Echo Cian

@echocian.bsky.social

892 Followers 2144 Following

Artist, writer, and shitposter. Liker of science, metal, and assorted cool shit. She/her. #art | #pixelart | #writing | #photography | #ffxiv Portfolio and contact: https://echocian.carrd.co/

A woman in a floral gown holds the sun in her hand beside the ocean, as if she picked up a precious jewel.
A woman in a purple gown with gold accents cups flowers to her face under the moonlit aurora sky, with a white picket fence in the background.
Screenshot of a Tumblr post by adhdo5: Tumblr post 1: Stories are all too grimdark and such it is fash doomerism to assume reality is evil What we need in these times is stories that inspire hope that is truly revolutionary Tumblr post 2: Stories are all too fluffy and happy and such it is fash revisionism to shy away from the darkness What we need in these times is stories that are cathartic and unsettling that is truly revolutionary MORAL: All storytelling is evil (telling lies)
"Wait until August 6 (UTC-7) and attend the Golden Feast."
A snapshot I posted of pounding on the doors at the Golden Feast, where Infold decided to leave a fucking cliffhanger for weeks, with the caption "LET ME IN YOU [CENSORED]" that has 24 likes
Vessel walking through a crumbling ruin covered in pink flowers as a hand beckons to him through a crack in the sky and Jerry the black flamingo flies toward it. He's bracing himself against a broken column as he tries to pull himself out of water to keep going farther.
Screenshot of the extensions bar, led by Firefox's VPN button which is inexplicably twice as large as it was last time I opened the browser.
The result of "Secular or No Religious Affiliation."
Shiny Hydreigon, which has a green body and purple markings, making it resemble an eggplant. Or maybe a reverse eggplant.
An extra small shiny Wooloo named Cocoa Puff because that's what it looks like (dark brown body with a light gray face).
A Drilbur named Kuso with 0 in every stat.
Newly evolved Altaria being a happy cotton puff on a walk.
A picture of two people playing a fair game where they fish rubber ducks out of a pool, having a good time. It's colored in a muted palette. I shaded with a brown instead of finding darker shades, and the result looks neat.
A dragon with butterfly wings rests among hydrangeas, nose-to-nose with butterflies. I colored it green and pink, with the flowers a mix of pink, blue and purple. I'm not a big fan of the pink I picked for the dragon, but oh well. This is why you swatch your markers first, folks.
Vessel stands holding a sword resting on his shoulder, in full stage costume with the elaborate pauldron. It was originally blank, but I drew in columns and pink flowers to bring in the Even in Arcadia album art. Most of the art of Vessel in this book is based on a photoshoot.
A Black fairy sits on a parapet (the carved details suggest a cathedral) beside a small gargoyle, the night sky full of stars behind her. She has an emerald green dress and wings, and pink hair blowing in the wind.
A person's face covered with flowers and leaves, with their hair decorated with branches that look like coral and petals. The bust is cut off by branches sprouting from a brooch with gilded pinecones. A couple mothlike insects fly in the foreground. Very fae vibes. I used a cool color scheme with a lot of purple, pink, and blue.
A woman with flowing, curly hair releasing a raven amidst flowering bushes under the moon. The markers got patchy in some parts of the sky. There's a quote at the bottom that reads "When you are in the wrong or have caused someone pain, be brave enough to acknowledge your part and make amends. ASK FOR FORGIVENESS"
A photo of a page of notes with the heading "It's Ya Boi Ea Nasir (Quadratic Equations)"
Succulents in a variety of colors, with a vague floral pattern and swirls to fill in the space between them without overwhelming the art.
Fanart of Nikki in an art nouveau style, wearing a simple elegant dress, colored purple against a light orange and blue background. The background has the logos of the nations from the game.
An angel in a simple ruffled dress resting her hands over her heart, over a light sky with a bronze-gold frame. It's a narrow image set against a backdrop of darker and more ominous clouds, as if she is calming a storm. The lineart already had the shading and cloud texture, but I emphasized it with the markers.
Two moths surrounded by a floral motif, colored mostly in purple and gold.
A two-page spread of a kitsune in a forest clearing, colored orange against a night sky, surrounded by clouds and lanterns and banners hanging from trees.
That smug fucker staring at you from behind bars, where he belongs.
A kitsune colored as a red fox in a dark blue night scene with purple flowers and mushrooms.
