#more like a book cover redraw

[the-moon-says-hi]

imagine being so petty that you buy a book and the cover isn’t what you were expecting it to be so you just redraw it the way you wanted it lmao

(it’s me. i’m talking about me)

[mymarifae]

i’m a bit late to the party but i’m on artfight hi let’s throw rocks (drawings) at each other and have so much fun okay? yay!

[sarifel-corrisafid-ilxhel]

Playing around with a human-to-Andalite morphing sequence, then got the idea it could be a possible redraw of book 8's cover! I'm not sure which way I'm gonna run it, I kind of like both the original sequence (top) and the cover framing (bottom).

Obviously, poofy jackets aren't gonna work like morphing outfits, so you gotta tie it around your waist if you don't want to lose it. Or you could keep it on I guess, but I figured this was more interesting!

[haxkattpress]

Our Objective Remains Unchanged by @citrusses

"Harry Potter, returning member of the Oxford University Boat Club, has two goals for the spring of 2005: beat Cambridge, and beat Draco Malfoy. Perhaps not in that order."

This has to be one of the most creative and meticulously researched fics I have ever had the pleasure of reading. If you haven't read it yet, don't walk— run! Citrusses is an absolute genius, and kindly gave me permission to bind her masterpiece.

The cover of this bind is made out four different shades of Allure bookcloth cut by my Cameo 4, and the centerpiece is printed and hand foiled. The banners were machine foiled in gold and black with hand foiled rose gold shading. The endbands were hand sewn with Gutermann silk thread.

You can find more pictures and information about my process under the cut.

The amount of inspiration this fic gave me was overwhelming, and Citrusses' writing fully immersed me in the world of competitive rowing. While designing this bind, I was struck by the sheer wealth of Oxford rowing memorabilia available to me. I settled on this 1929 illustration from an official publication on the Oxford and Cambridge Centenary Boat Race for the cover.

"How hard could it possibly be?" I thought, foolishly. The answer was HARD, but I'll get into that later.

Due to the wealth of design options, I believe that this may be the best typeset I have created to date. Thanks to the help of my friend @tsurashi-bindery, I was able to learn the basics of InDesign (kicking and screaming all the way). There will be spoilers in the text of these photos, so try not to read them if you haven't finished the fic!

For the title page, I modified To See the Crews in Training by Charles Pears (1930). I believe that this was part of a series of advertisements for the race in the London Underground.

For the chapter headers, I redrew the crest from an Oxford Oars, Flags, and Arms postcard, presumably pre 1914. I also had some fun creating a mock email using La_Temperanza's How to Mimic Email Windows on Ao3. Cormac's email makes me laugh every time I read it, and Citrusses provided an appropriately pompous subject.

I also had lots of fun editing the oars from the official OUBC logo to serve as dividers and decorations for the page numbers.

Additionally, I got to edit a full newspaper page for the fic! I was very excited find an opportunity to slip Leyendecker's The Finish (1908) in.

The fic ended beautifully, so I wanted to include one last element at the end to capture the atmosphere. I settled on L'aviron (1932) by Milivoj Uzelac. It makes me feel as though Harry and Draco will continue rowing together long after I've closed the book.

I of course had lots of fun sewing the headbands, and got to do it with not one but TWO copies!

Things got tricky when I had to recreate the cover. I had a poor understanding of how vector images worked, and ended up having to redraw it three times. Once I finally cracked and taught myself how to use Illustrator, the program crashed...and I had to redraw it a fourth time!

I set the vector to cut on my Cameo 4, and I assembled the pieces together like a puzzle on my Silhouette mat. I used Allure's indigo, skylight, white, and black bookcloth in the process. I will be making a tutorial video on this method, so I will keep it brief here.

I also cut a piece of bookcloth to 8.5"x 11" and fed it through my inktank printer to print the center design. I then cut it out using the print and cut feature on my Cameo 4. Both of these methods were a first for me, and they were very scary!!

To be perfectly frank, the foiling was a nightmare and I don't want to get into it. I machine foiled the gold, and then foiled black lettering on top of it. I foiled the rose gold shading by hand, and then foiled a thin black outline along the edge of the banners to make them stand out more.

I hand foiled the spines (because I'm scared of measuring), painted the exposed board (to hide any gaps in the inlays), and used transfer tape to lift my design from the Silhouette mat and onto the cover.

One more fun detail— my copy and the author's copy are sisters! The dark blue and the light blue are inverted on the author's copy, making it distinguishable from mine. This is the first time I have made an author's copy for a fic, and I was admittedly incredibly nervous. I always worry about what authors will think of my work, but Citrusses gave me an incredible amount of encouragement and support throughout the process! Thank you for trusting me with your precious fic!

This story is a work of fanfiction and can be read on Ao3 for free. My bind and typeset are for personal use only and not for sale or profit. Keep fandom free!

[jadeshifting]

— THE HOGWARTS LIBRARY ( AND CREEPING INTO THE RESTRICTED SECTION )

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆. ࿐࿔

the library at Hogwarts isn’t just a room with books—it’s a labyrinth of enchanted shelves, shadowy corners, and straight-up chaos hidden in an elaborate Dewey Decimal disguise. it’s got that faint scent of parchment and polished wood, with a hint of ink that never quite fades

the organization system? a Ravenclaw’s fever dream, where books shelve themselves according to moods or relevance, and the enchantments sometimes switch them around just for kicks. find the Charms section in row five today? tomorrow, it might be two aisles over and under a Protection Charm

the librarian, Madam Pince, is a force of nature—like if a hawk wore bifocals and had a no-nonsense streak a mile wide. cross her, and she’ll hit you with a glare so sharp it feels like a spell (and at least two weeks of detention)

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆. ࿐࿔

study groups camp out at the long, candlelit tables, hunched over ancient tomes and half-eaten chocolate frogs. popular picks include “Hogwarts: A History” (to win arguments), “1,001 Potions You’ll Probably Fail to Brew”, and “Unfogging the Future” (mostly to mock Trelawney, though some end up finding it quite riveting). don’t underestimate the less flashy areas—hidden in those dusty archives are one-of-a-kind works, like diaries from the founders and spellbooks that physically hum with power

though, for the more prone to trouble and the less interested in academic integrity, you may find yourself more intrigued by what’s below it all…

