THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS

this goes so fuckin hard

”A revolution must be started by yourself. An egg, opened from the outside, is food; opened from the inside, it is a new life.“

Ovum exteriore apertum cibus, interiore vita nova.
Revolutio exteriore est incursio.

Anyway all of this to say, most adventurers are fems.

- short hair
- archery
- cool backflips
- sneaking around in the forest

10/10
It was a major goal of this project to create a simple nonbinary gender system that can be understood (and enjoyed!) by people who have never explored their gender. :)

#QueerArt #nonbinary #gender

9/
Dissons are relatively new to be named and acknowledged by their culture. In the same way there isn't an "agender" section in department stores, dissons don't know what to do with their hair or sleeves or pronouns. There isn't a standard, just a bunch of messy people figuring it out.

8/
"Dissonant" is a catchall gender the same way we might say "transgender" or "nonbinary." It doesn't tell you almost anything about how this person identifies or presents, except that it's different from the normative expectation.

7/
"But this is only three genders!"

Correct!

Some elves living in this system can find a place, but not everyone. Some elves don't feel masculine or feminine OR harmonic. They don't fit in, or they want to stick out. What's the opposite of "Harmonic"?

"Dissonant."

6/
This isn't a patriarchy *or* a matriarchy. It's something else.

"Harmony"

Only individual harmons are full people. Mascs and fems are, at best, halves of a whole.

Adding more genders and swapping out the privileged class didn't fix the oppression. The hierarchy is the problem.

5/
Individual harmons as well as "harmonic couples" exist. A harmonic couple is considered a singular "harmon" legally and socially.

Imagine if the government regulated soulmates with paperwork. 😬

Imagine trying to get a job when the other applicant is two entire people.

4/
The "whole" gender is "Harmonic," a new invention for this setting.

A "harmon" is both masculine and feminine, in totally equal amounts. They are expected to grow their hair long, but braid it and wear it up. Their clothing has puffy, layered sleeves.

3/
Both mascs and fems can wear pants, skirts, or robes. Clothing is gendered by the sleeves: masculine sleeves are wide and loose, feminine sleeves are fitted. Mascs are expected to wear their hair long; fems are expected to keep it short.

They are seen as equal, broken halves of a whole.

2/
Feminine/Masculine are familiar concepts, which are not quite analogous with "man" or "woman." The cultural drag expected of each gender is defined by the dominant culture, which in this case is elves.

The elves of #thecrystalcityfalls have a very basic four-gender system, to explore some ideas that might be unfamiliar to people who are only used to binary genders.

🧵

Three hovering vehicles of similar design and different size: a motorcycle, a sedan, a truck. The motorcycle has been sketched in perspective. All the vehicles have bars of red light on either side, like the runners of a sled.

Vehicle designs for fascist magicpunk mountain elves.

This setting has three culturally-accepted genders and it took me some time to figure out the expectations for clothing and hairstyles.

A lot of my early Omeras have "harmonic" (puffy, layered) rather than "feminine" (slim, fitted) sleeves!

Pencil drawing across two pages of sketchbook. This is Omera Vesiin, a master necromancer. She's an elf maybe 200-300 years old. She's short and has lots of curvy/round shapes with little delicate feet and hands. Her hair is cut short and angular, with bangs that barely give space for her big round glasses. She wears a simple shirt and a very short skirt. She has a (blue) band inhibitor worn around her throat like a choker and she uses a magitech wand, which would glow golden yellow.

Outfit sketch of Omera wearing a mullet-type skirt with her hands behind her back like parade rest. A pair of quickly-sketched and very loose storyboard panels beside her reveal that she holds a knife behind her back.

Another outfit sketch trying to get Omera to wear a skirt of reasonable length, and heels (requested on Patreon). The skirt has big slits in the front so her legs stick out. Again, she has a concealed dagger.

Omera is a necromancer who works for the government. Like Liirem, she's one of very few with an inborn intuitive control of blood magic.

Omera didn't make it into the pilot, but she'll get an introduction in ep2.

#oc #art #indiepilot #thecrystalcityfalls

Page of sketches while working on storyboard for this scene. There are several "panels" showing guards escorting councilors out, Vontaas looking over the balcony, the crowd shouting up at Vontaas. There's two portraits of elves, one with wide hair over the shoulders and one with a fancy updo like antlers draped in beads maybe.

