Click to advance! Fullscreen for better image quality. KEY: 1. Concept paintings (you are here!) that I speed-drew in an hour or two. I forgot the flower in this one, oops. 2. Reference sheet 2.1-2.2. Closeups of the ref 3-5. Traditional sketchpage 6. Original art by @coralsong! This design... I love them sm :'0 Agjdfkd everything looks even more rushed. I'm really sorry there's no "entry piece" this time, there just wasn't enough time to draw a proper one with all the tests I have this month aaaaaa. I did manage to do some digital art of the design, so at least there’s that :D || BIO || Name: Neri Gender: Agender, goes by they/them Age: No one knows. They’re a specter/spirit of sorts, but used to be a living being. Personality: Quiet, ruminant, and placid, they enjoy being alone with only the company of their thoughts. Yet they harbor bitterness in their heart from grievances committed against them in the past. Doomed to be eternally lost, they have no choice but to wander a dark forest forever, taking delight only in stumbling upon the few souls that dare enter. They secretly have a good sense of humor if you get to know them, though. Long backstory warning again! The 'backstory summary' section actually explains things more clearly than the real backstory, so I suggest you read that instead (it’s located in Notes & Creds). Content warning: Implications of death, torture, and supernatural beings. May be uncomfortable to read. || BACKSTORY || Neri only remembers fragments. Shards, mere slivers of their past, and even then, the memories make no sense, too jumbled and too distant from each other in the times they took place to correlate. They feel more distant to Neri than the sea’s horizon, or the sun’s warmth in winter, and they find themselves wondering at times if those memories were even theirs to begin with. But some part of them knows, knows deep inside that those recollections cannot belong to anyone but themself, because what little they remember - all of it, even the most insignificant parts - is ugly. Cruel. Twisted. It tells the story of how they died. A witch, they called Neri. A witch who used black magic and cursed spells to manipulate the townsfolk like shadow puppets in a play. Untrue! Neri cried. They’d only ever gathered herbs to make salves and tonics, or charmed a few things here and there to make their everyday business around the house easier, but would the people listen? A witch. They spat the word in Neri’s ears, pointing at Neri with accusatory claws. Sorceress. Enchantress. Demon. Neri felt the sting of coarse ropes cutting into their pelt, straining helplessly against the townspeople’s grip as they were wrenched from their home, out into the open. What else could someone who practiced the magical arts be, besides some unsightly oddity? A gypsy who pranced about in golden chains and silken scarves and flowers woven in their fur that never seemed to wilt? What kind of flowers never die? Neri, Neri, Neri, they cried, hissing the name like a chant, it’s time to send you back to where you came from. That memory ends there. The second one is full of pain. Searing, burning pain, choking Neri’s lungs, their throat, their mind. To breathe is as impossible a task as moving snow-capped mountains. The world is gray, oh so gray, smelling of carrion and soot, and soon dies into the darkest, deepest black. A night erased of its stars. If the second was agony incarnate, the third is stillness. Utter stillness, so soft and silent it is almost disquieting. Neri stares, from a long, long, distance away, it seems, at a landscape of complete desolation. The earth is black as a raven’s wing, and the sky stained the color of ash; a parallel of monotony. There is no movement, no sound, save for the last fiery smolders of burning trees. Neri carefully treads through it all. They spot a skull on the ground, white against ebony, miraculously intact from the rest of the destruction. Death amidst more death, it is still beautiful. So Neri takes it with them. Pink, then orange, then gold as sunflower faces, Neri paints bright colors onto the skull, using the pigments from flower petals and crushed stone, swirling onto the bleached bone a myriad of vibrant patterns. Unraveling a ribbon from their silken scarf to string it up, the mask is complete. Behind this skull, behind its blinding white beauty, its floral patterns full of life, Neri can hide. At last, they feel safe. But this blackened world of destruction is no place to live. They turn their back on the gloomy landscape, slowly padding into a shadowy forest. Finally. The secrecy they needed.
