||’Round The Bend||

Howdy, Howdy, traveler! Welcome to ||'Round the Bend||! This will be a place for the prep-work for a hopeful story of mine, currently going by the title above! It's been a work-in-progress since about 2019, where I've been developing the characters, world building, and general lore for some time. I'm holding that by allowing myself a place to post about the story, that I'll begin to develop it a bit more! Ask me questions! Ask my characters questions! Anything to help the story or boost my motivation would be such a solid. Main Blog (for general artwork) : https://www.tumblr.com/thepaintedsable

[sablesroundthebend]

Howdy! Welcome to the Den!

Howdy folks! Welcome to this cluster of a blog! A project blog!

This will be the space where I’ll hopefully be doing some world building, character development, brainstorming, and sneak peaks for a comic/story I hope to create: ||’Round the Bend|| ! Or, that’s the name it’s currently going by for ease of calling it something!

It’s been in my brain space for well over three years now, and it’s changed a lot in that time. It’s a doozy of a story, and even if I never make it into a comic due to the sheer amount of just… stuff I want to include, touch on, or avoid, I do want it to have a tangible place here in the world.

As it currently stands, ||’Round the Bend|| is a story with three general “Acts”: The “Pre-Story” of how the Packs came to be, The “Center Story” to see how the Packs settle into their home and become their own cultures, and the “End Story/Stories” where you follow any loose ends or ideas not touched upon in the prior two sections (further into the future to see how everything has developed, other parts of the world, background character spotlights, smaller conflicts, silly one-offs, etc.) Will I actually be capable of doing all of this? Who knows! But I want to try.

I have done the most illustrative/world building work on the “Center Story” and the “End Story”, but I’ve done the most thinking and actual serious timeline plotting for the “Pre-Story”. All will be touched upon in this blog, because I do better with ideas when talking about them with someone. Not everything will be revealed, but enough of it to keep my attention on this project!

Now, you must be wondering, what the hell is this story even about? What’s going on here? Packs? Is it about wolves? ||’Round the Bend|| is a story centered around groups of raptor-like drakes surviving in a world where most things are facing against them. They broke away from a tyrannical kingdom hellbent on eradicating any winged dragon ancestry and clawing out any opposing groups or cultures while growing their land. Experiencing great loss and turmoil, they work to build their own groups, cultivate their own lives, and learn to transfer from surviving to thriving within their situation. I want it to hold its roots in found-family and showing kindness, yet also standing up for ones own beliefs and moving on! Lots of topics that relate to change, growth, and finding the balance between valuing others and valuing yourself.

More character-centric information will also be able to be found in this Toyhou.se folder when I’ve completed the planned redesigns!

Y’all will learn more as this blog develops!

Want to see more of my general artwork? Here is my Main Art Blog! Want to find more of my links, all of my character information, and where to see if I’m open for commissions? Here’s My Toyhou.se!

[sablesroundthebend]

Oh snap, A whole ton of character designs because I felt like making temporary reference sheets.

All of these are technically redesigns! I’ve gotten most to all of my designs through trades in the Mochi Raptors community, and I wanted to redesign them out of the species to use in this story! Credit to their original designers can be found in the Toyhouse that’ll be linked below their respective images.

These are all mostly background/supporting character designs, or I otherwise wouldn’t want to explain before doing actual explanations. Plus I’m tired, haha. Just wanted to share these here so I don’t completely forget.

Images below the cut because it’s a lot 💀

Famine and Maggot! Two little lads with a lot of spunk! Unfortunately, Famine has a high tendency to be sick, so she’s a little scrawny.

Frog and Toad! They are not related.

Catclaw and Pansy, who are related.

Mazegill and Cedar, who’s images I’m pairing together only because they’re both orange.

Gneiss and Morel, because green.

Quince and Aloe. These guys don’t even know each other.

And the final four, Firethorn, Ant, Rose, and Clematis. Three babies and a grown man.

[sablesroundthebend]

Grrrg. I want to post about this project but I have no clue where to start. I guess I should start outlining for the first part of the story, but I can’t get it out of my bones.

I’m gonna try a poll. I don’t know if anyone will see it, but I really need a starting point to post on here like I used to do on the platform I developed this story on, prior.

See my pinned post for relevancy!

What should I start with?