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆. ࿐࿔

THE RESTRICTED SECTION

now, the Restricted Section? that’s not a library. that’s a test of nerve, guile, and how much you really want that illegal knowledge. to get in the front door, you either need a signed note (good luck with that) or a serious streak of rebellion. sneaking past Madam Pince? you better bribe Peeves to not rat you out, dodge the patrolling enchanted quills, and avoid the whispering books that tattletale louder than Filch after curfew

★⋆. ࿐࿔ once inside, it’s like stepping into another world. the FIRST LEVEL is dark and moody, with books chained to their shelves—literal restricted access. they’ll hiss at you or snap their covers shut if you’re not worthy—but it doesn’t stop at books. tucked between the stacks, there are pensieve memories, cursed artifacts, and spell components so volatile they’re kept under stasis spells

★⋆. ࿐࿔ moving deeper down, there are staircases (moving, of course) leading to levels few students even know about. the SECOND LEVEL? all about lost history, with maps that redraw themselves, diaries written in blood, and enchanted scrolls that show what could have been if certain spells hadn’t been cast. the THIRD LEVEL? forbidden magics—runes glowing faintly in the dark, ancient wands that whisper when you pass, and spellbooks so intense they emit heat

★⋆. ࿐࿔ the BOTTOM LEVELS? rumor has it they’re practically alive. entire rooms shift and expand like the castle itself, and the air smells of aged magic and danger. there’s talk of unspeakable artifacts: the blueprint of Hogwarts itself, spells to erase memories entirely, and magical experiments left unfinished. if you’re down here, it’s not for homework—it’s because you’re playing with fire, and you know it

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆. ࿐࿔

the Hogwarts library is a breeding ground for wild rumors and absolute madcap tales. if you stay in tune with the grapevine, there’s more drama hidden in those stacks than there is in all of the common rooms combined. whispers float about students concocting elaborate heists to breach the Restricted Section, some involving invisibility cloaks, Polyjuice-fueled disguises, or straight-up bribes to Peeves (pro tip: he accepts dungbombs and chaos as payment)

A (NOT-SO) GREAT HEIST

one infamous story is about Barnaby Crasswell, a Hufflepuff of all people, who tried sneaking in by levitating a decoy version of himself in the main library while he slipped into the Restricted Section cloaked under a Disillusionment Charm. he didn’t account for one crucial detail—his floating double started violently spinning like a top and caused such a scene Madam Pince nearly blew a gasket. he landed a week of detention scrubbing potion stains out of cauldrons, and his real punishment? a lifetime ban on borrowing books from Hogwarts

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆. ࿐࿔

the rumors about what students go looking for? next level. there’s talk of a fifth-year Ravenclaw attempting to track down spells for time travel, thinking he could use it to ace his OWLs by reliving test days (spoiler: he didn’t, but he did live in detention for a month). then there was that Gryffindor who supposedly went digging for a potion to resurrect dead pets after her pygmy puff tragically bit it during a Transfiguration mishap (RIP Buttons). and we’d better not forget about the Slytherin duo who searched for the literal recipe for eternal youth—

then there’s the lore about what’s actually down there. people swear they’ve seen enchanted blueprints of the castle’s hidden passageways, including a map of a supposed 15th dungeon where secret experiments were conducted. others claim there’s a book full of Unforgivable Curses even darker than the standard three, or a locked journal from Salazar Slytherin himself detailing spells that could rewrite magical lineage, and whispers that there’s a potion hidden down there, created centuries ago, that lets you see the face of your true love—but drinking it comes at a price so wild, no one who’s found it has dared

who knows whether any of it’s true? no one—but now that we’ve gotten past what you could find down there, let’s talk about how you could find it…

THE SLYTHERIN’S GUIDE TO BREAKING INTO THE RESTRICTED SECTION: A MASTERCLASS IN CHAOS AND CUNNING

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆. ࿐࿔

— KNOW YOUR TIMING.

timing is everything, babe. the library’s busiest hours? hard pass. aim for the twilight zone—late evening, when most students are snoozing or panicking about half-done essays. Madam Pince might be stalking the shelves like a hawk, but even she has limits, usually around curfew. keep it sleek and under-the-radar

— THE DECOY DANCE.

step one: deploy a Grade-A distraction. have someone (Pansy’s a pro at this) fake a “library emergency”—think exaggerated fainting spells, loud arguments over nonexistent overdue books, or a rogue enchanted quill causing a scene in the Herbology aisle. while the librarian’s losing her marbles over the chaos, you need to be making moves

— GEAR UP.

no one with any success in troublemaking relies on luck alone. you’ll need…

— an invisibility cloak (if someone’s got connections)

— a silencing charm (those creaky floorboards show no mercy)

— Dungbombs or Portable Swamps (for emergency exits)

— a teensy-tiny Lumos charm (nothing screams “i’m up to no good” like tripping over your own robes in the dark)

— GETTING PAST THE GATE.

the Restricted Section is guarded by enchanted chains tighter than a Gringotts vault. you’ve got two main options:

OPTION A … classic Alohomora. works on a good day, but those chains sometimes have extra spells layered in, so be ready to improvise

OPTION B … the Librarian’s Key, if you wanna be really sure. pro tip? Millicent once swiped it by “accidentally” returning a borrowed book laced with a mild Sticking Charm

— NOW THAT YOU’RE INSIDE.

congratulations on getting this far—now stick close to the shadows; those shelves have been known to move

watch out for enchanted books that scream bloody murder when touched (i swear one almost gave me a heart attack)

know your exit plan before you even grab your prize. fire exits aren’t just for Muggles

— GRAB-AND-GO ETIQUETTE.

don’t be greedy. the golden rule? one book at a time. more than that, and you’ll trip some seriously aggressive enchantments. and for Merlin’s sake, do not open the books in there. half of them are hexed, and you don’t want to spend the next week croaking like a toad AND in detention

— THE GETAWAY.

once you’ve snagged your prize, act like nothing happened. the Restricted Section is a no-go for most students, but if you’re caught on the way out? a well-placed lie about being on an urgent Potions errand (“Slughorn sent me!”) could be the thing that saves your ass

— COVER YOUR TRACKS.

any evidence that points to your daring escapade? destroy it. burn the notes, wipe the fingerprints, and for the love of Salazar, don’t blab about it to any Gryffindors

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆. ࿐࿔

SOME FINAL NOTES . this method isn’t some ridiculous (Gryffindor) stunt—no theatrics, no martyrdom, just slick strategy and sharper instincts. with these tips, you’ll be in and out without a trace, leaving everyone wondering how the hell you pulled it off. just pure excellence, darling

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆. ࿐࿔

[skaboycowboy]

THROAM PRINT GUIDE!

