Duet of the Discarded

[Image ID] A digital painting of a male and a female character each trapped in their own large bubbles. He is dangling like a puppet and she is reaching up towards him. [description end]

'The puppet cast aside for crying in his sleep, and the queen deemed unworthy by her people in but a single glance… Though their paths in life were in stark contrast, it was also akin to looking in a mirror; as if their circumstances and personalities had been but a little different, their roles could easily have been in reverse.'

The story behind these two really intrigued me as it was slowly revealed in the game, and I ultimately decided to express that in an illustration. This piece is not a ‘literal’ representation of what happened in the story, but a symbolic expression of the similarities and contrasts between the two characters.

The two large ‘bubbles’ in which they are trapped are based on the one Nahida (right) was imprisoned in by her people. Although, in the story, Scaramouche’s ‘prison’ was more metaphorical than physical, I still chose to represent it by echoing hers.

The tubes holding him aloft are based on those from the machine he controlled during the story, with the dangling posture intended to represent that although the machine’s power was flowing into him, the situation at large was controlled by another party.

Their postures were also chosen to reflect the contrasts in their outlook on the world. Nahida is looking upwards and outwards with hope for the future; whilst Scaramouche gazes downwards, having eventually given up trying to fight what seemed to be ‘inevitable’.

I created a GIF which shows various stages of the painting

I’ve also uploaded a timelapse of the painting process to YouTube which can be watched below:

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Time taken: 6.5 hours

Computer Type: Windows

Program: FireAlpaca

Drawing Tablet: Gaomon M106K

Characters: Scaramouche/Wanderer (left) & Nahida (right), from the game Genshin Impact

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