Crimson Dawn

𝔐𝔶 𝔩𝔬𝔳𝔢 𝔦𝔰 𝔞𝔰 𝔞 𝔣𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔯, 𝔩𝔬𝔫𝔤𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔰𝔱𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔉𝔬𝔯 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔴𝔥𝔦𝔠𝔥 𝔩𝔬𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯 𝔫𝔲𝔯𝔰𝔢𝔱𝔥 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔡𝔦𝔰𝔢𝔞𝔰𝔢, 𝔉𝔢𝔢𝔡𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔬𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔴𝔥𝔦𝔠𝔥 𝔡𝔬𝔱𝔥 𝔭𝔯𝔢𝔰𝔢𝔯𝔳𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔦𝔩𝔩, 𝔗𝔥’ 𝔲𝔫𝔠𝔢𝔯𝔱𝔞𝔦𝔫 𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔨𝔩𝔶 𝔞𝔭𝔭𝔢𝔱𝔦𝔱𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔭𝔩𝔢𝔞𝔰𝔢. █ 𝔐𝔶 𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔪𝔶 𝔡𝔦𝔰𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔯𝔰𝔢 𝔞𝔰 𝔪𝔞𝔡𝔪𝔢𝔫’𝔰 𝔞𝔯𝔢, 𝔄𝔱 𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔬𝔪 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔱𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔥 𝔳𝔞𝔦𝔫𝔩𝔶 𝔢𝔵𝔭𝔯𝔢𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔡: 𝔉𝔬𝔯 ℑ 𝔥𝔞𝔳𝔢 𝔰𝔴𝔬𝔯𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔢 𝔣𝔞𝔦𝔯, 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔢 𝔟𝔯𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱, 𝔚𝔥𝔬 𝔞𝔯𝔱 𝔞𝔰 𝔟𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔨 𝔞𝔰 𝔥𝔢𝔩𝔩, 𝔞𝔰 𝔡𝔞𝔯𝔨 𝔞𝔰 𝔫𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱.

...

(so mm. i’m working on BTAS scarebat fic atm, an’ my brain thought that i can also sit down an’ begin drawing smth related to that around 3 in the morning 6 days ago, bc why not.

nothing here is related to the plot of the story i’m working on. or well, not directly at least. i’d say, that i consider this collage of arts as ‘circle’ of their possible relationships in a way. including the ‘circle’ of their expressions an’ what can be or cannot be seen, regarding bruce’s shadowy batman mode an’ how in two arts, jon’s expression is hidden from the view. this all has an extra, tiny bit of a meaning. about which i’m on my way to ramble about. i have some of that good shippy energy inside my weary bones today! what a day!

but alright, so the first one *at the very top* is smth of a scarebat classic to me. snap picture centered on the idea, that even if they will have close an’ intimate relationships, jonathan still be jonathan, basically. still, be somewhat poisonous an’ dangerous to keep this near, even if he’s gentle of the bat back. an’ bruce even knowing all this, still gets tangled into it, as’ their ‘natures’ clash like that. as they are two ‘monsters’ of the night. two people with ideas, that feel larger than they are. this might be a moment in one of their 'fear battles', where bruce is pissed off, or well, righteously angry as i call it, while jonathan faces him an’ what kind of expression he makes is anyone’s guess, but it’s prob an evil one. even if personally, imagine it more whimsical. less dramatic evil an' more campy evil. the whole villainous monologue about how crane aches for bruce to actually see things his way for once. fear is nessasery for everything. it's not just passion of his. it can be smth so much greater. in other words, i think, that jon might attempt to coax batman into joining his case. bruce would not join, but it's still worth a try.

the second one *lower right* is low-key based on AU idea that i have or that be used for any version scarebat tbh. it's kinda universal an' bendy. the mere chance of ‘what if’, bruce mets jonathan before he becomes scarecrow *he will still become one still later tho*, an’ he pretty much seeks his ‘help’ as batman. i imagine, that this can happen early in bruce’s vigilante career, when he an’ gordon ain’t buddies yet an’ bruce need some assistance from time to time. or maybe, he needed jon’s help for one case an’ then, they kinda got on a friendly terms an’ it progressed from there. in this version, i think, jon would try to ‘hold back’ a bit, when it comes to his fear experiments. mostly bc he knows, that bruce won't like him doing smth like this. or he can think, that it can be a bit too early to try an' ease him up to idea of basically psychologically torturing people to progress the science lol. batman is an imposing, terrefying symbol of justice. but in crane's eyes, he's also a soft-ish kind of boy. cannot do smth nasty, just so that it will serve a greater good. anyhow, smth still goes wrong. crane still gets fired, bc even if the bat was none the wiser to what he was doing, his collegues were. which in the end, lead to bruce an' jon having a fight about it. an’ after that, jon pretty much disappears from the radar *like most of BTAS rogues do, when they're about to rebrand from normal citizen into a masked villain lol* an’ returns 2-3 years later as the scarecrow. with all of that in mind, in this AU, crane will have a clear advantage over batman at first, as he used to known him prior to this. an’ he got to see him work / talk, learned a few things about him, while the bat won’t instantly know that scarecrow is jonathan. but i imagine, he will figure this out fairly quickly. not only bc crane is short an’ thin an' obssessed with fear. but bruce also was around the other man a lot an’ considering how ambiguous their relationships were at one point, he also watched crane back. this art captures more sweet moment between the two, howerer. them having heart to heart or maybe, jon thought that bruce had died or rumors had it that he was serious injured in some fight against a villain an’ he was relieved to learn, that it’s not so. can be anything, honestly. regardless, jonathan hides his expression from batman, an’ bruce have his ‘game face on’, as they both don’t deal with vulnerability very well *also idk how do draw the back of jon’s head yet, but i gave it my best shot lol*

