Whipped up my own imagined "official" artwork for fun and experimenting. Mentally I am here, back in my kalos phase.
Bonus: It would be funny if we get the banishment treatment in PLA except this time we get fired from the organization that we'd work for and we have to stay at some makeshift campsite with AZ lol
I had the opportunity to draw a tarot card illustration of Ziggy for a Xeno Tarot Project as the Three of Swords!
Details about the symbolism in this artwork below the cut (/!\ Xenosaga spoilers /!\)
The Three of Swords tarot card is associated with hurt, betrayal and overcoming grief, which is very fitting for Ziggy. The card usually depicts a heart pierced by 3 swords, so I reused that imagery by having Ziggy's heart pierced by them. I wanted the swords to be more than objects, so I associated them to 3 characters who are cause of grief for Ziggy: to the left, Sharon, his wife, murdered with her son in front of him ; to the right, Canaan, who believed his existence had hurt Ziggy and chose to sacrifice his life to repent. The third sword is connected to the black silhouette in the back, the Black Testament, Voyager, the traitor.
The background is the stained glass from the Archon Cathedral, a place that haunts Ziggy, filled with death and despair. The red at the bottom represents the blood spilt there, and Voyager’s silhouette cutting the light from the window illustrates the heavy shadow he brought on Ziggy. The halo reinforces the cathedral aesthetic, and cuts Voyager’s shadow as a symbol of eventually overcoming that darkness he left behind.
The flowers over Ziggy’s chest, covering the swords wound, serve a similar purpose: they’re a rose of Sharon and momo peach blossoms, for the family he lost (Sharon & Joaquin) and the family he found (MOMO).
I hope you like this artwork as much as I enjoyed creating it!
I painted this a while back about how my hand injuries prevent me from drawing as much as I want. I’m better these days with physical therapy but the fear of that pain flaring up again is always on my mind.