IVAN = Pronouns: (Born as a He/Him) (Sometimes a They?/Them?) Personality = (Traits of just Ivan: Distinct ) (Traits that both Ivan and Igor both share together: Selfless, Anxious but Ivan shows that side and Igor doesn't, Caring, Ambitious but in different ways, Optimistic but Ivan shows it and Igor doesn't, Dependable, Devoted, Loving but Ivan shows it Igor doesn't show it to just anyone Abrasive, Petulant, Generous but Ivan is more then Igor is.)
(Ivan's Background: Had a typical average to okay life and had enough to always be okay but ultimately nothing was ever enough to satisfy anything really and is more willing to put trust into things.) (Preferred Equipment: A sword and shield and has a book for using magic spells.)
IGOR = Pronouns: (Born as a He/Him) (Sometimes a They?/Them?) Personality = (Traits of just Igor: Seems Enigmatic but is simple, )(Igor's Background: Had a very not so good life and had a lot more struggle and strife and had to suffer even at places that were thought to be okay leading to closed off paranoia from the world at large and was denied any real help at any turn leading to unhealthy coping mechanisms and way more willing to get hands dirty but isn't stoic and unemotional neither is completely emotional all the time but a well meaning kind of person.) (Preferred Equipment: A Bow and Arrow and has a small knife.
IVAN AND IGOR CHARACTER DESIGN INSPIRATIONS = One of the things that I loved in one of my favorite game Sonic Adventure 2 was the sometimes subtle details or themes around the concept of Light and Dark or for me in a similar vein the Chinese Yin and Yang symbol or ideal where the black area representing yin, with the opposite white side representing yang and the dots are representative of one within the other and the meaning of Yin and Yang is defined as the concept that there exist cosmic principles or forces that are opposite but complementary, which interact, interconnect, support and perpetuate each other. Together they form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the interdependent components, and both parts are essential for the cohesion of the whole. This symbol or ideal philosophy has made it's way into every single little thing from what the characters of Ivan and Igor look like, to how they act, to how they act together and the dots in the center of either one representing how both possess similar things inside of each other and how much they really need and love each other.
(More descriptions of the both of them: Ivan is more open and emotional around everybody at first while Igor takes time top open up. Ivan may appear childish and or dumb but is smart and deep and Igor may come off as cold and emotionless or heartless but is ultimately trying to do what they think is best and has empathy but keeps it hidden away as a safety coping mechanism brought on by troubling past stuff that happened to them. Igor is more likely to resort to violence when unhappy and when nobody does anything to stop it so Ivan helps him and vice versa but it happens more to Igor because they're more susceptible.
SETTING = The characters get Isekai-ed in a way to a nobelbright world that has a mix of primary and second world fantasy has a couple elements of earth and existing history but also uses that to make it's own world and lore and story. There's a legend or prophecy in this world that spoke of a person who'd take out all of the guardians or bosses and gather their power to absorb into them to get stronger and the bosses also work under the big bad evil scientist doctor guy who I still haven't named along with the good scientist guy who gives Ivan and Igor all of the information but though messages from the past before the good scientist's death and the prophecy said about how they would be a chosen one who looks and acts like Ivan and a servant to help them that looks and acts like Igor.
MORE WORLD SETTING STUFF = Because of the setting being the way it is that being shrunk down through the good scientist doctor's magic ray tricks Ivan and then it's implied that Igor was zapped by the magic ray first actually and turned into a to small size and it takes place outside in a front or backyard where also magic creatures have existed hidden out of normal human sight there would have been a lot of bugs for different regions of the world and different towns in the regions and some would have ants, spiders, cockroaches, caterpillars, butterflies, dragonflies, flies, mosquitoes, hornets, bees, moths and the mythological creatures like dragons, griffins, Pegasus, sphinxes, phoenixes, werewolves, Cerberuses, Succubi, Unicorns, elves, and also some of them also have parts or features of other animals like cats, dogs, birds, and fish all being combined into creatures that roam the land. The creatures in the different towns live inside things like grass stalks, leaves, trees, logs, rocks, stones, and emptied out garbage like soda cans. They would have buildings in the towns that are commonly found from our time in fantasy stories like abattoirs, academies, adventurer's guilds, alarm beacons, alchemists, amphitheaters, ancient parks, antiquarians, antique stores, apiaries, apothecaries, aqueducts, armories, art galleries, auction houses, bakeries, banks, butchers, carpenters, cartographers, churches, graveyards, jails, inns, markets, magical tailors, pubs, potion shops, stables and much much more buildings all of which have things like a currency which is just gold coins as well as fire for light and water and bathrooms everything else you expect from a town. Also the towns people travel on things like carriages and also boats but sometimes travel through the air on things like flowers.
