Hey! Just a quick greeting from me to say hi and explain what this chapter is. For the second-year of Day-to-Day Kindred, I’ve uploaded some art to Instagram, and now I’m also uploading most of it here, along with some of the thought process that goes into my designs.
I also split it into categories in case you want specifics:
Team Valiant
Character Sketches
Side Pieces
Chapter Covers and Behind the Scenes
Also, it’s implied that if you’re reading this, you’ve caught up to at least Chapter 44. There’s some spoilers in here, so I’d recommend reading it first and coming back here. No pressure, just didn’t want to ruin any twists or reveals.
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Team Valiant
Seems like an obvious place to start. I’ll just cover the team as a whole real quick before delving into each member.
If you know much about writing, you might’ve heard about the ‘five man band’ at some point. Basically, it’s a very simple template for groups of heroes that helps clarify what role each member should fill, like the leader who makes decisions, the big guy who does big guy things, etc. Well, commonly, these roles are also associated with the five Chinese elements seen in Feng Shui (earth, fire, water, wood and metal) since they all have their own unique relations, and both tie back to the ‘Journey to the West.’
Since this is my love letter to what I’m calling the ‘hero team’ genre, I figured that was a good basis for my characters, as well as some locations. In addition to the elements themselves, they’re also associated with colours, shapes, animals, heavenly beasts, etc, which come up a lot in the designs too.
[https://i.postimg.cc/kXQvTJGS/Julia-Main.jpg] [https://i.postimg.cc/WzfnkcG3/Julia-Other.png]
Let’s start with the obvious one, Julia Naples Alpine. Yes, her middle name is Naples.
Julia was the first character I ever had figured out in Daysend. I knew I wanted her to have a tomboyish attitude, balanced out with some more feminine features, all with a design that screamed optimism. She’s ostensibly our main character, after all. If she isn’t likeable, I’ve kind of failed off the bat.
In terms of her element, she’s based on earth, which is usually represented by the colour yellow and squares. And look at that, her flannel’s covered in it! That actually wasn’t the intention first, but it just sorta worked out like that when designing her. Admittedly, I wanted to give her a flannel since that’s kind of a stereotype with lesbians. The earth element’s also associated with the centre and represents stability, which happens to fit Julia’s leader role really well.
I gave her the star pin to break up the design a little, while also representing the team (five points, of course) and tying into one of the motifs of Day-to-Day Kindred with light representing goodness, kindness, warmth, etc. You see it all over the place, but this is one of the more overt examples.
[https://i.postimg.cc/Dzsqwbp8/Harley-Main.jpg] [https://i.postimg.cc/NMjm7Pfr/Harley-Other.png]
Now onto Harley! While the initial sketches of the team look fairly different to how they are now, Harley’s pretty much looked the same since I first drew her. Her original basis was Yang from RWBY, but I wanted to keep her fun party vibes from the early seasons and add in more unique personality traits, like her love of history and bimbo/himbo tendencies.
Her element’s obviously fire, represented with red and triangles. With that said, instead of a more obvious fire look, I decided a summer aesthetic worked better while complementing the other elements of her design. And to avoid red dominating the design too much, she’s covered in all three primary colours, with orange as an accent.
For triangles, she’s obviously got a lot decorating her outfit, but this also comes through in her posing. Even casually, actions poses tend to use a lot of angles to emphasise movement, creating a triangular look. This makes sense for Harley, since she’s the most physically active of the team.
And physically attractive.
...
...
...anyway...
[https://i.postimg.cc/2yqjCnTt/Wess-Main.jpg] [https://i.postimg.cc/43J9sFcF/Wess-Other.png]
Next is Wess, the resident stuck-up rich girl. In all honesty, that’s always been one of my favourite archetypes. There’s a lot of ways to make it interesting, and it’s hard for them not to be engaging.
As was the case with Harley, and as I’ve mentioned before, Wess was inspired by Weiss from RWBY (just ignore the similar names, we’re in too deep to change it now) with the similar changes in personality and added characterisation. I promise, they’re not all this direct in comparison. It’s really just these two.
