Terra & Gaia

Made in July-August 2012 over about 2-3 weeks. I originally entered this for a Livejournal FF contest with the theme being opposing elements. The moment I saw the subject this image popped into my head. Whilst the pair are already designed as foils from a visual perspective (in terms of hair color and length, height difference, costume etc.) what made me consider creating the piece was depicting how each Genome represented one of the two planets: Gaia and Terra. The conflict between these two planets is a vital part of Final Fantasy IX's story and appropriately our hero, Zidane, represents the young thriving planet of Gaia whilst our villain, Kuja, represents the older hostile planet of Terra. Those who played IX may remember the sky having two moons of different hues - this is actually because they belong to separate planets and are colored the same light of their planet's crystal: Terra's crystal is red, Gaia's crystal is blue.