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lavalampelfchild · 3 years

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Lava’s Art Masterpost

Hey, all! Welcome to my art masterpost! I have no idea if this is a thing that is done typically for art, but oh well, I like organizing things, so here we are! What you’ll find here is mostly Dragon Age, with a few non-DA pieces in there, and there’s a range of styles I like to use, depending on my mood. But a lot of what you’ll see will most likely combine lineart with some other form of coloring/shading.

Feel free to browse at your leisure, and I hope anyone who stumbles upon this enjoys what they find! :D And thank you to anyone who sees this and likes, or reblogs, or even just stops by to peruse a bit!

All that said, away we go!

Digital Portraits:

1. Portrait of Nameless Woman, 2020 - This one is just an experiment with a watercolor brush that I did. It’s not anatomically perfect, but I enjoyed playing around with shading.

2. Sketch of Aja Amell, 2020 - This one is basically sketch practice with my Amell~ Not really the most expressive pictures, but it’s a start toward drawing her more expressively. Full disclosure: Aja is one of those OCs of mine that I have had trouble with deciding on a definitive appearance for several pictures, and I really want to work on upping my level of consistency when drawing her.

3. Long-Haired Fenris, 2020 - Exactly what it sounds like; this was for practice drawing Fenris’s features (I love how distinct they are), but with long hair because I am weak for it. This one was a fun piece to shade, and mixing the stylized lineart that I normally use with a greyscale shading spectrum was really enjoyable.

4. Portrait of Ilorin Lavellan, 2016 - This is an oldie. Basically practicing expressions, and it is technically a WIP, but I’m still very happy with how the shading turned out, especially because this is actually (aside from the unfinished hair) one of the more minimal pieces I’ve done in terms of lineart It’s still there, and it still shapes the flow of the picture in some ways, but it also ends up flowing with the shading instead of standing out next to it, which I like. (Both styles are good, though, and I love seeing other artists try both too.)

5. Old Portrait of Aja Amell, 2016 - Much older picture I did of Aja; she... honestly looks very little like the newer one, I think, and that consistency is something I’m still working on, but this one was the first picture of Aja with that particular hairstyle I drew. What I like about this picture is how young she looks; it fits with her image as a fresh and sheltered Circle mage who’s only about 20 years old at the time of DAO.

6. Old Portrait of Trilyn, 2016 - They very first piece of art I posted to tumblr~ It’s not exactly how I envision Trilyn anymore, but it was still very fun to draw, and helped me get a feel for drawing him in the future.

Dynamic Movement Pictures/”Moment’s in Time”:

1. Tabris in Arl’s Estate, 2020 - TW: blood. I am super proud of this one. My ultimate goal is to draw all of my Warden DAO OCs, and I could not believe I’ve never drawn my Tabris, and so here she is. This was, in large part, practicing expressions because I absolutely love art that depicts characters in motion, or capturing some kind of expression.

2. Velyn in the Rain, 2017 - This one was actually based on some art that I saw in a Teen Wolf fic! It was an experiment with a more expressive style (and one of the first pieces I did without lineart left in the finished version) and it was a huge step out of my comfort zone. But overall, I am extremely happy with how it turned out.

3. Jem Nocking an Arrow, 2016 - And here is the lineart version. This was entirely an excuse to draw my DAI baby, Jem, and to do a cool archer pose because archers are my fav, and I love characters in motion.

4. Solas Teaching Trilyn Fade Magic, 2016 - This one was a painterly picture that was also (like the Velyn picture) something which I tried to keep lineart out of. Overall, I am proud of a lot of parts of the pic, but I think I would definitely go back over it and change a few things now if I had the patience.

5. Trilyn Closeup WIP, 2016 - TW: injury, blood, mention of abuse in the author’s note. A lot of early pictures I have are of my OC, Trilyn, and this is one of my absolute favorites. His entire upper body is technically in the picture, but I hadn’t finished rendering it yet, so this was what I posted. And it was an experiment with a cross-hatching style with the pencil tool for some texture, with air brush shading and a blurring tool. It’s a style I had fun playing around with!

