characters & portraits

Characters need names, don't they? I think I'm gonna go with the name Inori rather than the localized Anina -- I just think Inori's cuter. I mentioned the scavenging-thing last time, so here she is with a murkrow skull headband & spinarak necklace preserved in sap. I thought drawing her hair like this would be cute and I do think it is, but it also gives me really big Komaeda vibes and I don't really know how to feel about that...

Also, these were done in Adobe Fresco -- I'm still not really used to doing digital art, so the file sizes here were kinda crazy and you can only reduce it so much before it's literally just random pixels, y'know? Should probably figure out how to deal with that properly...

Okay, so, to start off, I'm just obsessed with Kalos Route 14 (ie: the Laverre Nature Trail), as well as Laverre City itself, yeah? Fairytale vibes, forest / swamp, perpetual autumn, haunted = ideal setting in every way! <3 If I could live anywhere in the Pokemon world, it'd be here (or maybe Fortree City in Hoenn...). I also just really like thinking about NPCs' ordinary lives.

With that in mind, pictured above is (supposed to be) a Hex Maniac who lives on this trail in a little secret base, something like this:

She mostly tries to avoid society, foraging for her own food and only rarely heading to Laverre City for essentials. She'd still be into her weird occult stuff (tarot readings, maybe other types of augury, like telling the future based off the movement of birds?), of course, and has also befriended all the local ghosts & ghost-type pokemon. She might also have picked up some other hobbies to pass the time, like whittling, making jewelry from bones and shells she's scavenged, taxidermy (maybe like the preserved alligator heads you can find in Louisiana?), etc, and might sell some of the stuff she makes in town. Generally cheerful and well meaning, but also greets people like, "Ah, I've been waiting for you... The spirits speak highly of you... Heeheehee..." and making cryptic statements about destiny and your impending demise, etc.

More artwork of her (and some other trainers along this route) to come! (I've also been working on a fic featuring her, but no promises on it actually ever being finished, rip.)