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Gali 2.0- The Halfway


h_e_barlow

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gali_2_0__the_halfway_by_h_e_barlow-dbff

After looking at the designs I had for Gali, I realized she didn't really look the way I wanted her to; she looked too much like a girl instead of a woman and her outfits just looked kind of bland and generic.
Plus, I wanted to give her body and face more diverse features- part of what I want to improve on is adding more exaggerated features so everyone won't look cookie-cutter. I also really wanted to try incorporating the old lore of the Bionicle universe into The Halfway, especially tribal values.

In this piece, I wanted to flesh out the connection between masks, heart lights, and the metallic spine a bit more, since they are all connected to each other in this universe. Basically, because of major catastrophic events from the past, everyone needed to have a metallic spine and "heart light" (status gauge) implanted into their bodies:

In short, the machine acts as a barrier between the person and the liquid they need to function (Energized Protodermis), allowing it to be transferred into the body without destroying it. This keeps the person healthy since without it extreme symptoms of deprivation begin to show: extremely dry, cracked, and scaly red skin, glazed over eyes, difficulty thinking clearly, and strong feelings of exhaustion, pain, and discomfort.

Without proper levels of EP, the masks they wear will not mould to the face and their power (if any) won't work. Masks can be taken off for a brief amount of time, but since they help regulate EP to the face, the person will begin feeling weak and their face will turn ashen in colour, eventually leading them to pass out in extreme cases.

The heart light acts as a gauge, it's colour of light indicating how much EP is left in the body and when it's time for a "refill". The colour can range from bright yellow (fullest) to dark red (lowest), with various shades of yellow, orange, and red in between. Once the light starts turning orange, the symptoms of deprivation start to show little by little, often starting with itchy skin. Keeping the heart light yellow is part of the Great Spirit's Way, and is part of the duty of every Matoran.

***

Overall, I'm really happy with how this one turned out, as Gali has a lot more of the cultural flavour that I wanted her to have, especially with her tattoos. 

The Ga-Matoran highly value purity as one of their principles, which is represented by the white tattoos they have on their bodies. Primarily, the tattoos are done around their heart light and metallic spine, but some Matoran have them on their arms, legs, and torsos as well.
Originally it was supposed to be a reminder to have a pure heart in devotion to the Great Spirit and his Way,  but devolved into a "I'm better than you" competition between Ga-Matoran to see whose heart light was "purist".

No one is quite sure why the tattoos were chosen to be white instead of yellow, since yellow is generally the colour of light and purity on the island. But keeping with tradition, they still use white anyways.

**I know it's a lot of info at once. Please let me know if you'd like it in smaller doses and I'll try to break it down to make it more digestible.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Your drawings are so good! It's good to see new G1 fanart in 2017!

I'm not a fan of humanized Bionicle myself, but I love the diversity of the Bionicle fanart, especially when it's good ;)

 

It's interesting how you didn't make Toa/Matoran 100% human, they're just way more biological than in the canon, right?

I like this samoan/tribal feel, it reminds me of 2001-2003. I suggest you check out ToaTiome's deviantART gallery if you havent already, he made some humanized tribal-ish Bionicle too!

The text you wrote is interesting too, really adds to this cyborg-Bionicle concept.

 

Would love to see more art from you!

Edited by Hidron Nuva

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Really loving the concept - it's eerie, sci-fi, and definitely a great take on the whole 'bio-mechanical'-idea. Yet the design conveys the tribal aspects. Really loving Gali's design, and her facial expression in the two top pictures.

 

It's also always great to see humanized designs. Definitely gonna check out more of your stuff! :)

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 My art collection topic - updated! (21/09/2021)

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