Hello hello! My name's Maple, and I'm so very happy to have you here! Please read my DNI list before proceeding. My Commissions are closed.
Note: I am an adult and as such, I may occasionally post about mature topics. They will be tagged properly, given a warning, and be under a cut. I do my part, if you do not wish to see such topics you can scroll away 🙏
Other accounts:
My AO3
Characterhub - learn about my main OCs
Roleplay account - to ask my OCs whatever you'd like to hear them answer!
Reblog account
Other Masterposts:
Art Masterpost
Critter Masterpost
Estrella Masterpost
Panthera Masterpost
Mei Masterpost
Original Character Tags:
#Estrella - black and white cat mutant from Rottmnt, shipped with Donnie
#li mei tian - kirin yokai from Rottmnt
#panthera kamagati - melanistic jaguar mutant, also half devil, from 2012
#Astraea - a moth themed creation goddess
#Zaragoza - pink lion dragon sona
#Eisor OC: Rinri
AUs:
Watch Me Fly AU
Tags:
#Watch Me Fly
#wmf Casey jr
#wmf Leonardo
Summary:
Bad timeline Leonardo and Casey Jr can use their Ninpo to turn into dragons. Also doubles as a "Leonardo comes back to the past with Casey" au
Watch Me Fly Masterpost
Harpy AU:
Tags:
#rottmnt harpy mikey au - anything about harpy!Mikey specifically
#rottmnt harpy au - random harpy au related stuff, including other important characters
#the Land of Eisor - information regarding the world, culture, and history of Eisor and the Harpy Kingdom
#Maple's harpy open species - for OCs or anything related to harpies. Feel free to use!
#prince michael
Summary:
A Mikey-centric fantasy au doubling as a sep au. Mikey was born the prince of harpies in a land called Eisor.
Harpy Masterpost
Other tags:
#maple leaves art - art I post
#maple leaf writes - things i write
#maple talks - me yapping lol
#maples ask box - asks I've answered
Graphics made by Firefly Graphics Uzmacchiato or myself
This is sort of a call out post. If you've seen my recent posts or the reblog of my DNI list, you likely will have seen this coming.
Cimmerian1275 and anyone who supports her are no longer welcome on my blog.
She has lied to me repeatedly, broken all of her promises to me, and has been down right manipulative and borderline emotionally abusive.
To begin with, she treated me shittily, yelled at me for a tiny misunderstanding between me and a third person that had already been resolved and disrespected several boundaries. I cut her off, having finally noticed that our relationship wasn't healthy.
This was said after 8 months of “friendship”.
Her promise to fight god for me, even though she has never once taken my side for any of the various situations I trusted her with. It also contradicts the previous statement.
An example of her being needlessly rude to me about the tonal misunderstanding that had been resolved before she even came online that day. Note also how she claims she wants to do nothing to keep and maintain a relationship, which is not how relationship work. They are inherently two sided.
A month and a half later, she spoke through a mutual friend to say she was ready to talk again. She blamed her poor behavior on her past and current traumas and promised to put real effort into our relationship this time around, since one of my gripes with her was that I was putting in 100% of the effort, which is not how relationships work. She really, really wanted me back, saying she was "willing to see if we can be friends" "ready now to put in some real effort" and "I don't (hate you) and I never will".
I believed her apology, and we eventually came to a truce, agreeing that we would start the relationship over from scratch. We put up some boundaries, unblocked each other's Tumblrs, and let things be.
About two weeks later, she DMed my Tumblr offering a song she thought fit one of my characters. I responded appropriately.
This is the only communication I have had with her since her apology. Note the dates — it jumps from March to April.
As of sometime last week, she blocked my Tumblr out of the blue. This is also proven by the screenshot above, as I'm currently unable to message her. No warning, no conversation, no hint of being upset with me about anything. I went through a different mutual friend to ask what was up, and they got a rude response in return. A "why did she want to reach out or smth?" without giving a real answer and not responding to the message after that.
