Shyndree wrote:

Heya!

I just registered to enter this contest, I usually just lurk around.

I only recently discovered SAO and loved it very much. I do live action roleplaying (Larp) and it seems so similar in a lot of ways! I was actually thinking that I would probably try out a game like SAO if it came out, just to compare it to larp. But then I would get trapped! So anyway, I based the whole concept of the character on what strategy I would take if that happened. And knowing myself, I would probably name the character Shyn (it is pronounced same as "shine" but it actually doesn't refer to her shining armour, or any shining :P).

So this contest made me super excited, and I was thinking about the character all last and this week.

So here is my entry, hope you like it!



A zoom up of the coloured picture (sorry, the colouring is kinda crap, and I only did this one since my drawing tablet just broke and it took forever to colour without it):

EDIT: This doesn't show up, so I'm giving a deviantart link for this:

http://shyndree.deviantart.com/art/Shyn-fully-body-colour-SAO-contest-324547289

And here is a comparison with a photo of me ;)



Some interesting facts:

* I have designed her armour based on a shirt that I have and love (and have used for larp

* If I play an online game, I like to make the character look like me, so Shyn's appearance did not change when the mirrors were handed out

* The original name of her armour in the system is "The golden waves of the Water God" but she thought that was too long, so she refers to it just as Gold Skeleton, as it reminds her a skeleton

* When I explained about SAO to my boyfriend and showed him my entry, I pointed out the sad expression to him, and told him she was so sad there since her boyfriend wasn't in the game, and she couldn't contact him at all. Then he said that in that case, he would hack himself into the game. Knowing him and his abilities, he probably would succeed! Hahaha

* "Butterfly shredder" is called that since "The handle looks like a butterfly, and it will shred you into pieces", or so Shyn likes to say

* Shyn doesn't want any "harassment" from guys, so she decided on wearing non-revealing, non-cute clothes, but in fact she has quite a fancy for girly clothes. She only indulges herself with wearing pretty, lacy nightwear, but she makes sure none sees her in it!

* The reason she wears the striking armour is because she wants to be found easily. It's good for her sellsword business if customers can recognize and spot her without an effort, and remember her easily! The other reason is a neat little trick that I have learned while doing larp. People will recognize you by your most striking features, and if they look for you in a crowd, they will specifically look for those features. In addition, descriptions of you by people will tend to have your easiest to recognize features too. So if you create something really flashy, but easily removable feature on yourself, none will spot you, even if they are looking for you when you remove them to remain undetected. It is a much better strategy than covering yourself completely, since you will then be obviously in disguise, and suspicious. Thus, whenever she doesn't want to be recognized, she takes off her armour, puts on plain clothes, and covers her hair. She often gets mistaken for an npc like that!