#arcanth

[papermonkeyism]

This week's coffee shop doodle time presents: FINALLY a drawing of the piebald bastard and his personal guard dog assistant that I feel good about coloring.

Assuming I don't fuck up inking this. But still!

The way Xaranthras is glaring here, I can feel he's just itching to either cross his arms or snarl at someone, but is restraining himself to not bother his boss, who seems to be focusing on his notes or something. There's some bullshit happening off screen, and he's judging.

[papermonkeyism]

I got a chance to commission Hanmonster on bluesky for a portrait of Arcanth, and I just simply have to share, because LOOK!!!!

Hot DANG it turned out gorgeous! Look at all those textures!! (The snoot!!!) How shiny the eyes are, AND the gold of the nose ring! How soft the colors are, and dang, those highlights look actually pearlescent!!! The horns are lustrous, and the hair is simply luxurious!! And the teeniest hair tufts at the ear tips!!

Worth every single penny! (They're open for character portrait commissions like this, btw.)

I just

Pretty!!!!

Anyway, had to draw a little reaction image of Arcanth themself once I got the final art last night. Because dang!!

Thank you for your eyeballs.

[papermonkeyism]

That other sketch made me realize some proportions things, and basically I think Xaranthras can sit approximately face to face with his boss as long as he's sitting on the floor? He's still looking *slightly* downwards, but not too much.

I don't know, I just think it's neat!

[papermonkeyism]

There's simply not enough hours in a day to draw all I want, but I did do an Arcanth wearing dangly chains on their horns! Because they deserve a little bling in their life.

[papermonkeyism]

"Mmm? No no, I'm listening..."

Was feeling Arcanth, and realized I never drew any art demonstrating how exactly their wrists work. Like they can pronate almost far enough back to touch the forearm, and don't extend as far back as human wrists do.

They are paying so much attention on whoever's talking to them, for realsies!

[papermonkeyism]

Had Arcanth in the brain.

I wrote recently how the underside of the crown (the head crest thingy) of Termreans is sensitive, and letting someone touch it is a sign of trust reserved only for the closest of people to you, so inevitably I had to draw Arcanth receiving some much appreciated under crown scritches.

Bonus Xaranthras reaction:

Note: undercrown scritches are not necessarily seen as intimate to the degree Xaranthras might have you believe here, he's just a stick in a mud about it. (Cultural nuances.) Arcanth, being raised by dwarves completely separate from their own species does not care about his opinions.

Now, nuzzling someone's undercrown would probably be seen pretty much the same as humans kissing each other, with reactions varying in a range similar to that, but there's nothing spicy about scritches.

I should give Arcanth's dwarven sister a proper design one of these days.

[papermonkeyism]

In a train to a friend's place for a couple days.

Amusing myself by thinking about Termrean dragon (Arcanth's and Xaranthras's people) vocalizations.

Being so tall and having just So Much Neck and Lung, their voices are usually pretty deep and weirdly hollow sounding (I've heard what cassowaries sound like and that's just something permanently stuck in my head now).

They don't really growl or roar naturally, though an angry Termrean will hiss, which can get disturbingly loud, and they can make shrill shrieks similar to elk calls when keeping in contact over long distances.

However, since they do have quite a bit of vocal flexibility thanks to their ability to speak, so in the same manner as death metal vocalists, they're technically capable of learning how to growl.

I just want to imagine Arcanth having learned that from the dwarves who raised her, and demonstrating these skills will impress every cultural dwarf in several miles radius. Xaranthras keeps being disturbed by his antics.

[papermonkeyism]

Holy shit!

I've spent pretty much the entire today in a varying stages of headache and crogginess, but suddenly got a completely random spark of inspiration to do yet another attempt at this piebald bastard's face.

And guys!

I don't actually dislike this one!

He even got eyebrows again!

Maybe it's because it's midnight and my frontal cortex has already clocked out for the day (specially after the headache), but this felt like a tremendous enough occasion to post it before I ruin it.

I have conquered human facial proportions! For now! Anyway, gonna haul myself to bed before I add sleep deprivation to the headache cocktail. I'll see in the morning how the mood holds up, but at the moment I am, in fact, happy with this one.