The gang's all here : Original

Alright, I can never find words to start a blog post, so I will just state my purpose: I will write short descriptions of each character and their personality and motivations, starting from left to right.

Old original characters and some revamps : Original

So, I decided to make a post writing about old OCs, some of which have been reworked and revamped. There will be old art dating back from 2009 (I think I might have older but not sure).

 

Posting this as an introductory image. This was my "persona" or avatar or whatever they're called now. I just called her Katsa. There was also a male counterpart, Kats. Anyways, my persona changed too...

I'm gonna try to pull cyberpunk off : Worldbuilding + other stuff

Happy Easter! I know Easter is also April 1 but I won't be making any jokes, well, no pranks ,that is.

February was kind of blerh for me and only the start of March became better and I've also been slightly lazy so no updates were made. I wasn't into games or anything at all. Finished reading one book, however.

Recently I stopped being creatively lazy and that's what I'll be writing about.

I'm thinking of creating a new story. Yeah, I already have one half-baked not-story and I'm tackling a new project. This new project is supposed to be a short story with a small cast and a more or less simple formula.

Well, as simple as cyberpunk gets.

20 questions about OCs : Original

I found an original character questionnaire so I filled it out. Originally it's meant to be a twitter meme where 1 like = 1 answer but I don't have the audience so I'm making my own content. 😊

Solana : Worldbuilding

I have finally crafted a map of the world of Solana. Granted, the base for the map is Pangea Ultima, a future vision of our very own Earth. I am not sure whether I will be able to keep the design as I have no idea if the concept of Pangea Ultima is copyrighted. I'll cross that bridge when I reach it. 😅

Anyways, here is the map with some explanations. 🙌

The large names are the names of the countries/regions. I will split some of the regions in smaller sub-regions and maybe add more capital cities. So far the biggest dots are capital cities of the regions, the smaller dots are points of interest that are essential to the story or are otherwise noteworthy.

Nord - The North lands, based on Scandinavia (in this map the oddly phallic shape is actually real-life Scandinavia). Sauoa is the capital city of the Northern lands. Crystalhaven is a popular winter home city (some of the characters of the Walpurgisnacht have their winter houses there, so they can visit the local ski resorts). Used to be invaders and pillagers - have a long history with Elnmidde and Kazek, however now they are inventors and offer goods and services for other lands in return for food and other goods that cannot be grown in the long winters of the North Lands. Their traditional food involves fish and meat (especially deer and boar). They love their milk and cheese, made from the milk of furred cows, goats and sheep.

Kazek - The Mountain lands, based loosely on Russia (at least the inhabitants are slavs). Kazek and Elnmidde are separated with a stretch of mountains so historically the Kazek traded and interacted with the people of Kaesano and Nord. Kazek in general is a very mountainous region, which affects the culture and people. Goranska is the capital city. I literally took the Russian word for "mountain" (gora) and formed it the way a lot of Russian cities are named (with the end -nsk). I don't know what sort of frankenword it creates but I just feel like revealing my thought process from the get-go.
The Kazek are known to be resilient people and their mythology and culture revolves around mountain life and birds. Similarly like slavs, they love their booze. They were mostly hunters so it was important to trade with the Kaesano and learn to farm in the Low Lands.

Kaesano - The Eastern lands. Based on Asia. Tokje is the capital city. Historically connected to the Kazek but has connections to Elnmidde, the Kaesano people often worked as mediators between the Kazek and Elnmidde. A lot of Kaesano and Kazek people have mixed ancestry since the people have a long history together, especially with the Kazek living in the Low Lands. Some of the Kazek, especially those with more Kaesano ancestry, see themselves more as Kaesano despite living in Kazek.

Elnmidde - the Middle lands. The largest region - generally inspired by the United States, a mixed society with white(?) people as the majority population. Bluewyvern, the capital, and cities near the borders are known for high mixed-ethnicity populations. The Middle Landers are known to be very welcoming but they often assimilate other cultures in their own. Elnmidde is generally a melting pot type of land, where multiple cultural lineages live together - so Middle Landers are not necessarily an ethnic group but simply citizens of Elnmidde. There are certain regions which are more ethnically homogeneous . I guess I'll have to add places based on English, German, French people or something. Some of the regions used to have monarchies, notably the Von Brandt lineage.

