Art: Mondigan 100 (Black and White)

And eighty hours of work later... happy birthday to my fictional character, haha. I'm finally glad to do a piece of this magnitude, especially for myself. Thank you all so much for the support, reading my weird writings and everything. You guys don't know how much it means to me.

This will be the cover for when I collect all 100 of these theme pieces. You can check them (and the story) out here: [link]

Click to full-view on deviantART!

Art: 062/100 Themes - Magic

"Magikan." Magic. - 062/100 Themes.

Because power is frequently associated with magic, nobles and clergy obsessively maintain their lineages to only include strong mages. Types of magic are passed from parent to child similarly to blood type. There are two alleles - one for light magic and one for dark magic.

Possessing one allele of a certain type will give a person passive magic, such as enhanced intelligence or a particular talent. Possessing two of a certain type will give active magic, which allows for actual control of one’s surroundings. Possessing neither will result in a non-magic person, but so will possessing both. Each allele will cancel the effect of the other. However, they can still be passed on to children, resulting in magical children being born to non-magical parents, and magic children being born an opposite type from magic parents.

Magic, when not outright used, is undetectable without special means. Because of this, some families of mages have cultivated a heightened-awareness ability that lets them detect other mages.

Most magic children will display certain affinities or exhibit unusual behavior associated with their power. However, these displays tend to be uncontrollable as powers do not solidify and reach maximum potential until puberty. After physical maturity, most passive mages are able to keep their powers in check. However, active mages may lose control when in heightened emotional states. Due to the significant population of double-allele dark-mages in the Alisian islands, citizens adopt meditative practices to help maintain order.

Light mages are more susceptible to diseases caused by blockages of the cardiac system such as heart attacks and strokes. Similarly, dark-mages are more prone to ruptures of the cardiac system such as aneurysms and internal bleeding. Mages of both types have, on average, a shorter lifespan than non-magical peoples.

Perrin's father has a single-allele light-mage, and her estranged mother was a single-allele dark-mage. As a result, she inherited dark-magic powers seemingly out of nowhere. However, her ability is 'passive'. While she cannot manipulate the world around her, she can see and feel both types of magic - giving her the ability to pinpoint other, more hidden, users.

 

Rivek leaned against the wall of the lab. “Perrin should come with me.”

Eamon sat at his desk, ostensibly ignoring the dark-mage who was rapping his knuckles against the door. “No, Rivek. It’s too dangerous.”

Rivek ripped the paper he was staring at out from under his nose. “We’re all going to be in danger if we don’t stop Sorian, and she can do just that.”

Eamon turned around to break eye contact. “My daughter - my only daughter - is fifteen.”

“And she is a lot more capable than I was at that age - and I was capable of a lot.”

“Capable of getting into a lot of trouble!” He stood and thrust the chair under his desk.

Rivek crossed his arms and planted himself between Eamon and the doorway. “I know it’s hard for you to accept, but Perrin has dark-magic. She can find others like her, like me. Like us. And as much as you hate it, you said it yourself - we need black arts to win this war.“

“You know that if we lose, we burn. She and I both.” He set a map on the table, a chart had been marked for his estranged homeland, the Alisian Islands. “If you care for her at all, Eamon, let her join my mission. Let her have what she wants.”

Art: 045/100 Themes - Illusion

"Ilujia." Illusion. - 45/100 Themes.

I suck at writing flirting, but I admit, Rivek is a bit of a pervy dick.

Rosmyne is a re-work of an old character who used to be Willow's room-mate (and Rivek's ex) in high school. Now, she is a former servant girl with a penchant for money. She is the kind of woman who hops from man to man to achieve her goals.

As a teenager, she slept with Rivek because she thought he would marry her and give her noble title (no one else was troubled or rebellious enough to sleep with servants). When his title is stripped away, she is coincidentally ruined. As an already "lesser" person who is no longer a virgin, she has lost her social value.

She continues to work at the castle behind the scenes, hidden in shame, until she serves dinner to a handsome prince from the north. Empathetic to her drive for self-worth, Sorian sees value in her still. He tells her he can give her back everything she lost. He buys her, and she willingly undergoes his experimentation. It gives her magic ability to manipulate others' thoughts and dreams through touch.