…and a couple others later down the line, but that’s it. Her style was meant to stand out against the team by looking the least like warrior-like, while also communicating her well-off upbringing and dry attitude. Her element’s water, which is represented by the colour black, funnily enough, and...undulating.
That’s the shape. Undulating. It basically means a wave pattern, like her hair which resembles a river, and the bottom of her dress. Obviously, I made her main colour blue, since there’s more to work with than black, but kept her hair and eyebrows black to balance it. I also borrowed the splash of red used in Weiss’ outfit for Wess’ glasses to break up the uniform blue.
As for the shape, while her hair is very undulating, she uses more diamonds in her appearance since they fit her a lot better, and work as a quick signifier to her wealthy background.
[https://i.postimg.cc/JnHJ2HZ1/Sola-Main.jpg] [https://i.postimg.cc/13RFZjw7/Sola-Other.png]
Sola! Admittedly, she might be my favourite design from Team Valiant, but that’s always subject to change. That’s only because she’s got a lot more visual puns going on than the others.
Sola’s very kid-like in her appearance and attitude. Obviously, she’s the shortest of the team, but her jacket's deliberately oversized and clumsy looking too, with exaggerated body language to boot.
Her’s elements wood, which you guessed it, is green and rectangles. I kept the green for her, but eventually changed the rectangles to crescent moons, since they fit her a whole lot better. Of course, the wood element doesn’t really come through in the design much, but you’ll notice that she spends a lot of time in forests, and has some of her most significant development in them.
Now, the afore mentioned puns. There’s a few relating to her role in the story, that being the comic relief and team cheerleader. Both are seen in her jacket, which has large fluffy parts on the end referencing cheerleader pom poms, and large buttons running down the middle resembling certain types of clowns, specifically vaudeville clowns.
Her hair also has a few layers to it. On top of it sticking up, similar to how hair reacts to electricity, it’s also meant to resemble lop rabbit ears, just like her eyelashes, and show how directionless she is with it pointing all over the place.
[https://i.postimg.cc/J4YrG6S2/Essex-Main.jpg] [https://i.postimg.cc/nh6n1sFK/Essex-Other.png]
And finally, Essex no last name. She’s got one of the simpler designs in the team, and that works really well for her. For someone like Essex, accessorising and complex outfits don’t make a lot of sense, so she had to stand out in other ways.
Like wielding a scythe and wearing a suit.
It was set in stone by the very start of the narrative. I always wanted the scythe, since again, RWBY was a big inspiration and not using its most iconic weapon would be dumb, and it just made sense for Essex.
For out last element, she’s representing metal, which is paired with white and circles. This was definitely the hardest to work with since, 1. White is not a very versatile colour and, 2. Circles are way too off brand for Essex (look too friendly, round, bubbly, you get it). So, instead, I gave her purple, since that better emphasises her outsider persona, and changed circles to cyclical shapes instead.
White is still shown off in the design, most notably in her mallen streak and in the stylised colouration, where the suit is now shown as white, but also in her relationship to the team. Fun fact, Essex is the only character with pure white on her normal design. Every other character has a slightly off white, like Sola’s pants and Julia’s rolled up sleeves. Her ponytail also looks a bit like a fox’s tail, referencing her deceased fox companion, while also emphasising her connection back to the Segaru Clan, away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
Character Sketches
Here’s a collection of the various characters I’ve drawn up. Most of them were already on Instagram, but a few are wholly new.
[https://i.postimg.cc/RhQTgnxW/Rosalind-Main.jpg]
Rosalind
I’ve been holding off on uploading this one for a while. For reference, the second one is her initial design, which I made back around the start of first-year.
[https://i.postimg.cc/7LhwDgBy/Rosalind-Original.jpg]
Yikes...what a glow up. This has to be one of the best examples of reiterative design. Cleaning up the appearance makes it way more readable, and the pose is far more intimidating. On top of that, the face is more expressive and better communicates her burnt-out, quick to temper personality. I kept her rolled up sleeves and changed her shoes to slip-ons so the outfit works better with her Whil. If she’s heating up parts of her body, it wouldn’t make sense to have a sleeve that could easily catch on fire getting in the way.