6. Trilyn Blood Ritual, 2016 - TW: blood, injury (the slight cut used to supply the ritual with blood). This one was definitely a sort of “captured moment” from a backstory I gave Trilyn, and I think what I was really going for was an atmospheric piece that could fit with any potential fic I wanted to write for Trilyn. And then it ended up being practice for extreme lighting/shading techniques, and drawing the blood and the gross mass of demon ichor (or whatever the heck that is) turned out to be highlights of making the piece for me.

Art + Text:

1. Freedom and Control, 2020 - TW: scars, but very difficult to see. This one was ambitious for me! It started originally just as Solas and my Tal-Vashoth OC, Saara, facing each other, because I love the dynamic I’ve built for them in my head, but then it turned into an attempt at a tarot-esque background, and just sorta grew from there... Overall, I’m happy with how it turned out, especially with how Solas and Saara themselves turned out. The version you can actually see a larger view is here.

2. Marianna and Delia Codex and Art, Pt. 1, 2020 - I love writing my own codex entries, first off, and I love combining art with text to create a (hopefully) seamless work. This work was an attempt to flesh out these OCs of mine with both art (because unique facial structures are hard for me to get down, but so important regardless) and text (because writing~). I think it turned out well overall, but there are elements of the portraits that I might at some point touch up a bit.

3. Marianna and Delia Codex and Art, Pt. 2, 2020 - Part 2, with what I refer to as a “DAI Outfit Change” because I have always loved seeing fans show their own OCs as they look in DAO, DA2, and then finally DAI. So I absolutely wanted to jump on that bandwagon myself. The skin tones are a little off (and I’m sorry about that!) because I was playing with the watercolor brush at that point, and it dilutes the colors I use. Still working to figure that out, but I was very happy with the overall lineart and structures of the faces.

4. Alistair/Aja Amell Picture with a Blurb, 2017 - Ooooold, old, old, old, OLD! I still love the art, and I’m soooo happy with how the interaction between Alistair and Aja turned out (drawing kisses is extremely difficult for me; I always end up creating a distorted weird lip-creature, instead of realistically puckered lips...). I’m not as happy with the blurb that went with it? At that point, I was still very much figuring out my own DAO worldstate, and the characterization for everyone, so, eh. Take it with a grain of salt!

Unfinished Costume Designs:

1. Ancient Elvhen Armor with Dwarven Influence, 2018 - People who do costume design work are amazing and mystical beings, and I wish I could do what they do. This was an attempt at merging the Keeper robes from DAI with a more dwarven armor aesthetic, solely because I created an ancient elvhen character, Ceda, who was taken in by the Cad’halash dwarves mentioned in the Witch Hunt dlc, and I wanted this character to have a mix of the elven style of armor and the dwarven style. I’m overall decently happy with it, but there’s still that persistent level of self-criticism present.

2. Herald of Andraste Outfit WIP, 2016 - This was a very old picture, not one I showed around a lot, but the idea for this was entirely born of my intense interest in how fashion and outfit designs could be used to create a symbolic image for the Herald of Andraste. In general, I love the combination of ceremonial armor with long and flowing cloth, so that was what I went for here. I’m still actually very proud of how this came out, and headcanon something similar for my Herald in my canon DAI worldstate.

Pencil Sketches:

1. Quick Saara Sketch, 2019 - TW: saarebas mouth scars. Exactly what it says; very quick sketch of Saara I did in a small notebook I carry around with me. This was basically a test for myself to see if I could manage to draw Saara with the features and facial structure I envisioned for her without needing to use a lot of references.

2. Mass Effect Character Sketch; Jesse, 2018 - Similar reason for drawing this one as the above Saara sketch! With these characters, I love sometimes the way they can turn out with the specific character creator used for them, and when I draw them, I enjoy trying to create a definitive look for them using what I get from the CC, and my own knowledge of Hooman Faces.