This ones for the 20 people who liked my last post🫵lots of love☝️🙏🙏🙏🙏

I printed these using LULU , the quality of the print is pretty nice, and the site was SO easy to use. Like. Seriously. The books need to be flattened a bit more, but that’s presumably because of shipping? Nothing i cant fix though.

Speaking of, that shit was QUICK! Books took 3 days to print and only one to ship because they came from somewhere about 3 hours from my house.

Price wise— these were the price of typical books, individually cheaper actually. In total they were $60 CAD, shipping being the worst at $15, but in all honesty, $60 is the amount you would pay for books at a bookstore over here.

(Ignore the fact that I MISSPELLED THROAM??? These names don’t mean shit, it really doesn’t matter…)

As for the books: they’re bigger then i like personally, but they were pre-formatted to be 6 x 9in (US trade,) and as i took the files directly from Anna Green’s blog, they should be the same size as the OG books.

A kind soul on reddit gave me scans of the covers, as far as im aware there aren’t ANY HD copies of them anywhere online? So i had to reformat these bad boys by myself.

I tried to keep them as close to the original books as possible, this was my first time using lulu and i had really no idea how they were gonna turn out— so PLEASE TAKE SOME TIME AND REFORMAT THEM!!

The print would look wayy better if the resolution was higher, theres nothing i can do about the actual drawings, as those are straight from the scan, but the text is a tad blurred and would look a ton crisper if you upped the size.

(Okay so my cameras pretty shitty, but hopefully you can tell that it’s far from perfect. I have no idea what to do about that aside from redrawing the art, so you’re on your own for that one.)

Another problem is the size of the back cover, it just looks big and not even at all. So just size it down, It’ll look SOOO much nicer.

The last problem you should fix is the side bleeding onto the front. I put the cover together on lulu’s site on my ipad, so i couldn’t really tell, but it should be pretty easy to fix up.

This is where i leave you!

THESE are the files

and can do the rest….this wasn’t like. A complete guide. But. Um. This is my contribution to the fandom. I love these books so bad and im absolutely psyched about having physical copies. So spread your yaoi wings and FLY LITTLE BIRD!! FLY!!!!!!!

If you do end up reforming the covers, please send them my way to add to the drive! Also, dm me if anythings off or u need help! ^_^

[sproooti]

Golden Wind illustration redraw!

My younger sibling had challenged me to redraw a piece of Hirohiko Araki’s artwork- specifically the one on the cover of volume 9 book. It sounded like it would be fun so I immediately accepted the request! (I was so right by the way, this was a lot of fun to draw! I’ll definitely do more of these in the future:D)

I asked my friend if I should keep the original colors or color it in my own way. She responded that I should color it in my own way so I did:]

(Lineart color/no filter versions and reference image under the cut!)

Variants because I couldn’t choose my favorite!

And the reference image!!

(Please help me, I’m fighting the urge to change my pfp to Giorno)

[puppiekit]

I dislike the new Warriors covers (sorry warriors artist) so I've brought it upon myself to try and redraw every cover so that Erin Hunter can see and hire me. OBVIOUSLY A WIP I'm gonna upload the complete set when I'm done.

Covers:

Into The Wild: SpottedLeaf and the Fire Alone prophecy. I know Rusty is a common and probably the more logical cover choice for this book, but to me the prophecy is the "true" introduction to FireStar. If that makes sense.

Fire And Ice: You can't tell yet, but this is FireHeart and GrayStripe looking at eachother from across the river. Their strained friendship is pretty key in this book so I felt it would be the best cover pick.

Forest Of Secrets: I ended up going for the scene where TigerStar betrays BlueStar. This wasn't my original pick though. I also thought about a scene with BrokenStar being held in camp, or a scene with CloudKit, or CinderPaw... Settled with something more notable though

Rising Storm: I definitely wanted to depict the scene where a Fire burns through ThunderClan, but I wanted to include a cat somehow (excluding ones used previously). Decided to use YellowFang since shes important in this arc and is the only one in camp at the time. Yes this is meant to mirror the first cover

A Dangerous Path: SwiftPaw and BrightPaw running from a dog. AKA what this book is KNOWN for. I made a last minute decision to give SwiftPaw a different expression. He's behind her, and giving the dog an angry, challenging look. He fights the dogs off to give BrightPaw a living chance, and I wanted to depict that in a way.

The Darkest Hour: I saved FireStars primary cover appearance for this book... Since he's the key focus. It is firestar walking in the footstaps of LionClan (literally). Not the most exciting but I like how it mirrors the original cover

[grsl-xo]

After Goku flew off with Chichi after the big tournament, the TV show began reruns starting from episode 1.

That’s how Dragon Ball became the first manga I ever bought.

Back then manga were only available at book stores in busy train stations. I remember the paper smell in these stores and the Dragon Ball manga, always on a spinning type of shelf. Every time I had the chance to get a new volume I longingly looked at all the cover art of the manga I couldn’t afford to get just yet. Beautifully colored pictures, promising great adventures and protagonists I never saw before. Who was the purple haired guy, who was the girl on cover 36 and why was there a small Goku? Between reading I spent my early teens trying to draw the characters just like Toriyama.

10 years later I started to draw again after using a pen only ever for taking notes for way too long. I began with a cover art redraw of volume 38 because I wanted to have something nice to frame for my living room.

I stumbled into the Vegeta and Bulma fandom on accident after trying to find a better resolution of the manga cover for volume 32 online.

When I posted my first vegebul Toriyama redraw, I got compliments from fan artists that I admired immensely, wich led me to pursue my art hobby more seriously and made me so much better.

Whenever I start a new redraw I feel like I’m still having so much to learn from his work. Every line I have ever drawn was influenced by Toriyama.

I’m 34 years old and I have drawn Dragon Ball for more than 20 years at this point.

While I don’t know if I will still draw Dragon Ball when I’m 68, it will have a special place in my heart as long as I live.