And hey, another fun fact, there’s actually a theme with all the villains in the story, design-wise. All of them are based on a zodiac, either from the Chinese or Greek zodiac. Since Team Valiant were based on the Chinese elements, I wanted to use the zodiac as well, but eventually came up with enough villains to fill out the Greek one as well. Ahaha...
Rosalind’s based on the tiger in the Chinese zodiac, in case the tie wasn’t a dead giveaway. She’s also got a similar pattern on her sword, as well as the scars running across her body. You can actually see in the sketch, I hadn’t settled on whether to give them to her or not, but eventually decided to as of Chapter 36’s cover.
[https://i.postimg.cc/C1wCzxqY/Florey-Main.jpg]
Florey
Even though he’s not shown much visually, I wanted to give Florey a unique design for working at EHM; something he’d actually show up to work in. Plus, a lab coat is always a good signifier of a scientist. Of course, there’s more symbolism to the design, but I’m holding my cards to my chest for the moment.
[https://i.postimg.cc/d3rCq7sJ/Kitty-Main.jpg]
Kitty
Meow. Sorry, force of habit.
Here we go, the MVP of the tournament arc (in my eyes). I don’t have much to say on her for now, but I will say, she’s very loosely based on a card from the Major Arcana. Have fun guessing which one.
I was initially going to introduce her waaay later into the story but decided to move her introduction up to second-year. She also might have one of my favourite designs in Day-to-Day Kindred. I wasn’t planning on writing her much until I drew up her design, then I had to use her more to justify how good it was.
Puffy jackets for the win.
[https://i.postimg.cc/vHv13wD2/Ryoko-Main.jpg]
Ryoko
[https://i.postimg.cc/15MtD0YL/Ryoko-Ad.jpg]
Here we go. Here’s a character I’ve yet to introduce, and one I had to crop for Instagram.
Ryoko, the Dragon Tamer.
She’s a famous Dueling Venator from the VA Defender’s Guild, competing in tournament matches and seen as one of the great solo Venators, with a uniquely powerful Whil that lets her summon a ‘dragon.’ She’s been name dropped a few times so far, but her debut’s still a bit away. I wanted to get her design finished just in case I needed to showcase her in something, and cause she was cool to design.
[https://i.postimg.cc/1znCkMpN/Dulce-Main.jpg]
Dulce
This is just a design I’m very happy with. I had this idea in my head for how Dulce should look for a while and I finally got around to it. The coat’s a weirdly unique look for a security officer, but it works really well in giving her presence. I’m also trying to get better with different body types, but that can be difficult to pull off when my style is so streamlined. I’m still figuring out a lot of the little intricacies with it, and limb proportions keep coming up. With that said, this is definitely one of the better examples of how to do it right.
[https://i.postimg.cc/02yLtYH7/Bell-Main.jpg]
Bell
I’ll be perfectly honest, I haven’t actually designed most of Team Valiant’s families. Granted, I’ve been busy designing literally everyone else, so I had my priorities, but it means for now, only Bell has a canon appearance. I’ll shorten the gap at some point.
It was surprisingly tough trying to design someone who looks like an actor. Like, actors don’t have a common look, save for theatre performers or...clowns? Bell’s also a very regular person, so it wouldn’t make sense to have a bunch of gaudy accessories on her like another Avalon. Instead, I took a few signifiers of acting and added them to her outfit, like the comedy and tragedy masks, which inspired the patch on her skirt.
She’s also got two tattoos on her hands, both referencing Shakespeare. One’s of a skull, paying homage to the ‘Alas, poor Yorick’ scene from Hamlet, and the other’s a lute, since Shakespeare was often referred to as ‘the bard.’ She’s also the first character I’ve drawn with tattoos, which is cool. Go Bell.
[https://i.postimg.cc/RZQb1Gc7/Baron-Main.jpg]
Baron
Alright, technically I drew this in first-year, but since I drew Edward and Duke in second-year and wanted to talk about them, it felt weird not including Baron.
Easily one of the most effective designs in Day-to-Day Kindred. Immediately, you can tell he’s an asshole. There’s a know-it-all assuredness to him that’s oh so hateable. Don’t you just love it?
