for error. That said, it's very common for individuals to transition from one gender to another or to forgo the gender binary entirely. Trans and/or intersex individuals in these cultures are often raised as non-gendered and sacred individuals, often finding their place as religious leaders or healers. When it comes to raising young, children are often born from the "main" pairing of a family line, with side partners being an optional part of life. It's frowned upon to treat all of your partners equally in Ausvardian culture (but not for the Seiveihei!).

Szolka culture encompasses many "trisex" species. Their sexes are based on testes, ovaries, and ovotestis that are all located in the same region of the body with no visual difference. This doesn't mean that varied intersex Szolka don't exist, but moreso the term "trisex" refers to the main sex populations! Shadoulai (Djeri) and Telleib (Yeirek) belong to highly social species where sexuality is more based on the amount of partners you have rather than the sex/gender identity of said partners. When there's no true sexual dimorphism in your species, you tend not to attach sexual and gender identities to yourself and others ^^ (Note, Leviathans do have sexual dimorphism, but they get funky with it)

It's incredibly common to see a male Telleib pared with multiple male, female, and intersex partners, all coming together as a family to raise their shared young in small pod groups.

Shadoulai, on the other hand, communally raise their young regardless of parentage, so having an ever-changing list of partners is common for them! Monogamy in Shadoulai populations is incredibly rare (and sadly, often frowned upon). This is because Shadoulai settlements can consist of up to 80 members!

Ofrians (Aestus, Ofris) are synthetic organisms that can swap parts and change their appearance at will as long as they have the resources and time to do so. Gender to them is an accessory rather than an innate part of who they are, often times switching between multiple gender presentations throughout their lifetimes. Subsequently, sexuality is equally as nebulous to them. Ofrians are more focused on overall aesthetic and personality of their potential partners than sexual appeal based on gender categories, with many falling into the aroace spectrum. With the ability to build your own child from scratch, sex becomes an entirely optional part of life. Single parents are a common sight!

And lastly, for the culture that is rather rigid with their gender and sexual identities, Algelhi! Rhyvet's culture worships a god of Duality, who can split into both a man and a woman (or so they say...). This has lead many Algelhi to uphold strict structures of gender and gender performance, though the ideal woman is expected to be much more masculine than western human standards. Anyone who falls outside of this system tends to be ostracized, with exceptions in Algelhi populaces that regularly intermingle with other cultures. Shadoulai that are Algelhi, perplexingly, also follow the Algelhi gender binary, to very mixed and detrimental results. Monogamy is expected and encouraged, though there's no particular focus on heterosexual relationships. That said, labels are important to the Alga! Being able to firmly put yourself in a box is viewed as necessary to forming beneficial long-term bonds with your partner. (Edited 7/28/24 to include more accurate terminology)

[drohkido]

Look, dad- look grandpa- look Professor- look you dullard- look what I drew.

Time and space maintained that everyone younger than him wanted him to see their art. Giovanni had never been an exception to the rule. He’d caught the kid on multiple occasions in the lab library tracing his old sketches, sometimes even without his brother. Oak took the Rotomphone in his free hand, moving it to his good eye to take a good look at a collection of careful drawings. There’s drawings upon drawings of Persian, his Nidos, observations of spaces and…

“What in the world? These are incredible- these are Paradox Monsters?”

The chassis are sleek, the investigations on a self healing organic material with the rigidity of metal starting several conversations on his tongue that he didn’t immediately project into the topic at hand. He looked closely at some of the sketches of the Gallade-evoir, zooming in on parts and connection details to look with a vested interest in the subject.

It’s a topic he definitely had to revisit, because the Technical Machine data with its programmed and karyotype data storage was and is a marvel of their time. To use it in memory recall…? The implications were truly incredible. 

But, he held his tongue to table the discussion, flipping through the drawings again.

“You got very good.”

He hadn’t seen Giovanni’s drawings personally since the release of Secret Earth Arts. Yukinari drew like he painted, in layers upon layers to shape his ideas into existence. Giovanni captured outlines exceptionally well, and firmly suggested form and texture through washes and a harsher pressure to the utensil.

“Send these to me, will you? I’d like to take a look at them.”

And he could expand on them while he was under an effective house arrest. He handed Giovanni his phone back after a long moment, a few message pop ups cutting off his thoughts before he started on tangents.

“The Voice of the Forest... The Mori Younger introduced it to me at the Silver Spine. The Viridian and Illex Forests, as legend and historical geography suggests, were once part of the same massive sprawl of trees. I believe at one point, this Voice- an ephemeral shard of possibility and power, was just that. The Forest was rich with, if you believe this- oh what am I saying of course you do- magic. True magic.”

Magical beasts, of course, were in his purview, but very rarely did the scientific community respond favorably to the word magic. His favorite dissuasion of the allergy to the word “Magic" was: it is simply “Unexplained Science”. Not everything needed quantification and explanation, of course, but it is what humans did. Partitioning the unknown was an ancestral practice. A kid dividing candies by shape and color already understood concepts of the never ending pursuit of discovery.

“When I was very, very young, I journeyed into the heart of the wood. I was with my Charmeleon at the time, and we found a time traveling poacher- a brigand at the very center hunting for rare monsters. I did not know what it was, at the time, but I came upon a very injured Celebi who was being hunted down. Celebi threw us forward in time. A long time forward in time.”

