#azudio

[lumilasi]

Another year, another attempt during June to draw these two more as my main pair. We'll see how that goes, last year I managed to (gasp) draw two pieces lol

(basically, I've not had very good track record with this lmaoo OTL)

[lumilasi]

Here's the stuff I did for this year's Valentine's during this week for my most central ships. (The two pieces with Ava and Roman are two different AUs)

I feel kinda bad not posting here much despite being very active on Cara, so I figured I could drop these here too for Valentine's day at least.

Azul & Diojas are an OG main ship, Avane and Roman are the most central one given Ava is essentially my OG art mascot/main character I draw the most, and Angus and Vincent have become more central recently due to Angus' elevated status as another main character.

[lumilasi]

More of these two for June. These are actually sort of redraws of some REALLY old art from...I think 2017? Anyway, One of the ways Azul helps his boyfriend to stop fretting over things too much and relax, so he can think clearer.

(old art version below:)

[lumilasi]

Azul: ....At least let me finish my drink.

I initially intended to add more pages to this, but I have a long list of to-dos today, so I decided to just finish this and maybe then either add new parts later, or link them as separate posts (If I do them)

Context: Diojas is a half-blood Grimmhound, but struggles to control his beastly form. Azul has a form of magic not seen in millenias, and his bio dad happens to be the Deity for that magic type now.

...I think that bottom Diojas is probably the best image of him I've drawn so far. His hair is difficult to get looking like I want to.

[lumilasi]

Finally, after forever I have some sorta ref post for Diojas. I needed to do this given he and Azul are my "main" couple, and the most major story of my characters happens around them.

I wondered if I should draw his full body separately for this as well, but then felt like it fits to have his full body ref image be with his BF, since that's the case for Azul's reference too. (Which, I now have to update Azul's sorcerer outfit at least given the story changes in regards to his BG)

Diojas' bio below:

Name: Diojas Sterling

Nicknames: Dio (his family/friends), Boy, Brat (his dad, affectionately), Puppy, pooch, your highness (Azul, jokingly) Prince (his dad's pack members)

Age: 29

A Grimmhound/Lightcaster sorcerer hybrid whose opposing powers cause him to struggle with controlling both, especially the former.

Family: Mother Mellina (Lightcaster sorceress), Father Alexander (Grimmhound), teen sister Mia. His dad's Grimmhound/Lycan pack

Love interest: Chester Knight/Azul Samaros, a thought-to-be-shadowcaster sorcerer whose magic turns out to be something completely different eventually.

Closest friends: Iris Avara (An astral sorceress who is also Azul's childhood friend), Angus Belmont (Formerly his BF's rival), Roman Bosco (the BF of Azul's friend/honorary younger sister figure Ava, a fellow half-blood Grimm)

Rival: none

Powers:

Astral projection: A basic skill for all magic using beings essentially, just how good you are at it depends on your skill level; on one hand Diojas should be really good at it due to being a Lightcaster, but because of his Grimmhound essence he tends to struggle with it.

Light spells: Diojas can utilize sacred light magic for exorcism, healing, protection and offensive spells, but how well they work varies

Grimmhound power: Diojas can transform into a canine beast that is very fast, strong, and durable, not easily damaged by mortal weapons or even most magical ones. Because of his father being a Golden Hound, he also can summon special claws that can damage spirits and ghosts as well.

Keen intellect: Because of his struggles with his powers, Diojas is very good at finding workarounds and using tactical thinking in solving situations when he can't rely on his magic. He's also known to be able to learn and retain a lot of random information for later like his mother.

Weaknesses

He's very self-conscious due to his struggles with his powers & having been a rather lonely child, meaning he struggles to approach people on his own in a more emotional level, which is ironic considering he's actually very good with people once he does talk to them thanks to his emotional intelligence and empathetic nature.

Diojas can't control his magic fully, and needs a protective talisman to keep his beast side at bay. He has spirit claws like his dad, but can't summon them most of the time.

NOTABLE BG STORY FACTS:

Diojas has always struggled with his hound side, and as a child had it lash out often; this is the main reason why he and Mia have such a big age-gap, its because his parents ended up waiting until his magic became stabler before even entertaining the idea of having another child.

Azul/Chester entered his life when his parents decided they wanted someone to cover his back during missions as he was starting to take reckless risks to prove himself, and given he was an adult at this point they didn't want to be constantly present and make him feel like a toddler needing to be kept an eye on.

