Hey everyone, it’s been quite a while! Dropping by to check in and share this massive illustration I’ve worked on all month, which I’ve dubbed the “DEITIES Royal Family Redux.” The piece is both a “redraw” and spiritual successor of an older piece (Dysfunctional Royal Family), and something special to mark the 10-Year Anniversary of DEITIES Project's launch on Tumblr!
No, truly, the original [admittedly outdated] announcement post can be found here \o/!! Gosh it’s been that long already ya’ll...
There’s a lot I’d like to say about the entire process for this illustration, and about my general reflections on the project’s development and current scope, which I’ll save for a proper blog post update after taking a breather this holiday 🫠 In the meantime, I appreciate everyone in my audience who’s been part of the journey -- whether you’ve been here since the beginning, or found DEITIES project more recently. Thank you all so much for your interest, patience, and overall support, and let’s make 2026 a grand year to come!
Instead, I’m just gonna talk about Piko for a second under the cut!
This model was made by Jjinomu for our first Piko Live Party. His outfit is extremely true-to-form, but with a shorter tail so he wouldn’t step on it. I cannot speak on her thought process behind how she decided on how his face should look, but I can say she got the perfect balance for him. He can be cute, pretty, or cool- making him extremely versatile and easy to work with for me. I think it’s a perfect match up for his voice bank’s wide vocal range. I always include at least one or two Piko covers in the concert- partly because I worked damn hard on Piko Live Party, but also because I want more people to be able to experience Piko despite him being discontinued.
Tentative designs for Nightmare throughout the storyline. Additional tentatively colored Dream because he is integral to NM’s final design. 05/29/2023
Some changes are still to be made and finalized, but Arc 1 and Arc 2’s NM designs are pretty much finalized here.
A3 & A4 require a lot more changes, A3 the most.
Thanks to my partner in crime, @boxofwaspss for his constant help and feedback.
Changes to occur + design notes:
0-1-2-4 in sequence of tentacles and becoming whole again. 0-1-2-3 to signify something is lost but something is gained.
Arc 1 NM’s scar is a hole that you can see through.
A3 NM needs darker boots (or different shoes.) Pants should be a consistent color with the last season, or a warmer tone to evoke autumn more.
Additionally may change the star pattern. It’s cool, but unnecessary. Evokes idea of hope/determination, which is a central theme but not quite in this style… plus, the yellow already does that.
Scarf likely swapped for cravat because he’s That Bitch; and in that case, a proper shirt or blouse. This should make the visual transition to A4’s ensemble easier.
A4 NM needs more colors/brighter tones to signify the growth of his character. Since he is the ‘final look’, there should be a much more visible difference between him and spring. (Although my heart says black looks very good on him.)
A4 may get the bright color inside and dark color outside treatment on his coat.
A4 Dream also may receive diff colors on capulet. Making it yellow outside and teal inside would be interesting.
Design notes:
NM does get taller as the seasons pass; I reason as both the heels of his shoes LMAO and the growing power/negativity he amasses.
The outfits really don’t matter that much because I will play dress up with them anyway. But for the sake of references.
He always tucks his pants into his boots.
Refuses shorts. (“I look like a child.”)
Driven to make his own clothing after having to steal/alter other people’s clothing. Hates wearing other people’s clothes.
Bandanna/scarf and patch fabric (all yellow material) is scrap fabric cut from the Unfinished Tapestry (Dream’s cape.) Symbolic of healing/love.
Smiles more each development because he’s happier and more at peace. And because he’s a smarmy prick.
Has to wear a belt because his feminine hips are too slim for the pants he borrows.
Shoso-in Repository in Nara preserves a number of historically valuable treasures mainly from the 8th century. Special-appointed Professor Chiyo Fujino at Nara Women’s University has carefully traced thepatterns of valuable treasures and coloured them after thorough research and consideration, and finally has succeeded in recreating them. These ancient patterns make good design references and their elegance will impress readers.
First off, I LOVE your KOTM D&D designs!! I was wondering if you might go in depth a bit with their class choices? I agree with them, I’d just love to see the thought process behind them, what abilities and weapons you were drawn to!! If it’s too much though, no big deal. ^^ Excited to see any other kaiju you do in the future!
AAAAAAA THANK YOU SO MUCH DEAR!!
AND OH BOY OH BOY I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS QUESTION.
Buckle up nerds coz this will be a bit long to explain coz other people over the past week also asked about my choices and inspirations of designing the kaijus.
So the FAQ (and bunch of reference collages) is under the cut!!
FIRST OF ALL. I’m just new to Godzilla fandom, and the reason why I’ve been itching to design is one: other artists’ godzilla gijinka designs are HELLA beautiful and it motivates me to design one as well, and two: I just FKING LOVE D&D. So BOOM. CROSS-OVER. And FYI, all of these kaijus are Lv. 20 coz they’re Gods lol.
AND NOW FOR FAQ AND DESIGN REFERENCES:
I. GODZILLA
1. “Why isn’t Godzilla a dragonborn or lizardfolk?”
This is a gijinka fanart. Sure, lizardfolks and dragonborns are perfect for Goji, but I just want him to be a half-dragon for the fun of it.