Slowly, she falls in love with him and the possible royal title he could provide, but he is too wrapped-up in his own quest for power. Both Sorian and Rosmyne are people who define their internal value by rewards from external sources.

At first, I was iffy on re-purposing Rosmyne due to possible "sexploitation," but I think her addition actually rounds out my female cast. Each balances power and gender differently: Willowren has tons of power, but her culture's expectations of women restrict the ways she can express it to traditionally feminine paths. Mirab expresses her inherent power through masculine means. Perrin is born with very little, so she joins the male-dominated military to achieve status. Rosmyne exploits her feminine nature to climb the social ladder.

Specifically, I want Perrin and Rosmyne to serve as contrasts to one another. Perrin is forward - to the point of bullheadedness - in achieving her dreams. Rosmyne is manipulative and uses others to get what she wants.

Also - Rivek verbally denies it, but he highly values his relationship with Willow. So, since Alisian culture treats men and women as military equals, Rivek has no qualms about beating the crap out of a girl who threatens it.

 

Rivek wandered through the dark corridor. The mage-lights had been extinguished much earlier, so only moonlight guided his passage. He ran his hand along the wall to avoid walking into potentially painful objects. Most of the castle's inhabitants would be asleep by now. He thought he would be as well. He did not understand what kept him awake.

The warm, night air blew in through the marble archways and licked at his bare skin. Given the late hour and lingering summer swelter, he had not bothered to find a shirt. He paused as his hand slid over a familiar carved handle, the door to the great hall. The vaulted ceilings seemed like a much better alternative to the confined corridor.  He had to throw most of his weight into it, but he managed to create enough of a opening to slide sideways in.

Blue light streamed in through the stained glass windows, casting hues that turned the white ground into an ocean floor. As he looked up from the patterns on the tile, his eye caught the glimmering, gold, hem of a piece of cloth. In light, it would have been rich crimson, but the night transformed its shadows into a deep violet. A woman sat in the throne at the front of the room, swathed by this mass of red silk, gazing at the moon. Noticing his entrance, she stood. The cloth fell from her shoulders, revealing her pale skin. She wore nothing.

He laughed. "Willow. I'm not going to lie, but this is pretty odd."

She smiled. "Come here."

He obeyed, stopping at the foot of the throne's platform. "I thought you'd be in bed. As in, I expected you to be in bed until noon tomorrow."

She laughed, and it echoed like bells off the stone walls. She moved closer, leaving only a few inches between their bodies. "Same as you, I couldn't sleep."

"Maybe you should try again." He smirked, doing a poor job of keeping his eyes and hands off her exposed breasts. "Not that you'd get lost in your own house, but if you need someone to take you back to your quarters - well, 'escort' is in my job description."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and left a quick peck where the two scars crossed on his cheek. "Not to dismiss your acts of chivalry, but, no, I'm going to stay here, thank you. It's a nice enough night, isn't it?"

He wrapped one hand around her waist and used the other to brush her long hair out of his face. "You're going to sit naked for an undetermined period of time in a public place that will be quickly populated in a few hours. Good plan."

"That's not what I mean." She threw him a fake, angry glance and pushed him back playfully. He went along with the act and dropped to his knees.

"Then what do you mean?"

"I simply mean I don't want to go back to my room."

He nodded and rolled his eyes, "That seems like kind of a dumb thing to want."

She knelt to meet him and began playing with his dark hair. She ran her hands down his bare abdomen, tracing the scars that ran down it. She paused, just under his navel, before letting her fingers snake slowly downwards again. He tensed.

"Well, since you've been nice enough to let me have what I want," she bowed her head and looked up to meet his eyes, "I can give you what you so desperately want."

With one quick breath, she pressed her lips to his and slipped her tongue between his teeth.

It tasted like iron, ash, and saltpeter. Quickly, he broke the kiss and bit his tongue. He wanted to wash out his mouth. Even his own blood would have tasted better. He spat onto the ground, narrowed his eyes, and wiped his lips.

Cupping his hand around her fair cheek, he leaned in and whispered into her ear, "No, I'm afraid, you can't. Because this is a dream. An illusion. And when I wake up, I am going to make you regret this. Because - sorry, love - but birds like me mate for life."

