Bonesy Talks - Tumblr Posts - Page 2

Can you explain your process of how you came up with your ghoul designs?? I’m struggling a tiny bit and wanted to know if you could share a bit about your process 🖤🖤🖤

Hello!!! Of course! I can try my best. I hope this helps :D

I guess I should start with saying that I've been designing characters for years now, I think I've either hit ten years since I started or am about to hit the mark. Which means I've gained a lot of knowledge when it comes to design processes and such, which I put to use when doing all of the Ghouls. I always recommend looking into things like shape language, color theory, color language, and things like that. Just having a basic understanding of what parts of character design can say about the character and communicate their personality is really helpful. Some of my ghouls are rounder, softer, while others are sharper, more edgy and those things will communicate different things. Dewdrop is very sharp, which makes him look dangerous, while Cumulus is very round, which makes her look friendlier.

I think most of my ideas for the ghouls actually comes from the fact that I've been playing Dungeons and Dragons since I was a freshman in high school, and races like Tieflings and Genasi really helped me when thinking about what elemental demons would look like. I also knew, when going into my ghoul designs, that I wanted them to literally embody their element, not just be a gray demon with some minor things here and there (not saying that that sort of design is bad, I just wanted something more cause I LOVE details).

So, I sat down and looked at each of the ghouls, their elements, as well as things about their stage presence. I would highly recommend just thinking about what you would do for common features of each different element. Like, what would a fire ghoul's skintone range be like, would they be reptilian or dragon-like, what sort of ear shapes or horn shapes are common for them. Then move onto the next element. I've described Quintessence ghouls as space/spirit ghouls, but so far all I've drawn are space inspired Quint ghouls (but plan on making other ghost-like).

That's basically what I did to start off. Fire ghouls often have red, orange, and brown skin tones, resembling a literal fire, and will draw their visual appearance from different types of heat sources (lava, fire, sun, etc.) Reptilian scales, pointed ears and thin pointed horns that tend to go straight up. Quintessence ghouls are bovine like, they got cow ears, swirly horns, and space freckles.

Once I had all the figured out, I just started drawing. This was actually the fifth time I was attempting to design the ghouls, so embrace the trial and error, see what you like and don't be afraid to scrap what you don't like. Literally, Mountain does not look anything like my first attempt at designing him. Dewdrop on the hand stayed mostly consistent, with somethings changed or scrapped here or there. Sunshine, for example, I redid her color palette alone three different times because I couldn't capture the sunspot design the exact way I wanted to.

Character design is trial and error, just keep on trying different iterations, keep finding new inspiration, and I highly recommend making Pinterest boards of references and inspiration to help.

(Asking on anon bc my ghost blog is my side blog LOL) but I was looking at your post about Copia learning ballet when he was younger and I LOVE THAT SO MUCH. Do you think any of the other Papa's had any other kind of artistic hobbies? I like to think Primo may have really enjoyed painting, when he had the time [from sacred-coffin]

Hiiii! Glad you liked Copia knowing ballet, I'm glad my years of suffering through the Nutcracker Ballet has come in handy (my cousin was a ballerina). But yeah, I took your question to my council (my two wives), and we all came up with several ideas for each of the other Emeritus brothers! Not all of these are exactly artistic, just kinda became general hobbies or things the papas liked to do.

Primo

I am one of those people that does enjoy Primo as a gardener, but not in the traditional sense. His knowledge pertains mostly to poisonous and carnivorous plants, but he also does know how to make a lot of natural remedies because he just finds herbal medicine practices fascinating. Although, only some members of the Ministry actually trust him and his tinctures.

Primo has “accidentally” poisoned a Bishop once. When asked if he knew that he put something he wasn’t supposed to into the bottle, he said “oh Satanas, my vision must be going”. He definitely did on purpose cause the Bishop took a nasty tone with him once.

In his personal book collection, I feel like he has a lot of vintage plant encyclopedias and anything like that for his garden obsession.

Definitely a purveyor of classical music compared to the other Papas, but in the sense he prefers scores that are evil in vibes. Also, definitely can play the violin. He’s not like, perfect at playing, but good enough not to annoy those that can hear it.

I would love for him to have an electric violin, but Primo is the type to always prefer classic string instruments over electric ones. Definitely has like an ebony stained wood violin.

Primo also has a fascination with insects, probably goes along with his plant fascination. He’s definitely into insect pinning and has frames filled with different moths, butterflies, beetles, and downright terrifying insects within his office.

