It's a step by step process

The default design for an hypothetical game would be the one of the upper left, with brown hair and eyes. But I'm taking inspiration from Legends ZA, in that there would be a big degree of customization. I made a few extra designs with hair and eye color changes as examples because they were the easiest to make, but you can also change hairstyles, clothes, skin color, add or remove freckles, change eyebrow and lashes size and design, etc…

Now, let's talk about design choices, because while the art is simple, there are several layers of characterization in Floriana's design.

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Design Notes

First of all, she wears sports clothes. On a surface level, this may indicate she exercises often. This is true, since she is a traveling Trainer, spends a lot of time walking/running from place to place, and takes on martial arts during the story. But if one takes a deeper look, her clothes hint at facets of her personality.

Again, she wears sports clothes, which indicate she prioritizes comfort over appereance. Looking pretty is low on her list, and doesn't bother beyond looking presentable. She doesn't understand or really care about fashion, forgoes makeup most of the time, and often ends up wearing the same clothes over and over accidentally, since she doesn't pay attention to it long as the clothes are clean. This is backed up by her hairstyle: a simple ponytail that's very quick and easy to make, and very practical.

But let's talk about the particular sports clothes she wears: shorts and a jacket. Is she hot or is she cold? This represents one of her biggest hidden depths, that she may not be aware of herself: her indecisiveness. She overthinks everything, even how the weather is going to make her feel. But at the same time she's impulsive, making the first choice that is presented to her, without thinking stuff through until she's in hot waters. In practice, this means she makes stupid decisions in the heat of the moment that she later regrets or cost her in some way that would've been prevented if she thought about the consequences.

One of these choices is trading a Pokemon she loves for one that's supposed to be more useful, but immediately regretting it and demanding a trade back. This damaged her Pokemon's trust in her for a long time, and one of them ended up disobeying her at a crucial moment. Another of these choices is rushing into a romance with someone she isn't sure she likes, and ending up in an unhealthy relationship. Another of these choices is getting into battle with great number of Team Rocket members without backup, that almost gets her killed.

Her overthinking, on the other hand, appears in smaller but no less self-sabotaging situations. She gives the first order that comes to mind in battle, and immediately changes it when another one comes to mind, something that costs her lots of battles. She impulsively says something, then thinks it's not enough information, so she says more, then thinks she's overshared, but can't take her words back.

And to finish this little analysis of my own art, let's talk about her gloves. An item that makes sure your hands don't touch anything directly. A physical but subtle representation for being "out of touch", if you will.

Floriana is cheerful, enthusiastic and has hope in spades, in a region with huge presence of Pokemon trafficking, disappereances, corruption and abuse of power (Kanto in the Pokemon anime is a dumpster fire). She believes that she can be the strongest Trainer in the world if she tries hard enough, instead of finding it an impossible but pleasant fantasy like most regular Trainers. She believes that friendship is the most important thing about training Pokemon, and thinks any obstacle can be overcome if one tries hard enough. None of this gives the impression of someone who knows how cruel and unfair the world can be. I did consider gloves as a representation of Floriana's ignorance or the lies she tells herself, but as her story grew in my mind, I realized something very important.

Floriana is not — and realistically wouldn't be — as naive as other characters think she is. And fingerless gloves were the perfect representation of that. She is idealistic, doesn't know everything about competitive battles, but isn't naive.

She is flawed, she makes mistakes, she doesn't live up to her own ideals, she loses sight of them, or doesn't know how to put them into practice. But the ultimate message of the story is that she's idealistic, and she is right. There is always a silver lining that makes you believe in humanity again, if you know where to look. Hence, why her gloves are fingerless.

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Estimate time I've spent on this: a little more than eleven hours and half over the weekend.

Elaine's skin on my phone looks very different than on my computer, and it's weird. I could have sworn the green-haired version had a different shade on her hair.

The color difference between her shorts and jacket fought me so much, oh my god. I spent at least half an hour picking and trying out different shades. There are seven shades of dark gray and over fifteen of dark blue stored on my color picker.

I ended up having to adjust and redraw Elaine's body multiple times, so maybe her proportions look weird. Once the outline was done, I copy pasted it until I had enough of them to have all the hair-eye color combinations I wanted to try out.

For those who have seen the wips you may have noticed how I named some of the layers, but I will still list them here because animals are awesome.

Fair warning, I only have the internet for these at my disposal, so there are certainly inaccuracies.

I took creative liberties with the colouration, trying to make them resemble each other as Ixal born, but also make the placement of colour resemble the ones of the animals they are based on.

The symbols on their shoulders and for their tentacle arms (for those visible) are a reference to patterns found on their Souls.

Some squids have bioluminescence or are translucent. I decided against implementing these factors because A, I was already over ambitious and B, I liked their eyes reflecting light enough to count for this trait at the time.

(Rip Sinope and her black eyes. I could yap more about this on a broader context, too, but let's not today.)

Most of them have their scientific names, either because they don't seem to have another, or the English language did not have one.

Sinope's tentacles are based on the ones of Mastigoteuthis Glaukopis.

Despina's are based on the Liocranchia Valdiviae.

Ozrock's are based on the Humboldt Squid.

Ishigashi's are based on the Loligo Forbesii.

Phobos' are based on the Bigfin Squid.

Loge's are based on the Lycoteuthis Lorigera.

