Connecting Realities

Personal sketch and 'thought' blog mainly concerning zhuards and the Soulscape. Opinions and occasional daily life blog matter in addition to. Art, photos, concepts (c)SNW/TheBridgeBeyond 《《○》》 https://thebridgebeyond.carrd.co/

[thebridgebeyond]

Fighting off the tail end of a fever and decided I haven't done anything concerning color in a while. I have enough energy to at least get this done. This started off as a color test for Jericho and still is to an extent.

This may be too jarring for the overview ref since that's mostly line work, but I'll see what works.. Or maybe it won't be as jarring as the profile outline- zhuard musculature is not as crazy stark as that would have one believe (also, fur softens things a bit. I just normally draw harsh lines), but it is still prominent enough for visibility.

I may have to desaturate it and have the colored version separate.

[thebridgebeyond]

Wanna ride?

Abstract Ink Kelpie

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IDC, it's been an annoying month. I'm reposting this because I actually liked it. I'm not sure if it's in the archive or not- I don't think so.

[thebridgebeyond]

《●》

'Snow Zhuard- Clef'

Her clan name is actually Cleo, but everyone calls her Clef. She's peak happy here and especially with a bit of snow (zhus can offload excess DomEn1 energy by 'snow-angeling' in debris. They can't perform a full axial roll due to shoulder spurs. Sometimes, they just power down' like Clef here, and go still).

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I knew from the start that I wanted this to be a mixed media piece. Clef was sketched out with a standard 0.7mm mechanical pencil.

[thebridgebeyond]

The sharp stone city skyline of Chaitanni (pronounced by locals to the accent and tune of 'Chot-ne'.....and to them, everyone else is dead wrong). It is quite luminous -and blue- when energized, and this happens occasionally and often enough to be a signature of the city, but not special enough to be something that stops citizens from daily life. It's pretty those days; grey, and kind of uneasy in feeling otherwise.

Nobody makes a routine out of walking down the pathways out of the city too far because the things that like to use the more distant paths aren't always 'friend shaped'. Also, don't go hiking down the ravine. Be mindful of casting energy or transmutation of it as weird things can happen in this area.

[thebridgebeyond]

Crashout #2:

I've been doing the terminology tango for Issuhiro, probably since forever. Extradimensional something... but it's not dimensional anything. I do have some more accurate terms (definitely not a 'realm', not 'alter world')...but holy crap- I've been doing stupid amounts of personal research and deep dives of what I already know/learned in my college days and in teaching- for the past few weeks. I'm just trying to figure out if I actually mentally left college at all. It is now a sunny saturday afernoon.

Who the fuck is writing pages upon pages of theoretical science-or whatever the hell this is- on a saturday? For fun?! Apparently me.

It spans across a lot of different personal projects for me, so my multitasking ability is being tested. I'm definitely not good at that, but I'm making progress anyway. Somehow. I'm jumping around trying to process it all. There's so much to process.

Feels like I'm studying or writing a damn encyclopedia. Maybe both, I don't know. Equal parts enjoyable 'yay creativity', equal parts "my brain can't handle the leapfrog between a dozen written documents and my tablet has had it."

[thebridgebeyond]

Carrying this over from my bluesky account since the platform doesn't support several paragraphs of long ramblings and art rants. Well I'll be damned, it's been a good while since I've had a mild crash out on this blog and that needed to be fixed. So tonight's 'this is just a typical artists problem' rant: nostalgia.

Because how and why did my composition fair better when I understood less? [Yes I'm starting a sentence with because. I'm having a moment}. At least in a few pieces, my compositional perspective was much better than current, but that confuses me too because I didn't actively think about it. Being technical was an afterthought. Ask me circa 2019-2021 what composition was and I would've said it was a notebook.

I'm more keen to adding details now but somehow, there's an element missing. A few things got a major boost though, and maybe I just think it's missing because that's how nostalgia often works. Can nostalgia fuck off? I had a huge art block for a few years and am just coming out of it slowly, but within those years of trying to make or force art, bad habits and a lazier awareness occurred. It's a damn shame because it only becomes clear in hindsight years later. To be clear, I like my art, I like my style- it's me.

So now it becomes how do I correct without overcorrecting going forward? Maybe I'll find out.

[thebridgebeyond]

"Is this where the first ones' claws let go of the will of their past for the will of the Monarch? What they were before...the humans never forgave them, did they? I can understand their fear."

