#will rambles

To begin with a breakdown for the choices I made wirh Halman himself, this will be a revision/extension of my original explanation of his first design :)

● I added scarification In intricate star patterns across his chest that was really really inspired by cybersigilism and certain fictionalized magic systems, Similar to these, I looked into possible meanings the scarification could have, and decided that I do really like the idea that it could convey status or help to outwardly project identity - which helped me decide to add the star motif into halman’s chest piece, as it helps to cement that they are deeply tied with space and they have an authoritative reach over some of its aspects. I also decided that these scars are a binding and embedding of magic and adding to his control of “god-like” abilities he expresses, the designs themselves being almost akin to overlapping runes for quick use of spells.

I did this in blue because I think that it was a good way to showcase how cold space is, because that blue color is used on the arms, lips, cheeks, and other scars aswell. I was aiming for it to vaguely resemble the look of frost bite. It also helps me pull the pale blue from the starchild in without making the color palette look dissonant with too many varying shades by keeping it more subtle.

● I didn’t really have a distinct reason for why I gave Halman these robes until I actually was drawing this re-hash of my design, since I’ve made onebefore this but didn’t really like it. Originally I did this to kinda show Halman as a godlike entity bc people associate togas and robes with ancient civilization and grand kings but I’m going insane I think it accidentally could go deeper than that and make sense with how Dave , or more-so the star-child clouded by desperation to appease the monolith - viewed Hal.

Like in my perception/gijinka, Hal wears very very modest clothes and is very polite and personal usually, but Dave is generally less prone to such extreme modesty almost as all humans are - I view this almost in a sense as Hal, being a machine that is only emulating (tho some expects prefer to say mimicking) the actions and behaviors of a personal to side in space travel, that being said I believe that even tho Dave and Frank (well maybe less so Frank) are not shown to be exactly characteristically open to showing skin or more personal conversations, as humans they are more inertly prone to a comfort in the body. Which in a literal sense could explain the gap in how Halman dresses, but also Dave views Hal very materially after his ascension - as, while Hal is the divine and better than humanity, Dave is said humanity, and the coronation of Halman leaves neither as truly one or the other -

I enjoy the silhouette this allows me to use/create aswell, the sharp shoulders come from my hal design where he has lethal shoulder pads to give him a boxt shape and emulate the look of the rectangular console with a boxy tailoring of his clothing, and using that element I pull it more abstractly into Halman in a way that’s almost uncanny, as I wish to portray a subtly uncanny aspect to how Hal and Dave have joined - Hal’s clothing/metal literally becoming a more human kind of skin in the fusion. This sharp shoulder combined with the tall, dark, body shape of the robes allows me to make Halman rather monolithic, which I enjoy. in the aims to promote a grandeur with his design, I really liked the idea of a robe concealing a non-human half below, their heavy draping and how the gradient sparkles like the night sky looks. I decided to have these robes be made from a satiny material, for a few reasons and of course all of them are delusional. Satin is a staple of opulence and refinement and it is also very very commonly used to make wedding dresses, which I enjoyed the concept of thematically with how Halman is a sort of marriage between the souls and minds of Hal and Dave.

Something I added for this iteration is a rather large amount of bangles and jewelry, my main goal is to convey a lavish art style and emphasize the fantastic circumstances of godhood, I tied the sparkle and bright elements of his robes to the bright teal cycles on his accessories and ornamentations to balance the accent palette. I added a mesh like pattern to one of his arms to almost convey the look of a fishnet. As well as giving him small pieces that almost create the look of scales or gills.

● for his hands/gloves, I wanted to convey a look of them almost being dipped in a dark liquid which let me down the rabbit hole of the Dark Liquid Theory proposed in 2005 by cosmologist Alexander Arbey, suggesting that dark matter and dark energy are the two separated halves of old totally vanta-black fluid which may be found present in space and that this may be a negative-mass, which causes the accelerated execration of black holes opening across space - obviously this theory is unconfirmed and has no real business to do with Halman but while bumbling around the internet I found this concept and thought it would be kinda bad ass if he had latex opera gloves made of black hole, as the dark matter in connection lends itself to certain thematics Halman has when we meet him, specifically the black-hole esque way the monolith consumes Jupiter in 2010 and the ways the monolith consumes itself in 3001 after the virus.

