This was supposed to be a quick sketch. Whoops. Hey, does anyone remember the last time I busted out a full piece in 2 days? I don't.
I figured out how to export stuff so it's truer to the palette I used in CSP, which is nice. Now you can really see how eye-bleedingly saturated I make everything, right down to the skin tones.
BTW if you ask me things about my characters on my blog QnA I might answer... might even have them answer, themselves... haha jk. unless
The sniper. He spent years wandering the northern Outlands before Diego recruited him for Atomos. Now, he’s the Captain of the sniper division. He’s got some kind of vague familial relationship with Diana, and an even more vague past.
“Through the Valley” by Shawn James
“Well, I came upon a man at the top of a hill
Called himself the savior of the human race
Said he come to save the world from destruction and pain
But I said, ‘How can you save the world from itself?’”
I wanted to draw Vipe for his birthday, but had the idea far too late, and started this on the day itself, so I'm just late as hell with this. I'm gonna talk about it anyway, though.
Vipe's birthday is December 13th. This makes him a Sagittarius in the 12-sign system, but an Ophiuchus if you wanna be a 13-signs zodiac freak. Full transparency, I don't actually care about astrology-- but hey, I like the symbolism. Ophiuchus is the "serpent-bearer," a representation of the healer god Asclepius, and is paired with the constellation Serpens to create an image of him holding a snake. TL;DR of the myth is that Asclepius killed a snake, and then learned resurrection from another snake, then got yeeted into the stars by Zeus because Hades was pissed... or something like that.
The symbol of Ophiuchus is one of the elements of Vipe's tattoo, not pictured. I'll leave the bulk up to interpretation and for the future, but this constellation matters to Vipe in its representation of snakes/death/resurrection/healing. I'll probably talk about his tattoo more in the future. I could talk about it for some time.
I feel like this drawing is a bit of a return to Vipe's origins-- that originally, I drew a freak with an attitude just to draw a freak with an attitude. He's gone through a lot of phases in his character development since 2019. Sometimes I can't believe it's only been 6ish years since I created him. Life could not feel more different.
Uhhh um uhhh so the deal is. The process... I went on Pinterest and picked the first facial expression I found that wasn't Model Face TM. I uhhh sketched it and then lined it and fucked that up and then colored it with very watery inks that should NOT be used on printer paper but I was NOT really thinking ahead so. Ahem. It got gnarly as fuck. but I embraced the gnarl. Scanned it every step of the way in case I decide I wanna mess with it/redo it digitally later. Edited the final scan a bit for contrast. Did this all in one sitting pretty much.
I hope you enjoy seeing my art with no lasso tool no undo tool no liquify tool no erasing lines and also not even proper use of materials. next time I'll test different paper types first. Probably.
If people like this, I might do it again but digital... I honestly quite like it, myself.
Long story short, the town they lived in was destroyed, they were among the few survivors, Viper found Zinger in the wreckage, Zing punched Vipe and then wouldn’t leave him alone, and it’s been about… ten years since then. Vipe’s something like a dad/older brother to Zing, at this point, and is more protective to the kid than anyone else. Zing continues to cause trouble, of course. Youngest sibling privilege.
Viper is a legendary bounty hunter— legendary as in people love to spread myths and seldom know the truth about him. He’s the leader of the Snake Pit Gang, a biker gang made up of survivors from the bombing of the Oasis settlement. Zing is the youngest member of the crew, and loves to make the others worry by taking risks and attempting stunts.
The other members of the SPG include Daze, Seamus "Shay" Hayes, and Rhea Hayes.
The bounty hunter. Leader of the Snake Pit Gang, and a bit of a legend in the Outlands. The past decade or so has been one for the history books, and all he really wants now is a good life for his gang.
“Knievel Has Landed” by Stone Sour:
“I threw it all away
It doesn't make it better
Why am I the ostracized?
Maybe I can change
If I put it back together
If I'm right, then I don't want to know”
The General. He created Atomos to bring down Nexus and protect the Outlands from its influence. He’s still working on understanding Outlanders, though, and sometimes slips up and says “Wastelands.” Even though he leads an army, he’s still more of a politician than anything else.
“Lead The Way” by Shawn James:
“So give me the broken, you take the whole
I'll show you something worth so much more
Than a perfect figure, a frame of some sorta standard way
They said a change was gonna come
But I ain't seen nothing new under the sun
If a change is to be, we better lead the way”
The sharpshooter. Well-known in his small town, Arrow’s Bend, as “that pale nancy-boy who shoots real good…” not that he likes that description very much. Adoptive brother to Damon.
Originally posted with "Six Barrel Shotgun" by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club:
"I kill you all with a six barrel shotgun
I kill you all but I need you, so
I tear my finger from the trigger, baby
I tear my fingers 'cause I'm feeling low, and son,
Son, Sunday's sun never shone on me"
*(Let it be known that I refer to Mao with he/him pronouns in-story for a lot of it, but they/them pronouns outside of that. Takes 'em a while, don't worry about it)