Over the course of the last few months, Cimmerian has lied, manipulated, and repeatedly broken many, many promises to me, to the point where she is borderline emotionally abusive and cruel. She has played with my feelings, telling me that I’m her most trusted friend, only to treat me poorly, lie to me, and then cut me off and refuse to answer why. She has also been rude to one of my best friends, which I do not tolerate. She has made me feel stupid for ever giving her a second chance along with doubting myself and my abilities to be a good person. This situation with her has made me experience more stress, insecurity, and anger than any one person has a right to make me feel.
Her actions do not match up with her words. This is just one of multiple patterns in her behavior that I’ve noticed and consider huge red flags. She has repeatedly said that she trusts me and loves my company, yet the moment I stop reaching out to her (because she has yet to regain my friendship after ‘starting over’) she turns around and blocks me.
I do not want to hear from or about Cimmerian. She has proven to me that she is incredibly untrustworthy and certainly not my friend, and I will not be associating myself with her and if someone does, I will no longer associate myself with them either. If anyone wants to reach out to ask for more details or more screenshots, that is fine – I am happy to elaborate in DMs – but I do not want to hear any defense of her actions. I already gave her a second chance and she betrayed the little trust I gave her. I gave Cimmerian more chances than she deserves.
As an addendum, because I am certain she will see this, and because it is important to announce regardless of if she sees it or not: Ruddy is no longer a part of my harpy au and she will be written out of any lore. Fics with her in it will no longer be continued, but those posted will stay up for the time being. Cimmerian is no longer welcome to participate in my harpy au, including any and all events, stories, art, and discussions about it, nor is she permitted to make another harpy OC or have her OCs relate to other people’s harpy OCs.
I'm gonna do something really funny and interesting to me specifically
Which of my main OCs are you obsessed with/is your favorite?
Panthera
Li Mei
Estrella
Prince Michael
See Results
Remaining time: 2 days 3 hours
I'm adding in Prince Michael because he's so far removed from TMNT that he's basically just an OC now so he counts for this ig 🤷♀️
I'm really curious on who my viewers are actually interested in and if I need to pay more attention to any of em in case someone's like really sad I don't make much Mei content anymore or smth
I'm giving the harpies a currency and they'll be coins made of glass called Suncatchers. I don't have it super fleshed out yet but I'm thinking different colored glass = different values? Depending on the mineral it takes to make that color?
But also i was playing with the visuals of the glass being clear and having like, the palace/Great Sequoia colored in the middle so idk yet
Feeling the need to Be Productive™ and in debating between doodling or finally plotting out the major beats in my story... Like one is def more important than the other but hurry doodling
YEETS THIS INTO THE VOID BEFORE I BEGIN TO HATE IT AND SPEND TEN MORE HOURS ON IT
Ahem. Anywhizzle. I have spend 42 hours on this, tried many new brushes an techniques, and I'm pretty confident saying that this is my best piece yet!! If I were to do it again, I'd change a couple things and def go about rendering a bit differently, but hey what's done is done and now I've learned for next time! I think it looks good enough
Happy birthday to Prince Michael and my harpy au as a whole! And a huge thank you to everyone who has ever expressed interest in Michael or this au, y'all keep it alive!
zooms in on the immense detail and love, blood, sweat, and tears you've poured into this art.
Let us pick this apart shall we? Buckle in y'all this is gonna be a bit long. Ahem
The details in both the feathers on his body and his wing feathers are nothing short of phenomenal. There is so much love and detail in each feathered stroke. The shading and lighting within those feathers makes me want to zoom in as much as I can to appreciate the amount of detail you put into each and every single one and THE FACT THAT'S DONE ON EACH AND EVERY SINGLE FEATHER IS APPRECIATED!! And the rough skin of his hands, forearm, and feet as well. The colors are so vibrant and cheerful, yet the colors surrounding him are bleak, and dark. You took no shortcuts and I see you. I see the love you have for this character and by golly it makes me want to know more about him and your harpies.
And that leads us to the emotion category of this museum worthy art.
Fear. Panic. Maybe a little dread. A little surprise is on his face. Was he betrayed by someone he trusted? Someone he thought he knew and held dear? The world seems to be caving around him and the deeper he plunges the more he might let that darkness bury him. The emotion is so vivid, so deep, that I feel his emotion through this tiny box in my hands.
