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Sketch

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Selena Belmont

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Sketch

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writing hard

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Hang in there, Christopher!

Closeup details under the cut

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Played a bit of Belmont's Revenge today. :)

SQ drawing a Belmont that isn't Simon? Unheard of. :P

But I couldn't help but think that Christopher has incredible upper body strength to haul himself around on ropes while playing hahaha

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Played a bit of Belmont's Revenge today. :)

SQ drawing a Belmont that isn't Simon? Unheard of. :P

But I couldn't help but think that Christopher has incredible upper body strength to haul himself around on ropes while playing hahaha

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Tiny chapter 66 spoiler

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Chronicles Simon sketch :)

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Sketches

Inspired by Beevean's wonderful ficlet Q_Q

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May I be so incredibly selfish and ask for either the hand-holding or kiss prompt - any of them that inspire you - for Simon and Selena? I completely understand if you don't want to, though - no pressure! Thank you for considering it anyhow. :) -SQ (who else, hahaha)

@simonsquest

It's not selfish to ask for your favorite food <3 (or at least, that would make me selfish as well... I know that feeling 😔)

I chose kiss number 24 - “we’ll face this together” kisses :3

~

It had become a ritual of sorts, to bandage Simon's wounds every night or so. Selena knew what marrying a vampire hunter would have meant for her role as a wife, and she had accepted it the moment her father arranged the marriage for her - at the time, she simply didn't know that she was going to marry the most noble and determined of them all. Which, at first, meant that her darling husband often returned home drenched in demon blood, from all the creature he fought to protect the village: he was proud of his feats, and she was as well.

Then, the wounds Selena healed became more and more gruesome.

Black and purple bruises. Bites that hit bone. Slashes. Gashes that required stitching. Purulent sores. Blackened, rotten flesh that forced her to work with a cloth on her nose.

All of that, she could tolerate. She never recoiled at the sight of blood, a trait that had been called "unladylike" but came in handy, and eventually her nose grew accustomed to the stench of decay. What knotted her throat everytime, however, was her husband himself: slouched over, almost withered from mortification - as if begging for forgiveness for failing to be healthy.

Because that was devouring Simon night by night, more than any creature of the night. However, even the best doctor in town was left scratching his head at her husband's malaise. There was nothing else they could do, but pray to God to spare Simon, and stitch flesh that threatened to fall off.

Unless Simon stopped her, in the throes of shame.

"Please, do not," he murmured, when Selena attempted to remove the leather gloves that had become a second layer of skin. "I am unsightly."

"No, you are my husband." Her retort, perhaps firmer than intended, was enough for Simon to lift his head and look at her with bleary eyes. "And a husband ought to trust his wife, if no one else."

"I never meant to imply that I don't." How feeble Simon's voice sounded, now. But as long as it carried the soft kindness of his heart, Selena would not lose hope.

"I vowed to love you in sickness as well as health, and I meant it, dear. We will see through this, one way or another."

And, holding the scars that twisted Simon's mouth into a grimace, Selena kissed them, one by one; and then his lips, thin and chapped, but still Simon's, who still had the strength to wrap his arms around her and hold her, hold her so close that their body all but melded together - a promise, that neither of them would give up or lose faith on the other.

One corner of his lip was turned into a smile, when they caught their breath. "We will. Thank you, Selena. God has been truly kind to me."

It was still her Simon, beneath the sores and the weakness.

He removed the last obstacle to their ritual: Selena stopped her wincing in time only to not upset Simon further. His poor hands... she had seen those kind of grievous wounds only on creatures beyond humanity.

It was what happened to demons when Simon's whip purified them.