Ymir's are based on the Caribbean Reef Squid.

Deimos' are based on the Spirula Spirula.

Aegir's are based on the Firefly Squid.

Tarvos' are based on the Giant Squid.

Dione's are based on the Long-Armed Squid.

Given how unknown so many squids are *looks at walls and walls of names in Wikipedia without any pages* I did not have a lot to go off of.

The reason I assigned these earth squids to our space squids are either based on their size (Ymir, Tarvos),

the patterns of their colouration or life circle reminding me of their element (Isigashi, Aegir),

the length of their tentacle arms based on physical traits of their body or their Soul (Deimos, Dione, Phobos),

or loose personality traits that they share (Ozrock).

I don’t talk about it very much, but I actually have BPD. So I’d like to talk about what it is, common misconceptions and the actual truths, and my own experience with borderline.

It’s one of the most difficult disorders to live with, and one of the most highly stigmatized personality disorders.

It’s characterized by severe emotional instability, profound fear of abandonment, impulsive behaviors, distorted self-image, and chaotic relationships. People with BPD often live with intense inner turmoil and high rates of self harm and/or suicidal behavior.

The exact causes of it are unknown, but research suggests a combo of genetic and environmental factors play a role in development, like a history of childhood trauma or having a close family member with BPD.

Common misconceptions about the disorder, alongside severe ableism, makes it feel almost impossible to live with.

Common misconceptions about BPD include:

-people with bpd are all abusers/abusive

-falsely painting individuals with BPD as manipulative, inherently dangerous, or untreatable

-people with bpd are incapable of love

-only women can have BPD

in reality, people with BPD are significantly more likely to be victims of abuse, both in their childhood and adulthood, than they are to be perpetrators. About 70%-90% of people with BPD report experiencing childhood trauma– early abuse is widely considered the most major contributing factor in the development of borderline.

People with BPD also have difficulty recognizing abuse due to emotional dysregulation and interpersonal sensitivity, which distorts how people with borderline perceive relationship dynamics, making it challenging to be able to identify when they are being mistreated.

Borderline behaviors like threatening self-harm or erratic outbursts are labeled as “manipulative”, but the truth is these are desperate coping mechanisms used to regulate extreme emotional distress or prevent perceived abandonment. The intention is to seek safety and connection, NOT to harm others.

Bpd is also highly treatable through therapy like DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy), MBT (mentalization-based therapy), and schema therapy. There’s a lot of evidence people with borderline are able to learn emotional regulation and achieve lasting recovery, going on to lead fulfilling, independent lives.

People with BPD are also absolutely capable of love. They are highly capable of love and deep empathy, and often experiencing affection with intense passion.

BPD also affects all genders equally. Men are frequently misdiagnosed with impulse control, substance abuse, etc due to how their symptoms are socially expressed.

Some parts of BPD are romanticized or sensationalized, such as having an FP- or “favorite person”. Even the term makes it sound romanticized (which is why I prefer a term like ‘bpd attachment’ or something less sensationalized sounding) and despite how it sounds, someone with borderline cannot pick who their FP is. It refers to someone an individual with BPD develops an intense, sometimes unhealthy emotional attachment to. The FP is their primary anchor for emotional stability, validation, and self worth. FP relationships can be emotionally exhausting and fuel other BPD symptoms like splitting (idealizing and devaluing), intense fear of abandonment, extreme emotional volatility, unstable sense of identity, and chronic feelings of emptiness.

I’ve been able to learn how to live with it better from going through therapy myself and learning coping skills, but it’s still incredibly difficult. I struggle often with suicidal tendencies & impulses alongside self harming, which have been used against me and only amplify these struggles.

I constantly feel misunderstood and chronically lonely, even in a room full of people. The sadness and anger they experience are NOT the same sadness or anger that I experience. These emotions can sometimes be felt so strongly they almost feel physically painful.

Due to how painful emotions can be and how BPD makes it difficult for me to have stable relationships, I’ll tend to isolate and shut myself away- only keeping people at an arms length- to avoid experiencing such pain- despite wanting connection, understanding and close-ness more than anything in the world. Which that was only exacerbated by people who knew of my condition & used that knowledge to hurt me worse & break my trust- like asking what’s wrong when I’m upset & telling me I can trust & vent to them only for them to take screenshots of whatever I say & make fun of it with our others friends. Situations where I’m in a friend group & we have a gc, & my paranoia & fear of abandonment was played with by making another copy of that group chat where everything’s the same except I’m not in it & that’s where they all hang out & have “slip ups” in the gc I’m in that very obviously point to there being a gc without me. I think the worst offender is when people do their best to trigger me & provoke some type of reaction out of me only to screenshot that reaction & claim I was the one doing wrong & causing harm. It feels like living in a world where I’m punished by choosing the positive option (befriend, love, etc) & rewarded with not being hurt by choosing the negative option (isolate).

It would also lead to things like me feeling like I care way more about the other person (whether friend, partner, etc) than they could ever care about me. Which very unfortunately does hold some truth to it, just due to how strongly and passionately I feel things. Therapy has helped me cope with that better, but I can’t lie that it does still get to me.

I hope some of that was able to help you become a little more aware of what BPD is and what it’s actually like, possibly even clearing up some misconceptions! Talking with people who live with borderline can also help better understand it, alongside doing research on it! :]