Hoshiko Yukimura is a 21 years old practitioner of magic and brilliant student at the Faculty of Arcane Studies of Prague.
Living in a cyberpunk setting where the secrets of magic and occultism have been uncovered in the XXI century and have since been incorporated into advanced technology, Hoshiko possesses both the aptitude and the rare genetic predisposition to be a candidate for an elite group of magic-wielding soldiers to defend humanity on the frontlines on its war for survival.
As such, plenty of responsibilities and expectations piled up on this prodigious yet anxious and insecure young girl. As part of a the advanced training she is undertaking to qualify for the project, she needs to summon her own familiar to aid her in spellcasting.
Michael "III" Arclight (canon) X Hoshiko Kazama (OC)
This prompt is just too good to pass it on.
In Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal, some character have a canon past life before reincarnating into their current selves. That's not really the case for the Arclights, but it would interesting for them to have one (they're tied to the Barians -the characters with canon past lives- so it wouldn't be too far-fetched). And that's what made me work with this prompt!
My timeframe of choice for historical costumes is the Renaissance (1470-90s especially), mostly because its family dramas fits both Michael and Hoshiko's stories and it would be nice to see them both move into such rich and interesting centuries for my country. It also gave me plenty of art references to work with.
I loved the idea of couple portraits (think of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino diptych), hence the similar background and poses. For the clothes and hairdo, I took inspiration from Florence fashion for Michael and Venice fashion for Hoshiko, tweaking them to suit my needs.
I also used a different painting style for this pieces: I worked without lineart and with big blotches of colors, which was hard, but also very fun!
I hope you enjoy these portraits! Now I just have to work on a possible story to accompany them... I already have a couple names at the ready...
Took me a while but I've finally finished an illustration of my new OC Hoshiko Yukimura, capturing all of her awkward joy as she's posing in her costume for Halloween, ready for her debut adventure.
And since she's a magical girl in denial, the costume I chose for her couldn't be anything else but a witch, a somewhat under-represented archetype in cyberpunk settings.
She loves this stuff, being in costume, looking all pretty and magical, but she feels too much under pressure to ever admit it. She holds herself to a higher standard as somebody who's professional, mature and beyond such frivolties, and she repeats it often enough that she managed to convince herself as well.
What can be misconstrued as an uneasy forced smile from outside is actually her doing her best to keep her giddiness in check and to try not make a big deal out of being in costume.
Thanks for reading! Here's a few variants, if you'd like to check them out.
A quick little tidbit about him is that he is a star that has come to earth and taken his current form, but when he's experiencing very strong emotions, he loses his grasp on his physical form, and this causes his body to warp, as seen here.👍