himmelmidgard - Tumblr blog

himmelmidgard · 1 month

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AGHHHHH!!!!

#oh damn riku's broad back... 😳#kh #soriku #kh sora #kh riku #kingdomhearts #kingdomheartsfanart

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himmelmidgard · 3 months

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remember to care for your dream eater !

#this is so adorable 🥺💜#kingdom hearts #fanart #kh riku #art reblog #kh sora #kh ddd #kingdom hearts dream drop distance

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himmelmidgard · 3 months

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six rikus...

six hours...

six hearts..

#aww damn the riku fem clothes!!#If Cloud is Claudia #Then Riku could be Rikarina??#One time my sister mistook Aqua for Riku on some kh cover art and that's when she started to call him Rikarina #I should draw him more ❤️❤️#Great art op!!#kingdom hearts #riku #kh #kh riku

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himmelmidgard · 3 months

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Namie (unofficial) new design! + keyblade

#aaah she so cute!!#kingdom hearts #kh #kh fanart #kh namine #namine #naminè #kingdom hearts fanart

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himmelmidgard · 4 months

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short answer: planning definitely makes my life easier with comics! i do messy thumbs on paper where i get issues sorted->digital sketches->finals. taking advantage of the comic format helps me convey mood clearly - stuff like page turns, adding/breaking/removing panel borders, panel size, bubbles…all are unique to this medium! i try to be aware of how i can use those as tools to control the way a reader will move through the comic, and how things are paced. if you utilize them well, it’ll read correctly!

an excessively longer answer after the cut ! v

Keep reading

#I'm working on my first serious comic for a diploma project so these tips are extremely helpful!!#Thank you!!#art tips #art stuff #kitku refs #comic making

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himmelmidgard · 4 months

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I've been admiring your art, while consistently struggling myself to keep Sora and Riku's faces consistent...whether that's bc of emotion or angle or how soft their features are, I'm not sure. You'd think that after 2 decades of looking at these characters I could draw them properly.

Can I ask what facial features you think makes them distinct?

*RUBS MY HANDS TOGETHER* This is the best question you could have asked me and I am frankly STOKED to answer it (even if it took me a hot minute). It's something I've personally made notes of and have thought about a lot, SO! You came to the right dude.

For starters, it helps that Sora and Riku were made to be complementary. Riku was specifically designed counterbalance to Sora (as stated by Nomura in the KH1 Ultimania Gallery comments) and is something they’ve continued to lean into over the years. So thankfully it’s really easy to single their features out when compared to each other, specifically.

To boot, I have a lot of fun trying to boil down designs into an easily recognizable visual language just in general. Developing visual shorthand for a character, boiling them down to their bare essentials, etc. How low can we go? It’s a fun exercise and great for strengthening silhouettes!

And from what I’ve found, to put it simply; Sora is Round. Riku is Angular. Where Sora is short, Riku is Long! Like this;

Simple, right? You can tell which is which? Just zhuzh it up a little and you’ve got the boys!

Perfect.

While these are very simple examples, reducing them down and still being able to readily tell who is who even as little circles is the point! It let’s you know what to focus on as you shift from little caricatures to more detailed drawings at any level. And you’ll see how much these simple little rules/identifiers carry all the way thru!

Let’s start with their faces; Round vs Angular.

Soft vs Sharp.

Sora’s cheeks are more prominent and rounded, sloping lower on the face and pinching in to a smaller round, pointed chin. It makes his head look more round and short! His Jaw is also softer, less defined, which is an easy way to make somebody look youthful. (this is a tip I learned from tf2 actually?? lmao) He’s got a bit of that baby face!

With Riku, his cheek bones peak higher up and cut in cleanly down to a more prominent chin. This leaves a lot of space for his jaw which can make his head seem taller. It also affords his features more space which can serve to make someone look “more mature”. His jawline is also sharper and more defined, cutting inward compared to sora’s outwards slope. He’s just a handsome guy!

But it doesn’t stop there!

When it comes to their noses, I really like to lean in to the little things.

With Sora, I like to accentuate the upturn (hence the accent lines) but his nose is shorter and more rounded with a prominent tip pointing up and out. Some might call this a pixie nose

Riku’s is broad and straight (haha) and one of my favorite features of his. It’s a strong shnoz, longer than Sora’s and with a flat bridge. A detail of which I’ve always really liked and make sure to include. Gives it that strong handsome look.

I’m sure you’re getting the idea, but every feature follows these rules! Short and Long! Round and Sharp!

The eyebrows are something I feel always go missed, so I wanted to bring them up specifically. Riku’s eyebrows are longer and have a high arch to them as they wrap around his brow. Sora’s are short and much thicker towards the bridge before quickly tapering out.

You can see this along with their eyeshape a lot more clearly on their models. (Sora’s eyebrows are my favorite i love em I think they’re just the cutest thing. Really adds to his expressions, especially his pouts.)

What’s fun is that these are all things I’ve observed in official material in one way or another (namely Nomura’s art, the 3d models tend to round things out more.) Once you know what to look for, it’s easy to spot their consistent features. I’ve grabbed some fun examples;

Sora: upturned nose, round cheeks pinched in to a pointed chin, rounded jaw

Riku: Harder jaw, prominent chin, straight nose

You can see here how the curve of riku’s jaw goes in towards the face as sora’s goes out.

Riku: The Nose even more clearly, chin pointing out, and though mostly covered, you can see that strong jaw.

Sora: the same as above, really, but it’s consistent. Who says you can’t draw characters facing slightly to the left for a living.