2. “But isn’t Half-dragon a homebrew race?”
Yes, i’m aware of it. Like I said, I do this just for fun.
3. “Why is he a samurai? Should his fighting style be hand-to-hand combat or whatever?”
I chose him to be a Samurai because, duh, he originated from japan, and represented as Japan’s most iconic monster.
4. “Why is he using a greatsword when he’s a monk?”
Kensei monks can use any weapons: one melee and one ranged.
5. “Why is he Chaotic Good? Shouldn’t he be Lawful Neutral/True Neutral? Shouldn’t he also be Lawful when he’s a monk?”
One: you don’t have to be lawful when you’re a monk. You can be as diverse as you want in 5e. Two: I don’t mind with any alignments for Goji, actually. But i chose him to be chaotic good coz although he’s a force of nature, and doesn’t care much about humans, he needs to defeat other kaijus to bring balance of the world. He’s like an anti-hero for me. That’s just me. You can interpret whatever alignment you want him to be.
6. “I thought Godzilla was a female?????”
If you’re talking about the 1998 Zilla, yes, but “she’s” not the OG Godzilla we know. I’m aware that a lot of people are arguing about this, but it’s already cleared that he’s called “King of the Monsters”.
II. MOTHRA
1. “Why is she a Half-Kreen? Couldn’t she be a feywild or any fairy-type race? What the hell is even Half-Kreen?”
I would, but it’s more appropriate when she’s a half-insect. Half-Kreen is basically a humanoid insect race. Although it’s only a homebrew race, Half-Kreen is the most accurate coz unlike Thri-Kreens (mantis-type race), it doesn’t specify any insects.
2. “Isn’t Twilight Druid an Unearthed Arcana/playtested class?”
Yes. I know UA classes are a big no no for AL, but I’m choosing it for the fun of it. You can change any druid subclasses that suits her if ya’ll want to play as her.
3. “What weapons does she used?”
A druidic staff of course! I was thinking the design would be wooden attached with fake butterflies/small moths accessories, and flowers that moths are attracted to like jasmine, honeysuckle, evening primrose, sweet rocket and night-scented Stock. And oh she also uses a dagger coz she a bad kween bih you don’t wanna messed with.
III. RODAN
(Apparently there weren’t much questions about Rodan, so I guess everyone’s ok with him LMAO, but I’ll explain more stuff about his design:)
1. Why do I choose Aztec/Mayan designs?
All I can say is because he was born from Mexico lol. I was also inspired by artworks of Aztec fire god Xiuhtecuhtli.
2. Since I referenced his outfit from Aztec/Mayan culture, doesn’t he have feathered head dress like most of the gods have?
Yes, he has a head dress. I’ll work on his design sheet soon. :D
3. What are his weapon of choices?
Although he mostly casts magic, he would use a falchion, daggers and his armored claws :D
IV. GHIDORAH
1. “Why the f*ck is he fallen aasimar when you can choose him to be a half-elf or half-dragon??”
Ghidorah is mostly described as “a dragon who fell from the stars”. Since he came from space, I tried to convert his origin into armageddon/religious/biblical aesthetics to fit in fantasy world. So yeah, he’s basically a monster version of Lucifer. And besides, he can be half-dragon with his draconic bloodline sorcerer class.
2. “Shouldn’t he be lawful when he’s a paladin?”
Not all paladins have to be lawful. I mean, Joe Manganiello’s Arkhan is a neutral evil draconic paladin, so everything’s possible in 5e right now.
3. “Doesn’t he have two other siblings since he’s a three-headed dragon?”
I’ll be working on them soon heehee~
4. “Shouldn’t he be a gold draconic bloodline sorcerer, instead of bronze?”
Golden dragons cast fire sadly. Blue and bronze dragons are the only ones with lightning.
5. “What are his weapon of choices?”
A big ass greatsword and a big ass shield, of course :D All of them are gold and designs of his monster counterpart, obviously.
HOPE I ANSWERED I EVERYTHING!! And as for my upcoming Gijinka Kaijus, I already gathered some design references for King Kong, Anguirus, Battra, Biollante and King Ceasar, so I can’t wait to design them!!
Gumi has always been a character I struggle with a bit more than the others- whether that be designing her or picking out songs for the setlist. I cant say for sure why that is, but I can admit I was originally working on this design back when V6 was first shown off so she gets the most influence from that. When redoing her face, I decided to go back and borrow from her V6 art style once again, giving her big eyes and a bright smile just like she has in her official art. I’ve actually always viewed Gumi as something of a tomboy, though I haven’t had much of a chance to show that off just yet. Hopefully I can do so soon!
You ever notice how Teto has the roundest eyes you’ve ever seen? Complete circles. It honestly messed me up at first when trying to make her.
I primarily referenced her goodsmile PopUp Parade figure when working on her face. She’s an interesting character because I feel like everyone draws her so differently..but I knew she’d be performing with miku the most out of anyone in the crew, and I went very classic for miku. So classic face for Teto!
Fun fact: initial version of her outfit design were more similar to her VOICEPEAK design, with the top and skirt being more clearly two pieces with her middrift showing. But Jjinomu said the complete dress looked better and… she was right.