The Citadel is the capital for the Hilren, a group of people devoted to the Pantheon. It's like the Vatican but cut off from all other civilization. They compose many ethnic groups and are united by their devotion. They accept anyone from the outside but don't let you leave without a special ritual.

Marbleshore is a popular summer house resort and beach city complex.

Ostfort is the biggest port city of South Elnmidde.

Aelhollow is the place where the events of the Walpurgisnacht story takes place. It's a medium sized city with a mostly rich population but certain shady areas.

Sa'gga - The Desert lands. Thriving cities along the shores, hwoever vast stretches of desert making the country generally a poor place to live. Obviously based on the Middle East. A very reserved people, unlike the Middle Landers - very hostile to outsiders and don't travel much. The people care about passing down their lineage but do not wish to mix with others. Have a strained relationship with Mala, historically both countries influenced each other but after two bloody wars both have decided to let the desert be their separator. Despite living in barren lands, the Sa'gga people found their niche - they excel in hydroponics or no-soil agriculture and are the main exporters of food to Elnmidde. Ba'nidah is the capital city and is said to be the first city of the Sa'gga people.

Mala - The Middle South. Based on Africa. Mostly known for their colorful cultural robes, sometimes mistaken for Sa'gga people (Mala will hate you for that assumption). Hate the Sa'gga with a burning passion. Good relations with Sur, often intermixing and trading.

Sur - The South Lands. Based on Latin America. Work as mediators between Sa'gga and Mala. Has better relations with Mala since they are more open to foreigners, supplies food to them since it's easier and Sa'gga prefers to depend on their own food sources. Spread the Southern island with Elnmidde to use it as a trading hotspot. If Elnmidde's South Land is for resorts and leisure, Sur's Southern Lands are for trading and banking.


That's the outline for now. I will update map with geographical landmarks like mountains and deserts and with a more detailed drawing of regions and more cities. 😗😗

Ps. I discovered emojis, finally I can add some emotion to my posts.

Tobias : from priest to witch to start athlete

Decided to continue my character building posts, this time I will focus on the protagonist of my story - Tobias Nevermind. I think recently he turned one or even two years old as an OC, but his history and inspiration goes deeper. In his inception, the prototype for Tobias wasn't even an original character but a re-imagination of an existing character.

Image from here

As some might know, a few of my Granado Espada characters had off-canon backstories, Valeria was one of them - I genderbent her and gave the recruitable character the name "Tobias". I also made it so that Valeria Vendetta wasn't Valeria's "evil" side but the third sister, alongside  princess Gabriela.

Wiike, from one to another : character building

So, I promised I'd make blog posts about my original characters, so I shall start with Wiike. Ironically, she was a minor character that has recently piqued my interest. I will start from the beginning.

Here is Wiike in her first iteration - an asura from Guild Wars 2. She is one of the characters I made in a game with the intention of staying within that universe. In fact, GW2 Wiike is vastly different from OC Wiike, I can't even call it an AU, it's like character evolution that leaves footprints.

Since I had no warriors and no asura I made Wiike. In universe a warrior asura seemed a bit odd to me - they're an inventive race, not really brutes. I know, Vigil asura exist and so on but I still went the "warrior asura are not common" route. So Wiike was made into a "runt", I even wanted to make it that she has a learning disability that put her behind her peers, but since she was a minor character I never actually looked into such characterization. She has her own story alongside Lieire, a charr, in the Vigil. They went to Orr, got stranded in the Maguuma jungle, lost many friends and so on. Wiike's story was stuck in limbo because I focused on other characters I actually played, warrior was simply not for me.

So I decided to turn Wiike into an independent character. An original character without a trace of Guild wars 2 (you now, to avoid copyright infringement among other things).