He was also the first character (save for an early version of Faller) with facial hair. A few more characters have it now, like Salaire and Devon, but I noticed I was only giving soul patches to the villainous characters, which...like, yeah, obviously.
I tried giving one to Edward to emulate Baron, but I swear, he looked a decade older from that alone. Just a thirty-year-old man hanging out with a bunch of twenty somethings.
[https://i.postimg.cc/DyKrQG7F/Edward-Main.jpg]
Edward
Edward; a surprisingly pleasing design once I’d finished him.
Stolen novel; please report.
He’s meant to look like a cockier version of Baron, borrowing a lot of his elements, but in a slightly off-brand way, like he’s not quite confident enough in them. Also, because his Whil involved manipulating metal, I gave him little welding decorations on his clothes, like the welding masks on his over-shirt and the sparks on his pants. That’s kinda how I design a lot of my characters.
I also kept the injury he got at the end of first-year with the slight scar running past his shirt. We respect continuity in this house.
[https://i.postimg.cc/bvXpdqQ6/Duke-Main.jpg]
Duke
Another good one. Obviously, with a powerset and personality like his, a rodeo and rustic aesthetic fits him perfectly. And while he’s not the deepest character, his Whil and weapon easily make him one of the most fun to choreograph. There’s a reason he’s matched up with Wess so many times.
Also, hey, cool thing, Team Exemplary’s names are based on positions of power and names of kings. Baron and Duke are both nobility titles, while Edward, and the rarely seen Henry and George, are the names of several previous British kings. All the teams tend to have this theme, like Team Exemplary all having fancier, romance-language names and Team Instinct being based on a handful of athletes.
[https://i.postimg.cc/Z5HXzZwB/Adora-Main.jpg]
Adora
Here’s another character that, like Kitty, I was going to introduce way later, but brought forward and fleshed out a lot more. This is the first time I drew proper Venator Academy merch on anyone, and the VA logo. A varsity jacket is always a good look.
The face is a little off proportion now, but that’s always the case with the characters when I first draw them. They sort of settle into place the more you draw them and become a lot more...comfortable? I guess that’s how you’d explain it. Same happened with Cyrus. His sketch looks a little off compared to the cover for Chapter 41, but that’s just cause his hair looks more natural and his jacket’s more form fitting. Not really conscious decisions, just subtleties that happened to take shape over time.
[https://i.postimg.cc/MHYmfZM1/Alani-and-Devon-Main.jpg]
Alani and Devon
Two of my favourite side characters, especially design-wise. I wanted them to look like the most overtly and obviously criminal criminals. But again, like depicting Bell as an actor, criminals don’t really have a consistent look, save for prison stripes and maybe balaclavas? You can’t emote with a balaclava, though.
Instead, I kept them smarmy, and since they’re based on Bonnie and Clyde, I gave them both an early 20th century look, with Alani dressed similar to a flapper mixed with a pickpocket, and Devon resembling a ‘confidence man’ type of criminal, with a hint of Great Gatsby. They’re both also based on one zodiac (Greek this time). Can YOU guess what it is?
Hint: jacket and vest. Have fun.
[https://i.postimg.cc/fRYTc3T4/Angie-Main.jpg]
Angie
Here’s one I haven’t uploaded yet. To be honest, I just didn’t really find a time that an Angie sketch would make sense. It wasn’t ready by Chapter 31, but she was actually the last character I drew for my second most recent sketchbook.
Again, despite not drawing the families, I just had this look in my head for Angie that I couldn’t put down, so I put it to the page. Honestly, I turned out really well. I always wonder how people imagine my characters looking when they don’t have explicit visual designs. Hopefully they line up somewhat.
And yes, that’s a Piet Mondrian robe. Very observant of you.
[https://i.postimg.cc/66G3W1J5/Team-Instinct-Main.jpg]
Team Instinct
For the record, yes, I designed them all ahead of time, but you’ve gotta understand...
...I had some free time.
Don’t worry, they’re not important enough that you need to remember each one, hence why they’re still pencil sketches. I know where to draw the line when it comes to audience retention. Not to keep harping on RWBY too much, but that series definitely has a problem with introducing a bunch of characters, pretending they’re important, and then never doing anything with them (looking at you, Lil Miss Malachite).
