There was a pic on a youtube video that seemed fun to try drawing the pose/expression of while I'm ded and worn out and not enough oomph to work on main projects. So I did a "quick" doodle in like ..... 1-2 hours or something I dunno. =3=b
Maher is one of my ocs. I just pushed his hair around for this for fun =3=
I realized I hadn't drawn Maher in a loooong time, so I took him out for a date tonight to see how he'd turn out. X'D Accidental fluff treatment on the hair.
(white hair and purple eyes are an illusion from the earring. The black hair and white eyes are his natural colors)
Ehehehee, well now that I have that Specter breakdown up I can get one of its founders up too 8D Yeeeey for one of my drow babies~ <33
So, Maher Shelar was created the same time Specter was because an organization needs a founder to feel more solid right?
1. The Starts
Like what was explained in the Specter file the organization was made up of misfits who couldn't manage to obey orders from their higher-ups because they could see better ways to accomplish tasks than to just charge in head on with a giant mass of people. These people were also a little bit crazy because they were willing to run behind enemy lines, alone, with no backup, and wreck havoc. This was among other crazy things, like playing with explosions, shooting themselves into the air with a catapult, etc. So that was what I had to work with along with the idea that these people were like ghosts, being so quick and secretive that they were rarely seen let alone any further information gotten out about them.
With this data I doodled this first image of Maher:
It's all stretched because it was actually a header for a secret Livestream I had called SIlverSilence where I would stream things for my partner in crime to watch. 8'D
As you can see he already had the black hair despite being a drow. I decided to have him a drow simply because I'm shallow and I liked the ebony skin 8'D I had very little knowledge about drow at that time other than the fact they have black skin and white hair. I think I went with black hair because the white stood out too much in that picture and threw everything off. 8'D But let's just go with it being him in my subconscious telling me his hair is really black /shot
The outfit was based off of the one Emiris wears in that one mission that I drew before I even had any idea about Specter at all. 8'D
2. His name
Maher didn't actually have a solid name when he was first made, the one he has now was kind of a joke from me. 8'D It was taken from the phrase "maher-shalal-hash-baz" which, in a vague way, means "destruction is imminent." And me being the cheesy dork was like "Hey that's a good name for the leader of a group of people that shatters moral 8D" At first I didn't want to go with it because no one has a name like that and just happens to grow up to fit the name, but it stuck. And I ended up figuring out a reason why he had that name later.
3. First app image
If you didn't know already Maher was a character for an RP group on DA (Souls of Chaos) so naturally he had an application.
This was the first image for that and as of yet is the only app image I've done for him so far:
Lookit that art he looks like a wee baby 8I
Most of his design was actually influenced by my partner. 8'D I was focused on developing the other aspects of Specter before working on his appearance, and while I was working on that stuff she started doodling these little chibi images of Maher and Aleks (the other founder) doing really stupid things. At first it was hooded Maher, but gradually it became a ponytail and sleeveless, high necked shirt and arm sleeve thingies. So I took that and splatted it onto his official design since I liked it so much |D
I think the tight pants were because I was thinking I needed to draw something other than what I always draw, and that's what I got. The boots were a similar reason, yey buckles that take forever to draw.
The scythe was stolen from that one picture of Emi 8'D so that I could appear clever and make it look like Emi was using Maher's old mask and weapon. 8'D I'm lame, I know.
4. The earring/altered appearance
Okay I didn't normally put earrings on guys before, but again I was trying to break out of my norm for him and slapped some on him. Nice long pretty ears, may as well decorate them right? 8'D The earring actually ended up having a purpose quickly on as I realized he needed to alter his appearance to look like an average drow. Originally this was just because I was playing off of the secretive group needs secret identity thingy. But, I found out from Neo about the whole taboo stigma that drow culture has about hair that's too dark and eyes that are too light being a bad omen or whatever and they would actually kill any children who were like that. At first I wanted to make it so the black hair was the altered version because I didn't want him to be cliche and all rare in a bad way etc.... but he wouldn't let me change it |D So the earring was made to make him look like he had white hair and purple eyes via an opal and amethyst gemstone.
The gemstones are the colors that the altered state will end up in, and the location of the object doing the altering needs to be where it makes sense/close to the attribute it's altering. The ear is close to both his hair and eyes, so that works. There's a similar magic accessory that Emi has on his wings to change his colors. It's a purple/black opal though so all it does it darken all of his colors. Azre was the one who made them, so it's just shadow magic and not the same kind of magic that Maher had.
5. Devil's Luck
I'm not sure exactly where this skill came from, and I was a bit hesitant at first to keep it because I was afraid it would be seen as OP, but I kept it anyway. |D It made sense for a lot of things, and just didn't feel right to edit it out when it was a part of the character.
Things it explained were:
i. Maher not only having the darkest hair possible but also the lightest eyes possible. What are the odds of getting that. |D
ii. How Maher was able to survive being killed as a baby. Got to have good fortune to have that happen.
iii. How he's able to do all of those crazy ridiculous things on the battle field and didn't have a premature death
iv. How he was able to earn money for the earring and other things without much trouble and has never had to worry about money even though he isn't a noble.
The luck is a blessing and a curse, because he gets good things as well as bad. Luckily (haha, I'm lame) his luck makes it so he never had anything unlucky kill him.
6. Extras
A lot of stuff ended up being developed later, but I figured I'd add them here regardless.
i. Aleksandr Armyanski was the first person other than Maher's foster father who Maher didn't kill after the found out about his natural hair and eye color. Aleks is also the only person who was able to repeatedly beat Maher in games that relied on chance. This was because Aleks used math instead of luck.
ii. In his app it states that Maher will "almost religiously will buy a single white lily every day," but what happens to that flower is unknown. Actually, he sends that flower to his birth mother ever since he found out who she was and where she lived. It was his way of saying thank you for saving him, and also letting her know that he was still alive. Sometimes he missed days, but while it worried her there was always relief when they came again. Usually it was a bouquet to make up for the missed days. No one could figure out who was sending her the flowers either, because it was always a different delivery person and they were never told who it was from. This is all because I'm hella cheesy. |D
iii. This is something I only recently decided, but the name Maher's mother would have given him was Malik Saman. His foster father (who I have yet to figure anything out about) was only given the initials M.S. and therefore gave him the name Maher Shelar as a bit of a joke considering what had brought Maher to him.
iv. His hair is such a mess because he usually just hacks away at it enough that it's at a general length that he likes and he doesn't pay much attention to it looking nice. This is because he hates his hair, specifically the color and the fact that he has to hide it. When he met Aleks and was taken to a nobleman's home he started to attempt to make it look nicer, but Aleks mentioned that the haggard hair was something that was just part of his characteristics. Ever since then Maher stopped trying to make it look nice, but he also had his hatred for it stilled slightly.
