Edit (24/4/21): I did mean to introduce my character but there wasn’t alot of response, just some good discussion with @Evolution. I figured it’s kinda my fault but I’ll be making another thread for my character
Original Post:
So I’ve been up against a major art block and I really don’t know what to do about it but I’ve also been thinking about my oc lately…
I would go on straight about her (too much in detail) but I don’t know if anyone would be interested in her so I thought I’d tell y’all a little bit about her and maybe if she is liked a little then I’d proceed to sketch her up and show you guys??
(Warning: a lil long read)
So her name (for now) is Kanao Igarashi and she is the grand daughter of Raijin, the Japanese God of Thunder. (Raijin has a son Raitarō, so she’s his daughter). She’s a demigod (her mum’s a human). I’m thinking Raijin is like, a Light Lord or something? Maybe an Ichorien? I’m not sure…
I’m also thinking of making her a shinobi giving the explanation that:
Raijin and Fujin somehow escaped from Gargos’ supposed murderous rampage and they’re not the only ones but this happened like a really long time ago and they had taken refuge on earth. They settled in a Japanese village known all around Japan for their shinobi and realising their potential, decided to prepare the future generations of this village by granting the shinobi special abilities (in order to ultimately help in preparing to protect the world from Gargos)
Sooo, that’s all the shenanigans going in my head about her😅 idk if it’s silly or what but I personally kinda like it🤭
Do tell me what y’all think about this and if you’re interested~
(I’m not sure where to create this topic so I ended up here in Artworks and Videos)
I’m not a fan of there being “Light” lords in KI’s universe, just because it’s a little too cliched imo. I wouldn’t mind seeing what your character looks like, though.
@Evolution, come to think about it, you’re actually right. Light Lords would be too boring. I’m not a big fan of white and black sides either, its too typical and expected to end in one way. Its like, if you kill your enemies you’re good but if your enemies kill you they’re bad?? Stuff dont add up, lol. But anyway, let’s just make Raijin one of the regular super powered deity beings from the Astral Plane.
Ideally speaking, I’d want KI to keep that dark, almost cyberpunk dystopia from the original games, just because by adding all these gods and spirits, there is that risk of undermining that aspect, if not diluting it. Like, okay, I can kind of accept, perhaps, the notion of Lovecraftian eldritch horrors living beyond the threshold of human perception, but by the same token, something like Raijin or other well known human gods…I don’t know. I kind of see KI as being in some ways like “Warhammer 40k” where you have these really dark characters, gods and settings and that everything is morally grey and ambiguous.
I get your point but how is there that risk of undermining?
For me personally, the way I wanted to incorporate so-called gods into my story is not in so much of a boisterous way. I want them to be quiet, over protective and regretful. Standing in the darkest corner, just waiting. I’ve always liked the idea of supposedly powerful beings being hung low, with the deepest kinds of human negativity flung at them. I don’t know if it’s a cliché? But it’s a neat one imo😁
Well, I guess it has to do with the fact that in the first KI game, even though it had slight elements of mysticism, in a way it was sort of grounded in this cyberpunk-esque dystopia, especially in terms of the inhuman characters, which were largely portrayed as being Ultratech’s products gone horribly wrong/horribly right, with Sabrewulf and Eyedol being the odd exceptions to that. By placing a lot of emphasis on the mystical and making it overt, it kind of lessens the impact imo, makes it less ethereal and special. It’s sort of like the difference between H.P. Lovecraft’s mysticism, where it’s something that’s not so overt, something very lowkey but exists in places you wouldn’t want to look for fear of uncovering what else lurks beyond the veil, and something like, say, Harry Potter or “The Mummy 3”, where it’s all just special effects, if that makes any sense.
Yeah, I feel, imo that KI has until now handled both the aspects (real worldly and mystical) pretty well and that’s really one of the things I love about it, but that’s just what I feel.