Mostly, the reason I designed them was so I could choreograph the fight in Chapter 38. Designing them together helped emphasise where each member’s strong suit was, and how they could all represent and use strength in combat without just being a bunch of melee attackers. Like Jordan using a minigun, since it’d take a ton of muscle to hold that thing up. It was necessary for the chapter, even if not all of them are getting featured screentime.
With that said, it’s still really fun designing entire teams. I’ve been working at designing each member of Team Exemplary, and I’ve only got Claudius left to do. Love those guys.
And Team Instinct. They’re pretty cool too.
Side Pieces
These are various pieces I made over the year without much of a character focus. These were mostly holiday themed or to flex some creative muscles with Adobe Illustrator.
[https://i.postimg.cc/rmPRhjsZ/Wess-Halloween.jpg] [https://i.postimg.cc/qBWjqXwG/Essex-Halloween.jpg] [https://i.postimg.cc/5tjC8DNQ/Julia-Halloween.jpg]
[https://i.postimg.cc/bN8SmZwh/Sola-Halloween.jpg] [https://i.postimg.cc/rpvKxmP7/Harley-Halloween.jpg]
Halloween Sketches
I’ll be honest here...these weren’t planned. Like, at all. I had another idea for a Halloween post based on Hellsing (love that show) but that didn’t quite line up. Then Halloween approached, and I realised I didn’t have anything for it, so I whipped these up pretty quickly...
...and I’m shocked with how good they turned out.
For the record, these were drawn up a few days before Halloween using an old charcoal pencil I had barely any experience with as I was in the middle of job searching. I don’t know what holiday magic was flowing through my hands, but I appreciate it.
With the sketches themselves, they’re pretty self-explanatory. Team Valiant dressed as various Halloween monsters, with some personal and Day-to-Day Kindred flare mixed in. Julia’s a spooky scarecrow, but with a pumpkin head referencing the Wailing from Chapter 11. Harley’s a mix of Frankenstein things. Wess is an amalgamation of vampires, with the Northern nobility symbol on her sleeve. Sola’s a moon witch, and Essex is dressed as one of her inspirations, the Grim Reaper, but with the skull design I like to use and her mallen streak running down the robe. It’s good shit.
[https://i.postimg.cc/vT4qj0z4/Team-Vanguard-Colour.jpg]
Team Vanguard Spread
This one speaks for itself. I did a spread of Team Valiant a bit ago (no, I’m not uploading it here. It’s old and cruddy looking) and wanted to do one for Team Vanguard too. This was actually my first time drawing Nathaniel, and the team’s lower torsos. I’d only ever drawn their upper bodies, similar to the first illustrations of Team Valiant, and only realised while making this that I had no idea what their pants or shoes looked like.
Subtle point, but you might notice they’re all shaped like the first letter of their name, for no particular reason. Mostly. Saxin’s a bit of a stretch, and Nathaniel couldn’t do it without pretzeling himself, so just his arms look like an N.
[https://i.postimg.cc/TwK27XZg/C-s-Room-1.png]
C's Room
This was intended as practice for drawing more backgrounds, since I knew I’d have to do that a lot for the ‘home’ chapters. As C’s mentioned, they actually record the intro’s live, then transcribe them down verbatim, so this is what I imagined C’s room would look like as they did that. A large ornate chair, right next to a rug, almost like you’re being told a grand story as you sit by its foot.
Of course, there’s tons of personal knickknacks around the room, with references to the story, and hints toward certain plot points. C’s narrating after everything’s said and done, after all. It makes sense their room would be a shrine to this stuff. What an eccentric person...
I’m gonna tease you guys even more by admitting that C’s already been mentioned in the story. Good luck figuring out where!
[https://i.postimg.cc/nLsNNchF/Twisting-Pair-Wailing-Main.jpg]
Twisting Pair Wailing
These, as you might have guessed, are the Wailing that appeared during the ‘home’ chapters, most notably Chapter 34. The first example of symbiotic Wailing, and hints towards something more with our mysterious organisation.
