Ok, so, this is a tricky one to introduce, predominantly because I usually skip past the influences of the designs from the previous artists. I generally take the approach of professional respect for all creators, regardless of differences in style. However, with this particular sigil, it feels remiss to sweep my thoughts under the carpet. While all artists will have their own approach, their own skill set, their own preferences, I simply can’t ignore the lack of care taken here - particularly by an artist I know to be talented. Here, see for yourself:
Notice the untidy lines, the mistakes that weren’t removed, the uneven positioning, the oval - which is supposed to be a circle. It pains me to look at this. I don’t at all profess to be the best. I do, however, care about my work and fail to understand how an artist could be comfortable sending this shoddy piece out into the world.
Ok, claws away - moving on.
Now, Xin refused to show me the previous artwork until I’d drawn a version myself, so my work is unaffected by the old designs. If you’ve read my previous three blogs on the sigil art, you may recall that I work from his original sketches and the descriptions in Emergence to get the simple sigil illustrations. Here’s his description for the Beast Sigil:
[A single solid circle with one short claw aimed downward, and five equidistant longer claws curved upward, similar to a bear claw without the fur.]
The bear claw element of the description gives strong imagery, an instant picture that many of us have come across before. Sharp. Edgy. Curved claws. Xin requested several redrafts of the two lowest outer claws; too straight, too curved, too narrow, too chunky, too blunt - it was like dealing with Goldilocks! But, it had to be just right; it’s always been important to me that his and Kat’s vision is properly represented.
For the Dynamic Beast Sigil art, I originally wanted to try a realistic lioness face in the background, with Essence in her eyes to depict the Beast constructs. With the ruling family of Dikar being Lion Callers, this felt like the obvious choice for the piece. The Lioness. Strong. Calm. Fierce. However, no matter how I adjusted her face, the lioness just looked so… tame. Not at all the desired effect to represent the leaders of Dikar - so, that idea had to be abandoned, for now.
Instead, we decided on silhouettes, with a huge Lion head in the background. Designed to reflect both hierarchy and unity, the Dynamic Beast Sigil represents the eight Apex Clans of Dikar. These are positioned to depict either their status or their physical location in Dikar, and drawn using one of the two colours in their Clan banner. Working from examples provided by Xin, I wanted all artwork used to be original. As such, I chose to redraw each silhouette, adding sharpness and minor details, as well as slightly altering the shape with extra spikes, or shaping the wings or claws differently, or positioning a specific component differently.
Felicia, the Felines - With highlights of Purple and Gold around the mane and eyes to reflect royalty, the Lion silhouette is in the background because their influence overshadows all others. Cana (Canines) and Cepho-Pesca (Marines) are represented by the silver Wolf and sea-green Shark silhouettes, which are positioned in the outer claws because they are the border nations, putting them the furthest away from each other. Avaria, the silver Hawk, is in the central claw, putting them at the highest point, reflecting their status as the only flying Apex Clan. Nagasava, the green Snake, is in the middle because they are the central antagonists of season two. Sus-Maja, the pink Boar, is in the bottom claw to reflect how low their status is. Ursoka, the brown Bear, and Simisima, the red Ape, are mostly placed because those are the slots that were left. They are positioned facing each other to reflect that they border one another and are rival Clans. The background simply reflects the environment for Felicia; desert land and forests.
If you’ve been following these blogs, you’ll notice that I usually go into how these were created: the brushes used, or brushes I designed, any special techniques, or additional effects. This piece has none of that, complicated more by the why and where for the end result than the process itself. And, of course, the aforementioned Goldilocks faffery.
This whole Dynamic project has been, among other things, a method to hone and expand my skills as a digital artist. Through the previous Dynamics, I developed or discovered new techniques. This piece was about applying them. My task was to design a dramatic version of the Beast Sigil that represents the entirety of Beast Calling as a concept. I feel that this was accomplished, and with an attention to detail the previous version was sorely lacking. But, of course, that’s just my opinion. What’s yours?
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