Gathering of the Two-Six - Izanami
Here it is, one of my best works, Izanami of the Two-Six.
My conceptual idea for Izanami came while I was watching Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor. In it, Yin is the vessel (or something along those lines) of a being called Izanami which can take control of a Contractor's abilities and turn them on themselves. By the time I was watching the series I had already had the idea for the Two-Six will underway, but didn't have a good idea for their background story as a group just yet. The ephemeral nature of the Izanami presented in DTB was intriguing and fit in well with the concept I had for the Two-Six. Even so, by the definition I had placed on the Two-Six, Izanami couldn't be simply some mindless force of nature. She had to have a reason and cause, and not just any reason, but one derived from at least a place of seeming great thought, if not great intelligence.
Initially I simply had her play the role of scapegoat, claiming that the Two-Six went their separate ways because of something Izanami did - a cop out that would set my mind at rest on the matter until I was ready to come back to it. I had considered as well the Japanese mythology around Izanami, but I had already pinned that back-story to Athena/Hancock as a part of explaining why she generally hates men.
From there I arrived at the current story for Izanami, which is as follows;
Izanami is a wicked sort, a wolf in sheep's clothing. She loves chaos and discord as she believe it is when the true nature of a person is on display, which is truly what she loves more. Izanami is insidious, greedy, and quite selfish. Her deceit is powerful and deadly. She delights most of all in corrupting those who espouse an air of untainted incorruptibility. Often she will insert a part of her soul into the body of a princess or some similar such young woman of means and influence. She will subtly introduce thoughts to that person's mind, encouraging them to do or say terrible things, as though it were a thought the person discerned all their own. All while they remain unaware of her presence, she will begin to exert more and more direct control over their bodies until she can even use them while the real personality sleeps. Victims will have spells where they will be accused of having done or said something to which they have no memory, this being a situation in which Izanami put them to sleep to control their body. In time, the line between the victim and Izanami's will fades and they become an extension of Izanami herself.
So what does the face of evil look like?
As you can see the main focus of the design for Izanami ended up being Road Kamelot from D.Gray-Man. That choice actually came only fairly recently, sometime in the latter few months of last year. In reality I draw my inspiration for Izanami from several characters including Yin from Darker Than Black, the various Murakumo Units from BlazBlue, and Enoshima Junko from Danganronpa, among others.
This piece however is purely Road. Normally I'm not a big fan of short hair, and did briefly consider giving her longer hair. But, Road's hairstyle fits her well, so I decided to leave it be.
The dress is predominantly based on the design of post time-skip Perona from One-Piece with the stacked ruffles, although I tweaked it such that the front of the dress is shorter than the back.
You can see elements of the outfit Road wore in the latter parts of the D.Gray-Man anime on her arms and about her neck. The chest up on the dress is based on one Road wears in a picture from a calendar released back when the anime first ran. The shape of the shoe is based on the shoes she wears in the same picture, although I added the cat design on the side.... don't recall why.
Finally, she is holding an umbrella. I'm still debating if to go that way or not, but I originally imagined that the umbrella would be Nago, Rachel's pet/chair/umbrella from BlazBlue. Just like how Road always has the Earl's umbrella, I considered that Izanami would have taken this umbrella from one of the Two-Six as part of a bit of an inside joke. Might still do that.
There's a lot more I can share about Izanami, but that will have to wait for another time. Hope you like the picture. Later.
My conceptual idea for Izanami came while I was watching Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor. In it, Yin is the vessel (or something along those lines) of a being called Izanami which can take control of a Contractor's abilities and turn them on themselves. By the time I was watching the series I had already had the idea for the Two-Six will underway, but didn't have a good idea for their background story as a group just yet. The ephemeral nature of the Izanami presented in DTB was intriguing and fit in well with the concept I had for the Two-Six. Even so, by the definition I had placed on the Two-Six, Izanami couldn't be simply some mindless force of nature. She had to have a reason and cause, and not just any reason, but one derived from at least a place of seeming great thought, if not great intelligence.
Initially I simply had her play the role of scapegoat, claiming that the Two-Six went their separate ways because of something Izanami did - a cop out that would set my mind at rest on the matter until I was ready to come back to it. I had considered as well the Japanese mythology around Izanami, but I had already pinned that back-story to Athena/Hancock as a part of explaining why she generally hates men.
From there I arrived at the current story for Izanami, which is as follows;
Izanami is a wicked sort, a wolf in sheep's clothing. She loves chaos and discord as she believe it is when the true nature of a person is on display, which is truly what she loves more. Izanami is insidious, greedy, and quite selfish. Her deceit is powerful and deadly. She delights most of all in corrupting those who espouse an air of untainted incorruptibility. Often she will insert a part of her soul into the body of a princess or some similar such young woman of means and influence. She will subtly introduce thoughts to that person's mind, encouraging them to do or say terrible things, as though it were a thought the person discerned all their own. All while they remain unaware of her presence, she will begin to exert more and more direct control over their bodies until she can even use them while the real personality sleeps. Victims will have spells where they will be accused of having done or said something to which they have no memory, this being a situation in which Izanami put them to sleep to control their body. In time, the line between the victim and Izanami's will fades and they become an extension of Izanami herself.
So what does the face of evil look like?
This piece however is purely Road. Normally I'm not a big fan of short hair, and did briefly consider giving her longer hair. But, Road's hairstyle fits her well, so I decided to leave it be.
The dress is predominantly based on the design of post time-skip Perona from One-Piece with the stacked ruffles, although I tweaked it such that the front of the dress is shorter than the back.
You can see elements of the outfit Road wore in the latter parts of the D.Gray-Man anime on her arms and about her neck. The chest up on the dress is based on one Road wears in a picture from a calendar released back when the anime first ran. The shape of the shoe is based on the shoes she wears in the same picture, although I added the cat design on the side.... don't recall why.
Finally, she is holding an umbrella. I'm still debating if to go that way or not, but I originally imagined that the umbrella would be Nago, Rachel's pet/chair/umbrella from BlazBlue. Just like how Road always has the Earl's umbrella, I considered that Izanami would have taken this umbrella from one of the Two-Six as part of a bit of an inside joke. Might still do that.
There's a lot more I can share about Izanami, but that will have to wait for another time. Hope you like the picture. Later.
Comments
Post a Comment