I think it’s no secret these two are based on Pisces. Pretty good basis for a pair of symbiotic Wailing, while playing into the zodiac theming for villains. Most Wailing are sorta their own thing, but these two are pretty special, so it made sense to have them based on the zodiac with their more human counterparts. I liked the idea of basing them on fish without them necessarily being fish, like they look fairly similar, but can stand on their own and survive on land. It seemed a bit more unique then ‘Team Valiant get on a boat, and then some Wailing show up! Ahh!’
[https://i.postimg.cc/kgSxH0dr/I-Hope-Florey-has-a-Good-Bestalow-1.png] [https://i.postimg.cc/gJgRRd3h/I-Hope-Florey-has-a-Good-Bestalow-2.png] [https://i.postimg.cc/dVGy6G8w/I-Hope-Florey-has-a-Good-Bestalow-3.png]
I Hope Florey has a Good Bestalow
Anyone here a fan of Miraculous Ladybug?
This is a reference to a meme from the show during its first Christmas special, where Marinette wishes Adrian a good Christmas, before his face suddenly fades into the clouds, often accompanied by very inappropriate music. Much like the Halloween post, I didn’t have anything planned for Christmas, so I used the last of my Adobe Illustrator subscription to knock this out. That snow was really worth the effort.
Also, btw, such a good show. Season 1 was a slog, but man did it pick up in quality fast. Genuinely shocked that I enjoy it so much.
[https://i.postimg.cc/FKs0K7Lv/Gelatinous-Wailing-Main.jpg]
Gelatinous Wailing
I dunno, ‘Shocking Gel Wailing’ just doesn’t work for me. I’ll think of something.
For reference, this is the Wailing that appeared in Chapter 11, the one that was chasing down Sola and Julia. This was actually a modified design I used for an old DnD game, back when I used to play and was DMing my own game. We never got up to this, but I hated the idea of leaving it to rot in a sketch book, so I repurposed it for Day-to-Day Kindred.
Since a lot of the Wailing are very animalistic in design, I wanted the Gelatinous Wailing to feel really unnatural, hence why the proportions are so exaggerated and hard to define, and why the face is just a mess of symbols. The odd number of legs also helps this feeling (and is something I’m totally keeping for future designs) since it’s like the body is just making whatever it can into limbs.
There’s also a reason for the electricity running through its body, but I can’t really reveal why. Spoilers and all that.
Chapter Covers and Behind the Scenes
And just cause I felt like it, I wanted to go over some of my favourite chapter covers for second-year, since I feel like I really kicked it up a notch compared to first-year.
[https://i.postimg.cc/DwcYD4h3/Main-Cover-Page.png] [https://i.postimg.cc/02YtMKbK/Main-Cover-Page-2.png]
Main Cover
This is mostly here for posterity. I was planning on keeping it the original hand-drawn cover, but that one is so out of date and wonky that it’s hard to even compare the two. One of the main reasons I started doing digital covers was cause it looked much cleaner, and the colours worked a lot better. Also, I got sick of drawing the cursive lettering and the Day-to-Day Kindred logo over and over again. Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V, my true design partners.
[https://i.postimg.cc/5tgdwkyv/Chapter-26-Cover.png] [https://i.postimg.cc/FRzq0r25/Chapter-26-Draft.jpg]
Chapter 26 Cover
I wanted to highlight this one specifically since, before Chapter 43 and 44, this was my favourite cover. I wanted to see how well the character designs worked outside of their typical colour scheme, and I’m shocked at how well they translate. I also think it’s one of the strongest in lots of little ways too, like the composition, how it relates to the chapter, the fact that four new designs were dropped on this one cover (Virgil, Alani, Devon and Guy), and that this was the start of me using background elements without outlines, which have been present in almost every chapter this year. I think this’ll always be a favourite of mine.
[https://i.postimg.cc/zGMp4CQM/Housing-Draft.jpg] [https://i.postimg.cc/g263XfMS/Housing-Draft-2.jpg]
Home Chapters
These were quite the undertaking. The covers for the home chapters were some of the first times I’d drawn architecture for Daysend, but I really wanted to give each location its own distinct look, while being loosely based on real-life locations.
