Art Blog

for @for-the-love-of-treviso

Absolutely stunning, you always paint him so beautifully! 🥹

I just created a side blog @dragonageevents. Designed to help track all these wonderful event weeks we have. There are a lot of them going on, which is awesome! But its all run by individual blogs, and there is no real way to know what is happening on any given week. So!

Can you pretty please tag me, @exia-1 , or this new side blog @dragonageevents. With anything you know is happening/going on? I'd love to set it up as a sort of resource for the community.

Tagged by @ashillayn, thank you for thinking of me! Plans for DA Kiss Week have snowballed badly. Pray for me.

It's the burn part too that I always get fixated on - the rage of it, trying to violently sever the attachment that helped turn Wisdom into the Dread Wolf. But because he does it through pain and rage rather than healing and acceptance, that one act is like a symbol of an even greater pattern in his ancient life - that his body is a battlefield, a weapon.

Wisdom pulled from the Fade to become a Weapon - a weapon against Titans, a weapon to make weapons of great power - a weapon against Elgar'nan. Mythal in her own words says this. "I used your wisdom as a weapon - and it broke you."

And that bodily sacrifice is through his whole life - he throws himself body first into things. While he's free in Minrathous he's front and centre in fighting off the tendrils, defending against Elgar'nan, helping the Shadow Dragons. He doesn't hesitate throwing himself at Lusacan. In Disrupt and Conquer he gets injured by Elgar'nan because HE throws himself at Elgar'nan - Solas always leads from the front - what else does a weapon do? Even the Dread Wolf is a tool of the rebellion - a tool to inspire, to sway, to create fear in the hearts of the enemies.

The Lighthouse codex can so easily be read as Skyhold here.

On Life in the Lighthouse - Codex entry Fearful refugees are ushered to the Lighthouse through eluvians, emerging from the infirmary and libraries as soldiers, spies, and scholars. Gardeners plant long-extinct herbs that grow, are harvested, and wither in the blink of an eye. The sharp smell of distilling medicine wafts from a window, and poison for the enemy drips into a vial. The arguments of a war council go on late into the night; forbidden songs are sung freely, with filthy lyrics substituted for the Evanuris' names. Finally, a heated conversation silhouetted against glass with quick shadows darting behind it The argument ends with a wordless but unmistakable impression: "You summoned them: you feed them."

Refugees found their way to Skyhold, some joined in the fight, some joined in as scholars and researchers, as healers. We could build Skyhold to be a place of healing or a place of training. Skyhold grew it's own herbs in the gardens, made their own weapons, brewed poisons and potions alike. We witness Iron Bull and his Chargers burst into song and the Herald's Rest is filled with song. And how many heated conversations did the Inquisitor's own advisors have amongst them? Recruiting the mages certainly was one of them.

It's just another neat reminder of the reflections between Solas and the Inquisitor - even down to the places they held and how they operated within those places.

Thanks for the tag @vhen-harel. This is a chewy one. ❤️

🔷️WHAT'S A SMALL GAME DETAIL THAT YOU ALWAYS NOTICE AND LOVE?

The little animation details that 'humanize' characters. In Witcher 3, it's when NPC's have hiccups (always a delight), in DAI, its the small hand gestures. I have a vivid memory of Cassandra being nervous and having an animation where she twists her fingers together like she's messing with a ring. It's such a human thing to do.

🔷️WHAT'S ONE PIECE OF REFERENCE MATERIAL YOU'RE CURRENTLY OBSESSED WITH?

In DAI, Solas says the creators weren't gods, but perhaps 'something we've never seen before.' Given that we've seen an embodied spirit in the form of Cole literally in this game, I took this one phrase and have absolutely run with it. I have created a whole new world set-up based on this 'something else' and have changed the history of literally every sentient species in Thedas. Absolutely obsessed with this one line.

🔷️SHARE A SNIPPIT OR VISUAL FROM YOUR CURRENT PROJECT THAT YOU'RE QUIETLY PROUD OF.

I'm currently in research mode, so it would be very easy to shrug and say I have nothing to share. But...well. I did write the prologue for my da4 fic. So. Have some of that.