And yet it almost seems like he has hope as he falls. His arm reached out to the heavens above him, hoping someone will grab his hand and pull him back up above the soul crushing darkness below him. He wants to be saved. He wants that hope to be revived in this person that might have betrayed him.
Hope, despair, worry, fear, panic.
As artists, we sometimes draw things that display emotions we might be feeling. It's our way to express ourselves. That being said, I hope you're doing alright, Maple 🩷.
All that to say. I love this piece. It's so heartbreakingly beautiful. Splendidly well done, my friend. I toss my hat to thee.
EHEHE KATIE. KATIE OH MY GOD HAKAHSKSHSKSHDJELEJAHAAAAA I LOVE THIS I seriously don't think I've ever gotten an actual analysis on my art before Katie this made me feel things
First things first HAVE SOME HIGH QUALITY DETAIL SHOTS JUST FOR YOU
This face has to be my favorite part, he looks so soft and fluffy and young yet tragically heart broken
Hand!!! And a wing! This wing ended up getting so much color in it due to the way I tried shading (thank you to @cherrycryola for getting me to shade with a red/yellow/blue method. I did end up straying from that slightly with some of the cast shadows but it gave me a very good guideline that made this painting very colorful!)
More wing for your appreciation 🙏 doing every single feather was incredibly painstaking lmao. Especially since it's my first time doing feathers in ibis instead of Photoshop and my first time REALLY painting them with details and stuff. Like yeah sure there's "Loneliness Hurts Less in the Morning" but those feathers are just drawn and shaded.
Next. EARLIER STAGES OF THE ART
^ what it looked like before I started painting
^ line art
^earlier stage of line art, while I was asking for help on his tail
^ Original concept sketches. Really not sure how he ended up facing the other way lmao
THIRD. YOUR ANALYSIS. My dudebro my sister in Christ you got it spot on. This painting came out of any idea for an original story I've been scheming and plotting out that begins with Michael losing his powers. His god, Quetzalcoatl, took them away (as Quetzalcoatl is the source of a royal harpy's powers) and leaving him to figure out how to function without them. He goes on an adventure with Rinri and a female harpy who's not even named or developed yet. But this is merely the beginning of that -- Michael has just had his powers, the thing that makes him special, who makes him who he is, that makes him worth something, taken. They're gone. He's no longer Prince Michael, heir to the throne. There's no future sight to guide him into or out of decisions, no pyromancy, no fire breathing, nothing. He's been reduced to nothing in an instant by his god who had never even spoken to Michael directly. And in a sense, that is a betrayal. He's shaken to his core, disbelieving, feeling everything he's ever known to be true about himself come crashing down. Because who is Michael, if he can't be defined by what his sole purpose in life is? By what makes him great, special, powerful? Unique? Who is he, if not his father's son?
He's reaching out towards the life he used to have, the one he took for granted because he never truly believed it could change so he took it for granted. He wants it back despite knowing he was unhappy with it because he doesn't know what other option there is for him. He panics as he heads into the unknown, into danger. He's lost knowing that he brought this onto himself because he didn't listen, didn't cope well enough with the death of his mother and didn't except his step-mom and half-brother and he hates his dad for everything that is and isn't his fault and Michael put the blame on anything he could because he is hurt and he is angry. He has been angry for so, so long. And yet the light is not too far out of reach yet. He can plunge himself into the darkness, into his hurt and his anger and his hate and things can remain the same, or he can get his wings beneath him and change for the better and fly back towards the light. It will be hard, it's an uphill battle and his wings are torn, his feathers damaged, but it is not impossible. The light is not out of reach yet.