[sheep-from-rad]

Spicy Imagines (ft. Alhaitham and Kaveh) Genshin x Reader 

Note: I had these ideas as separate fanfics but it was too short so I just made them into one. I would have published it earlier this week but I have fallen down the Alhaitham/Kaveh angst rabbit hole and wasn’t able to get up from it until this afternoon. Anyway, enjoy!~ Extra note (please read): I will be entering the big city soon meaning I will be leaving some of things here at home. I might not be able to go publish a fanfic for weeks and weeks because it will be a clinical internship. Still, I will try my hardest to make content!~ Warnings: spicy, mentions of bondage and toys XD <Masterlist 1> ------- <Masterlist 2>

Kaveh 

Being an architect and being named as the Light of Kshahrewar, being meticulous and having an eye for detail is something that Kaveh is very talented with. 

Whenever Alhaitham is out, he makes his merry way to make the shared house more ‘homey’. He’ll decorate it with paintings, with flowers, and with furniture, which sometimes lead to petty fights whenever the scribe is home. 

Having an eye for detail is probably one of the things why after one magnum opus, he found himself down in debt and still drowning in it. Well, it’s not like he can just make a building and that’s it right? 

He takes the habits of looking out for detail everywhere especially inside his room once the doors have closed and his roommate is out. 

Kaveh will take his time typing you up with the ribbons that he soaked in warm water beforehand, making sure that it won’t leave a mark on your skin. That after all is his job to do and not the ribbon’s job. 

He’ll fix the lights inside his room, making sure that it will show the awaiting flower fastened with ribbons on his bed. 

Kaveh is taking longer than usual. His eyes already darkened by the dim lit room looked like predatory glances at the corner of the room. His hands skillfully erased and redraw the lines in his sketchbook, taking notes of every detail present in front of him. It’s fascinating how he never seemed to miss any detail at all. From the ribbons that tie your thighs apart, to the sweat that drips from your neck down to your chest, to the way your eyes roll from every thrust the hand operated toy gives you, and to the wetness that pools and is slowly staining the sheets beneath you. 

It’s a shame that the paper and charcoal can’t capture your whines and pitiful whimpers but that’s for him to savor once he puts his sketchbook down. 

Alhaitham 

Theoretical and then practical. It is one unwritten law that every scholar learns once they enter the Akademiya. A lesson that became a practice to Alhaitham even after his days as a scholar. 

While it is a standard, it is not really something that should be done in everything. If it wasn’t for Kaveh noticing his attempts for courting and then for sure Alhaitham would still be spending his nights wide awake reading books about courting and planning the best possible scenario to make you say yes. 

Alhaitham was very vanilla behind closed doors. He’ll make sure that both of you are satisfied and properly cleaned every night you lay together. If he makes a mark that sure will bruise, he’ll look at the ice crates and make sure you’re treated properly before he can go to sleep so you won’t worry about covering anything when morning comes. 

It all comes to a stop when a tired student accidentally passes a folder with an erotic book instead of his thesis proposal. This man hates novels, he just reads them for the sake of reading and then forgets they exist afterwards. 

He’ll rather stick with boring and nonsensical drafts made by students than read a romance book but here he is spending his whole night trying to make sense of the book and a mind full of thoughts on how he could make use of the book. 

You wondered what happened. The best guess that he’s stressed out from the ‘junk’ that the scholars are passing on his desk. There was never a time where his office was clean and lucky for him the ceilings are high or else the room will really be flooded with papers by now. One particular harsh thrust pulled you out of your head evoking  a loud moan at the same time and knocking you off your hands and knees. 

“Oh god !” 

The said man only let out a miniscule smile as he continued the rough pace. “There is no god here darling, you’re calling the wrong being”, he said, emphasizing each word with a thrust. HE snaked his hands underneath your form, scooping you up from the sheets, before resting it on your throat. 

“You know my name right? Why don’t you call it that?” As he felt your heartbeat tripled in pace, Alhaitham mentally thanked the student that accidentally passed the book. Maybe he should consider their thesis proposal.

Taglist: @uchihaeirin @eccedentesiast-sapphic @tinandabin @chihawari

[bravelyartbooking]

little known bravely default series facts

I noticed a couple of comments about the Bravely Series on Twitter last night that made me realize some folks didn't know some of what I consider common knowledge of the series (like why the ba'al theme wasn't on the Bravely Default soundtrack).

Contains spoilers for all three games. Also this got longer than I thought, thanks in advance if you make it to the end and find something you didn't know! I'm sure most of this seems obvious to long timefans.

Here is a compilation of what I know that may or may not be common knowledge to newcomers?

I had to split this into three parts because of Tumblr's character limit and I'm honestly too tired to fix the numbering. A much more readable version can be found on Google Docs here.

First part:

The version of Bravely Default that was received in the West is the second version of the original Bravely Default game, released in Japan in Dec 2013. This version, called "Bravely Default: For the Sequel" came with a massive (80ish) amount of improvements based on player feedback, such as: additional sidequests for the Asterisk Holders in later parts of the game, difficulty and encounter settings sliders, battle speed, redrawing the cities, and the Bravely Second mechanic itself.

This means some tie-ins to Bravely Second didn't exist with the first version - the Adventurer being green when you first encounter her, the end AR movie with Magnolia, the Ba'als and their theme. All this was added later.

The Japanese version does include different languages, including English, so if you can't understand Japanese you can still easily play this version of the game on a hacked or Japanese 3DS!

The first release in Oct 2012 was called "Bravely Default: Flying Fairy" and a lot of JP folks still use BDFF to refer to it.

While BDFTS and BD: Where the Fairy Flies (the Western release) are functionally identical, some changes between JP and West include but are not limited to:

Costumes were censored (such as the Vampire having a bodysuit under the belts and the Bravo Bikini)

The ages of Agnes, Tiz, Edea, Alternis and the Venus sisters was bumped up 3 years in their journal entries (or anyone whose age is written out instead of written as numerals).

Japan had merchandise that had codes for the extra costumes. The extra costumes made it into the Western version of the released game for in-game currency with the exception of Tiz's Dimensional Officer, Edea's Military Cadet, Agnes's Bravo Bunny, and Ringabel's Wakoku Warrior.

You can summon friends from Japanese versions and those costumes will be visible EXCEPT the Bravo Bunny is censored (the cut-out is covered) and Wakoku Warrior is replaced with Freelancer.

These codes expired after like 2 years.

There are 4 novels called "Pocketbook of R" (2 books) and "Pocketbook of R Second" (2 books). I'm including all the translation information I currently have.

Pocketbook of R is a first person journal from Ringabel in what is commonly dubbed "Infinity World" between the events of Bravely Default and Bravely Second.

Ellen translated the first book here (note that she did largely 'summary' translations as she hated the writing in the novel).