[Backstory cont.] And now, the present. Dead leaves litter the ground in a crisp layer, yet Neri’s paws make no sound as they tread. This forest is endless. They know it is, because they have walked here for enough summers and winters to discover that the end is unreachable. That there is no end. And strange things happen in the forest. Specters appear at night. Eyes belonging to no living creature gleam in the dark. Yet Neri is undisturbed by it all, making poultices for wounded spirits that pass and tending to the more mysterious inhabitants of the woods. In a way, this chilling place is home. Sometimes, someone will come. A traveler will enter the forest. But when one does, Neri runs to cut them off before they venture deeper, to give them one warning before it’s too late: Do not wander in the woods alone. Do not trap yourself in this deadly eternity. Most often, the travelers scream in horror at the sight of Neri’s painted skull mask, their translucent, wispy body, but no matter. As long as they stay out. Yet the loneliness grows as the years pass. But one day, a stranger appears in the woods. Neri sprints to meet it, and howls their usual warning in a voice as raspy and echoey as the wind: Do not come here after dusk! Do not walk the woods alone! But it does not heed the call. Instead, it stares at them with astonished eyes. “Neri?” it whispers. “I can’t believe I’ve finally found you.” || BACKSTORY EXPLANATION/SUMMARY || Since the backstory is told from Neri’s POV, it’s incomplete, so here’s a summary of what really happened. Neri used to be an apothecary who lived in a small town and made herbal remedies for the people. They also possessed slight magical abilities, and combined this with their healing talents to make the cures even more effective. However, due to the inexplicable success of all of Neri’s remedies, the townsfolk grew suspicious of them. Rumor spread that Neri was no saintly helping hand - they must be a witch, secretly poisoning them with those miraculous herbs. This rumor wasn’t helped when the seasonal plague struck the town and killed many of its inhabitants. Neri was blamed for it all. The villagers dragged Neri from their home, tied them up, and prepared to burn them alive, but not before a sudden onslaught of heavy wind forced them to retreat. Neri died of smoke inhalation (hence the paragraph describing the grayness and a choking feeling), but the fire also spread throughout the town, burning the entire settlement to the ground, and the survivors believed it to be Neri’s last curse on them (it was actually the strong winds that caused it to spread). Neri returned as a spirit, gazed upon the destroyed town, and then left, deciding to live in a nearby forest. They brought with them a skull they found as a token, decorating it to wear as a mask. Being a ghost themself now, Neri can see other supernatural beings, and heals and tends to them as they did when they were alive. They continue to walk the forest alone - that is, until one day, a stranger appears in the woods and seems to recognize them. || EXTRA NOTES || - Neri is a shortened form of nerium, which is another name for a pink flower similar in color to Neri’s fur called oleander. Despite its beautiful looks, nerium/oleander is a toxic flower and bitter to the taste. - Neri’s death is a reference to witch burnings/hunts, a common practice in the Middle Ages. - The reason why Neri returned as a spirit can either be interpreted as the “unfinished business” trope with ghosts, or because it was a byproduct of their magical abilities. Also, why Neri lost most of their memories is likely due to the fact that they became a ghost. - Neri’s backstory is left on a cliffhanger, because who doesn’t love those :) - I drew the design’s earring in some of the art, but it didn’t show up very well, sorry ^^ This concludes my entry for Shredded Lace! I’m not sure why I looked at this cheerful, innocent design and went like “mm yes, this one must have a dark, sad backstory!” but it’s October and I’m in the mood for spooky stories, so I tried my hand at writing one. I hope you don’t mind that I added in the mask for extra spooky effect ^^’ Thank you so much @coralsong for hosting this wonderful DTA, and congrats again on the follower milestone! It was a pleasure to draw this lovely baby <3 || CREDITS || DESIGN & DTA: @coralsong! ART & WRITING: @Ivgliss (apologies for the ugly watermarks yet again) MUSIC: Forest Incantations - Alan Lee Silva PROGRAM USED: FireAlpaca, PC & mouse Pictures in the background of the reference & concept paintings do not belong to me.
