MotU by j-bird

Originally Posted by HordeMonkey

Gotta say I'm loving the stuff you're putting out lately, dude. Seems like a fusion of so many different styles into one cohesive design with a lot of them. Top work!

Apologies for lurking more than I actually comment! You go to the trouble to post all of this for us to see and then we don't say anything about it. I'll try to leave you more feedback in future, man.

Thanks - I appreciate the comments, and I am glad folks are seeing what I'm trying to do.

Originally Posted by Charlie Brown

the idea of the magical construct is quite interesting.

usually the manticore is depicted as a vicious creature: it's an intriguing choice to put it in service of good.

That's why I wanted to ally them with Castaspella as part of my effort to add some ferocity to the PoP heroines (well, that and the cool visual).

Continuing with the magic theme, here's my take on Mallek from the old Filmation series:



I envision him (in terms of my personal canon) as having enslaved Lokus (the little demon-thing that appeared in the episode "The Wizard of Stone Mountain") after the events of that episode, Lokus having been abandoned for his failure after his master was vanquished. I see him as actually being in control (rather than being manipulated), but his use of the demon's power keeps him on that line between friend and foe (at least to most of the heroic warriors). I see him as kind of a ladies' man, good looking, charismatic, et cetera.

I am not sure whether or not Mallek's assistant from that episode (Karyn might have been her name) would be around or not (perhaps she sacrificed herself heroically / fatally during that particular battle, or perhaps he hasn't met her yet), as I think the possibilities of an ongoing long-distance relationship between Mallek and Teela would be interesting, not necessarily full-on romantic, but something more ... casual. Both of them see other people and neither can/will leave the responsibilities of their respective homes. I feel like Teela knows and trusts Mallek (and would be justified in doing so) but the other heroes frown on their liaison (particularly He-Man, if one wants to see a relationship between He-Man and Teela).

Anyway, if I were in charge, a Mallek figure would share Sea Hawk's boots and would come with Lokus (with an Orko-like flight stand) and a magical energy blast (like Castaspella's or even Thunder-Punch He-Man's).

Originally Posted by j-bird

Continuing with the magic theme, here's my take on Mallek from the old Filmation series:

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/20...10-d6v7o4m.jpg

Nice work with the guy J allthought i think that from what we have seeing from you i think you could have done a better job with his flying pet i dont know i think maybe another approach a little more mystic design maybe? also that lion fur looks a bit unfitting to me at least.

Originally Posted by Galvatron

Nice work with the guy J allthought i think that from what we have seeing from you i think you could have done a better job with his flying pet i dont know i think maybe another approach a little more mystic design maybe? also that lion fur looks a bit unfitting to me at least.

Can you be more specific about what you mean by "mystic" with regard to Lokus? I tried to stay pretty close to his Filmation design, but I'm open to suggestions, I guess a little lion-maned demon guy with batlike wings seems pretty mystical already, so I'm trying to get a clearer idea of what you envisioned.

I really like how you did Lokus, j-bird, particularly the Marzo-ish belt! Mallek looks good too, the jacket is totally improved from the original IMO.

Thanks, gbagok, I'm glad you picked up on the Marzo-style belt. I feel like little touches like that add visual continuity and, in this case, hopefully subconsciously say "this guy's bad and magical" without hitting one over the head with it.

Not sure why I haven't posted this yet ... my latest take on Frosta. Sorry to have (again) been absent so long.



Also a couple of Peekablue, one "regular" and one where she's using her powers.

Welcome back once more

I like the colors and that she has the vintage toy boots and heals.

I´m not the biggest fan of asymmetrical bangs but i like the ice ornaments you gave her gives her an elvish touch!

Well, niki, if you're not big on asymmetrical bangs, then my Peekablue (added to my previous post) might not be entirely your cup of tea either.

That being said, I'm glad you like the color and the ice crown / ornaments. I definitely wanted a bit of an elvish vibe, so I'm glad that came across.