While it’s incredibly rough, I do have this ref for the look of his limbs underneath the fluid on them, and I thought it’d be interesting if to a degree the fluid on his limbs binds them in a way, allowing him to be more active as he is made of stars that I liked to treat (scientifically inaccurately) as a sort of free-floating material he must make an effort to control in certain circumstances, making the fluid both stylish and useful as the orbit created by the heat allows him to properly stay whole.

● for the staff (not actually pictured here, look at my other art of him/design hasn’t changed) , I wanted to lean into some similar aspects and decided to have it be made from a dark marble stone, as it is one of the many species of rock that must undergo transformation and extreme pressure to be formed in nature. additionally, marble is used to symbolism Purity, strength, and permanence, which I thought fit extremely well with Halmans thematic elements story-wise as he ascends into an everlasting being. Additionally I chose to set the staff with a matching red coral stone, as not only did it just match the color palette, it has strong and consistent representational themes of wealth, class, evolution, vitality, and again has been used as a status symbol in some countries. I made the choice to extend the staff into a trident of sorts, letting him seem more threatening.

● to address a sort of elephant in the room, I was inspired by elements in 3001 that Imply something of a freakish side to Halman’s personal form, and in my love for lovecraftian entities and my imagination of the coolest possible ways for things to be demolished while reaching Europa (also inspired by the way ships are taken down in 2010 and 2061, such as the Chinese ship) I decided to make him a horrific fish man, this also influenced me to include further aquatic themes

Now, for nemesis!

To begin with a short lore explanation of the role she takes place in my AU/her as a person, nemesis is Halman’s assistant and closest henchman, having been carved from stone by him and brought to life in a frosty the snowman situation. She’s incredibly devoted, loyal, and keen on ensuring any business she is assigned to while working for him, as, it’s integral to Halman’s role in the cosmic Swiss knife to run errands when told to, and I imagine if the mission is either less intensive or can be handled by an outside force, he may send nemesis. Aside from that, she stays in his domain and keeps it both clean and helps do chores or certain housekeeping, as my version of the hell prism is more fleshed as an actual environment. She’s usually rather reserved and doesn’t do much talking, but she is trustable and maintains her calm rather well through the events of 3001 despite the chaos.

Since I’ve been asked these questions on her before!

● nemesis is rather neutral on Frank, she doesn’t think he is the most competent or intelligent person, but she is tolerant of him for her bosses’ sake seeing that she isn’t with much of a choice on him. They do not clash but sometimes she can be annoyed by his decisions and reasoning.

●Nemesis is forged from an asteroid (128 nemesis) and being said does not/cannot take damage like a normal person, as her body is made from the same material as the original asteroid, simply made to appear like a natural life-form for approachability and ease of movement

Nemesis has the most design changes throughout the story, so I’ll talk about each other her versions somewhat individually!

● for her early story/primary design, I wanted to establish that while Halman and hetali are godly themselves and may have forms that are believably unhuman, nemesis doesn’t have the true ability to warp her body like a noncorpeal or righteous entity, so her design emphasizes the aquatic and fantastical elements like a High priestess copying their god would or is wearing dramatic clothing to appear gravity defying or ethereal when, upon inspection, there is nothing biologically bizarre about her.

● I wanted her dress to mirror Halman’s robes while not being as sparkly, as It should be clear that he is defying logic with his clean appearance, hence the gradient and the difference in coloring from her bodice to her sleeves, matching his clothing pieces. Her clothing itself is intended to reflect something of a mermaid silhouette while keeping it looking somewhat wearable and not impossible shape-wise.

I added a variety of design elements which are intended to reinforce her aquatic qualities, as her dress has a triple cutout shape that looks like gills crawling up her ribs, her puffed upper sleeves have a pattern of woven silver that emulates the appearance of a fishing net and mirrors the details on Halman’s jewelry, while her high collar is both intended to appear like a set of fin’s wrapping around her, and sharp and spiky like something of a Venus flytrap to show her more rigid and aggressive side with the sharp edges of it.

Her wrists are bound many loops with teal ribbons that displays charms and rhunes which hang down in connection to her thick beaded bracelets, which I wanted to almost look like fishing lures, I wanted to make sure it was clear she was high ranking in this situation but not add so many details to her that she outshines either of the people she serves, so I boarded the edges of her dress’ bust hem with swirling silver details and various small teal crystals. I also added two pieces of fabric which hang from her hips to enforce the fish or mermaid silhouette.

