#arete

so i originally started with the other theme, “conspiracy”, and had it thumbnailed out the night previous, but i didnt like it bc it was two garons and an eyeball and not enough wife, so i hard pivoted the next morning to “royal siblings” instead.

i had a rough idea for it as like family portraits, but with aqua very patently missing from either side and just kind of standing there like she was supposed to be filling in spot from a clearly complete set. ive always felt that regardless of how well she gets along with the hoshidofam, shes never truly felt like she belonged anywhere, unlike corn who is actively wanted by both sides.

however i didnt want to draw two sets of siblings in different styles bc my wrist has been protesting my treatment of it this week (haha oops), so i just decided to go with the nohrfam instead and imply that whole mess through a series of paintings. initial sketch below:

i had meant to keep it simple since i didnt want to stress my wrist out too much: the sibs, an additional portrait of corn, and aqua holding back a curtain with some implied mutilated paintings underneath, and herself with no visible face - however, the more i thought about it the more i wanted to add in more hints of the messy history of the current nohrian royal family and how aqua was basically considered dead amongst them. also like i dont think there would be a proper group portrait of the siblings as of current, and that it would be easier to depict their individual histories and selves through disparate paintings.

which very quickly led to a bunch more work lol

aqua herself was by far the easiest part bc i draw her so often that shes just easy and fun at this point as long as i dont need to contend with the miles of hair obscuring her back/silhouette as a whole. i love her hair very much, but i am admittedly kind of dogwater at drawing it loose and flowing all the time, and i personally love a big, loose braid.

per the initial sketch i did consider leaving her in her default white songstress outfit, but also the idea of a mourning dress + veil was simply too tantalizing to resist since i already knew i wanted her to have no face. the veil is a combination of her usual headdress + default corns hairband and pin. the dress itself started off as something very different and i had to stop myself before i went down a rabbit hole of looking up german fashion plates bc ive been literally cranking these out once a day and knew i would have to Fucking Chill if i wanted this remotely done before i was too tired or my wrist gave out (whichever first). the initial dress was closer to something more renaissance, but then i wanted a shawl or something else sheer and sort of lacy/feathered to mirror the veil, so i drew that too. obvs the shawl did not make it to the final cut, and the dress ended up being an adaptation of her usual songstress outfit, just with more nohrian flair with dark feathers, tyrian purple, and gold. the small bit of spine on the back of the bodice is a nod to corns armor as well as the general motif of death (and also bc it looked too plain and i needed something for more visual interest).

the paintings were their own little challenge, but mostly in that i realized id put So Damn Many and had to figure out how to properly populate them and then summarily mutilate the ones that were marked dead. most of them i just opted to deface beyond recognition so i wouldnt have to draw too much, but all of them are their implied causes of death. anyone pictured without a face is either literally or effectively considered dead. also the larger the painting, the more important subject(s) depicted.

i opted for child paintings bc i figured those would be the only times when they still had the perceived leisure to actually sit there for hours to have themselves painted vs times closer to the present as garon lost his mind and etc. of the mutilated paintings, the implied causes of death include: stabbing, mauling, poison, drowning, burning, beheading, execution, and mysterious disappearance (in no particular order).

obvs in the center we have a much younger garon with katerina (face obscured to depict death) and a wee lad of a xander. i wanted garon to look like a real dilf of a king and had originally planned something for how katerina looked before i realized i had to show she was dead somehow.

camilla and her mother was a fun one bc i knew exactly what i wanted out of this one - her mom front and center and very clearly mirroring katerinas pose in the painting above, and camilla behind and off to the side, also somewhat mirroring xanders pose. i know there are feh child version(s) of some of these kids but i opted not to ref any of those bc i wanted both of camillas eyes visible. i dont necessarily subscribe to the idea that one of her eyes is missing, but i like the implication that she could be hiding something (women and secrets and allure and all that). i think its generally agreed upon that the concubines were pretty much entirely self serving and were generally not great mothers, so i wanted it to be a very mom focused painting with camilla sort of as an afterthought. her moms head has obviously been torn out of it.

leo and elise both have smaller individual portraits without their moms because i did not want to think of more moms and bc the frames were too small and would not be recognizable if i didnt just put their faces in them. but also bc theyre babies and i knew specifically that i wanted elises shining little baby face to be uniquely cute and cheerful amongst the rest of this carnage. she is holding a stuffed rabbit. leo gets the generic profile view bc i thought it was very regal and depicted his aloofness well.

corns portrait is half covered by a rag bc its Not Supposed To Be There. initially this was an older portrait of them as like a teen that camilla probably commissioned and put up herself, but the idea of a petulant looking baby corn was too funny to pass up.

the painting of arete is actually one of arete holding young aqua. unfortunately, i ended up saving the file after i merged it, so the layer data no longer exists, but i had intended to show that painting in its entirety on its own. where aqua is standing here is literally in front of her own image in that painting.