Of Two Minds

Art, gaming and life, but mostly art. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my work. I'm a foreigner living it up in good ole Japan. I'm an english teacher by day...and then I guess an English teacher by night too. I'm an artist during lunch and my scant few minutes between classes. YAY!

[trippedside]

Solomon - The Prior of Gold

[trippedside]

Knives - The Architect

[trippedside]

Chatter - The Forgotten Stories ———————————————— For The Citizenry, death is an unknown concept because none of us ever truly dies. Our lives are just a story that gets recorded upon it’s conclusion, and then our experiences are mixed with another recently concluded, to create a brand new Citizen. In this way, we can live forever. Sometime during this recording process, something goes wrong. When this happens, a Chatter is born. They are stories that could not find their conclusion, Citizens who yearn for an ending, but can never find one. Books, ink and paper that sits rotting away in some dusty forgotten corner, their desire to be remembered is so strong it consumes them and an inky abomination is born. Named for the sound they make when they move, the voice of their past self trying to reach out and finish their story. This desire is so strong, it drives them to consume other Citizens in a vein attempt at completion, but inadvertently birth more and more Chatters. To us, The Chatter, those forgotten stories are as close to death as we’ll get. For what good is a story if there is no one to remember it.

[trippedside]

Locke & Pik - The Duality ------------------------------- Deep in the depths of the Lower City, outside The Church of Solomon's reach, beyond the glitz and glitter of the High City, spoken of with hushed voice and averted gazes is the Imperium Bar. To the peasantry, this unassuming hole in a wall is simply a place to wile away the hours, but to those in the know, it could be said that The Imperium Bar is the largest concentration of sensitive information in all The City. One thing must be remembered before entering the bar, and that is to hide your identity. All those wishing to enter must dawn a mask, and take a new name. The bar's proprietor, Queen, asks this of all her patrons, but don't think this is for her protection no, this is for yours. To Queen, you are nothing more than a resource waiting to be utilized. For she deals in information and will think nothing of using what is freely available to her. Of course, to run a successful brokerage, you need agents, and that's where The Duality come in. Locke and Pik came under Queen's employ randomly one day with a very specific set of skills. Like their names imply, their strengths lie in breaking and entering, with Locke being able to create nigh uncrackable locks, and Pik being able to crack even the most difficult lock. The Duality is nearly inseparable, where one goes the other follows. The idea of love is a foreign concept to us, but it does happen on occasion and it could be said that these two are the closest thing to love that we The Citizenry will ever experience.

[trippedside]

The Sword Maiden ------------------------------- Depending on who you ask, the Sword Maiden is either a single citizen, or several. No one knows for sure as each time you meet a Maiden, she's always different. Identical in appearance but completely different in voice and personality. The Maidens exist along side the Church of Solomon. But even the church doesn't know who they are, for no one has ever seen the Maidens together. Some say she's a kind hearted Citizen named Alienor who defends the down trodden and rescues those in trouble. Alienor is said to lead a group that hunts down villainous and wrong do-ers. Others call her Amelia, a sweet and gentle citizen who roams the streets singing quietly to herself. Other more troubling accounts say she goes by the name of Queen, a heartless information broker who operates out of the The Imperium Bar. Often seen in the company of the Fence Nives, Queen buys and sells information as well as controls all information that flows through the Lower City. No one knows for sure who these Maidens are, or even if they are truly one citizen or several, each day they are different, each using a different name and persona. Perhaps they are multiple personalities within one body, no one knows for no one has ever been able to see behind her mask and glance the true Maiden beneath.

[sanitrance]

A quick speedpaint done of my friend @trippedside‘s character, Nives.

He’s been going through some rough times lately and I thought it fitting to draw him up a little something to possibly help cheer him up, if only a little. Hang in there, bud.

[trippedside]

Eligor ver.XXXIX The Scribe They say that our lives are a story that has yet to be written and that the author will start the first page upon our death. Death though is a relative term for us, for no one in our city ever truly dies, they're just...redistributed. They say that all inhabitants of our city come from the Code. That when we die, we return to the Code and our experiences are mixed in and distributed with other newly decreased, and this new jumble of data will become a new citizen. With no memories of our past lives, we continue on forever adding to the Code. Our lives aren't just erased though, no. Who we are and everything we've ever done is recorded in a book and stored away. Who writes these books, you ask? That would be The Scribe, Eligor. He, along with dozens of Drones record, and process each and every story that comes through their halls and by doing so ensures that no citizen is ever forgotten or lost. There have been thirty nine previous versions of Eligor so far, with a new Eligor being chosen every few generations. Who Eligor is exactly is a mystery as we only ever meet him twice in our lives. Once at our inception and then again at our conclusion. It is He who decides what makes up our code to go into the world with, and it is He who writes our story at the end.

