FEB. 2021 REWARD (Lineart) (Patreon)

Sorry for this thing being posted a bit later than usual - a bunch of VERY important matters came up with regards to my IRL job, and I've had to take the time to make more than a few adjustments. I was doubtful about my ability to get this reward illustrated in time, and I'm still not sure about being able to finish the final shaded piece, but hopefully I can get the time outside of IRL commitments. We'll see!

Anyway, the voted subject of this month's reward is Zagreus, a deity from Classical mythology sometimes described as the son of Hades and Persephone - and more specifically, the version of him from Supergiant Games' Hades! I've actually been meaning to get into this game in the form of watching a Let's Play or two of it for some time now due to all the good press I've heard of it along with the sheer amount of awesome fanart I've seen, and seeing as this take on Zagreus is a barefooter, I knew exactly what to do. This reward was the perfect excuse to do just that, and it was a pleasant surprise for me to learn that Zagreus can actually become a couple with Thanatos, the Greek god of death, in the game proper. This being February, that gave me the perfect excuse for a shipping pic, and while I've yet to finish the LP I've been watching, let alone get to the part where Than is introduced, I'm more than happy to pair these two together! This reward also gave me the opportunity to try out a scenario I've pondered for a while now: a challenge where the ticklee has to balance an open book on their toes, leaving their soles at the complete mercy of the tickler who can have fun as they please while reading - I tried the actual balancing part myself as a reference, and I can say that it's not impossible, but extremely difficult! I couldn't really set up a composition that allowed for Thanatos to actually read the book itself because I wanted him to get at Zag's pits as well, but I did get the idea that as a death god, he'd totally have a spellbook that can be used to conjure deceased spirits as shown here, with the added challenge that if Zag drops the book, he'll have to endure more tickles while trying again. How mean of his BF lol. I'll add in the effects indicating its magical power in the final artwork, don't worry!

The final version of this piece will (hopefully) be available on Monday, March 1!