the next one *the lower left* is also a classic set up in my eyes an' also my fav art out of the bunch. this 'scene' can be connected to AU above, as in: batman takes his once-a-friend, who is also his-love-interest an’ his-new-rogue to arkham, after jon lost the fight. or as i drawn it, this is an imaginary of ‘what if BTAS did a justice to dark knight of scarecrow comic’. what if we got batman an’ scarecrow personal fight an’ bruce end up carrying jon all romantically into the sunset at the end, like he did in that issue. bruce face here is all shadowy like in the actual comic scene, an’ while i’m not sure if i managed to capture my intention with this one kinda well or not, the idea behind this exact ‘head portrait’ was to get a bit of a mixture between bruce’s unmasked features, his batman persona an’ also a bat-monster creature *that all versions of jonathan seen him as, at least once* it’s a bit of reflection on all of it. on who bruce is, who criminals see him as, an' what jon sees him at, when he's high on ft. in some capacity bruce is all of those things. or rather, they're all part of the same man. as bruce’s core will always be rooted in empathy. an' BTAS bruce is basically a golden standard of batman writing, when it comes to bruce wayne as character an' that very trait esp. so yeah, this art is nod toward that an' more broad approach to what could have been, if they given jon at least one more ep, where he an' batman would have been in focus. i imagined, that in this art bruce carries jonathan from whatever location they had fight in, an’ it’s like early morning, so there is mist. bruce walks an’ reminicents on fights an’ waste of jon’s brilliant mind, along with other things. expression close to melancholic. meanwhile, crane is out cold. an’ it’s one of those rare lax, relaxed expressions that he has, opposite to his sneers, smirks or frowns. as he's only ever in peace, when his mind isn't active. what a nightmare, indeed *mostly for bruce* so sweet dreams, spooky prince. may the big bad bat guard your slumber.

an' finally, the last art *at the very bottom* which shows jonathan during his staying in arkham. in BTAS he had long sleeved uniform, but i think, in the comics based on the series, he been seen in a gray shirt a few times. so i decided to give him that lol. this can also be connected with AU, i mentioned. like, that bruce will still come back to his old friend, even if those visits are somewhat painful. i guess, it will be even worse than when bruce has to interact with harvey as batman. but this also can be smth unrelated to that. for example, bruce needing crane’s assistance on smth, without them having any history between them, besides the canonical one. or it can be them, being in relationships an’ jon is kinda being difficult. each of his progress is shaky an’ he pretty much slips back into his old ways, as soon as he goes out of arkham. but whatever the set up is, jonathan is more accepting of his situation, or rather about what he is. while bruce is kinda torn about it. can hold him close, but cannot truly mend his mind. i also have a feeling like crane tells him smth fear related. be it his assessment onto bruce’s state or their whole ‘thing’. but whatever it is, this isn't a very pleasant talk for bruce.

an’ oh yeah, instead of using song lyrics like i usually do, i used shakespeare’s sonnet for this. an' it's one of my most favorite ones as well. i had to cut out the middle, bc i disliked how it looked. but you can go an' read the whole thing, if you will ever feel like it. i mean, that's fairly short one. but i honestly think, this fits them *an' generally scarebat as a ship* very well.)

Inktober Day 24: Shallow

Jervis Tetch when Batman tells him he can't take away people's free will:

Other funny doodles I made a while ago

He's so willy oml

𝔗𝔯𝔲𝔩𝔶 𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥𝔱 ℑ 𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡 𝔪𝔞𝔨𝔢 𝔦𝔱 𝔯𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱, 𝔅𝔲𝔱 𝔶𝔬𝔲'𝔯𝔢 𝔣𝔞𝔯 𝔱𝔬𝔬 𝔭𝔬𝔦𝔰𝔬𝔫𝔢𝔡 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔪𝔢. 𝔖𝔲𝔠𝔥 𝔞 𝔣𝔬𝔬𝔩 𝔱𝔬 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔨 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 ℑ 𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔡 𝔞𝔠𝔱𝔲𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔶 𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔩 𝔶𝔬𝔲. 🥀

...