[trippedside]

My final character before I leave Japan officially. I've been working on a steampunk project for a few years now, but I always put it off in favor of designing other characters as Steampunk always demands more ornate details that I don't have the energy to do really. Thought I'd post up my progress.

[trippedside]

No-Eyes - The Predator ------------------------ In the early days of The Great Schism, before tempers flared, before our spirits were broken and despair settled in. We employed more creative ways to fight The Unkn0wn. We developed a covert unit known as The Beast Corps. A four unit squad specializing in different types of warfare. Each deadly in their own unique way, but none was as unique or as terrifying as 'No-Eyes'. No-Eyes' speciality was combat through paranoia. It carried with it Nanites that when introduced into prey subjects would cause hallucinations and steadily increase the targets aggression levels until they were so hysteric with fear and anger that insanity would set in. No-Eyes would feign an attack, injuring the victim just enough for its Nanites to infect them. It would then allow its target to escape, only to return days later to retrieve its Nanites and devours its prey. Beyond the Nanites, No-Eyes is a silent and effective killer, without the need to see, it can hunt in complete darkness. It's sharp claws and nimble body make for a difficult opponent for even the most skilled fighter. Worse yet, that if cornered, No-Eyes is able to split itself in two, severing its upper and lower body. Do not think the fight is over as it will continue to fight in its split state, and as long as one half escapes, it is able to regenerate itself completely. After the war, without word from their commander, we assumed the Beast Corps was lost, and so we all migrated to Halcyon and forgot. It wasn't long before rumors began to circulate about beasts that roamed the darker corners of the city. Citizens disappearing into portals, screams into the blackness of night, fear and paranoia began to take hold. Was this the Beast Corp again? Did they somehow make it into the city?? If so, from where? We don't want to die. Not yet, not so soon...

[trippedside]

Discharge - The Portal Hunter Essentially a walking power plant, Discharge was originally designed to provide power to weapon batteries during war times. To aid in his mission to repower spent artillery batteries, he can also open and close portals to wherever he needs to go. As peace took over, Discharge's uses became less and less. Due to a flaw in his design, his body continually produces destructive energies, that unless released, would eventually eat away at his mind and reduce him to a more bestial mindset. With an over abundance of energy, and no place to release them, he quickly became a threat to the citizens of Halcyon. Too quick to capture, too strong too defeat, the only recourse M0TH3R had was to lure Discharge into The Depths and trap him there. The Depths is where junk data is locked away to die and disappear, but instead of disappear, Discharge adapted. Using his portal jumping ability, The Depths became his hunting grounds, luring and trapping unsuspecting victims and using them in his games. While Discharge is unable to leave The Depths, this does not stop him from opening portals to trap his prey. Once found, he releases his overabundant energy into them, relieving the stress to his body.

[trippedside]

I don't know why, but I find inking to be totally zen. Just something about keeping your hand steady and watching the lines smoothly flow out is kinda relaxing. In other news the iPad Pro is amazing. The Apple Pencil is a total game changer for those who have drawn on the iPad before. Palm rejection works amazingly well and drawing on an iPad finally feels natural. No more floating my wrist above the canvas trying to draw a steady line.

[trippedside]

