how would vil and rook react when seeing your yuu oc very tiny like the size of a mouse? (I'm referencing the great mouse detective event that's happening) also your art is amazing and very cute ^^
TLDR: Vil is tired and Rook is loving it :)
That motivated me to figure out Mafuyu's mousey design, thank you!!
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I adore your yuu, he’s sooo cute!! Also love his relationship with the Pomefiore dorm <3 <3 <3
Got me curious about his relationship with the other dorms? Particularly Scarabia because they’re my favorite but honestly just asking you to yap about whatever lore you want to drop ^w^
Bonus points, how do they react/handle overblots? I bet Vil’s was especially traumatic, given their friendship
Awww thank you!!! 🥹 I would love to yap a little (a lot) hehehehe so thank you for asking!!
This is going to be a looong post so buckle up, i'm going through it all, starting with the end bc I've got art for that!
How does Mafuyu react to overblot? He's mostly very overwhelmed. Poor guy's never taken the time to deal with his own emotions, and all of a sudden he's basically tasked with regulating stranger's, otherwise it's game over?? Not fun! At all!!! He grows closer to more and more people who help him out as it keeps happening, so it helps him to bottle it up, but really it stresses him out a lot longterm. If his hair wasn't already white, you'd see the effects of it all. As long as he doesn't take time to process it all, he stays cheery, but it all kinda crumbles as the years pass.
And as you guessed, Vil's in particular was really tough. I imagine he's had a big crush on him just from a distance up until book 5, where he was a nervous ball of gay panic the entire time, and the crush developped into full blown falling in love (with both him and Rook, which he didn't see coming at all), they felt so comforting he knew he couldn't handle being separated after the VDC. By the time the OB happened, he felt really guilty for not seeing it coming and trying to talk more. He was incredibly glad things turned out okay, but all those feelings were nauseatingly hard to process, even once everything was supposedly fine. The idea of being this close to losing the first person he cared for this much was not something he wanted to face 😞
And uuuuhh turns out I tried drawing all of that! I wanted a resolution where he talks it out with Rook, because if Mafuyu felt guilty for not seeing it coming, imagine what's going on under that beautiful blond bob :))))) I never managed to finish it, but I'd gladly share the WIP anyway!
Details for Mafuyu's relationship with the other dorms under the cut :)
Something I haven't really developped is that he works at Sam's during the weekends, so he gets to see everyone pretty regularly despite spending most of his (very little) free time with the Pommes :) Other than that, in general I keep him pretty in line with canon and he's mostly hanging out with the freshmen during lunchtime and for homework sessions, so in all the other dorms that's usually who he's closest to. Anyone who I don't mention you can assume he'll gladly have a chat with, help them out, or he will walk up to them if he spots them out on the street, but they're not particularly close/rarely interact.
❤️ Ofc closest to Ace and Deuce, do not separate them!! He's also very good friends with Cater, I picture them easily yapping about fashion and esthetics for an entire lunch break uninterrupted :') (also this is purely biased from my headcanons but i like non-binary Cater, so they'd have a bit of a bond from that)
🦁 I kinda like the idea of Maf teasing Jack more than the other freshmen, just for the visual gag of my teenie tiny little guy being a menace to the big buff wolf lol (he's also 17 so Jack wouldn't say anything because of the pecking order kkdssdhk). He's often working with Ruggie, as fellow part-timers, so they're surprisingly cool with each other, even though nobody really suspects they would.
🌊 I think most of the time it's business talk with these three, whether he's just out buying a little treat, helping out to make some extra cash, or negociating some deals to make a few exclusive items; I think he'd swing by the Monstro Lounge pretty often so they're friendly!
🪲 I feel bad bc they're your faves, but I think Scarabia is the dorm he's the least close to ;v;) Don't get me wrong though, he had a great time getting to know them properly during the VDC training arc! That was very much needed because Jamil still scared him for a while after his OB. I feel like after that they kinda lost track of each other because they're both very busy, but they always say hi and catch up when they meet at the shop.
🍎 You'd think I wouldn't have much left to say,, but oh do I :') I just want to talk about him and Epel, cause i kinda neglect that. THEY'RE SO IMPORTANT TO EACH OTHER RAHHH I want Maf's Ramshackle to be a bit of a safe haven for Epel, a place for him to breathe a little bc we love Vil, but I need him to chill a little bit with the helicopter parenting skdjbdks. But Maf will make him the embroidered blazers, he'll help him stash some snacks, he's both the angel and the devil on Epel's shoulder :') And reverse, Epel helps him extra hard to understand homework, he'll teach him the history and techniques to make Harveston's embroidery etc... They vent out about their feelings and lift each other up, in a way they don't feel confortable approaching Vil and Rook yet, I could go on forever, i love them ;;;;; <3
💀 Got super close with Ortho after book 7, because i mean, who wouldn't <3 He was such a comforting presence for Mafuyu because despite how miserable he felt from the physical and emotional exhaustion, he knew Ortho would bring him back to his beloveds safe and sound. They also see each other a lot at the shop, because I'm assuming Ortho's still the one who runs errands for Idia most of the time. And speaking of, Maf will 100% not hesitate to spam Idia's DMs with cute animal stuff, and Idia will notify him of new/exclusive sweet treats around town. They share hobbies :3
🐉 Another long one, sorry! He's super happy to hang out with Lilia at any point, it's always a fun time and they always end up talking about back pain like the grandpas they are. He's held Silver in high esteem since the begining, seeing him work so hard on both his social skills, and dedication to his duties despite his condition (i'm personally diagnosing Silver with narcolepsy, since the game won't do it). Malleus he was originally very put off by: he felt overwhelmed by this stranger, almost twice his size, showing up in his backyard uninvited :') But he quickly mellowed out and is glad to help him feel less lonely, and I definitely think he'd invite the whole Dia fam to visit Ramshackle more often by the end of book 7!