3. Saara Sketch, 2017 - TW: saarebas mouth scars. A more detailed sketch of Saara than the one above, and one I definitely put more time into overall. It’s currently the profile picture I’m using for ao3, and is the definitive go-to reference picture I use whenever imagining Saara in a fic, or for other Saara pics I make. I am extremely proud of this picture, and feel like I should work in graphite more often. It’s such fun, and the texture is so nice to look at.

4. Sketch of Nameless Alamarri Woman, 2017 - This was a sketch I did of what I envisioned some Alamarri tribes to look like; I used artistic depictions of Gaul tribes and hairstyles for inspiration, and have used this as a go-to reference for my version of Alamarri tribes. Nothing super notable about this one, but I really liked the way the shape of her face turned out.

Events and Gifts:

1. Another Scar, 2020 - TW: blood, injuries, gore. The most recent piece of art on the list, and a gift for @cartadwarfwithaheartofgold; featuring sisterly love between Rica and fem!Brosca, which was her requested prompt. This was a tough piece for me because of the difficulty with the lighting I dealt with. For some reason, that one particular element of it gave me so much trouble. Overall, I’m very happy with how it turned out, though, especially the skin tones of the sisters; Brosca I always sort of like as having this greyish, more gaunt look to her, while Rica I like seeing with a darker, richer, and warmer tone to her.

2. A Very Cousland Christmas!, 2019 - This was for a holiday exchange for a server, and I drew a friend’s Cousland (Elissa, the girl on the left) with my Cousland (Gazza, the girl on the right). I love kid-fic, and I love kid-art, and so I decided... baby Cousland art! Drawing kid proportions was the toughest part, I recall, and I thiiiink it turned out well, and I’m still quite proud of it overall. Elissa’s design came entirely from my friend, but I added the holly~

3. Exchange Gift with Dis Brosca and Mabari, 2018 - This was an exchange gift for @fanfoolishness, using her lovely Dis Brosca, and was my first real attempt at backgrounds... I struggled with the coherence of the foreground and background a bit, but I’m still very proud of how it turned out, especially with the colors I had to work with. What I also really enjoyed working with was the lighting and the expression on Dis’s face. Backlit subjects are always fun to play around with!

4. Inktober Picture, “Deep”, 2017 - TW: scars, injury, mentions of abuse in the author’s note/attached dialogue snippets. This was for an Inktober prompt (the only one I’ve ever done, sadly... because I am bad with deadlines...), and again features Trilyn. Trilyn’s backstory has him a former slave in Tevinter, and a lot of the early works I do for him are sort of deep-dives into his life there. It’s all meant to be an exploration of the things he endures, and then those moments when he overcomes it all and takes back his own autonomy and self. This art is definitely provocative, and I can understand if not everyone likes it, but to me, I just wanted to show just what he faces (without glorifying it) before showing the moment of his own triumph.

5. Christmas Holiday Picture with my Brosca and a Friend’s Amell, 2017 - This was a piece of art drawn first by a friend of mine, @nanahuatli~ She drew the Amell, the background, the mistletoe, etc. All I did was add my Brosca to the mix to finish the image. It was a lot of fun to do, 1) because it was fun trying to match her style so that the picture looked cohesive, 2) because I love doing collabs with friends, and 3) because it was just such a fun thing to imagine my surly short Brosca, looking at this weird plant/fungus/thing dangling over some puckering human! It was an absolute joy to do this collab with her!

6. OC Kiss Week Pic of Jem and Saara, 2017 - TW: saarebas mouth scars. A spur-of-the-moment thing meant to demonstrate just what kind of dynamic my OC, Jem, has with my other OC, Saara (both of whom are members of Leliana’s network in DAI). This was a very quick picture (deadlines...) and was mostly just to have fun drawing these two characters interacting, and to see if I could make them look like themselves. I think I did a decent job with it overall, especially with Jem’s kissy-face! (Again... drawing kisses are the bane of my existence, although hands and feet take a close second.)

#lavalampelfchild's art #masterpost #dragon age #some not DA stuff

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ofstormythoughts · 7 years

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Fire

••Fire consumed the past to forecast what was to come.

