BladeLadies 2nd
(All text below this point is Copy/Pasted from the DeviantArt pages af each image, first uploaded October 31, 2014).
After 5 long years, it's time once again to let loose and go wild. Welcome one and all to next wave, BladeLadies 2nd! This time around there is a story!
Deep within the woods lies a circus tent that many demons frequent on their travels between cities. The circus tent is run by The Flying Dames, comprised of Ladies Mimi, Catherine, Lily, D. Rill, and Charlotte. The troupe is not terribly huge as they tend to do more than one type of performance, and sometime in conjunction with each other. It's hard work, but demons love them and enjoy the show. They used to travel constantly, hauling everything in the circus caravan. But they found a sweet spot in the woods, and have stayed there for five years.
However, not all is well. Recently, several michievous demons, whom the Dames call Circus Crashers, have been making a ruckus of their shows, sometimes appearing during a show. It's during these times that the performance become impromptu, becoming a live combat show for everyone to see. These sometimes become thrilling as the demons see bloodshed and are willing to come back to see more. The attempt to thwart the shows instead became blessing, but can sometimes be a curse. However circus crasher invasions are on the rise, and are making the performances that much harder to manage. It's revealed by one of the crashers that they're coming from Renegade (1st wave) territory, and those Ladies want the Dames to leave so that they can expand their territory.
However the Dames don't want to leave. They've made it their new home and have had no need to fight for turf or other petty things like other BladeLadies do. They're only there to perform and make demons happy. The Dames have no interest in expanding their territory either and only with to be left alone. One day a demon delivers a message to the Dames from Lady Jess of The Renegades that they can have a modernized, permanent place in their city when they expand, and this time be in a building instead of an outdated tent. But the Dames prefer their oldschool style ways of doing things, and so do their fans who are used to seeing so many high buildings, broken streets, and dead demons everywhere. The Dames refuse, and now the war is on between The Renegades and The Flying Dames.
Artist comments: This series actually had a different theme when it was first conceived in around 2009-2010. The theme was still similar to the 1st wave, but a little more extreme with more blood and gore, and in general more hardcore (probably too much for dA). a total of one BladeLady in this version was drawn, but it's since been lost (I do remember what it looks like though). When I revisited doing this series again, I decided to change the theme to a more glitzy, almost vegas looking theme as opposed to a previous since I think I'll need more time on studying how to depict exaggerated gore. Soon the theme moved into a more gymnastic route until it ultimately became a circus theme.
Last time, in terms of story, there was none. I tried to make one in the vein of fighting games, but it failed horribly. They were pretty much made for show. Then I played Senran Kagura Burst and saw the dynamic between Hanzo and Hebijo academies, and realized something like this might work. Since there was another faction to fight and not BladeLadies in a single group fighting each other, I could make this a story about a turf war between rival BladeLady factions. So maybe in the future you might see some crossover artwork between the 1st and 2nd waves. No promises though!
(You can view each individual Bladelady's image and description after the break)
Here comes the first BladeLady, the Ringmaster of the circus troupe, The Flying Dames, Lady Mimi.
Lady Mimi is the ringmaster of The Flying Dames, a circus tent in the middle of the woods that many demons frequent on a regular basis. Alongside being the ringmaster, she also a trapeze artist and performs with Lady Catherine (she puts on a different outfit for this). When defending the tent from circus crashers (which has been on the rise as of late), she pulls out her gigantic tongue with a giant piercing on it and swings it around like a whip. Sometimes she'll use her head to swing her tongue, other times she'll grip it like she's doing now.
Artist comment: She was the first BladeLady drawn for this wave. A couple of the ladies in this wave were created some times after I did the first wave back in 2009 in a small sketchbook I have. They never really went beyond that, and some were created when the second wave still had the gore theme. I'll explain more on the title card. With Mimi there, she was made with a smaller tongue, but the piercing was the same size. As usual with this series, the boobs will always have some sort of defect. In this care, they're literally knockers! Makes sense for ringmaster, no? In the sketch for this one, there was saliva all over the tongue. I removed it on the final since, honestly, I got lazy.
