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Ophelion — APH: Chernobyl

Published: 2011-07-18 15:23:37 +0000 UTC; Views: 15457; Favourites: 547; Downloads: 0
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Description Finally, the coloured version of the lineart I posted something like a month and a half ago, before I went on a trip and then came back for a camp.

The Chernobyl Disaster occurred in Ukraine, just a little south of the border between Ukraine and Belarus; but rain was seeded in Belarus to divert the fallout away from populated areas. Of all the countries that were affected by the nuclear fallout, the top three were Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, in descending order.

I was highly fascinated by the photography of the ghost-town Prypiat , abandoned after it became the epicentre of the meltdown; they're eerie yet beautiful, especially when plants and small animals have started taking over the abandoned schools and hospitals and so on. The background image was manipulated from this , which shows the iconic Ferris Wheel of Prypiat.

This is also an excuse to draw these siblings just... being siblings. I tried out a number of new techniques in this, especially the back-lighting (thought I'd try it out after seeing some of the eyecatches from FMA: Brotherhood; the really back-lit ones). Mind-boggling, yes, but good fun. Also, the no-boring-poses thing seems to have really stuck.

Ukraine and Belarus are wearing Himaruya's Soviet uniform designs . Russia is wearing the captain's uniform for the Soviet Armed Forces (took liberty with the scarf of course; it completes the triangular composition. I also like how many people out there depict Russia with a red scarf during his Soviet days. Plus I experimented and concluded that scarlet just looks better than white/cream/beige in this).

Lines: felt-tip on paper, colours etc.: PhotoShop mousing. I've lost count of the number of times I'd wished for a tablet during the making of this.

Axis Powers Hetalia and assoc. characters belong to Himaruya Hidekaz.
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Comments: 73

SchmedterlingFreud [2019-06-06 14:57:04 +0000 UTC]

This is so sad and beautiful. Amazing piece of art, really...

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Mercifuldeath9 [2018-03-20 21:55:38 +0000 UTC]

She crumbled in agony. We don't know why they wouldn't listen but they did what they felt was better and now my dearest sister Ukraine has paid the price in full for the negligence of her people. Belarus and I have taken a hit but she is most affected by the harsh radioactive power unleashed upon her. I will never forget her blood curdling screams and I will never forget her lying in the dirt as tears poured silently from her broken eyes. She will recover and come back stronger. But she'll always remember April 26, 1986.

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aMulan [2016-05-04 17:40:39 +0000 UTC]

one interesting fact. In the result of Chernobyl disaster severely damaged not Ukraine, as is commonly believed, Belarus suffered. Ukraine suffered only in the limit of the 30-kilometer exclusion zone.

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Ophelion In reply to aMulan [2016-05-04 22:24:32 +0000 UTC]

Yeah I found out about that while doing my research, which is why I included Belarus in this. Belarus is the country that suffered the most from the nuclear fallout. Thanks for your interest!

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aMulan In reply to Ophelion [2016-05-05 13:45:49 +0000 UTC]

anytime ^^ by the way, I'm from Belarus

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Blake290383 [2015-10-21 09:23:56 +0000 UTC]

The background really compliments the drawing.

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Ophelion In reply to Blake290383 [2015-10-21 12:58:09 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! That's photo manipulation.

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minteractivemedia [2015-03-05 10:50:18 +0000 UTC]

This is very nicely done. I am writing my own Ukrainian vigilante comic story which briefly mentions the Chernobyl Disaster. 

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Ophelion In reply to minteractivemedia [2015-03-05 10:53:12 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much! It's quite distressing just how much impact it's had on the neighbouring countries. I would love to visit Pripyat, if not for the huge amount of radiation still going on. :/ 

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DorciAlphArt [2014-02-25 14:20:05 +0000 UTC]

Can I use this for a photomontage about Ukraine?

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Ophelion In reply to DorciAlphArt [2014-02-25 14:34:43 +0000 UTC]

Sure, but please give me due credit, as well as link the montage back to me? I'd love to see how my work's been used.  

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DorciAlphArt In reply to Ophelion [2014-02-25 14:40:34 +0000 UTC]

OK

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DeadloveCalling [2013-03-20 19:05:38 +0000 UTC]

This is so gorgeous; you can almost feel the worry in Russia's eyes as he holds his sisters. Wonderful job

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Reshichu [2013-03-14 06:41:15 +0000 UTC]

Coming through!Waterworks coming through!

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Ophelion In reply to Reshichu [2013-03-14 11:28:58 +0000 UTC]

Aww what a compliment! Thanks!

