Unapologetically Myself

Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈 Better late than never! Here is my new art featuring Jeran Borodere and my neosona, Helena Baek. I styled her in a traditional hanbok using Meridell’s colors so she perfectly matches his armor.

This piece is also a celebration of my own journey. I recently realized that I am "double demi"—meaning I identify as both demiromantic and demisexual—while remaining a cisgender heterosexual female.

I included some subtle nods to this orientation in the details: the colors of Helena's norigae represents the demiromantic flag, and the flag they are holding together represents the demisexual spectrum. 💜✨

Now that The Void Within plot is finished—and because I've been missing the beach while listening to "Shark Boy Summer" by Eric Schwartz (Helluva Boss)—I decided to draw Jeran and Helena Baek looking sexy in their swimwear at the beach!

They definitely deserved some fun after everything Jeran went through being greyed out (though he and Helena have been sucking each other’s face to cope) and after joining the alliance to fight Vocivus in Faerieland.

Yesterday marked the 128th Philippine Independence Day (June 12), and to celebrate my home country's rich history, vibrant culture, and enduring spirit, I illustrated this special Neopets piece featuring Meridell's legendary knight, Sir Jeran, alongside my Neosona, Helena Baek (Helena White), whom I matched because I like playing matchmaker for the characters.

As shown in my artwork, I wanted to capture two completely distinct eras of Filipino fashion and performance, contrasting the elegant, Spanish-influenced colonial period with the fierce, opulent beauty of my precolonial ancestors. Seeing characters from Neopia step into the history of my own world was an incredibly fulfilling way to honor my heritage!

Cultural & Artistic Breakdown

The artwork is divided into two distinct cultural showcases:

1. The Colonial Era: The Elegance of the Cariñosa

On the left side, Jeran and Helena are depicted performing the Cariñosa, a traditional Philippine folk dance of Hispanic origin. Meaning "the affectionate one," this courtship dance is a graceful game of hide-and-seek.

 Jeran trades his Meridellian armor for a beautifully embroidered Barong Tagalog, a lightweight, translucent traditional shirt woven from fine fibers, paired with classic trousers. He was waved with a crisp white handkerchief by Helena herself, a vital prop used to tease and flirt during the dance's choreography.

 Helena is dressed in a magnificent Maria Clara-style baro’t saya. Her outfit features the characteristic wide bell sleeves of her blouse (baro), a delicate shawl (pañuelo) draped over her shoulders, and a striking, structural panel skirt (saya) in bold lime green and black stripes. She holds a matching turquoise folding fan, used playfully to hide her face during the dance's rhythmic steps.

2. The Precolonial Era: The Opulence of the Visayan Datu and Noblewoman

On the right side, the timeline shifts back centuries to celebrate the rich, indigenous heritage of the precolonial Visayas. This section pays homage to the legendary craftsmanship, artistry, and body modification of my ancestors.

 Jeran is envisioned as a Datu (a tribal chief or sovereign prince). His fur is adorned with intricate Batok tattoos—symbolizing immense bravery, battlefield victories, and high social standing. He wears a vibrant red pudong (headcloth) adorned with fresh white flowers, a traditional practice where both men and women wore blossoms to signify beauty and status, and a wrapped lower garment (malong or bahag style pants) secured with an ornate golden belt. His chest, arms and legs were layered with heavy, interlocking precolonial gold jewelry, reflecting the immense wealth of the archipelago before Western contact.

Helena is styled as a precolonial noblewoman (babaeng maharlika or binukot princess). Like Jeran, she is also adorned with Batok tattoos—symbolizing beauty, maturity, and high social standing for women. She wears a brilliantly patterned, vivid lime green tube top or tapis with a turquoise skirt or saya, accented with a rich brown sash draped over her arm. Her fingers are adorned with janggay—elongated, pointed golden claw extensions used in traditional dances to extend the line of the hands and emphasize expressive gestures. Her look is completed with flowers, gold jewelry and premium golden South Sea pearls gathered into statement necklaces and dangling delicately from her elaborate hair accessories.

Artist Notes & Process

Blending the fantasy world of Neopets with authentic historical attire required a lot of care, especially when adapting the precolonial Visayan tattoos to Jeran's Lupe anatomy! I really wanted the gold jewelry to pop against their vibrant blue and pink palettes, and choosing contrasting colors for the colonial skirts and precolonial fabrics helped emphasize the joyful, celebratory movement of the dances.

Thank you for looking, and to all my fellow Filipinos out there—maligayang pista ng kalayaan natin! 🇵🇭✨

Happy 128th Independence Day of the Philippines, and to celebrate it, I uploaded my new crossover fanfic, Rainbow Quartz, which is the starting point of my new Neopets AU fanfic, Crystal Bladed. It follows the Neopets characters, including OCs as humans living in Neopia City, a metropolis in Westchester, New York as they balance high school activities, personal growth, and their ambitions as a K-pop-rock band, PR1ZMATR/X (composed of Jeran Borodere (lead guitarist), Helena Baek a.k.a Helena White (lead singer), Tormund Ellis (rhythm guitarist), Uzuri Marjani (Keytarist), Apple Whetherby (bassist), Cog (keyboardist), and Vekash (drummer) with teen drama. In addition, they also tackle and learn about the harsh, unvarnished realities of the modern teenage experience without ever losing its sharp, cynical, comedic edge, profanity-laced dialogue, or show-stopping musical routines.

You can read them in both Archiveofourown and Wattpad.

Here’s my artdump of five of the neopets (Helena Baek a.k.a Helena White, Baelia Thorne, Kalinawa, Apple Whetherby, and Anastasia Baek) I owned drawn as humans.

Here’s a new fancomic I made where Jak and Keira catch my OC, Jakleen, smooching Phoenix! Since Jak already has a rivalry with the captain of the sky pirates, it makes perfect sense that he'd disapprove of his twin sister dating him. Cue the sibling arguments, leaving Keira to play peacemaker. Meanwhile, Damas is getting a massive headache from their latest bickering, and Erol and Razer are left totally dejected (I love messing with those two) because Jakleen chose someone else over them.

May 4 is Star Wars Day so I hope I’m not too late for this one. Here’s my own redraw of the 1977 promotional photograph of actors Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher in their iconic roles as Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia from the original Star Wars trilogy. Jak and my oc, Jakleen are the ones taking up the pose and the gunstaff from The Lost Frontier is used here because the morph gun is too heavy.