Secondo

This man is a drinks connoisseur, in several ways. Secondo is big into coffee and alcohol. He’s never been the biggest morning person and coffee has basically been his lifeline since he became of Priest in the Ministry. Has all the shit needed for steaming milk and making espresso and all the jazz. I feel like he can even do that milk art and shit, but only spooky or sexual designs. For alcohol, he’s big into mixology. Grade A mixologist here.

Within the Chapter House, where most of the high ranked and important people of the Ministry have their rooms, some of their offices, and big important meetings, there’s also like recreational rooms for them. One of them has basically been claimed by the Emeritus bro trio for their game nights (Uno and other shit), because it has the bar that Secondo has stocked himself. He always mixes the drinks for himself and his brothers.

When he was Papa, his Papal office also had a personal bar.

I feel like this man is big into suits, reminds me of the way NBC’s Hannibal was big into suit fashion. He knows how to look refined and exactly how to pair a suit to tie and pocket square for every occasion. He’s had an extensive closet ever since he was younger. As Papa, he took every chance he could to be out of his Papal robes and Mitre and be in one of his many suits.

In terms of an instrument he knows, I’m not exactly certain, but I’m feeling a big instrument, maybe a cello, string bass, or something else, but its gotta be a deep and thuddy instrument, but I don’t think he plays it anymore. Left it behind as he went up the ranks of the Ministry.

Terzo

This man is a certified film buff. I mean, look at all his music videos. They reference so much. It’s all 1920’s Art Deco, with German expressionism like the Cabinet of Dr. Calgiri, Faust, and Nosferatu, as well as all the early 1900s horror movies like Dracula, Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde, etc.

From that era of horror movies, hands down, his favorite movie is Frankenstein, and loves the Bride of Frankenstein.

Alongside that, I feel like Terzo is very into that era of fashion, considering his second stage outfit and the ghoul outfits. Also just fashion in general. Man likes fancy clothes, it’s just unfortunate Sister Imperator didn’t give his version of the Ghost Project for funding.

Another thing Terzo did when he was younger is theater. Musicals, plays, talent shows, you name it. He always loved being on stage, being the lead of the show, its what helped him be such a charismatic Papa.

I feel like his favorite production he ever stared in was Cabaret.

Terzo picked up the guitar when he was younger as well, plays it every now and again, but not as often as Primo plays his violin. (This is so sad, Terzo play Wonderwall).

Totally didn’t fall in love with both his guitarists (totally doesn’t admire their abilities to play the guitar, totally didn’t pretend to be bad at playing guitar so that they would teach him, totally not).

Also, so good at playing the kazoo.

Bonus, Papa Nihil

He picked up crocheting when he was older to try and make gifts for Sister Imperator.

Unfortunately, Copia would have to be a whole other post as there’s a lot I could say about him as he’s my bestest guy.

Would you ever consider doing a water design for Dewdrop??

Yes! I do at some point plan on drawing Dewdrop's water design, most likely when I do the added Era 3 ghouls like Ifrit, Mist, Zephyr, etc. It wouldn't be too much different aside from the fact that he'd be blue.

But yes! OG Dew is on the list!

Do you have Instagram perhaps…?

Technically! Technically, I do have an Instagram, it's pretty much Bonesy Doodles in some way. The caveat is the fact that I have not posted any art to the platform in *checks records* two years and probably won't simply because Meta scrapes all the photos on the platform for AI, and as an American, I can't really opt out of it...

So yes, I do have an Instagram, but no, I do not use it in anyway.

Hello to all of my followers, I’ve said this before in asks I’ve answered, but I do want to put it out there again, but please, if you use my Ghoul Designs as inspiration for your own, TAG ME when you post!!!! I want to see and know the art that I’ve inspired!!!! I highly encourage it, as I love to see what people make from being inspired by me!!!! It brings me joy!!!

Thank you :D

Oh my goddd I really really love your art! The way you drew all the Papa’s had my jaw on the floor. Your art is very inspiring to me as a person and one day I hope to be as good as you!

Thank you so much!!! And I’m so happy I can be an inspiration for other artists and I wish you luck on your artistic journey!!!!

hi hello I am indeed curious about Prism and would love to read you yap about them pretty pretty please, I love them already you did the iridescence so well

I love getting to yap about them!!! For you, I have decided to yap about my design choices specifically. I’m including their art so everyone can reference what I’m talking about.

So, basically, my approach to Prism started out with thinking about their Elemental Composition, which elements are most present in their design, so I could figure out the features I wanted to include, cause all my ghoul types are unique.

