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Published: 2015-08-14 02:02:39 +0000 UTC; Views: 5020; Favourites: 137; Downloads: 50
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Description
Finally got around to a body comparison reference page for the four biggest players in the Heathen Gods story! In order, from eldest to youngest: Dyreth the earth god, Namka the sea goddess, Jaiya the wind goddess, and finally Vetalga the god of fire. Their totems are the golden lion, emerald leviathan, white crane, and black dragon respectively. Dyreth and Namka are the children of the moon goddess Elo'e while Jaiya and Vetalga are the children of the sun goddess Hizba, Elo'e's sister, so technically they're all related. Of course they look nothing alike but that's the fun of godly genetics I suppose!All in all I wanted each of them to represent certain ethnic regions without relying too much on cultures that already exist, since they are, according to the mythos of the story, where many of said cultures originated. Clothing-wise, Dyreth is most similar to the Zulu, with a hint of the Omo River Valley people to give him more of a greenery vibe, but overall he's meant to represent sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. Namka was a little trickier because while I knew I wanted her to read as Native North American, I had trouble deciding whether she would most resemble people from the mainland like the Powhatan or more so indigenous Caribbeans, so I went with a little of both along with the obvious creative freedoms such as her seashells and pearls. Jaiya is very representative of the Indian subcontinent and I referenced some ancient paintings from the region for her wardrobe, which I wanted to be just a little more practical to reflect her personality. I'm really used to putting warm colors against dark skin so finding a palette for her was a challenge and I'll probably tweak it later. And finally, Vetalga... a flamboyant and vain character, whose wardrobe was inspired by warriors of dynastic China with a scale pattern on his (impractical) armor to resemble a dragon. However, I tried to make him ethnically resemble a mixture of iconic southeast and east Asian peoples, which is why his complexion is a bit more bronze with strong Mongolian cheekbones. Also moved the roots of his horns from the top of his head to his forehead because I've been playing too much Dragon Age. :>
So, not a bad starting point I think! I'm looking forward to developing their designs more~
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Comments: 17
Burksaurus [2020-06-15 04:07:57 +0000 UTC]
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SETBLKYOEM [2015-10-19 22:36:36 +0000 UTC]
I love you details, diversity and colours; excellent work!
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haodan In reply to KittyKillAll-Art [2015-08-16 06:31:41 +0000 UTC]
Ahhhhhh thank you!~
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jackofalltrades0097 [2015-08-15 05:06:04 +0000 UTC]
If I wasn't so exhausted I'd give some quality feedback, but for now I can just go OMG THIS IS FANTASTIC!
You did a great job, and I freaking ADORE Vetalga. Seriously great work here <3
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haodan In reply to jackofalltrades0097 [2015-08-16 00:16:04 +0000 UTC]
Ahhhh thank you so much! Vetalga was the biggest pain in the ass to design so I appreciate that greatly. :')
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jackofalltrades0097 In reply to haodan [2015-08-16 02:19:18 +0000 UTC]
You're very welcome!! You definitely can tell that a lot went into him!Β
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eishiya [2015-08-14 12:42:02 +0000 UTC]
These are interesting designs! You didn't mention it in the description, so I'm curious: You have a subtheme going on with their designs, three of them include features of organisms associated with their elements (shrubbery for Dyreth, seahorses, molluscs and a hint of jellyfish for Namka, and birds for Jaiya), but Vetalga's most obvious animal element looks like bull horns, which has no deep-set fire association that I know of. Are they intended to read as dragon horns in combination with the scale armour? In that case, how come Vetalga is the only one with a mythological creature theme? Or did I just misinterpret the other three designs that horribly?
If you don't mind a critique: Dyreth's leaf-thing read like a large snake to me at first glance. The leaves are all the same size and all face down the body of the thing, resembling scales more than they do living leaves. Introducing more orientation variation should help it read more like a mass of leaves. It might also help to have clumps of leaves on it rather than one smooth form. If you want to make it look a living thing, then have the leaves face outward and a little upward. Leaving hanging downward looks like they're starting to wither, which I doubt is the effect you're going for in an earth god's design.
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haodan In reply to eishiya [2015-08-14 17:58:10 +0000 UTC]
Thanks! Regarding Vetalga, the horns are indeed meant to be related to his dragon totem. Although his "type" of dragon is visually similar to the ChineseΒ lΓ³ng (which is more associated with rivers and water in general), I had to admittedly westernize him a bit to make him fit the whole dragon=fire breather narrative. And Namka's totem is also a mythological creature - the leviathan, which in this context I pictured as a giant, ancient, and beautiful whale-type creature that embodies different characteristics of many sea creatures but I haven't drawn it or Vetalga's totem creature yet. I also struggle with even calling it a "leviathan" because that's a Hebrew-based word and doesn't fit the whole Native American vibe so I'm still on the search for more fitting, catchier synonyms lol. Although they're the only 2 in their family group with mythological creatures for totems, it was more out of chance than anything. I figured if the Chinese and Greek zodiacs could have real and imaginary creatures in them then I might as well go for it too! The other gods in the pantheon besides these four also have a mix of real/imaginary totems to at least stay consistent.
And thanks for the critique! I did kind of rush to get Dyreth's foliage done because it was my least favorite part and I wasn't planning on cleaning up my sketches at all, but I'll keep that in mind for next time when I do a full render. Much appreciated~
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eishiya In reply to haodan [2015-08-14 19:11:53 +0000 UTC]
Ah, I see! I don't associate horns with dragons or dragons with fire, so I guess that explains why that design stood out to me as odd. Just a cultural difference.
I think mixing different sorts of creatures (real and mythical) is a fine idea, and I feel a bit bad for not realising that earlier. If you hadn't explicitly mentioned dragons for Vetalga, I would've assumed the scales were meant to reference salamanders, which are associated with fire (as fictional creatures) but are also real scaly creatures.
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haodan In reply to eishiya [2015-08-15 20:36:15 +0000 UTC]
It's no problem! I appreciate getting difference perspectives on things like this - especially the salamander thing, that could be useful info for other elemental spirits.
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Grumpybus [2015-08-14 02:08:18 +0000 UTC]
These guys look awesome! ^^ Really cool characters!
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Grumpybus In reply to haodan [2015-08-14 02:19:07 +0000 UTC]
You're quite welcome! ^^ They are really well designed!
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