You’re starting to see a pattern I’m sure.

And here you can see the flat bridge on riku’s straight ass nose! A flat of which Sora doesn’t have by comparison. You can also see here the different points their cheeks turn in, Sora’s being notably lower than Riku’s.

Anyway, you get my point!

For a generalized ending statement; Riku is always drawn with harder, yet graceful masculine features. He’s both very handsome and beautiful, wow. Package deal. Sora has a more boyish cheekiness. He’s got a baby face he’ll probably never outgrow along with other “cute” features. His can be a harder balance to strike, he’s cute but he’s also a dashing young man, a little charmer!

Focus in on those details n just remember compared to each other; Round vs Angular Short vs Long Soft vs Sharp They’re complimentary opposites, both in concept AND design! I love it!

I hope this was sufficient, kind anon. Good luck to everyone and I hope to see more strong Riku noses in the future.

#damn this is such a good resource #thank you!!#kingdom hearts #character design #kh #kh riku #kh sora

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himmelmidgard · 4 months

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Roxas & the Reality That KH2 Was Good But Not Really

so you know how in kh2, roxas fights till his last breath to avoid having to go back to sora, and only reluctantly accepts it. he cries when sora leaves twilight town, and after axel's death, roxas somehow reawakens and fights sora in some mental battle for dominance when he reaches TWTNW. these are not the actions of someone who wants to willingly rejoin with their other half. but roxas is still cool and happy about it at the end of kh2 before the fight with xemnas. just, like. all of a sudden. yeah so, i understand why the story following kh2 would eventually retcon that and imply that roxas was never happy, and wanted to be his own person after all, but... i'm starting to wonder. it never should've had to go that route to begin with if the writing in kh2 was consistent with how they wanted it to conclude. nobodies are a half of a whole- a remnant of someone who once was, with an inescapable longing to be whole again; it is a good ending for roxas to return to his original self. roxas' life in the organization was a poor facsimile of what a normal life was like; a job(purpose), colleagues(relationships), and a home(the sterile nobody castle). and although roxas had axel, their friendship serves only as an indicator as to what roxas was missing. he could never find happiness staying in the organization with axel, because the place roxas truly belonged was on destiny islands with riku and kairi- because roxas IS sora! a mirror as to what sora could have been; maybe a bad guy in a black coat working to obtain kingdom hearts just like the other villians. thats why the real triumph in roxas' story is him realizing where he truly belonged and leaving the organization behind to rejoin sora. when roxas and sora fully fused by the end of kh2, sora should have gained most if not all of roxas' memories and experiences, to show that uh, two have become one.

Time For A Hypothetical

there never should've been a wacky wild vr simulated twilight town to trap a rebellious roxas. kh2 should have opened with another classic dive into the heart tutorial sequence reminiscent of kh1, but with the new nobodies instead of heartless. twilight thorn instead of dark side- and maybe a few sightings of a mysterious black coat guy(which on repeat playthroughs you could easily identify as roxas), after which, sora wakes up in the mysterious mansion. just like how sora was seeing visions of kairi in kh1 because he was carrying her heart, sora shouldve glimpsed apparitions of roxas every once and a while over the course of kh2. sora learns about his other self as the org members literally talk past him and to roxas, the version of him that they knew. sora has to grapple with the idea that on another side in another story(ha), he was a bad guy working with the organization. sora goes from insulting the org for lacking emotions and hearts of their own, to feeling remorse as he realizes the innate tragedy of their existence BECAUSE HE EXPERIENCED IT AS ROXAS. sora, like in kh1, actually becomes wizened over the course of his journey as he puts together the truth behind roxas and his connection to the villians of the story. god. it would've been so cool.

#It's so frustrating cause you can see the pieces of a perfectly consistent story there #They're just pieced together awkwardly #I think kh has some solid themes and character arcs #But they could use some more polish and it's a shame #Like Sora being so negative towards the organization always felt off #It was a good basis for a character arc that never happened #kingdom hearts #kh #Kh story

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himmelmidgard · 5 months

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Kingdom Hearts + Text Posts Part 4

#kingdom hearts #kh

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himmelmidgard · 5 months

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"Kingdom Hearts... is light!" Soriku week day 1 prompt: "Holy"

I missed out on most of soriku week thanks to finals, so I'm trying to catch up! The prompt for this one was 'holy', and I feel like the faith Sora has that Kingdom Hearts is light really gives a holy feeling to me? I subscribe to the theory that the light from the door came from the connection between Sora and Riku's hearts :3

#yoooo this is so good!??#great job op <3 #kingdom hearts #kh #sorikuweek2023 #op art

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himmelmidgard · 5 months

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Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance Link Style - Darkest Fears

#since riku doesn't have his keyblade does it mean this it the closest there is to riku anti form??#and sora also attacks with claws in anti form??#maybe will draw riku anti form c:#kingdom hearts dream drop distance #khddd #riku

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himmelmidgard · 5 months

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kingdom hearts 1 ending be like

#wonder how kairi feels about it #kingdom hearts #sora #riku #soriku #kh

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himmelmidgard · 5 months

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#all excellent 👏#kingdom hearts #kh #kh organization xiii

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himmelmidgard · 5 months

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The BBS tutorial basically suggests that the Command Board takes place in the characters' hearts. So what I'm saying is: Heart Hotel Command Board shenanigans should be a thing, if it's not already. (It probably is.)

I mean, Ven is the first guest in Sora's heart and he's already done it before. He can introduce it to everyone else.

#i love this #kh #kingdom hearts

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himmelmidgard · 6 months

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