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Reshichu In reply to Ophelion [2013-04-03 05:54:23 +0000 UTC]

The water dams not holding well either.

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people-of-the-lie [2013-02-21 02:36:49 +0000 UTC]

MY EMOTIONS

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Lucia-Lileth-Vladmir [2013-02-16 04:38:26 +0000 UTC]

I'd say chernobyl still is alive, but is in the funny farm due to madness

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LadyKnightinArmour [2012-10-16 21:02:26 +0000 UTC]

I like how you did this realistically. (Well, as realistic as hetalia is going to get.) Other pictures I've seen have depicted the Chernobyl disaster as 'Nuclear fallout is kawaii!" So it's really good to see a realistic-ish approach to it.

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Ophelion In reply to LadyKnightinArmour [2012-10-23 09:28:18 +0000 UTC]

Well, that's what fanart is for, right? To depict things otherwise not appropriate for general viewing on the screen. There's nothing kawaii about people dying from horrific burns and radiation sicknesses. I try to stick to the raw histories (as much as I can, anyway) when I do Hetalia fanart. I'm glad you like it that way! Thank you so much!

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StrawberryMoonSwoon [2012-07-29 19:34:41 +0000 UTC]

oh... so sad. I hate history at times like this.
You did a great job conveying the sadness of it all.

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DenasiaTheKat [2012-07-27 05:28:52 +0000 UTC]

this is amazing! xD

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WitchyScientistKae [2012-05-11 22:38:03 +0000 UTC]

I really like this pic. i can't believe how so few people have done a heatlia thing on this.

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Ophelion In reply to WitchyScientistKae [2012-05-12 03:37:28 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! I really like the historical, more serious side of Hetalia, and I try to make fanart that raise awareness for less well-known historical events and/or details. Speaking of which, I should really do more Hetalia art...

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WitchyScientistKae In reply to Ophelion [2012-05-12 14:31:54 +0000 UTC]

you should

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froggurl16 [2012-02-22 16:49:20 +0000 UTC]

Very good work, I love how you were able to connect everything you drew with history.

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amberrito [2012-01-27 07:01:02 +0000 UTC]

I just love their poses, they're really trying to find strength in eachother, and the small amount of blood on Ukraine's coat.

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Persephine [2011-11-09 17:40:22 +0000 UTC]

Your Russia looks very, very good. As in, in a sort of, 'grab and snog' way.

And then: boobies. They just sort of POP at you. Like, "PEEKABOO." Which may or may not be disturbing; I haven't decided yet.

Belarus looks so very subdued here. Whoever'd known she'd end up psychotic and utterly... clingy.

I think this has to be the best, proportion wise, that I've seen. Kudos on that! ...and I love his scarf. It's very, again, Lear-like. And it's a nice colour balance, and pops (moreso than the boobs) against the rest of the muted hues.

Good job! Now, if only those gag boobs will stop haunting me...

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Nastenka1512 [2011-10-15 04:20:53 +0000 UTC]

I've read a diary of the pregnant Russian woman which husband worked on Chernobyl as a resquerer. When he came back home, he felt bad. And with every day, his health was fading... And she was making a notes about it every day. In the end, he couldn't move, he could't speak, he was coughing all the time with blood. He died after a month.
The child she delivered was dead. And she also died 2 months after.

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LordOfThePandas In reply to Nastenka1512 [2011-10-21 15:29:01 +0000 UTC]

That's truly very sad. Unfortunately, it looks like the government aren't going to change their ways at all. We should ban Nuclear stations. Forever.

The UK has Sellafield and lots others...it could happen again.

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Nastenka1512 In reply to LordOfThePandas [2011-10-21 16:35:30 +0000 UTC]

Everyone said to our minister about it. Some French minister said to our one: "You should Not use it" He said: "Ok then. Come to Siberia and I'm gonna look how you will survive the winter with no nuclear energy there..." I support this man, because I live in Siberia
Chernobyl was in Ukraine... And in Russia there was no nuclear accidents, fortunately. So my conlusion is... Even poison cal heal. But, people, don't build powerstations if you don't know how to hadle it: it's the same as bying a crocodile

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LordOfThePandas In reply to Nastenka1512 [2011-10-22 10:43:11 +0000 UTC]

That's true. Very true. It costs so much to build and even though there has been hasn't been too many nuclear accidents (apart from Japan) since Chernobyl, we still can't be sure it'll happen again. I understand that Siberia needs the nuclear power to live, but maybe there's another way? Perhaps everyone could start embracing renewables like Sweden have. Our future with nuclear isn't secure. Something could happen.