I did a little digging and found that I'd done a version of Frosta in something closer to the vintage toy colors as well.

First of all you should know Peekablue is my all time favorite POP character…

Secondly i like your version the wings are something new and she looks very tribal to me. It´s a nice redesign, a redesign i would have never come up with but it´s striking.

You kept her very blue overall something she normally isn´t despite her name all in all she has some Angella influences, some Castaspella similarities and even some Mermista touches so all in all good things and put together very creatively!

Your creativity is astonishing.

Originally Posted by Niki

First of all you should know Peekablue is my all time favorite POP character…

Secondly i like your version the wings are something new and she looks very tribal to me. It´s a nice redesign, a redesign i would have never come up with but it´s striking.

You kept her very blue overall something she normally isn´t despite her name all in all she has some Angella influences, some Castaspella similarities and even some Mermista touches so all in all good things and put together very creatively!

Your creativity is astonishing.

I have never loved the idea of a feathered "tail" on Peekablue, but I can't disregard the visual impact it has on the character. She definitely needs that spread of feathers behind her. So, I changed the tail to wings and had them emerge lower on her back (more like Veena's).

The Castaspella and Angella similarities were completely deliberate; I imagine her as being a member of Angella's race who lives in Mystacor and is Castaspella's "secret weapon." She resides in a remote temple and uses her power to see other times and places to help protect Etheria from the Horde. I definitely don't see her as a combatant.

I think I did up a version of Peekablue in something closer to her toy / cartoon colors, but I will have to see if I can find it (and if it's worth posting).

In the meantime, however, here are a couple possible takes on Sweet Bee:



The left is an updated take on my previous intergalactic go-go dancer style Sweet Bee, the one on the right is an Andreenid version (to tie her in to Buzz-Off / Queen Andreeno / etc.). I haven't explored the colors very much; I feel like the Andreenid version definitely needs tweaking. I also feel like the first version could be refined so as to blur the lines between what's clothing / armor and what's part of her, making her a little more alien ... let me know what y'all think.

EDIT:

Here's the more toy-based version of my Peekablue update ...

amazing stuff!

i like the darker version of frosta,
the more ethnic take on peek-a-blue is really intriguing, as well as the idea of actual wings instead of the feathered tail.

love sweet bee's afro! for her general lool i prefer the one on the left, but with hands and lower legs on the right one.

Originally Posted by Charlie Brown

amazing stuff!

i like the darker version of frosta,
the more ethnic take on peek-a-blue is really intriguing, as well as the idea of actual wings instead of the feathered tail.

love sweet bee's afro! for her general lool i prefer the one on the left, but with hands and lower legs on the right one.

I'm glad you are digging the 'fro on Sweet Bee; it's one of those things that I can't seem to let go of for that character, and I really feel like it is one element that helps distinguish her from all the long-haired PoP beauties.

With recent events in the ongoing DC comic title, I couldn't help but revisit my concept of Teela as The Sorceress of Grayskull. In addition, it felt like the perfect time to explore the idea of King He-Man / King Adam.



I wanted to do a couple of things here: 1) I wanted to use elements of He-Man's battle-armor design. 2) I wanted to keep an orange-and-green color combo for continuity with my versions of King Randor and Queen Marlena. It also works with Man-at-Arms and Battle Cat ...

I am not entirely satisfied with King Adam / King He-Man at this point, so suggestions are more than welcome. I am also open to your thoughts on Sorceress Teela / Queen Teela, as this is how I envision them after eventually getting married and resuming rule from Castle Grayskull as King Grayskull once did (as opposed to the palace in Eternos). I really wanted to incorporate some of the elements of the comic design into my version, but keep some elements from my previous version and some from Teela's "regular" costume. There's still some refinement to be done there, though.