Thanks! I want my character to go with the demigod stereotype, but not exactly. There is a tendency to have demigods being overestimated and even obviously overpowered but I tried to nerf her, make her as human as possible. I have her godly grandfather and father being scared and paranoid about her getting meddled into all the other dimension-ly businesses and have her origin revealed to her later in her life. On the fact that I wanted to bring out more of her human side, she is pretty destructible. She doesn’t magically heal on her own but I won’t deny her above normal immunity. Despite being the daughter of a weather deity, I don’t want her to be able to control weather too much and do most of the flashy stuff demigods are expected to do, yano? I did give her the ability to move at light speed, but can ya blame me?
Also, in retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have led on about her intro as I did, so I’m working on a proper introduction, hehe
Now I’m just not sure whether to do that on this thread or make a new one
So a supernatural take on the Flash? Interesting. I actually have been playing around with such a character myself for a potential story, only rather than it being a god or demigod it’s a Wendigo.
From what you described so far, though, it sounds promising, though I’d probably recommend treading carefully with the mystical/divine aspects and not focus too much on that. One of the things I always loved with Lovecraft’s work was that palpable sense of mystery and strangeness, with the latter only being hinted at or suggested, sometimes in not so many words.
By all means, please continue on here! I’m curious to know a little more.
LOL I’m glad you approve. I’ve actually done some concept art for him, but the working name for the character is “Malecoda”. In terms of Malecoda’s story, basically he’s the son of this wealthy industrialist who ends up becoming cursed by the Wendigo, and because of that, he’s in search of a cure. He has an emaciated appearance, with a torn and filthy black leather jacket, while his feet are all bandaged up due to their being burned, and he has to wear a helmet, what actually used to be an old Air Force pilot helmet that belonged to his father, but it’s been converted so that it provided him with a steady supply of morphine in order to keep the Wendigo side sedated (at least, as much as he could). The helmet and mask serves two purposes - one to protect his eyes (in one version of the myth, the Wendigo can move so fast that when it drags people away it causes their eyes to bleed and the soles of their feet to burn right off), and to anaesthetize him. Unlike lycanthropy, or werewolves, the Wendigo is a malicious entity who not only preys on both other people and animals, but also is one that acts independently of its host, oftentimes torturing and feeding on said-host’s sanity, so because of that, Malecoda has no control over his own powers or appearance. Think of his brain as being akin to a chewed up gumball, constantly warping and twisting at the Wendigo’s whim for its own dark amusement. One moment, Malecoda might be friendly and normal. The next day, hour or minute, his body and mind becomes even more twisted. There would be a lot of body horror elements and humor with Malecoda, and since the Wendigo is immortal, he can’t die. When he initially got his powers, Malecoda’s first thought was to be a superhero, but because of how volatile the Wendigo is, a lot of the time it would twist his good intentions and things would end up going wrong, some comically, other times more dark and tragic. His story overall is, like Sabrewulf, trying to find a cure for himself, but the difference here is that he’s struggling against an entity that, for whatever reason, just won’t let him go.
Wowwwieee, okay I like the whole idea of this, and it also is to my surprise, quite dark and mystical But it’s still quite interesting to see such an obviously conflicted character, bc that just makes them very unpredictable and even terrifying
I also like the idea that he’s tilted toward doing good, but the wendigo inside refuses to let him
Omgg a random fact about me is I’m terrified of body horror and the only exception to that is Hisako, I love my girl
Well, the Wendigo does let him do good…when it suits it. At least, its extremely warped version of “good”. It’s kind of a d$ck that likes to play games with its host.
So I have some major dilemmas on deciding my character’s colour scheme. Anyone got some ideas? What kinda colours would y’all like to see on a boisterous samurai-ish/shinobi-ish lady?
It depends a lot on the design imo. I’d need to see what she’d look like before deciding. In terms of color scheme, I’d think about how those colors relate to her character, be it her personality, a family/spiritual/elemental/animal connection, or even something that they’re going through. What is it about the colors and the manner in which they dress that reflects the character?
