[ID: an uncoloured two panel comic of Jonathan Sims and Martin Blackwood from The Magnus Archives. Martin is a fat man with slight freckles and scruff and stud in his left ear. He’s wearing a jacket and a travel backpack with a blanket roll on top. He’s desperately trying to shake off ants, who are seen crawling on his arms, legs and backpack. He’s saying “Yes, haha, laugh it up - they just walk around you!” Next to him is Jon, a thin man with short hair and a short trimmed beard. He’s wearing a turtleneck and a long coat, he is completely untouched by ants. Jon is looking fondly at Martin and has his fist in front of his mouth as if to stiffle laughter. He says “I’m sorry. If there were anything I could do to help, I would, but-”. Next to him is a small round panel showing a close up of Jon, he’s looking up and tapping his cheeck in thought. He says “Wait, actually…”
The second panel shows them in a tunnel, the floor, walls and ceiling completely covered in a grey sludge, a roiling mass of ants. Jon is midway through a step, Martin is piggybacking. Martin has his legs wrapped around Jon’s waist and his arms around his neck. Jon is holding his legs. On the floor around Jon’s foot is an open space where all the ants have withdrawn. Where Jon’s other foot will come down, another section is starting to clear. /End ID]
For ace awareness week, here’s the ace who’s aware of everything!
[Image ID: Digital Painting of Jonathan “Jon” Sims petting a cat, The Admiral. Jon is leaning forward at a desk, a small smile on his face. The Admiral is laying down, purring. Jon is a black man with a full beard and short curly black hair. He has gold, wide framed glasses that has a gold chain. He has small circular scars on his face and hands. He’s wearing a long sleeve purple sweater, beige slacks, and a brown belt. The Admiral is a black and white cat. The desk is white and the Admiral is laying on various items, including tape recorder tapes, an inkwell pen, and a set of papers clipped together. There is a small sticker on the side of the desk that pictures a lime green question mark above a cartoonish ghost on a magenta background. There is a smaller wooden side table next to the main one. There is a key in the lock, two pink-ish gummy bears, and a pink mug that says, “In case of emergency, ask Georgina” in stylized font. The background are the colors of the ace flag, black, gray, white, and purple.
i think we vastly underutilize jon’s scars/marks, like, as a concept to explore.
please consider;
the mark from the desolation heals, but it still burns, the skin is hot to the touch, he starts shaking hands with his left.
he can still feel the worms, but not only that, he can hear their songs when it gets quiet.
the mark from the hunt still bleeds, occasionally. it pulses like a heartbeat, faster and faster, driving him to give chase after his prey, lest he become the hunted again.
the slaughter’s mark also bleeds, and it sits stiffly in his shoulder, and when he pulls on the knotted skin, the pain is laced with something vicious and mindlessly violent, and just a little of what melanie had be feeling, on top of everything.
his scars from the unknowing vanished, healed completely over after he accepted becoming the archivist. unless he looks in the mirror for too long, sees the skin warped and scarred and not entirely his own.
This is probably the most surrealistic thing I have done. It reminds me of that artist tag yourself meme. #Angst Artist. Edgy scowling dudes is a lifestyle.
Glad that I decided early on that the right image was NOT how I should approach this, ditched it quickly, and invested in a more painted approach. The colors remind me of cotton candy or bubblegum, which does not fit with this image at all, but I’m doing it anyway. I hope it gives it an uncomfortable feel.
Some Jonathan sketches. I wanted to preserve the sketch element of these images somewhere because I feel in love with it, and the end result might not retain what I love about these images.
The bottom sketch fits Jonathan’s humble, well mannered character, but of course I needed something more edgy and conceptually complex, hence the top portrait I’m going to refine for the prompt. The tousled/blown hair makes it hard to imagine it’s supposed to be Jonathan; adding Merkabah's design into the mix isn’t helping the matter either.
Jonathan be like he may be a horror beyond human comprehension and have me imprisoned in his castle with no hope of escape or rescue but he would make an excellent solicitor I mean what a mind