With that, I have been thinking about the "Son of He-Man" era in MotU and how I could / would bring that into my personal canon. My current thoughts are that He-Man and Teela woud be raising their nephew, Prince Dare, after his mother's demise (he would be the son of She-Ra and Sea Hawk - She-Ra would have perished during some sort of climactic battle against Hordak). This would make him the heir to the mantle / power of the original He-Ro after his mother (in my canon). I explored some of the reasons for making her He-Ro's heir when I posted my most recent pic of her, and they work nicely for how I would handle Dare / He-Ro II. Dare would be my version / replacement of NA He-Man (blond ponytail, wears blue), getting sent through time to Futernia (like Future Eternia - I would have gone with "Futurnia," but it looks too much like "Furniture") and working with Flipshot / Hydron / The Galactic Protectors against Brakk / Optikk / The Space Mutants. This is in keeping with my idea that the heirs of Grayskull defend "home" while the heirs of He-Ro fight evil on far-away fronts (Etheria, Futernia, et cetera). I haven't completely worked my way through the notion, and I don't have a great deal of familiarity with the New Adventures universe, but this kind of enables me to take the best (in my opinion) of two eras that have not really done much for me in the past and make them into something I can enjoy.

I will likely base my Dare / He-Ro II on gbagok's recent redesign, but more classicized.

First: I really like more toy accurate Peekablue, i just like the golden accents but that´s just me.

Secondly: Sweet Bee and her ´fro are great, i like the left version, the right version is more freaky and fun but i´m not that crazy so i´m into the simpler version but i also like that there is more black involved it gives her that bee look.

Third: King Adam looks fine to me. I like the color scheme for him i the different elements had the potential to clash but for me they fit together. The darker orange could be even darker and more reddish but that´s nitpicking on my part.

Forth: Queen/Sorceress Teela. I don´t get her hair is it one long ponytail or are there two? I hope they are two, as it´s something new and i like that.
I would like to see her colored exactly as she is but with flesh colored skin instead of Goddess green skin. The "normal" skin with the green leotard is something i have never seen before(i think). I like the finger armor.
The only thing i don´t like…..can you guess….yes, it´s the earrings
Since we don´t see her ears those earrings don´t make sense to me and aren´t necessary but you knew i would pick on those!

As always i love your art! Thanks for sharing!

i like the nods in king adam's outfit.
if you're so inclined, you could also incorporate the loincloth and neck/shoulder part from
battle sounds he-man.

goddess teela turned out great.
maybe it would be a clash of styles and colors, but, since she seems to be supposed to embody
both goddess and sorceress, i'd be curious to see her wearing the signature feathered mantle, also.

I am digging King Adam's look. Same with Goddess/Sorceress Teela, which I think works better than giving her the Sorceress' costume. Namely because I think giving her the Goddess armour is a nice nod to her Staff of Kaa.

Originally Posted by Joker95

I am digging King Adam's look. Same with Goddess/Sorceress Teela, which I think works better than giving her the Sorceress' costume. Namely because I think giving her the Goddess armour is a nice nod to her Staff of Kaa.

That is one of several reasons she's in the cobra armor. I'm glad you're enjoying them!

Originally Posted by Charlie Brown

i like the nods in king adam's outfit.
if you're so inclined, you could also incorporate the loincloth and neck/shoulder part from
battle sounds he-man.

goddess teela turned out great.
maybe it would be a clash of styles and colors, but, since she seems to be supposed to embody
both goddess and sorceress, i'd be curious to see her wearing the signature feathered mantle, also.

I hadn't even considered using elements from Battle-Sounds He-Man (from the 200x line) ... I am definitely considering it now, however. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea.

I have considered trying to combine the snake and falcon themes, but I haven't quite been sure how to do it. At one time super-munkyboy created a character called the Matriarch who combined those themes with sort of a Mayan / Aztec vibe (like a couatl sort of) and I didn't really want to veer into that territory for Teela.

Originally Posted by Niki

First: I really like more toy accurate Peekablue, i just like the golden accents but that´s just me.

Secondly: Sweet Bee and her ´fro are great, i like the left version, the right version is more freaky and fun but i´m not that crazy so i´m into the simpler version but i also like that there is more black involved it gives her that bee look.