Bill translated most of the second book (page 70+) here. (Bill's native language is French and while I did some proofreading, there may be some clunkiness of translating from a third language into a fourth.)

Ellen started translating the third book here. This and the fourth book take place at the same time as Second, for the most part.

No solid English translations of the fourth book currently exist though I know the gist of it thanks to an older Tumblr fan who gave me the rundown. I'm sure RNT will make a video.

Second Part:

There are an additional 2 novels that are based on two of the spinoff games.

One is "Bravely Default - 200 years later" based on Praying Brage that was released in the Japanese Bravely Second collector's edition ONLY.

One is "Bravely Default Fairy's Effect - Rinne's Miracle" based on Fairy's Effect that was released as a standalone novel.

Very little information has been released about both. One day we'll have a summary/translation.

There are (currently) 4 spinoff games, all currently shut down.

Praying Brage (Nov 2012 - Apr 2017) was a browser game and was based on the premise of Edea going 200 years into the future to save Agnes. RedNovaTyrant has a great video on it here!

Bravely Archive: D's Report (Jan 2015 - Oct 2017) was a mobile game that centered around an alternate/future Luxendarc with crystal memories and a new main character who is revealed to be Deneb

It released in Australia for about 6 months in 2018

Bravely Archive Fairy's Effect (Mar 2017 - Aug 2020) was a mobile game released after Bravely Second that took place simultaneously 8000 years in the future and between the events of Bravely Default 1 and Bravely Second. There's a lot of lore for both games in FE that can be seen in various videos on the internet (such as info on the Kaiser/Glanz Empire and Agnes's transition into Pope, Ominas having a role in saving Mahzer and the newborn Edea from Eternia during Braev's coup), but Bill translated some of the remaining website summary here.

Bravely Default Brilliant Lights (Jan 2022 - Feb 2023) was a crossover mobile game in a new world that combined Luxendarc and Excillant characters and setting. It lasted 13 months and I archived as much video as I could on Youtube but as of now, first person "reports" can be found here that summarize each board of each story.

It explains why "First Born" Ba'al was a thing in Bravely Second.

An 'offline' version was released but pulled from the app stores in July 2023.

There are 2 audio dramas for the first game!

First one is called "Festival of Reunion" and a translation of all four tracks can be found here.

Second one is called something like "Bracelets of Eternity" and so far no English translation seems to exist (though I know the gist of the first track).

The Ba'al theme was released with the first audio drama.

There's a Luxendarc / Linked Horizons concert that took place in Japan in 2013, you can find video of it on Youtube and Amazon Prime Video, and they released music CDs specific to it.

Square released an X-mas Collections Music CD that has wintery remixes of some of the Bravely Default music.

There is a Bravely Default 4 volume manga that's a retelling of the first game. Red made a video about it here. You can find scans online and most of the translations were done by Ellen.

There is also a manga anthology that serves to tie together Bravely Default and Bravely Second (released around the same time as Second, if not earlier). Red also made a video about it here. Ellen scanslated the third story in the anthology, I reuploaded it here after her imgur account got nuked.

Bravely Second was changed between the JP and Western releases based on feedback from Japanese players:

Sidequests were streamlined so that players could get a "good ending" based on their decision even if they chose the opposite Asterisk after the time reset

The Black Mage/ Ranger sidequest had its endings completely rewritten, as the Japanese version ends with either Bahamut being eaten or the wounded NPC dying depending on who you sided with.

Some costumes that were DLC were added to be bought with in-game currency (same as Default)

Fort Lune was made more easily available instead of being locked behind a SE Member account (along with some other things like costumes).

Some of the writing was tweaked as there were complaints about the memey/modern references/references to other media like Dragonball.

Aimee/Hawkeye costume was changed (there was also minor censoring of other costumes, like adding a bra to Ranger for Magnolia).

The fox companion was moved to different locations instead of sitting next to the Adventurer, lessening some complaints of "mood whiplash" between tent scenes and serious story events.

Some JP preorder-exclusive weapons were excluded (as far as I can tell, some weapons were just very hard to get).

The controversial apology for Bravely Second was in regard to the large amount of negative feedback the team received from the JP fans in regard to Second (though some Western fans also had a lot of negative things to say, it was largely only because of the costume censorship to the point at least one mod was released).

Third Part:

Magnolia and Pope!Agnes had large plushie prototypes made of them that were never released.

There's an official MMD figure of Agnes from Second.

2 types of large Edea plushies were released, one with closed eyes and one with open eyes.

Only 200 of the open-eyed Edeas were made/released but now there apparently there's only 199 in existence because I tried to buy one and the seller told me she was damaged in by a wild animal getting into the warehouse, rip Edea...

Large plushies were released of Edea, Ringabel, Agnes, and Tiz based on their Default appearance. Tiz's plush had an unfortunate hair style in the prototype that they changed in the final version. Images of this bowl cut have been lost forever.

Gloria got a smaller plushie that's in the JP SE Store.

A set of even smaller Default 1 cast plushies, among other things, are in the 10th anniversary set.

The European Collector's Edition of Bravely Default Where the Fairy Flies included this unfortunate figure of Agnes.

The Bravely Second artbook has three versions:

Original Japanese version, scans of it exist online

Bravely Second (Western) collectors edition version, which removed several images - sketches/concept art of Agnes tied up in the ribbon and a couple of images of Geist as well. This version had translated captions but any text on the images was not translated.

The fully English translated version which also restores the images removed from the CE.

Sales data has indicated that the Bravely Series reached 3 mil in Nov 2021. No word on 4 mil or 5 mil, but maybe we'll find out this year?

Bravely Default 1 (all versions) hit 1 million in July 2014 (21 months from initial BDFF release)

Bravely Second (all versions) hit 700k in April 2017 (2 years from BSEL release)

Bravely Default II (all versions) hit 1 mil in Dec 2021 (10 months from BDII release)

So much JP only merch was released through the years, especially in the years before Second.

Some through the SE Cafe collab with BDII

Some through Artnia (here's Default and Second's collabs)

10th anniversary stores with Hakabanogarou in person and online (now closed)

10th anniversary collab with Super Groupies for watches, Agnes's pendant, a stole with Airy's pendant.

Stuff on the SE JP store

Limited edition rubber stamp sets for Default and Second

Linked Horizon branded BD merch was released with the concert like pins.

Magnolia figure.