The power of fire was immense, whether in the flame variety, turning destruction into reels of what lay ahead, or in the distant and ruling sun, which translated messages through the rays that could reach earth.

I could remember the senior class trip to the beach as well as if it were yesterday. From under my floppy hat and safely drenched in SPF 50, I dared to let the beaming sun soak into my snow white skin. I was sure I’d end up some tone of pink for the indulgence but that day had me in a dreamy way and the sun was the perfect element to bake in my mood. I had no focus for the book I’d brought with, instead closing my eyes and listening the waves crashing against the shoreline while the rays of the sun changed position to count the hours away.

The sounds of gulls and seascape and the chatter of teenagers faded into the background soundtrack while I lost my mind to thoughts and whims of girly things. And then… the singing started. The harmonizing of the collective voices was so stirring I couldn’t bear to keep my eyes closed, only when they lifted open, they stopped and I was met with the sharper relief of the sounds that had formerly faded.

I was perplexed, absolutely, but given my long history of peculiarities, I had learned to let the mysteries roll off. And so I closed my eyes and laid back down in the warm granules of sand on my navy striped beach towel. I was met immediately with the return of that choir, apparently a private performance in the concert hall of my mind.

Three days later, out to dinner with Birdie, it happened. The sky was colored twilight, that beautiful in between day and nightfall, and the haunting hue accompanied the happenings overtly. The door to the restaurant opened and in with the diners came the voices, only this time they were not confined to my mind behind the trap of closed eyes. I dropped my water glass, catching the solid table and sending shards flying across my lap as chills spread up my arms. I bolted from the table, leaving my grandmother sitting there without any explanation, following those voices. I didn’t have to go far. They were there in the park across the street, observing the last moments of light while the group of friends sang in what looked to be a casual gathering, they sounded even more ethereal in person and tears spilled in reaction to it all. I was so entranced, I didn’t hear Birdie’s approach, but I knew her arms when they came around me, her hands clasping at the side of one shoulder while she leaned her head on my other.

That night was the first I had the clear realization that the sun was a fortune teller, though the purpose of its subtle messages I couldn’t grasp. If I thought about it too much, it would frustrate me to the point of mental fits. Maybe my fair skin had been a blessing in disguise, keeping me from the mania of not understanding just why I was gifted in this sense.

My connection to fire had revealed itself much earlier than the striking experience via sunbathing.

Flames were much more blunt in their delivery and perhaps that’s why they had pronounced their power when I was barely on the cusp of age nine. After the incident with the campfire, my curiosity had grown more insistent than the fear of what I might see. I was forever begging Birdie to light candles and build fires. Hard pressed to deny me anything, she had even bought an outdoor fire pit. My heart would race and a current of terror still permeated every experience, but even at a tender age, I knew I couldn’t go through life avoiding something that would always be a part of me.

I was so fortunate Birdie was mine. She couldn’t see what I did in the fire, yet she never questioned what I relayed nor did she try to pass it off as an active imagination. There was no rhyme or reason to the things I saw, no recurring theme. When I was younger, my grandmother would record in a journal the things I witnessed, marking when and if they presented in life; sometimes they didn’t come to pass in front of me, but I never had doubted they happened. She attempted to find patterns, apply time tables, note precursory details to the actual events, anything that might give us a “why” for my precognition. But with fire we were to remain mystified.

Mostly.

When I was old enough to keep up the journaling, Birdie had passed the baton. She always told me that what didn’t make sense in the present, may prove to be useful in the future. It was as if she had been speaking on behalf of the fire and maybe she was. My connection to Birdie ran so deeply, I wondered if she too was tasked with a special role, guardian angel or shepherd. Even if I had romanticized my grandmother, I didn’t care to dispense with the fantasy of it.

My connection to the elements had not ever plucked at my heartstrings, until they did. The night would always be with me, and it was the only one that had never made it to the pages of the journal.

