Me back at it again with almost forgetting about KHOC Week, But thankfully I decided to do my heartsmiths this year so I already had some refs laying around that I just needed to finish coloring! Sorry for the repeat art, but it’s been awhile since I’ve posted these too so I thought I’d brush the dust off and repost them!
My main man Atlas, he’s gone through some changes recently! Mostly with his hair, but his entire Knave of Hearts design got a makeover that you can see in THIS COMIC I made awhile back.
Kei!!! The main and best girl. Her design hasn’t changed much from the beginning, mostly I just changed my style of drawing her, and figured out how I wanted her hair loopys to work. Along with her body ref we have her keyblade ref! I absolutely love drawing her keyblade tbh it might be my favorite one to draw out of all my personally made ones. It fits her personality so well and shows how strong of a member of Ursus she is.
Quest’s design is probably one of my favorites out of the group. I don’t know where in the hell I came up with this, but I did and it’s just always worked out for him. I can’t picture this outfit on anyone else, it’s just so very Quest. He’s my ‘protagonist’ as it were, my original plan was for him to be the KHUX protag but things ended up changing as I developed him. But he’s still a strong wielder and party leader for Leopardos.
Wynter is so neglected so I decided to include him in with the kids. He’s the OG heartsmith and known as Father Time, the creator of Time Magic and best friend(?) To the Master of Masters. I do think his design is the weakest out of the four, but I also haven’t been able to design an outfit in a way i’m 100% content with so the battle continues.
His keyblade is special because he can freeze hearts in time, which he ends up using on Atlas before the keyblade war. He has a bittersweet ending as he ends up reincarnated in the main KH storyline after dying in the age of fariytales.
For those who don’t know what my concept of a heartsmith is, please read the below! It’s the abridged version so if you have any questions feel free to ask them!
In the age of fairytales, when the foretellers were chosen and given their roles, others rose up to their own calling. With the abundance of keyblade wielders now in Daybreak Town, a local smith decided to take it upon himself to learn how to help these young warriors. With the Master of Master’s permission, Wynter Penn started experimenting on how to repair keyblades that were damaged, and the hearts of their wielders by extension. Because of this he was known as the ‘heartsmith’.
Heartsmiths are those with the ability to repair keyblades and hearts. The former being the focus and the latter actually just a useful side effect. As keyblades are manifestations of the heart, being able to repair one means you’re able to repair the other to some extent. The ‘extent’ varies from smith to smith, it depends on how easily the smith can connect with a heart that is not their own.
It was also their job to upgrade keyblades, making them more powerful and suited to their wielders wants more often than not. Though wielders could do this themselves by other means, the smiths offered a more in depth process. They could also repair the keyblade while upgrading it, making it more durable for a time.
There is pretty much two kinds of damage a keyblade can take. Physical, such as the keyblade actually physically breaking and everyone can see that. These are actually more difficult for the smiths to work on but through their magic and their actual smithing backgrounds they are able to build a keyblade back no problem.
Then there’s what I like to call ‘Aches’ because I can’t think of anything better. Aches are the damage wielders have a harder time seeing. It’s when the wielders mental and emotional states physically start affecting their keyblades. As keyblades are manifestations of their heart, it stands to reason if there is something burdening them, something weighing down on their heart, then their keyblade is affected as well. This is the sort of damage only a heartsmith can fix - but it’s also half on the wielder. The wielder has to talk out their burdens, say why their heart is aching, before it can be 100% healed. Sometimes the smiths simply close it the best they can, because at the very least by this point the wielder is aware of their heart’s ache and can work on healing it in their own time. This can lead to multiple sessions but the smiths do their best to repair it to a point that the wielder isn’t just walking in the next day.
So visiting the smiths is akin to a therapy session. They have to talk to the wielders, gain their trust, realize what is bothering them, and talk them through on how to improve.
Upgrading a keyblade is very similar! While combining the materials to make the keyblade stronger, the smiths will talk with the wielders about their goals, why they want to get stronger - and what that even means to them. The upgrade will always succeed, but depending on the wielder’s state of mind and heart during the process and the answer to the questions the smiths ask, that will determine the new strength of the keyblade.
Precious boys in this little sketch are Atlas and Wynter Penn, @ryryrykerarts ' Kingdom Hearts OCs. take a look on her page because her ocs have great designs!
Izuku then remembered that it was a day just like this when the young prince, Todoroki came months ago, the man with a broken heart but still gave him smiles that offered nothing but an effervescent sweetness but with eyes that held hurt beyond comprehension. And Izuku thinks, "I want to fix him"
Well it’s gettin put into a short film and I want to share this fuckin kickstarter. When i first read (Heard actually i watched a comic dub) I cried man so imma share this as I can’t donate but you might and maybe you know someone who can.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hearts-for-sale/hearts-for-sale-the-movie?ref=814197&token=ad69524f
Reblog if you can’t donate please.
I dunno if you guys want excerpts of what I’m working on, but here you go anyway. ^_^
The creation of a new heart was one of the oldest methods of alchemy in existence. When a baby was born, as soon as it took its first breath and the external universe touched the new internal universe of the person’s mind, a star manifested, crystallizing into a beautiful red gem, as the star itself formed the center of their heart like a tiny sun. As the person grew and learned to process their feelings through the gem, the more their galaxy would also grow, filling their heart with stars.