”Old Kingdom”

”The Packs” (Snakes Bend, Badgers Burrow, Cypress Trail)

General World Building (Alis vs Alatis War, etc.)

World Flora + Fauna / Geography

Voting ended onNov 6, 2023

This is pretty… general? I’ll get to it all eventually! It’s just I need a starting point, and it’s a lot easier to pick when there’s outside input. This blog is JUST to throw ideas at the wall and keep me interested in my own ideas, so it all has room to change after posting until the actual comic goes up. I do better thinking when it’s phrased like… helping others? I don’t like talking to air or brick walls.

First two options will probably get secondary or tertiary polls, because those are still very broad! There’s three groups, plus the out groups/origins, then the architecture, members, roles, culture, food, etc.! I’m not going to be revealing everything about these broad topics, but I really wanna deep dive into these ideas again. Love the topic of food, in particular, but it would be a little dumb to start gushing about it without giving a grasp on the world. These topics ARE heavily important to their respective arcs, though, so either are good starting points.

General world history will get you some art pieces, concept sketches, and an overview of the main source of conflict for the first “arc.” It would be revealed really early, anyways, so there’s no issue thinking it out loud here. I’ll make spoilers tag for each topic, anyways! Basis for basically the whole saga. Early world history, a war, an overview of religious and cultural beliefs, regional differences, stuff like that. Very fun stuff.

Finally, world flora + fauna / geography would likely offer various artwork, concept sketches for possible plants or creatures, a couple maps I need to get onto a page, and labeling for important areas and landmarks for each of the arcs. Again, love the topic of flora and fauna because it heavily relates to foods. A possible deep dive into species anatomy is probable.

I believe all of these are pretty fair stating points. Old Kingdom is 1st arc location, the Packs are highly important to 2nd arc, world history is world history, and the geography and animals are just the basis for the entire environment. Grounds everything.

Help lol

[thepaintedsable]

A sketchbook redraw of an older digital painting from when I really didn’t understand how scenes worked! I really like these two characters of mine, and I liked this scene of them playing as kids, so I thought why not redraw it haha.

it was quick and also in a medium I’m still getting used to (this time it’s gouache instead of digital art), so it’s a nice little parallel.

The two year old digital painting (2021)

[thepaintedsable]

My character Catclaw! Who has caught a… rat? An underfed opossum? An otherwise spindly rodent? Uh, a pest who was eating his bedding, which he didn’t really appreciate in the slightest.

[thepaintedsable]

Look at him! He’s good at quilting!

[thepaintedsable]

Sketchbook drawing of Vitis, one of my favorite OCs to draw when considering his silhouette. A heart shaped boy! A stubby kiddo! Will probably grow up and be very similar shaped to a bulldog or a muscular bull, but he’s cute right now so it’s fine.

[thepaintedsable]

Oh my gosh, concept drawings of the actual thing this blog is named after :000 Took me long enough, haha.

||’Round the Bend|| is an actual project I’m working on, haha. It’s my biggest story, which I plan to make a comic about. I’ve been at it for a few years at this point, but I wouldn’t expect much progress for a while yet as I still have a lot of story work to finish, designs to finalize, and some comic practice to do. Hence, a lot of what I put out on it is snippets and general vague concepts for some things that are technically established FAR, FAR later in the story, but sometimes you’ll get portions of the “First Act”.

Here you get to see some of my caving concepts! Some of the “Second/Third Act” stuff.

Within this period of ||’Round the Bend||, there are (currently) three main packs: Snake’s Bend, Badger’s Burrow, and Cypress Trail. These particular concepts are for by beloved little cave-dwelling gremlins, The Badgers. They make their home beneath the rocky moors and pine forests of the territories, seemingly holding the least useful lands out of all three groups. Mostly unbeknownst to the other packs, though, the land is rich in natural and claw-dug caves and dwellings. Where the moors have little shelter and few changes in scenery, the underground labyrinth holds rivers, crevices, spacious dens, and holes barely large enough to shimmy through. They’ve adapted to create sleeping dens, guarding stations, social quarters, storage rooms, wells, and various types of cooking stations. They’re kings of caving, crafting, cooking, construction, and general hands-on innovations. They’re also the closest of ANY of my story characters to create an OSHA due to the tendency for cave collapses, floods, getting lost, low oxygen/toxic gasses, etc., etc.