Official D's Journal

The messaging Line app released Bravely Default/Bravely Second stickers drawn by a fanartist made official artist named Satokivi! I think they were like 3 dollars per set.

She also drew the mini series of 4koma called "Praying for Miko" for Praying Brage

Physical versions of these stickers are on the JP SE Store.

There's a vinyl record

Pop-up Parade figurines of the main four were released in 2023 for the 10th anniversary of Bravely Default.

Bravely Default II had two demos, the first one specifically made difficult to get feedback from the fans. They implemented some feedback to change the final version of the game (but not everything). This was the first time they have asked for feedback from the West instead of just Japan.

Team Asano has released Lunar New Year art every year except 2016 with Bravely characters and the zodiac animal

They do Christmas cards every year, and it seems that this year they included a special card for a special fan with an extra character in the dragon art. If you know you know.

The woman on the cover of Bravely Default II isn't Gloria.

Bravely Default II has several secrets in the names of Chapter 5, 6, and 7. Spoilers for BDII below:

Twin AGES refers to both the first initials of the known Heroes of Light (Adelle/Gloria/Elvis/Seth and Aileen/Godric/Emma/Sloan) as well as the repetition across the two eras of Heroes. Also, you’ll notice that the initials are shared between the folks who inherited the same blessing from the crystal (assuming Emma got the Earth Crystal and Godric the Water Crystal). This is most noticeable in the final fight against the Night’s Nexus when the spirit of the old Hero of Light is standing behind the new to help them. - Adelle/Aileen - Gloria/Godric - Elvis/Emma - Seth/Sloan

Twin CAGES refers to the ‘cage’ that Adelle locks herself into, and the ‘cage’ that Elvis is forced into without her

Twin PAGES references back to the twin eras of the known Heroes of Light, but now with the Player - whose help is needed for the cycle to end. This is why “P” is the last letter to fade in the ending credits when the player is thanked.

I'm sure there's a lot more I'm forgetting, and this isn't even including the Bravely Default original concepts that were revealed in a booklet in the 10th anniversary exhibitions.

If you made it to the end, I applaud you, and I hope there was at least one or two things you didn't know!

Also one day I'll finish the video on the English fan survey.

[eschergirls]

November 2024 Escher Girls Updates & Patreon Thank You!

Hi everybody!  It's November, so it's time for a monthly update and to thank all our wonderful Patreon subscribers!

For a quick update about Tumblr, if you've been following the blog you probably noticed that in late September/early October, the Escher Girls Tumblr ran into the infamous "shadowban" bug, which is not actually a shadowban but just a bug that happens to random blogs on Tumblr (more info here). After bugging Tumblr about it a few times, they finally fixed it, which means everything is back to normal and I can send and receive DMs and messages as normal on Tumblr (just in time for the Caption Contest which was handy for giving out prizes to the winners!)

I appreciate everybody who helped me figure it out and especially @haveievermentioned who messaged me to let me know that they weren't getting updates from the EG Tumblr! In the future if you run into any issues with Tumblr or the main site, please don't hesitate to let me know!

Also, if you missed it last month, I've been fixing up the main site and I updated the submission guidelines and also the submission form which now lets you choose a name to submit with and also let me know if it's okay for me to reply to your email address if I need more info about your submission. The new and improved form can be found here: https://eschergirls.com/form/submit-content

And, all new posts on EscherGirls.com now link to the corresponding Tumblr post so site users can easily navigate to the Tumblr cross-post and see what Tumblr users are saying. And when I fix up old posts, I'm now fixing up the Tumblr version as well and adding a cross-post link. It's twice the work but given that many people still view the site on Tumblr, I figure it's worth it to everybody. :3 There are some posts without a Tumblr cross-post link because the Tumblr post has been deleted/hidden because of Tumblr's mercurial algorithmic flagging which can't tell the difference between stuff like a coloured body suit and nudity.

As usual I've spent a lot of time this month working on fixing up old posts, restoring broken images or finding higher res versions of old images, and fixing broken links, etc, also fixing all the formatting of older posts and finding sources.

Here are some of the posts I fixed up this month (for any that want to check them out, the links to the Tumblr versions are included in every post):

This "How To Draw" book depicting women's waists as a ball joint (which explains a lot about why artists think women can just swivel around like rotor blades), and an associated post with that infamous Jennifer Blood cover

The infamous "muscleboobs" how to draw page depicting women's breasts as muscles 

Two different Soul Calibur posts: one with Talim in a boobs and butt pose (and a redraw fix of it), and another with Xianghua, Talim and Ivy in various states of rubberization

Black Canary described by my friend as a miracle of modern plumbing

War Goddess giving up War Goddess-ing and instead going into the butt-selling business

The infamous Glory/Avengelyne cover (the first time I posted Liefeld on this blog after the first 800 posts without him to prove a point that it wasn't just him putting out the insectoid women art) and an associated post

And a caption contest with Avengelyne and Ravyn in pretty hilarious poses and also the winners of that contest

And now I want to give a big thank you to Escher Girls' Patreon subscribers for October!

Thank you so so much to:

Anne Adler Cat Mara Chris McKenzie Em Bardon First Time Trek Greg Sepelak Ken Trosaurus Kevin Carson Kim Wincen Kristoffer Illern  Holmén Leak  Manuel Dalton Mary Kuhner Max Schwarz Michael Mazur Miriam Pody Morgan McEvoy randomisedmongoose Rebecca Breu Ringoko  Ryan Gerber Sam Mikes Sean Sea SpecialRandomCast  Thomas 

And a very very special thank you to JohnnyBob8 for buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi!!!

Thank you so much for helping to keep the site running! The Tumblr technical issues and algorithmic flagging are reasons why Escher Girls has a dedicated self-hosted site, and why I appreciate the support on Patreon and Ko-Fi so much as it helps me pay for hosting, domain costs, and site upgrades and keep the site running.

And thank you to just everybody, all of you interacting with the blog on both Tumblr and on the main site, and who participate in caption contests, and submit things to me, or just generally send me kind words. Thank you all! You make running the site so worth it. :)

Ami

PS: As a reminder, we added a button that links to the Escher Girls Tumblr and to our RSS feed for those who want to follow that way. (For newbies, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is basically a feed you can read using an RSS reader. Simply copy and paste https://eschergirls.com/rss.xml into an RSS reader and it will keep you up to date on Escher Girls!)

Make sure it is eschergirls.com and not eschergirls.tumblr.com, as that is Tumblr, and not the self-hosted site.