Art: September practice #1

So, I found a site where someone has compiled pdfs of Andrew Loomis' books, they're pretty good for beginners as they go through all the basics of drawing the human figure.

As drawing heads/faces is one of the many things I am no good at I picked up the "Drawing the head & hands" book and went through it. In honesty it helped me quite a bit, so far I only got up to drawing the male head so I practiced with more masculine features. I should probably free study time for drawing each day but whenever I go out to do things like daily challenged they dwindle out pretty early on so I will not promise myself anything or make grand plans, I'll just doodle and more importantly - try to memorize and understand what I'm doing.

If anyone is interested: here is the link to the pdfs!

 

An assortment of rough sketches and two final practice drawings. Obviously I'm far from good and god knows when I'll be able to capture the likeness of a person (references used for last two drawings) but eh, I'll try. I think I need to do individual studies on eyes and noses, eyes especially. Eyes are really hard to draw because they have incredible detail but at the same time are a small speck in the general composition.

I suppose the biggest challenge will be memorizing all the fundamentals and then building a style upon that, my art style is a weird blend of stylized pseudo-realism with weird anime eyes. At least to me the eyes look like anime trying to be realistic. It's weird but maybe it is just me.

I have this issue when the drawing looks kinda ok when I do it and when I've finished it but when I scan it and post it everything looks bad.

Art: It me

A stylized self portrait, I'm not good at capturing the likeness of people so when it comes to real people I only draw myself. One is true - my default expression looks a bit sad.

Art: the rogue shapeshifter

Introducing Lieire - the rogue shapeshifter. 'Rogue' in this context means that she is a familiar without a witch. Li has her own gang of rogue familiars and she targets familiars with witches whom she finds 'interesting', whatever that may entail.

She becomes Caym's #1 tormentor for reasons one can put together after becoming acquainted with Lieire's story.

She's an albino so she's pale skinned and her hair is white, doesn't stop her from being a brawler and generally someone with a good punch.

Whether she's an antagonist or an anti-hero depends on your perspective.

Not gonna say much more in hopes that it will motivate me to write the story and actually show my characters in motion, that is a big IF though. Life's hard when your depressive thoughts just tell you that everything is pointless. Maybe one day I'll get off my arse.

Art: Various

Been kind of bummer about my story because the more I try the flimsier my plot becomes. I get one good idea but then I get several plot holes and don't know where to put characters. I suppose I need to regroup and rethink my protagonists and conflicts. Still, that won't stop me from presenting characters!

 Arthur! Good ol' Arthur, who hasn't changed a lot. Only his hairdo changes. One day I was making up people in my head and I came up with this eccentric dude who is very artsy. So here is the new and improved Arthur - a pianist who inherited his father's billion dollar corporation but wants to do nothing with it. Alas, his father has died and there is no other heir. Now the poor artist has to deal with synthetics and robots and other things he vaguely understands.

 Elisabeth, one of my witch characters. She's an 'ogre witch' meaning she is the scary type who eats children. That's not an exaggeration, she uses the life essence of young children to prolong her own life. As dangerous as she is to the 'normal' world she manages a shelter for 'abnormals' who have nowhere to go. Her lifestyle is a secret to all but her familiar and a certain other person.
Elisabeth's familiar is Caym who can shapeshift into a hummingbird. She holds him very dear and he has become attached to her like a mother figure.

 Mocori, a different witch! She is a fortune-teller witch, meaning that she possesses a crystal ball and can indeed foretell the future with 50% precision. Whether life is in one's hands or the future is like the weather is a completely different discussion. She's roommates with Malloana and both keep each others secrets.
Mocori's familiar is Blossom who also happens to be her girlfriend. She can shapeshift into a flamingo and a cat, the latter being a more inconspicuous disguise. 

 A little doodle of Zebelun, my drawings become less and less inspired. I have yet to get down his exact design. Imagining how a character looks is one thing, turning it into reality is something completely different.

