The Sun Lord's Dragonslayer

(( Apologies for that, I’m having issues with sub-blog mismanagement at the moment...

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 21:32:52 -0400

(( Apologies for that, I’m having issues with sub-blog mismanagement at the moment ajksdfhalsdfjkashdf actual stuff will happen I’m still ironing things out ))

(( ooc: Been on a trip for the past couple weeks, just got home,...

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 06:23:04 -0400

(( ooc: Been on a trip for the past couple weeks, just got home, not much time to draw anything, but here, have a thing.

Pardon the extremely messy lines and general mistakes; I did this on the plane ride back, with no references, using only a ballpoint pen, so no prior sketch. ))

(( OOC: 200 Followers! 200! Well, technically 203 because this...

Thu, 17 May 2012 05:21:00 -0400

(( OOC: 200 Followers! 200! ~~Well, technically 203 because this took a while haha~~ When I announced my hiatus, I had 175, and I was expecting to lose people. I cannot thank this community enough for being so patient and loyal despite my absence. I feel honored to have such a following.

This is for you guys. Thank you for your support!

Special thanks to FYeahPraiseTheSun for reblogging and reposting (with credit!) my work, which is inevitably the reason I’ve been getting more followers without doing anything. ;) ))

OOC: Design Works

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 04:36:28 -0400

(GOT MY ARTBOOK. FINALLY. YAAAYYYY.

It’s… interesting. While it is no doubt an amazing reference and just beautiful to look through and marvel at the design work that went into this game, I’m not entirely sure it was worth the $67 I paid for it. Not because it’s not quality enough, it’s just that Play-Asia’s Hawaii shipping is horrific. I might’ve been able to get a better deal if I had waited it out, especially considering how long it took to get here. However, I feel it’s mostly worth it, the armor and weapons alone are to die for.

One thing I really need to note is how this artwork more or less confirms that, while I DO consider this to be one of the best games ever for armor design, my favorite things in this game are still the monsters. I think the bell gargoyles and the capra demons are my favorite things (I love beastly skulls on mundane bodies, it’s just a thing for me), though Bed of Chaos is a lot cooler looking when broken down than it looks in-game, and I LOVE how the Hydra has a giant, myliobatid body under the water rather than being a generic lizardy dragon.

While I can use it to ref Ornstein, especially his leggings and back (those give me the hardest time since they’re hard to get good caps of off other people’s videos), the front-shot is pretty rough and hard to make out…fortunately, I’m pretty fine with those based on the references I do have from in-game.

What interests me is how they did something with his helmet in the concept that didn’t make it to the final, which would have made more sense. The bit under the ‘chin’ of the helmet’s muzzle looks like an overlapping plate on the final, but in the concept it is actually separate from the ‘neck’ of the helmet, and the gap between them would’ve formed the visor eyes. Given that’s how the Black and Silver Knights, as well as the new concepts out for Artorias and Gough have their helmet view ports laid out, it would have been consistent for Ornstein’s to be the same way. As it stands, though, I’m fine with it. I already make the head on the helmet move WAY too much for emotive purposes than should be physically possible, what difference does it make?

What IS interesting is a concept for his helmet that didn’t make the final. While it would have been a pain in EVERY ASS to draw over and over, it just looks totally sweet.

I think I’d rather wear that in-game than the current helmet, honestly.

Actual Ask-related update: I’m still torn as to what I’m going to do with the Knights-based questions, though it’s looking like I may just backlog them - rather than doing away with them entirely - until more information is inevitably leaked out. I’ve been a bit busier with life stuff lately, so art has been a little more scarce. SirKai caught me at a really good time for that request/commission/whatever that most of you have probably seen by now, but I’ve gotten a little more tied up since then.

Hope you guys are having a great April! Keep being awesome!)

OOC: Extended Hiatus

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 23:56:00 -0400

((…. I’m sorry guys I just… I can’t…

It feels like this happens to every fandom I invest a heartfelt effort into. I find something fascinating that was left open to interpretation that I feel I can put my own interpretation to, only to have the devs throw in some late canon to derail it all. I feel like my heart’s fallen into my stomach and dissolved.

The only difference here is that instead of just being some small personal thing confined to just me and a few friends, this is going to affect a blog that has received so much love that I wasn’t expecting to get… And that makes me feel worse because now I’m not only letting myself down, but all the people who have been expecting great things from this blog. It makes me want to curl up in a corner and slowly disappear.