So their order of elements is, Quintessence, Air, Fire, Earth, and Water. So, they have the most Quint features, and only one or two Water features.

For Quintessence, they get their coloration, their swirling horns, partially their ear shape, and hair color and texture. Most Quint ghouls are shades of magenta, purple, and indigo, which Prism is, just much lighter in complexion compared to Aether, Phantom, and Aurora. Their horns are spiraling, as you can see on the larger set, there is three overlapping layers. Their ears are harder to tell, simply because of their hair blocking it, but they do have a very similar shape to Phantom’s ears, with another element in combination. Finally, their hair. Quint ghouls commonly have very light hair that is straight or with a slight wave to it (which you can also see in Aether and Phantom.

For their Air features, it can be found in their horns, ears, and of course the presence of wings. Air ghouls will often have two sets of horns, and Prism has a smaller, unicorn like horn (which I love so much!) Their ears also have some bat ear elements to them, as they are a mixture of Quint and Air ear features. And then their wings!! Their wingsssss!!! I have to thank my buddy Coffin for the idea of making their wings insect like, like prism fractals in way. It turned out so fun. The bat like part is the Air element’s presence, but mixed with another element is what gave them the insect-like fractals.

Now onto Fire. Fire for them manifests in a few small ways. Their horns are more geometric due to Fire and another element, their ears are much longer than usual because of it too. But the main thing can be seen in the gem like scales on their cheeks and shoulders (which are also influenced by another element) as well as their eyes! Fire ghouls often don’t have defined pupils or irises, so their eyes usually appear as one continuous color!

Now onto Earth. The whole gem like appearance comes from Earth mixing with other elements. The horns are crystalline, the scales are small gems, and the wings are insect-like fractals.

And then, finally, Water. There’s barely any indication of water in their designs. Except for the fact that they can glow. Water ghouls are often bioluminescent, and Prism takes that to another level.

VIBRATES. does prism have some sort of relationship with aurora because theyre both pastel and rainbow and gorgeous. :3

also i want to gib.., tgem a smooch…

Literally, as soon as I finished Prism’s art, I put them next to my Swiss and Aurora portraits and made all three of them kiss :D

Prism finds themself most comfortable around fellow multighouls, mostly Swiss (as they are meant to be his opposite) and Aurora. This is because Prism’s multighoul nature makes them mimic and reflect the elements of those around them, and Swiss is all the elements like them while Aurora is Quint and Air which are Prism’s two main elements.

But yes, give them a smooch!

(Also, I’m in the process of answering the ask you left me oh so long ago about the Era 3 ghouls, there are just so many of them, so I have to write a lot)

I AM SO CURIOUS! PLEASE TALK MORE ABOUT PRISM

Of course! Your ask has been chosen for me to talk about Prism’s ghoul abilities, which is one of my favorite topics!!!

So, I mentioned it in my last ask, but Prism mirrors other ghouls elemental compositions. They also just do mimicry in general. Prism’s concept is that of reflection, and that comes in a lot of forms for them.

When around certain ghouls, Prism can make their appearance shift, not a lot, but enough for them to take on some elemental features of that ghoul. Say Prism is hanging out with Rain, their skin will become bluer, their rough gem scales soften in shape to make fish scales, and they grow gills and webbing. Vice versa for the other elemental types. Sometimes, it’s an unconscious thing for them, but other times, they do it deliberately.

That’s another reason they enjoy being around multighouls, especially ones of elements that they have a high concentration of (namely Quintessence and Air). Prism’s unconscious mimicry of their elements is less necessary when the ghouls are already of a similar elemental composition to them.

Another thing about Prism is their light manipulation. This kind of is an overarching way to state several things they can do. But essentially, Prism can bend and manipulate light, change the color of it, etc. as well as “merge” and travel through light (similar to the way that Swiss does with shadows). They kind of can just dissipate when standing in lit areas. It’s derived from Quintessence ghouls being able to seemingly teleport small distances by walking through the terrestrial plane using the aether between everything.

Also, a way they combine their light manipulation and mimicry is disguises themselves at people. They can bend light to make it seem like a “hologram display” of that person is overlaid on top of them (sort of like the DnD spell Disguise Self). This paired with the fact that they can copy voices pretty well. Let’s just say the chaos Prism has made within the Ministry is immeasurable.

Please say more about Prism?💙

Yes! Your ask has been chosen for me to talk about some of the strange things about Prism!

