Sythifer

Sythifer, from

1st, this is my second (third, actually) retyping of the description.

2nd, I fought with DA (and lost) for a solid half-hour, trying to upload a GIF of the image, only to upload a JPG instead.

Okay, so, this bit (not counting the sparse time spent playing with GIMP) took about 12hrs. I knew the general feel almost instantly, but as I considered new details, I did some research, weighed different options, and then tried actually working the details. Honestly, this is about the peak of my skill, definitely my patience. A lot of shading and some details died during the scan, and I'm simply not skilled/patient enough with my few tools to create all the details I had intended. Still, this is about as good as it'll get from me.

TAT described Sythifer as her personal Hades, or as nearer to him than other of her characters. So, with that in mind, and the warning that Sythifer is actually androgynous, I went to work.

First, I scratched the androgynous bit. I liked the idea but couldn't see how to work an androgynous frame into a sitting posture, though maybe that's just me being sexist. I tried to downplay his masculinity, but I basically just opted for a male build. (And no, I don't know why one hand/arm is skeletal; let it go.)

For his costume, I looked at a lot of Greek and Roman garbs. I wanted something that felt simple but still elegant, regal, so I figured I'd steal from the best culture thieves in the West. I also wanted to emphasize his "earthy" nature (remember, Hades was the God of Death but also Earth [soil] and Wealth), so I went with green, tan, and bronze. I intended for the green wrap to be silk, the tan robe to be...whatever material the Greeks wore, and the belt and bracelet to be leafed-metal. The crown was for giggles.

Whyever, Sythifer had an Elvish feel to me, evil Elvish, anyway. I looked a lot of designs for Druids and Elves for his facial features and actually gave him pointed ears, though they're mostly hidden. That's why I opted for longer hair, 'stead of the Greek shorter cuts. I also wanted that Elvish style to be felt in his skin, so I went with something light, though it's actually an auburn color, again to reconnect his "earthy" feel, while his hair, though dark, is actually blonde, near-gold. Basically, I was trying to assimilate the fair features of High Elves with the dirt and terror of Hades. Oh, the antlers were already in Sythifer's design, but I modeled these after the deer in QotSA's "No One Knows."

Like I said, I knew I wanted this scene from the beginning. I just kept recalling the battle between Kratos and Hades in GoW3. Yeah, yeah, I know there's no scene like this in that game, but whatever, it's what came to mind -- the scope of it. So, I wanted him sitting on a throne, looking across a massive field of grass (which didn't translate via scan), with empty space in the background (debated forever whether to add eyes, stars, or more fire), and scattered tombs in the distance (taken from Metallica's Master of Puppets album cover -- again reenforcing his role as Death), all to overpower the diminutive girl nearly lost in the image (partly intentional, mostly scanlational). Yeah....

So, his throne, I saw a couple of interesting designs, and mostly took a designs from a few Babylonian and Persian sources, including a few concept shots of Prince of Persia (the PS2 series). At least, those designs were for the overall structure, and the positioning of Sythifer. The arm wrests are totally Atlas, again harkening to Greek myth (and how friggin' cool would it be for the entire World to just be an arm wrest?). The side snakes and the mostly covered throne-back design are from Norse mythology-- Yggdrasil and the snake that loops around it. The flames were for kicks and more giggles.

So, yeah, it's definitely simpler than I intended, but it's the max of my skills (for now), so I'm okay uploading it. If nothing else, I hope it'll inspire TAT for more Sythifer drawings. If you want more on it, check her profile.