Ashka's Art

Look, it's not like I'm going to stop drawing this weirdo now that I've started. He's almost as fun to draw as Kefka, and slightly less likely to make my eyes bleed. Yes, he wears ridiculous outfits but at least he's not wearing four different ridiculous outfits at once, and also every colour on the visible spectrum and some shrimp colours on top of it.

Anyway, I have a plotbunny that is stuck to my brain like a little parasite and won't leave me alone, which is a post-TYBW fic and at one point, Mayuri gets dragged out of bed (read: forced to) to help Isane with a complex surgery, and he only has time to get partially dressed so he throws some paint on his face and a weird chin cap and call it a day.

He is less than pleased about being woken up, but at least he gets to cut someone open. And they're alive, too! A rarity. Unfortunately, they are sedated, but at least he gets to poke around someone's insides.

His hair length changes constantly in this setting, because he finds it amusing to have short hair one day and then waist-length the next, but this is mostly "haven't bothered cutting it since Nemu died" length. I used to have my hair kinda like that, though mine went further down the sides, and a braid was my go-to sleep hair, so I inflicted it on Mayuri.

Just for fun, the full sketchbook page that has these last three doodles is under the read more, now with bonus Ashisogi Jizō!

Well, I've drawn the other two Kurotsuchis, so here's a sleepy Nemuri.

Which I didn't realise was a pun until I had drawn it. I just wanted to draw Nemuri with a Menos Grande plushie, really. (Menos Pequeño?)

Yeah, so this ridiculous idea I had this morning wouldn't leave me alone. Can't even blame the tea, I've had a 1.5 L pot of tea since.

But thankfully I have free will and also a modicum of artistic ability and a big box of acrylic markers.

I have no idea whose fingers those are. Some random Arrancar? Did he grab them off of Szayelaporro while he was standing around? Are they his own? He sure does lose his arm often enough that he could absolutely have leftover fingers. Just some random fingers he happened to have in his pockets? All of those are equally likely, honestly.

A silly Nexus' Call sketch.

These three dorks are members of Yaharan's Ash Guard and a bunch of utter weirdos. Which is true of a lot of the Nexus' Call group, to be honest.

Not sure who they're talking to here. Yaharan wouldn't need an explanation, he's used to their weird shit. So maybe Rinka? They're a little put off by Semiraan so they probably would be less relaxed around him. I can absolutely see them roping Rinka into their shenanigans though. Useful to have someone who can calculate trajectories and probability almost instantly.

Going from top to bottom, we have Osin, a street rat turned mercenary mostly so he could afford to buy himself fancy shit. Osin is an archer, and a very good one, but off the battle field he tends to be a head empty only vibes kind of guy. Osin is a pretty smart guy, he just doesn't use his brain. Also, he hasn't really had an education, so though he's smart, he doesn't know how to use it well. Great strategist when he applies himself. Not so great when he doesn't. This whole thing was probably his idea.

In the middle, we have Retta the Flame, Yaharan's second in command (she was walking by when the Lord Primary told Yaharan to choose a second) who dresses like a pirate despite having never been to sea for more than a short transport. She's a former sex worker who joined the mercenaries because she'd rather fight people that sleep with them. Uses twin swords on the battlefield and is damned fast. Retta is a pretty friendly lady and can absolutely drink every single other member of the Ash Guard (except Yaharan) under the table. Can't sing to save her life, but she will absolutely try.

On the bottom, we have Break. He's third in command and Yaharan's best friend and adoptive brother. The most level-headed of the trio, but not above this kind of nonsense, especially in their downtime. Break wields a dual-headed axe that can, appropriately, break into two. It's where he got that name. Joined the mercenaries after the death of his family from a nasty pandemic. The only one of the trio who actually went to school, and also the most likely to actually use his brain, but sometimes he uses it for planning things like these.

I was unsure if I should put Osin or Retta as the top one, but Retta is the stronger of the two (Osin has more upper body strength as an archer, but Retta is all over stronger). Break is the bottom because he is freakishly strong. He has carried Yaharan off of battlefields before, despite Yaharan being a lot taller and also a big bulky guy.

