Welcome to the Fantroll Palette Challenge 2022!
This was an art challenge I did in an effort to break the art block I had been experiencing since the pandemic. Since 2017, my art output had been roughly 30-35 pieces a year, but in 2020 I only managed to make 9. 2021, I only made 7. I love to make art, it's both a source of pride and an outlet for my creative passion, and only making 7 all year was either an indication that something was deeply wrong or that I was losing my touch. So, in an effort to keep myself practiced and remind myself why I like doing art so much, I engaged in a palette challenge.
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A Palette Challenge is where you take a palette (usually created by someone else) and sometimes a small prompt, like a word, and create an art piece with it. I didn't go too hard on myself here, so the pieces are a little lower quality than you might be used to from me, but I think they're still worth documenting, especially considering the good they did for my artistic journey.
Title: Kelkia - 'Make a Stand'
Date: May 18, 2022
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Kelkia Cognit is a rustblood fantroll (based on the webcomic Homestuck by Andrew Hussie) who likes to read and people watch. In cannon, rustbloods and especially bright red guys like Kelkia are systemically oppressed by the empire, hence her engagement in protest here.
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All my fantrolls and these pieces can be found on my blog, askkwieon.
Title: Pemman - 'Amber Safety'
Date: May 19, 2022
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Pemman Helwyr is a blueblood who was savagely attacked by another troll's lusus, leaving him almost completely blind. He has slowly recovered his eyesight - but it still isn't perfect, and the resulting break he had to take from his passion - archery - sent him spiraling into depression. Here's a moment from that time :)
Title: Iroash - 'Vintage'
Date: May 20, 2022
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Iroash Slanai is a tealblood witha hero complex. His character is (to date) the least fleshed out of all my fantroll cast. I do know that he's a fashionable guy, though, and he's got enough swagger to pull off something as vintage as the 50's mobster look.
Title: Kikert - 'Young Blood'
Date: May 21, 2022
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Kikert Flumin is a limeblood - a rare caste of trolls who, in the near future, gets completely wiped out by the Empire. This composition was mostly inspired by those posters of Barack Obama - the 44th President of the United States - and I chose it mostly because the colors reminded me of them.
Title: Mountainous
Date: May 22, 2022
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This is Hieser Terynu, and this is a composition I've tried with him before. He's a lonely character, often shutting people out before they have the chance to hurt him. Here, the light represents society. Ultimately, it's his choice whether to step into it or remain a hermit forever.
Title: Zavria - 'Peace'
Date: May 23, 2022
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The way I chose which character to draw using each color palette was using a "Wheel Decide" page full of character names and rolling randomly. I thought it was pretty ironic that I rolled Zavria Brenie - known violence-loving bloodthirsty murder princess - for 'peace'. Of course, for her, peace was never an option.
Title: Arwien - 'Frigid'
Date: May 25, 2022
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Arwien Balour is a clown in the clurch (clown church). He's an ambitious snake and a real piece of work, so his palette being called 'frigid' suits him perfectly. He is holding puppet wire - his weapon of choice when it comes to wanton murder and unnecessary torture.
Title: Vosaar - 'Cherry Coke'
Date: May 26, 2022
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There was honestly only one choice here.
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I drew him like a coke commercial (c.2010)
Title: Kwieon - Klontalersee
Date: May 27, 2022
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I had to look up what Klontalersee was for this pic - It's a lake in Switzerland. So, of course, I sent my little guy there.
Kwieon is the namesake and 'main character' of my ask blog @askkwieon. He's really super interesting, I promise, and you can read about him and all these guys there.
Title: Genira - 'I Wouldn't Do This If I Were You'
Date: May 29, 2022
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Genira Vedeck is a geneticist. She's a Jadeblood, which are traditionally those assigned to care for the newborns of the species. She was a little too... unusual to be around her fellow Jadebloods without adversity, so she decided to pursue genetic science instead of handling the babies herself. Still, she's got an incredible soft spot for grubs - especially the misfits.
Title: Skylos - 'Calm Down'
Date: June 3, 2022
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Skylos Madran is a yellowblood with a... complicated history of relationships. This picture features her mysterious ex-moirail in what may have been a typical moment in their relationship. Who knows, though, she doesn't talk about it.
Title: Jaespe + Vosaar - 'Our Love Will Transcend Universes'
Date: June 5, 2022
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Jaespe and Vosaar are moirails, both born off-world in a mining colony, and both assassins for hire. They are largely long-distance, yet remain dedicated to each other, which is why I thought the prompt suited them.
Title: Lilach - 'Strawberry Milkshake'
Date: June 21, 2022
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After a long break from this challenge, I returned with one of my personal favorite characters, Lilach Realte. During this break I was staying with my parents in Edinburgh, working remotely in a U.S. timezone. It was nice to be with family, but hard to be up late every single night. I remember doing this between afternoon meetings and the research project I was doing for the fellowship.
Title: Kerdor - 'Rhythm'
Date: June 21, 2022
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Kerdor Umculo is the girlfriend of Arwien and a fellow clown. Her role in the circus is the 'siren' - it's her job to sit on a decorated set and sing her lungs out. She won't admit it, but sometimes she feels more like a bird in a cage than a mermaid luring sailors to their death.
Title: Vryhei - Marinette
Date: June 27, 2022
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I was 100% through with this pic before I realized the prompt was 'Marinette' and not 'Marionette'. Not sure why the creator of the palette named this one after the main character of Miraculous Ladybug (2015) but I think my misreading made the pic more interesting anyways. Vryhei dressed as a ladybug superhero lends itself to much less symbolism.
Title: Termia - 'Mud'
Date: July 1, 2022
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Termia Dennyn is a rancher, so here's a drawing of her mucking out her fields. Every time I draw her I try to improve my muscle-drawing skills. It's not working very well, but I will continue to try.
Title: Selnie + Arthuk 'Part-time'
Date: July 7, 2022
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Selnie and Arthuk are moirails - they are each other's emotional support, their home. Despite this, Selnie (left) spends much of her time off-planet, preparing for a revolution she hopes to lead to the gates of the Empress's palace. Unfortunately this doesn't leave much time for her boy Arthuk.
Thank you for viewing the Fantroll Palette Challenge 2022!
I know, it's a lot, and it made up most of my artistic output for the year 2022. This challenge also marked the year I stopped sequestering my homestuck fantroll art in a separate, unsorted folder, and started appreciating it as legitimate artistic expression. Since most of my commissioners and a few of my friends come from the fantroll community, I end up making a lot of art for my OCs in this fandom. At some point I realized if I just added what I was making for the FTC to my ordinary output, I'd be closer to my typical piece-per-year rate than if I kept not counting it.
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Unfortunately this also means all of you lovely people have to suffer through my fan-made content for perhaps the worst and most influential webcomic of my generation.