Circe Portrait by B1anch on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

This was originally posted on my old account, but it's one of few things I'm still proud of so here we are!

This was my first attempt at semirealism with a portrait of one of my first OCs, Circe. Her story is one of the few that I actually think aged relatively well (given I made her when I was probably 11). Also she has strabismus I swear the wall-eyes were intentional XD

Circe barely had a childhood as a result of being raised in a small, devoutly religious town in a fantasy world that mirrors the 1800s, where she was ostracized for being both autistic and an albino. Alas, we all learn to fight back when we grow older and stronger, and Circe discovered she had a penchant for a rare kind of magic. She created a special place for people to go when they're feeling alone, bullied, sad, or scared. She designed it like we would design a modern-day RPG - people can choose what they look like in this realm, what their super-speshul powers are, anything to boost their confidence and express themselves. In this realm people can meet others who have also been bullied and outcasted, so they won't feel alone. She called this place "The Reality", not just as a witty reference to virtual reality, but because it's the one place where people like her can show their real personalities and interests without ever being judged.​

A lot of the time when I make my characters, I don't consciously plan out a specific theme or moral I want to portray, but they just sort of...happen. After awhile the understanding of what a character means to me just falls into place - I grow with them, in a way. And sometimes that message is something I need more than I initially realize.

That was definitely the case with Circe: It seems so obvious now, but her story is one of thoroughly embracing oneself without anxiety of what other people think (and the metaphor for internet friendships and finding other weirdos who understand you). It sounds super cheesy and trite, but it's not easy to actually live by - for awhile I stopped writing and drawing Circe even if I wanted to because in the age of cringe culture, I had it in my head that her story was utter Mary Sue self-insert wish-fullfillment horseshit and the whole Reality pun I made when I was 11 is the cringiest thing since Fortnite. And y'know what? It kinda is. But in all that brooding I realized that if the whole point of Circe's story is finding your crowd and refusing to let bullies tell you how to act, I think she'd be mighty disappointed in me if I didn't embrace that cringiness. Because fuck you, I love her in all of her OP, lol-so-random glory, and the fun police aren't gonna take that away from me. Pry my Roblox, Mary Sue OCs, XD face, and dead memes from my cold, dead hands.

So expect more of her.

And also more shitty alicorn OCs.