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Nastenka1512 In reply to LordOfThePandas [2011-10-22 12:24:55 +0000 UTC]

You can never know...
Well... At least in Siberia with it's huge territory people can be evacuated to some other place in case of danger. But Japan is other deal... They have nowhere to go, that's the most awful._.

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LordOfThePandas In reply to Nastenka1512 [2011-10-22 16:00:40 +0000 UTC]

I know...it's very sad. That is true for Siberia. Hoepfully, if something like this ever happens again....we'll know what to do. At least now, we have better and more advanced medical knowledge and apparatus.

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Ophelion In reply to Nastenka1512 [2011-10-15 04:33:26 +0000 UTC]

It's truly a disaster. I guess it's all we can do to learn from history and be aware of the consequences of our actions. :/

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Nastenka1512 In reply to Ophelion [2011-10-15 05:45:40 +0000 UTC]

Well... I guess so. Oh, Ukraine, why didn't you learn more of our technology before building your own station T_T people often confuse Ukraine with Russia, but, fortunately, we had no nuclear accidents...
All those books about Chernobyl disaster can't be read wthout tears. SAFETY must be on first place, and we've learned a lot since then - and now, when Russian technologists offer their help to build nuclear powerstations in other countries, they say: 'We will control ALL the process'.
Now we try to help Japan. And I hope Fukushima will be okay, after all...

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Ophelion In reply to Nastenka1512 [2011-10-15 05:51:05 +0000 UTC]

There's a certain humility that should be in place when approaching such potentially devastating technology, I think. We always say, "We know what we're doing" and plunge right into something, then it blows up in our face and we go, "Oops, that was unexpected".

I'm not against scientific and technological development (heck, I'm a scientific researcher myself), but I think we need to always be aware that WE DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING.

I hope Fukushima will be okay, too. :/

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Nastenka1512 In reply to Ophelion [2011-10-15 06:07:44 +0000 UTC]

Yep, we don't, but... They should trust people who has experience in such things Not only knowledges are the main subject, of course, there's a lot of examples, such as "Titanic", or "Kursk", which were described as "Unsinkable"._.

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Ophelion In reply to Nastenka1512 [2011-10-15 06:12:43 +0000 UTC]

The Hindenburg disaster comes to mind... seems to be mostly carelessness in hindsight.

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canta-brasil03 [2011-08-02 17:45:36 +0000 UTC]

Wow, I really love this. It's really beautiful, and I love the way you've put Russia in the center, over his two more injured sisters.

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YaoiMasta [2011-08-02 13:14:51 +0000 UTC]

This is beautiful.

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Leroro1805 [2011-08-02 09:54:21 +0000 UTC]

Wonderful!!!

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typicaltraveler [2011-07-29 13:17:12 +0000 UTC]

Since this isn't a single portrait of a character, this belongs in the Group folder. Please move it to the right folder when you re-submit. Thank you!

-#Hetalia Group Co-Founder

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sneakolai [2011-07-28 18:04:15 +0000 UTC]

Thank you. Thank you for making art that is a reminder; thank you for depicting these three as a family.

The techniques you use here are quite effective. Lovely.

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Ophelion In reply to sneakolai [2011-08-04 04:33:32 +0000 UTC]

I like to flesh out some of the ideas that's been provided by canon. And I love the dark implications of canon!Hetalia, too. I mean, although some claim that Hetalia is sugarcoating political history, for me, it just made the horrible parts of history and politics that much more depressing.

Thanks for the comment!

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sneakolai In reply to Ophelion [2011-08-04 05:29:28 +0000 UTC]

Oh, you're welcome. And that's an interesting perspective on it (re: the humor actually highlighting the tragedy). Hunh.

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Ophelion In reply to sneakolai [2011-08-04 06:06:38 +0000 UTC]

Well, Hetalia makes me virtually incapable of hating a country (not that I would, anyway), and then there's the whole idead of "one death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic". There's a difference between, say, learning about the London Blitz as it is, and imagining Germany repeatedly shooting England in the heart.

In other words, Hetalia is nightmare fuel and fridge horror disguised as cute. In a good way.

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sneakolai In reply to Ophelion [2011-08-04 18:56:20 +0000 UTC]

Indeed.

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jyagaa [2011-07-21 09:42:29 +0000 UTC]

wow the story behind this is sad but the artwork is great (and i mean the nuclear disaster not your text) i start to feel sad now...

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TriXxBLUE [2011-07-20 18:31:42 +0000 UTC]

Oh, how dark and lovely.

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