Well shoot, I just finished this vent art of Prince Arctic and I was all ready to type about it and now I can't decide what to put here!

Oh well XD

Basically I've been feeling like Arctic a lot lately, lots of stuff hasn't been going well in my personal life, I've been treated badly by people I thought were friends, there's been a lot expected of me in various ways, and overall I've been having trouble sleeping due to the stress.

Arctic's life was a lot like that too. Like so much is against you that it feels like you are drowning. So I wanted to make a piece that represents that sort of feeling. I did an underwater scene, with Arctic reaching out towards the surface as he sinks down. In the books it shows that Icewings can swim, I imagined him to be in the cold, northern ocean or something. Where the water is super deep so it is very dark.

**SPOILERS FOR LEGENDS: DARKSTALKER**

“This is my least favorite life The one where you fly and I don’t A kiss holds a million deceits And a lifetime goes up in smoke

This is my least favorite you Who floats far above earth and stone The nights that I twist on the rack Is the time that I feel most at home

We're wandering in the shade And the rustle of fallen leaves A bird on the edge of a blade Lost now forever, My love, in a sweet memory”

Well, here it is, the project I’ve been working on for about 7 months now! I’ve been a fan of Lera Lynn’s music since I heard it in True Detective, but after reading Legends: Darkstalker, I realized that a lot of her songs would fit really well with certain Wings of Fire characters. Especially this one, the lyrics almost seem made for Clearsight and Darkstalker.   The first set of lyrics are more from Darkstalker’s point of view, and the second from Clearsights. The lines about ‘twisting on the rack’ really work well for Clearsight, because for her whole life she was wound up with Darkstalker, she could never escape her fate as being his lover. All she knew, her whole life, was worry and anxiety from seeing the futures where Darkstalker became a cruel and terrifying king. This became so normal to her that, when he was finally buried and she was free from him, she felt unusual. It felt strange to be untangled from his life.

I took a lot of care into making sure the details in this PMV are as accurate as possible, from the time of day it is when certain things happen, to the material the stage is made of. During the scene where all the dragons are fleeing the Night Kingdom, most of them are random, but if you look you should be able to see a few familiar faces there ;)

I couldn’t have done this project without my good friends brokebackbromace and mercurybird. I excel in anatomy and character design, but when it comes to color theory or landscapes, I fall short. Thankfully these two amazing people teamed up with me to handle the parts that I wasn’t good at, and the resulting product looks absolutely phenomenal.

I may upload each scene on its own on DA if there is enough interest for it! Then you can see the details more clearly~

Programs used: Photoshop and Adobe After Effects

My DA: https://iron-zing.deviantart.com/

Brokeback: http://brokebackbromance.deviantart.com/

I'll be uploading a few scenes a day from my recent PMV about Darkstalker, which you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHvsE4tG-sw

The PMV starts with the group on the stage, waiting for the tribe to gather before them. Whiteout is already scared- Tui mentioned she has powers of some sort, maybe she can see what is coming? Arctic is silently fuming, tired from loss of blood and his long, uninterrupted fight. I had Kenzi add blood to his back foot and ear, from where the beetle yanked his earring out and Darkstalker's dagger stabbed him in the foot. Meanwhile, Clearsight is starting to walk over towards Darkstalker, with the intent to steal his scroll. Fathom has already left at this point, as Clearsight told him to go wait in his room in the palace. In the book the stage is described as being made of wood, and it also mentions how the sun has not yet risen: '"The moons shone palely overhead, two of them almost full, one a needle-sharp sliver on a carpet of stars." So the beginning scenes are darker then the rest, as it's still mostly nighttime when Arctic's death takes place.