● her secondary design pictured is an extension of the first and is the appearance she takes on while perusing missions and other things Halman has sent her on, Her sickle is intended to doubly appear as a fishhook of sorts and is her primarily tool/weapon, which she uses both mundanely and for defensive measures. It’s intended to seem like it is crafted similarly to Halman’s, so it’s forged from a combination of dark marbled stone with small coral crystal accents in the handle and body of the blade.

● I wanted the mask she wears to look intentional, so I built a large collar into the dress itself for her mask to flush into as she wears it and make it look more natural to her appearance. I wanted it to read almost like a masquerade mask or an ornamental headpiece while still being somewhat practical, and have it be the time she looks the least human and most regal at the same time, as the mask hides her face and allows her to appear more animalistic with no discernible eyes or other facial features.

● her third design is where the most changes.

Something that radiation can do in exposure is essentially dry hair folicles and pigmentation releasing cells in the scalp and cause peoples hair to turn white, this being said the longer they're together the lighter nemesis' hair gets untill it's basically bright white, Both showing and metaphorically speaking on how he unintentionally destroys what he loves. My main intention for this is to work to create more visual contrast between nemesis and Halman as time goes on and show a visual conception of their differences, as well as show the potential side affects for people to interact with a god-like entity. I found that it’s also possible for this kind of radiation damage to cause hair follicles to break and relax in a way it no longer naturally holds curl or pattern, hence the straightening of her hair. I wanted the long white hair appearance to seem either haunted or ghostly in a sense while further emphasizing the cold and death of space where life is unsustainable, as the previous appearance is rather heavily and confident while her later appearance is almost entirely monotone in her physical body which makes her look cold and dead.

The ice pick piecing her head is intended to strengthen her silhouette aswell as accompany her thematically. The god nemesis is named for is a chair of retribution and balancer of justice, and is often seen brandishing a dagger. I wanted the ice pick to be her equivalent of it, as the dagger is a key figure of justice for her (I wanted to avoid using a flogger on her design lolol)

For hetali, she's the easiest to explain

Hetali is the child (ish) of Halman , she’s made from rock from Halley’s commet approximately after the end of 2061, she’s a rather excitable and very very curious person. She spends most of her days exploring or finding new ways to entertain herself mostly because she doesn’t exactly have a god like nemesis does, Halman isn’t keen on having her do much since she’s not the most dependable. She never really acts out of malice, but she is rather unable to read a room, she’s very naive and talkative.

Halman does his best to keep her away from outsiders such as Frank, he worries she may either be too excitable and turn people off or get herself hurt/in trouble since she has little to no social awareness a lot of the time and struggles to understand a lot of human aspects of culture and social norms. Not many people who aren’t in the loop really know she exists, so she’s rather lonely and ends up making her own friends. She wants to be good at magical seeming abilities like her father and she wants very badly to impress him, but, she is abysmal at creating things and has only truly learned to conjure cacti

● i wanted her design to evoke a sort of visual childishness without loosing the aesthetics of grandeur and royalty she shares with Halman, so I decided to make her design more on the nose wirh what she’s intended to be based on, almost like her design feels younger since it’s less subtle, since someone younger wouldn’t blend elements as subtly. The majority of the way this is done is also to skew the color hierarchy from how it sits with the other characters, prioritizing the lighter shades of blue over the darker to make the light and innocent “happy” feeling colors and shades of blue more prevalent co pared to the others, which gives us a better idea of her personality.

Her dress is intended to read as those LED lanterns you see underwater in civilian areas, I wanted her to have a very glowy and bright visual to her and make her personality show with this. I also decided to shape her dress almost like a flapjack octopus with a round shape, scalloped edges, and her hair horns, since her father is an octopus but I didn’t want to make it super on the nose. The dress is also reminiscent of the lanterns on account of the silver, winding straps I’ve added to the top that resemble the hangers at the top with the high upper neck and connected choker.

I also tried to show her innocence and childish nature by her mismatched socks and the bells on her boots, which is a running visual thing across her designs I’ve done since I think it’s funny to imagine Halman putting bells on her to keep track of her running around.

● something I did was make her hair shaped like a manta ray, since I thought it was a good visual representation of her personality and attitude while keeping the dark color scheme I wanted to use to match, it also improves her silhouette with the unique shape, and the little hair horns I mentioned in the flapjack octopus comparison also align with the manta shape.

● I attempted to make her appear somewhat fragile, as the thin visuals of the dress being translucent blue shows an almost glassy appearance and the lining helps it look almost like fine china