Smile for the audience!
Lady Catherine is the Sword expert of The Flying Dames, and first in line to defend the tent against circus crashers. When performing, objects like wooden planks, plates, and other metal objects are presented to her to cut down, whether put on a platform, fired from a machine, or on fire. She's also a sword swallower, swallowing more regular swords and routinely swallowing upto 8 swords. She'll sometimes perform with Lady Charlotte, but Catherine's more combative movements tend to not mesh well Charlotte's more smoother moves. She'll perform with Lady Mimi on the trapeze when Mimi calls for that act in the schedule.
Artist Comment: Catherine was made in the small sketchbook, and then fully drawn after the first wave of the BladeLadies was done back on 2009. However things were much different when the gore theme was still in place. The had a lance instead that protruded out of her forearm, comprised of bone and muscle. When it was switched to the circus theme this year, that concept would have to be pushed back to a later theme. So I reapplied her to being a sword expert.
No need to jump through hoops to see this performance! Here's Lady Lily!
Lily is the animal, or in this case, feral demon tamer of The Flying Dames tent. When not performing, she's as cheerful as a cheerleader. She raises the morale of the others when things are down or moving slow. While performing however, he demeanor... does not change! She's still chipper, almost to the point of naivete. But it's all an act, keeping the audience on edge and making them believe doesn't know what she's doing. For circus crashers, it's not a good idea to go after her since she commands feral demons, as well a wielding a hoop blade. She'll perform in conjunction with Lady Charlotte, and sometimes with Lady D. Rill (more her involvement on her page).
Artist Comment: This is an entirely new BladeLady, never starting from the little sketchbook. It's pretty obvious that her blade is inspired by Tira's ring blade from the Soul Calibur series. I made it a little less complex and added one more "spike" to it to make it four. To make it stand out, I added a handle to it that Lily can hold on to to wield the blade like a normal sword. There is a slot on the other side that she can fold the handle into to wield the blade like a hula-hoop or similar to Tira.
What's this? As blast from the past, it's Lady D. Rill!
After living the rough and tumble life with Renegades, Dana Rill (or D. Rill for short) took a liking to the circus acts The Flying Dames put on. She got in touch with ringmaster Mimi and revealed her love of ballet to her. It was decided then that she would quit being a renegade become a Flying Dame, performing at the circus and being loved by everyone instead of feared. Alone, she puts on a smaller show for those that like ballet, opening the drill on her for most of the performance. On the larger stage, she performs with Lady Charlotte and Lady Lily, sometimes burrowing underground for a surprise popup later.
Artist Comment: You might remember Lady D. Rill from the first wave (now called The Renegades). In that one, she almost looked half humanoid, half drill. The idea floated around to have her drill open up like a flower when she walked around. I've since applied it to this second wave. However since she's in a circus, there had to be a reason to explain her drill opening and closing. So I added a drill mechanism that wraps around her hips.
With grace and poise, here comes Lady Charlotte
Charlotte is the rhythmic gymnast of The Flying Dames. Several enthusiastic fans anticipate her performance as it is sometimes described as a work of art. She is mostly quite back stage, and is often seen meditating. Come showtime, she explodes as if she was holding in a lot of energy and letting it loose. She doesn't perform with others. Rather, they perform with her, namely Lily and sometimes D. Rill. When going against circus crashers, she easily dispatches them as if she was performing, getting away with barely a scratch. Her fans also jump into the fray to protect their idol, though with often humorous results.
Artist comments: I wanted to try out a new pose that didn't involve standing. Her boob concept came from the little sketchbook after the first wave, with a dao as a weapon. I switched it with a naginata due to the circus theme here.
Done on Gimp 2.8. Intuos 4 tablet used.
Lady Mimi, Catherine, Lily, D. Rill, and Charlotte and The BladeLadies are © DeadPhoenX.