He nodded toward the silken cloth spread on the floor. "By the way, Rosmyne, her favorite color is green."

Art: Character Relations and Outfit Guide for Mondigan

Every time I start a new sketchbook (roughly every six months or so), I draw Rivek in whatever is outfit design is at that point. it's a way of seeing how far I have come and how far I need to go. These are usually done in airports and on planes since I like having new sketchbooks for trips - and because the whole character centers around flight.

I did this waiting to take BUR -> OAK to see some college friends in San Fransisco. It has some stronger linework due to influence from Eric Canete. His costume uses more metal and doesn't have as dramatic sleeves anymore since I wanted to trim the silhouette into one that accents vertical lines (I know, because he's not a skinny whelp enough as it is). And his pose is not relaxed and he's got more of a smirk because I wanted something more excited about life this time around.

 

When I flew back home for a week in August, I lost my pencil case (including my signature stamp). So after flipping out, I bought some cheap pencils to draw with (HB, I am accustomed to 4B). But I still didn't want to do anything fancy, so I decided to try and draw portraits of my characters (a few I have never shown the public before, even!). The goal was to get them to look different but keep nationalities and family relationships similar. I need to draw smaller eyes.
 
Rivek is our socially-stigmatized main character who serves as the personal agent and doer of dirty work to the doctor-princess, Willow. She is as stubborn and bull-headed as she is hopeful. In order to gain an ally and stop a war, Willow is set to marry another prince, Fenne, but he re-negs on the engagement when she proves her feelings really lie with Rivek - costing him his ability to walk.

To take our his frustration, he banishes Rivek and hires Rivek's best friend, Bohren into his guard. Knowing they are now on opposite sides tears Bohren to pieces because he still needs to separate his feelings between friendship and homosexual romance. In exchange for a new pair of legs, Fenne allies with Sorian, the leader of the country invading Willow's territory. Together, they build war machines and commit genocide.
 
Eamon is Fenne's scientific advisor - who helped Willow with her doctor training back in school - is afraid that the princes will murder his daughter, Perrin. So the pair seek refugee status with Willow. She accepts, and Perrin develops a rapport with Rivek due to their interest in dark magic. Rivek looks over Eamon's notes and helps re-work them to use dark magic, thus giving their side an edge advantage.

But to using dark magic requires dark mages, so he seeks the help of his estranged sister, Mirab. She agrees if once the war is over, Willow and her congress stops the genocide against their people. Kai is her adopted son. His merchant father abandoned him when he began to show traces of dark magic.

There are more details, but I think that's enough for now. Those things in the corner are some dress silhouettes from the Alexander McQueen Exhibit. Everyone's name ends in an "n" sound.

 

This is an outfit design guide for the seven countries that make up the continent of Mondigan. It details stuff like climate, color scheme. All designs are based around a central tenet of the countries' value system - represented as a simple geometric shape that gets repeated in the outfit. Countries that are more similar in mindset use more similar shapes. Each also has a signature style item unique to that culture. Unity for the entire continent, though, should be derived from similar materials.

 

Expanding on that further, I went ahead and drew some male and female Alisian outfits. Alisians live in a strict, role-based meritocracy where rank is determined by what you have done and what your forefathers have done. Although there is a certain genetic phenotype common in Alisians (tall, thin, pale, non-red hair, angular skull, hooked nose), appearance, gender, and sexual orientation are not measures of a person's value. Especially if that person can wield a sword. An Alisian is self-defined by their devotion to their religion and having been raised in an Alisian culture.

Despite being a military culture, the central tenet of Alisian religion is "balance" of light and dark. All things in moderation. Therefore, their visual design symbol is a diamond - symmetrical on all sides but still highly dynamic. Given that Rivek and Mirab are half-Alisian and best represent the phenotype, I have drawn them in generic male and female Alisian clothing. The cuts are slightly different to exaggerate how the diamond form falls along each gender, but given that gender is not a defining trait of the individual, the overall design remains mostly the same.

