malacandrax

[malacandrax]

I keep forgetting to draw his little cat, aah 🫠

[malacandrax]

forgive me if this sounds dismissive, but im curious how kid-starion is still... astarion. Like yeah its his name but everything about his childhood and life was kinda erased when he became a spawn. Is there something tragic in kid-starions future that turns him into a facimile of the character, or is he speculative of what astarions life might have been if he was never turned?

I think you have put more thought into this ask than i have into the au haha. I think the only thing making kidstarion astarion is the viewer having a connection to his character. Its nice to draw him getting comfort and love without having all the boundaries and trauma to work through, and a baby is a very easy way to do that. It's more of an au for people that want comfort content than it is for plot.

#why i rarely tag it with his name tbh #kidstarion #mal talks #like it could be a random baby but this is cosier and connects with more people

[malacandrax]

Ok I was thinking about this ask and forgot to check it before I started drawing, so Halsin is the one with a cold oops! (Astarion gave it to him in the first place)

#kidstarion

[malacandrax]

lots of portrait painting experiments in the most recent sketchbook update (sfw $1 tier) Not all bg3 but a few of 'em!

#halsin #generally I post a lot of explorative stuff on the sb tier that doesn't make it anywhere else #so many studies #(and atm lots of baby astarion scribbles I do before bed to chill out lol)

[malacandrax]

hi sry this is a lil long but i just felt like giving my own comments about ur post re: feeling left out/regarding more detailed work, and wanted to say that your work singlehandedly has inspired me SO much to the point that because of your more simplistic coloring/shading and focus on movement/body language, i was finally able to find a coloring/rendering style that i actually like aesthecially and enjoy doing! i've struggled w replicating color in a way i like digitally for over 6 years but your work, and especially so your sketchbook scans on patreon have been so useful for inspiration and for my own understanding of anatomy and what not. we're always our own worst critics with comparison and whatnot, but please know that your work and your style are a huge accomplishment and skill in their own right, and your comics inspire me to keep studying so i can one day make my own!!! i'm so thankful you share your work with us and to have come across it and be able to draw inspiration off it! your colors, expressions, and the palpable intimacy and dynamic character interactions are so amazing and specifically unique to your work, never doubt the impact it has just because of other's having a different style or approach or something <3

This is so extremely nice I don't even know what to say!!! I honestly feel so hyped that my style inspired someone else, I feel like it's not something I expected and its SO COOL. I sometimes feel like my style isn't particularly STYLISH you know, I often admire really strong punchy styles, so it's nice to hear my own kind of chiller style is inspiring! And that the things I enjoy come across as strengths, too! Also I am so happy to hear someone enjoys my sketchbooks haha, they're really precious to me but I also try not to be too fussy about my art in them which means it's not 'beautiful'*- they're for studying and/or chilling out, so it's SO nice that it's inspiring nonetheless! Wishing you the best in your art journey and also I think if you want to make comics you should just give it a go! Make teeny tiny comics! [it does not have to be good] [tangent oh my god] I feel very hypocritical because for the longest time comics were something my friends made and I didn't know how to, and I felt like my style didn't work for comics, but honestly when I eventually sat down and started a long comic the style happened out of necessity, I Had to simplify or I wouldn't be able to keep up. And you can see from the links that I just did sketchy comics before and that was fine! I think it was just as valuable as making polished pages. I actually probably ended up making comics For Real because I made a silly fandom ask blog, where I kept wanting to say more than I could do in one image, and that gave me the confidence to try something longer with OC's.

ANYWAY thank you so much!

*I find polished sketchbooks so inspiring, but its so limiting imo to try to make a beautiful sketchbook HAHAHAH

#this is so many backhanded negatives about my own work im sorry i swear I am not fishing #I love my work! #but i always want to get better! #I get really excited about learning new stuff #opening my sketchbook to draw fucking collarbones or some shit lol #mal talks

[malacandrax]

Meet the artist but far away and kind of cryptic

#fr tho my fav photos of me lmao #i fucking love nature #so much!

[malacandrax]

[malacandrax]

#actually good quality non-gif

[malacandrax]

#went to a fairy trail in the pouring rain but it wqs quite nice actually

[malacandrax]

bring back tumblr ask culture let me. bother you with questions and statements

#reblogging knowing full well i have asks yet to answer but! its nice ok!!!!

[malacandrax]

Your kidstarion stuff gives me life, and I think that lil guy deserves a cookie

What he lacks in finesse he makes up in enthusiasm

#kidstarion #astarion #gale dekarios #thank you btw!!!

[malacandrax]

your sw au is so good and gutwrenching! had to literally take a moment after the most recent piece. can't wait to see where you go with it

Thank you so so much!!! I promise it'll get better <3

#i cant promise it wont get worse first #though #halstarion sw au #mal talks

[malacandrax]

I know you're big into BG3 rn (so am I!) but I just want to let you know that I love your original characters and would be very excited to see them again too!! I just know that fandom content typically gets more interaction than original content so I wanted you to know that there's people who are still really excited about your original stuff too! (Not to imply one is better than the other)

Alas, I cannot control the brainworms! I don't have any OC's I'm very invested in, to be honest.

#mal talks

[malacandrax]

May I offer you some kid au comfort in these trying times (the sw au is the trying times)

#kidstarion

[malacandrax]

The urge to give your SW!Au Astarion a hug >>> everything else q-q (gorgeous comic, I love it, I love your work with emotions and writing)

Honestly halsin is desperate to give him a hug too 🙃 (thank you so much!)

#mal talks #halstarion sw au

[malacandrax]

Sex worker/Charity worker Halstarion AU --- More of this AU

#halstarion sw au #halstarion #bloodbear #halsin #astarion #listen #would he be alone on the street apart from one guy?probably not #but I do not want to draw more people #imagine some more of cazadors swers hanging about #also if astarion is chatting to halsin to this extent its because cazador is elsewhere that night #halsin does not know how bad it is yet #thats why he's not pushing much

[malacandrax]

Ok but like, regardind the fact you don't do many fully rendered perfect illustrations... scrappy, highly expressive comics have so much charm tho! I'm not much of an illustrator either and your comic work is ART GOALS for me. Some artists can make characters look gorgeous and astounding but you make them ALIVE. In all their little movements and body language and positioning to accompany the dialogue, you give them life. If I had to choose one skill I want to work towards, it's that 🥹

this is EXTREMELY KIND thank you so much... It's definitely the most important thing to me, though I do always wish I could be The Best At Everything :P. Here's another preview with a pose I liked a lot!

#mal talks