michaleon

Kaldra is a character of mine that I've been drawing since I was really little. Like, 5 or 6. Back when I was diagnosed Autistic, one of the few ways I could center myself when I was having trouble was by drawing, and Kaldra was one of the recurring characters. Back then, she didn't even have a name. She was just a little bit of scribbles in the corners of tests alongside a little dragon guy (Later to become Miron) and my longstanding character Michaleon. She's changed a lot over the years, and I've refined and focused her story more and more. Of all my characters, Kaldra is not only the one I relate most to and focus most on, but the character I love drawing the most. She has literally been there for me in times nobody else could be, since even in my worst moments when I drove off my friends and family in my outbursts, or shut myself in because my anxiety was too much to bear, I could always pick up a pencil, and Kaldra was there. Every time someone draws her, it feels like that little broken piece of me that I pour into her is just stroked a little more, like the world telling me it's alright for me to be broken. That this thing I made of the fragments of myself that shattered and resolved themselves into my art can be loved by others. That that part of me that I pour into these drawings can turn into something other people can adore, and as such means no matter how broken I may be, at least it can be turned into something beautiful. I've been through some tough things in my life. I've been battered and abused, both physically and mentally... but nothing. I repeat nothing has made me cry so much as seeing this picture. Nothing could ever destroy this for me. Ever.