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Tashiarts - Blog Posts
Random Janus doodle because I wanted him in a turtleneck and holding a chess piece.
Snitty- just the one hehehe >83 do you all deserve the full snitty set?
And the light sides earrings to go with the dark sides!
Please reblog! <3
bonus, here are everyone’s earrings:
@thatsthat24
I just heart Thomas got his ears pierced! :D
Please reblog~ <3
@thatsthat24
Can I ask a question? I like your sanders sides a lot and you give them a lot of personality in their designs! How do you make them like that? Or I guess I mean, what inspires you to make them the way that you do? I want to draw the sides but I'm not sure how to start other than their canon designs!
Oh my goodness I LOVE this question! For me, it's all about the feelings you get when you see them and the vibes I want to express. The Sides embody, to me, more than an aesthetic it should also encompass personality, role, and intention. In other words, I match their aesthetics to their function and the intent of what I feel like Thomas originally intended for them for their first short videos before they were actual sides.
Let us pick Roman, because even though people say he's not, he tends to be everyone's favourite to reblog fro me because he's pretty.
So I started by drawing him exactly as he was and to me he felt flat- in the show he's exactly as he should be but I am an artist and to me he feels more than what he looks like- it's dreamy, it's romantic, it's like he's giving childhood favouritre Disney Prince vibes, you know?
Inspiration 1: Prince Phillip
Hands down the biggest inspiration comes from him because he IS my favourite disney prince. Just looks a the hair swoop and the eyelashes- perfect. So I went ok my favourite Disney Prince is Phillip, let's start here. Before the CGI movies, there was such a romantic feeling about classic Disney princess movies and I've always loved the romantic feeling of Sleeping Beauty. The backgrounds are stunning, the way she's animated makes my bi ass give heart eyes and I loved that he was the only prince at the time who had a personality (until Beast but that's a whole other can of worms because he started out as an asshole/grumpy). I feel like modern Disney movies miss a lot of the romantic dreamy feeling of the older 2d movies because there was such care into the painted backgrounds being LESS realistic and more a fabulous idea of what a background should be and AHA! MORE INSPIRATION~! Let's make Roman a fabulous romantic idea of what a prince should be!
Inspiration 2: Faerietale Knights in Shining Armour
Our ideas of medieval knights are nothing like actual knights which are more reminiscent of hired military and enforcers. Our ideas of faerietale knights in shining armour are brave knights who would go off to kill a dragon to show their devotion to the one they love. Sword fighting heroes- is that not Roman if not an idealized romantic "royal knight wants to win the heart of the love with courageous deeds, acts of chivalry, selfless devotion" etc. Prince Phillip is a good model of this. Defeats a dragon and true love's kiss saves the day. A perfect romantic dream isn't it? Realistic? No of course not, but Roman isn't realistic he's creativity and romance which absolutely ignores practicality for the dream.
So we have this culmination of dreamy romantic disney prince and faerietale influence.
Now it's about aesthetics- Roman is reds and golds and whites, all royal colours typically associated with bravery, lineage, and strength and purity etc.
Inspiration 3: Media referencing
So let's find some movie or media equivalence I can reference. They came mostly in the forms of Narnia and Once Upon a Time.
So some aesthetic inspirations for belts and textures, missing the epaulets.... so to military garb!
Inspiration 4: Russian royals
Let's face it no one does embellishments like this any more <3
Inspiration 5: Lions
Roman's colours being red gold and white give me lion inspiration too so I looked up royal lion iconography as well (which ended up with a lot of lion king in the search because this was before AI but like.... it's not incorrect and the wavy flowy mane acted like hair. If Hamlet with lions is inspiring then use it, right? that have some AMAZING lion king-style artists on deviantart to get inspired by, it's a whole thing, mad respect) But ANYWAYS it gave me some cool stuff to be inspired by too.
Inspiration 6: Classic Golden Age Hollysood Leading Ladies (Note that this isn't femme fatales, because for Janus I used femme fatales as inspiration)
I knew that I just HAD to give Roman that Marilyn Monroe beauty mark, yes he paints it on every day yes it's in the same spot every day yes it's necessary.
Ultimately this culminated in a checklist of things that I wanted for him:
He must give the feeling of Prince Phillip in disney prince style
I wanted him to have flowey hair that makes him look softer and romantic and can be pulled up into a ponytail if necessary.
Must have a beauty mark and eyelashes that go on for ages reminiscent of old hollywood ladies, and let's throw in nail polish too.