An ornament of white powder labeled "Danger: Hydrofluoric Acid: 50%" (with a jaunty Santa hat on the warning icon), edited to have a cat paw reaching for it, claws outstretched.
The famous quote on Woodie Guthrie's guitar reading "This Machine Kills Fascists" (although this variant is from a Gibson sticker)
A screenshot of search results for "sleep token" that includes a couple shirts, a branded air freshener, and an unrelated sticker of a possum with the text "Rizz 'Em With The Tism," which definitely seems to be suggesting something about the people they think would be shopping for sleep token merch (the shirt in the bottom right is cut off but is one of about five billion "I like Sleep Token and smut" results because the romance girlies are all over this band)
A screenshot standing in front of the giant glass wings that play the opening trailer on repeat. The outfit is a two-piece top and skirt in neon pink and dark purple to give a sunset impression.
The California cancer warning on a box.
A package of chocolate-filled waffle cone snacks called "JUST THE TIP! (the best bite)"
Thumbnails of two youtube shorts coincidentally lined up so they show Brandon Sanderson and Vessel from Sleep Token standing in similar poses with their arms raised, facing each other.
A set of stickers. New additions from alt text in quoted image: Four Sleep Token stickers surrounding the central moon moth: The band logo with pink roses; a sword with the logo on it and rose vines twining around it (Aqua Regia); an outstretched hand dangling strings with a crescent moon and stars, reading This Night Belongs to You; and a casette tape framed in blue flowers labeled Discordant Days (Damocles). The bookmark is acrylic, depicting a sword on a pink floral background, kind of an art nouveau vibe. The car decal reads Perfectly Misaligned in a calligraphic font, with Misaligned upside-down (Alkaline). The Queer Agenda has been moved to the inside where it covers all the parts logo stickers.
A comparison screenshot of the Summer...something bottoms on a female au'ra. The left is a plain black bikini where the character looks disappointed, the right is the modded version that shows the male model's white swim shorts with a cool black and blue diamonds-and-flames design, while the character gives a thumbs up. This is the same item, but the appearance changes by gender for some reason and I hate it. The scale mod turns them to a kind of iridescent aurora color scheme ranging from bright blue to purple, it is my single favorite mod.
A photo of the stickers already on my laptop: A Miniminuteman Googledebunker sticker of a googly-eyed eagle holding a magnifying glass in one claw and a UFO in the other, holding a banner reading E PLURIBUS GOOGUM. At the top is a small image of his cat, Shminky. A rainbow notepad page labeled "The Queer Agenda" (it was in a bad spot, I moved it later) A typewriter with the text "This machine kills fascists" A rainbow pen with the text "Resistance begins with words" A pretty moth with moon phases FCK GPT (The resistance ones are from the Ellipsus merch store. Moth was in a sticker pack from Michaels.)
My cat grabbing my hand with his paws by reaching around his back feet which are stretched out past his head.
My Kindle next to the padded case I made for it out of a pale blue/gray floral sublimated fabric with silver ribbon trim at the top and bottom and a silver flower button with gold accents at the top center.
A bowl of instant pho noodles that provided me with a foldable fork for some reason.
Three images of the same cat, gray with a white nose and paws, in the process of slowly rolling over on my chair while staring at me. In the first one, he's on his back squinting at me.
He worked in silence; she chattered about their discoveries so far. The giant rhododendron bush in the back that Silas was trying to cultivate himself. The mosaic that had been so overgrown nobody knew it was there until Stephanie tried to start digging a vegetable garden. The huge fallen nest they were pretty sure had belonged to an eagle, hidden by thick overgrowth; Silas wanted to prop it back up higher and see if any birds noticed it. She talked less as she ran out of breath from dropping pavers in the wheelbarrow. Eventually she heard a grunt of pain and turned, half expected to see Arien fleeing from a swarm of angry bees. Instead he was leaning in to examine something. "Roses," he said. "Really?" She gladly put down the shovel and joined him. Sure enough, there were small buds buried under the tangle. The petal edges peeking out were a soft pink. "They're being choked out. I'll keep as many as I can, but some of it looks dead." He rustled another branch that had turned brown and dry.
Game historian Stu Horvath noted, "the heroes and heroines of romantic fantasy seek social connection and emotional wealth. Instead of carrying on by themselves, they find belonging in a community and a purpose larger than themselves. Magic and psychic abilities are often in-born talents; intelligent animals speak; and societies are egalitarian."