This is not the end of the blog, but it will take a while to get back on track. All questions relating to the other three Knights are being thrown out (or, at least, put on the backburner until further notice), and as a result I need to rewrite unrelated questions because they were all playing to the mood set by unearthing background narrative that I was hoping to allude to with answers to create a deeper, more story-driven blog.

In short, thank you, everyone, for all the support you’ve given me. I feel really, really bad that I’m letting you all down for a while because of this and I’m terribly, terribly sorry.

I am still buying this game. It is an incredible game and I want to play it dearly. No mods. I want to experience it the way it was meant to be experienced, and I would like to learn the new content myself rather than relying entirely on LPs, wikis, and lore videos.

Here’s a summary for what was going to begin peeking through the cracks in the narrative starting two questions from the current. Much of it was based on a dream I had; the main reason I even started this to begin with.

I’ll just leave this here as I pick up the broken pieces of the rest of the Ask. I’ll see you guys when this blows over and I don’t feel so wrecked, to those willing to stick around. I don’t blame you if you don’t.))

The four knights were great friends. Although they did not participate in any great adventures together as a team, it didn’t mean they were never together as a group. They often spent their time outside of combat together, whether it was enjoying a good drink at the palace or wandering the city of Anor Londo incognito to take in the sights and sounds. It made their parting of ways ever so painful.

Everyone in the court of the Sun was leery about allowing Artorias to leave and seek out the Abyss. The other knights all offered to accompany him, but he insisted that he go alone, that it was his burden to bear and that if he failed he did not want to drag his friends down with him.

His journey was far shorter than anticipated, as the primordial serpents were quick to allow someone with such a close connection to Gwyn and Gwyn’s followers access to the Abyss, where they shared their visions of the future. Artorias has an iron will, but iron, like any other substance, can still be shaken. He took their words with a grain of salt and returned to the court, lying that he had made no progress, but would continue to attempt to crack open the Abyss and rid the world of its inhabitants. It was inevitable, as the fires had already begun to flicker, and word was about that attempts to keep it going were not doing so well.

For a long time, Artorias would return to the Abyss, and be fed more and more stories by the serpents, of how the Age of Fire would end and the age of humans - the Age of Dark - would rise, and that the Darkwraiths were merely trying to acclimate to the shadows and hoard humanity to prevent it from being consumed to keep the fires going, in preparation for the advent of the Age of Dark. The more Artorias was fed these stories, the more he began to change his own mind, until finally he fell from his original cause and joined the Darkwraiths, being promised a position of great honor among the ranks of the Dark Lord if he could help usher in the darkness. Every time he would return, he would seem more haggard, more distant, and his colleagues were very worried for him, but he continued to attribute it to frustration that he couldn’t get the Abyss to open up for him.

The final night he returned, he claimed that he had broken into the Abyss, and that the suffering was to come to an end. The court was ecstatic, and prepared a massive banquet in his honor. When he arrived, and the merriment was at its peak, he claimed, “All shall know that the suffering of man shall come to an end! We drink to the truth that I have brought with me! For it is over! The Age of Fire shall die tonight and the Age of Man shall begin!”

Before those words could sink in, Darkwraiths materialized within the palace, let in by Artorias himself. In the chaos that ensued, Artorias himself made his way for Gwyn but was stopped by Ornstein. He snidely remarked how Ornstein had never defeated him in a duel before, and that this time was no different, as Artorias would not hold back. The two fought fiercely, with Artorias having the upper hand, nearly killing his captain and former friend, until Ciaran stepped between them and broke the fight up.

Ciaran cried, pleading furiously with Artorias that what he was doing was wrong. For a moment, Artorias’ better nature started to shine through… but in that pause, Ornstein allowed his pride, duty, and resentful rage burn through his sense of honor, and he struck out at Artorias, lancing him through the chest.

It was the biggest mistake Ornstein had ever made, and one he would carry with him for the rest of his life.

Artorias stumbled back, hissing and cursing Ornstein’s horrific action, and said he was to return to the Abyss to await the coming of the Age of Dark, biding his time until the time was right. He vanished into the darkness, leaving Ornstein and Ciaran there.

