#I got these new acrylic markers I've been playing with and this was the result :^)

[holycorrupt]

🍎&🍊

[zecretsanta]

To: @handsometimr

From: @juricha-art

Hello, @handsometimr ! 'Tis I, Juricha, your Zecret Santa this year and I bring to you some gifts and Christmas cheer!

Prompt 1: Anything Akane/Junpei, bonus if they adopted a baby Quark post ZTD and uncle Aoi shows up.

This one was the hardest to draw because I wanted it to as cute and cozy as possible, but couldn't for the life of me think of a proper way to do so. Christmas Eve. The tree and decorations are all put up, Junpei is finishing up the preparations, and Akane is trying to put the kids — their twins, Rei and Nova, and adopted little Quark —  to sleep. But they are all too excited, because they know that Santa is coming tonight. So the only thing to do is to snuggle together in a big armchair and tell them some magical stories. After they fall asleep, Junpei finds this idyllic scene and decides to not disturb them, covers them up with a blanket and kisses them all goodnight, his heart sewling with love and joy. And who is that at the door?..

Prompt 2: The first Christmas Sigma/Diana spent together in Rhizome-9. My heart will shatter even more if Sigma's first Christmas without Diana is touched upon. But for Christmas cheer there's always Sigma/Diana's first Christmas together post ZTD, with Phi! I picked the more cheerful version this time, so I hope it's okay! I did my best to touch upon the opther timelines a bit, though! 

Phi visits Sigma and Diana on Christmas and finds out that they are now engaged! They spend a nice evening together. But if one looks closely, one can see the sinister reflections of many a horrible end — and sometimes with some happiness found — they might have met sometime, somewhere. Thank goodness they could find a happy ending to their story! Prompt 3: Anything with Maria, any depiction is cool w me! We need more of Carlos' sister. I drew a festive portrait of Maria, because we never see her in-game. I kinda got inspired by Maria Robotnik, with all the terminal illness and somebody trying to save the poor girls and screaming "Maria!" stuff.  

And I now kind of headcanon her to be a fellow Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 enjoyer, watchnig Carlos play for her. After she was cured, she went to Kurashikis' wedding together with her brother and made friends with Akane and the others. She got so inspired that she roped Carlos into studying Japanese. Akane and Junpei are proud of her. I think the pearls and the purple-pink colors suit her.

All three artworks were done with a new technique I picked up recently — buying alcohol ink and splattering it across the page, hoping it would not go somewhere I do not want it to go. Then coloring the pictrues with the alcohol markers proper, then adding a bit of ink, acrylic markers and pencil (I really like the Cretacolor pencil that I used for outilining Maria, I think it goes well with the lighter colors and not as overbearing as the darker liners) and editing them a bit after scanning. This year was a rather busy one for me, and I didn't draw much (plus was sick through most of December), so I feel like I'm out of shape. I do hope that you — and everyone else — like the end results! Also, I cannot believe that I've been participating in ZEcret Santa for five consecutive years!, since 2019! Thank you for having me on board for so many years!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to @handsometimr , the ZEcret Santa crew and the entire Zero Escape fandom! May the next year be healthy and productive for everyone! Love and cheers, Juricha.