As for my own mental fortitude -- haha, I wasn't thinking about it when I was making it, but I suppose it could be a reflection of my own recent betrayal, of how everything I thought I knew about someone changed within a split second, how I can no longer be sure that anything we had was ever true or genuine or whether it was all just a game and I was being toyed with the entire time. But alas, life is like that sometimes. The only thing I can do now is try to move on, and maybe this was all just a subconscious projection onto one of the characters I cope with 🤷♀️
I'm so very glad you loved this piece enough to give such a long, winding commentary about it. Out of all of my art so far, I do believe this one is the most deserving of it due to how metaphorical I went with it. There is no background, no context, just a void below him and a light above him. But it is beautiful and once I stop being picky about what I could've done better I can fully enjoy all the hard work that I put into this XD It's already my phone background
The average harpy can't fly when wet. They're are done exceptions to this rule, such as harpies from the coastal/marsh borders who've adapted water resistant feathers, but none from the main rainforest can fly when drenched. Note the choice of words — drenched. If they were just fully submerged in water (ie - the lake) they can't fly for a free minutes until some of the water dries out gets shaken off. Waterlogged feathers are simply too heavy*.
Most harpies, the exclusion being royals and coastal harpies, bathe in the river while avoiding fully submerging themselves in order to avoid this problem. It's much easier to fly after splashing yourself with water and combing out your feathers than it is to fly after being drenched.
*this effect is worse for those with longer feathers and larger wings
YEETS THIS INTO THE VOID BEFORE I BEGIN TO HATE IT AND SPEND TEN MORE HOURS ON IT
Ahem. Anywhizzle. I have spend 42 hours on this, tried many new brushes an techniques, and I'm pretty confident saying that this is my best piece yet!! If I were to do it again, I'd change a couple things and def go about rendering a bit differently, but hey what's done is done and now I've learned for next time! I think it looks good enough
Happy birthday to Prince Michael and my harpy au as a whole! And a huge thank you to everyone who has ever expressed interest in Michael or this au, y'all keep it alive!
YEETS THIS INTO THE VOID BEFORE I BEGIN TO HATE IT AND SPEND TEN MORE HOURS ON IT
Ahem. Anywhizzle. I have spend 42 hours on this, tried many new brushes an techniques, and I'm pretty confident saying that this is my best piece yet!! If I were to do it again, I'd change a couple things and def go about rendering a bit differently, but hey what's done is done and now I've learned for next time! I think it looks good enough
Happy birthday to Prince Michael and my harpy au as a whole! And a huge thank you to everyone who has ever expressed interest in Michael or this au, y'all keep it alive!
I'm debating on the third party member for my Eisor story being a guard or a healer or a healer who used to be a guard who was injured or smth and thus had to become a healer? But it'd have to be something that wouldn't hinder her from adventuring so idk what that could be?
I'm also debating on whether or not to make Michael a new love interest but I also kinda wanted to make one of them gay and that just. Wouldn't work lmao. Because Michael's straight, I already have that figured out, so the girl harpy he's with can't be gay, and Michael can't be gay, so ig Rinri could be?? I don't want the entire party to be crushing on him tho so it could just never be plot relevant. But yeah gotta love it when friend drama means I no longer have a love interest for my character :/
I'm more concerned on making the female harpy tho and deciding her role. Cause both a guard and a healer would greatly benefit the party, one for strength/navigation and the other for in case they get hurt and need, you know, healing. I'd say to also identify what plants are edible vs poisonous but most harpies just know that 💀 sure that's a gatherer's specialty and healers work closely with them both but I feel like the average, slightly intelligent female harpy would also be pretty certain about it
My dad just passed by where I was sitting, stopped in the kitchen, and asked "what did I came down here to do?" And my brain's first thought was "tax returns" and while that wasn't what he was looking for, he does in fact need to do his taxes today and that's just such a silly coincidence I had to share XD
YEETS THIS INTO THE VOID BEFORE I BEGIN TO HATE IT AND SPEND TEN MORE HOURS ON IT
Ahem. Anywhizzle. I have spent 42 hours on this, tried many new brushes and techniques, and I'm pretty confident saying that this is my best piece yet!! If I were to do it again, I'd change a couple things and def go about rendering a bit differently, but hey what's done is done and now I've learned for next time! I think it looks good enough
Happy birthday to Prince Michael and my harpy au as a whole! And a huge thank you to everyone who has ever expressed interest in Michael or this au, y'all keep it alive!
