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.