ENEMIES = The big bad evil scientist doctor who's still doesn't have a name basically did a summoning ritual to summon a great demonic creature that's going to take over this world but it also took over some of the other creatures as well which are wandering the world as these undead mutated zombie cat, dog, or whatever animal bug mythological creatures and behave like any other kind of zombie except this one is not the kind that moves really slowly but a lot more faster and sometimes they don't just walk but fly too but anyway they exist in many forms around different regions of the world and in different types of quantities like how the further you go to the furthest edges of the world or the further South you go the more zombies you encounter. But also there are evil enemies or bad guys who aren't undead who will also try to trick you or rob you or just kill you.
THE GUARDIANS/BOSSES = Ivan and Igor are out on a quest to kill all of The Guardians or Bosses that serve under the unnamed evil doctor scientist guy and where their locations are involves having to do things to help out people in exchange for information to where they are because where they are is usually hidden away somewhere hard to find and unfortunately I never finished all of them even thought there was supposed to be seven or maybe more if I could keep going but I do have the visual design notes that I took for the couple that I did write notes for but didn't realize in their entirety.
ONE OF THE GUARDIANS ("BATTLECAT") = Orange Tabby Cat Darker yellow with lighter yellow markings, pink nose, green eyes, unknown height, right arm and his right leg looks grey and dried blood colored filled with holes and puss and warts has giant claw hand, arm, leg, and feet protruding out of his hands and feet which is a mixture of robot metal, bones, and the bloody infection goop tentacles wrapping around them. Eye patch on right eye, cockroach features. Past warrior that used to be powerful but became a bit weaker since getting infected but rebuilt by the still unnamed evil doctor scientist. Also keeps coming back to life.
ONE OF THE GUARDIANS (UNNAMED) (REAL NAME: DEVON REX CAT) = Greyish or light blue skin, pointy ears (elf like), Body that looks like or has features to the Anaea Clytemnestra Leaf Mimic Butterfly (Antenna, wings) void less crescent reversed (maybe at a forty five degree angle) shaped eyes with black lines overtop the eye voids with a triangle point on either end with bright yellow pupils in in the center inside, sharp fangs in each corner of his mouth longer than the regular teeth and smaller sharp pointy yellow teeth and a tongue that's the same color of his skin, he had a small black triangle nose, he wears a half and half split down the middle Jester cap with bells purple (left side) and black (right side), a yellow clown/jester ruff collar and wrists, a long sleeved shirt split up into four squares in a checkerboard like pattern with black and purple with a purple left arm and a black right arm from the shoulder to the wrists, pants split down the middle (near crotch area) black on the left and purple on the right, black cape, black gloves, black boots, sometimes wears a plague doctors mask to hide face, the plague doctors mask is half and half black (left side) and white (right side) split across the face goes from the top of his near where his eyebrows should be goes over his nose and goes all the way down to the chin on the other side of his face. (Phantom of the Opera) Possibly an ex Jester of a kingdom lost to time and went crazy and made deal with the still unnamed evil doctor scientist and got magic/magical powers and can use magic and the potions he brews to manipulate the infection to his will and has the infection on his head in his hat and plague doctors mask. Lives in a cave somewhere.
ONE OF THE GUARDIANS ("BEESET") = A yellow and blue cat with Egyptian blue markings and bee antennas, a stinger at the end of its tail, and wings that look like (Orange?) and (Purple?) hieroglyphs, with blue eyes and white dress, in Egyptian mummy wrappings, wears jewelry and makeup, Possibly lives in a abandoned kingdom that existed years ago but is now an abandoned tomb protecting what she thinks is her king that's actually long since died with an army of the dead bee cat mummies to help her after getting released by the still unnamed evil doctor scientist.