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my liege…. I present to the court…. No More Birthdays about Matthieu, sung by Simon and Selena

The court has reviewed your contribution… and I fear I’m never going to emotionally recover from this

(jokes aside thank you so much for sharing this my heart is broken in the best way!!!! AUGHGHHG)

Song and lyrics under the cut

My baby don't cry She just sleeps through the night She don't fuss, she don't whine She stays perfectly quiet

But while I watch her grow (I watch her grow) My poor heart grows a hole Oh, Lord, say (say it ain't so) it ain't so Can't you please make an exception? I've got good intentions I just crave protection for my ball of perfection

Why can't you stop time? How long before I can't call you my sweet little girl? Help me stop time, you're not allowed to be 19 You have to stay my precious baby

No more, no more No more birthdays No more, no more

My baby's just fine She knows all of her rhymes Her tables and her times The world claps when she smiles

I know she'll never swap (she'll never swap) Tiaras for make up She's a good (good girl) girl at heart I'll find a magical potion to mix with her lotion And she'll stay my princess for life

Why can't you stop time? How long before I can't call you my sweet little girl? Help me stop time, you're not allowed to be 19 You have to stay my precious baby

No more, no more No more birthdays No more, no more No more birthdays

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Sketches

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Sketches

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The Requiem for Simon Belmont is a 60+ chapter novelization of the Castlevania 2, Castlevania 1, and Haunted Castle video games. At time of writing, the fic is still ongoing, and updates weekly.

The story follows Simon’s quest in present-day chapters. Between each present-day chapter, we’re given glimpses into Simon’s past. These vignettes of the past cover eight years worth of Simon’s life prior to the events of Castlevania 2. It affords the reader a unique perspective on the highs and utter lows of one of Castlevania’s most iconic heroes.

You can read the story on AO3 here.

This animation illustrates Simon’s eventual return to the ruins of Castlevania in chapter 60.

This animation is a collaborative effort between my spouse and I. I’ll be sharing some details about our process in another post. :)

For now, I’ll leave you with some wonderful summaries/reviews of TRFSB, written by a handful of incredibly kind and dedicated readers:

“TRFSB is a love letter to Castlevania/Haunted Castle and Castlevania 2. It fleshes out the story of those games, while still respecting canon.

The first chapter alone amazingly sets the mood for what is to come.

The characters are well-defined and have their own personality and agency; the reader truly starts to cheer and mourn with them. Original Characters like Gabriel (Simon's close friend), Laurent (Simon's grandfather) and Mathieu (Simon's and Selena's son) feel natural next to Simon and fit the story well.

A special mention goes to Selena (Simon's wife). While appearing in Haunted Castle, her character was kept as a blank slate, only serving as a reason for Simon to charge Castlevania. TRFSB's Selena is a well-written female character, fierce when she needs to be, soft when the situation allows it. She and Simon complement eachother well, and the gentle scenes between the two of them (and their son later on) are a welcome break from the often somber plot.

My personal conclusion: TRFSB is one of my favourite stories currently. I'm always excited to see it updated. Many of the characters (even Laurent) have grown dear to me, and I want to see Simon succeed in the end.

I warmly recommend it to anyone searching for Castlevania fanworks.” - FrozenKirby93

“Simon Belmont's journey to fulfill his destiny is paved with thorns and obstacles. His land and body wracked by a mysterious curse, he sets himself to solve the mystery of his condition and the possible return of the wicked Count. No monster, nor illness will stop him: he is a Belmont, and that is all he has ever known. A novelization of the events of the first two classics for NES, starring the most famous and noble of the Belmont clan.” - Beevean

Alternatively, “Simon goes through the Horrors in search of one joy (he doesn't find it)” - also Beevean

“If I had to say one thing to recommend The Requiem For Simon Belmont I would have to say it is so genuinely filled with love for not just the games it’s based on but the entire series as a whole. So much work is put into a game that’s been largely forgotten by the community. A true labor of love.” - Summerf0x

“TRFSB is for true Castlevania fans. No other fan work does these underrated classics justice. Simon finally gets the recognition, attention, and development he deserves in a project of exceptional caliber as well as obvious care and love for the franchise.” - Maria-Renard-kin

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Behind the scenes for the TRFSB trailer. :)

Let's start from the very top - I put together these moodboards.

