merQtio the arachnoboy

malkolm/mercutio | xe/xem/he/him | primarily an oc artist | occasional fanart <3

[merqtioooo]

meet rae !! a he/they butch in a relationship with a stud and a genderfluid transfem. he plays the bass, he's en route to being the owner of a music store, he's a punk, and he's autistic.

they love music, they love their partners, and they love lesbianism :D

[merqtioooo]

i love making oc tweets holy shit

here are my favorites from each oc (who would conceivably have twitter)

first, kaleb:

[merqtioooo]

stevie:

[merqtioooo]

haoyi:

[merqtioooo]

eren:

[merqtioooo]

allister-amelia:

[merqtioooo]

i love making these lmfaooo :D

[mysteriousbogbody]

Minh and Autry are trapped in the cd case someone help them!

[merqtioooo]

my desert trio (plus collei) designs !!

i wouldn't necessarily call them redesigns since they're pretty much the same, apart from the fact that they look like people, but yeah !!

anyway, as always, notes and close ups under the cut !!

what was mainly important to me was giving these characters ethnic features. mihoyo is notorious for same face syndrome, just mixing and matching the hair and eyes to make a new character, and maybe different skin tones if they're not in a racist mood.

initial thoughts:

i want these characters to actually look like they're from where the lore says they're from: a mix of swana, saharan africa, and south asia. but also, i wanted to keep the lore of sumeru's social dynamics in tact — that being that those who live in the forest are fair skinned, whilst those of the desert are darker skinned. however, i wanted this to present in the way it would in those reference areas, so collei, for example is fair skinned for someone from south and southwest asia, not fair skinned the way an east asian person would be.

speaking of skintones, lets get onto our first character.

cyno

so for cyno, i wanted him to look somewhat sudanese or nubian, since i see him as being dark skin, and the sumeru desert is based on north africa and the sahara.

i didn't really feel like drawing his hat, but i gave him a 2c-3a hair texture, since i headcanon that his hair turning white also loosened his hair texture, since the structure of the follicle changed.

when it comes to my choice of colors, i wanted to give him red undertones, to match his eyes, so that it would all unify pretty nicely.

with his neckpiece, i wanted the gold to be less polished, since he's out almost all the time in it, so its duller than the other gold in the rest of the characters.

the vibe i wanted to portray was one of power and authority, so i had him looking pretty stern to match that !!

tighnari

for tighnari, the most important thing was giving him distinct features outside of his ears, and thus i gave him a medium olive skin tone and a low bridged, broad nose.

i really tried to incorporate egyptian and persian features into his face, since, as a tighnarian, he's ethnically a desert dweller, but having his lineage have lived in the forest, there would be some level of intermixing with those who live there.

i wanted to get rid of his bob (because why) but i wanted to keep the ~vibe~ of it, so i gave him a curly, thick haircut that frames his face in a similar way to his bangs and what not did.

for his ears, i based them directly off of an actual fennec ears, and placed them on his head in the way that would make most anatomical sense.

i also wanted him to emit the same stoicism, but i think he ended up just looking a little annoyed, which is still in character, honestly.

sethos

sethos was an interesting one, since i based his features more on the statues of ancient pharoahs, rather than current egyptians or nubians.

specifically, the statues of akenaten because i am obsessed with him, and his face is really striking.

obviously, this is because the temple of silence, having been a very secluded community for a very long time, would probably conserve many of the original features from tulaytullah (ancient desert civilization based off of ancient egypt).

similarly, i based his skintone literally on the color of said statues, purely because it made sense, and also to convey a sense of timelessness, since time is kinda his whole situation.

i simplified his hair to make sense for a curlier hair texture, whilst keeping the general shape of everything the same.

collei

collei's design was probably the easiest, since she was very much already easy to translate into a more realistic form.

i took her features from the references i could find of south indian women, with her round face, big, downturned eyes, and broad, low bridged, slightly hooked nose. i thought a round face would suit her, because she's cute !!

a lot of my thoughts for this particular design were “aww that would be so cute !!” which is why she has her ears sticking out, and i kept the little ahoge in her hair.

speaking of hair, i wanted it to look thick and soft, with a little bit of a wave to it, since a lot of indians, especially south, have quite thick hair of a similar type 2 hair texture !!