Five storyboard panels. Above the crowd, uniformed CITY GUARDS are evacuating the seven CITY COUNCILORS through a back door of a high balcony as the crowd rushes in, CHANTING. CROWD (continuously) Throw them deep into the sea! My magic belongs to me! COUNCILOR How did they get past the guards? A guard hurries them along. A second councilor hesitates and returns to the balcony to look down. This is COUNCILOR VONTAAS, a placid, pompous elf harmon with rich formal robes and an elaborate hairstyle. VONTAAS Please, we must have order.

Five storyboard panels. Vontaas JERKS away from the railing as though burned. A small, silver, sewing needle is stuck in their hand. As the crowd watches, Vontaas pulls the needle out, drawing with it a thin thread of blue blood from the wound. From this thread, Vontaas's body ENTIRELY UNRAVELS in golden magic and blue strings of gore.

Cleaned-up style test with Vontaas removing the needle from their hand.

Here's the very last named character in the pilot--Councilor Vontaas. They are a sensible moderate. They're certain they can explain the reason for the council's decisions if everyone just calms down a little bit. Oh no they are dead now. Well, anyway,

#oc #art #indiepilot #thecrystalcityfalls

Closeup of a storyboard panel, which is, itself, a close-up. Dravem and Gria stand on a staircase surrounded by (illusory, golden) eye-cameras. Only Dravem's right eye and Gria's left eye are visible. They stand with their heads together, like a creature with two eyes (and two mouths, and two noses...)

Design sketches of Gria and Dravem. They look like politicians.

Page of storyboard showing five panels. CROWD (continuously) Draagrin, Draagrin! GRIA The city guard is here, and the wildland adventurers. The protectors of our fragile, harmonic peace. DRAVEM Your magic keeps the wildlands safe, and keeps us safe from the wildlands. DRAAGRIN (a magical push) If you know what I mean. The magic that pulses through the crowd is not illusory. The protestors ROAR, intoxicated with Draagrin's Influence.

Page of storyboard showing five panels. GRIA You know us for our work as Luminists. DRAAGRIN (whispered, shouted) Famous luminists, illuminary illusionists, you could say. Brilliant, genius work, we're sure you know. DRAVEM Now it's illegal! The crowd BOOS.

These two characters, Dravem (masculine) and Gria (feminine) are known as "Draagrin." They hate each other and love power.

Harmonic couples are legally the same as one person and therefore Draagrin can collectively hold a title like "CEO" or "councilor."

#oc #art #indiepilot #thecrystalcityfalls

Two early sketches of character Araan. They are an elf with complicated hair that loops around their ears, and a garment with long drapey sleeves. Notes helpfully say "feels off model to me" and "forgot how to draw" and a distant "this pencil is so tiny"

Outfit sketch labeled "better" near the face. Going top to bottom: - a small v neck gap beneath a cowl is labeled "sexy cleavage" where Araan's skin might show. - inner arms are called out as bare--they need some exposed skin to perform blood magic. - tiny hands ✅ - tunic is using mullet styling: short in front long in back. -bare thigh called out. For the skin. - boots?

Little sketch of Araan turning away from the camera.

Storyboard panels. Araan speaks to Liirem/camera over the shoulders of Mia and Rhem. "It's about control." "(Illusion) was the last legal magic. The elders, the councilors, they don't even trust us with natural illusions. They are afraid of us."

Araan is a third-gender "Harmon" and the leader of this group of adventurers.

Unlike the rest of the group, Araan is not a wild caster. They know a lot of magic (including a few new things they personally created) but it was all learned through hard work.

#oc #art #indiepilot #thecrystalcityfalls

Three early sketches of character "Rhem." Two give a design for "act 1" and the third is from "act 3" Act 1 Rhem has poor posture and downcast eyes. He has long greasy-curly hair pulled back from his face and tucked behind his ears, which are held tightly against his head. Additional notes say "cute nose" "relatable content" "can't-i-just-live agender disson" Act 3 Rhem looks at the camera smiling. Rhem is now bald and has ripped the (wide "masculine"-gendered) sleeves off the jacket.

Little pencil sketch. Rhem holds the staff horizontally, creating an arc of flames above and behind.

Act 3 Rhem with fire for hair and both hands on fire, gleefully running to the left.

Storyboard sequence. After removing his inhibitor from his head, Rhem cauterizes the wound with a fiery thumb and then raises his flaming fist into the sky besides Mia. In the background, Liirem watches with distress.

Rhem is part of Mia's troupe of adventurers, and like Mia, he has an intuitive control of fire magic.

Rhem struggles to perform his social roles and knows something is wrong with the system, but he's still hoping that compliance will keep him safe.

