"To bind oneself to the strings of others..."

Artwork by Rick (Tea_jar) :
___X___ | Bluesky | Pixiv | Skeb
 
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Kind of a sequel to the previous illustration "Severance" . Compared to "Severance' which is the theme of separating one's self from others. Conformity is binding yourself to the chains of others.
 
As always, most darker themes of Atun are more based off me than the character. Conformity is something I been thinking of lately and how I tend to bind myself to the wills of others. Sure I may express myself in my own way, but everywhere and nearly most people I meet, I put on a mask and make myself seem like a normal, social person who wishes to talk to others when I'm really not.
 
I'm quiet, very private to myself, speak minimal and quiet. Yet outside of home and having to be around others, talking to some friends, I put the veil on and say I'm social, I'm friendly, I make myself seem active when really breaking it down I'm eroding myself slowly, only following the wills of other and the role of society even away from all that.
 
The strings are how Atun is puppeted by the hands of others, from his expression, to his actions, to his attire, his autonomy is given to others not realizing he's only self destructing, but to stray from that flow, to merely choose your own flow, the hands that be will only punish those for defying it's flow. But the only thing in the end will be a shell of what was, yet already knowing how they'll end yet too stubborn to reject that conformity.
 
Literature is a interesting way relate from the books I read.
 
Aya y Aya.
 
 
Commission received 07/11/2025