I wanted him to have an outfit that would be his original but embellished to hell that can be like Narnia or OUaT in terms of texture and added stuff. It needed more gold, 100% needed epaulets (the shoulder things with the dangly rstuff), and it needed a belt where a sword could be attached. Danglies not always necessary, but look really good when done and is reminiscent of old fashioned military garb and Russian royalty.
He needed to look like he's used to wearing this outfit every single day and going out of his way to do so.
Ended up with this:
So yeah that's how I got to his design!
Okay but now what if how you designed Remus but in as many words as you want, because I'm loving these design breakdowns
HELL YEAH!
Remus to me is full of chaos but he is also the antithesis of Roman with similar qualities but a total lack of self consciousness or bashfulness. He is freedom and he gives no shits.
Inspiration 1: Mad Madam Mim
I start with a disney character full of chaos and I am inspired by mad Madam Mim because she is wild and chaotic and i absolutely love how fun she is as a villain and the most important thing for me is that Remus is fun. He's bonkers and has terrible ideas but he's also harmless in terms of reality. He's like an annoying little brother that wants to show you the Weird Gunk he found in the trash.
Inspiration 2: Snidley Whiplash (or Dick Dastardly)
Remus to me is a guy who knows a lot of things and he's actually really clever but he wants to BE a villain like Snidley Whiplash or Dick Dastardly, including the moustache. He wants to tie people to train tracks because it's fun. His personality is "I found the dynamite and the roller skates! :D"
Inspiration 3: Wile E Coyote and looney tunes as a concept
If Remus is anything it's a creature that can be stabbed in the eye and come back fine. It's a person who can make acme-like contraptions that do not work and that's ok. He is, if nothing else, Wile E Coyote and he is having the time of his life. He should therefore have hair that is a littler wild and crazy and untamable like Wile E's tail.
Inspiration 3: Royal villains
We will look at Galavant and also OUaT again!
There's nothing quite as detailed in costume as evil royal villains. They always seem to be the most extravagant or at least have all the buckles and things and Remus has an outfit just the same. Like Roman I want his royalty to show with his clothes but unlike Roman I want Remus to look way less put together. More a culmination of his clothes he chooses to wear but only because he HAS to wear something so he's going to show skin.
Particularly though the one I associate with Remus is Captain Hook from Once Upon a Time.
Inspiration 4: Captain Hook / Pirate aesthetics
Roguish, half-opened shirt, details, dressed fancy, swashbuckling. Remus would make a great pirate because he has the swagger and charm of a drunken man sailing a boat with a pet giant octopus he calls Lil Pussy.
Speaking of octopus...
Inspiration 5: Kraken and hentai
He has an octopus on his belt and he deserves tentacles for a pirate feel but also for fuckin. Cause he's a raunchy bastard. Anything taboo is something he wants to think about.
Inspiration 6: Punk aesthetic
What easier way top buck against the norms than to embrace punk vibes? Jewelry, upside-down crosses, I don't like going overboard with it but I like giving him some. Fingerless gloves, chokers with spikes, those kinds of things work well for his "I am everything your religious grandmother hates, embrace it". His outfits that aren't standard could look like he made them himself or found them in the garbage and went "awesome!"
Inspiration 7: Weapon Master
Remus likes to hit things with his mace and while Roman has his sword, I imagine Remus is an expert at weapons or at least likes to use them so even if I am going to dress him up nice I want a weapon nearby somewhere.
Things that are a must:
So many details, Remus will not leave your eyeballs alone. If you think Roman has details nope, Remus wants your eyes to bleed with them.
Remus should have longer hair than Roman, wilder bangs and wilder curls. Shorter hair is fine but a ponytail is even more fun. Like the tie holding it'll break at any moment.
Weapons galore, arm this baby at every opportunity. Likewise, scars are acceptable but it's ok if they disappear at random because chaos loves chaos.
If Remus has his main garb off he should be showing skin to the best of his abilities and his collar should drape down wider than normal because let that man be a slut.
Tentacles should be numerous when shown and they should have a mind of their own doing whatever they want.
If Roman wouldn't wear it, Remus would. If Roman wouldn't think it, Remus would, and if Roman would be disgusted, Remus would love it.
Remus should have annoying little brother vibes.
Any non-standard outfits should look like he cobbled them together with duct tape and chewing gum.
So I came to this:
fascinating can you do janus since you talked about him?
*cracks knuckles* Absolutely!
Janus is deception, deceit in it's finest- a smooth-talking person who keeps everything close to his chest. In canon his outfit hides everything but his face- which are covered in scales, making it easy to overlook everything else when that's distracting enough. BUT! He's also way kinder than people give him credit for and his goals align with wanting to protect and keep them all safe and happy too.
