chimaera #6
restorative silk
MANDRAKE | VERA VERTO | PAGE 394



[ click for full size ]

This one...was a tough one and creative despair did take over for a bit. I cycled through several characters and no concept immediately came to mind. So I let it all sit for a day or so (and the weekends for me are always good bye to personal productivity, especially this past one with a huge festival in the city) and I still was not coming up with anything until I picked up the book I have been trying to read (and failing spectacularly for a year now) and turned to its page 394. Then everything clicked pretty instantly

The book in question is The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad and considering I am perpetually stuck on page 9 I was a little nervous about skipping ahead THAT far ... until I did and saw that I was in the glossary Page 394 had several references to specific garments and a certain fashionista/fashion designer/personal stylist by the name of Candela [redacted] immediately popped up and began raving about Middle Eastern textiles. The wand movement for Vera Verto (according to HP wiki) looks a lot like a flowing piece of fabric and became the base of this little doodle as seen in the fabric draping over her arms. The light for the spell is 'crystal clear', so that gave the inspiration for the sheer fabric (yay colorless blender!) and then the green is a nod to the colors of the leaves of a mandrake. The mandrake reference probably seemed vague and a bit of a stretch, but for Candela...fashion and design have been like a haven to her. A means to express herself and reclaim agency with her own existence much like the powerful restorative properties of a mandrake. Learning about and using new textiles, traveling around the world to find them, is one of the most freeing experiences and a guarantee to bring a smile to her face.

I felt incredibly fulfilled after completing this piece and really really REALLY enjoyed working on her hair (which I based off her FC's instagram photos). I thought about giving her her signature "dandelion fluff" hair and use that for more practice in drawing and texturing curls...but I wanted to try something different. Candela changes her hair style and color often enough anyway The pastel Ohuhu I used for the sheer green worked SO well with the colorless blender as well. This one has taken me the longest to complete, both in conceptualization, sketch, and coloring

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chelliephone

Ugh, Kath, these are all amazing! I LOVE the colors you've used for your creations! And the expressions you're able to capture on their adorable little faces never cease to bring me joy! The color blending in the chips on Kurumi's cookie too *chefs kiss*

thank you I feel like...I've discovered a whole other style for drawing eyes this year. Before I tended to mimic the style of CLAMP (one of my favorite mangaka groups) but...I don't know what pulled me more towards this eye style this year but it is fun to explore!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

shhh no it's fine I think chimera/chimaera is a dual-spelling thing depending on where u are

okay first off you need to know I recognised that as atlas INSTANTLY. it's the jigglypuff face for me. the association of the prompts to the piece is we love a hero's journey. I love the blending on his hair, so subtle but so effective, and also in the pot of the bubotuber. AND in the pus. ugh. witchcraft.

i looooove all the little details you managed to get into your zinnia piece - how big are these pieces roughly? are you diving up pages of your ohuhu sketchbook again? anywaY, the texture in the broom bristles and allll the blending and shading here has such a good effect, and I think you did great on the hairline too, I wouldn't have thought it was something you usually struggle with. anyway x2. yes. love a smiling zinnia. team blue-and-silver-is-valid

it's kurumiiiiii. what a journey for this prompt, and her eyes are amazing here, and you know i am in love with the richard-of-york-gave-battle-in-vain cookie... things. chips? you know what i'm saying. this one looks so soft to me and yet not soft but yes soft but ??? it's very striking. I love the contrast between the dark of her hair and robes and the bright eyes and cookie Roy G. Bivs

more please

well...you know me and spelling :lol

Each of these is about the size of my palm, give or take. The spread currently looks like this. (I can never look at Jigglypuff the same now and am disappointed Atlas has never had the petty urge to draw on someone's sleeping face. I'm being denied a good time)

I had thought about making a stack of rainbow cookies...but rainbow chips felt more whimsy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Okay, so I spent quite some time admiring the Zinnia and Kurumi pieces. For Zinnia, I especially love how you captured her hair and the earmuffs. For Kurumi, I love the colours, especially the rainbow ones. Kurumi's took me allllll the way back in the School RPG's history I think that's when I started talking to you because Jory {who I was RPing at the time} was my first School charrie and he and Kurumo would sometimes interact.

Good times

Seems like FOREVER ago, doesn't it? It kind of was but...you know

The swish of her ponytail is one of my favorites. I find when I am trying too hard with hair or these swishy lines...my wrist tightens up and then there is this rigidness to the lines. That thinking that it must be right on the first try. Learning to just...draw a bunch of light lines and then pick my favorite after was the best thing I picked up from Youtubers

Quote:

Originally Posted by emjay

Oh my word. Kurumi has no right to be this cute. love this drawing so much, but my favorite part is your highlights and shadows in her robes. It really makes it look 3 dimensional and like it's draped on her body. Really nicely done!

I dropped the black Ohuhu and used a dark grey color this time (same with her hair) that I then layered up with either a dark brown (robes) or purple (hair) and that really helped give me the freedom for highlights and shadows. The black is just so...BLACK.

the purple for the hair is also a nod to her FC playing Sailor Mars in the live action Sailor Moon TV show, where Sailor Mars is often depicted with dark purple - black hair in the manga/anime.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

My little Kurumbly. This turned out so cute and I don't mind those little stubby arms or legs at all. <3<3

I feel like it has been AGES since I heard that nickname. Oof, the nostalgia we do love a good stubby hand and leg in this house!

chimaera #7
a howling good time
HALF MOON | PENSIEVE | DARK ARTS



[ click for full size ]

This one came together almost instantly and almost for too obvious of reasons...and I felt intimidated because I can draw a cute chibi ... but a little sultry chibi, well, this was a first But if you have ever met the one and only Darius Enzo "Medysius" Lacroix...then you know there is just no compromising his aesthetic and vibe.

'Half moon' was the first to appear from the draw and that came with the obvious parallel to Darius because...well...he is a werewolf - so literally any reference to the moon was going to give me that imagery. The 'half moon' also draws parallels to Darius' upbringing in that he was abandoned by his birth parents after being bitten and discovered by and subsequently taken in by a colony of centaurs living in La Forêt d'Iraty. Centaurs have a deep appreciation and relationship with the moon and stars and astronomy in general. My second pull from the hat was 'Dark Arts' and that basically solidified the werewolf imagery. There is also a nod to his general aesthetic being 'rugged Dark faerie' according to some. The final one was 'pensieve' and rather than the actual magical item found in Dumbledore's office, the inspiration rolled into Darius' general persona and how curious (in every sense of the word) a being he is.

My white gel pens came in a clutch again with this piece and again with fabric. I really like the effect it had on the cut outs on the jeans as well as the bits of jeans being tugged over the cut outs (those lines were rather nerve-wracking to draw because I was afraid that the pen would jam or something and the line would be RUINED). I used three or four colors for his luxurious hair and I desperately need to get a refill for my black marker because the lines were ROUGH. That is supposed to be a crescent moon behind him (I like the shape better than a half moon and shhh) with a subtle glow around it buuuuuut...not too sure that came out all that nice

Quote:

Originally Posted by emjay

Ahh it's Candela! I knew it was her right away, mostly from her hair which you did an amazing job on. I'm especially impressed with the sheer fabric that you captured so well. The gel pen highlights really help to make it look sheer I think, but you got such a nice translucency in the colors too. Love this and the journey you took with the prompts!

Thank you, MJ I was so anxious putting down those highlights but they felt necessary. Really glad I did it because without them it was really hard to see the details or accept that there was a sheer fabric. It was looking really muddy there because of all the blending required for the fabric and then also with her hair.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

Whoa, the sheer fabric is knocking my socks right off! That turned out so amazing! I knew who this was when I saw her as well, and I love reading about how the whole thing came together for you. But the hair! The fabric! Everything! This is one of my favorites so far!

I really feel like I got lucky with how perfect the particular green pen worked out. So far...all my '[color here] grey' markers have worked the best with this sheer look. I think this one is one of my favorites too...it just brings me so much joy to look at.

chimaera #8
garden firebird
PHOENIX | WATERING CAN | YELLOW



[ click for full size ]

Another that came together quite easily - and man I am getting a lot of the Herbology related prompts, which meant it was only a matter of time before this character got featured. Paige Harden (formerly Skeeter) was my first 'secondary' school character back when I was on staff with Airey and had the itch for a student character voice. You could say that her creation marked a ~rebirth~ in how I approached the RP as I shifted from having only one school character at a time to...many, revitalizing my creativity and RP experience. But she herself went through multiple rebirths during her life after her emotions set her soul aflame (for better or worse). As a Hufflepuff, the use of yellow was pretty self explanatory here and when paired with watering can I really thought I would end up drawing her with sunflowers (her favorite flowers and ones that hold deep meaning for her), but I recently went shopping for some flowers for the balcony and my sons picked out ones nicknamed 'hi no tori' ('firebird' in English and sometimes translated as 'phoenix') and is named so because the flowers look like flames. It seemed fitting for her to be watering one of these plants as a symbol of her continuing to nurture her own transformation. The phoenix also has healing tears and Paige, upon her father taking ill due to prolonged influence of Unforgiveable Curses, threw herself into the career of a healer - one that intensified after her father's passing and also went through several transformations before discovering which branch of healing she felt fit her best.

This piece I erased my pencil sketches and then colored first before laying down the line art and it really gives a soft feeling to the piece that I really like - especially within the context of Paige's personality. I wish I had spaced these doodles out better so I could fit one more to each page and have this be the entire Seektober spread. I may put some paper inserts on the right side that folds out so I can accomplish that because something just seems sad about two doodles being all on their own. I'll figure something out.

Phoenix also makes me think of one of the works by Tezuka Osamu and...well...Paige is also an author (though not a mangaka/comic book artist). Anyway. It was another fleeting thought that swirled around while I was conceptualizing this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

I am furious with you for waking up three tWO of my characters so completely with these last two prompts. and you know they (and I, ofc) recognised them immediately

really loving the journey you went on for your candela piece and I have to echo MJ and Ern in my admiration for that translucent fabric. it's so well done and even in the section not overlapping with any other part of the picture you can see it's shimmery and sheer and sssssshhhhining. the intricate designs you got on that candle too just... ugh and as always the shading/blending in her face and... just all of it ok

smh. darius. the way this is immediately and obviously him. loathe you for that. that rugged piece of fairy dust. I'm with you on the effect of that gel pen on the rips in his jeans (a young man in my head is itching to sneak those jeans into the trash) and again in his skin, the colours and ~values~ (look at me using art words). like. his skin. his chest. the highlight and shadows. the texture on the jeans. c'est wicked cool.

Not in the least apologetic about that quite LIKE when they are awake it warms her heart and makes her smile entirely too wide to know this regardless (and Darius is insufferable, go figure, and it wiggling his brows with an open invitation to do with the jeans as a certain someone so desires)

thank you, Felix I really think that sheer silk is the best bit I have drawn and colored this Seektober. False sense of security in place that I have mastered the colorless blender

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

I really adore the way you went about putting the pieces together to bring about chimera 6! The entire thing with page 394 was genius, IMO.

Darius' entire look is giving me a Captain Jack Sparrow vibe which I LOVE!!!

PS: I feel that if any of these pieces were made into dolls, I would collect each

If only I had ANY skill in doll customization. I have so many Barbies back at my parents' home that I could go to town on.

funny story, I do sometimes channel a bit of Captain Jack Sparrow when I RP Darius - he has that certain kind of swag and nonsensical whimsy about him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

The ripped jeans! The hair! I do love seeing these cutie little chibi babies and how they are turning out. I know you have a ton of markers, but it's not REALLY so many that you aren't doing amazing things with blending and texture and hue that no number of markers can overcome.

Eeeeeern

I've seen several tutorials with people who use the same core 10 colors or so and it is just mindblowing to me what can be accomplished (color theory, am I right?).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline

Awww Cookie Girl! Kurumi. Simon's feeling nostalgic about his sister and those days.

And the sheerness of that fabric. Wow.

Aw, Simon she has come a long way from the tiny little first year and timid little thing trying out for beater and being placed as seeker

thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suziella

Omg these are so good!! I love restorative silk. It's beautiful and i love the patterns you put on the fabrics! Just gorgeous! GORGEOUS

thank you, Suzy I got SO nervous drawing the design because gel pens can sometimes clog or just...not apply super smoothly so I am always timidly drawing my first few lines

chimaera #9
sibling harmony
CAULDRON | HUFFLEPUFF | TEAMWORK



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When 'Hufflepuff' and 'teamwork' were pulled from my generator, I was having a déjà vu moment and felt inspired by the 'teamwork' piece MJ had done in her thread. However, cauldron gave me a curveball to work with and my first concept came with Candela receiving tutoring from one of her Slytherin favorites - Niko von Brandt. However, she has already had her representation and so I needed to change course again. Again I felt inspired by MJ and her drawing of Karleigh while working on a potions assignment with my Benjee Marchbanks but there was going to be a bit too much ~mental gymnastics~ involved for my liking to make Hufflepuff fit when I could use another of my Hufflepuff characters. Which is what led me to looking at Becky Rasting. Try as I might, squeezing the final two chimaera onto the two pace spread I had completed thus far was going to feel way too messy. So with these final two I am pushing myself to make full page chibis (I somehow struggle with proportions and balance when I expand beyond one fourth of the page).

A natural pairing with Becky was none other than her brother and self proclaimed potions and alchemy genius, Eiji Rasting. Eiji never did enjoy going out of his way to help others unless there was something to be gained for himself, but his little sister was always the exception to that rule. Not academically inclined, Eiji would tutor Becky rather intensely while they were at Hogwarts together. He rarely would get frustrated with her no matter how many times he had to repeat himself or particular concepts to Becky and that is how we landed on a potions brewing scene.

