Eidolon Art "blueprint"

Eidolon art "blueprint"

I've been looking over Eidolons in Star Rail today and thought it'd be fun to try and figure out how exactly the art on them works (i.e. what is the principle behind it, what they have in common between different characters, that sort of stuff).

There will be 1 (ONE) 2.1 story spoiler in here, so beware!

I haven't seen anyone else discuss this, so I've taken it upon myself to write an essay on it! This is relatively small and based entirely on my observations of the art. Feel free to use this as a basis for designing eidolons for your OCs if you want.

There will be example(s) for each part to help visualise the point I'm making as well as descriptions for the ones I'll use (some of the descriptions are much more detailed than others).

Eidolon 1

Shows view of the character from the back 3/4th to the left, up to their shoulders.

Eidolon 2

A close up of either of the character's eyes, showing off the details.

Eidolon 3

The view is entirely unique: the perspective, pose, and focus of the composition is meant to showcase an aspect of the character's personality.

Examples:

● Dan Heng. Back view, focus on his earphones as well as the maple leaf in his hand;

● Silver Wolf. Front view, focus on the game console in her hands;

● Himeko. Front view, focus on her facial expression and the pen in her hand.

Eidolon 4

Gives view of the character mostly from the front (either full-on or at an angle) or with them facing the camera in some way, up to their shoulders. Often has characters establish eye contact with the camera, but not necessary. Another showcase of their personality possibly might even represent how they interact with others.

Examples:

● March 7th. Back view with her head turned to look at the camera, making a peace sign. She's the only real outlier I've found so far, but it fits her personality fully;

● Aventurine. Front facing the camera, tipping (pulling down?) his hat and hiding one eye behind his hand as a result, obscuring his face;

● Bronya. Front, turned to the right, has a serious listening expression, one hand one her chest, closer to the heart. Perhaps a show of sincerity and dedication.

Eidolon 5

A close-up of the character's neck/collarbone area (despite the popular belief, it doesn't actually focus on their chest). The angle varies, as does the amount of character's expression shown, but generally, most of it is obscured (even in fuller pictures).

Examples:

● Herta. 3/4th angle, focus on the key hanging from her choker. The only part of her expression we see is her typical smug little smile;

(This Herta is one of many puppet avatars so the key might be a play on that. She also has a keyhole on the front of her outfit, though they're different sizes. There's also a key on a book cover in her splash art. Another fun fact, her upgrade materials are "Keys" as she is one of the first Erudition characters)

● Dr. Ratio. Focus on the pendant/decoration on his collarbones (maybe the Intelligentsia Guild insignia?), he has that "lips in a thin line" sort of expression;

● Black Swan. Focus on the heart decoration on her collarbones (reference to the stained glass in her ultimate, which in itself, loosely, calls back to Fuli, the Remembrance). She has her slight enigmatic smile.

Eidolon 6

Like E3, the view is entirely unique. The only consistent thing is that it ends at about the middle of a character's chest. The character is naked, showing them at their most vulnerable.

Examples:

● Misha. View from the side, his body turned in on itself as he hugs some sort of glowing orb. As a result, he's only illuminated at the points of contact. His expression is relaxed, but there's an interesting amount of seriousness in it, as if he's soothing/protecting the object;

● Sparkle. 3/4th to the left, has her hands up to her chest, one holding onto the other. A red string is tied into a four-petal flower shape around her pinkie finger, which sticks out from the rest of her fingers. Her expression is fully relaxed, her mouth is even slightly open, but the face paint is still on, and her hair is tied up;

● Acheron. View from the front, though her body is slightly turned to the left. She's in her self-annihilator state: hair white, the red thorn-like tattoos surround her lower neck and collarbones. There are red flowers outlined in white, either blooming on or flowing near her, some on her shoulders, some covering her left eye, others flying off. Interestingly, the flowers are placed loosely on a diagonal, bottom left to top right. Her expression is fully relaxed, mouth open slightly, and her hair is flowing to the side. That, paired with the flowers, makes it seem like there's a breeze passing by.

The conclusion I came to, upon finishing this analysis, is that Eidolons can be interpreted as the layers to characters' personality. With E1 being what anyone in the crowd could see – their back, no face, nothing to truly identify them by, and E6 is them at their most relaxed, most open point.

I both want to see him suffer more and tell him that it's okay and pat him on the head

Alastor panicked and incredulous at him almost dying trying to protect and help people of all things is glorious, my poor baby.

This was drawn on the 3rd of July, but I only posted it today, ahah

So about that Aventurine eidolon I used in the post–

Thinking about how Aventurine only wears rings on his right hand and not on his left probably cause his left hand is the one that's "clutching [his] chips for dear life"

Thinking about how the hand without any rings is on the same side as the "SLAVE" brand on his neck and how the earring on the same side seems like it's covering that same brand.

Does his left side signify the part of him still kept in captivity (whether to his trauma or to the IPC, I'll let you decide)? Does the lack of jewelry on his left hand signify his subconscious view of himself as someone who really has nothing to left to lose? Does the opulent earring on his left side symbolize how his vast wealth and riches is just to cover up his dark and traumatic past as some sort of overcompensation?

I'm thinking about a lot of things about Aventurine right now, probably cause we only have to wait for a week before his banner comes out (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)⁠✧⁠*⁠。

So I just got HoV on Global last week and I've been using almost only her since. I didn't even get any of her equipment yet, but she's still super OP, in my opinion. I really wanted to draw her, but I am not in the mood for detailed outfits, so I decided to do a casual-ish outfit for her, since it is "St.Valentines" even on Global rn. I wanted to put her into skirt with slids a lot, like a whole LOT, so here you go~ I'll probably draw another outfit of her in this ourfit(or maybe I'll actually do a better one, if I'll learn how design outfits in a few weeks, lol), but for now have this paper and pencil concert. Good luck and have a good day!~ (｡･ω･｡)