Fan art of Julian Devorak, a character from the lovely visual novel The Arcana: A Mystic Romance.
App: Procreate
Feeling drained and sore, he removed the eye patch, setting it slowly atop a nearby table.
He glanced at the mark on his hand, the old wound made the skin dry, itchy. Another reminder, another weight.
If he tried just once again… Maybe if he revisited that magic… thing… would he be able to track them?
— the fanfiction that I wrote in my head
Side portrait sketch
The Arcana: A Mystic Romance (game)
The Arcana: A Mystic Romance is an otome inspired visual novel for iOS and Android. I played it around 2019.
Plot
Description taken from Nix Hydra’s itch.io page:
You’re a prodigy tarot card reader employed in your mentor’s magic shop. You wake up confused with no memory of what happened before. All of a sudden, someone is knocking on the door. A mysterious person appears who wishes to speak to your mentor but you offer them a tarot card reading instead. Nadia, the countess of Vesuvia, is intrigued by your reading. She offers you an invitation to her Palace, but for a price – you must first uncover the mystery of her murdered husband!
Immediately you are thrown into a mystic story and dating simulator, where you rendezvous with many sultry characters on your path to uncover the mystery. Each character has many hidden secrets that you discover through your choices. Be careful, your choices impact more than just yourself!
Development
Arcana was developed by Nix Hydra, which was acquired by Dorian on July 2022
Dorian is a game platform that offers tools for writers, streamers and artists to make their own visual novels.
My experience
At the time I thought it was one of the best western mobile visual novels around. I love Arcana’s art, and the writing seemed polished, the plot is interesting and mature, while lighthearted.
I played all routes and enjoyed Julian’s design and dramatic personality.
Julian Devorak
Julian Devorak is one of the six available love interests. He is accused of Count Lucio’s murder and fled to escape his death sentence, but has since returned to Vesuvia.
He is charismatic, theatrical, self-sacrificing (and also self-destructive and a bit manipulative, imo!) His self-loathing causes him to shut out those who try to help him.
Painting Video Timelapse
A quick timelapse of Julian’s portrait:
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