eliii

so- as i was reading, i was surprised by just how vague the description of the demon king of salvation was, which inspired me to try to take the design in a more conceptual/ bizarre direction! this is all the description we have to go on:

the webtoon design does something relatively minimal with this, it’s pretty and effective, but it’s still pretty *human* and isn’t actually scary or disturbing.

i… wanted to try something different. i had three different concepts i wanted to explore, those being avian/ traditional demon, oceanic/ eldritch, and literary!

based on these three ideas, i started out with this design, in which i tried to keep the shape or impression of the webtoon design, just abstracted to a degree

in all three designs, the idea of a loss of identity and agency was central!

v.1: based on the alien sort of silhouette of a jellyfish, i used the wings, a long split tail, and the eyespots and wing tails of a butterfly! in this design the bleeding red from the central chest is a reference to the damage sustained in the fight already and the sacrificial nature of the form itself- like a pelican feeding its blood to its young- this one is also the most direct development from my first concepts- his coat here is interpreted as white feathery markings!

v.2: this one was definitely my strangest design- based off of the loosest interpretation of the idea of “wings” and “horns”- the hand-like black wings are based on a blue glaucus, the horns on sea slugs, and the white coat on a sea angel- the inclusion of the squid arms here are of course based on kdj’s moniker! the arm extensions and slight transparency to most of the body parts (and how the pale limbs show from within) are supposed to resemble glowing deep sea organisms. both the complete engulfing of the human form in the aquatic bits and the immobilization of the legs in the tentacles are meant to really communicate the fact that kdj isn’t in control of his actions (and is make his silhouette and motions more alien due to the lack of obvious legs)

v.3: this last design plays most with the idea of kdj as being a “reader”- with both the coat and the feather texture on the wings being made up of papers- the tail as well has the shape of a dip pen. the gradient from the paper color to the charcoal black on the coat and wings is meant to look as though the paper is beginning to singe and blacken from flame- one thing that’s notable here (but also appears in v.1) is how the human part of the body is entirely suspended, caught up in the wings even when not in flight- it’s supposed to look strange and uncomfortable, almost like it would glide towards you rather than fly or walk