Updated ver, but for real this time 💖
I am safe to finally say this is how my River will look like in each step 🥹 (made it height accurate too). Previous arts are pretty much random because I haven't made my mind up on River's actually design so I kinda just draw him however I want.
⚠️ Actually I kinda want to yap a bit so if you ain't interested skip to next post please 😭⚠️‼️‼️‼️
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Ok so River's design had always used color symbolism but I pressed it further into this art. I'll make this quick, so for River, red represents his uh 'real' self, his courage and whimsiness 💔 (further info is in the pinned post 😭) while I chooses blue but not as in calming, but as sorrowful and emotional coldness. As you can see in step 1, colors are pretty much balanced here and there, black and white represent neutral emotions. And addition! Yellow, you might not see it, but his eyes are yellow, kind of golden, but it's originally yellow. I took yellow as representation of deceit and hypocrisy, not as in joy or cheerfulness.
In step 2 though, River is completely washed out with blue and neutral colors, no red in sight and his eyes seemed to be yellower than ever. You can guess it, he masks his real self even further because he's sure people would stray away from him if he just acts however he wants, and River doesn't want to be disliked, he want people to like him and to not worry about him no matter what it takes, he wouldn't even care if the person is just using him and doesn't genuinely want to be with him. He just wasn't sure if anything could change anymore and he managed to convince himself no one could help him get better. The amount of black and white (neutrality) made him 'plain' and numb. He just acts cheery and joyful so yeah, people wouldn't worry.
But in step 3, red basically overtook the color palette, even his blue hair was intertwining with red. A new color was added, brown, his boots are brown, yes. This time I took the positive symbolism of brown, which is stability and warmth (assumption...) because well, River clearly had found it. The neutral colors are pushed down to almost none, River wasn't afraid to show who he's really is. Yet yellow still makes it to the frame, in the buttons and even his eyes still, of course. He's still a hypocrite in some ways or another, but maybe it's just because deceit had always been one of River's nature in his heart.
I will definitely make updates about this man's personality gosh.











