These were originally in pencil but I decided to redraw them digitally. This is Vahaadi about age 14, shortly after joining the troupe and before he and Tryvnah got together (or even remotely liked each other).
At this age, Vahaadi has a FEROCIOUS temper. He is impulsive, cusses like a sailor, and seems constantly on the verge of knock-down, drag-out fights with Tryvnah. It is a coping method and an attempt at compensating for his small size, weakness and insecurity.
He is really skinny and bony from a combination of a recent, abrupt growth spurt and a poor diet. Years of malnutrition (due to his family’s poverty) has done a lot of damage to his stomach. The gypsy food is richer than what he is used to and he has an ingrained habit of eating too fast, so he has a hard time keeping it down. Stomach aches and vomiting are a frequent and miserable fact of his life.
It’s impossible to guess what he’s thinking when he sews or works at his loom. He seems to completely shut down.
He still has a few more inches to grow before he reaches his full (albeit, short) adult height.
Oh my goodness! I love these! And props to you for having the patience to redraw them digitally. He is so much skinnier than I imagined; I thought he had relatively the same healthy sized-frame his whole life. This definitely brings out a visual manifestation of his desperation This is an awesome reference because it shows so many different sides to his personality at that time. I really like the contrast between him when he is sewing and his RAGE FACE at the top. The top right drawing has a lot of motion in it, great job! You are the only person I know (I’m sure they’re out there, I just don’t know them) that for the sake of storytelling would draw a character having to hurl. Mad respect for you and shame to my vain self that wouldn’t be willing to draw it, only write about it. !*!*!*!*!*!*~*~*~*~* Love!.
Yeah, before, I figured he was basically the same build he has as an adult but I really wanted to explore the poverty angle ever since LC told me about how you can tell which students come from poor homes based on the way they act in school. Also, seeing Max in the last year has reminded me how gangly boys get when they hit their major growth spurt. Tryvnah seriously had to nurse Vahaadi to health once they started getting along. Tryvnah arranged for milder food and insisted on feeding him himself. Vahaadi was initially pretty cross about it because he felt like Tryvnah was treating him like a baby, but it helped him to NOT treat every scrap of food like it was the last meal he’d ever have. And, having spent most of his childhood forced to be an adult, he grew to like being babied. He didn’t realize how badly he craved attention.
aww. This explains so much. <3