And believe me I’ve tried so so much to think about all that and decide a colour scheme and even though I know her well, I’m not able to come up with a colour??
I think, I’ll share one (of many) designs…just one that I like better so there is a visual hint. And a little about her personality.
Reading about Raiden and Rai-Taro, the one thing that comes to mind so far is the cloud imagery, so perhaps you could use that as a motif or color palette for your character (white/cream/yellow and/or grey). Rai-Taro’s story is about what it means to be human and the importance of being humble among other things, so that could influence your character’s manner of dressing. Of course, with any given character, they’re going to be the culmination of biology, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, education (or lack thereof), social class, experiences, culture, trauma (if they do experience it), tragedies, family (or lack thereof), technology, society, etc, the sum of all those influences in a given lifetime. If I recall my Japanese mythology correctly, Raiden was not a seven foot tall man like in the “Mortal Kombat” series, but a short red demon/oni-like figure that had drums for thunder and lightning. So, there’s that to take into consideration as well.
Also, you might want to consider the environment she’s a part of - KI’s world is a dark cyberpunk-esque dystopia, and depending on what her mom’s social standing is in this world, it could really impact the character as a whole. Think about what your character’s life would look like if she were wealthy, if she lived a middle class lifestyle, or if she grew up poor. What would the differences be in each of those scenarios?
First off, I’m really grateful to you for taking out time to read their mythology! That webpage was actually the first thing I read about Raitarō, his dad and their story and I knew then and there who my character was gonna be.
Clouds are a great idea! Especially considering how Japanese have a knack for the most gorgeous cloud designs. As for her colour palette I’m looking for vibrant colours for reasons I will be talking about below
It does influence her dressing! I’m having her done clad in a subtle mix of traditional Japanese and modern aesthetic. She dresses modestly (comparatively), to say the least, showing minimal skin.
And as to why I said I preferred more vibrant colours is to show her contrasting personality, compared to her father Raitarō. I imagine him, and as according to the myth, being calm, gentle, emotionally soft, a very loving father and just a very nice person in general. She however is a complete little devil; she’s cocky, brash, hot headed and impulsive, arrogant and reckless. I’d say, these words best describe her usual exterior. A person cannot be described in a few words and she is a very complex and deep person, who can be so many different things. She loves her father and grandfather (and granduncle) more than anything but there’s still a distance between them.
I’m aware of that! Which is why I want Raijin and Fujin to have those looks as their “real” and “final” forms.
Her mom died when she was about 5. I don’t know if I’m workin up a cliché here but if yes then I love this cliché. So what I’m about to tell is the first plot line that appeared in my mind, one that I hadn’t spent much time refining but here it is.
So I’ve thought of her mom’s death being caused because of (obviously) Gargos. I’m thinking some people like, “The Cult of Gargos” or something (haven’t thought about it yet), tried to kill Kanao when she was little, on Gargos’ orders when he realized she existed so he had to eliminate every possible threat that could interfere in his arrival. And here goes the obvious: her mother gives her life to save her daughter and Raitarō spectacularly fails to save his wife and sort of traumatize his daughter. So there’s his bitterly guilt ridden wound. Raitarō and Raijin tried to wipe out that memory from her but it really hit home so she still retains flashes of the event. She is never told about what actually happened and who she is, bc Raijin and Fujin insisted it’s best she stays oblivious to all of it so that she doesn’t end up tangled in other-wordly business. It’s a horrible idea, BC they both know she’d know about it sooner or later but they gave in their all to keep it from her. Raitarō isn’t happy with this and he’s kept arguing with them to tell her but they just don’t listen so there’s some internal conflict right there. More internal conflict between her and Raitarō bc she knows something ain’t right but she’s always been kept in this shadow and she can feel it. This is up until I have a little over clear idea about what I want her backstory to be like. This is an extremely long read omg I am terribly sorry for it
but I’ve also been thinking about my oc lately…
But it’s still quite interesting to see such an obviously conflicted character, bc that just makes them very unpredictable and even terrifying
