I've been all over in regard to what direction I want to take my art, but I think I've finally settled into what you see here. This was done with flat brushes, I'm still very much getting the hang of It.
These are all attempts to understand how it's done. The color work is all taken from Fujimoto here. The way I painted was inspired by Aleksander Rostov, and expressionism in general.
Also, I'm writing fanfic right now. It has to do with that au I mentioned like, two post ago. Some things I didn't mention: Himeno, Tendo, Kobeni, and Makima act as the main cast. Denji and Power also show up on occasion.
I just want to talk about Himeno and Kobeni for now though.
Himeno is protagonist and the whole story is from her perspective. She's constantly haunted by self-loathing and guilt for previous actions. She thinks she's an animal or some sort of devil, and definitely not human. She's also lost her mind, full on seeing and hearing things.
She's sort of obsessed with her own morality, desperate to do the right thing. But this isn't a redemption story, because the redemption already happened years and years ago.
This is instead, the epilogue of a redemption story. The final thing needed to tie up all the loose ends, the closing arc. That 'final thing' is Himeno forgiving herself, accepting that she's not a bad person.
Kobeni is Himeno's self-proclaimed "friend" though functionally her wife. They have this "thing" between them that neither really knows how to define. It's not very psychical, but it is very emotional.
Kobeni acts as the light in Himeno's life. She keeps her sane, supports her through relapses (Himeno is in a constant cycle of going sober for 3-4 days, then relapsing for 3-4 days.) mental episodes, and the occasional bout of idiotic behavior.
She's both captivated and worried by Himeno's fractured mind-state and tries her absolute best to help her navigate it. She'll occasionally join in on Himeno's antics in an attempt to better understand what's going through her head. She knows Himeno better than anyone, outside of Himeno herself.
Alright that's it for now. Thank you for reading this far. Bye bye