I Absolutely Must Study Your Backgrounds.

Last page of my sketchbook (52% hollow knight, 18% jekyll and hyde)

Hydras are a highly elusive drake found primarily deep within cave systems. 

Known across the globe for their multi venomous heads the true nature of the Hydra is a bit more complex. 

Much of it’s life the hydra will live solitarily, and living within labyrinthian cave systems makes that quite easy. Males and Females of the species are quite dimorphic, rarely coming across one another. However it is upon maturity the the Hydra will undergo it’s task of metamorphism. The multi headed dragon of legend is in fact a bonded and mated pair.  Females develop a bioluminescent lure, that both attracts prey but also a potential mate. Upon finding a suitable sire, the male will adhere to his mate’s back. This process is not immediate and full adhesion will take years to complete. An enzyme is released from his underbelly allowing for the fusing process. However females have a counter enzyme allowing for females to reject potential males should better stock be found. Upon full adhesion the males body nearly fully absorbs into his mate, even their brain chemistry will intertwine. His wings, however, will remain fully functional and as such will allow for the pair to venture beyond the cave for greater feeding opportunity. Why most hydra are double headed, there are cases where multiple males will adhere to a single female. The most dominate male remaining most intact. This typically only happens to larger more dominant females.

Other dragon species have following a similar convergent evolution such as the False Hydra. Male False Hydra possess a suction cup appendage on their underbelly comprised of highly modified ventral scales and females have the responding on their back. However this bond is not permanent and separation is capable. 

GET SKONGED RAHHHHHHHH

📔🖋️

Stealing this idea

imagine having tree genes. couldn't be me

Yoinking this for later.

got any tips for drawing backgrounds/environments? yours are just utterly stellar

hello and thankyou for the ask!! and for the kind words!!!

truth be told—i, myself, don't much know what i'm doing when it comes to. anything art related. my process involves a lot of flailing and nebulous feelings of what to do.

in addition, for me, my character art actually came after my work with scenery, so advice may be wonky as a result! this is simply what i have found for my own style.

for backgrounds of my style i have found:

focusing on shapes is good!! just like closer-up artworks, it's good to focus on silhouettes and general impressions. getting some nice shapes into the background, without adding much detail, can go a long way (this goes for objects, landscapes, lighting, what-have-you)

things that are in the background (or, generally, out of focus) tend to look lower in contrast. i will even fade some of mine into neutral colours so that the objects in the foreground/the objects of focus stand out more. values are important for separation!

it's helpful to keep in mind how different colours/lightings may affect one another (reflection and whatnot), too! all of my pieces tend to use quite limited palettes partly for this reason. colours from the background will find their ways onto your subject and vice-versa. that is not to say that background colours and subject colours cannot be different—contrast is good!! cohesion is also important, however.

Vessel

RW paro

pale king design.