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Nothing ever stays dead... but with Viktor and Jayce!

This is an Arcane art style study I did a few days ago🩵 I also wanted to make a drawing/study with the both of them, so when I saw the new S2 poster, i thought that was the perfect opportunity lol

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When I was “I want him” about a male character im not saying I wanna fuck him. I want him like a spoiled little girl wants a pony, I want to him so I can put him on my shelf for safekeeping, I want him like a good hearty stew on a winter’s evening, I want to put him in a jar and shake it.

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remember go nuts show nuts whatever

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turns out all i needed to be woken up from my painful year long+ art block was to hear a bit of zev slander.

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Either people need to learn how to tell the difference between an “I’m sorry” that takes direct responsibility and an “I’m sorry” that signifies sympathy, or I’m gonna start responding to unfortunate information with a solemn nod and a “Sympies,” because I am tired of receiving a “Why? It wasn’t your fault” every time I try to vocalize compassion.

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I need her

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About Davrin's little blurb on the official website for Dragon Age: The Veilguard...

"Though he was raised in a Dalish clan, he craved excitement and adventure. He'd rather make history than reflect on it."

There's actually a lot to unpack about these two sentences.

First off, placing the word "though" in front of being "raised in a Dalish clan", gives such a thing a negative connotation. The word "though" is used in a way that sounds like "despite", as in, somehow wanting excitement and adventure must go against being Dalish. This correlates with sentence that follows. "He'd rather make history than reflect on it." The word "rather" is yet again used to separate Davrin from his Dalish origin. All together, this promotional description of Davrin is insisting that he is "not like other Dalish".

Now, obviously the game is not out yet, so we do not have total confirmation on what the nature of Davrin's relationship to his culture is really like. But there is absolutely something to be said about promoting the character this way, regardless of however he actually turns out in game. There is absolutely something to be said about how, as @/the-eldritch-it-gay put in their tags here, why do writers feel the need to make fantasy minorities hate or distance themselves from their culture? As a selling point?

Maybe this is completely misleading bullshit, maybe it isn't. All we have to go by, is what BioWare chose to say here, and their past track record with elves:

Zevran may talk about his mother in a font way, but he still has the line, "Too many of our kind think we deserve pity simply because we have failed to defend ourselves."

Velanna is one of the two elves we've had who is overtly proud of her culture, yet she is treated like she is unreasonable and too angry because of it.

Merrill too, is proud of being an elf, and of being Dalish. The story punishes her left and right for this, treats her like a child, and in the end she is either ostracized from her clan or they end up dead because... she cared too much?

Fenris has pretty much zero engagement with elven cultures, and spends his time ridiculing Merrill for being proud of hers.

Solas complains about the Dalish from the start, and says plainly that he does not see himself as having anything in common with elves of current time. "Oh, you mean elves" he says, when the Inquisitor asks how he feels about his people; the thought does not even occur to him.

Sera is... Sera is a character who could have been a really interesting examination of overcoming internalized racism, if she was written by someone competent with the subject. Instead, she just cringes at everything "too elfy" through the entire main game, and only has a single line in Trespasser that hints that she may have a personal struggle going on. But it's still left unresolved.

That's a lot a lot of negativity. So of course seeing a suggestion that more is to come with Davrin has people wary and tired.

Let us also consider the fact that Davrin is overtly Black as well, and what that means. Acting as if one must disregard history in order to make it, as his description so claims, is bullshit. It sounds too much like promoting gentrification/assimilation in my opinion; the idea that you cannot keep your culture if you want to be successful.

I also think that it goes even deeper, on a meta level - I think that BioWare is afraid people will not be able to like or relate to Davrin, if he is "too ethnic". I think that BioWare is taking this Black character and instead of questioning how he can best represent marginalized fans - particularly Black fans - they are questioning how to make him more relatable to white fans. And the only answer to that is to, of course, make him seem like he is an exception to marginalization through separating him from his people.

I am still holding onto hope that Davrin will overall be an interesting, well-written character. And I sure as hell will still be defending him from the people who are already hating on him or ignoring him completely because of their racialized biases. But that does not exempt BioWare, and specifically his writer, John Dombrow, from any criticism. This is not about Davrin the character, this is about BioWare the company's handling of Davrin the character. And in that regard, they're not off to a great start with this.

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Lord Seventh cover design by me

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im glad chappell roan has told ppl to fuck off lol like im sick of watching this cycle where people commodify artists and deify them and then denounce them and destroy them. can you people not just have a normal fucking relationship with art. artist makes the thing you like, you consume the art. consume it with friends! consume it a thousand times over! memorise every word of it start a blog about it tattoo it on your goddamn body! but you aren't entitled to the artist themselves! they are not your special interest, they are not your political avatar, they are not your best friend, they are just some rando and so are you, and that's fine. empowering even. stop worrying about what taylor swift's favourite breakfast cereal is and think about yours

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Well, here I go again about to romance another elven warrior. Please don’t break my heart 🫠

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Hear me out. Now that we can be trans. Transmasc dwarf Rook who named himself after Varric and is absolutely mortified to meet the guy in person and have to introduce himself

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anders with a black mantle. :(

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cannot wait be so bizarre and out of touch when it is least needed again!

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Even more wizard whump ✨

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im not exaggerating when i say i've thought about this dialogue at least once a day since the veilguard trailer dropped

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Per request, below are some skin tone references for the companions of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

These colour palettes are not meant to enforce a rule that you must stick with them exactly 100%, but rather, I hope they can be of use as basic guidance for artists who want something to reference. A time-saver, if you will.

I would personally recommend either second or last images as the most neutral lighting!