Last comes a doodle of Yin stretching his limbs.
Stretching and any sort of physical activity is more about mental well being than physical as synthetics mostly cannot feel such sensations as stretching their muscles so they keep exercising just to feel like they're in control of their bodies. Yin was never a flexible person so he is not bothered by his new body but he likes doing simple exercises for fun. It's strange when your body feels only half of the sensations it did before. Better than being paralyzed from the neck down, though.

Art: Like a puppy

I managed to open some sort of art chakra so here is another drawing today! This time we get to see Malloana. Drawing someone from behind is hard and I lose the character's proportions, even though four-arm Lun is more slender than his pre-ascension counterpart, so there's that. 

I'm the artist so nobody else can guess what the true properties of my characters are anyways. >u>

Art: Zebelun's character chart

Drawing the same character three times is tedious, it's even more tedious when it's three different forms and you have to attempt to stay 'on model'. Anyways.

This is Zebelun the incubus and his three flesh vessels which change throughout the story. The first one is his human form - the most inconspicuous, albeit he still has the red eyes. As much as one tries to hide themselves the eyes always stay the same so Lun has to wear sunglasses and try not to look too obvious.

The second is his first true form, this is how he looked when he first met Malloana. He was still an apprentice so Lun's look is incomplete. The lack of clothes can be explained with his profession - he's an incubus, he has to look seductive and enticing (not that he was any good at it from the start). Getting used to clothes and shoes was a big challenge.

His 'complete' or ascended look is the third drawing. After leaving Malloana due to circumstances the incubus had no other choice but to go through his initiation ritual and become a proper demon, which is visualized by a more bestial form and markings upon his body. His human disguise didn't change much so I didn't include it, the only difference would be that his markings would show too because similar to the eyes it is an important mark a demon cannot erase. Sadly a heavily tattooed man attracts much more attention so Lun was reluctant to return to humanity, there were other reasons too though.

It took a lot of preparation before the demon could face his beloved human again.

Worldbuilding: a story of two engineers

One of Solana’s most prestigious universities is the Delta Academy of Technology and Mechanics which is a top-tier school and the main ‘exporter’ of artificial life scientists. Only those with top marks and a fat wallet can study there, if one wishes to to press their luck they can apply for scholarships or take the Gifted test – a higher difficulty entrance exam which might earn a spot in the ‘gifted’ group and have your studies paid for the government in turn for mark reports and reviews.

The Delta Academy focuses on technical sciences, mostly engineering and IT, it is lead by famous Nevol scientists renowned for their work in the artificial life engineering field. There are many faculties – civil, mechanical, and even biomedical engineering, among others. Only the biomedical branch focuses on producing artificial bodies and prosthetics, working closely with the Mother’s Academy of Medicine.

The president of the biomedical engineering faculty’s student body is none other than Rebol – the enigmatic man who is best known for his prosthetic designs. He is not a particularly lovable fellow but manages to hold his student council together with a bit of charm and an iron fist. Attends social events only because he is obliged to as a president, spends most of his time in the lab, working under the Academy and studying for his master’s degree. Most know that he works on perfecting prosthetics, striving to achieve lifelike feelings to them but very little know Rebol’s secrets. Having found a strange tunnel under his own home he has found a place of power, an old relict left behind by the Primal Nevols. Secretly the man has developed devices that can track magical energy, taking samples from the relic. This way Rebol can work on his most devious plans – outing any abnormals who dare set their foot in the Academy.

Being an establishment run mostly by Nevols, the Delta does not permit anyone with a magical abnormality to attend; this is explained by the long, complicated history of Nevols. As most abnormals are tracked it is almost impossible to get past the radar and get accepted into the school, however there are some cases where a seemingly ordinary person can avoid being noticed by the rigorous system.

This one person is a girl bound to a demon: Malloana, the charming and energetic president of the Mechanical engineering faculty’s student council, happens to be a regular mortal with a secret. During a party with friends she performed a botched demon summoning ritual and ended becoming permanently bound to an amateur demon – Zebelun the incubus. Since then he has moved in with the girl and lived disguised as a human. Malloana’s friends have kept the promise to never speak of the ritual or Lun as a demon, however none of them expected the biomedical engineer to be suspicious.

