eastern european swag

No matter the angle, the black stripes on Mike's car are always perpendicular to line of sight—that's his unchanging purity.

I think everyone is familiar with interpreting clothing details, but I'll mention something that might have gone unnoticed. It's my interpretation of colors from the perspective of the plot.

From a fan fiction perspective, I also have a different interpretation. I believe all the Burners cars were designed by Dutch (although the story background differs from the original; I'm omitting the part where Dutch got inspiration from Mike, which is a different story altogether, lol). Mike, in the sketches and even later on the hologram screen, would rotate the car Dutch designed for him to observe it from different angles. He was completely absorbed until Chuck, sitting next to him, stopped him. Only then did Mike seriously offer his suggestions for adjusting any details on the cars. Dutch praised him for knowing so many details, while Mike praised Chuck for helping him start the engines of many cars, making it easier for him to test various vehicles and bring them back to headquarters. Julie then asked where all those cars went. Texas explained that he melted down many cars (I'm not a car mechanic, but melting down or scrapping cars can yield refined metals, achieving resource reuse).

Working with the artist was a pleasure; they's perfect for drawing my stream-of-consciousness thoughts. I couldn't help but want to commission them, again

They listened completely to my needs, including my interpretation of color from Mike and his car, and their handling of color was simply amazing.

Many of these requests involved my detailed explanations, such as the general composition I drew for them, the selection of objects (and the purpose behind those selections), etc. they simply refined the compositions I provided, using their own subjective handling of color, and leveraging their excellent fundamental skills in anthropology to transform my requests into an artistically refined drawing. In fact, their sample commission art didn't resemble the content of my requests; their open slots were even limited to drawing chibi figures.

I didn't ask the artist to make any overall changes at all after they give me the drafts! They even provided me with different drawing drafts to choose from composition , giving me unexpected surprises. They hadn't even watched MC. Their interpretation is different from mine, but I love it very much!

Although in my numerous collaborations with this artist, they provided at most two different draft compositions in just one project.

In "birdcage" commission, they knew to read my character analysis of Mike, but I felt the analysis was too long and would increase the artist's drawing time. Therefore, I didn't provide that post as part of my requirements. However, because of their project with my friend (My friend initially commissioned this artist to draw Jukebox. Details of my friend's first time commissioning this artist: →), who gave they that analysis, they read it again because of my request to "draw the outline of Mike's clothes as the outline of flames," and thus drew a different visual effect.

I explained the principle behind the visual effect using food as an example: when cool and warm light shines on food, food under warm light is more appetizing. This is the perception brought about by vision.

This artist is particularly skilled at handling visual content.

For "RC" commission, I described a duet dance and provided relevant references. The artist still drew a fantastic result.

For "hourglass" commission, they modified the composition I provided because my drawing was terrible lol. We discussed the changes to the pose of part two art. I liked they revised explanation, so I didn't ask the artist to revise the draft.

Regarding the colored illustrations for this project:

Mike's clothes change color due to the glass piercing and contact with air outside the hourglass—this represents a shift in the character's identity. I explained the identity shift and the interpretation of the color: The color scheme of the character's clothing seems to have a sense of balance, or rather, a relative contrast. Comparing the clothing of his two identities, the blue military uniform with white vertical stripes, and the reversed color and direction—the black jacket with orange horizontal stripes—suggests Mike's life in two cities and his changing identity. However, the character designers retained the orange vertical decorative stripes, just as Mike's car still retains the decorative stripes.

Additionally, I noted an explanation about the car's color: Green is interpreted as the color of new beginnings and the initial stages of life. In some Eastern films and television works, green is often associated with wind and the shape/color of wind, which also represents freedom. This aligns with the character's spirit of freedom, so it also represents green in the team's representative colors for Mike.

This artist also used the color palette I showed them with screenshots of Cadet Mike! Their color treatment in both drawings is based on a unified green, and the choice of hues, both inside and outside, is harmonious.

The artist was exceptionally talented, completely compliant with the client's needs, and had complete creative freedom. As the client, I also provided him with ample detail, which prevented any communication difficulties. This made the collaboration much smoother for both of us.

I've praised the artist extensively, but much of it concerns the interpretation and application of their illustrations, which I've already discussed quite a bit earlier, lol.