The Demon King

[rynling]

I’m focusing on An Unfound Door right now, but I still daydream about The Demon King all the time. If you thought I was done with this asshole, you would be incorrect.



This illustration by IchiMakesArt is exactly the tone I’m going for. It’s wild that this story started as a comedy.

There’s also an animated version on Ichi’s Tumblr (here). All of their animation is so pleasing to watch.

The color palette reference I gave the artist was from Breath of the Wild...



...with the idea being that the sun is setting on a ruined but verdantly green world.

The face model is of course the incomparable Ranveer Singh, bless his heart:



Ichi is currently open for commissions, by the way. They work extremely quickly, and they’re ridiculously skilled at drawing attractive people of all genders. Their work is so sharp and polished that I was afraid of commissioning them for the longest time, but once I got in touch they turned out to be super friendly. Always a pleasure when that happens.

Comments

[deemoyza]

Drop-dead gorgeous! Both the illustration and Mr. Singh. 😍

[rynling]

Thank you!!

As an aside, while looking for reference images, I found that the actor apparently went to college at University of Indiana Bloomington. I've spent time at that school, and like... For all that I can imagine my fictional character in postapocalyptic New Jersey, I cannot for the life of me imagine Ranveer Singh spending four years among the corn and cows.

[lassarina]

That's absolutely fucking gorgeous, I love it.

[rynling]

I know, right? I'm so lucky to have been able to work with this artist.

I'm already thinking about a post I'm planning to write for GYWO later this year about "How to Commission an Artist." My main point of advice for finding a suitable artist for an original creative project is to look around in the fandom for a work that's comparable to your own.

But sometimes? There's just going to be some obscure artist in rural Poland who is vibing on their own frequency and creating their own aesthetic and not fucking around with fandom in any shape or form, and it's such a joy to discover their work. I bitch and moan about social media, but I love that I'm able to make a connection with an artist like this from half a world away. God bless the internet.

[lassarina]

I think that would be really useful!