Look I know the toxicity and the tension is like the main appeal of Burned Bridges and it’s utterly delicious but
Have you considered. An alternative. That exists in my head.
Them representing the part of themselves that they actively suppresses to each other. One suppresses his emotions behind a mask of a lack of emotion(Smitten(overwhelming emotion) to Cold), while the other suppresses the part of himself that feels alone and empty, covering it up with all of the other emotions that he intensely feels(Cold(the emptiness and yearning) to Smitten). Masks of overwhelming positive emotion and no emotion to hide the depths of their emotions. Their vulnerability. They are each other’s tormentors.
Cold pushing Smitten’s buttons at first out of his own amusement. Smitten retorts back at Cold every time he provokes him and dislikes the realisation of how easy it is for Cold to push his buttons. And then. Emotional torment. Them showing the depths of their hearts to each other. Whether by complete accident or an action made by Smitten that had unraveled them both. Their vulnerability and the parts of themselves were shown to each other. Cold hits a realisation. Smitten sits in stunned shock. They realise there is more to the other than they originally thought.
Smitten being Smitten denies it at first. He denies how similar they are to each other and retorts with uncertain anger in a vain attempt to cover up the parts of his heart that he tries so desperately to hide. But how can he deny it anymore? When now the question swims within his head on the possibility that he may be wrong, and now everything that he has done within the construct is coming back at him at full force? When what he’s done in HEA and him being the reason why his beloved and the Decider are unhappy? Is he a good person? He must be a good person! He is passionate and full of emotion! But is he really? The heart yearns for companionship, and yet he cannot get it through the Princess anymore. She is gone.
Cold acknowledges their similarities. And yet he remains unchanged. Outwardly at least. His heart has been shown to Smitten. The depths of his buried emotion and passion, the feelings of betrayal from the Narrator. They find their way back bubbling onto the surface. His heart rages a storm. He continues to deny the emotions within the dam that he kept locked up. Another drop in a glass that is already spilling.
Their existence forces each other to look into themselves. Their existence forces each other to start their journey to grow and to face the parts of themselves that they try so desperately to suppress and hide. A seed of doubt planted into their hearts, and it will only grow further. And one day, they will be a devotion no longer blind, and a longing satisfied. It will be a long and difficult journey, but with guidance, one day they will be able to look at each other in acceptance and learn to love the parts they feared and despised.
Hello!
Your art is so gorgeous and inspirational!
Do you have any tips on drawing body horror and character design? When I've tried to design some characters with body horror they all end up looking rather friendly 😅
Hope you have a lovely day and thanks in advance!
Thank you! I'm happy to hear that! Here goes!
NEZ GUIDE TO BODY HORROR
(Disclaimer; this is my advice, not rules. Break them as you wish)
Despite not doing it on purpose, a lot of my art is tagged as body-horror. I've embraced it. Here are my 3 pillars for frightening art. I don't have to follow them all at once, at least one is enough.
Nature
Get inspired by nature. Not necessarily by gore and wounds, but by things that look normal in one context but might appear unsettling in another. A great example is my pumpkin creature; everyone has seen the insides of a pumpkin but adding that texture to a living body made everyone react more strongly to it. I highly recommend natural things with strange textures and patterns (especially seeds)
Book Recommendation; The Art and Science of Ernst Haeckel
I recently bought this for all the gorgeous pattern and creature drawings. It's a beautiful book for those who want to draw horror based on nature. Careful if you have tyrophobia, this has some INTENSE patterns.
Subtlety
In either execution or concept.
In execution; give the drawing other recognizable characteristics. The gore is NOT them, it's just part of them. An example would be my cowboy creature. They have the coat, the hat, the boots, the smile...and then you notice the heads. Give your character more than their frightening parts.
In concept; If you want the bright reds and obvious gore, follow one simple concept. In the example below, the concept was a wound surrounded by mushrooms. That is all. If I were to add 'but also mushrooms leave their eyes, and bloody tears fall from them, and they have gashes in their skin, and'' it would have made the impact of all of those concepts collapse. Like a bed of nails. The more nails you add, the less a single individual nail will hurt.
Feeling
It follows the theme above. I noticed horror works better when it's not an abudance but also when it's relatable. I've seen people react more intensely to an animated character brushing a line of yarn against their eyeball than an animated character having their head explode in blood, brains, and bone. You can draw from emotional feelings as well, turning your mental pain into a physical manifestation of it.
This is not a must follow because I do plenty horror art without being vulnerable nor making myself uncomfortable, I just notice people react when they can relate and feel it too.
I hope it helps anon!
An artist : Aw man! I saw my arts were reposted on Instagram. I’ve asked them to take my arts down but they ignored me.
Me : Say no more! Click this link, then click ‘fill out this form’. Fill the form and wait for about 1-2 days, the staffs will remove the image you were reporting from the reposter’s account :^)
He's got a smug grin
first drawing of 2023 :]
[So similar, yet so different]
I love how the search function on this site is absolute garbage. I can look up a post word for word and I will NEVER find it
image i am in love with
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