One of the main reasons Prism is little known ghoul is that the mortal eye cannot look at them without feeling pain or discomfort. They are a creature that probably should never have been summoned from the Pit, as their abilities and appearance is not conducive to the sanity of mortals (of course, only if they do not bear a Mark of the Beast like the Papas). They are a reflection, a kaleidoscope fractal of everything around them. The brightness and vibrant colors of their appearance burns your eyes, and then you start looking into their eyes and all you can see is the reflection of the universe’s horrors in the darkness of their scleras.

They tend to avoid being seen in general instead of being masked and glamoured like the other ghouls when they are out and about. You cannot see them, but trust, they are there, hidden amongst the motes of light.

I love your drawing of Prism they're so lovely! Do they live at the ministry? If so, what do they do there? They give a very ~handles relics and archives~ sort of vibe but I'm curious to know your thoughts!! If you want 🥰

So, Prism does live in the Ministry, but the Ghouls in my universe (my friends call it the Bones Verse) don’t often interact with Ministry congregates outside of their summoners (the papas), Clery members, and congregates that would on the Ghost Project.

That, along with the fact that mortals viewing Prism can either find it painful or uncomfortable, makes it so that Prism is not physically present within the Ministry.

That doesn’t mean they don’t do things. Prism quite enjoys the shinies of the Ministry. The art, the stain glass windows, the relics. They enjoy the way light reflects off everything, how the metal and various materials shine, the way the colors have been manipulated or put together to make things jump out amongst the subjects of the art.

Prism tends to be a silent, other worldly observer of the Ministry. Maybe once they find a way to control the vibrancy of their appearance, they be able to find joy in some sort of role within the Ministry.

Now, when it comes to the Ghost Project, Prism does actually have a job. They are on stage, just not in the way one might think. Prism is the lighting manager, to put it simply. They control the colors throughout the entire show, because Copia trusts them to do their job faithfully and efficiently. Prism also just likes making pretty colors and spotlights go brrrr.

I just wanted to say, Prism is probably my favorite fanghoul I've ever seen. Every inch of that design is just so beautiful and otherworldly, I love it all.

Thank you so much!!!! I’m so glad people like them as much as I do :D

I had so much fun designing them!!!

could be just me and my former biochem student haunting me but...

how do elements affect and define a ghoul's biology in your headcanon? due to being affected by all of them, do prism's horns and scales feel like diamond or really tough glass?

what about swiss maybe? do ghouls have genetics of sorts?

(sorry if this is overwhelming, im super curious about your ocs eek 👉👈)

I love the curiosity! Especially this question, cause it's so interesting to think about.

I'm not sure if its exactly genetics in the sense that we as human and other organisms of earth have genetics, as demons, and therefore ghouls, don't procreate or originate on the terrestrial plane. So, there really is no need for genetics. I usually refer to it as their elemental composition when I'm talking about the ghouls, and it's almost like how a molecule is built if I were to visually picture it, especially for Multighouls. Or, it's also like an alchemical elixir recipe, if I'm getting all classical about my references for the ghouls.

I guess in a way, you could view the features and characteristics of the element presentations as something like pseudo-genetics, as it mirrors the way we can have different features depending on our parents. But, it's really just the way the elements decide to "solidify" when the ghouls were originally summoned into a terrestrial form.

For each element, there are common features that are usually present in a ghouls appearance, like the hues of their skin or horns, but also things could be random and unnatural even for the ghouls. A few examples of this are Phantom's eyes being really dark for a Quint ghoul, or Cirrus's hair being dark and straight when Air ghouls often have light curly hair, as well as Aurora's sclera's being purple and her iris lacking a defined pupil. The elements heavily define the appearance in a ghoul, but its not the end all be all. Its purely how a ghouls elemental composition forms, stronger towards some features, not as much for others.

Now Multighouls are where it get fun. This is the part where elemental composition really gets funky. A multi ghoul features, depending on how many elements are composed of, have a much larger pool of features to pull from. So, for our dual element gals Aurora and Sunshine, their features are almost split down the middle for each of their elements, just their Quint and Fire features being the more noticeable or dominant ones. As a multighoul has more and more elements within their composition, its more common to see them have one major element, and then the others taking a back seat.

So for Prism, that was the case for their composition. They have the most Quint and Air features, not as much Fire and Earth, and then barely any for Water. And yes, their horns are diamond/crystal like. If I wear to actually try and execute them better, the horns would be reflecting and translucent in some parts.

