For the Creating your OCs ask meme: 1, 11 and 16 👀
From this ask
Thank you so much, and sorry that it took so long! Focusing on my DA babies because I think about them constantly
What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)?
For Cirilla Hawke, his left earring ✨ The design & backstory of that change back-and-forth from time to time, but its existence is kinda a staple by now :") Some pics from old to new below!
11. Did you know what the OC’s sexuality would be at the time of their creation?
For all my OCs: usually bi/pansexual until proven otherwise hahaha, they tend to become more aro/ace as time goes. From the top of my head... Edra & Ellana were bi first and aroace now, Vy becomes lesbian ace.
16. What is something about your OC can make you cry?
I actually cried while exploring Kal'Hirol in Awakening with my Naril Brosca, and finding out about the casteless dwarves' memories there. It feels like... an unexpected homecoming that hit me like a truck? Naril as a Grey Warden now, witnessing people who were just like her, fighting against the same foes she does now, to defend a home who did not love them... It brought all her love and resentment toward Orzammar to the forefront and, yeah, I was absorbing all of that as well. It was so fucked up that they had to make that choice, but she understands them, she really does! She would do the exact same thing!
9 for the artist one and Symbols for the OC asks? 😙
Link to artist meme | Link to OC asks
9. What are your file name conventions
If I'm using Procreate then it's just "Untitled Artwork [number]" 🤣 Changing file name on Procreate is such a pain, and I often import to Photoshop/SAI for post rendering anyway. On PC it would be something like "[topic]_[recipient if any]_[brainstorm/sketch/color/rendering/final]_[number]_[transparent background or no, or any other sliiiight variation]".
Symbols. Does your OC have symbolic features? Do they like symbols? Or maybe they are the symbol.
I'm not sure for whom the question is intended, so I'm answering for multiple OCs - nothing too big brain, but more like design notes & stuffs.
Cirilla Hawke:
I tend to draw her hair fluffy like a big black cloud, a light play on the "head in the clouds" saying, as she tends to daydream and get lost in her own thoughts when she doesn't have to worry about survival (also it floats so prettily).
The golden earring she wears on her left ear is supposed to be a token from her runaway past (before the Blight), when she left the house to be an apostate on her own.
She also wears the Amell family crest on her belt, it's to warn off random strangers from fucking with her on the streets, but also a nod toward her dedication to her family.
The blood swipe - she only puts it on after her first kill (as a general gesture for "I'm about to fuck shit up so bad"), but otherwise doesn't wear it. So if you see her with the swipe, it's because she drew blood that day.
Naril, Neria, Vy, Ellana & Edra under the cut!
Naril Brosca
She always wears a scarf outside of her armor and on the field - can be multiple colors, multiple styles. The first one she ever got was from her sister before she left for the Wardens - she ruined it so quickly due to how much she wore it. Rica gifted her a bunch of new ones during the Orzammar arc, with a reassurance that she will always get her a new scarf as soon as the old one wears out. It is a symbol of love never running out.
Neria Surana
The brooch she wears on her formal cape is a symbol of the Circle engulfed in flames. Mostly a petty reminder of the failed promise to dissolve the Ferelden Circle. Pisses Irving & Wynne off whenever they meet again, which is an interesting change because she was their prized pupil, once.
Vy Hawke
She wears little flowers on her head (stolen from the viscount's garden), as a token of her friendship with Merrill. Also everything about her is clean and neat and well-organized, to the best of her capacity.
Ellana & Edra Lavellan (the twinnies)
I gave them opposing palettes, mostly to match their personalities, but honestly now that I've went through multiple playthroughs with them I think they both have the same major traits that are just manifested differently. Still, ya, red & pink for Edra, blue & grey for Ellana. Ellana also wears halla ear pieces, to signify that she's First of the Clan.
Pretty random! I wanted a soft-sounding name that started with N, and Naril just happened to be the first thought that popped up in my head but also fitted perfectly.
9. Are they based off of you, in some way?
Aside from her being ace (which, a lot of my babies are), she is pretty different from myself haha <3 I wish I could be as laid-back as she is, but also as her creator I know what it costs her to be that way, so again, she is doing her own little things!
13. How far past the canon events that take place in their world have you extended their story, if at all?
I really like how her story unfurled in canon, and it feels wrapped up by the end of DAA, so not much at all. But I enjoy her being heroic and making the best of her freedom now that she's gained it, so I don't think she'd stay the warden-commander of Vigil Keep for long. The only place she'll ever think of as her home - much to her chagrin - is Orzammar, and she can't bring herself to return just yet. But maybe some time in the future, before she's setting out to find a cure for the Blight?