M0TH3R -The Light Bringer Before The Great Schism, no one had ever heard of M0TH3R, actually as far as anyone can tell, no such Tripp with that name existed before. All anyone knew was that there had been a female Tripp taken captive by The Unkn0wn. That's it. No other information was ever known or released about her prior to this. Not even how she was captured, or what she looked like. Nothing. So when the skies shone gold, and she came before us, we were all in awe. None of us could see her clearly, just a blaze of light. She beckoned us before her, and with not but the sound of her voice our wounds healed, our morale restored. With renewed vigor, we readied for what we hoped would be our final confrontation with the enemy. But before we could mobilize, she asked us if we would lay down our arms, and end the fighting. Surely this was some Unkn0wn trick, that she'd been sent to destroy us from the inside, but no. She calmly told us that the war was over. Confused we ventured out beyond our borders, and before us was silence. No sounds of firefight, no agonizing screams, no rumble of the Unkn0wn, nothing. She stood before us, and in a burst of brilliant light, a city appeared behind her. She proclaimed this to be our new home, where she would look after us, where we would never know pain or strife, where she would take her place as our Mother. How foolish of us to believe in such a savior... Our 'peace' was short lived as our 'mother' quickly began to show her true colors. Her 'eyes' flooded the city streets, watching and inspecting our every move. Random acts were punished and persecuted and many Tripps were dragged away to be disciplined. She unleashed The Trinity, her personal enforcers to take care of anything her Eyes couldn't handle. Rumors of strange beasts roaming the streets began to circulate amongst the people and we all feared for our safety. Many of us wished to leave Halcyon and escape, but any and all attempts were met with a swift end. We are prisoners here, and She is our keeper.

[trippedside]

Banner art! Or at least it would be if I could figure out how to change the banner on my Tumblr profile. I'm either blind, or I can't change it from my iPad. Bah, I'll figure this out one way or another! I thought it would be neat to see my newest designs side by side like this. When I'm drawing them, because their poses are largely similar, they all end up looking the same in my head, but when I see them together like this, I can see how different they really are.

[trippedside]

Scrap - The Cleaner (I've been debating whether or not to add my story sections to my uploads to Tumblr, but I'm just going to add them anyway. Read them at your leisure if you so desire :D ) No one really knows who or what Scrap really is, some speculate it's junk data that cobbled itself together, other say it's one of Trauma's discarded experiments. No one really knows. All anyone knows is that Scrap is unlike an Tripp in all of Halcyon, and that it likes things clean. Very clean. After, or even during skirmishes, it's little droids can be seen picking apart and tucking away cast off bits of data, taking them to places unknown. Why it does this is a mystery, just that it does. As far as anyone can tell, the collected junk data is totally useless, and yet it persists. Scrap makes it a point to never get involved in a battle, just to clean up afterwards. Unlike other Tripps, it's head is completely detachable and can even travel independently from the body. When questioned why it's head is so different, it simply replied "The other head was full of bad voices". What this means is a mystery to anyone. Scrap's body is cobbled mess of broken parts, and junk data. It's theorized that it uses the junk data it finds to maintain it's broken frame, but this is all just speculation. Another curiosity is the massive glowing data server it carries around. Droids can be seen crawling all over it, poking and prodding, fixing and throwing away pieces, but no one has ever seen it used. Occasionally, Scrap will interface with it, and what looks like a download process is started, but beyond that nothing is known. One story goes that Grinn was harassing Scrap during one of it's clean ups and while no one will say what really happened, Grinn apparently walked away from his encounter half dead. Some said that Scrap used some of the data from his server, and forged and massive weapon to combat Grinn, other say that the server opened and millions of junk droids came to Scrap's defense. Of course this is all just rumor.

[trippedside]

Hey there Tumblr, Sorry I forgot about you. Life has sorta got in the way, but I promise you you're still on my mind. I hope we're still friends! I've got a few new designs I'll be uploading soon, so I hope you'll check it out when they're up. Sincerely, TrippedSide

[marciaillust]

daily life of a digital artist:

is that a not coloured spot or a stain on my monitor

I didn’t save for at least 2 hours god is real

my playlist ended 1,5 h ago I’ve been drawing in silence this whole time

‘ “asdf11.png” already exists. Do you want to overwrite? ‘

I resized this very part of a picture but now it looks too small so let’s ctrl+z ohMYGOD IT’S SO B I G

this idea seemed cooler yesterday at 3 am

I want to pee but right now I’m doing so well and if I go I will leavE THE ZONE

opacity 67% or 68% I can’t decide

well this pic looks nice //*flips it horizontally*// I regret having eyes

where the fuck is my pen

[trippedside]

Exaaaaaactly

[trippedside]

Grigori - The Watcher

Tried a different design for the upper body with this one, as well as a brighter color scheme. I based the idea off The Grigori or Watcher Angels from the Book Enoch. More bad than good, The Grigori watch the world with their many eyes, and ever so gently guide the world in their favor.