in conclusion: she's cute <33

closing statements:

one of the things i really enjoy doing is researching the various cultures these characters are taken from, and the features of those regions are no exception, and with all the effort the character developers usually put into squeezing as many little tidbits of a culture as they can into a design, i think the fandom should and could do more to represent that.

a south asian woman, for example, with blue eyes and blond hair, is still going to look south asian, and it hurts to see the levels of white defaultism in this fandom when it comes to the depictions of these characters. same goes for a japanese person, or a chinese person, or a mezoamerican person, or whatever else.

people get crucified online for making their favorite characters look like them, with hundreds of comments complaining about inaccuracy and disrespect, but the general consensus of the fandom is to draw every character being as eurocentric looking as possible, and just ignoring their actual ethnicities based on their regions, so who’s really being disrespectful?

its not hard to make the connections between the region as depicted in the game and the real life influences, you know? and so if y'all are gonna be on your high horse about accuracy, then do the bare minimum.

all that to say: MAKE THE ETHNIC CHARACTERS LOOK ETHNIC PLEASEEE IM BEGGING YOUUU

its fun and cool and easy to do!! i promiseeee

[rajieeeee]

some explorations of traditional garments/costume designs of different cultures and looking forward to exploring more.

[moroseprose]

Red Emoji OC Asks ❤️‍🩹

❤️ (heart) - Who is the most important person to your character? To what lengths would they go to protect this person?

💔 (broken heart) - Who has your character hurt most? Physically or emotionally? How did it feel? Do they regret it?

🌹 (rose) - What does your oc find attractive in other people? Are these traits found in their friends and/or romantic partners? Are they found in themselves?

🎈 (balloon) - What does your character do at parties? Are they a wallflower or a party animal? Do they go with friends or alone?

🍷 (wine) - Does your oc drink? What kind of alcohol do they enjoy? What are their drinking habits? What kind of drunk are they?

❗️(exclamation point) - What was the scariest moment of your character’s life? Does it still affect them?

🥩 (steak) - Does your oc have any coping mechanisms? Healthy or unhealthy?

🥀 (wilted flower) - How does your character deal with stressful situations? Is their fear response fight, flight, freeze or fawn?

🍓 (strawberry) - Does your oc believe in anything? Are they superstitious? Religious? Atheistic? Has anything in their past made them this way?

💋 (kiss) - Is your oc a good kisser? Have they kissed anyone before? Do they even enjoy kissing? What was their first kiss like in comparison to their most recent?

🍒 (cherries) - Does your character have a best friend? How long have they known each other? What do they like most about each other? How did they meet?

🚨 (siren) - What’s your character’s relationship with the law? Have they ever been arrested? What for? What are their opinions on law enforcement?

💄 (lipstick) - What does your oc think of their face? Do they have a positive or negative opinion? Do they wear makeup? Do they have a skincare routine? What traits do they like most about their face?

🍎 (apple) - Does your oc go to school or take classes? Did they go to college? What was/is their favorite subject? Did/do they get good grades? Did/do they enjoy school?

🐞 (ladybug) - What does a perfect day look like for your oc? What do they do? Who do they see?

☎️ (telephone) - Does your character know anyone’s phone number by heart? Do they prefer calling or texting? Who’s their favorite person to call/text? Do they have any typing quirks?

🥊 (boxing glove) - Has your character ever been in a fight? Did they win? Do they fight often? Are they professionally trained or self taught? Do they enjoy fighting or only do so when necessary?

🧣(scarf) - What comforts your oc? Is it an item? An action? A person? Whatever it is, how any why does it comfort them?

👠 (heels) - How does your oc dress? Are they stylish or casual? Do they keep up with trends or do their own thing? Do they prefer designer clothes or going to the thrift store? Do they have a signature item of clothing?

🍄 (mushroom) - Does your character like being in nature or do they prefer the indoors? Do they have any outdoor hobbies like camping or fishing? If they prefer the indoors, why?

🩸 (blood) - Is your oc squeamish? Are they disturbed by the sight of blood? Have they ever been in a situation where they had to overcome being squeamish?

✂️ (scissors) - Has your character ever cut their own hair? What about someone else’s? How did it turn out?

🎸 (electric guitar) - What’s your character’s music taste like? Do they have one or two artists they play on repeat or do they have a varied and eclectic collection of music? Do they like mainstream artists or prefer underground musicians? What genres do they enjoy?