Except for one question. "Well, I really love that song, it's one of my favorites. So… Is it about a bird or an angel?" "A bird," Arien said with a heavy sigh that sounded very strange through the modulator. "She's just a bird." She slapped her hands on the table - too hard; he flinched. "Sorry. But I was right! It doesn't make any sense if she's an angel." "It doesn't." He sounded surprised, and…maybe pleased? It was hard to tell. "Anyone would help an angel, out of morals or greed. Only someone who cared would help a bird. That was the entire point." His hand made a sharp, irritated gesture, like smacking away an annoying fly, before returning to its normal crossed position. "Even the band didn't get it. I stopped writing for anyone else."
He licked his lips. They were rough. At the very least he needed chapstick. Should it be flavored? He didn’t like flavors. The last time someone kissed him it had been cherry and menthol that couldn’t overpower the cigarette stench. Revolting. Cassie wouldn’t taste like that. Would she taste like anything? He had no idea if she used lip balm. Maybe it would just be…skin. He felt like he should practice, but how the fuck would he do that? He had no idea what he was doing. He’d be disappointing. She’d had partners before, maybe she was used to bad kissers. Maybe she was good enough to make it work anyway. What even was a good kiss? He slumped onto the counter with an exasperated groan. He was definitely overthinking this.
A pair of gold satin slipper shoes with pointed toes that curl up and backward.
A series of images. The left side represents Cassidy and features pink, purple, and light in gentle images of nature: flowers, a sunset with the moon and a flock of birds, a dancer in a purple floral dress, and a girl holding a bunch of lights that reflect on her face. The right side represents Arien, with an orange color scheme and mechanical elements: a bird of prey with its wings raised as it comes in to land on a branch, a bullet engulfed in fire, mechanical gears, an industrial factory, and a prosthetic leg. The center strip is more about the story, and has an image of an old gnarled forest in fog, a destroyed city, and a sunset in orange, pink and purple to bring the two together for the Twinsoul title card.
Cassie started to step away too, to give him space, but he seized her wrist. His grip was iron, almost painful, for only a second before he consciously softened his hold. His hand trembled. A faint noise in his throat didn't quite become words. Only when the door shut and silence fell did he hesitantly pull her hand against his head. Where she’d been stroking his hair at the end of the nightmare. She leaned against the cot and began smoothing back his hair again. With her other hand, she took his and held it where it fell on the bed. The tremor eased. He closed his eyes and released a sigh that seemed to exhale years, maybe decades, maybe a lifetime, of exhaustion. She felt like she was holding a frightened bird and the slightest movement would destroy whatever fragile trust kept him from flying away. “I don't want to be like this anymore," he whispered.
Cassie had viewed him as a friend. Someone who was honest, whose opinions she could count on, who was kind and brave, boldly creative, fun to bounce ideas off of. But in the moment he launched himself up a waterfall and turned to her to revel in his own power, when his shy smile turned fierce for the first time since she’d known him, when that light of excitement blazed in his eyes and he finally, truly looked alive… In that glorious burst of freedom, she knew she was in love with him. She lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling, and wondered if he felt the same way. If it was a good idea. If it could work. She still felt him holding her with the wind, cradled in his power. His magic hadn't been glowing: It was him, his soul, his spirit, a light burning from within. It might have been the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen, to watch his fears melt and be replaced by pure, unbridled joy.
A view of a hawk on the side of the road, eating a kill that's out of sight from the angle. It's zoomed out and framed by the binoculars.
A set of doodles in Webfishing featuring Shadow the Hedgehog with a gun.
Time sped forward again. Past Arien didn't take the blood thinners. Instead, he used his existing research to model a new partial heart variant. This was based on a part of the heart he had already built, so it was much simpler than the process of invention. Designing the surgeries for both the heart and leg at the same time was much harder. He had to take incredibly precise measurements to automate as much of the process as possible, and ensure Chrysalis had a thorough set of checks and routines to go through to manage the parts where Arien had to be sedated and wouldn't be able to correct malfunctions. He continued pulling all-nighters. He had another heart attack. They told him he had to slow down or he wouldn't last the year. He couldn't slow down. He doubted the Institute would keep him after he graduated; surely they didn't want him. The possibility of surviving a couple more years for an uncertain future where he might no longer have access to the resources he needed was not a gamble he could afford to take. Better to die trying than die helpless.
