"Death is Surrounded by Life, Life is Surrounded by Death"

"Opposites attract."

 - 2015 Brennan


Now this one? This one I'm still happy with. Quadrilateral and Tetracontagon are always fun to draw, and even if these are their old designs, they turned out super nicely in this picture. And I love the colors, too -- blue and orange are a great pair (as every person who has ever designed a movie poster knows, I'm sure).

"Snack Time"

"You know, it's a good thing that all of the Tepalagos like pomegranates -- if they didn't this adorable picture wouldn't exist. Even Terrak likes them, despite the fact that strelks are strictly carnivorous and they make him vomit if he eats too many.

I'm very happy with this drawing, but something about it bugs me... It feels unfinished. Mainly the siding on the house. I still have a large amount of trouble drawing any sort of architecture, especially at an angle like that. As such, I might edit this later on. It's been sitting on my Photoshop window for quite a while, though, and I was eager to get it done, so I called it good for now."

 - 2015 Brennan


Some say she's still not happy with it to this day...

"Can't Stay Above the Water"

"For the record, the water is symbolism (I use that word a lot in these descriptions). Or a metaphor. Or something like that, I'm not the best at identifying elements. But anyway, she is not actually underwater, nor is the bench, it's mainly the rule of drama combined with intent to relate to her sad, sad life.

Anyway, Ollie isn't very happy. She came from the desert and was taken in by a young couple with many desert-born children, though the couple fell on hard times and were forced to give up their children. Female desert-born have a very hard time finding work, because they're seen as "too weak to mine", and so she was left singing on the streets for change. She was pushed around by everyone, even complete strangers. Currently, she's a member of a band. She sings to soothe the nerves of those she used to be like. She's married to a rich odder. And yet she still isn't happy, as she's forced herself into the mold of what she's perceived to be, not what she is.

On the bright side, she's very good at singing the blues."

 - 2015 Brennan


At least now she's not unhappy. Because her character no longer exists.

Brutal, but effective.

"Unwitting Symbiosis"

"Poor Blik. He never wanted to be the Sehen. And he's got a thing coming out of his eye socket.

In all seriousness, the snake-thing is a personification of Blik's magic, and it actually lives in his lungs (like all magic) so he doesn't really look like that."

 - 2015 Brennan


My, Blik, what a circular head you have...

Although this was the beginning of my apparent love of drawing him, so I suppose I shouldn't criticize it too much.

"Don't Protect Me"

"Cornelius has some extremely powerful magic. So powerful, in fact, that it became a growing concern that he would end up like Veraldas and cause quite a bit of destruction because he couldn't control his abilities. Eventually, after several mishaps, the government of Teak decided that the only option would be to lock him up so that he couldn't hurt anyone, much to his family's despair. However, Cornelius' friend Tomma heard the news, and wasn't about to let her dear friend be imprisoned. She convinced him to flee with her, and the two left Teak. They manged to stay out of harm's way for quite a while, but eventually Cornelius' worst fears came true, and his magic became uncontrollable. He left a path of destruction and horror in his wake, but Tomma was convinced that all that mattered was Cornelius' safety. Even though Tomma saw no issues with her plan, Cornelius himself began to, and wondered if it would be better for him to be locked away in a cell.."

 - 2015 Brennan


I still like the frosty effect this one has going on! And the perspective isn't terrible, either. Though Cornelius' design has changed a fair amount since then, his story hasn't.

"Realistic Strelk"

"Well, not entirely realistic, but it's as close as I could get. I did a little fact page type thing while I was trying to flesh out the details of the species a bit more, and I thought that it would be fitting to draw a more life-like strelk to go along with the life-like facts. I'm very happy with the way it turned out, and I'm most proud of the legs. And the eye. I like to draw eyes.

Speaking of facts, a fun fact about this drawing: all those scales are drawn by hand. Halfway through the drawing, I deleted the scales layer. So I drew all those scales TWICE. I was not a happy Brennan for a couple hours."

 - 2015 Brennan

"Death's Run"

"To Tetra, the world is slowed down a ton. Since she is required to collect all the deads' souls from their bodies, she has many, many places to go. Having time slowed helps, but she still has to get there fast. So, she runs. She's normally in her deer-like form, pictured here, but she will become a forty-armed serpent if necessary.

Fun fact about this drawing: I started it in 2013 or so. Due to Tetracontagon's stylized depiction, the difference in art technique was so small that I was able to fix it up, finish it up, and have it look like I had started it only a week or two ago. I'm much better at drawing forests now, though."