[https://i.postimg.cc/CxyztdN7/Chapter-30-Cover.jpg]
Detu City’s pretty straightforward. As the most typical city in Daysend, I wanted to communicate that idea of city surrounded by suburb, which is why the houses are all so bog-standard, almost cartoony in a way. As for the basic houses into the distance...look, I’ve gotta life to live. As fun as it would be to detail out every little house running all the way into the horizon, I need to work. Maybe when I make it big...
Yeah, like that’ll ever happen.
[https://i.postimg.cc/7P37SFyb/Chapter-31-Cover.jpg]
For Denilee, I based it on my current town of residence, Wagga Wagga. Most notably, the clock tower is ripped straight from the one down on Fitzmaurice Street, as well as several locations in the actual chapter. It’s a bit more fantasy, since Denilee’s surrounded by a forest and farmland, and the buildings are a bit more distinct compared to Detu City, but it’s definitely one of the more Australian locations in the narrative.
[https://i.postimg.cc/DZqWdXHR/Chapter-32-Cover.png]
Mareau’s interior’s been cooking for a while, even before drawing it. A bustling main street, with more standard housing surrounding it, all pointing up to the higher end houses of this mountain interior. The buildings up front are based on a couple real life theatres and galleries, with the Juslue Theatre directly borrowing its peaks from the Sydney Opera House. I was hoping to decorate the housing with more personal touches, but as mentioned previously, I need a life and all that.
[https://i.postimg.cc/hvtSzQBL/Chapter-33-Cover.jpg]
Mykonori’s an odd one. The Eastern Wayside was initially going to feature mostly Japanese architecture, but I couldn’t get the image of Grecian buildings out of my head for Mykonori. Eventually, I compromised, and decided inland Eastern Wayside is Japanese, and coastal is Greek, including the Colossus of Mykos inspired by the real Colossus. I also added spires to most of the housing, since Old Gods Worship is quite popular in the Eastern Wayside, and spires are seen as a religious icon.
[https://i.postimg.cc/TPvfj4xY/Chapter-34-Cover.png]
And there’s not much to mention with the Segaru Clan, since they’re literally built around not valuing aesthetics, and since the cover for Countertop is more story driven and less postcard. I will say, the tents were inspired by real tents used by Australia’s indigenous population, as well as the nomadic methods for hunting that the Segaru Clan use. I may go into the clan’s design origins in more depth another time. Maybe a writing BTS next...I’m leaving that one on the back burner...
[https://i.postimg.cc/V6p86GK8/Cover-Drafts.jpg]
And here’s how I draw up drafts for chapter covers. I tend to start out with really basic compositions just to get the posing and framing right, then complete the proper rendition on a larger page to help draw up minor details. I usually go by the rule of thirds for most chapters, since it’s pretty consistent for visual appeal.
[https://i.postimg.cc/0j4dhm5Z/Chapter-35-Cover.png]
Chapter 35 Cover
[https://i.postimg.cc/bw9LwZmY/Chapter-36-Draft.jpg]
Initially, this was going to be a piece to accompany the chapter along with the cover, but I couldn’t think of anything for the cover. Then I asked myself ‘Pierce, you’re putting so much effort into this accompanying piece. Just make it the cover and save yourself some effort, you absolute tool.’ So I did.
I’m still so proud of how this turned out. I’ve always wanted to give the character’s alternate outfits, and I had to put a lot of thought into these. Giving them all standard dresses would’ve felt so wrong for such an important chapter, after all.
Julia’s was pretty obvious. She’s already tomboyish, so a suit made total sense. Then I just turned her star pin into a star bowtie and her flannel into checkered socks.
I didn’t want Harley’s outfit dominated by red, so I accented it against a mostly black dress. Also, her heels resemble her sunglasses, and her sleeves look like the layering on her gauntlets.
Sola’s was mostly funny. I wanted an outfit that looked cute, but I couldn’t imagine Sola in anything other than a clown dress. So I gave her a clown dress. One she obviously can’t tell is one, which makes it even funnier.