Now, for Swiss. I don't think I've ever talked about Swiss's elemental composition to anyone. The way his composition manifested, it's actually really hard to tell what elements are dominant in his design (mainly because of his visual concept being what's called subtractive color synthesis). But his composition is Fire, then Earth, then Air, then Quint, and finally barely any Water. The hue of his skin and horns comes from Fire and Earth ghoul features, his ears are Fire, his eyes are a mixture of Fire and Quint, his hair texture is Air, but the color is Fire and Earth, and his multiple sharp teeth is a Water feature.

But yeah, that's how my ghouls' appearances work. :D

BONES !

I wanna hear all about Prism (apart from the things you already answered ofc <3) tell me something super niche about them I’m so curious

Also! If you waaaaant maybe perhaps yell about your version of the Ministry? I saw you talked a little about it and IM SO CURIOUS

I hope you have a good whatever time zone you’re in :3

SENTIENT GOLFBALL!

Uuhhhh, let’s seeee. A really niche thing about Prism is that their favorite color is black. But not like any black, it’s specifically that really inky black that reflects a bluish-purple hue when it’s shiny. It reminds them of their eyes, and as their concept is prismatic light, they don’t really produce black as a color.

It’s also interesting, as I haven’t done clothing studies, I’m not sure what looks good with their design in terms of outfit color palettes. I’m not sure if the entirely black with gold accent palette would necessarily look good with Prism’s design (I haven’t even tested it with the other ghouls beside Mountain and Swiss that one time, oops), so I’m considering Prism having a special uniform and mask that is white. Of course, it’s just a thought.

Oh, and then my Ministry. Oh my Ministry! I actually have done a full map mock-up of how my Ministry is laid out and it’s really big. So far, my favorite part about the Ministry is finding inspiration and thinking about the art and architecture used in the different buildings’ construction. What I call the Administration Building is based upon the Mausoleum filming location in the Chapters, of course expanded upon and developed. One of my favorite buildings though is the Central Cathedral, which of course is based on Gothic architecture for cathedrals, but my main reference points for it is the Cologne Cathedral and the Rouen Cathedral. I’m a pretty big art history nerd now thanks to going to art school, so my brain is always running a mile a minute when thinking about different parts of the Ministry grounds.

At some point, I hope to actually put together a document about my world building for my Ghostverse, cause it’s been getting really expansive. I’m doing my best to have it actually built like a real church, using the catholic system as the basis, just Satanic of course. It’s also really fun, cause I get to think about character interactions we’ll probably never get in canon cause I’m not killing off the first three Papas. I get to enjoy Primo and Terzo beefing with Copia becoming Frater Imperator (Primo wanted to do evil plots and Terzo wanted to improve the establishment, but noooo, Nepotism).

I’ve rambled a lot. Oops :D

PRISM IS SO GORGEOUS!! Does she ply an instrument? What’s her favorite food? Best/Worst thing about being summoned?

Thank you!!!!

Uhhh, let’s see. Technically, Prism can play quite a few instruments due to their Multighoul nature. If you put an instrument in their hand, they’ll most likely be able to learn it. But, the main one they like to play is Violin, so Fire, which is their third element.

In terms of favorite food, Prism loves sweets. Definitely their favorite has to be funfetti cupcake with rainbow sprinkles.

Best and worst thing about being summoned,,, hmmm. That’s a toughie. I will say, Prism’s summoning was strange. They weren’t really meant to be summoned. It’s like, they only meant to summon one Air ghoul, and instead got two as Cumulus and Cirrus were like a pair, sort of like bonded cats. When they were trying to summon a new fire ghoul (before they were able to successfully transmute Dewdrop to fire), Copia got Swiss instead along with Prism, as they sort of were like a pair similar to Cumulus and Cirrus. Poor Copia got covered in shadows from Swiss and then flashbanged by blinding light.

I have to apologize to you cuz I did this without asking for permission first but I just… **sigh** I just couldn’t stop thinking about ur Mountain 😔💕…he’s so gorgeous beautiful baby pretty godly i love him I hope you forgive me and take this as an offering 🤲 ur art is amazing thank u

DUDE!!!! DUUUUUUDE!!!!

There is never any need to ask for permission to draw my ghouls or anything of mine cause holy mother of god your art is amazing oh my god you drew him so well, I wanna like print this out and make a shrine to it I love it so much!!!!

I literally just woke up, opened up my asks and saw this and threw myself out of my bed yelling in joy so loud I woke up my roommate shdndndnndnd!!!

I’m gonna stare at this so often, thank you so much!!!