Play Then Paint

This job isn't easy, 😤🥲but every small step is still a step. ☝🏼🙇🏼‍♀️My beautiful beautiful girl,💖⭐ with this sad-sad look🤲🙁

All my works have a high resolution, so zoom in, don't be shy 👀

Part of my worldbuilding project. Tlanextic (aka Desvenughorth), the Chaos Spirit of Wrath, worshiped as a god.

In his true form, he appears as a phoenix, but often takes the form of a winged human or tonalli — a race of winged bipedal felines.

for @tes-gala --my Vestige, in a dress that represents both the Serpent and the Shadow; alcohol markers/colored pencil/various inks on paper

(i'm posting it now bc i want to have at least something up before the Gala ends, and i am realizing that there is just no way i'm gonna finish the whole set of drawings i had planned between now and tomorrow night, no matter how much i want to! there are not enough hours in the day and i am also getting major hand fatigue 😅)

now for the lore behind my design:

i chose both the Serpent and the Shadow for her bc, as the Vestige, she has little to no memory of her former life before being murdered by Molag Bal, and so has no idea what her original birthsign would have been. the Shadow is an obvious choice for her both as a thief and a nightblade, and bc her past is hidden from her. there's also the fact of her technically being a Daedric entity now instead of the human girl she once was, casting a shadow over all of her experiences: a feeling of not quite belonging to the world again despite being in it. the sheer black overlayers in the skirt of her gown, as well as black being the main color of her look, were meant to represent the Shadow.

the Serpent is obviously represented by the snake that wraps around her body as a sort of belt and necklace. i chose the Serpent because of the way that as a constellation, it attacks and disrupts the other starsigns at random. for the Vestige, this symbolizes the way that her life was disrupted and the nature of her existence changed by Molag Bal and thus her original birthsign being lost to her. i incorporated it into her look by having it wrap around her body and throat to allude to the violence of both the Serpent constellation and her being changed into the Vestige.

the background is meant to be a bit of Fargrave-- as someone who is not quite a Daedra but also no longer a normal human, i imagine that of all the places she travels in her adventures, Fargrave and its sort of liminal nature feels very comfortable to her.

a close up of her face. i REALLY wish i could get better photos of my art! it always looks so much better in person. the best way i have found is to put smaller drawings in my scanner, but this one is 14×17" so doesn't even come close to being able to fit in the scanner 😭 and tumblr makes it look even more like buttcheeks...pls click the images to see them looking a little better at least 😥

Oil / alla prima on gessoed paper (sketchbook 19.5 x 19.5 cm) / thank you Anna Hiruts