Let Me Drown...

Sometimes, I know,
I scare you with
Hints of depression,
Thoughts of death,

Sometimes, I know,
You wish with
All of your heart,
That you could
Rescue me,

But please,
Don't worry,
I'll be alright,
Just wait for me
To resurface.

--::--

<sub>First and foremost, I'm perfectly well and good and there's no need to worry that I've posted something that looks as though it is bordering suicidal, though I will admit that I did draw the initial sketch(es) for this piece while feeling pretty down.

But hey, like I said in the short [poem] that I wrote, I will and have resurfaced.

I liked this concept too much to give it up, even though it is hardly fitting anymore. And what's that I see? No, it couldn't be, could it?

Why yes, it is Arcaia, my second fursona and the "other side of the coin" to go with Lyreia. Now, despite her appearance, Arcaia is not violent, not depressed, and most certainly not emo.

Arcaia, actually, is Lyreia's protector, in a way. She takes the blows because she won't let Lyreia get hurt. To make things simpler, let's say that Lyreia is naive, and Arcaia is mature. Ahaha. ;3

Arcaia would pretty much do anything to keep her "sister", Lyreia, from harm, so being rendered unable to do anything to help her pretty much puts Arcaia into a state of anguish and despair.

Now, about the ice.

I think it's pretty obvious that Lyreia is of the element Air, and I'll tell you that Arcaia is of the element Water. [Cold] Air + Water = Ice. Whenever one or the other (since they are somewhat based on one another) feels an extreme emotion, such as hate, fear, sadness, etc, they tend to form ice because of the uncontrolled elemental combination between them.

...yes. Please don't shoot me for my confusing explanations.

Also important to note, Arcaia does not actually exist, in a way. Sure, you can poke her and prod her and she will be there, but technically, she does not have a soul because her soul is essentially Lyreia's...

However, she appears whenever Lyreia is feeling completely helpless or depressed or whatnot, so that's why she's here right now and never really anywhere else. ;D

(although I do love Arcaia's design, I'll probably draw her more often) x3

Since you can't really see their designs too well (thanks to my weird shading), I've uploaded the flat colours of Arcaia and Lyreia here.

About the artwork itself, I think I like the sunset and the clouds the best, aside from the characters. I really like that cloud technique I found a while back, it's incredibly helpful and my backgrounds are looking much better now.
(though this is my first time drawing an underwater scene...)

Also, if you have trouble reading the words in this picture, they are as follows:

Please... Let me help you...
Don't rescue me... Just let me drown...

I've also found out that I really, really dislike drawing bubbles.

And hey! This fits another 100 Themes Challenge theme!

Well, that's about it for this piece, Kes signing out [of typing here and MSN].</sub>

91. Drowning

--::--

Artwork, original characters [Lyreia, Arcaia] (c) ~Inkshadow
Texture 53 [Ice] (c) *ro-stock