Third: King Adam looks fine to me. I like the color scheme for him i the different elements had the potential to clash but for me they fit together. The darker orange could be even darker and more reddish but that´s nitpicking on my part.

Forth: Queen/Sorceress Teela. I don´t get her hair is it one long ponytail or are there two? I hope they are two, as it´s something new and i like that.
I would like to see her colored exactly as she is but with flesh colored skin instead of Goddess green skin. The "normal" skin with the green leotard is something i have never seen before(i think). I like the finger armor.
The only thing i don´t like…..can you guess….yes, it´s the earrings
Since we don´t see her ears those earrings don´t make sense to me and aren´t necessary but you knew i would pick on those!

As always i love your art! Thanks for sharing!

Ah, the earrings. We'll have to agree to disagree on those.

I think I could go darker on the darker orange on King Adam, but I don't think I'll veer more red ... I'm really partial to keeping him in orange as opposed to red.

As far as Queen Teela's ponytail, it was intended to be one but it kind of splits and comes together and splits again, kind of moving / rippling on its own (kind of a serpentine motion). I'm pretty set on keeping her green-skinned, but I could try out a Caucasian-skinned version at some point for fun. I'm glad you noticed the finger-armor-claw things! I also used them on my versions of the Sorceress and Shokoti. I just think they're cool.

Wow. These are all really great. I've tried to come up with a good mix for Teela as well and it is SUPER tough to come up with something that looks solid. I'd be really interested to see what you can come up with though.

Thanks, Ihvthpwr. I have a few ideas running around for those two, so we'll see where they end up.

Here's another piece I started a while ago and just got around to finishing up.



I think Lord Dactys (Dactus, however you want to spell it) is one of the coolest characters to come from the MYP cartoon, so I wanted to try my hand at him. There are a couple of things I would change about him if I started him over now (specifically the tail; it kind of bugs me).

EDIT:

The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to update some things on Dactys ...



I went more faithful to his original look in terms of the armor, getting rid of the greaves and adding thigh-armor and changing some of what was skin in the first version to armor / clothing (arms / abs). I tweaked the colors a bit as well. I also changed his tail. I'm still not 100% on him, but I'm getting closer ... suggestions / feedback are welcome.

EDIT²:



Aaand trying again ... something about the second version wasn't working for me either. So, I went back to the classics-style greaves and added some detail to the arm / midriff armor, kept the new tail and feet and new colors (mostly). I'm still not sure, but I might let him sit a bit and see what I think later.

EDIT³:

I tweaked the colors on the last version more toward violet, skewing away from the maroon / brick-ish color on the armor, and I think that might have done it for me ... we'll see. As I was sketching Dactys, though, I thought I'd try my hand at what a female Spelean might look like. There have only been a couple of attempts that I've seen, but I wanted to do my own version.



She's pretty much the same as Dactys, really, but with a much more feminine body shape. I ditched the tusk-things, which I think I would bring back (though smaller) if I did a finished version of her. Once she was sketched up, I wanted to slap some color on her, and once I'd done that, she needed a cheezy MotU name, and thus Sonara was born.

So, I guess that's two fan-characters from me to date ... sort of.

EDIT⁴:

I haven't abandoned these two either:



As suggested earlier, I added some elements from Battle Sounds He-Man and I think that was the right way to go, particularly in terms of the loincloth / kilt thing (although the chains holding the cape help too). On the kilt, though, I wanted to use some of the design elements from 200x Randor's armor. I also tweaked a couple elements on Teela to tie into some visual conventions I'm trying to establish for my versions of the characters (for her mostly the loincloth / belt, similar to Veena's).

I have kind of begun thinking of them as a Paladin of Zoar and a Cleric of Serpos (in RPG terms). I am really intrigued by some of the ideas / concepts in the current DC series, so some of those are slowly being incorporated into my personal view of MotU.

In general, I have been trying hard to incorporate certain elements of visual continuity that give some insight into what kind of character you're looking at or where they come from. Granted, a lot of that info is known simply because of the character in question, but it's nice to try and give some logic to my design choices as well.

