Inktober 52 - 2021 45

"Onions have layers. Ogres have layers." Shrek claims. Like Shrek, I couldn't come up with many layered things on the spot, especially if we discount all those pesky abstract concepts. I ended up sticking with the onion... knight. The onion knight - specifically from Dark Souls, not from Final Fantasy. Siegmeyer of Catarina has achieved some pop-culture notoriety as the unambiguously friendly and mirthful NPC in Dark Souls. I haven't much kept up with the series, so I'm not entirely sure in how many Souls games there are onion knights, but the design certainly stuck in my mind. It's round design features have a certain charm to it, especially in the somewhat dreary setting of the Dark Souls games, and it also helps that no face comes to mind, at least not to me. Generally, I think this design is very easily readable and very cohesive.

I left out a lot of the detail in the armor, but the rest of the parts were easy enough. Technically the details are mostly lining anyways, so that probably shouldn't be that difficult. Still, I'd like to fix what there is with ink first, before doing anything else. The letters are supposed to be reminiscent of the player-messages that are written on the ground. I'm not sure if that registers, but now that I've mentioned it, maybe the initiated will know what I mean.

I also opted for a simple background, so good Siegmeyer doesn't float in a void again. The mimic also helps marginally in filling space.

There something about tubing and lines that came to mind a lot while I added detail to the helmet and the middle-part of the armor. Not that I wouldn't have managed from reference, but this made things go quite quickly. I wasn't going to do elaborate lettering, otherwise I might have used a different shape for the light-cone, but that's what we're getting this week.

In red and white, round alternations

the orb is cleft in twain,

and sudden olfactory sensations

produce a flavoured strain.

In eyes and nose and tongue alike

a grimace starts to form.

The onion, whether we would like

will not peel on its own.