A lot can go wrong underground. Although these drakes look huge in stature, towering over most of their neighbors, most of that comes from their excess of fur. They’re huge and unbelievably strong, but hungry and lean. Most can fit through holes as small as their heads, with enough practice. Thick/warm pelts, dark colors, small/well placed/folding horns or spikes, and strong legs are seen as most attractive traits simply due to their fitness in such an environment. Large size isn’t preferred, it’s simply held over from their kin, and is likely a dominant trait. They have a culture of wanting to prioritize an ability to survive (and while this may produce a level of ablism(?), most physical disabilities aren’t discriminated against. It’s more about being able to navigate the caves. Someone missing a leg, sustaining a chronic pain, etc. still might be able to get around or be taught to adapt. Someone who has low night-vision or large imposing horns, on the other hand, could be a daily liability to themselves. The prior is still dangerous, but they wouldn’t be getting themselves lost or jammed somewhere.)

Hence, they have many systems in place! Caves are rated and marked based on many different factors. Are they natural or claw-dug? Have they been fully explored? Are they under construction/renovation? Are they dry (no water) or wet (pools, rivers, slick rocks, etc.)? Is it at risk of flooding if there is a storm? Are the techniques required to navigate novice (wide spaces, easy navigation), intermediate, or expert level (tight squeezes, many passages to get lost in, large falls, misleading air currents, etc.)? Etc. Living-type caves (normally claw-dug) have burnt in walls, bricks, and plenty of supports that are overseen by all members. There is a training system in place for pups, and cave diving is only done by the most experienced cavers for very particular reasons (mostly only ever rescue or recovery).

SO! The two paintings here are of Thistle and Hound doing some natural-cave exploring, and Aster crossing your path because what the hell are you doing down here ™. Then just a fun little natural cave diagram.

Feel free to ask questions about this because I’d love to get this hellscape of the story out of my brain.

[thepaintedsable]

Silly little sketchbook filler!

Oyster, Geum, Gator, and Axl! This isn’t anything special. Just some practice on some facial expressions and head perspective.

These are just some of my more long-ish characters so I wanted to take advantage of the necks and where a body could be headed depending on how the head was facing. Axl is the only one that’s built more blocky, but he’s got a fun little face.

[thepaintedsable]

Eyes

Fun eye study times!

Amos, Copperhead, Riot, Mallard, Fern, Walnut, Eel, Aster, and Axl! Just trying to play around with eyebrow and eye shapes. :)

Just a WIP image ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[thepaintedsable]

Riot Hunting

WARNING! HUNTING SCENE AHEAD!

This is a piece of a feral dragon OC carrying a dead deer! PLEASE proceed with caution. If the idea of a dead animals makes you uncomfortable, if the idea of animals hunting makes you uncomfortable, or if the idea of blood makes you uncomfortable, do not proceed.

Ok, now, with that out of the way: I don’t know how sensitive Tumblr is to gore just yet and I want to test the waters. This isn’t my most recent drawing, but it is my most recent finished painting! I’m a sucker for hunting scenes, just due to them being full of movement and… well, it’s a part of life when we’re considering feral characters. I know this is more of an extreme test, considering it isn’t just blood, but since I’ve seen character-self-mutilation art on here without much warning except in the tags, I don’t deem this very far off. 🤔

Man is just bringing himself a meal home for the wife n’ kids.

So, this is of one of my main characters, Riot, hunting a deer. He’s a pack leader, and is a very large, strong, and headstrong individual! He also enjoys providing for his family, hence his tendency to hunt often. He highly respects the animals, this isn’t an act of torture or anything, but he’s gotta eat. Circle of life, ya know?

Not much else to say! This was mostly a practice piece for how I want to stylize my story, and how I want to approach topics such as this. It’s not pretty or easy, I don’t want to frame it as pretty or easy, but it has to happen. 👁 👁

Again, mostly posting this here to figure out what/how to censor stuff like gore properly on here. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[thepaintedsable]

Depositional Time Traveler (Art + Writing)

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【 Warning 】 »Mentions of Death, »Magical Mishap, »Illustrated BONES!!!!! (Fossils)

Reader/Viewer digression is advised.