🎒 (backpack) - What items does your oc usually carry? Do they have a bag or just keep everything in their pockets? Do they carry a lot or a little?

🪓 (axe) - Does your oc have survival skills? Have they ever had to use them? What would they do in an apocalypse? Could they survive?

[mysteriousbogbody]

Lovers to enemies to something else

[and-fishing-equipment]

in 2026 DO NOT ask yourself whether your art is GOOD

instead ask:

is it SINCERE

was it CATHARTIC

was it FUN TO MAKE

is it MADE BY ME

and don't forget to stay silly

[frogwhomp]

trying to get my drawing skills warmed up again before i start on commissions, so i thought i would mess around and start to design one of the four fantasy races I've been working on, These are just two designs for the Kwezi, or the moon worshipers!

[asieybarbie]

A short guide I made covering how I approach gradient maps

[merqtioooo]

🎈🍓🎸 for everline???

🎈 (balloon) - What does your character do at parties? Are they a wallflower or a party animal? Do they go with friends or alone?

she is generally a wallflower, unless a song she really likes comes on. then, trust she's twerking politely in her corner. she's very much a homebody, so she tends to skip out on parties, but she'll chaperone her baby brother xaevier in a heartbeat, and if she does have to go to something, she's bringing stevie (her girlboyfriend) along, since they're more extroverted than she is.

🍓 (strawberry) - Does your oc believe in anything? Are they superstitious? Religious? Atheistic? Has anything in their past made them this way?

she was brought up christian, but got into hoodoo through her aunt. she generally considers herself spiritual, and incorporates hoodoo and ancestor veneration into her practices. long story short, her room smells very heavily of incense.

initially she was more atheist leaning, but after her dad passed, she began to delve more into spirituality. if you asked, she'd probably tell you she's on a spiritual journey.

🎸 (electric guitar) - What’s your character’s music taste like? Do they have one or two artists they play on repeat or do they have a varied and eclectic collection of music? Do they like mainstream artists or prefer underground musicians? What genres do they enjoy?

she is a goth. so she listens to goth music. she does sometimes branch out into rnb, but only to satiate the d'angelo craving she gets once in a while. she does enjoy a little bit of wu-tang clan and biggie, but only really when she misses her dad.

she only really listens to goth bands with black people in them, and she can get a little pretentious about what counts as goth music or not. she's a little bit of a goth purist when it comes to music.

tysm for the ask, anon <33

[merqtioooo]

❤️ (heart) - Who is the most important person to your character? To what lengths would they go to protect this person?

💔 (broken heart) - Who has your character hurt most? Physically or emotionally? How did it feel? Do they regret it?

🌹 (rose) - What does your oc find attractive in other people? Are these traits found in their friends and/or romantic partners? Are they found in themselves? hiiii feel free to do whichever oc you want, but ggorynn would be nice <3

ooooh okay!! tsym for the ask!!

❤️ (heart) - ggoryn's most important person is wyir, and he would do anything for them. he'd walk to the ends of the earth for them, literally.

💔 (broken heart) - who has he hurt the most? that's a difficult question. his coven, probably, the people that raised him. they had to watch him be put in prison, and then hear of his death, and for most of them to die without knowing he was actually alive. but if you were to ask him, he'd say all of goblinkind. after he was arrested, they began to impose harsher legislation that essentially was attempting to legislate goblin culture out of existence, and all the efforts to harvest magic off their land is tangentially his fault.

🌹 (rose) - ggorynn likes someone who can take charge, someone he doesn't have to worry about. he likes the feeling of having a certainty that the person he loves can protect themselves, and he can come home to them with a confidence that nothing has happened. he also values consistency and reliability. in terms of physical attractiveness, he tends to gravitate towards those bigger than him, with the exception of wyir, who is smaller than he is. wyir, being immortal, superpowerful and uber confident, satisfies all of those, and when it comes to his friends, they are all incredibly capable on their own.

ggorynn is a very reliable person and struggles with people who are unpredictable since he's a planner. he doesn't like spontaneity or surprises, and predicting a person's behavior is necessary for him to feel safe around them. if he knows how you operate, he can factor it into his plans, and if he doesn't, then he's likely to consider you a threat.

once again, thank you for the ask!! this was super fun <3

[moroseprose]

Red Emoji OC Asks ❤️‍🩹

❤️ (heart) - Who is the most important person to your character? To what lengths would they go to protect this person?

