So, I’m getting a bit better at drawing and decided to draw a RWBY character since I’ve been into the show lately.
Ash came from a tribe in Vacuo who has been scattered and broken since after the Great War of Remnant. The tribe still had some pieces of its culture left, including shapeshifting into coyotes as well as their style in clothing, hairstyles, body markings, and weapons. However, overtime, the tribe has become less and less in touch with what it once was, leaving parts of the tribe’s culture forgotten.
In Ash’s case, he lived alone in the desert since childhood after his home was destroyed by both raiders and the Grimm that followed. He was soon captured and kept by a bandit tribe when he was around fifteen, and, like others they’ve captured, became their servant. His emotions boiling inside of him, he starts scheming with the others to revolt against the tribe and fight their way out. During the fight, Ash helps the others escape the tribe’s camp and he flees into Vacuo’s city, his metal collar still on him with a broken chain, which he kept as a symbol of freedom and survival. He was seventeen at the time, and was invited to Shade shortly after arriving for surviving the desert as a child and taking initiative and leading a rebellion against the bandit tribe. Now nineteen, he is in his third year at Shade Academy.
Ash’s weapon is Flint-Singer, a Flintlock Pipe Tomahawk. In melee form, it was a pipe axe with the pipe replaced by a short gun barrel. It is able to be thrown and Ash can retrieve it with a bandage wrapped around it. In gun form, it resembles a short flintlock rifle. While an axe, the trigger can be pulled to add extra impact to the hit, and when thrown, the barrel can switch to fire the axe back towards the thrower.
Ash’s semblance allows him to generate and manipulate ashes. He can either use this semblance offensively or make himself burst into ashes and quickly dash for a moment. When he uses his semblance, his markings and hair glow and his eyes turn turquoise.
In terms of design, I took a little bit from a few characters in RWBY. Qrow’s ability to turn into a crow while having a seperate semblance, an ash version of Ruby’s semblance, the aesthetic effects of Yang’s semblance, as well as a small part of Pyrrha and Ren’s designs. Ash’s design is also based on Sonoran Native American Tribes, mainly the Hopi and Zuni tribes as well as their kachina dolls. His design was also based on the story of how Coyote stole fire from Fire Beings and brought it to the humans suffering from winter, like a Native American Prometheus. His semblance was based on how Coyote’s tail was grabbed by one of the Fire Beings and became white at the tip, which could be the same color as the ashes of a fire. His design is still going through a bit of work, but I think this’ll be close to a final character and backstory.