A Cloud of Smoke

They have this look of, "What are you looking at?"

I had the idea to draw Joel Richmond and Nadir Bertier. The idea was that they're the only two characters I have that ever smoke, and I thought it was the one thing they have in common, but as I drew it I began to realize they had more in common than that. Both grow up without parents, although Nadir loses his before he can remember them. They also seem to have a thing for red and brown.

LOL I gave them similar hairstyles without even thinking about it.

But there's a difference in how they abuse their habits. Joel is a habitual smoker, picking it up from a very young age, along with a taste for alcohol, when he is only 14 or so. Blame a life on the run, with no family, living with whatever bums and homeless he comes across. Better with them than with no one at all.

However, by the time he is saved from that lifestyle he tries to kick the habit. Yet even while he's helping in the Wars of Light and Darkness, he still has one from time to time, and that's how he and Nadir strike up a friendship, each of them smoking for their own reasons, while the habit is something the rest of the heroes aren't quite happy that they're doing.

Joel kicks it at long last out of love for Jade, which is a stronger force than the addiction.

Nadir...well, I think I've explained why he does XD It's purely stress relief for him, and unlike Joel he can take cigarettes and leave them. Infact he usually only smokes when he, Zenith, and Halo are sharing a one room hotel room and the two of them want some private time.

So, Nadir's forced to leave when he's usually just getting comfortable. He resorts to a cigarette which helps him calm down, and think, and just keep him occupied while he's having to sit outside, since most hotels don't allow smoking in the general areas.

He also claims it's to help stave off other urges, but he smokes so few of them nobody knows if that's true or not. A pack usually lasts him for several months...it depends on how many times Zenith and Halo try to ditch their third wheel.

Nadir never officially kicks smoking, since he doesn't consider it a habit. Instead, he finds different ways to let go of anger and tension, which becomes especially easy once Grace comes in to his life. Though he never has an official sending off ceremony, like one final smoke, he does have his final one without realizing it.

The practice just fades away, going to show that it really was nothing more than an avenue for stress relief.

So you've got two different characters, one smokes habitually, the other when he feels the need, both kicking it for the girls they love.

And for the record, I detest smoking XD Hence, they stop XP It just adds something to their characters.

Anyway, I freaking love Joel <3 Last time I drew him he looked pretty...bad XD He had both a frontal and side view, and the sideview came out great! The frontal, not so much, so he gets some serious redemption here.

Nadir is awesome as always. I borrowed the pose from his Character Study. People seemed to like that one XD I also finally drew his mohawk or whatever you want to call it "perfectly" That's what it needs to look like every time XD

For the first time I'm satisfied with the angles of his arms. Usually when I draw crossed arms they never look right. This is the first time I've done them where the angles look good, as far as how much of each arm is visible behind the other.

Now, the one thing that bugs me is their hair! I messed up on Joel's hair. The lock of hair closest to his face on the left needs to be further down, hanging as low as the one on the right. I screwed up on Nadir too. The brown locks near his neck are higher on the left side. The outermost lock of hair on the right that has the brown tips hangs WAY too low in comparison with the tips on the left. Down at the bottom where you see the red tips of the longer locks, the one closest to Joel behind his grey sleeve is too thick, plus you can't see where it falls from above.

Nadir's face could come down a bit further too, the peach area that is. Remember Nadir is a hybrid so he should be a tiny bit taller than Joel. Hybrid echidna/hedgehogs, are shorter than echidnas but taller than hedgehogs, and that goes for both males and females. So Nadir would be shorter than say, Knuckles, but needs to be taller than Joel.

His ears are bent a little bit. Standing them up they'd go higher than Joel's, but because they're bent he looks like he's the same height. Doesn't matter really because Joel is a tall hedgehog XD

*sigh* I love my babies XD

But yeah, if they're smoking and look at you like this, just walk away XD They don't feel like talking

Joel Richmond and Nadir Bertier belong to me.

~ Halo