Ciaran, bitter agony of her loss boiling within her, turned and lashed out with her weapon at Ornstein, striking him and disfiguring the left side of his face. From there on, she refused to speak to him, only regarding him with seething, venomous glares. Gough, who had witnessed the entire thing, was so disgusted with Ornstein’s action that he threw down his ring and simply left, without a parting word, never to be heard from again.

Artorias was passed off as dead, and memorial services laced with lies were held to soften his ‘passing’ to the public. Ciaran spent the last of her days withering away in despair, neither eating nor sleeping, next to the false grave, with only Sif there to keep her company until she died in her sorrow.

The anxiety surrounding the events eventually led to Gwyn’s decision to link the fire, to artificially extend the Age of Gods. Upon his departue for the Kiln, Ornstein took it upon himself to seek the Abyss. He was desprate to either retrieve Artorias, kill him, or die trying.

When Ornstein went off to challenge the beasts of the Abyss, he landed himself in a spot of trouble. Without any covenant or pact, he couldn’t enter the Abyss himself, and so stood at the bottom of the stairwell, screaming into the shadows for Artorias like an angry fool.

He was answered, though. A primordial serpent rose up to meet him. After weaving some very cryptic words about Artorias’ betrayal (whether or not they were lies is up for grabs; after all, can one ever fully trust a primordial serpent, when serpents are often a symbol of deception? Ornstein sure didn’t), Ornstein lashed out in anger, denying that Artorias, that great swordsman of unbending iron will, would have joined his own foes so easily. He attacked the serpent, who did not fight back because he felt he was in no danger; instead, he was badly wounded.

As the serpent fell into the Abyss, he cried out “Kaathe! My brother-!”, who arrived shortly to condemn Ornstein’s audacity, though to also commend him for his foolish actions bringing only pain and suffering. Kaathe proceeded to attack viciously, and bit off Ornstein’s right hand and some of his arm (half-way between the wrist and elbow), leaving a smouldering ring around the edge of the stump. He then struck Ornstein hard enough to knock him from his footing, into the darkness.

He hit the black ‘ground’ with a thud, barely able to stand from the long fall, only to find himself face to face with one of the Four Kings. Before he could even weakly raise his spear, another King swooped in with his sword, impaling the dragonslayer through the back, its jagged point bursting through his chest. The King then raised the knight over his head as the other Kings arrived, and one by one, each thrust their sword through Ornstein’s armored back as he was suspended in the air.

The view shifted down slightly, so Ornstein was out of view, only for the Kings to all pull their swords violently back, blood pouring down from above. The view dropped to the ‘ground’ between the warped, descending feet of the Kings as blood pooled, followed by Ornstein’s bloody helmet hitting the ground, fading the scene out…

…Only for Ornstein to awaken suddenly at the Anor Londo cathedral bonfire.

He sat up, shaking his head, wondering if he had just dreamed it all. But then he felt something wrong. Lifting up his right arm, he removed his gauntlet, slowly….

…To reveal a Darksign ringing his arm, what was originally missing from being bitten off replaced by a rotting husk of a hand.

Even today, he is barely a shell of a man, clinging desperately to lies and illusions, holding onto fond memories while desperately smothering the painful ones, to mask his mistakes and how it cost him not only his own life, but the lives of everyone around him.

OOC: bluhhh

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 03:38:28 -0400

((Self explanatory.

The current question, while having an answer, puts me at a slight loss as to how to illustrate it appropriately. I’ll be on a temporary hiatus at least until I get the artbook that I preordered; hopefully that’ll kick-start my motivation.

Hefty backstory fanon is on the horizon for the long-run, as a head’s up/warning. Not the immediate question, but after that. Srs questions are srs, and absolutely cannot be answered with known lore because known lore simply does not exist on the subjects.))

Worth

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 04:10:16 -0400

I apologize if you feel this challenge is too much to bear, but it is my job to judge your worthiness. If it was too simple a task, that would be undermining the magnitude of the goal you pursue.

It was not my decision to make. After all, I have been ordered to seek a successor to Gwyn, my Lord. I would not dare to presume my strength alone would be sufficient to gauge such worth. He was a great and powerful lord, whom you seek to follow. It is not a burden to treat lightly.

—-

(ooc: to comfy, EpicNameBro actually has a few things to say about the fight in regards to strategy, far better than any tips I could ever give. Worse comes to worse, though, JOLLY CO-OPERATION, GO!)

