Echo
Lylatt: "To act on logic or impulse, to feel nothing at all or everything at once... My world is colorful, but I'm living in black and white."
I'm not sure if anyone listens to vocaloid music (or knows what it is), but a song, "Echo," covered by AmaLee and & dj-Jo inspired me to make this. In addition, a level in Project Arrhythmia based on the cover was a major inspiration for the aesthetic. The cover can be found here, and the level in the game can be found here.
A lot of comments on the song have interpreted the it as an allegory for struggling with mental health. I listened to it frequently during a few stressful weeks, and watched videos of the level a few times before playing Project Arrhythmia myself. During that time, I was unable to draw, so I wrote my ideas and interpretations down so I could use them later. When I had free time, I was writing Lylatt's backstory, and those ideas came together.
I will not say much about her story, but it is a doozy. What I will say, however, is that it worked well with both. The level's interpretation of colors treated them as emotions, and Lylatt is one of the most colorful characters I have made. My interpretation of the lyric "why I'm switching faster than the channels on TV" is that a person is struggling to control their emotions, while "I'm black, then I'm white, no! something isn't right!" is that a person's emotions are either extremely high or extremely low, or they are emotionally numb to the point that their emotions are subdued, if they feel anything at all.
This is why there are three Lylatts in the picture; one symbolizes a side of her that is "emotionally numb, but logical" while the other is "wildly emotional and impulsive, but lacking common sense." It's easy to tell which one is which. I also included the song lyric "the echo in the mirror" to give the impression that the real Lylatt is staring into a mirror and this is what's staring back at her. Additionally, her eyes are framed in shadow and the rest of her face doesn't match either of the reflections, leaving it ambiguous as to how she is really feeling
The last major influence in this piece is lenticular imagery. Items using lenticular imagery have two or more interlacing images that form one picture, changing appearances depending on the angle they are viewed from. I own a few pins like this, and I noticed something about them over time: both pins feature characters that have similar (if identical) poses, but the expressions, shading, lighting, and backgrounds are different. Combining these aspects gives the second image a different tone than the first and creates the illusion of depth. There is a more scientific explanation to this compared to how I'm explaining it, and although the drawing isn't lenticular, I changed the facial expressions and kept the pose the same. It reflects how important facial expressions are to the tone of the piece, and if an expression cannot be applied to match the body language or is done poorly, it may come off as jarring to the audience.
I've said a lot about this, and I hope you've enjoyed what I have to say. I'm disappointed that this was the only drawing I completed this month, but the reasons for it were beyond my control. I hope that for the last month of 2021, I'll be able to make some more great pieces to close off the year!