For the background, I used the version of Castle Grayskull from King Grayskull's time since, in my canon, I envision He-Man and Teela ruling from there, gradually restoring it to its former glory. Whether they reside in the castle because the Royal Palace of Eternos was destroyed or for some other reason I haven't quite figured out yet, but that's what I've got.

i'm really diggin' the latest version of king adam and queen teela: the overall look is really coherent, and teela's loincloth
is really a nice touch.

regarding lord dactys, my favourite version is the "edit2".

maybe you could use the thigh guards of the previous version on sonara.

Now THAT'S what I want King He-Man to look like! I'm not so wild about the Green Goddess basically being Teela, but I do like that design for Queen Teela just the same. I'd buy this two-pack in a heart beat!

Sonara is pretty cool too. Glad to see a Spelean female character!

Edit2 Lord Dactys is my favorite as well, i just like white backgrounds

Sonara is a nice idea(and even unfinished) she looks better than my attempt of a Spelean female character

The King looks better and better and the Queen…well, i see what you are going for and the DC influence and the furry loincloth are a sweet combo though.

These... are awesome!

Originally Posted by Charlie Brown

i'm really diggin' the latest version of king adam and queen teela: the overall look is really coherent, and teela's loincloth
is really a nice touch.

regarding lord dactys, my favourite version is the "edit2".

maybe you could use the thigh guards of the previous version on sonara.

Thank you. I think the loincloth is what finally pulled Teela together for me.

I tend to agree, Edit² is probably going to be my final version of Dactys. I might try a couple more things with him, but he's getting closer to where I'd like him to be.

Originally Posted by gbagok

Now THAT'S what I want King He-Man to look like! I'm not so wild about the Green Goddess basically being Teela, but I do like that design for Queen Teela just the same. I'd buy this two-pack in a heart beat!

Sonara is pretty cool too. Glad to see a Spelean female character!

Thanks! I just wasn't satisfied design-wise with the MotUC version of King He-Man, and I really do enjoy the DC version of Teela as the Sorceress, on top of which I was inspired by your version of He-Ro / Dare to explore my idea of "Futernia," so these two seemed like a natural choice to try.

Sonara is in the early stages; but I'm glad there's some initial positive response to her.

Originally Posted by Niki

Edit2 Lord Dactys is my favorite as well, i just like white backgrounds

Sonara is a nice idea (and even unfinished) she looks better than my attempt of a Spelean female character

The King looks better and better and the Queen…well, i see what you are going for and the DC influence and the furry loincloth are a sweet combo though.

Edit² Dactys will likely end up on my "standard" backdrop at some point, but the white does make it easier to focus on the character.

I actually like the hair you did on your female Spelean, but it appeared that all the male Speleans at least were bald in the cartoon, so I wanted to try and not give her "girly hair" but still make her look feminine.

Originally Posted by Locke

These... are awesome!

Thank you!

I do have an idea (or ideas) that I'm revisiting / working on, and here's an early draft of one of them.



I'm still going with the idea (in my canon) that Azrog is a former Overlord of Trolla (having been the leader of the Viridian Council) who was outcast / turned traitor, but I have some ideas in mind for his future that I'm still working on.

Visually, I might eliminate the darker blue fade on his feet and just make him completely "Gar blue" as I'm not sure the fade really works / makes sense. Initially it was a nod to his Filmation appearance, as is the marking on his forehead.

I hope to have the next part of this idea done soon (at least a concept version), but I will say that at this point the next part is not Spydra.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback and I hope you all enjoy!

EDIT:

Just adding individual shots of King He-Man and Queen Teela on my standard backdrop ...





EDIT²:

Also adding my finalized Lord Dactys on my standard backdrop ... same as the prior Edit² version but with different feet.



EDIT³:

And added a closer-to-final version of Azrog ... there's still something not quite right about him (feedback / suggestions welcome).