~

Remi and Monje conversing about their species heritage, the things left behind in the past, and present extrapolations.

This is an area in Issuhiro in which the Monarch broke off her golden spur and used it to create one of the first bridges in the dimension. It looks and feels familiar, and yet not. In the same vein, her new clan was very much the same way. They would never forget their human sides but could no longer abide by it. The bridge led deeper into the mountains and each zhuard that crossed was given a new life in which they've never fully known.

~

This golden bridge, like the numerous wayward bridges in issuhiro [of which have all different builders], are structures of power. This one in particular becomes a battery of domruku energy whenever zhuards are near- so much so that the lake starts to generate steam shown here. An interesting fact, there are no tributaries that form this lake. It exists in a strange stasis as it cascades over yet never empties. Issu bridges are also practical in some ways as true to their structure. This one overlooks a cliff, and all types of creatures are welcome to cross it- even humans. However, if a zhuard attempts to cross in a human guise over this bridge they will be forced to shed the illusion.

The mountains are a mix of shirkra (a reactive Spiral-dimensional metal) and moderate-high grade metamorphic rocks, namely schist. Shirkra by default has a translucent white-ish cobalt color naturally. Since no zhuards aided the mountains formation, their colorations are fairly uniform. Mountains and pillars in Issuhiro are not often subject to weathering, but they are subject to other various forces, so they have a lot of odd shapes and angularities. Also, unrelated to rocks, Issuhiro has no celestial bodies so this is not a sunset...rather a scattering and last showing of the major bands across that run across its 'sky' before the Amber season- a season of what seems like monochromatic dimness that can last as long as nine years!

Monje is a 'new' zhuard for me to get information about. I know that she is the first daughter of Asjha, who was a pioneer zhuard, part of the 'first ones' Remi speaks of. She is of course several generations older than Remi and yet Remi seemingly possesses more humanity than either of those two sometimes. Asjha and Monje most likely just became more cynical.

I was fairly methodical about drawing this, but I also allotted time for it from start to finish- so this is a bit of a first for me to stay with something and purposefully complete it with the timeframe in mind. If you are a chronic draft/wip starter or have a 'mouse on wheel' brain, you can see how this is kind of a big deal! So I'm pretty happy about that.

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Art (c)TheBridgeBeyond/SNW

[thebridgebeyond]

Some continued art musings from my brain while waiting to leave work..

I remember how some of the most prevalent art advice was/is "just sit down & draw something." I was really resistant to that- sometimes due to life issues, other times due to boredom. I definitely know a lot of it last year and this year alone was from big life changes that I can't wait to reverse, but in any case, it's been advice I never understood at first.

I don't draw every day, but close enough (four or five days count right??), and I only very recently built a 'schedule' to draw "something/anything [scribbles if need be]". It's a positive mind shift for sure.

[thebridgebeyond]

'Poised To Pounce'

It's been a little while since I've made any mark at all in my sketchbooks, let alone with any type of ink. I at least wanted to make one inktober piece this year, and I was tired of procrastination needlessly getting in the way - although that wasn't the only thing. After the pencil sketch, I went right to the inking phase and enjoyed the process quite a bit! It felt good to 'create' again, and perhaps that was helped by the medium. This was done mostly with ballpoint pen, which I'm tempted to dub as my favorite medium when I do work with it.

Here we have Yévonne, analyzing a target from above- or what can be inferred. She, after all, is the first zhuard Arikaige member- a stronghold group of hitmen in Issuhiro. Even though it was not her choice, she'd become quite proficient, although usually in a smaller guise than her full form here. Perhaps she is taking down something much bigger.

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[thebridgebeyond]

Horse-y looks? Check.

A bit of an illusion maker? Check.

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(Meme template isn't mine, but the zhu is, of course. My excuse for scribbling some art - doing two memes in one).

[thebridgebeyond]

{ many of the updates are from 6.11.2025, some in November 2025. I added a color model of Jer as of 5.2026!}Did some anatomy touch ups [read: damn near overhauls] on the current zhuard overview reference!

The overview maintains its design as intended, (which most likely will not be the case for the other refs..). In any event, keeping up with my own changes, I’ve started putting the date near the signature (which for art versus references, that ‘watermark’ will also be changing, but will stay the standard paw for refs)! Truth be told I should be putting the date on my art anyway. Added a much needed gradient of some sort (a custom brush). This will more or less be a thing going forward. It's actually very similar to what I do with my traditional art backgrounds!