The sleeves are tied to the main shirt body and often not used in summer. They can come in multiple lengths, mix and match for variety. However, it is important to note that - even in the dead of winter - sleeves and arm gear are not worn during religious ceremonies out of respect.

Alisians begin combat training as soon as they can walk, and young adults tend to venture to other countries to seek temporary work. So although much of the Alisian economy is self-sustaining on fish, sheep, and tough grains, they also receive a strong vein of outside income from steel and mercenary work. Unscrupulous, non-religious, private businessmen will usually hire an Alisian bodyguard (this is how Rivek's father and mother met). So, completely illogically, I drew Bohren in a tentative Alisian armor design... which I am not promptly scrapping. It is far too impractical. I also meant to draw Willow in Alisian priestess robes, but I got lazy.

 

Sometimes, I draw my characters in their skivvies. For the record, this is what they would wear to sleep.  Done in the lobby of =ProdigyBombay's ultra-cool workplace while I was waiting for her to hang out with me.

Sketches: Original Character Amalgam

I have a really long post in store for today because I have been drawing a lot but not updating. I will be compiling a few sketchbooks to sell this summer, and I hope they will do well. They will be 80% original, so each one will be a great reflection on me and my characters. So far, I will have one each for: Mondigan, Tailor's Daughter, other Original Characters, Gore, and Fanart. Then again, at the venues I go to, my style is the last thing they like. I have little confidence in how others view my work (I even think only a handful of my school friends actually like it, lol!), but it's very much a reflection of me.

Enough moping. It was Hey Day, and we all got covered in condiments, so while I did the boys' laundry, they all walked about topless. That's where this idea came from. The concept is Willowren greeting Rivek in her private quarters after he's been released from internment. She wants some but understand he's still a little in shock.

I want to dispel the assumption that Rivek is gay. He's far more complicated than your classic yaoi boy, maintaining a close relationship with a strong, yet naive, woman. One of his defining conflicts is he can never be stereotypically manly - because he is skinny as all hell, and he serves a woman. But he loves this woman more than anything else. Super long forearms are super long. Must stop drawing in low light.


I asked Yiyi what I should draw, and she said I should do an original character that I don't draw too much. So I reached into the depths of my brain and pulled out my old, old RP character, Aidan Faulkner - the occasionally smoking, frequently drinking, use anything as a weapon, journeyman Watcher. He's the good boy who tries hard but never quite seems to make it - the road to uselessness is paved with good intentions. He bartends and takes acting classes on the side.

Ted said that I must have modeled Aidan after him because that's the way he sits. No, Ted, you are not that awesome. (I came up with Aidan far before I met him.)


Another amalgam of old characters. On the left is Vikku, the god of lust and war in the Mondigan mythos. He's also the alter ego of Amorek. He was made human from a fox, and when he played a trick on the head god, he got his legs cut off on replaced them with that of his horse.

At the bottom is Ailinar Vaulkner, the direct ancestor of Rivek. He had the entire right side of his face destroyed by shrapnel -like magic. Despite this, he remains pretty cheery until someone takes advantage of his blind spot, killing him. He is the kind of guy whose personality is so warm that you ignore his disfiguring. That said, he's also got a great body. Rivek's scar and surname are a homage to Ailinar's.

Whether my friends deny it or not, the girl on the right is not Madeline, Marissa, or Barlow. Long ago, I was inspired by Alexandria to draw a girl with matted black hair. This evolved into a possible concept - Rivek's child. I didn't want him to have a son, nor would I want the child to be with Willowren. Then again, Rivek is also a character who would never leave an heir. I don't know if I should put this into the story. Anyhow, this was me playing around with what she would look like - stick-thin, large almond eyes, wavy black hair. I'm still not sure about the long nose.


More concepts for the Tailor's Daughter - outfit designs for the gull and environment designs for the kitchen. Which do you like best? Most like the first and second outfits, but I don't want to convey him as royalty. More like a dock-worker. Girls shouldn't have to fall in love only with princes.


And one more sketch for Dominance War. He looks way too happy. I need to re-do this. I'm trying to figure out something for the final beauty shot.


There are recurring motifs in my art - missing right eyes, skinny men, people turning into birds. I can't tell if this is my uncreative qualities or my theme.