The idea that I've been toying with (and I'm still not committed to it): What if Azrog becomes Evilseed?



I've already established that, in my personal canon, Azrog was a member of the Viridian Council on Trolla.

My ideas about Trolla (from 2009) are here:

Originally Posted by j-bird

TROLLA/INFINITA:

Infinita is another dimension cosmologically near the “center” of the universe. The majority of Infinita is dangerous and twisted by chaotic magic.

Races include:
Gar – hairless, blue- or green-skinned elven beings – most are magic users
Trollans – small, blue, floating magic-users

The Gar originated on Infinita, but ages ago a large group (a few clans / whatever) migrated to Eternia and evolved along slightly different lines.

The greatest evil of Infinita was, until recently, the dark wizard De-Mon (aka Demo-Man). He was a Gar who delved into areas of forbidden magic and consorted with demonic beings from other worlds.

At one point in his career, De-Mon took on an apprentice named Hordak and began to teach his pupil the dark arts. Hordak eventually attained a level of mastery and left his master to go his own way.

Centuries later, it was Hordak who, from his imprisonment in Despondos, secretly orchestrated De-Mon’s capture at the hands of the Overlords of Trolla.

Hordak monitored the situation (which coincided with his own pupil Keldor’s assault on the Hall of Wisdom) and, when De-Mon was about to fall, offered to save his former master by giving him Keldor’s body. In his weakened state, De-Mon had no choice but to accept.

Hordak believed the merging would slay both his former master and his ambitious apprentice, but he underestimated Keldor’s power and his will to survive. Instead of slaying his pupil, he gave Keldor the power to be his equal (De-Mon was so weakened by his battle with the Overlords of Trolla that he was mostly subsumed by Keldor’s personality during the merge).

After learning that the spell could actually work, Hordak would later use this same process (refined) on Lightspinner to merge her with another dark Infinitan entity and turn her into Shadow Weaver.

Trolla is an area (land/kingdom/planet?) in the dimension of Infinita, and the center of order and “goodness” in that dimension.

Trolla is governed and maintained by six councils. The most powerful member of each council is that council's representative to the Overlords of Trolla, the true rulers of Trolla and the choosers of the Cosmic Enforcers.

OVERLORDS OF TROLLA:
http://fc37.deviantart.com/fs44/i/20...thejason10.jpg

Each council represents a particular type of magical study (war magic, pure sorcery, healing, illusion, etc).

Crimson Council – High Sorcery / Manipulation of Magical Energy (“utilitarian” magic)
Copper Council (or Council of the Flame) – War Magic, Fire Magic
Topaz Council – Mental / Psionic Magic (empathy, telepathy, telekinesis, etc)
Viridian Council – Nature / Elemental Magic (other than fire)
Azure Council – Illusion / Perception Magic, Ancient Lore – also any tech-related magic
Violet Council (or Amethyst Council) – Healing / Protective Magic

Trollan society is very rigidly structured, and is based on level of magical power and area of magical study. Despite this rigid structure, each council does employ a few mages of other types as agents, acknowledging the power of versatility.

The Trollans practice Ancestor Worship as their primary form of “religion.” The spirits of the dead (“Those Who Have Gone Before”) can (and occasionally do) intercede in the affairs of those in the dimension of Infinita.

As a result, Necromantic Magic and the manipulation of spirits are considered blasphemous by most Trollans.

There is an Indigo Council (Shadow Council), a “secret” council and sort of Trollan urban-legend, which delves into areas of forbidden magic such as Necromancy. The Shadow Council was founded and guided in secret by De-Mon. It is believed that the Indigo Council continues in his absence.

Another threat to Trolla comes from the Great Traitors, Azrog and Spydra. Former leaders of the Viridian Council and the Council of the Flame respectively, they allied in secret in an attempt to usurp the power of the Overlords of Trolla. Defeated, they are now hunted across the dimensions as they seek to increase their own powers.