These three are usually hanging out together as an unit, unless one of them have a reason to separate from the others. All three are disaster bisexuals and have absolutely explored each other's bodies, but the love they have for each other isn't romantic. They have a very close friendship but they also think of each other as damn hot.

I just realised I had none of my Kefka art on this account, and that had to be remedied immediately, so here's the most recent one from my sketchbook.

Specifically this is the "demented poltergeist" version of him from a fanfic I wrote back in 2006 (The Haunting of Vector Hall) that still haunts me and is the no. 1 "story I really want to rewrite" because I can do so much better now, twenty years later.

The general idea in my head is that his hair is always floating around him kind of like underwater, but also like a flickering flame. This is his standard look. If you piss him off enough, his full on murder mode look resembles his god form, but the wings are trailing red fabric and broken mirror pieces.

Not the best art anatomy-wise, and the colouring isn't ideal because I was lazy and didn't remove the graphite first, although I suppose the grey cast goes well with the idea that he's a ghost in this setting. Kefka being Kefka, he doesn't let being dead stop him from being a menace.

I draw Kefka an awful lot so I'm surprised he wasn't on the blog already, but somehow I can never quite capture how I imagine him. I believe the description I used once was "angles so sharp they could cut you to shreds, a smile that held more malice than should be possible, and eyes that were blue only in the sense that white was too monochrome".

(I know he's been updated in later games to have green eyes, but my depiction is still largely influenced by the PS1 port opening where he has really pale blue eyes. I'm old and that was my first non-pixel impression, OK?)

Decided to practice colouring sketches in Procreate, because while I prefer sketching and drawing traditionally, I prefer colouring digitally, and I think this is a good way to combine the two.

And on the complete other end of the aesthetic to draw fanart of, have a Flea the Magician!

I've drawn Flea a lot over the years, and I've gotten a lot closer to what I imagine him to look like in my style, though we're not there yet.

I didn't like the face on the smaller scale one, so I drew a portrait to redeem myself, and then I covered it in symbolism, because I can.

The weird loopy flowers are supposed to be witch hazel flowers, which, not surprisingly, symbolise magic and witchcraft. The other flowers are meant to be thorn apple, or Datura, which symbolises disguise and deceit, because Flea is a shapeshifter.

The snake doesn't symbolise anything in this case, though snakes have a lot of symbolism to them. It's just a shout-out to a head-canon I have about Flea being a particularly magically gifted Naga-ette. But snakes have a lot of transformation and sexuality symbolism, which works well for Flea as well.

Mostly snakes are just fun to draw and I didn't want to draw his other eye.

The colours came out a little pink but the outfit is based one the in-game one anyway, and in-game Flea does appear to be lightly pink-skinned.

Trying to get the plot bunnies out with art. It's not working very well.

Anyway, have a shirtless Farfarello from that one plot bunny that won't leave me alone. He has longer hair in this setting because ... Well, mostly because I like how it looks and it's more fun to draw. But in the story, he has been kinda stuck in a weird space for a while and cutting it didn't come into consideration.

The idea for this fic is that Glühen kinda happened (but I ignore parts of it I hated) and an amnesiac Youji gets stuck trying to deal with Rosenkreuz bullshit alongside Schuldig and Farfarello, with the rest of the cast popping in. Including Sally and also Youji's convenient "sweet nurse who just happened to be named after his dead girlfriend" wife. That's a whole mess of its own.

Farfarello has had his entire brain yanked a little sideways at this point, so while he's still a crazy bastard, he has a little more self-control. He distracts himself with working out a lot, hence the shirtlessness. He's messing with Youji in this particular scene, because he's a weirdo and Schuldig is a bad influence.

Youji, meanwhile, wants to know why this guy he doesn't really know triggers his fight or flight instinct so much. And also there's a weirdo in his head asking him about his noodle preferences and it's all very overwhelming.

Something a little different!