(this is prob the most girliest thing i drawn so far. but i always had an inkling for classic fairy tales set ups. less for the story itself, more for the aesthetics. an’ i’m also weak for armour an’ knights / medieval related stuff on main. everything during that era looked so pretty, even if it wasn’t super practical. 

i was thinking about various arts / figures, that depict bruce dressed in actual knight's armor, an’ thought about his an’ crane’s situation in arkhamverse. comparison between a pretty princess, who needs a savior cannot be further away from who jonathan is, but at the same time, there are some interesting lil parallels to such stories an’ his narrative. as jon’s mantra in arkhamverse was literally related to this. ‘no more savior. no more hope. no more batman.’ he wasn’t even secretive about it or anything. all those 3 things are intertwined an’ related inside his mind. all of those things make an outline of who the bat was for him. 

i thought about the time, jon had crawled out from the sewers. mangled an’ shocked, an’ in pain. the anger came after. at first, there was a need to do basic things first. to treat the wounds. he’s bleeding pretty badly an’ his leg hurts. his face….i imagine, that it wasn’t pleasant to see in the mirror what became of it. those days are probably hazy for him. he mostly sleeps an’ tends to his re-opening injuries. then, once his mind is clear enough an’ pain is numbers down by meds, he thinks about what happened. how it happened. an' at this point, comes a disbelief that the bat just…let this happen to him. that he just left him to die an’ drown. that he did nothing to prevent this from happening.

crane would doubt this at first. maybe, he just remembers it wrong? but he looks at himself, feeling how he can barely move his leg, how his face is barely a face anymore. an’ no, there is no doubt. the bat had turned away from him, refusing to save him *that’s how he imagines it was, at least* jonathan never realized how much he idealized the bat, how much he relied on him coming to his rescue. with rage, enters a brief grief too. that’s the end of the line, bc if the bat won’t deem him worthy of saving, if he won’t save him anymore, won’t bring jon even a sliver of hope, then he should no longer be batman at all. 

this was basically the concept behind the first art. an encapsulated moment of jon’s hope breaking for the last time. things as intense as they are bleak. the plan is being formed. their mutual un-happy ending creeps near. but in that moment, it's just kinda painful. being abandoned by the only person, who seemed to care enough to at least not let him die.

the second art is more heavily connected with the song itself. in a way, this is an AU concept of them being the prince, who is also a dark knight in secret an’ the lonely, wicked alchemist. the main idea is the same as their story in arkhamverse. jonathan gets to know the knight an’ becomes somewhat dependent on their ‘shared roles’, feeling betrayed an’ scornful, when the knight fails to save him from uh. a dragon. so he returns with a scheme to destroy his once savior, in the end finding out that his failed knight was prince all along. i suppose, the only big difference in this AU be that jon’s ft needle glove is similar to needle in sleeping beauty story, an’ once you get a ‘taste’ of it, you fell into nightmares, but like, literally fall asleep. it’s pretty much similar to what happened to him in the actual arkhamverse as he appeared to be borderline unfunctional in the end. 

but since in this AU they have a bit more time to themselves vs just plot, plot, plot. bruce actually has a chance to grasp jon’s emotions a tad better. having a more clear idea why he was so viciously upset with him. it won’t fix anything, knowing the reason when it’s too late. nothing can be undone with a kiss here. bruce was revealed as brooding prince, who took the persona of mysterious knight an’ jon is in a kind of slumber, that prob cannot be broken.

no happy ending here, either. but it’s a bit softer in nature. as there are just two of them in the ivory tower. the dawn comes, but doesn’t manage to bring any comfort nor break the spell.

at first, i drawn bruce’s mask similar to what a knight’s helmet might look like, but i thought that i actually like it more, when it’s unclear if he’s in the mask or not. when it's hard to tell who he is in the moment, when he looks down at jon. the fallen knight or broken prince. i also like how in arkham knight jonathan saw maskless bruce in his batman attire still, so it's a bit of a call back to this too.

like, this is one version of what happening there. i suppose, this also can be some sort of fever dream, that either *or both of them* have. in the end, it’s free for interpretations. i just wanted to draw smth kinda 'poetic', even if sad for them. i do appreciate all the gloom misery in arkhamverse, but i also like more sappy-ish an’ beautiful things too. esp bc with villains like crane or mysterio, it feels kinda wrong to not use tropes, that they might be familiar with via books / movies. an' that they hiliriously enough often fits into, despite being bitter, twisted middle aged men.

aaaan' that’s about it. 2 takes on arkhamverse canonical events. one is more grounded, the other one is flew off the rails lol. regardless, i actually really like these 2 drawings! i was messing around with colors, trying to use the shades an’ tones, that i usually avoiding. at some point, both of arts were greenish, but it was just such a wrong mood. an' i guess, otp holding each other in their arms is like one of my fav poses ever. it's just so precious to me.)

something’s paralyzed my psyche to get even

Judge Dredd in bed by Frank Quitely.

if you would be so kind as to reblog this if you feel insecure about your writing skills.