Of course Wess would wear an evening gown, accompanied by Belvedere at her hip. Her glasses would’ve gotten in the way of the design, so I moved the red to her earring, and even gave her a necklace with Belvedere’s gem pattern on it.
And Essex is basically the same, because of course she is. The only difference is her coat with a spiral pattern on it, which is a common design trend with Northern Wayside fashion, since Wess picked it out for her.
I’m definitely doing more outfit swaps, especially soon. A few big shakeups are just on the horizon.
[https://i.postimg.cc/9fG2MtvR/Chapter-36-Cover.png] [https://i.postimg.cc/Sx9FTfQT/Chapter-36-Flipped-Cover.png]
Chapter 36 Cover
I dunno why, but the composition for this one just kinda came to me. Like, Florey in the corner staring off into the middle distance, and Jules in the opposite corner but upside down was always part of it. I’ve just come to trust my instincts at this point, since they usually steer me in the right direction. Just like Chapter 26, this one also introduces a bunch of important characters’ designs, including the first depiction of Rosalind without a mask. Wowee! Kind of a shock considering just how present she is in the story.
I’m also curious if people saw the twist in ‘Break In’ and ‘Break Out’ relating to EHM coming. I’d like to think I hid it pretty well, but you can’t really guarantee that everyone falls for that sort of thing. Leave a comment saying whether you thought it worked or not, along with your favourite brand of cereal. Mine’s Trix, even though I’ve never eaten it.
[https://i.postimg.cc/XJCs3Qhm/Tournament-Draft.jpg] [https://i.postimg.cc/133M492p/Adora-and-Cyrus-Draft.jpg]
Tournament Chapters
I kinda struggled with these for a while. I didn’t have many ideas for a theme, and most of the ones I thought of were too complicated. For instance, since I’d already designed Team Instinct, the cover for ‘Instincts’ was gonna have Team Valiant on one side and Instincts on the others, Civil War style, but that would’ve meant drawing ten characters just for one cover, and then setting that as the precedent.
Then the spotlight idea let me use some pre-existing sketches, while better setting up each opponent and focus for the chapter, all while referencing the first year covers with character profiles surrounded by borders. I had to pat myself on the back for that one. Smart, stylish and fun, just like me on a date, I’d have to assume.
My favourite’s definitely ‘Stolen Victories.’ The twist of having Harley on the stand, with the light acting more like a warning light and the symbol from Rosalind’s mask in THREAT behind her. You’ll also notice this is the only cover where the person featured doesn’t have their weapon, since they get stolen by Rosalind at the end of the chapter.
[https://i.postimg.cc/1z9LMh8B/Chapter-43-44-Covers.png]
Chapter 43 and 44
Our latest chapters! I wanted to go all out for these covers. Unlike most chapters, these two get to lead into each other to better communicate rising action, on top of having the whole team featured twice, with lighting and dynamic posing and everything. I also wanted to incorporate the heavy use of red from the THREAT cover, which are also used in Rosalind’s stylised colour scheme. It adds this great layer of urgency and danger to the covers.
This was also the first time I’d drawn Rosalind without stylised colours. For reference, I started out drawing the characters with a handful of colours each to save time on designing them, since there’s so many characters and I was still really new to designing people with realistic palettes (especially with pencils). Now that I’m more comfortable with that, I still mostly use the stylised colours and save full colour for special chapters (see ‘Summer and Lighting’ and ‘Pale Moonlight’) just to lighten the workload while I start getting busier. With that said, it means most characters will have a black and white design, and maybe a palette picked out, but unless they get top billing, it’s Pleasantville for most of them.
And that's all I've got! For now, at least. I could see myself doing one of these again later down the line. Thanks for all the support over second-year, really. As of writing this, we’re really close to 5000 views on RoyalRoad, which is insane to realise. To see that this is really getting somewhere helps motivate me to continue. Excited to see you for third-year. After all, you’ve made it this far, and...
...well, you know the rest.
[https://i.postimg.cc/1RL13W80/White-Block.png]
[https://i.postimg.cc/B6d3m79v/Adam-Main.jpg]
Oh? What’s this? I didn’t...huh. That’s weird. I don’t remember including this...strange...