I like to decorate my sketchbook covers with paintings. Mostly landscapes, though I do occasionally do others. The current sketchbook I use has a snake on it.

Anyway, I went to buy a pack of Sakura Microns and it was cheaper to buy it as a package deal with this sketchbook than to buy alone, due to sales, now I have a small sketchbook. It's a 13 x 21 cm book, so a fair bit smaller than my usual 21 x 21 cm, but it's a good size for keeping in my purse or backpack, so I think I'll use it as a travel sketchbook, for when I feel the need to sketch on the light rail or something.

Well, with all the Bleach watching, fanart was going to happen at some point or another.

Kept seeing cute outfits and wanted to draw my best girl wearing something, though I went with blue because the original green looked off on her.

Rinka about to kick someone's ass.

Which probably means there's a threat to their father or their sister. Rinka is generally quite peaceful, though they can absolutely fight if the situation calls for it. They're a necromancer and can and will rip the skeleton out of a body and have it fight its former allies.

Both Rinka and Semiraan can float using magic, though only Rinka uses it in battle. Semiraan is too busy slicing his enemies into julienne to bother with floating. He will absolutely float to reach the top shelves though.

Using my powers for evil. Semiraan sure has a lot of teeth.

I just wanted to draw a sleepy, yawning Semiraan. Probably reading in bed when he told Rinka he'd be sleeping.

Honestly, Semiraan would probably fully extend his jaws when yawning but I really didn't want to figure out his weird-ass split mandible jaws today. I can draw them in a snake or in a reptile, like Semiraan's wyvern ancestors, but figuring them out in a humanoid would be a pain. I made the horizontal and vertical slits partially open though. Maybe I'll just draw him with his tongue out; it's long enough to cover most of his face.

The augments don't come off unless he's altering them. They're magically fused to his body.

Sleepy reptile scientist needs a nap instead of reading in bed all night.

Some anatomy practice! Specifically mouths, because I struggle with them a lot. I think I'm figuring out how to translate thought to drawing better, though?

Teeth are surprisingly fun to draw. I've been avoiding doing open mouthed expressions because I felt intimidated but I actually rather like drawing teefers.

Mostly drawn from references, though some are drawn as a "how would I interpret this anime expression". One is my own lips, because why not?

So I've been watching a lot of Bleach lately, and one of the things I love about it is the drawings of the shinigami in modern clothing. So I did my own.

Semiraan and Yaharan in modern-day(ish) clothing. I stuck Semiraan in a more goth aesthetic because Semiraan is a dramatic little bastard and it suits him. Given that Yaharan is wearing a shirt, I assume Semiraan chose his outfit. I forgot to colour the sleeve so imagine he's wearing more layers.

Don't ask me why Semiraan is upside down. Too much anime opening/endings. Pretend they're laying down on a field or something.

Beach episode!

I've been writing a lot of angst and sadness in this 'verse, so I figured I'd give them a nice day on the beach.

Semiraan burns immediately and is hiding under a parasol picking on the local wildlife while reading a book. Normally he'd be wearing that shawl as a veil, but it's hard to eat ice cream with your face covered. Also, he's more fun to draw like this.

Rinka is in charge of snacks and would like their father to just eat a thing already. Unlike their father, Rinka does in fact tan, so they'll be sunbathing later.

Meanwhile, in the background, Yaharan is casually yeeting his daughter into the sea repeatedly. They're having fun.

More characters from my original story.

Yaharan Asknar is the captain of the group of former mercenaries turned city guards called the Ash Guard. Ridiculously tall (210cm/6'10") and mostly scars. Pretty nice guy if you're not his enemy. Likes fighting for both fun and seriously, hanging out with his band, and trying to flirt with Semiraan. Dislikes wearing shirts.

Rinka vyr'Semiraan is Semiraan's older daughter. They're non-binary and mostly uses they/them pronouns, but they also accept she/her. Prefers being called daughter because the word has extra meanings in their language. Way younger than they look, but their ageing was accelerated by accident. Semiraan's second in command and a capable scientist in their own right. A very sweet person but will murder anyone who messes with their father.