May MOTM: Heavenly naga - concept sketch + design commentary // sfw

thank you once more to lostmisfits for suggesting 'naga' for the MOTM poll!

ngl, since the moment i typed in 'heavenly naga' as an option in the poll, i just kept thinking of what kubi and i refer to as the 'heaven scarf.' i've only done some very minimal research, but i've found out that it's called tenne in japanese, and i've seen it on chinese goddesses, japanese gods, and buddhist entities like the tennin and nio. 

that association of the word 'heavenly' with a symbol of superhumanity was the seed whence sprouted the rest of the design. it made me imagine a heavenly chinese snake god--and immediately upon having that mental image i felt like he would be a great addition to mine and kubi's 'Gods Among Us' (GAU) setting. (you've encountered some characters from the asian branch of this setting before, such as nian from gau!china and kazuo from gau!japan.) normally when i do my monster of the month designs, i do a 'random' design without deliberately intending for the resulting monster to be an 'actual character,' if that makes sense. sometimes i like the design so much that i can't help but make a character out of it (for example it happened with kaulana, the coral reef monster), but other times i don't even name them.

in the case of this monster i went about things a little differently. i told kubi of my idea for a chinese snake god, and how i wanted to incorporate him into GAU. they were immediately on board and i invited them to make a human bae for him. as i was drawing my concept sketches and doing some research we started brainstorming a storyline for them, and before i had even finished the painting yushe and kang were very much 'actual characters.' (also 'yushe' literally means 'jade snake' - thanks to kubi for translating it for me!)

i searched for inspiration by reading some articles about chinese mythology and divinities in general, and about snake beings in particular--starting with nuwa and fuxi, because kubi's first response to me mentioning a snake god was "NUWA" (yes, in all caps). i feel like nowadays people (myself included) use 'naga' to refer to any being with a humanoid torso and snake tail. but as far as i understand, originally the 'canonical' naga are snake people in hinduism, buddhism, and jainism. similar beings exist in other contexts though, and i was especially happy to see depictions of nuwa and fuxi with human torsos and snake tails in place of legs, because it meant that my idea of a chinese god with that kind of anatomy wouldn't seem out of place or like he'd better belong in a hindu setting.

the moment i came across a jade god i realised that a jade-themed naga would look fantastic, which also prompted me to do some research on jade and its symbolism. i read about its association with various virtues such as truth, justice, loyalty, heaven, and morality, which made me imagine my naga as a generally benevolent god. that said, he's still a snake, and one would be ill advised to forget about his venom. 

his long tail is covered with jade scales, and even though he had normal human-coloured skin on my first sketch i eventually had the idea of making his torso also look like it's carved from jade. both versions are shown on the concept sketches above because it was only when i started colouring the painting that i decided to go with the all-jade variant. he also has claws, snake fangs, and pale green snake eyes, but other than those 'subtle' monster details his upper half is very human. in a way he's a bit less monstrous than many of my other designs, but i enjoy variety and it felt like the right look for him.

since he is a god i wanted him to look divine and regal, so i dressed him in fancy hanfu (all in jade colours), put his hair in a top knot, and added the heaven scarf (which apparently is mostly worn by chinese goddesses but who cares, gender is a construct we're all just spacedust). the cloth and craftmanship is of the highest quality, his hair pins are made of jade, and the jinbu belt ornament is jade and gold. the elegant outfit makes him look very noble, i imagine his clothes never really stain, and somehow not even the longest robe gets tangled with his tail. 

i read about jade being harvested from mountains and rivers, and connecting him with water also seemed fitting since he's a snake. i had the idea of him being the protective deity of a healing spring by a mountain, where pilgrims travel to cure their ills (which also goes well with jade being associated with purity). and rather than being invisible to or isolated from humans, he's a real bodily presence at the spring and shrine, that people can see and interact with and worship quite directly. he's rather hands-on and may personally help good and blameless people with serious illnesses, and even rarely gifts the best of humans with an amulet carved from one of his scales. this amulet keeps its wearer in good health--but if it's stolen or otherwise falls into the hands of an unworthy person, it poisons them.

because like i mentioned, he's quite benevolent towards humanity, but just as he's willing to help and reward good humans, he's also equally ready to punish and kill bad ones. if you're immoral and corrupt, you'd better stay away from his spring. at best you won't even be able to find your way there--at worst, you'll never leave it alive.

// art + character © me.