I’d been reading, curled up under a blanket by a spectacular blaze in our hearth. My grandmother had already gone to bed and I found I couldn’t sleep. Looking up from my book, my gaze had been magnetized to the flames as if they had called for my attention. My labored breaths and fluttery heart, along with a noticeable churn in my stomach warned me of what I was in store for, but I didn’t deflect my gaze. Captured in those waves of orange, yellow and white was an image I wanted to turn away from. My grandmother, in one of her favorite aprons that had ivy scrolling up the left-hand panel, rolling out dough of some type with her prized marble rolling pin. I heard myself gasp as she collapsed, the image of her fading into the awaiting red embers. So stunned by the scene, I didn’t realize I had broken into body-wracking sobs and on auto-pilot I moved, grabbing my glass of water and extinguishing the fire with an angry toss of the liquid.

I was not working on rationale when I tore into the kitchen next, finding the apron amongst the others and scrambling to find the least obvious place to stash it. It ended up under a nest of fancy linens that hadn’t been used in decades, it was temporarily safe and I would find a creative way to get rid of it later. I’d honestly felt relief and thought I’d managed some kind of control over the awful scene that had played out in the fire formerly known as cozy.

It was the one thing I kept from her. Until I couldn’t. Out on a wildflower foraging trek on a day several weeks later. My phone had buzzed in my back pocket. I knew it could only be my Birdie and I didn’t care where I was, I would always answer. Like that fire, the call was something I would never forget. I could relive it breath for breath, word for word.

“Raine! I found it, my ivy apron!”

Hard swallow.

“I must be getting senile because it was folded up with the old lot of linens, tucked away underneath!”

Tears pouring as I ran.

“I’m making your favorite blueberry cobbler!”

I couldn’t speak, my voice had been nowhere in the region.

“Raine? We must have a bad connection. Get home safe, my darling.”

It was the loudest click but there was nothing I could do but get in my car and speed to her rescue. Which I did. I attempted to mind traffic laws as I took the quickest route home, arriving no more than twenty minutes after she’d called.

I was still too late. My Birdie was there, unconscious on the kitchen floor in her apron with ivy scrolling up the left hand side.

The doctors would tell me that I had saved her life. That without the medication they were able to administer so closely after the “event” she would have been rendered to a much worse condition. In my mind and heart, however, I had failed her in so many ways. There had been wiser ways to go about that vision, rather than my haphazard and idiotic apron hiding. How ineffective I had been. How horribly naive. Birdie did come back to me, though. And when she had, I’d confessed her everything I’d kept from her, repeating my apologies through a mess of tears.

As Birdie always had, she immediately aimed to soothe me. To my chagrin she agreed with the doctors that I had saved her, going further even with praise for how I had been so wise to use what I learned. She was proud.

Proud.

I couldn’t fathom or accept it, but for her sake, I didn’t argue.

After we got home, she at first pleaded and then commanded that I not tempt fate by looking to fire for the foreseeable future. Deep down, I think she knew her days were numbered, and in her steadfast way, protecting me was her priority.

Some love stories weren’t between lovers and ours was such a demonstration.

I didn’t light any candles. I didn’t burn wood in our fire pit. I turned up the gas heat when we needed to take the chill out of the air. I honored her request and obeyed her decree.

I first lit a candle after she had passed, one from a batch we had made, scented with lily and chamomile. Its flame was absent any images as it flickered and cast shadows on the walls in the room.

In Birdie’s honor, I had kept with the fire journal, and I had grown from the tragedy I had seen with her. I learned to look at the details, hoping some day one of those chance observations would give way to a charitable and helpful act. Until that time arrived I was left to wondering what all these gifts meant, supposing they meant anything at all. No matter the outcomes, nothing would stand in the way of dreams.

My apothecary was evidence of me embracing it all, every part of me. The difficult parts, the beautiful parts, the mysterious parts and the eternal flaws we all came with. It was a living symbol of everything I knew and did not know about myself. Candles were lit generously at different levels around the store and as I teetered on a step stool to hang the last of four sun catchers, the completion of my vision was so near, I almost toppled off. Instead, with a quick rebalancing, I looped my suncatcher over the pre-placed hook and stepped down to watch it refract the light.

Fire consumed the past….

…. And light showed the way of the future.••

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