dusk-oceanos

[dusk-oceanos]

Fading Opus

Since I’ve put Dusk Oceanos on a hiatus, I figure there’s no harm in showing off this character.

This is Fading Opus, mother of Sonata Dusk. A ruthless, calculating, and powerful siren, she only wishes to dominate and preserve, and will destroy any and all who would threaten her or her legacy.

[dusk-oceanos]

Indefinite Hiatus

Though I’ve only been thinking about this hard for a couple of days, it’s actually been something that’s been floating around in my head for weeks, maybe months. I took the time these past two days to really think and be honest with myself, and after some confiding in my closest friends and family, I’ve decided to put all my MLP-related fan comics on an indefinite hiatus for the foreseeable future.

This decision doesn’t come easy for me, as I’ve always taken pride in working on something that lasted this long. Before I started work on Sunlight Horizons, a lot of my attempts at comic making lasted less than a dozen pages due to a constant change of interests as well as procrastination, but before SH, I did sprite comics, and for the longest time that had long since passed being an entertaining creative outlet for myself.

So why the change now? Well, a number of reasons really, and if I went into all of them, this post would turn into an essay, so I’ll just list the most important:

First and foremost, I simply don’t find it fun to work on these comics anymore. When I first started, I was bursting with ideas and inspiration, and at the time (well over three years ago) I had all the free time to dedicate to these, yet even when I got my current job, I still wanted to get home quick so I could put pen to paper and draw these loveable girls together. It’s been a long three years, and though my frequency in updates has always waned, I still found a desire to keep going, even if it’d take a long time. Unfortunately, that just didn’t stick this time. I look back now, and I realize that for just under a year I’ve been making excuses to myself to keep going. I really do just want to let go and move on to other things, which is my second point.

I want to do other things now. For a while now, I’ve had this growing desire to try and create my own original story with my own characters, my own world, and my own fantasy. I think that’s a growing aspiration for anyone in the creative world, and while I’m not exactly pursuing a career in this, I just love to create and share those stories I create with any who might enjoy them.

I’m pretty much done with MLP as a whole now. We’re way past its golden age, and when it comes to the franchise itself, I’ve completely disconnected myself from it. I stopped caring about the show around about season 5, and EqG became a passing thought a little ways after the fourth movie. I didn’t even watch the series finale, that’s how little it’s meant to me now. Whatever love I had for it is now focused on other shows that I’ve started watching since, and that’s probably where my future fan-arts are going to come from down the line.

Regardless of my personal feelings on MLP now, I can’t deny that it’s had an amazingly positive effect on my life. Since I started Sunlight Horizons, I’ve made incredible friends who I still talk to even after our mutual interests waned, I’ve travelled to America several times to experience conventions in three different states, and I’ve met some extraordinary people along the way. Needless to say, MLP has changed my life for the better, and I will always hold it close to my heart, regardless of my choices today.

Believe me, I don’t make this decision lightly. I’ve gained some incredible fans who enjoyed my work, and I honestly feel terrible that I’m letting you guys down when you’ve been entertained by me and have been waiting anxiously for later updates, but I don’t feel I’m doing anyone a service if I force myself to keep up working on something I have no passion for. After all, if the creator doesn’t care, why will the audience?

However, I use the term “indefinite” because, as one of my friends put it, I’m an “emotionally-driven artist”, and I agree. I draw what I want based on how I feel, and sometimes I can find myself going for over a year, maybe more, before I return to something I grew bored of. This doesn’t just affect my artwork, but my other interests such as movies, cartoons, and games too. Either way, I feel that if I outright cancel my fan-comics, I’ll come to regret it down the line if I ever decide to return, so I’m keeping it on an indefinite hiatus in case things change. But don’t hold me to that, expect me to be gone for a very long time.