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Wind slipped off of the cliff with the force of a torrent; the long, spindled blades of grass creating the effect of a soft river just on the verge of spilling over. It was unfathomably lucky that shrubbery grew unheeded a few steps away, not only for it blocking the ferocious wind, but the roots likely being the only feeble support keeping a rockslide at bay. Even with grass underfoot, it grew so sparse that one could tell the hardened clay was corse and dry. So grainy that even a gentle gust might cause it to erode and crumble.

With the howling tune of the gale, any creature with eyes could tell such events had already taken a toll on this land. Where once must have lain a mighty hillside was now a deep crevice, wind blasting away at the sides to reveal deep cave-holes and ancient secrets. One could wager that there had been a mighty cave that had simply collapsed in on itself, though it would be hard to guess what sort of mighty force would be able to do such damage to a natural structure. Even more puzzling, none of the revealed caves on the opposite cliff seemed to be logical, and if they were still underground, most would simply be pockets of stale air and old dust.

The deepest harbored great waterfalls, coming from some forgotten spring and falling may feet down into the creek that lay below. Foliage and plants, clearly thriving considering their massive size, overtook most of the other holes. Life making its best attempt to reclaim soil that must have not been touched for the last millennium.

Yet… that couldn’t be true.

Within the soil, tarnished in colorful layers that unintentionally noted their age, lay great beasts. All old, all large, and all having succumbed to the pressure of time. One of the current era might be hard pressed to even recognize these as ancestors of the current world, the bones disarticulated and their forms foreign to the current day. Most blended in with the earth, a deep brown one might even mistake for a common rock — save for the clear points of where eyes, teeth, or horns once kept.

Yet one stood out among the rest.

A beast of beasts, the creature must have made even the largest of raptors feel small. The birds that rested on its skull looked like ants, and it should be noted that no small bird could fair the airs that forced along the gap between the shrubbed cliff and the layered wall. This creature was no raptor nor dragon, holding no recent form. It’s spines were broken in areas where no support could be found, though that seemed to be the only fallacy in the pristine preservation of this animal.

Only one side of its mandible was opened in a perpetual scream, where the other was tightly jointed to the skull. Few bones were out of place, with those that were only being but paces off of where they should have been. It was almost as if someone had taken the skeleton and carefully placed it right in that spot, for the plants and birds to make use out of it as rootholds and roosts.

What made this fossil particularly strange, though, was its placement through several depositional layers. It could be believed that a fossil might be lighter than others for one reason or another, but these bones reached straight through eight of the carefully lain blankets of soil. One could likely fathom a few bones to be displaced in such a way due to the earth shifting, water flowing, or outside circumstances such as a burial, yet these bones were together, articulated, and upright. As if the creature were standing, but was suddenly engulfed by the rock.

Teasel had seen many cliff faces and many old bones, but none as unsettling as this.

The large raptor was an explorer of sorts, a trader and curious soul. It was simply his nature to find things he could possibly take, mend, or sell only to fund his travels. Although this location had nothing he could sell, it certainly held a story, and therefore held the greatest value of all — to him, at the least. — it was unlikely that this sight would stand for much longer, considering the water and winds gorging on the history, with the lookout not fairing so well either. It’s a wonder the hefty fossil hadn’t fallen yet, nor having been taken out by the initial collapse considering its precarious standing.

He could only imagine what had happened to the creature. Lending it the benefit of personally and knowledge in his mind, he could only believe that this was a sign that magic was much older than he had first believed. Of course he knew it was ancient, but he’d thought it had… evolved. He could barely imagine what the poor creature must have been thinking when it attempted to travel into the future, only to be greeted by the unforgiving, ever shifting sands of time.

This is very much copy-pasted from a post I made on the Official Mochi Raptors Amino (I moderate over there), of one of my Raptors: Teasel! This was one of my bigger pieces, just to produce a little something fun for the community. :) Which normally means a more story-driven artwork with a little writing on the side.

I do love my fair share of magical mishap, which prompted the artwork. I was actually trying to draw the Minecraft Farlands originally, though, but I think my 5-year-old brain took over and said “b-but dinosaurs” so… yeah, fossils haha.

This is kinda set up so I can play with Tumblr’s layout and settings a bit more. So I apologize if this is a bit… messy? Either way, I hope you enjoyed!

[thepaintedsable]

Fern Artwork

Just a sketch of one of my characters, Fern.