((OOC: SO while I wait for my copy of this thing to come in the...

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 02:41:00 -0400

((OOC: SO while I wait for my copy of this thing to come in the mail, I’ve been trying to peer through EpicNameBro’s video on the Dark Souls Design Works artbook. This page stood out to me. All things considered, it looks like I was right and the Artbook nullified at least part of my concept work by providing an official design for Artorias. Whether it goes further than that, I’ve no clue.

I can’t suss out details to draw my own version based on these screens, so I’ll definitely have to wait until I get my copy in the mail. At least he won’t be showing up again for a few entries, so I should have time to get the book by then. The next answer is almost done, but my motivation has been somewhat shot as of late. I’m sorry.))

Glorious

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 09:04:22 -0400

—-

(ooc: if you get the joke, then you have avoided the cake or death question by requesting the chicken. :D have a nice day!)

(ooc: why this has more Notes than when I originally posted it...

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 03:57:00 -0400

(ooc: why this has more Notes than when I originally posted it baffles me.

I’m really glad people like my art enough to repost individual pieces to #Dark Souls out of ask/answer context and all, but a teeny-leetle shout-out linking back to the source would be nice. Considerate, even. Plz? :C

I’m trying to get these out as quickly as I can without having a motivational burn-out.

Edit: This uncredited repost now has more Notes than any of my other individual original posts. That fact makes me die a little inside. ._.)

At a loss

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:47:00 -0400

…

…These dark times have incurred great losses for us all.

We must remain strong in order to survive the ordeals these shadows call upon us…

But…

A little kindness…

…can create the warmer memories that keep us moving forward.

GUYS THIS IS FUCKING IMPORTANT (ooc)

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 23:06:00 -0400

ocylith:

I NEED TO COMMISSION SOMEONE (READ: I NEED SOMEONE TO DO THIS FOR FREE) TO DRAW LEONA(league of legends)xSOLAIRE OF ASTORA(dark souls). FUCKING ASKBOX ME.

THIS IS IMPORTANT.

LIVES ARE AT STAKE.

((DOST THOU SEEKEST A DRAWFAG (or whatever Tumblr’s equivalent is called)????!!!?!?!?!

PRAISE THE SUUUUNN!!! ))

OOC: driving myself bonkers.

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 07:45:00 -0400

((Currently trying to reconcile height differences. Had an initial height setup but then got it in my head to use the sword at Artorias’ grave as a benchmark and cross-reference it with player character height, then cross-reference that with player height vs Ornstein, then cross reference that with the player-wieldable Greatsword of Artorias, and then loop it all back to the size of the sword at the grave. All I got out of it was a headache and the knowledge that Artorias is either effing huge or I ignore in-game size reference for the sake of artistic license-to-make-this-easier-on-me. I’ve done the latter before, but it still bugs me a bit.

Or I can just say it’s because Miracles. 8S

I’m almost ready to pick up again, at least, just in case people are getting tired of all of these OOC asides and just want answers to resume ASAP.

Here’s where my self-referencing stands, as well as some scattered little pieces of how -most- of these answers start off.

Do y’all even care about accuracy to in-game resources for a bunch of pseudo-canon character interpretations, or am I being way too nitpicky over this and should just chill out?))

OOC: last core concept

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 01:50:00 -0400

((Alright, last but certainly not least, the ever-enigmatic Artorias, the Abysswalker. At least, my interpretation of what his armor might’ve looked like along the lines of going animal-themed. Still done with Alchemy. What can I say, I forgot how much I love this program for helping me with designs like this.

The other two can be found here.

Questions about the other knights were inevitable. While I still need to fuss with the details a little more to get them consistent, these will be a basis for how I draw them for this blog unless/until something official comes up.))

OOC: More Delays

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:24:00 -0400

((It might take a little while longer to get out the next one because it involves some extra concept work (which will be relevant to more questions after the next one, so it’s not like I’m wasting time… not horrifically, at least) that’s been giving me trouble.

However, I think I got past the hurdle now that I broke down and went to the one ‘cheap’ program that I usually reserve for conceptualizing this sort of thing.

For a preview for exactly what I mean by this, have the first one I’ve gotten to a point I like. It was done in Alchemy, with gratuitous abuse of its live-symmetry feature.