If you have any issues with the site or suggestions to improve it, please do not hesitate to contact me and let me know!

If you wish to support Escher Girls, you can subscribe to our Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/ami_angelwings or donate through Ko-Fi at: https://ko-fi.com/amiangelwings.

[stellastra-scribbles]

Finally completed the outfit reference for Jayna Stiles, a half-elven NPC follower from Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.

Outfit breakdown (or "outfit onions" as I like to call them lol~)

I really like Jayna Stiles and her backstory + goals of becoming a technological healer. I'm also a sucker for 19th-century fashion and I have an unhealthily large collection of reference books and a bunch of files saved from online museum collections (I've got about 22+ gigabytes of refs downloaded from the Library of Congress alone haha I need more hobbies).

More unrestrained detailed design ramblings below the cut~

Back on track, I really just wanted to design Jayna an outfit that suited her character more than her in-game sprites while also being practical for travel/adventuring.

Individual layers. I pulled most of her colors from her default outfit.

Since Arcanum's starting year is 1885, I usually picture the "modern" sense of fashion in big cities like Tarant and Caladon taking cues from real life 1885-1890s western fashions (to give myself some leeway with references). Smaller towns can be a bit more dated, but I try not to go back further than the 1870s in most cases.

However, for a character like Jayna, who hails from Dernholm, I gave her clothing from references dating back to the 1850-1860s. I did this because Jayna says in her recruitment dialogue that "[her] parents weren't wealthy people, and [she doesn't] make much money here in Dernholm," so I took this to mean that she likely wears clothing to last, wearing hand-me-downs, makes her own clothes, and mending it over the years rather than buying new clothes.

Given that Dernholm (+ the Kingdom of Cumbria in general) isn't in the best state when the game starts, they may be behind the times and the latest fashions take longer to reach Dernholm.

Gar: “Alas, poor Dernholm! Once home to the legendary Dragon Knights, it has fallen on hard times since Praetor became king some 60 odd years ago. He despises all technology, and I think he's recently become sour on magick as well.”

Herkemer Oggdoddler: “For two generations Cumbria languished as an economically abused and technologically impaired backwater in the shadow of Tarant. Its once fine capital, Dernholm, has become a ruin.”

Layer 1 - Chemise + Open Drawers. I deliberately drew the drawers as fairly loose so as to not expose her without having to redraw the pose or resort to "Barbie doll anatomy."

Various resources demonstrated the chemise being tucked into the drawers or worn fully untucked/loose, but I drew it as tucked-in for the sake of reference visibility, so perhaps either one works in practice.

Layer 2 - Corset + Socks/Stockings. I picked a more "contemporary" (1880s) design for the corset as I imagine it would be a more custom-fitted garment. Plus, anyone who has ever worn bras will attest that a bra that properly fits is comparable to a good pair of shoes: never cheap out on it because if you take care of it, it will take care of you. Perhaps that same logic can be applied to corsets in ye olden days and historically-inspired fantasy settings.

For Jayna, despite the simplistic design, it might be one of the few luxuries she can afford for herself given the necessity of the garment for bust support.

Layer 3 - Trousers + Shoes. I was inspired by vivandières and Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, who typically wore trousers beneath their skirts. Dr. Walker was a "surgeon, women’s rights advocate, abolitionist, and spy, [and] the first female U.S. Army surgeon during the Civil War." Since Jayna is an aspiring technological healer, I feel like an allusion to Dr. Walker and her practicality was appropriate.

Layer 4 - Petticoat. It's just something to fill out the skirt volume a tad. I considered adding a corset cover in this layer but I did like having the upper outline of the corset somewhat visible in the shirtwaist layer to illustrate her living situation (aka she doesn't have one or just has a poor-quality one). As a modern-age woman, I think this this all already looks like a laundering nightmare to wash by hand.

Layer 5 - Shirtwaist + Outer Skirt. I really like the shape of the 1860s Garibaldi blouse's sleeves (I think these are bishop sleeves? correct me if I'm wrong...) and the stripes allude to some 19th century nurse uniforms. I initially went for a plaid pattern but that was a pain to draw and using a pre-existing plaid brush/pattern just didn't look as good as I wanted it to be.

Layer 6 - Sash + Pistol Holster + Bag. Given Jayna's goals of becoming a tech healer, I took design cues from vivandières, who were 19th-century women attached to military regiments, with a few known vivandières being nurses (like Anna Etheridge).

However, rather than lifting the vivandière look completely, I imagine Jayna would attempt to replicate the silhouette with her own clothes. The bag is a bit of an amalgamation of various 18th-19th century hunting/frontier bags, so I apologize that I don't have a direct reference image.

---------------

Of course, in the end, I did take some liberties with the outfit so it's not completely historically-accurate, but that's okay since Arcanum is a fictional universe.

I guess I should've prefaced that I'm no expert on historical fashion, just a casual enthusiast who thinks "ooh old dress is pretty!"

I just wanted to see how far I could go before I had to make some concessions, such as:

Jayna's hair is short and worn loose while irl Victorian women typically had long hair and wore them up (there were documented exceptions of course). Many portraits for both female player characters and female NPCs across all in-game races show short hair and loose long hair, so let's just assume that 19th-century Arcanum has more relaxed feminine hair standards compared to the real-life 19th century western world. Also, irl 19th-century rural women did sell their hair for money, so maybe there's something to apply to the world of Arcanum with that. Or maybe the short-hair craze just hit Arcanum a few decades early *shrug*.

I initially planned to give her gloves, but many resources show vivandières not really wearing them, preferring to go barehanded.

The clothing colors may be a bit too saturated for the era I took inspiration from, but I wanted to stay somewhat faithful to Jayna's original sprite colors.

I did simplify some garments down for the sake of me having to draw enough layers as it is lol. Sorry if the lace wasn't fancy enough or that she doesn't have headwear. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Sometimes you just wanna finish a project and be done with it.

hoo boy, that was a lot

Thank You For Coming to My TED Talk :)

Now go play Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura~

[ilovespec]

" Scary on the outside but cute on the inside.."

[ Yandere FEM ! Gang leader × you. ]

Part 1 .

note : yes , yes , I have already written the Squalo story , I just decided to redo it a little <3

for those who encounter this character for the first time: Squalo Squarchalupi is one of my yandere OC. She is the boss of the wild sea gang. She is a muscular, tall MILF woman of 32 years old, a fan of sharks. it seems to be everything.