But more than these three combined, he's grown so SO close to Sebek. Nobody saw it coming and yet!! They have a surprising lot in common, from being highly sensitive to the cold, to having a hard time regulating their emotions (and i'm turning back to hc a bit, but oh they are brothers in attachment issues ksdjbgkds). Also, sweet tooths! Mafuyu learns a lot from him when it comes to being more assertive and confident, he could use a bit of that :)
If you've read all of this, bless you 🥹 I don't often take time to write lore like this because it takes me hours, but I'm so happy when there's an opportunity like this!! I had a blast thinking a bit more about characters I usually tend to skip, so thank you very much for the ask! And sorry for the mega dense wall of text fksdjbfjks
// Did you drew mafuyu's sprite ( is that what it's called?) youself ? They could fool me as official art . It's very great!! I have seen a lot of people make their oc spirite and they really look official.
Can you please give some tips on how to make it look more twisted wonderland-ly vibes . They have a very unique art style
Thank you, yep I did! I love imitating game art, it's my guilty pleasure hehe
I'm assuming we're talking about the full sized sprites, not chibi, but if I'm wrong let me know and I'll do another tutorial for those!
Okay so here's what I'm thinking: If I made a tutorial with my current sprite for Mafuyu as a reference, I'd be giving advice I didn't even follow when I made him, and I think that'd be kinda lame! So this post is a mix of "TWST style tutorial" and "Fix Mafuyu with me!".
(Just a quick heads up/reminder that of course, this is all based on my personal analysis of the TWST style. My artistic habits and biases might be showing in my own final result, but I'm trying my best to be objective in my writing!)
This is going to be long, so let's get to business under the cut! ✨
I'll be taking notes of some TWST specificities as I go in purple, so for a shortened version of the tutorial, look for the colored text :)
Just as a reminder, this is my V1 that I'll be upgrading:
Step 1: Gather references! Observe them! Pick them appart!
And grab ones that will match your character, that's Important because of proportions.
I skipped this on V1 and OH IT SHOWS lol. His scalp was way too small, which made his eyes look too big and hair too thin.
Mafuyu is 1m58, on the thinner side/0 muscle, and 17yo so my main references for him are Epel (1m56) and Riddle (1m60).
Let's align them, taking their heels (on the body, not the shoes) as an anchor point, and trace some guidelines on the main elements (top of the head,, chin, shoulders etc...)
Purple line is Epel, red is Riddle and blue is Maf. His lines should be right in the middle of theirs lol, so let's fix that!
His head needed to be much bigger, this is better :)
Step 2: Lineart!
Make sure your pen is thin! I think mine was on 3.5 px. You're okay to vary and make it smaller for jewellery and thinner details like that (that's something you can see on Leona's bracelets, and most of the shoes, for example)
Something else I noticed: In the hair, most of the detail is shown with shading, not lineart! So don't be afraid to erase some strands from your line.
Same thing applies to the wrinkles in their clothes, I'm not even going to bother drawing in any on the cardigan, and the pants only get some at the crotch and the very bottom.
Let's look at the eyes now
My V1 was actually good as it was. I planned on keeping them, but then I noticed the blue at the top didn't show up enough so I modified them.
The most distinct features I picked up on are the colored lights and colored lashes
Don't forget to color the lineart for the eyelids and eyebrows, while you're here! (you can see on my V2 I did that, and added a secondary line under the eyebrows, to match everyone)
Now, step 3: Colors
Mmmh I can't think of much to say about the base colors. Just keep them fairly neutral in saturation, outside of some specific elements like the dorm colors. Diasomnia doesn't care about burning your eyes off with their green, but everything else on the uniform is more chill.
Do take notice of the gradients on the uniform suit though:
Btw this is a safe place, I'm a color pick defender :'^) Just grab it right off the ref, who cares. The gold shade they use is very specific, so are the suit colors. I'm going to have fun emulating the rendering, but I don't find it particularly exciting to find the right HEX code by eye, personally, so I color pick 🤷
Anyway step 4: now we're shading!
