it started as a thought experiment. i was just musing about how drastically i've redesigned the rest of my cast, and how bismuth basically avoided any major revisions because of how attached i was to their looks.

then i noticed how self-indulgent their design is. like why do they have wings? why are their eyes green? why are they pale? why is their top off-the-shoulder? why are their sleeves comically wide? why purple? why so flowy when they're supposed to be angular? because it looks cool. because they used to be a self-insert and i just put my dream appearance (at the time) on them and called it a day.

then i imaniged what they'd look like if i designed them now, knowing what i know now, thoughtfully and meticulously and with research and references and shit. when i started drawing it i was like "it's just going to be a sketch, i'm not actually changing their design, it's too iconic" but here we are.

so, the revisions i've made:

— no wings because why would they have any

— not pale. blue-ish grey because there's a disease called bismuthea or whatever and it makes your skin that color and i thought it looked neat.

— no longer are they just vaguely asian, i (made up my mind about what culture to base them on and) went full vietnamese

— less emphasis on elegance because that was random.

— trident because it's (one of) the alchemical symbol(s) for bismuth

— changed hair to look more like actual bismuth crystals (struggled a lot)

— blue eyes because bismuth burns blue (in oxygen)

— pose no longer traced from a black sapphire sprite

there's a little gallery to see the changes i've made over time, from old to new