He finds her in an ancient temple, hand upon an eluvian. She is pouring her power into it, knowledge granted by June. The child who is not a child, living in the skin of another. She is...human. Tall and stronger than he, now, armored and glorious. She stands with pride, her back straight, and she has used a mystery of magic and metal to sculpt her hair into spikes that sweep behind her into four majestic dragon horns. She is not hiding who she is.

"I knew you would come," Mythal says, and for all that the voice is not the one he knew, it still slides into his heart with the familiarity of a knife. "You should not have given your orb to Corypheous, Dread Wolf."

Solas keeps coming forward, even as the title lands heavily upon his shoulders. That she would name him thus, despite all she knows of him, is a betrayal that cuts deep. He gave her everything, gave of himself to keep her safe and alive. He sacrificed the People - his and hers - so that she might not be lost to the Void. And she calls him Dread Wolf.

Mythal takes her hand from the eluvian, turns to look a him and - oh. It is her. Truly. There is no mistaking the wisdom in those eyes, the cruelness of that mouth. Mythal is not in the body he knew her in, but that is her spirit staring back at him. Hers...and his.

🔷️WHAT'S SOMETHING YOU'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO CREATING OR FINISHING SOON?

Well, not my da4 fic, that's for sure! So, probably my three witches cross stitch. I have one full page to go, and then several partial pages. I'm very much in the home stretch of this one.

🔷️WHAT'S A FUN OR SILLY TRADITION YOU HAVE WITH YOUR OC'S?

Don't have one, really. You could probably call my first Inquisitor, Ellana, my first OC, but I made her as bland as possible so people could insert their own Inky into the story. And Jonah was from my most recent fic, To Wake in Darkness, but while he was very alive while I was writing, little man has been retired now. (Not dead! He's just not active.) Ny'ari is my only ongoing OC and she's so new...I don't know. *shrug*

🔷️WHAT'S AN NPC YOU'D LIKE TO SEE IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT OUTFIT OR SETTING?

Oh gosh, I don't know! For me, characters are so much a part of the world they live in. For example, I can't see Solas in a modern AU (not that there aren't amazing ones. I've read quite a few!) but he's so intrinsically an ancient elf in a modern Thedas, responsible for the Veil, with magic in his blood etc etc. He becomes someone different without that history. All NPC's that I love and obsess over are all a product of their environment (aren't we all) that I struggle to see them anywhere else. (As far as my own writing and creativity goes.)

🔷️WHAT IS A COLAB PROJECT THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO DO?

Oh man, this is so selfish of me, and I would never have said this if I wasn't asked directly, but. I would love to have someone work with me on my da4 fic. Like how they do the pairings with the Big Bang where an author writes and an artist illustrates. But I would never expect an artist to indulge me like that for free, and I already know my story is going to be massive and while I would want an illustration for each chapter, I am not made of money. Much less if there was someone even willing to take on that absurd task.

🔷️WHAT'S A TINY HEADCANON OR DETAIL YOU'VE ADDED TO YOUR OC THAT BRINGS YOU JOY?

I have 'color deficiency' as my optometrist puts it. I'm not color blind, but I can't tell the difference between shades when they're too close. (Do not ask me to help pick out color swatches for you.) And I've given Ny'ari this little trait. It might never come up or be relevant, so nobody in her life might ever find out. She might never find out. (I didn't find out until I was...22?) But it is the first time I've intentionally inserted anything about myself into a character, and it makes me smile.

🔷️WHAT'S SOMETHING YOU WANT YOUR FOLLOWERS TO KNOW ABOUT YOU?

I love taking canon and coming up with ideas as to how it might work. What explanations can I come up with that fill in the gaps? How might this one phrase, or that tiny detail, be used to explain some big mystery of the lore? (I came up with the Black City being where Solas imprisoned the evanuris a decade before we ever got Veilguard. Very proud of that.)

ohhhhh. Ok, this is fun. Thanks @elfyroot! I'm going to follow your example and just...provide zero context. (Also, I didn't know you used to be a DJ. That's hella cool.)

here is a master list of great art tools that can make your workflow easier! 👇 (updating, please consider supporting me on kofi or check out my other works)