 - 2015 Brennan


Where is that forest-drawing skill, 2015 Brennan? Can I have some of it?

"Beloved Queen"

"Strelkish society is interesting. Where Terrak (the one on the left that is totally mesmerized) is from, all strelks are ruled by a single leader. These leaders have exceptionally strong projection abilities. Projection abilities are split into three categories, from the most basic to the most difficult to master: communication (simply being able to send and receive mental images), empathy (being able to send and receive feelings), and suggestion (being able to alter someone else's opinion however you like, as well as go through their thoughts and memories). Every leader's skills expand into category three, as this is how they keep the society passive and pleased with their leadership, regardless of how barbaric they actually are. When the occasional dispute does arise, they shift the blame from themselves to an easy target, often someone who is visibly different from the group. As Terrak is albinistic, he is one such easy target."

 - 2015 Brennan


The whole mind-control aspect of strelkish leaders was never really explored in Things with Wings. It just didn't fit into the short story very well, and would be tough to describe with words. Most of this information is still accurate, though! Strelkish monarchs are cruel.

"Fugitives"

"Daylene (the purple, cat-like creature) has been accused of something awful, a crime that she did not commit. While her companions, Atlas and Trapezoid, believe her, the rest of the world does not, and the three embark on a journey to find information to clear her name. However, there is always a fear of those hunting the group from the shadows..."

 - 2015 Brennan


I was So. Dang. Proud of this when I drew it. I still think it looks nice! If you can't tell, it's based very roughly on the plot of the first Mystery Dungeon game.

"Czar Caesium"

"So, there I was in science class. We'd just been given a project that had to do with an element. Each of us had been assigned a random one, and I got Caesium. I didn't really want to do something as dull as a powerpoint of something as common as an ad, so I did this. Can you see all the symbols hidden in there? Here's an explanation from the paper that I wrote to go with the picture.

"As for the actual design of Caesium, I tried to make him look like a classic medieval king from a colder region (the largest reserve of Caesium is found in Canada, and it was discovered in Germany). I immediately thought “the element must be named after Julius Caesar if it’s called Caesium” when I heard the name, and though I was wrong, the image of a king still remained in my mind. The crown on his head is meant to be made of Caesium, and it’s melting because of its low melting point, which would cause it to melt at body temperature. The poncho he’s wearing includes the spectral lines of Caesium, with the two blue lines that identified the element in the first place being emphasized. The shattering glass of water is meant to capture Caesium’s most well known trait: its explosive reactivity when exposed to water.
The purple designs in the background are harder to see than I intended, but they depict an abstract picture of my design of Caesium melting and boiling, along with the temperatures that the phase changes occur at (measured in degrees celsius). The pillars in the background contain the elemental symbols of the alkali metals, Caesium being highlighted by a blue flame (as the element burns blue-violet). The chair that he’s sitting in has a clock on the top, which has the bohr model of the silvery metal as a design on its face. The clock exists because Caesium is used in highly-accurate atomic clocks. If you look closely, you can also see that the hands of the clock both point to five, and 55 is Caesium’s atomic number.""

 - 2015 Brennan


Jeepers, my younger self had a lot to say about this one. Probably because it was for school. I'm always long-winded in academic settings.

"Desertfodder"

""Desertfodder" is a derogatory name for the children who appear in the desert (as well as a play on the word "odder", who can only be from the desert). Because many children are born in this way, orphanages often don't have enough room for them, and they are forced into low-paying jobs in great numbers. Morty and Everest are two such children, and are pictured above. (See their shadows behind them? It's literally foreshadowing.)

I don't think I've ever drawn Morty without his smirk. It's... disturbing..."

 - 2015 Brennan

"True Love?"

"A quick picture of Morty and his first wife, Heather. She loved him because of his money, and he loved himself more than he ever could love her. Not a very heathy marriage, if you ask me."

 - 2015 Brennan


Though Heather still exists, she and Morty never actually got married in this version of things -- they just had a fling and then broke up. I don't think Morty could ever convince any sane woman to marry him.

"Though the Eyes of the Mechanic"

"This is Terrak. I was aiming to do a sort of cut-away thing, as I wanted to showcase him with and without his mask. The feather up there (which isn't a boat, by the way) is symbolism, as he's always wanted to fly. (He looks a little scary without the mask, but his eyes are full of child-like wonder.)"

 - 2015 Brennan


This time period is the Terrak era. The T-era-k, if you will.