The ref is large and text heavy, as it always was. The text is not going to show up the best here, so I will provide the DA link as well (whenever the website-or my internet- feels like complying!). There's a full edit list there of everything that has been done since this was first posted.

Zhuard Basic Overview Terrestrial Form- 2025 by TheBridgeBeyond on DeviantArt

Zhuard Basic Overview Terrestrial Form- 2025 — artwork by TheBridgeBeyond on DeviantArt. LIST OF ADDITIONS AND EDITS:  8/2021--Major changes

Zhuard Species (c)SNW/Thebridgebeyond

[thebridgebeyond]

A snow laden field in an area of the dimension, Issuhiro--it can only mean one thing: the main bend (above) has begun absorbing ambient energy back into itself for this season. In some areas, the domruku is leeched back more than expected, the normally stabilized temperature sinks and on rare occasions *if* rain moves in the area, it'll turn into snow. Both are fairly rare during the low energy season as any weather/'atmospheric' events at all ceases. Getting anything at all is extremely localized. .

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Art(c)SNW/Thebridgebeyond

[thebridgebeyond]

I have not done the typical New Year art write up and I am most likely phasing that out for some reflective art musings. They're essentially one in the same, and I don't feel too horrid for quieter years. I actually feel a bit more optimistic concerning art this year! I just updated much of my custom brushes too, with a better eye for what I think I'd like.

....

Time to knock on wood.

[thebridgebeyond]

A bit of a detailed sketch done last week as I figured 'gee, haven't drawn any young zhus in a very long time!' As it turns out, they are not as cute as I would have originally imagined from years ago. In fact, Allen here looks to be past the adorable 'out the womb' phase and more in the terrible gremlin child phase. She's also probably the size of a two year old Percheron, which isn't saying much considering how large zhuards get, but it's an amusing image. At this stage, she most likely is not versed at all with any 'form changing' abilities. A greater affinity for that comes a little later.

[thebridgebeyond]

A sketchbook doodle while waiting for laundry.

Alternative title: Between stores and tv commercials, I think I've heard the entire Mariah Carey Christmas album today, and I just can't anymore.

Is there no one else?

[thebridgebeyond]

First off, Happy Halloween/Happy Samhain!

Dark [Black] Familiar Feathers

Smeal- Allendria's familiar - overseeing her past, present and future- and a loyal companion.

I have not drawn Smeal up close in a while, and here, he is in an Earthy corvid-esque form. His corvid portrait was a spur of the moment art one night, yet the background came much later, on the heels of a very difficult week. One night, a 'junk' dream was leading me down a dark city, following a lifeless road with a few cars parked on either side. It was extremely dark outside, with the only source of illumination being an antique street lamp that cast a muted grey-ish light. I looked up as I heard some shuffling and squabbles from above. There were two crows surveying the area, then glancing at me with a cautious curiosity. I wasn't sure if they were darker than the lightless sky or not, but I saw them anyway. I gazed out in front and was met with a fog that touched the ground and almost melded into the lower level of buildings that surrounded me.

I stopped walking at this moment. Given the events in my waking life, this dream did have a somber meaning after all. The fog had nothing for me…but I did have something for the birds behind me. They were still there. Watching. Knowing. Their eyes burned a pure white glow, but I could not read their gaze.

Perhaps they just really knew I had treats in my pockets! I sat down on the curb, which was as black as the sky, and tossed some treats to them. They promptly and happily flew down to catch those treats and I felt jovial. I laughed, and felt so much joy! That was when I woke up, early morning dark blue showing through the window shades. It was still so dark out, that I knew no birds were up…but I swear I heard a few crows..

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Art(c)TheBridgeBeyond/SNW

[wingsabovethebridge]

Finally finished my fall wreath after probably a month of well..not starting it (oops), and somewhere in there is some familiarity from a loud-beaked crow I used to know~

Happy Halloween!

[thebridgebeyond]

Reblog from the 'birb' focused account of mine-

I stopped procrastinating on the wreath - it took me a few hours to weave together this morning. I'm glad I went with the grapevine couronne- it makes things easier, and I like the more 'scraggly' look. I'm obsessed with dyed eucalyptus and will definitely be using it for a *possible* winter wreath. All these were natural plants,dried and preserved. I'll have to be extra careful with it, though, and hopefully, it'll last for a while.