Edit: Either people are still too busy flailing over the Facebook wall, or that Read More tag slid this under the radar. Never the less, poof. Also, managed to get one more done.

May see some tweaks for detail and consistency-to-the-game’s-style, but at least I’ve got a core aesthetic going. Artorias is difficult to get looking like the armor will live up to his importance; I don’t follow the school of thought of him being on the EU/NA covers, because that just looks like the Elite Knight set that happens to be wielding what looks like his sword and shield, possibly just because that sword and shield are awesome and western marketers seem to prefer game covers looking awesome.

inb4officialartbookruinsmyshit))

Someday. Maybe.

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 06:30:55 -0400

As much as I would love to help out another kingdom in need, I cannot abandon my obligation to Gwynevere. Perhaps when everything is done and I am allowed to move on… if that day ever comes.

OOC: Closing Inbox

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 09:02:00 -0400

((I currently have 19 prompts (condensed from 25 due to answer overlaps) to deal with after this, and given how things have slowed down in terms of getting these out (who’da thought cranking out that many pics in a couple weeks would result in an artistic burn-out, right?), I’m going to close the inbox for a little while. Most of the questions I’m getting are pretty serious and require a great deal of thought, and while it’s what I was expecting (nay, the reason I started this askblog to begin with), it does make for slower answers. Everything up to this closure has been answered on paper, it’s just a matter of illustrating. I will reopen either when the backlog is cleared up, or when I at least get past some of the really work-intensive ones that are creeping closer and closer.

Sorry for the delay… Yes, I realize I apologize a hella lot, but I can’t help it. XD;;; You guys have been so kind to me and I feel bad because I’m so new to this and I’m not used to it.))

Have I truly become so wretched..?

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 08:58:00 -0400

… When the Witch of Izalith dabbled in magic beyond her means, demons were loosed into the world. They are beings of wrath and destruction. Their corruption has taken a terrible toll on the Izalith line, and even now they shroud Lordran in chaos.

To be mistaken for one… I know not whether to feel insulted or… ashamed.

—-

(ooc: i understand ornstein is about twice the height of any human-sized characters, but fitting that in the square template i’m confining myself to would have resulted in even more negative space than i’m in the mood to fill right now.)

Hurrah!

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 07:52:00 -0400

Ah, a fellow dragonslayer. I am pleased to hear that more of us have persevered as the Age of Fire flickers. As far as I am concerned, through the hardships of our chosen profession, we are already bretheren.

—-

(ooc: holy shit guys 100 followers. how is this possible i don’t even-

~~WITCHCRAFT~~ PYROMANCY)

((OOC: Reaction to Pixiv Developments))

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 22:44:00 -0400

((OOC: Reaction to Pixiv Developments)):

tinymeatbuns:

Reaction to Pixiv Developments

danceswithdeadmaster:

From not-ayase

“Just a heads up

There are several angry pixiv artists on twitter and 2ch that complain about people taking their art without permission, edit them, and sometimes put watermarks on them. Even if they get…

((Yep, a serious ooc reblog. I promise I will keep these to a minimum, but I felt that, given I see a bunch of uncredited Pixiv art under the Dark Souls tag from time to time, it would be relevant to use this to reblog.

It always annoys me to see image edits/reuse. While I condone other people reusing some fan art I do (recently, most fan art I’ve done has been done for communities and less for myself, so if people within those communities cut them up for icons and stuff it doesn’t bug me too much), I still regard reuse of original characters/works without permission with this sort of bile. Especially uncredited (and on Tumblr, I see a lot of vague credit given to pixiv for reposted artwork. credit to the site. not the original artist. wtf, people). It’s one of the big reasons I don’t post much of my original stuff to the public anymore. Just generally tired of people treating hard work as clipart and stuff.

It’s sad that people are taking advantage of language barriers to think it’s okay to do this to Japanese artists. “Oh, I can’t ask them because I don’t understand Japanese. I’m sure they’ll understand it’s just because I love their work!” does not fricking cut it.

I could go on and on, but I think this speaks for itself. So, for now, signal boosting this using the one blog of mine that actually has followers (my personal one is watched by all of 7 people, and I don’t plug it because I want to keep my personal stuff as separate from the Ask as possible to prevent… cross-contamination, to put it as best I can).))