Drawn by KaijvCorp in 2022-2023.

ORIGINAL ARTIST UPLOAD
Twitter

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It's not much further to the city now! But since we're at a rest stop, maybe you want to take over driving duties? Melee's offering you the keys, so what do you say?

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Reached out to this artist last year about doing some work for me - not the first time I've done such, as these pictures from 2017 (done back when the artist went by a different name) can attest to - at the time I reached out, he had a particularly interesting option avilable where I could have my sona drawn with a car of my choice. The idea of such a pic never really came to mind before, and tweets I've seen from the artist in the past suggested he'd be okay drawing any vehicle, no matter how unsubstantial it really was, so I decided to jump on.

Figuring out a car for Kaijv to draw with my dragon wasn't too hard. Since Melee was my first real "sona," I figured it'd be best to pair him up with the first car I ever bought: a 2002 Chevrolet Monte Carlo; a large coupe that some associates of mine on a Discord server I frequented at the time described as "an Impala with a bed" and "the worst generation of Monte Carlo." A vehicle that was admittedly a pretty unimpressive car once you got past its looks, and it seemingly always had something wrong with it, but it was still my ride and it sure was comfy to drive. While the actual Monte Carlo I had was dark red in coloration, the one May has here is silver, as I felt that particular color was a better match for the character. I had to give up the real car back in 2015 and I no longer really consider Melee a "sona" for myself but rather more his own character at this point. I still liked the idea of a pic with a "first sona, first car" theme, however, and Melee becoming his own character doesn't change the fact that has was (and in some ways still is) my first sona, and so I stuck with that.

It took awhile for the pic to finally get complete, as the artist had a lot of other things going on that needed his attention, but would regularly provide me with regular updates to let me know he hasn't forgotten about me and occasionally asking questions about what I'd like out of the pic. The background was an interesting one... I mentioned something about wanting a setting that seemed "urban" (I didn't really think much about it, since I wasn't expecting much in terms of a background to begin with), but that wound up turning into a sort of "road trip" vibe when the artist later asked me what particular city skyline I wanted to see in the background. "New York" was my first thought - that's the city I'm most familiar with, having visited it quite a few times in my life - but I ultimately settled on "Las Vegas" instead since I felt it had a particularly unique skyline and because I had visited the city briefly during a vacation just a month prior (The Strip really is a place unlike any other I've been to).

The artist was, to say the least, really appreciative of my patience during the whole thing and, upon completing the pic shown, emailed me a ton of drafts, rejected background concepts, and even a little bonus sketch that I might share down the line because it is admittedly kind of adorable. Hopefully one day I'll get to hit him up again about doing something with Sharon; even know exactly what vehicle I'd use for such a pic!

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Artwork by KaijvCorp (Twitter / Bluesky)

Melee is property of  SilverMelee, A.K.A. myself.


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MORE FROM THIS ARTIST
Sharon Forest Pic (2017) / Melee Mountain Pic (2017)

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