ONE OF THE GUARDIANS (UNAMED) (CATAPILLIAR CAT) (NO OTHER INFO)
More Dynamics between the characters: Because Ivan was the legend or hero in this world and Igor got put into nothing more than a guide one of the Dynamics is the one of Ivan trying to and wanting to be the hero but not wanting to become what they think is a horrible detached emotionless person kind of like what people sometimes think when they hear or see Igor for the first time and Igor is jealous and Ivan and Igor start fighting and it turns into them thinking they don't need each other so they separate for a while and Ivan tries to go alone only for Igor to come back and realize how wrong they were and how much they really really missed each other and settling with Ivan making the sentiment that the prophecy may say that Igor isn't a hero but in their hearts they are and this leads to them eventually though a series of accidents and slip ups showing affection though touches and seeing each other naked and maybe wanting more but not telling either of each other how they really feel until one night where they're hugging turns into cuddling and turns into them kissing but instead of recoiling away out of fear they embrace each other and have sex together but still decide to keep them being anything more than just good friends to a secret hidden in the shadows out of fear of this world they don't understand maybe having some sort of things against that which was thought because of people they fought earlier on who came from a place in the fantasy world where that person had that prejudice and because of Igor's overprotective nature ends up scaring Ivan into keeping the secret too out of fear of losing what Ivan thinks is their reputation as a hero with the people they've both befriended on their journey and if and or how they'd accept them for who they are and what they do being together. Then later near the end of the story the two of them would be proud and happy and having the full confidence in themselves and their identities but also having to come to terms with how some people will never fully accept them and the people who do and which ones are real friends and how many are not and them having to come to terms with how violence will get them nowhere and having to find and toe the line between solving things with violence and destruction and or talking and opening people up to being to not being evil anymore instead.
INSPIRATIONS = It all started with my real cats I had Ivan and Igor those two guys meant a lot to me because they were despite all the other times cats have died in the same or similar unfortunate accidents where the cats were doing something dumb and getting hurt these two cats meant a lot to because they were my first cats I felt like I had and I felt like loved me Ivan being the black and white cat with green eyes and a pink nose and Igor being a grey cat with brown eyes but Igor acted kind of like any other cat for the most part but Ivan was something special he'd acted all over the place sometimes and being hyper and playing and sometimes doing things dogs things too and would jump all over the place sometimes between chill and relaxed to being hyperactive and playful and it felt like Ivan was trying to listen or understand me at certain points even though he really shouldn't but he could understand if I said something and pointed at him and all that. However after Ivan caught a bird out the air and ate it's brains out and got sick that we took him to the vet only to met with them saying there was nothing we could do and when we left he was officially pronounced dead and I sobbed and cried and had to cope with losing him. Then Igor suffered a similar tragedy or accident where he went out into the road and got hit by a car and we had to put him in a garbage bag as I cried later that day. I had this dream where I my cats Ivan and Igor were tiny cats jumping around like a video game I think the idea came to mind because the at the time popular video game cat mario but instead of the actual cat mario where that was more of a video game made with the intention of inducing rage in the player the idea of mario but a cat was really the starting point.
THE CHANGING OF FORMATS = Originally it started as a video game and then I had the realization that I could not and did not want to really know anything at all about any sort of technical or computer language or anything to figure out what to do to make it into a video game or how when all I ever really knew was drawing on notebook papers as an artist and nothing else so I had to make the hard to swallow difficult decision of turning it into a comic book thing and this ended up being both a good and a bad thing in it's own kinds of ways and I to think about a lot of things I didn't think about before when trying to conceive a comic version like because I also didn't know anything professional at all about comic books and all I was trying to do was imitate what I knew or saw or grew up with but untimely nothing would materialize of any of that first issue of that comic ever.
IN CONCLUSION = My closing thoughts are that as much as I want to keep making this thing a reality the world has other plans for me right now and if things change and I can come back to this idea or concept or whatever and make it real than great but until then that's not really looking like that's going to be the case for me moving forward right now and this is just a little art piece I wanted to draw on a free drawing software and I used a free to use base as the outline of both of the characters and all this stuff I'm writing is to not only memorialize it somewhere and for the future if there are people that actually care and are curious then they can read this and see and hear what could have been but still could be because who knows what the future really holds.
Thanks for reading,
Logan