With that said though, I’ll be keeping my pages online for anyone and everyone to read if you ever want to check them out, and should I decide to bring closure to the stories I planned to tell but don’t intend on continuing, I might just put together some sketches and write out some narrative to explain where my stories were going so you all can at least find some closure in that. I know it isn’t what you wanted, but really I gotta do what’s best for me here, and I’m truly sorry about that.

Anyway, time to bring this to a close. Once again, I’m sorry for letting you guys down, but I hope you’ll stick around for other pieces I’ll do down the line! My mod-blog here usually just reblogs random funnies, but you can always find my general artwork at @depth-arts where I’ll be posting a bunch of other things, or you can check me out at my DeviantArt page here.

Thank you all so much for the three years of love and support. I will cherish these memories forever, and use them to motivate me to bring more content in the future!

Take care~!

#announcement

[dusk-oceanos]

How much did you gather for charity?

Approximately $118 in total. Not a bad haul for myself, really.

Thanks again to everyone who donated.

[dusk-oceanos]

Charity Commissions Closed

I’d like to thank everyone who donated money to help those in need. You’re amazing people, and I truly appreciate your kind words in this difficult time.

The commissions will be released publicly once they are completed.

[dusk-oceanos]

[Black Lives Matter Charity Commission Event]

Last week, a group of my friends put together this incredible livestream event to raise money to go towards charities supporting the BLM movement, and to help support those suffering from the rioting going on across the US. While I did donate money towards the event, I still felt I could have done more, and while I’m currently unable to livestream, I do want to do my part and raise money to help support those who need it now more than ever.

The creator of @honeycrisp-tales​ is a very dear friend of mine, someone I’ve known since early into my role as the creator of @sunlight-horizons​ and @dusk-oceanos​. She is a wonderful, charming, funny, and supportive friend, and I wouldn’t be where I am without her. But most importantly, especially now, she helped open my eyes to a world of discrimination and fear that I was ignorant of for a long time.

As a british caucasian with a supportive family and a relatively decent childhood, I couldn’t even begin to grasp what the life of a black person can be from beginning to end. Though I’ve always been aware of the struggle, and I’ve always been disgusted by the racism and brutality brought down upon them, I was still relatively close-minded, and I took my white privileges for granted as a result. It was only when I met @honeycrisp-tales​ and got to know her that she made me understand more than ever how much I didn’t get the message.

I was humbled by my friend, and even today I still am. I’m truly blessed to have someone like her in my life, and while I can’t even begin to feel what she feels every day of her life, what I feel now is fear for her. I fear waking up one morning to hear the news that she was hurt, or worse, simply because she exists. I fear she will tell me something has happened, and her life may never be the same again. I fear that one day I will lose her because of the actions of another.

That’s what this event is about. For her, and for everyone like her, I want to help.

Starting tomorrow morning until Sunday evening, I will be opening commissions for bust drawings at $10 or more. Every penny and dime you donate will go towards the charities @honeycrisp-tales​ and our other friends donated towards last week in full support of BLM. Please see below for more details.

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[Donation Form] https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfGBvtRkgnHKbKGf1mDm7X34bMKXZPDOD53nqXWJDP3E_60jw/viewform

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You can find all the details and contact information on the form above. I will be reposting this entire message tomorrow to announce the beginning of my commissions, but please feel free to send in your donations and commission info the moment you finish reading this.

Once it is Monday morning in my time, I will close off the commissions and send all your donations off to be given to the charities my friends have chosen.

Thank you so much for your support, and I hope to receive your commissions very soon.

~ Take care of yourselves

[dusk-oceanos]

[Black Lives Matter Charity Commission Event]

Last week, a group of my friends put together this incredible livestream event to raise money to go towards charities supporting the BLM movement, and to help support those suffering from the rioting going on across the US. While I did donate money towards the event, I still felt I could have done more, and while I’m currently unable to livestream, I do want to do my part and raise money to help support those who need it now more than ever.