💔 (broken heart) - Who has your character hurt most? Physically or emotionally? How did it feel? Do they regret it?

🌹 (rose) - What does your oc find attractive in other people? Are these traits found in their friends and/or romantic partners? Are they found in themselves?

🎈 (balloon) - What does your character do at parties? Are they a wallflower or a party animal? Do they go with friends or alone?

🍷 (wine) - Does your oc drink? What kind of alcohol do they enjoy? What are their drinking habits? What kind of drunk are they?

❗️(exclamation point) - What was the scariest moment of your character’s life? Does it still affect them?

🥩 (steak) - Does your oc have any coping mechanisms? Healthy or unhealthy?

🥀 (wilted flower) - How does your character deal with stressful situations? Is their fear response fight, flight, freeze or fawn?

🍓 (strawberry) - Does your oc believe in anything? Are they superstitious? Religious? Atheistic? Has anything in their past made them this way?

💋 (kiss) - Is your oc a good kisser? Have they kissed anyone before? Do they even enjoy kissing? What was their first kiss like in comparison to their most recent?

🍒 (cherries) - Does your character have a best friend? How long have they known each other? What do they like most about each other? How did they meet?

🚨 (siren) - What’s your character’s relationship with the law? Have they ever been arrested? What for? What are their opinions on law enforcement?

💄 (lipstick) - What does your oc think of their face? Do they have a positive or negative opinion? Do they wear makeup? Do they have a skincare routine? What traits do they like most about their face?

🍎 (apple) - Does your oc go to school or take classes? Did they go to college? What was/is their favorite subject? Did/do they get good grades? Did/do they enjoy school?

🐞 (ladybug) - What does a perfect day look like for your oc? What do they do? Who do they see?

☎️ (telephone) - Does your character know anyone’s phone number by heart? Do they prefer calling or texting? Who’s their favorite person to call/text? Do they have any typing quirks?

🥊 (boxing glove) - Has your character ever been in a fight? Did they win? Do they fight often? Are they professionally trained or self taught? Do they enjoy fighting or only do so when necessary?

🧣(scarf) - What comforts your oc? Is it an item? An action? A person? Whatever it is, how any why does it comfort them?

👠 (heels) - How does your oc dress? Are they stylish or casual? Do they keep up with trends or do their own thing? Do they prefer designer clothes or going to the thrift store? Do they have a signature item of clothing?

🍄 (mushroom) - Does your character like being in nature or do they prefer the indoors? Do they have any outdoor hobbies like camping or fishing? If they prefer the indoors, why?

🩸 (blood) - Is your oc squeamish? Are they disturbed by the sight of blood? Have they ever been in a situation where they had to overcome being squeamish?

✂️ (scissors) - Has your character ever cut their own hair? What about someone else’s? How did it turn out?

🎸 (electric guitar) - What’s your character’s music taste like? Do they have one or two artists they play on repeat or do they have a varied and eclectic collection of music? Do they like mainstream artists or prefer underground musicians? What genres do they enjoy?

🎒 (backpack) - What items does your oc usually carry? Do they have a bag or just keep everything in their pockets? Do they carry a lot or a little?

🪓 (axe) - Does your oc have survival skills? Have they ever had to use them? What would they do in an apocalypse? Could they survive?

[merqtioooo]

MERQTIO IS BACKKK

my beautiful goth girl oc everline !!! she's a lesbian, an entrepreneur, a professional mean girl, eldest daughter and judo black belt!!! she's so beautiful and i love her DOWN.

character: everline (she/he/any)

[merqtioooo]

Hey I just wanted to let you know there is a new Nigerian artist community here on tumblr!

Here’s the link in case you are interested: https://www.tumblr.com/join/fGcBBPVA

woahhh thank you for the heads up!! naija no dey carry last <33

[merqtioooo]

Sethos sobs for what feels like hours, until his throat is hoarse and his eyes are dry, gripping Cyno’s back like he can pull him directly into his soul and keep him forever.

~ a quick sketch of one of my favorite scenes of my fic feeling like forever was a long time ago

aaah i love themmm

[ilikhain]

Sleeping in the shade somewhere in Sumeru