The Spirit Holder - Noah Escálante, the Visceral Athlete
The Faith Keeper - JD Wells, the Lionhearted Shepherd
The Truth Raiser - Tanner Adrian, the Brotherly Defender
The Peace Treader- Madison Romero, the Wayfaring Maverick
Link to previous version.
I have every right in the world to simply override the original, but it's nice to preserve previous versions any way I can, for sentimental reasons. It's why I still have all of my ancient Firesiders art up that go all the way back to 2010, as horrible and irrelevant as most of it is.
Finally decided to update this when I was talking to a family member about this project (ultra rare occasion) and was using the past lineup to explain stuff, but ultimately couldn't because the characters were wrong. Well, no more.
HAHA, I didn't notice this until now, but all of the extroverts are smiling and all of the introverts are either sour or looking incredulous.
Character notes:
Dolores
I really feel like the triangle 'shape language' I picked for Dolores (top left) sorta failed and now she looks weird as a result. As for personality changes, she might've lost a marble or two while no one was looking. Past trauma was centered around her head and face which is why she became the Helmet, and so I'm thinking, ya know, brain damage. She'll still be extremely intelligent, but also a little out to lunch. Dolores has always lived with a bunch of birds. By herself. In a giant creaky estate. Why didn't I notice she was kooky before??
Ridge
My favorite Ridge drawing from two lineups ago returns, whoohoo! Back to being a frat Hollywood flirt machine with an identity crisis.
Noah
Just a couple touchups. Still the same knucklehead.
JD
As mentioned in a previous submission, JD's shape language has been changed to "circle", so her portrait's been redrawn and is looking much more anatomically convincing. Apples was revisited too, dramatically giving away his paper lantern aesthetic!
Tanner
And like clockwork, the only person that didn't change in the slightest when it came to touchups, was Tanner. He is immutable. Eternal. Constant in his vanilla insipidness. He is best boy. However, his personality, or rather his motivations/fears/desires, have shifted somewhat. It would be "sloth" that more or less characterizes his main flaw now. He has a habit of rendering himself numb to problems, giving into platitudes, and artificially limiting himself to the comfort of supportive roles, rather than do anything that would make him appear unagreeable or separate. He is a masterclass of selling himself short, all done to achieve that peace of mind he craves. Floating with the tide may buy him contentment in the short term, but how long until he realizes that to know real peace, he must first know Truth?
Madison
The more I stare at the eyes, the weirder she looks. I'm stuck with it for now, I guess. Hopefully I've at least gotten the idea across: devil-may-care biker chick who shoots the world a side-eye when she's up to no good. A globetrotter since birth, she denies having ties to anyplace... or anyone. This is a weird analogy, but uh, I think of her as a Skyrim fox. Sometimes she leads her crew off the beaten path, occasionally coming across treasures, new understanding, and unspeakable dangers, but most importantly of all, no matter how lost the Firesiders get, they can count on Madison to be their unflappable pathfinder.
Update complete~