Malloana’s and Rebol’s story kicks off with a fateful meeting.   

Art: the sad bird

Caym is a character burdened by his own weakness. All his life he has fled the consequences of his choices and actions, often speaking big words but being unable to act upon them. What he doesn't admit is his fear of confrontation, of dealing with his issues. This has gotten him in bad situations many times, costing him not only money and limbs but also friends.

He never trusted his witch and pretended to not care about her, as much as she tried to make him open up. There was one person who could move Caym and when that person was in danger only then did the scared bird gain the courage to fight for his place in this world.

Art: Ania

Finally returned to traditional media but not without failures. Did a little experiment - made a basic sketch and then went straight to inks. Real drawing got ruined because I took a far too big pen to her face but in general her head is a mess so it's a pretty ugly drawing but one drawing is better than no drawing, right?

This is Ania, or Ana, a character of mine.

Worldbuilding: the people of Solana

Solana is the nation where the events of my story take place and this is a description of all the people who inhabit or have have inhabited the land.

The Siloteii: the nomads that have come to Solana recently. Their history is a mystery to most, they pray to a single God who’s name changes depending on who you ask. The Siloteii people have thoroughly mixed with the K’tals and Nevols, inheriting their culture, names and on occasion – magical abilities. Their opinion on synthetics and people with abilities depends on person, those closer to the K’tals are wary of synthetics but those closer to the Nevols are wary of people with abilities, some using the ‘abnormal’ slur.

The K’tal: the native inhabitants of Solana with the oldest and richest history. They do not have a deity which they pray to but they believe that everything has a spirit and respect nature and the order it brings to the world. The philsophy of K’tals is that a person must prepare for death by learning throughout their life, depending on families many have traditions of what one must achieve before their journey in life is complete and they can leave this world thus they reject anything that either brings premature death or prolongs life, most K’tals are wary of synthetics. The K’tals span throughout all social classes and mix with Siloteii and Nevols freely, however families often try to find a compromise to keep traditions of both sides.

The Hilren: second-oldest natural inhabitants of Solana, proud of their strict and rich traditions. Deeply religious people with the Mother as their central deity, revering motherhood and women as the foundation of life. The Hilren pray to the Mother and her Pantheon and considers themselves direct descendants of the Pantheon, however they see everyone as the creation of the Mother and consider other nations Children too even though intercultural marriages are forbidden and most Hilren believe they’re keeping the Blessed bloodline. Some honorary Hilren exist but one must do great deeds to be considered one, it is said the Monarch was the first and only mortal the Mother accepted into the Pantheon thus all honorary Hilren are called Monarchs with an adjective to describe their deed. The Hilren consider the Corruptor the opposite of the Mother and see him in everything that is sinful, however it is known that the Mother and Corruptor created humans thus they have to live their life as mortals to choose either the path of Blessings or Corruption. They are not wary neither of the Nevols nor synthetics, calling the Nevols either Blessed or Corrupted depending how their ability impacts their lives. They respect the K’tals even though are indifferent to their spiritual beliefs.

The Nevol: historically a nation of immigrants who recently arrived in Solana. Their ancestors depended on magic and controlled the Prime Source which gave the Nevols their signature abilities, however as generations passed and the people distanced themselves from magic and magical artifacts less and less Nevols came into this world with any magical abilities and soon started considering them ‘abnormalities’ and rejected anything paranormal or spiritual. They are the leading in technological development and are the founders of the synthetic project – human life can be transferred to a mechanical body and prolonged for an unlimited time. Anyone with an ability is shunned in their society and soon find them in bad conditions unless they can hide their ability or their family is rich and influental enough to make everyone else conveniently forget of such ability. Nevols mix with K’tals but mainly Siloteii in an attempt to distance from their past, however they often keep their family names as the Siloteii are more prone to adapting to different cultures.

Art: the fae

So I made a fairy and a vampire in Sims and I got really attached to them as characters.

Here's Adrian the fairy who's a superstar athlete, because that's appropriate for a fairy.