March 2025

Elias Bouchard and Alloran-Semitur-Corrass occupy the same space in my brain now hear me out-

There are some characters whose features jump out of the page at you, they just make sense in an intuitive sort of way. And then there’s Martin “Kan’t Figure Out What the FUCK I Want His Hair to Look Like” Blackwood

A digital sketch of Martin Blackwood, surrounded by thin wafting fog. His glasses are nearly opaque, his expression is empty, and his hair falls limp and damp around his face.ALT

Ok so Martin design update I know what I want him to look like from season 4 onwards!

I am a big fan of Martin with a beard, especially late-game (cause then he and Jon get to be matching), I think it can do a lot for representing his character. In the early seasons he’s making himself small, he wants to be underestimated, and I think that a clean-shaven slightly boyish look would really contribute to that + add to the fun balancing act of both seeming older than he is and less competent than he is at the same time. So if you establish that look and then give him a beard at the beginning of season 4 you get to communicate the time jump AND very quickly show that his persona has drastically changed.


Anyways HAIR! Still don’t know about color (thinking maybe a dirty blonde or like, mousy brown…? Something that doesn’t stand out very much but heavily contrasts Jon’s color palette, which is heavy on dark greens and browns.) I really like the idea of his hair having a permanent sort of damp look from the fog. Sometimes, when you look over from the other side of the room, his hair is ever so gently swaying in a breeze you can’t feel, like he’s somewhere outside, far, far away.

TMA AU where it’s all still scary but nothing too bad actually happens because Annabelle Cane got emotionally invested and now she and Elias are duking it out over who gets to play the background music of Archive life. Elias is gunning for cosmic horror but Annabelle has decided that they’re in a romcom actually and Eyeball Boy can deal with it. So the foreground is the main crew living out a scooby doo episode but for real this time and the background is Elias scrambling trying to figure out who keeps fucking up his plans (+Annabelle watching both sides of this and eating popcorn, just having the time of her life)

Four sketches of Martin Blackwood. The upper left shows him in the grip of The Lonely, breathing fog and listlessly staring into the distance. The upper right shows him looking upwards, pushing his glasses up into his hair with a tired grin. He mutters "How is this my life???"
Underneath the first two sketches is a more detailed one with a limited color palette of greens, oranges, and purples softly layered like colored pencils. Martin is crying, eyes blotchy and face red, but the corner of his mouth tugs up in a mirthless grin. "Pathetic."
And under that is a much simpler sketch of Martin with a wobbly, anxious smile and curly hair. This Martin is labelled "Brimming with untold violence"ALT

Still indecisive on what his hair texture is, but I’m getting somewhere! Side note, Martin baiting Elias into traumatizing him is one of his most badass moments in the entire show. I really love the image of him in absolute shambles, miserable and angry, falling apart as Elias leaves the room, but he knows that this time he won. Anyways, I love him sm he deserves all the things

annabelle–cane:

would jon actually go out and about in cool/gnc outfits? probably not, at least not when we know him, as he starts off horrifically insecure about being taken seriously in a way that doesn’t lend itself to allowing one to wear cool outfits, and after that his clothing concerns likely become largely “what would present the least hindrance were I to get kidnapped while wearing it?” which, again, doesn’t leave a lot of room for fun. what I do believe with my whole heart is that he inherited a certain amount of expensive jewelry and clothing from his mother and grandmother that he wouldn’t have felt right getting rid of, and, every so often, if he’s “bored,” he will decide to “play a bit of dress up” “for fun” and end up feeling a profound ache so deep in his chest that he thinks he might need to take the entire next week off work just to process it. and then he pointedly pretends that never happened.

This just made something click in my head- The reason I find fanart/headcanons of Jon in gnc fashion so delightful is that it implies a level of confidence and comfort that he never actually gets to reach in the show, and he deserves nice things dammit! Anyways I don’t think twirling around in a flowy skirt would fix him but I also think he should do it anyways