Diojas was a very grumpy kid due to his struggles, which is also why he didn't really have friends a whole lot until he began working together with Azul, who introduced him to new people that he ended up connecting well with/generally gained confidence to make friends.

Diojas ends up becoming sort of the negotiating neutral party between Angus and Azul during the first few months of their developing new relationship, where the two were still likely to be at each other's throats.

Other Fun facts:

Diojas is gay, he was instantly attracted to Azul and VERY unhappy about it.

Unlike his dad, Diojas doesn't have as strong of a canine instinct in human form, so he doesn't act out on them at random like Alexander does - unless he's drunk. If you see Diojas staring at a bird, not wanting to take a bath, or scenting his boyfriend then you know he's wasted.

Lot of people assume his empathetic nature was inherited from his mother, but it actually comes from both; Alexander just tends to hide his behind a gruffy facade due to his past trauma. (once you actually look at what he does rather than says though, it becomes obvious he's someone who cares about people a lot)

Diojas' hair is two-colored because typically, only manifested Golden Hounds can have blond hair, but Diojas also had blond hair genetics from his mother, allowing the 'golden mane' to manifest partially. If his mum had a different haircolor, Diojas' hair would be fully brown or even black.

Since he is a Grimmhound, he does tend to prefer red meat/game based foods, but doesn't sometimes eat it raw like Alexander, as again, Diojas' isn't as strongly of a Stinky Forest Man like his dad.

He's a bit closer with his mum, mainly because he really looks up to his dad and thinks he's kind of a disappointment for struggling with his beast side so much. (of course Alexander doesn't think so at all and keeps reminding him of that, but it is difficult for Diojas to internalize the message)

His first time was with Azul, given he never dated before either on top of growing up with no proper friends. (Azul had slept with Iris before but no one else so he wasn't that much more experienced despite the confidence he seems to ooze)

He tends to enjoy snatching Azul's colorful cardigans a lot, to the point he no longer even really thinks about it when he does so.

Roman becomes one of his good friends almost accidentally while he and Ava help him and Azul out in their quest, and Roman can relate with his struggles and fears of his own powers, BUT is also older so he has some life-experience to share with Diojas.

If Diojas would let his hair grow out fully, it would still be brown from the underside and blond on top; the brown color isn't just in his roots, but rather his hair genuinely has a split in pigmentation.

[lumilasi]

This was the second Valentine's day piece I wanted to make yesterday but couldn't bc I ended up developing a severe migraine (I am prone to those, inherited it from my mum).

My "main" Couple, Azul & Diojas. I also updated Diojas' hairstyle a little into having an undercut, bc I concluded his current hair is....a tad confusing. Azul in turn got the geometric pattern tattoo from his biological dad to replace the random swirls he used to have.

(Adam is Azul (and Reuben's) baby brother, baby brother bc he's much younger than them, not a literal baby)

[lumilasi]

I've decided to try and draw these two a lot this month, since they are supposed to be my "main" couple, and generally I keep saying I need to draw them more........ and then don't lol.

Context:

The black snake is Azul's familiar/a naga pretending to be a familiar while he's actually someone who was asked by Azul's biological dad to look after him.

Diojas likely lost control of his Grimmhound powers again, and got his BF hurt a little bit. (he's fine)

This detail is something I sometimes forget to do but Azul has naturally black fingernails, it's not nailpolish. It's a side effect of his Void magic. (Tho he's not against using nailpolish lol)

In drawing these I have concluded that I can draw Azul just fine, but I do struggle with Diojas a little bit.

[lumilasi]

Template here

IDK why when I did this earlier, I never made one with my "Main" ship? Anyway, I was too lazy to do shading in the last ones. I've also NEVER in my life since I made these two 10 years ago drawn their kid forms. So this is a first lol. Also I haven't yet designed the new human look for Azul's snake familiar yet. His name used to be Lasha, but I might end up changing it.

For thr weapon/symbol part I had quite a few things to consider for Azul, whereas I pretty much invented that magic seal on the spot for Diojas. I'd say its kind of like a stamp signature he uses/will appear on any spells he does (just of course in the colors of the spell, not the ones the seal itself has). He could also maybe get it as a tattoo later or smth, I don't know yet.

Template originally by @fifteenskies15