AZROG & SPYDRA:
http://fc30.deviantart.com/fs43/i/20...thejason10.jpg

The magical energy of Trolla is refined and orderly, virtually tame, and is kept so by the Crimson Council. (Some theorize that this is also in part due to the fact that by their very nature the Trollans metabolize and thus “tame” the magical energy in their realm. - thanks Slackbot!)

By contrast, the magical energy of Eternia is wild and barbaric. This is why it is so difficult for Trollan mages to operate on Eternia. The use of a focus-object (such as a wand, staff, amulet, etc.) is what helps magic users on Eternia to more readily wield that energy (and explains the trouble Orko “the Great” had when he arrived on Eternia).

There are some loose tribes of "rogue" Trollans who believe that the Trollans are weakened by their tame magic, and do their best to disrupt the energy patterns established by the Crimson Council. These wild mages are skilled at handling fluctuating magical energies and would function perfectly well (or at least better than most Trollans) on Eternia. They can also use their power to disrupt the magic of other wizards.

"WILD" MAGES OF TROLLA:
http://fc21.deviantart.com/fs42/i/20...thejason10.jpg

This would indicate that Azrog would be focused on plant-based / nature magic. What if, after he leaves / is expelled from the Viridian Council, he makes his way to Eternia and engages in dark experiments with magical plant life, eventually turning himself into the plant-based villain known as Evilseed? I've explored the idea that transformative / shape-changing magic (again, in my canon) is very difficult on Eternia and that only the most powerful (or perhaps "most skilled" would be a better choice of words) of magic users can do very much with it (The Sorceress, King Hsss, et cetera).

This would dovetail nicely with Azrog having been one of the Overlords of Trolla (powerful magic user) and with his focus on plant-magic. I tried to incorporate some elements from the 200x/MYP version of Evilseed on Azrog's costume (particularly the design motif on his chest).

I may have tried to work too many ideas into them visually, as I also made some nods to Count Marzo's look, but the idea hit me and I wanted to see if it could work. I think it's close, and I'm actually happier with Evilseed than I am with Azrog at this point, but who knows.

I'm curious as to whether this idea of having them be the same guy works ... the hope was that it would give them both a richer history (and maybe make Azrog more interesting, making him pre-Evilseed). My other thought was that maybe Evilseed was some kind of creation of Azrog's ... I don't know.

Anyway. Let me know what y'all think.

Wow.

A lot of thought went into your Azrog becomes Evil Seed idea. And it could work but Evil Seed is a pure plant being, if you ask me. So making him an apprentice of Azrog would work for me.

The blue version looks nice but the red version is stunning if you ask me.

I like the shading and and color gradient on him. Great work and even though you went with his avocado head design he looks menacing cool stuff!

I really like how your Evilseed looks, and I probably like the green and rust colored one the most. Personally I missed the red capes on Elmora and Shokoti, to me they complete the look, so seeing a red cape on Evilseed is really nice and surprisingly exciting even though I'd never thought he needed one. I like what you're doing with the canon behind them, elevating Azrog a bit and tying in all the Infinitia stuff. I agree the similar elements of Trollans and Gar is a tempting thread to pick up so it works well here IMO.

RE Azrog, I think maybe Azrog's eyes are too small and piggy compared with Evilseed and maybe that's where he could use some development? His face seems pinched and nonthreatening compared to others but I really like how you're developing his costume and the rest of his features. I know it's hard with that character since he's so cartoony in design but had a very serious and mean personality.

Also I still thoroughly love your King He-Man design.

amazing art, as usual!

for some reasons azrog's attire made me think of kirby's eternals: it's not a bad look, but maybe has a kinda superhero-esque vibe to me.

evilseed is great: the warm colors palette is my favourite too, though the cool ones seem to be more fitting for eternian evildoers.

i'd rather see them linked than being the same character.

the whole trolla/infinita concept is very well conceived: i really like the different councils idea - maybe they all could be named
after a gemstone (matching the colors of the clans) - and the different type of magic they wield.


ps
maybe the horde wraiths are somehow linked to the shadow council?