Janus gives me SO many fun vibes, but to me it boils down to "immaculate presentation hiding frustrated only-sort-of-reformed-villain that wants you to treat yourself to extravagant things because you deserve it". He wants to be a good guy but it feels like it's his nature to be a manipulative shit. He is a femme fatale, a bond villain, a sassy aunt who talks shit about everyone, strange caregiver, and aesthetically he is a diva.
Inspiration 1: That video of the guy who is a good guy talking like a villain
His outfit in the series screams villain but he's CONSTANTLY trying to make good reasonable points so this has to be a good place to think about it first.
Inspiration 2: Femme Fatale
Classy and refined, Femme Fatales use their looks and words and charms to get what they want, often at the cost of other people. Janus ultimately is a femme fatale in that he is trying to get what he wants and he tends to be smooth about it (this breaks sometimes but for the most part).
When thinking about Janus, seductive is a word that works well for him. He leans into that enticing seduction. Don't you want this? Don't you want to be like this or do this? Wouldn't it be so nice to be convinced~? While Roman is an effeminate romantic side, Janus is the one not afraid to wear the dresses and be the diva. Honestly he and Roman would be so good together flaunting dramatic diva takes if they could get past their bullshit.
Inspiration 3: Spy movies and heist movies
Janus dresses in a hat and gloves like he doesn't want to get his hands dirty. Spy movies have such a mysterious and enticing feel to them. To me deception isn't just about lying, it's about convincing people that lies are true for the purpose of achieving something. Obtaining something, changing something, doesn't matter which, spies and Janus go hand in hand in my brain. Likewise, heist movies are all about precision and timing and the perfect culmination of a plan coming together. Ultimately this is what Janus WANTS to emulate. What I think he would WANT to be. Convincing and suave and charming about it. Does he come across this way? Not 100% but it's a good place to look.
Inspiration 4: Lion King
(bottom image source: FantaTara )
Back again with Lion King, but you can't think about Thomas's sides without thinking about Disney. One Disney Villain comes to mind when I think about Janus, and surprisingly it's not Jafar, it is instead Scar. A lion who didn't get the recognition he craved, a lion whose plotting and scheming got him very far. Mark on his face? Check! Smooth-talking? Check! He is more about wits and words than strength and Janus is just like that.
So we have a person who is suave and cunning, talks a big talk, villain-coded, selfish, scheming and wants to help but uses dirty tactics to do so if he has to, all while wearing a very put together outfit.
Inspiration 5: Decadent parties and backroom poker
If Janus has a vice it is partying in excess and living his best life without a care for the consequences other people experience. Old fashioned cocktail parties, wine and booze, illicit backroom poker games and rigged playing cards, gossiping while he drinks his 16th cocktail and yet hiding himself behind a facade of totally having it together.
Inspiration 6: Chess
Janus is always playing a game, and it's a game of wits for everyone he is around. Every word he says and everything he does feels like a plotted out game and everyone else is a player.
Inspiration 8: Biblical stuff
Can't get rid of the biblical iconography with the snake man, but I chose less to look at the snake as "bad evil horrible sinful" and chose instead to look for images I could use to inspire me the opposite way.... angelic figures tending to or being kind with snakes because ultimately a snake granting knowledge isn't necessarily a bad thing to every belief system, so perhaps that vice-chasing isn't so much evil as selfishness is also not evil. A dichotomy that reflects in his scales- they continue down his entire body on that half. They should always be a prominent feature highlighted by the under eye redness. He is not fully human and that should be shown.
Things that became a must for me:
Keeping him fully clothes most of the time. This also gives into the "snakes are cold" vibes.
Must remain sleek and elegant
If he must show skin, the scales have to be shown off
Adding extra features to his outfit- splashes of yellow that remain refined and potentially softer things thrown in to look less threatening under all the outer presentation layers. Even AUs should do this.
Jewelry or accessories must be sleek and minimalist to be less distracting, but overall can be expensive. Hats are allowed to be big but will always slant and will not be too decorated.
Janus must have expressions of suave mystery, enticing allure, or like he's judging your outfit choice.
Hair is not as fluffy or as wavy- simpler and less distracting and cover his human eye because it's not as important.
Often depict him without his hat when trying to make him more approachable- the hat feels like him hiding more. Likewise do the opposite- often depict him cut off in some way to highlight the snake aesthetic and make him seem more mysterious.
So I ended up with this:
