Long time no see fanclub!! I thought I would pop in to share my newest kals, since I am STOKED about them! <3
First is Lir, who's a RU to the 2200 contest! I'm sooo honored to have won this guy, and grateful that RUs were allowed to keep their edits c': I mentioned in the discord that I would tak a bit about his design elements, so here's that!
1: story markings. The writing in my
entry mentions it too, but the markings on Lir's pelt tell the story of how he came to be! Creation stories are some of my very favorite kinds of folktales. Lir came to be after a great seabird (I pictured an albatross when writing, but never specified it) asked the sea for a place between sea and sky, where creatures could live in the chaotic world. The sea granted her that, and in doing that also created Lir. Lir's his own being, but the seabird's soul is also in him. Kind of like the avatar spirit from ATLA!
2: sea and sky shines. This one might be hard to spot since his tail shine is obscured by his feathers/fur. The shine on his tail is droplet shaped, while those on his paws are stars. Symbols of the sea and sky in his shines, since having a shine is a big part of what makes a kal, a kal.
3: the locations of the sea and sky markings. This one speaks to Lir's character. Since Lir holds both the sea and sky in him in different ways, the markings reflect
how. His legs and mouth are colored like the sea, with the dark waves, because the sea is the part of him that others outwardly see. The things he does and says. But his head and chest are the lighter grey of the sky, because his thoughts and feelings are more aligned with the sky. As a result, Lir tends to speak or act before he can think it through, but he stands by those things (most of the time). He's very true to himself, and has a strong moral compass. The seabird's spirit also occasionally guides him via memories of her life as well.
4: animal influences. I grouped these ones together since they're each short. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do with his ears, but eventually decided on taking inspo from blacktip reef sharks! His tongue is a reference to how many seabirds' beaks are a bright orange in contrast to their white/grey bodies. The sharp white line around his eyes is inspired by how many seabirds have a dark eyeliner sort of marking. And while I imagined an albatross while writing Lir's story, his feathers are colored to look like seagull feathers. An argument could be made that the feathers at his shoulders symbolized clipped wings/his soul's inability to fly anymore, but that wasn't my intention when designing him. His long legs mimicking a seabird's long wingspan was also unintentional, but I'll take credit for it XD Lastly, his fur edits are shaped like that so that they appear similar to his feathers in terms of just their general shape/silhouette.
5: palette and edits. Lir's palette and edits are fairly plain, and that's on purpose. I wanted people to see his water first, and spend time looking at it. (Frankly, I just love looking at water myself, and I spent a long time perfecting Lir's water edits, so I really wanted to let them shine XD) But his water is also the brightest part of his appearance- it symbolizes hope and rebirth (for his story specifically, and also that's just what water tends to represent in other media). His fur is darker not because he's a gloomy or miserable guy, but because he was born due to a storm. Without the storm, there would be no Lir, so his fur palette was chosen to look like a stormy sky.
So that's the reasoning behind Lir's looks! c: There's also his goldfish cracker water drops (two of them, one by his front paws and one above his tail), which weren't on purpose, but once I saw it I had to leave them XD
Also his water paws... bro is a nightmare on hardwood and tile floors. Constant slipping hazard from big wet paws walking around. They're one of my fav parts of his design though. I'm considering an open collab piece where y'all can color your kal's reaction to Lir putting his water paws on their face XD
Then there's Ocellus!! I absolutely ADORE cupkits, and when I saw more of them were out for Red's birthday, I got so excited.
I have a MYO kit who was inspired by the cupkits, and I used him in my entry for Ocellus! The two of them are goofballs who like to bake and experiment in the kitchen together. Ocellus likes when things go wrong, because they make for good memories, while Baxter really prefers his creations to at least taste good, even if they do look awful.
replies:
@Ucanthandleme - Marco is so glamorous for a pirate... imagine he encounters Lir out at sea. I imagine it would go like
this as Lir walks across the water right past Marco's ship. Also, I definitely agree with Marco that chocolate giving/receiving is peak activity.
@valiant-quest - bro I see a handful of your kals that I like, but I'm so sentimental about the kals I have that I don't think I could part with them 😭 sometimes one just gets too attached to their little virtual creatures ya know
@khvoxtic - thanks for posting The Shine!! I had fun doing the word search and egg hunt! :>
@MirrorMask - one of your replies was to me and I was like "woah I've posted recently?" but nah the fanclub's just been very quiet the last few months 😭 I appreciate the kind words!! <3 I had fun making Bea's Closet, and while the update is on hold, I have one in progress that features some cultural clothing pieces and some accessibility items! I hope to finish that up once the school year finishes, then work on a hobbies accessory pack c;