The creator of @honeycrisp-tales​ is a very dear friend of mine, someone I’ve known since early into my role as the creator of @sunlight-horizons​ and @dusk-oceanos​. She is a wonderful, charming, funny, and supportive friend, and I wouldn’t be where I am without her. But most importantly, especially now, she helped open my eyes to a world of discrimination and fear that I was ignorant of for a long time.

As a british caucasian with a supportive family and a relatively decent childhood, I couldn’t even begin to grasp what the life of a black person can be from beginning to end. Though I’ve always been aware of the struggle, and I’ve always been disgusted by the racism and brutality brought down upon them, I was still relatively close-minded, and I took my white privileges for granted as a result. It was only when I met @honeycrisp-tales​ and got to know her that she made me understand more than ever how much I didn’t get the message.

I was humbled by my friend, and even today I still am. I’m truly blessed to have someone like her in my life, and while I can’t even begin to feel what she feels every day of her life, what I feel now is fear for her. I fear waking up one morning to hear the news that she was hurt, or worse, simply because she exists. I fear she will tell me something has happened, and her life may never be the same again. I fear that one day I will lose her because of the actions of another.

That’s what this event is about. For her, and for everyone like her, I want to help.

Starting tomorrow morning until Sunday evening, I will be opening commissions for bust drawings at $10 or more. Every penny and dime you donate will go towards the charities @honeycrisp-tales​ and our other friends donated towards last week in full support of BLM. Please see below for more details.

========

[Donation Form] https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfGBvtRkgnHKbKGf1mDm7X34bMKXZPDOD53nqXWJDP3E_60jw/viewform

========

You can find all the details and contact information on the form above. I will be reposting this entire message tomorrow to announce the beginning of my commissions, but please feel free to send in your donations and commission info the moment you finish reading this.

Once it is Monday morning in my time, I will close off the commissions and send all your donations off to be given to the charities my friends have chosen.

Thank you so much for your support, and I hope to receive your commissions very soon.

~ Take care of yourselves

[dusk-oceanos]

With it being said, will Dusk Oceans and Aria Archives ever have a legitimate crossover?

[dusk-oceanos]

Dusk Oceanos #29

Another Time, Another Place - Pg. 15

Nothing worth having is easy.

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[DISCLAIMER] The timing of this page couldn’t have been worse. I had this whole thing planned way back in late-2018, but it wasn’t until a couple months ago that I sketched it and only this week did I manage to finish it.

I apologise to anyone who feels uncomfortable by what’s to come given the state of things at the time of this posting, but this is what I was building up to all this time, and I’m not about to back down due to real life events. If you followed what was happening the past few pages, then it should come as no shock that this was what I was leading you into.

I don’t use real life to justify the drama I use for my stories, I write drama because I enjoy invoking emotion and making you care about the characters and how they develop. Though the pandemic portrayed in this was a real life event, it was a long time ago and fit in the setting I was using for the time, and it is nothing but pure coincidence we ended up in ANOTHER pandemic at the time of this page’s upload.

Please be keep an open mind and be considerate for others, and use this time to stay aware of the dangers of a pandemic, including maintaining a safe distance, keeping yourself clean, and being smart and safe around those who are more vulnerable than you.

Take care of yourselves!

#dusk #atap #sonata dusk #aria blaze #high tide #low tide #honeycrisp blossom #flashback #comic #art #illustration

[dusk-oceanos]

Ponified Starlight

From human to pony. What could it mean? I’ll never tell~

Okay, maybe I will. Soon~

#starlight glimmer #siren children #pony #mlp #art #illustration #reference #trixie

[dusk-oceanos]

Starlight Glimmer

Daughter of Aria Blaze

Born 1998 AD

Even on Earth, Starlight had a rebellious spirit, but rather than committing atrocities against her fellow man, she decided to pour her energy into something productive. Finding an outlet in various forms of art, Starlight committed herself to painting whatever her heart told her to. This caused a bit of a ruckus with her peers who criticised her for not following the “rules”, making Starlight quite notorious in many different art schools across the state.