With them being in their uniforms, there already felt like there was SO much grey and black...so I went with a copper cauldron (apparently self heating because flames and me were just NOT happening today) to give the whole piece more dimension and be less...grey and black I really like how the sleeves of Becky's shirt turned out in particular...which is one of the only bits of this drawing where I added no color at all minus the line art

This was another one where I put the color down first after lightening my sketch with my stretchy eraser and THEN the line art and I have got to say that I am officially a huge fan of this order and cannot imagine why I had not been doing things this way all along.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

Paige is so ADORABLE it makes me want to lay down in the road for a while. SO STINKING CUTE.

No roads. But vast dewy fields of lavender or some other flora will be accepted also

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Another cutie! The other day I was looking at an archived lesson and came across Paige. Man, she was funny because she caused some sort of mishap during the activity part Loving this piece!

She was quite accident prone with her clumsiness Now I got to go back and stalk because no memory is immediately popping to mind. Thank you, Alicia

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

it's paaaaaige ;; hufflehealer!! also I am once again marvelling at your blending capabilities. even though I love paige in general and in art form with my whole heart I am especially captivating by the detailing in the plant. I really enjoy how much personality you get into these pieces of your characters ugh. so many feelings.

Absolutely love that her and Toby ended up in the same field

I actually sat out on my balcony with my own plants and tried to capture their coloring, which was really relaxing and had me pulling out pens I rarely used before. Such pretty blooms.

how dare you make me more emo?

• look at how the cookie girl has grown up
• i echo the others in how i am OBSESSED with the see-through fabric on lil Candela
• RIP Basil Skeeter
• luv that watering can
• I LOVE THIS BECKY-EIJI MOMENT
• the cauldron
• the PURPLE
• the BOOK

chimaera #10
suppressed emotions
OBSCURIAL | COLD | AVIS



[ click for full size ]

We have arrived. The final three prompts of the 30 prompt challenge for this year's Seektober. I am still filled with regret that I could not complete a doodle a day as I have in the past but I am proud for getting these ten pieces out and with greater detail than anything I have produced in the past Seektobers. Especially this piece. OOF. I knew I wanted to make this one the biggest out all ten, and with three characters in difficult positions (difficult for me since I tend to stick to full frontal view or just a tiiiiiny tweak to the side when it comes to faces) ... it took me a fair bit to sketch out and I am still not entirely happy with proportions (...my boy there really be wearing HUGE Timberlands over there).

Anyway, with 'obscurial' as the first drawn prompt...I knew I wanted to utilize characters that had the greatest potential of becoming one. The candidates are Elliot Cox (left), Valerie Gray (middle), and Jaecar Upstead (right). Naturally, their pasts and reasons for their suppressed emotions are things which none of them wish to have me share to publicly (honestly) but each do harbor an intense darkness within them that could manifest into an Obscurus.

With 'cold' I decided to draw them each in their comfort clothing and the sort of clothing they feel the most protected against the harsh realities of the world - to take a moment to be dramatic.

For 'Avis', I used the shape of the wand movement to draw the dark/grey energy emanating from the trio. The greys did not get as dark as I was going for...but I was afraid of getting TOO dark and there was no way I was dipping into my unforgiving black pen

Quote:

Originally Posted by emjay

Omg I think Sibling Harmony is my most favorite one yet. You captured the likeness of Eiji and Becky so well. Look at their lil faces! Look at those poses! Look at Becky's uniform! Just so nicely done and I really like the copper cauldron too.

I really like Paige too. She comes across so soft and sweet here. And I love how you incorporated the phoenix prompt into this as well. I'm not as familiar with Darius as I am with many of your other characters, but that is one sultry chibi! And just look at those abs!

thank you, MJ I'm still kind of embarrassed about the abs but I think Becky and Eiji are in a tight lock for my favorite from this month for real.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

I should be fangirling over Becky, since I love her hair and she's one of my faves, but that cauldron shiny effect is so STINKING COOL. It's fun that you've learned how to do so many impressive things with these markers. Imagine me out here living my best life with some Crayola, ok?

Becky is so tickled I really do love and adore these markers and am grateful for all the YouTubers out there who teach me something new about how to use them with every video and supply me with new techniques to try out. There was a far bit more experimenting this Seektober to varying results...but it's been a blast (and nothing wrong with homey Crayola markers!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl

more thoughts/compliments in list fashion <3

• look at how the cookie girl has grown up
• i echo the others in how i am OBSESSED with the see-through fabric on lil Candela
• RIP Basil Skeeter
• luv that watering can
• I LOVE THIS BECKY-EIJI MOMENT
• the cauldron
• the PURPLE
• the BOOK

ok ok I think I'm good for now... hoping for moooooooooore....

• you
• are
• too
• kind
• and
• thank
• you