Ookido paced among the rows upon rows of sketches, because there were few of them of himself, but they were there. A dated look in a mirror showed a very young man looking back on the one that caught his attention. The paper was yellow, old, and stained with a perfect coffee ring.

"My mother had died two years before, leaving me almost emancipated at eight, and the ward of my school teacher. I had very little oversight. I took to traveling on my own, often. A gross oversimplification. Things were dire then. It was why I did not panic upon my arrival to the future, I suppose. Why I was... good? At it. Celebi has been my partner ever since that point."

He finally crossed the room to get the cup of coffee in his hand, setting his young self portrait and the portrait of a faded woman down on his drawing table.

"The Voice, again, is possibility, in the most direct definition. The Voice of the Forest could be this creature, Celebi, sleeping for the last forty years, or you could look more broadly and say The Voice is the primordial aspect of sapient wishes for a Guardian."

The sketchbooks offer brief glimpses into Ookido's perspective. Impressions of life and motion that Giovanni had always admired, and had tried to emulate a few times before with careful tracing and learning how writing implements felt in his hand. His own drawings now were more solid, in comparison. Thicker lines and more rigid shapes, noticeably absent of color, but emphasis on shade and depth and texture.

But the impression of the stern woman tugs at Giovanni's attention and memory more so than long dead and fantastical creatures.

"I have," he says, pouring a mug for the professor first and foremost, "I've heard six or seven different versions. Some in relation to the mythos of the Pokéathlon. Some in connection to the other Children of the Forest stories."

He retrieves his rotomphone, to allow Oak to browse through pictures that Giovanni had taken of wild monsters, ruins, dry-erase notes of observations that were done in heavy rain, and of drawings that he had made... and of his own Pokemon. Mostly Sweetheart, but a few endearing photos of his Nido pair and Wy.

"Here, you can look through these too, I have something else to show you, as well."

Giovanni reaches into his pack to pull out several typed pages and illustrations of paradox pokemon and strange TMs, semi-organic machines... front and center of all of the illustrations, a creature that looked like a Gardevoir and Gallade combined.

"So, what version of the story do you tell?"

[kidhawks]

Oh my gosh thank you. I don't like the idea of Hawks being brainwashed that everyone is on about, and I prefer him knowing that the hpsc is sketch, but choosing to go along with what they say not because he's loyal to them, or likes them and thinks they're good or whatever, but because hes loyal to the people. People always vilify Hawks having choices, which makes it harder to like that. (Although idk if he said he couldnt refuse bc he couldn't get himself to if it helps ppl or bc he lit can't.)

hawks isnt brainwashed!!! i’m making it into posters!!!!

he often takes a pretty helpless position in fanon, for lack of a better word. the commission is presented as a machiavellian big bad who’s stripped him of any critical thought—and yes, this is derived from what we know from canon, but imo is a massive oversimplification. the commission is corrupt but they’re not out to harm society, though they are a product of a broken one.

and hawks has agency! it took me a while to come to this realisation but it’s suddenly obvious in his little mannerisms—talking back, saving civilians when he’s told not to..... all this points to him being critical of the hpsc but sticking around for the reason you pointed out. he has so much influence in his position, espionage skills most mainstream heroes would never possess, that he’s essentially a walking (flying) skill set. and i think he takes that responsibility very seriously. the training he went through made him perfect for saving lives en masse, even more so if he sticks with the commission, and he’s not going to abandon that position just because he doesn’t want to compromise his morals. “i will dirty myself to put people at ease” is practically at his core—not the hero he ever wanted to be but the one he will become because, to him, public safety takes a massive priority over his own self.

and then obviously he’s hugely pressured by the commission and was raised as a child soldier, so even the decisions he makes are influenced by that. on whether he says he “can’t refuse” because he feels an obligation to the public or because he literally can’t refuse—a mixture of both i think! at his core is a child who wanted to save people, and he threw himself into a high speed car crash to do so (i think we skip over how terrifying that must have been btw). so we have that kind of ‘true hero’ in him, the selfless desire to help, but also the conditioning he went through to make him into someone with no regard for his own wants or needs—this, the commission had influence in. though we don’t know how much of that self-destructive selflessness is his natural personality vs. his training.

so, i think the reason the commission knows he “can’t refuse” the mission is because that’s what they manufactured him to be, capitalising on the selfless child already inside him. they made a hero who would be at their beck and call not because he fears a punishment, but because they spent his entire childhood (and his small amount of adulthood so far) training him into someone whose obligations to the public outweigh his own morals every time. so in a way he is brainwashed..... brainwashed to ignore the concept of self care

[fionacreates]

Hey. Sorry I just have a question but do you create your artwork on an app? Please let me know how if it doesn’t bother you.

I draw using GIMP on my PC with my very old Wacom graphics tablet.

I watch a lot of “terrible” films and tv as I work. The good stuff is too distracting.

As for how I use the program? I’m a very basic artist who does most things on one layer of drawing. I make a moodboard (like you can see in the pic above) then I sketch on one layer, make a new layer over it and add the flat colours with NO LINEART and then work in any lines or colour I need over the flats.  This is how I would do it by hand with real paint so I just kept doing it that way digitally. That’s a Massive Oversimplification of my process lol.