You walk with a cup of coffee in your hands, trembling slightly. Who are you bringing coffee to? To your boss, of course. You are the secretary of the boss of one of the gangs in your city. And to be honest, your boss looks.. scary. Scars because of the fire . The right eye looks like it's made of glass... But also what is even more frightening... So these are her teeth. Sharp , pure white. Like a shark. And one golden fang ... Why? You have no idea for yourself. Your boss's name is Squalo Squarchalupi. She is a creepy-looking Italian woman 32 years old, a former wrestler and sportsman. And now ahe fights only in gang fights, and if someone violates the agreements. And everyone is afraid of her because of this.. She is too tough in the opinion of most.

You knocked uncertainly on the door and then went inside. Squalo was sitting at her desk reading a book. One of your colleagues was standing in front of her and was babbling something with a red face from embarrassment, and Squalo could see that she was not really listening to him. Her slightly curly dark-blonde hair falling slightly over her face. When you walked in, she immediately looked up at you and said,

" Oh. (Your name). Good evening to you. And thanks for bringing my coffee.. "

As soon as you got to her desk, you tripped and fell... The cup containing the coffee fell and broke. And most of the coffee was spilled on you, and a little on Squalo. And when your colleague saw this, he started telling you off. And you immediately fell to your knees picking up the pieces... One of them cut your palm painfully, and blood poured out of it. And you stifled a painful cry and continued to pick up the pieces. You were interrupted by Squalo shouting:

" (your colleague's name) STRONZO, VATTENE DA QUI O TI FACCIO MANGIARE QUESTI FRAMMENTI DI VETRO!!! "

You don't know what it meant, but your colleague immediately ran away. And Squalo leaned towards you . And you tried to cover your head with your hands and started apologizing:

"M-Miss Squalo, I'm sorry... It won't happen again, please.. I don't want to go to Miki...P-please...."

And Squalo just stared at you in surprise, and took into her big, sinewy and scarred from a very long time ago, apparently skin burns, took out a first-aid kit from the nearest drawer in her work closet and quickly treated your wound.

" Don't worry.. I would never do that to you. I'm not a tyrant. "

And then Squalo pulled you to her.. Picking you up, she carried you out of her office with the words

"someone else will clean up this mess... And since you accidentally spilled coffee on us, I think the two of us need to change our clothes.."

Well well well , Thanks for reading 💋 Here's ANOTHER redrawing of Squalo , just for this story ;)

[nicstylus]

How should I color the phase two covers?

Hi, yes, I'm the crazy person that finished (!!) all the phase one covers and now I'm moving on to bigger better the next things. Here's my thought process so far: Overall, I'm gonna do what I did with Phase One: I'll keep the characters the same, in the same spots. - I'll keep the big color splashes in the backgrounds. Imo that's what makes these six books scream "WE'RE PHASE TWO" and set them apart from Phase One, which had a ton of empty space (which I fixed more or less)

- I'll improve anatomy and make the lighting make more sense

- I'll do two versions, one with a whiteish canvas and one with a blackish canvas

But! I don't like how inconsistent the colors are. Two books are black and white, two are monochrome-ish, one is in full color and one is like... kinda colored???

So. We're gonna pick ONE style, either black and white, fully colored or monochrome, and run with it.

Here are really bad tracings (yeah yeah) of your options for three of my options: you're just gonna have to use your imagination for the rest, I believe in you

Note: You're getting the splash and color accents/lighting no matter which one you pick because again, that's what makes the phase two covers stand out- they're vividly one color

POLL OPTIONS (and my personal tier list)

A - Muted colored characters with a vivid color splash

B - Fully color/shade the characters, and have a vivid color splash background

C - Fully color/shade the characters, and have a muted, darker color splash background

D - Black and White characters, vivid color splash

E - Monochrome characters to match the color splash

F - Keep the colors as they are on the original covers. (This is what I did for phase one: I will still improve on lighting and stuff, but if the cover is in black and white, mine will be in black and white.) (why tho?) Yes, this was copy pasted from reddit I'm too lazy to type everything again

[careydraws]

Here's a writeup about the process of making this 12x18" poster that's in the booksamillion special edition of TAZ: the Eleventh Hour GN! It looks like there are still some available for preorder!

Long post about how I got from the initial options I sent to my editor to the final below the cut (or unlocked on my patreon here).

We found out pretty late in the life cycle of making the actual book artwork that we were going to get to do a special edition that included a poster, which was nice because it meant I had a good sense of what cool moments in the book we might want to highlight... and what existing art I might be able to use as scaffolding, because these books are on extremely tight deadlines and there was not a separate timeline for painting a whole poster. So when we can avoid doing that, it saves me a lot of time and heart/wristache... but it's not always possible! spoilers: it was not possible this time around.

I started out by sending my editor two options for poster designs: one that would save some work by letting me reuse cover & interior elements that happened to be drawn at a large size, and one that was loosely based on a page with a fun splash panel, but would require total redraw and repaint. As I said in an email,

...Unfortunately, we both agreed that the one that was going to be more work (A) was the cooler choice & would make for a better poster. Also, by this point I was thinking about doing a version of the cover for a lenticular, and I didn't want to double-dip with fun promo materials. So it goes!

The composition was off, since this was based on a comics page with, y'know, dialog and other panels on it. We talked about whether adding some kind of a text treatment might help balance it out, but ultimately,

[narrator: she would later regret this.]

ANYWAY, once I was all-in, it was time to get goin! First, I made a small color thumbnail, then scaled it WAY up for print and took it back to pencils to space out the trio & give everyone a little more room.

Next I inked and flatted it! Flatting is the only time I can really zone out & watch something while I work, it was a nice break.

Then I blocked in big hue shifts for the ground and sky; painted big shadow shapes, and drew in the text; and finally added some details like bounce light and atmospheric perspective blue shifts.

One final touch-up pass with some additional cool tones-- If I were to do this again, I might tone it down a LITTLE bit on the reflections on Magnus's gear… but then again, it looks cool, so I might not.

And there it is! 

Next time I do this, I want to try to keep the initial color thumbnail much looser- I got frustrated at the rendering stage because I'd done most of the fun work of thinking about color already, and ended up feeling like I was treading the same ground twice. It's tough to find a balance between enough planning to be ready and not so much that I lose something in the work!

I'm always happy to get process questions over on patreon, it's fun to talk more about this sort of thing!