In her early teens, Starlight adopted the alias of “Pastel Prism” and became an underground street artist, perceiving every wall she could find on the streets as a blank canvas for the “expression of [her] repression”. And so, Starlight rose up in infamy as a talented but troublesome graffiti artist with business owners and the authorities, though the general public would often praise her work as emotional and powerful.

Among the many fellow street artists Starlight had met, none touched her heart more than the enigmatic “Flanksy”. The two merely knew each other by their aliases, but for them, that was enough. They worked on many collaborations together, and Flanksy’s work gave Starlight much inspiration. For a time, they were very close, creating art that only they would ever know existed.

Unfortunately, due to her father’s job as a police officer, Starlight was forced to move out of Canterlot and put her past relationships behind her. This took an emotional toll on her, and had affected her artwork a great deal. With her muse gone, and her inspiration broken, Starlight now struggles to break out of her artist block and paint again.

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People were a little curious about one of Aria’s daughters being Starlight Glimmer, so I figured I’d post this piece I did a few months back. Maybe we’ll see more of her and what she’s up to down the line? Who knows~

#starlight glimmer #reference #art #illustration #siren children

[dusk-oceanos]

I hope this doesn't sound rude, but during the battle of the bands Sonata seemed a bit ditzy, but now she seems to be very intelligent. What caused this change in personality?

There is a narrative reason for that, and I’ll get to it down the line. Make no mistake, while she does have moments of intelligence, she’s still quite absent-minded and a bit of an airhead.

[dusk-oceanos]

If many humans are somehow relates to the sirens, is it possible their magic wasn't very strong against the Mane 7; besides the exposure to Twilight's Equestrian Magic, is it possible that the 'Mane 7' are humans that are NOT related to the sirens and are not as susceptible?

Though it’s mostly implied in RR, I’ve always been under the impression it’s because of the Mane 7′s exposure to equestrian magic, mixed with their own strong bonds together, that keeps them immune to the siren’s singing (at least until the third act).

While sirens are immune to each other’s singing, I made it so even the half-siren children of the Dazzlings are still susceptible to their magic as will be shown in flashbacks down the line for specific narrative reasons.

[dusk-oceanos]

(For Mod) In a hypothetical non-canon crossover between Aria's Archives and Dusk Oceanos, what do you think would happen? Even better, how would your Sonata react to SamRose's Sonata?

Well, though I haven’t done as many updates as Aria’s Archives, I think I’ve made a point showing that my Sonata is certainly very different to Sam’s Sonata. We took the same personality but ramped it up in opposite directions which a number of my readers have pointed out to me and I appreciate the comparisons. <3

I think the meeting would go just about as well as you’d expect. My Sonata is shown to be quite motherly and caring, so dealing with someone as childish and selfish as Sam’s Sonata, she would probably have very little patience for her antics. I can’t specify what she would do if she knew about Sam’s Sonata’s treatment of her children as I haven’t even gotten into just how much my Sonata cares about children quite yet, so use your imagination on that one.

A crossover would be pretty interesting, but as we’re mostly focusing on slice-of-life stuff for the time being, I don’t think much would happen beyond some bantering and fun jests between how each character is pretty different to their counterpart, with the exception of the Arias who are probably more similar to each other than the others.

[dusk-oceanos]

When was it said Rarity was related to the Sirens?

I never said it, that’s something in Aria’s Archives which isn’t related to my series.

[dusk-oceanos]

So they get to still have children while the AA counterparts can't?

That’s right.

[dusk-oceanos]

Is Rarity related to one of the Dazzlings just like the Rarity from Aria's Archives?

I am neither confirming nor denying who is or isn’t related to the Dazzlings in the current generation.

[dusk-oceanos]

Let me guess. Just like Aria's Archives Dazzlings, they can't get pregnant anymore since their amulets were destroyed?

No, they are still fertile.