During the encounter between Dandara and the blindfolded man, something unexpected occurred, a curse typical of the American continent, responsible for many disasters that have occurred over the centuries, mentioned even in stories of ancient civilizations from before the colonization of America, simply emerged.
Dandara was surprised to see such a frightening curse appear exactly at that moment. But then she realized that the creature was attracted by the man who pursued her. It was like that it wanted to test its strength against him. So, she deduced that the guy, who was right in front of her, was the true monster there.
At first, Dandara believed she would die, there was no way to escape the tragedy that was about to happen, but she reconsidered and concluded that it could be an opportunity to escape. However, the white-haired man defeated the curse with just one blow, he barely moved when he shot a red bolt that he himself created. Dandara was shocked to see Calamity collapse into cursed energy, as she understood that her pursuer was infinitely stronger than she could ever imagine.
When I crafted Dandara's story, I wanted to emphasize that the protagonist was born and raised in South America, Brazil. So, I decided to create a curse that represented the American continent. I had imagined a skeleton that would initially represent hunger, but it turned out to represent the calamities that had occurred on the American continent. I also intended to show that the Calamity curse existed before colonization.
Therefore, in its creation, I made sure to include some symbols or things reminiscent of the native peoples of the countries of Latin America, Central, and North America. It was very fun to think of something exclusively ours and to be able to cause a very interesting interpretation with this idea.
Once I had the idea ready in my head, I used the Leonardo A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) with some prompts related to what I was thinking. This way, I would have an idea of what I was going to create. There were several attempts; using artificial intelligence is not as easy as it seems. It's tricky to explain some details through prompts. But it created some very interesting images for what I wanted to use as a reference. However, only skulls came.
No chance of drawing the body of a skeleton just from memory, I needed a reference. I used a PNG image that probably belonged to an RPG character.
Image Source: PNGWing.com
In the chosen reference, the creature had four arms, so I had to alter the image a bit. In mine, I wanted it to have two arms like a regular human. I drew the skull's face based on the images I downloaded from the Leonardo AI. And I went on the internet looking for PNG images or Google Images to find ideas to create the creature's accessories based on some cultures originating from the Americas.
Referência
Sketch
Sketch Head Details
Art Live
Base Colors
Complete
The flaming red eyes were not my idea; they were part of the suggestions created by Leonardo AI. I ended up liking that and brought the incandescent eyes into the text as well.
After drawing and coloring the curse, I used cloud brushes to draw the black smoke around it. For the glowing embers, I also used a special brush; this one was for drawing snow, but since I used shades of yellow, orange, red, and black, it gave the idea of embers. I really liked the result.
To create the background, I searched for photos on the internet, mainly on Pinterest. I wanted an image of the Municipal Theater of São Paulo. One of the most beautiful buildings in the old downtown. It is almost in front of the Shopping Light, where the battle - or the humiliation - of Dandara against Gojo took place.
📸 por @msonohara _ 🗺 São Paulo Municipal Theatre - @sobreviaemsp
Finally, I found an image that was at a good angle to use the drawing I had already made of the creature. After choosing the image and altering it in Photoshop, I just used some filters from Photoshop's Filter Gallery to make the image look like a drawing.
Then, I inserted the curse and finished the composition by adding more smoke, shadows, and lights. The result was breathtaking.
In conclusion, although the appearance of Calamity was brief, it seemed splendid and full of history; and stole the scene for a moment and completely changed the way Dandara saw the man who pursued her.
I sincerely loved the process of imagination and creation of Calamity, the curse of the Americas. I already love it a lot!
It's going to the Portfolio.
And you? What did you think about the art? What did you think of creating a curse originating from the Americas to appear even if for a moment in the fanfic? Tell me everything in the comments or on social media. I would love to know.
What do you think happened after Satoru Gojo defeated the curse? To find out, go to the blog and read chapter 5 of the fanfic.
See ya! <3