Holding The Long Patrol by Brian Jacques, a Redwall book. Assorted small woodland animals dressed in medieval garb are marching under a crescent moon at sunset, bristling with weapons.
The new Little Ladies' Day outfit on Darius, dyed in turquoise green and gloom purple to match his hair. It looks very dapper.
She didn't have the moon on the bodice. The colors were mostly correct, but the inset options were question marks and one was scribbled out. The slanted front slit had an allcaps “HOW?" written beside it; maybe she had tried to do a mockup of this one. He picked up his phone. Arien: I seem to remember more of the Observer’s dress if you want to update it. Her response was within a minute and rapidly followed by more as he read them. Cassie: I have such mixed feelings about that dress. it's hers, u know? Cassie: I've been trying to design that idea for years and it was just never right, but neither is that Cassie: but she was wearing it so it must be right?? A pause. Cassie: her design makes me feel sad Cassie: I don't want a sad dress He looked back at the sketch. Arien: Given the context in which we see her, I'm not sure there's a way to not feel sad about it. Cassie: yeah… Cassie: it's just like am I supposed to make it anyway? Cassie: or are we different people? He smiled slightly. Arien: You can make multiple versions of one dress and use cheap material. Seeing the results in person is how you refine and finalize the design. He could imagine her sighing when he read her response. Cassie: I know Cassie: I don't know.
A screenshot of a recent post showing 3 likes, which is odd since it was the second post in a thread and I got no notifications for it.
A series of images. The left side represents Cassidy and features pink, purple, and light in gentle images of nature: flowers, a sunset with the moon and a flock of birds, a dancer in a purple floral dress, and a girl holding a bunch of lights that reflect on her face. The right side represents Arien, with an orange color scheme and mechanical elements: a bird of prey with its wings raised as it comes in to land on a branch, a bullet engulfed in fire, mechanical gears, an industrial factory, and a prosthetic leg. The center strip is more about the story, and has an image of an old gnarled forest in fog, a destroyed city, and a sunset in orange, pink and purple to bring the two together for the Twinsoul title card.
A series of images arranged into roughly three columns. The left side represents Cassidy and features pink, purple, and light in gentle images of nature: flowers, a sunset with the moon and a flock of birds, a dancer in a purple floral dress, and a girl holding a bunch of lights that reflect on her face. The right side represents Arien, with an orange color scheme and mechanical elements: a large bird with its wings raised as it prepares to land on a branch, a bullet engulfed in fire, mechanical gears, an industrial factory, and a prosthetic leg. The center strip only has three images: an old gnarled forest in fog with a mysterious but soothing air, and a destroyed city in a haze of dust, both in green; and between them a sunset in orange, pink and purple over the ocean, which unifies the characters' color schemes for the Twinsoul title card.
She smiled at him and started to take a step forward. “Stop!” he demanded. But she passed through the shield and into the flames. Sparks landed on her and ignited, but merely rested there like…like butterflies. The pink glow swirled around her. She held up a hand and admired one of the resting sparks, then blew it off. It whirled away and faded out, then relit and scattered across the stones. He remembered the explosion, the steam, the death around him. That was a memory. He hadn't imagined it. This wasn't possible. He could only watch her in disbelief as she knelt in front of him and took his hands in hers. She turned them over and positioned them like he was cupping something. “Imagine it all coming back here.” He could only manage a hoarse whisper. “I can barely even control the wind.” “Try it.”
He went to his computer and opened a spreadsheet of expense costs. A set of columns highlighted in orange were his personal expenses for his own maintenance, and a set of columns that went off the page with a horizontal scroll bar were factory and business expenses. The final number at the bottom, pulled from a different sheet, was income. It was short of covering the expenses. A second set of calculations excluded a bunch of things in the orange column, and this one turned a small profit, and the leftovers were an amount that made Cassie feel sick. He had been putting off his own health to make it work. To try to prove he could do this job. He made a new quick calculation with the income from the commission. It would give him enough to cover all of it with plenty left over. An eye-watering amount compared to what he was currently working with. He couldn’t afford to refuse it. He ran his hands through his hair, then dropped his face into his hands.
Nikki with her hands raised mid-speech and the caption "ALIENS"