(still laughing at my note "take inspo from pre-curse and make him look Notably Worse in Every Way")

From this, we put together the character reference sheet that would be the source of truth for Simon's design. I've shared it before in another post, but this is what we landed on:

From there, we were able to start storyboarding. This was tough - and bless my spouse, truly, for being so patient with me, because I had constant feedback and requests for alterations, lol!

I was very adamant about the first shot being in a spiral stairwell, with candles that light the way of their own accord, because that's what I was intending to write for Chapter 60.

Like for this shot, I wanted to adjust it instead so Simon was reaching an unsteady hand out to the nearest wall, to illustrate that going down the stairs was hard on him. The chapter wasn't written when we started working on the animation seven months ago (I say seven months but I should clarify, we worked on this exclusively on our downtime/weekends), but this is what the final turned out to be:

So, we adjusted his body language in the rough sketches:

I was happy with how this was turning out. But much to my spouse's dismay, I really wanted a close-up shot of Simon's face, emphasized by both shadow and the illumination of the candles overhead (or fire in front of him). A tall ask! But more on that later. :)

With this draft, we moved onto talking about SFX and BGM. Initially, we considered a heartbeat - Dracula's heart in the bag would be resonating to the ruins of Castlevania. And I thought it would be cool for the beat to quicken in pace as the animation progressed - so the viewer isn't sure if it's Dracula's heart thrumming with purpose, or Simon's beating in fear.

But we found it made the animation quite flashy with each beat, even if slow. So we weren't committed to the idea.

Instead, we started tinkering around with a MIDI file of "Within These Castle Walls" - the track that plays in the ruins of Castlevania in-game. A stellar track all on its own - especially when combined with the FDS version that has what I can only describe as "sparkly notes" (I know nothing of music lingo, if it wasn't abundantly clear, lol!)

I started by slowing the MIDI down - I really wanted to emphasize the foreboding feeling.

Then I tried experimenting with different digital instruments. Organ, violin, etc.

I landed on two: one that had this sort of ghostly reverb applied, and a piano.

Here's the first storyboard with the first rough BGM track:

I started to feel really good about what we were putting together! With some fine-tuning, I was able to get the BGM to a place I was happy with. It truly took the project to the next level.

My spouse made some rough renders of the environment to help give me a sense of depth. I asked for some pillars to be removed and broken, as in-game it's quite empty. With some adjusting, we got it to a place I was happy proceeding with.

My spouse then started painting these jaw-droppingly gorgeous backgrounds over the 3d models, so the scale and perspective would remain consistent and accurate:

All that was left to do was add the man of the hour. It started with keyframes:

And of course some rough sketches to get a feel for him.

We had our first finalized moving and fully composited render of Simon, which may look familiar - you may recognize him from Many Situations, lol:

And then!...

Which would later become!!!...

There's something so magical about seeing a character you've drawn and written for a long time fully rendered to such a degree by an artist of exceptional caliber. And he MOVES!!!! My mind was blown. I'm still not quite over it.

And here's another fun tidbit - his circlet? It's a 3d model!

It's so cool, I love how it shines in the final render!

All that was left to do was adjust the timing of the frames to flow with the BGM, color grading, and adding a title card.

If we compare the original paintings:

And compare them to the finalized color graded versions (with VFX):

The difference is quite stark! I handled color grading, and through the experience we discovered that my spouse and I visualize colors quite differently! I chose to amp up the "high contrast, black shadows" look I tend to go for when I render my paintings. I included lots of purple as a nod to the palette used in-game, and complimented that with yellow/orange for that signature complementary palette look that the Classicvanias have.

It was my first time trying to color grade on an animation program. I really enjoyed it!

I'm sure I'm missing a lot of details but this post is already quite long so I'll end it here. I must stress: my spouse carried this project on their damn back. All of the artwork, paintings, 3d models, editing know-how, VFX you see are credited entirely to them. And I'm so, so, so grateful that they made my vision come to life.