I have a lot more to say about shading than I did with the base colors >:)
All the detail you didn't line are coming to life now! This includes the clothing folds/wrinkles and hair strands I mentionned before, as well as the nose, tendons in the hands, and the adam's apple and sternocleidomastoid muscle (the one that links the jaw and clavicle)
The noses in particular have a singular very specific shape (a shame tbh, I'm a unique nose enjoyer😔) :
Full shape on the light side, soft shape for the shadow side.
Check ✅ + I'm copying Vil's adam's apple shape, it feels less pronounced and I think that matches Mafuyu well
Take this moment to add some gradients to your neck shading, including on the lineart! I'm seeing some colder colors on one side (often the left), and a warmer & more saturated shade on the other side. This warmer color sometimes come back on the edges of the skin's shading.
The colored edges I have found on the skin and the shirts in particular, bright orange⬆️ and purple⬇️, respectively
A more general note on the shading: you'll have to shade twice! Words are hard but I do have some step by steps to show you more precisely
Base colors ➡️ 1st pass of shading, selectively erasing some points with the aerograph/soft brush. I find the shapes of the folds are generally pretty pointy or boxy, rarely round ➡️ 2nd pass on the deeper shadows only, this essentially goes where you would've put lineart ➡️ Gradient with light at the top, dark at the bottom. This one doesn't apply everywhere, but I noticed it on some vests.
For the cardigan, I switched out the gradient step for lighting, mostly focusing around the shoulders and folds
I got to skip the suit, but I know the shoulders are lit the same on everyone, so I knew I shouldn't skip it on the cardigan.
As you go, look for aspects that might require colored lineart!
If you're unsure how to handle something, take a step back! Take a break for a few hours, and look at the entire cast to see how their unique items were drawn. This might give you a hint for how to draw yours :)
Okay, now for what I think is the most iconic part!! The hair! ✨
I'm grabbing these for my reference (no need to show this really, I just wanted Crewel in the post lmaoo)
Same general steps: Base color ➡️ gradients (I found it easier to put the gradients down first for this step, compared to the vest) ➡️ two colors of shade ➡️ and then some lights. However! The two details you should not forget about: a slight color shift at the back of the hair, and the diamond shaped light reflections :)
If your character has light hair, you might also want to color the lineart here. Mostly focusing on the inside of the hair, and keeping the outside lines black. (It's most visible on Epel here, but Jack's hair is lined in a dark grey in places)
Uuuuuhhhh I think that's about it? I won't go through all the items now that I wrote all my notes down, maybe just a quick word on the shoes: TWST artists sure love their shiny leather! I hope you love it too if your character has shiny shoes sfhjsdf I'm very glad I gave my boy some knock-off Buffalo cause I'm not super confident in recreating this :'^)
And with all that being said... I believe this calls for a reveal, huh? 👀
Tada!!!! 🎉✨
I'm so happy with the results 🥹 Still not perfect, but I'll get there eventually!
I took the opportunity to rework Mafuyu's palette, cause I didn't like the white on white moment between the hair and the shirt + I wanted to give him a ramshackle ribbon to go with the brooch 💜Also he needed less light in his glasses to show his eyes better. I can't wait to use this new base for his next outfits hehhehe
I hope this was helpful!!! I really tried to write down everything I took note of while working on him 😊 If you're curious about anything else, I can answer in the comments!
can we see more art of epel, he looks so cute in your art style ^^
It's be my pleasure! !! I have a little comic on the back burner about 3rd year Epel & Mafuyu, but I'd love to draw him more in the meantime :>
For now though I can offer my 3rd year Eppy sketches! Let me know which one you like better, I'm personally team short hair hehe (even though I've been convinced to use the long hair version for my comic)
I can tell you love pomefiore. But what of the other dorms? From every dorm who are your favorites? Just curious is all.
Also your art style is to die for, its so pretty
Thank you, that's so nice 🥹
I sure do love them heheh. Now, the other dorms: I think I can safely put Diasomnia and Ignihyde in second place, basically all the family coded dorms bring me joy (also known as the ones that made me cry) :)
I really like Octavinelle too! I just wish they got a bit more development, but their personalities are strong enough on their own to still be high in my list (and I swear this has nothing to do with my IRL love for fish)
And here are my faves per dorm:
Shout-out to early fan me, who'd be in complete confusion seeing Leona and Sebek in there, I used to full-on dislike them lmao
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Could you do a Clubwear, La Bonbonniere, Fairy Gala, and Big Check outfit for Mafuyu?
Heya, thank you for your interest!
Ok so fun fact, you've found my nemesis :') I've been stuck on Maf's clubwear for monthsssss, maybe years actually. I have an idea, but for some reason every time I come back to it it doesn't work,,, This is giving me some motivation to try again, but at this point I kinda stopped pressuring myself over it, it lives in the same limbo as the Loungewear card illustration lmao
If they are ever finished, they will of course be posted right here ^^
And for the rest, it might be a while before his Bonbonnière outfit gets made because I have 3 others in queue, already designed and ready to be rendered! (That would be the Big Check, Outdoor Wear, and Shore's Celebration fits)
And lastly, you can already find the Fairy Gala outfit in the Masterpost (should be here specifically)!