#oc #art #indiepilot #thecrystalcityfalls

Digital revision of a pencil-and-paper storyboard panel zooming the shot out a little bit.

Digital revision of a pencil/paper storyboard panel. The revision zooms out a LOT.

Digital revision of a storyboard panel with the chopped-up traditional version adjusted and zoomed out.

Digital revision of traditional storyboard panel. The zoomed-out revision reveals the expression of a foreground character and a lot of little background detail.

this one's for all the storyboard guys telling people to zoom out the camera

you're right 😘

[pointing at Dravem] Donald Trump
[pointing at Gria] Hilary Clinton

They are married and therefore, stupid elf law dictates they can legally run for office as a singular joint entity.

Literally just THE WORST.

Six thumbnails working out the composition and positioning of various characters with rough pencil sketches.

Digital sketch based on thumbnails. Waterfolk were added later, in blue.

Cleaned up (but still pretty rough) linework.

Flat colors, no flame VFX.

Process shots, starting with pencil and paper thumbnails. :)

Dramatic poster in style of abstract character heads smashed together. Almost all characters are blue-toned elves, excluding one shadowy background orc and a handful of compositional waterfolk.

#thecrystalcityfalls starts as a murder mystery and ends as anarchist propaganda. Here's every character in the pilot, and a few characters who aren't.

#art #oc #ocsky #indieanimation #indiepilot #fantasyart #cyberpunk #solarpunk #traditionalanimation #csp #elves

Early sketch of Rieni. She has short hair with little curls at the ears, dark lipstick, and fingerless gloves.

Early sketch with some pretty questionable proportions. Rieni flies in the air, controlling the gravity with her hands and letting her feet dangle like a marionette. She has a little cloak that hangs from the shoulders in two sections, scarf-like

Attempt to get Rieni in the correct style, with more simplified and exaggerated shapes. She has thin arms, wide legs, and tiny little ballerina feet, always up on the toes. Her face is a little flat or wide and heart-shaped. The cloak now goes to the knees.

Storyboard panels. Rieni gets up in Liirem's face and smooshes his cheeks, to his dismay. Her face is a little too long in the first panel but she's got the right energy

Rieni is second in command of this little troupe of adventurers.

Rieni was born with an intuitive control of gravity and grew up with her head literally in the clouds. She only learned to walk in adulthood, once gravity magic was illegalized.

#oc #art #indiepilot #thecrystalcityfalls

here are some types of elf:

* high elf
* wood elf
* dark elf
* slutty elf
* bitchy elf
* hater elf
* skater elf
* greater elf
* swamp elf
* double elf
* miniature elf
* mental elf
* power elf
* melodic death elf
* cuddle elf
* puddle elf
* mischief elf
* nuisance elf
* baseball elf
* orb elf
* elmo

Blue elf with gold magic glasses on does an "oh no!" face. It's then broken down into three step sketch that is basically 1. ball with some perspective lines on it 2. a literal emoji of the emotion you're trying to capture 3. draw the rest of the fucking owl

A small test with character Mikel, who doesn't show up until act 2. #oc #HumanArtist #process #sketch #csp

I would like to be part of a co-op animation studio where a bunch of creatives do all the parts of the process to make each other's projects happen.

Capitalism is getting in the way of all the interesting and challenging art.

Fast sketch of Mia jumpin around. This one's old but was character-defining. Mia wears a cropped and hooded jacket with a tall collar, a short and ruffley skirt, and tall boots. She has pointy teeth like a shark and her hair is pointy. She is a gangly skinny girl with knees and elbows and a totally flat chest, built just like her brother but shorter.

Ballpoint pen sketch of Mia sitting on the floor and browsing social media with a magic wand instead if a smartphone while eating a bag of chips.

Storyboard panels. In this sequence, Mia uses her wand to summon an illusory eyeball. It blinks a screen out into her face, which reflects whatever it sees. It looks down at Mia before it flies off to get a good view of the front of the crowd.

Liirem's younger sister, Mia.

She's a fun, irresponsible, short-sighted person who's fixated on her own pet issue, but struggles to see the big picture. Her hobby is fire, which is also coincidentally the cause of most of her problems.

#oc #indiepilot #thecrystalcityfalls

Poorly drawn storyboard panel shows a close-up of Mia grinning at Araan among a crowd. Caption: (there she is)

Extreme close-up of the poorly drawn Mia face. (there she is)

(there she is) #oc #HumanArtists #storyboard #sketch

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