#cloudcrest

Designer's Reflection: Peachy Dream

Obtained: anniversary welfare

Rarity: SSR

Attribute: Gold/Elegant

Awakened Suit: Peachy Moonstrike

Story - transcripts from Designer's Reflection

Chapter 1 - Fragrant Letter

Chapter 2 - Heartfelt Prayer

Chapter 3 - Spring Awakening

Chapter 4 - Eternal Moment

Story - summarized

Nikki gets a letter in the mail asking to be a volunteer for a lantern-making group at Deer Park in Cloudcrest. It marks the anniversary of when you two met, and you all agree to go.

Also inside the letter were some peach blossoms, so she gets the idea to make that the theme for this year's anniversary. At Deer Park, she leads everyone in gathering and crushing peach blossoms for dye for the lanterns. Yexiao and Helz happen to be passing by, and they decide to join the activity, with everyone writing their wishes on paper strips and attaching them to the lanterns.

It goes so well that the staff at Deer Park ask if Nikki and you would like to help them at their booth in Zither River. You both share good food, warm memories, and a night of fireworks as you release your lanterns along the river.

Connections

-Cloudcrest is the first Cloud town we visit in Shining Nikki, in Vol. 1, Ch. 4. She met Qin Yi for the first time and almost lost Joy to his schemes for Leonid's Manuscript.

-Deer Park is where little Qin Yi and Luming (first as a deer) meet and comfort each other, as shown in the Wishes on the Cloud event. They huddled together in the freezing winter and shared fruits that were hard to peel.

-The first time we visit Zither River in the game is during the Zither River Night event, where we go with Loen to watch the fireworks, and he shares memories of encountering a magic fox.

-As Nikki listens to the singer at Zither River, she remembers meeting Aphrodia at a tavern and learning about one of her past "lives" in Cloud, during Reedpipes of Old. Aphrodia decided that she would try being a singer in Cloud, and she met a cute songwriter in Reedpipe Song.

Fun Facts

-This is the first Cloud-inspired anniversary dress for Shining Nikki.

✏️ -traditional! Just relaxing and sketching is a lot easier to me w/ traditional I always feel like i have to make big complete drawings when I draw digitally

☕️ -not too often but its been something I’ve been trying to do more! (I don’t have any recent-ish ones sorry)

🙃 - facing right!

🌈 -I tend to use warm colors more I think

🙌🏻 - I tried lkdasjglsd

Hello!

I actually learned most of what I know about storyboarding when I started my first job as a storyboard revisionist on Spider-Man. I passed the test and got the job because I knew the basics of boarding and my draftsmanship was good enough. Then I just learned everything else from my directors as I worked.

But if you’re starting out, you can learn storyboarding at art school, online classes, storyboard books, etc. If you’re tight on money or you’re not old enough for art school yet, a good exercise to help you get the feeling of boarding is to watch a film and draw a small thumbnail of the beginning of every scene. Here’s an example. There’s also intro to storyboarding videos you can find online like on Youtube. 

When you’re looking at art schools you should checking out Concept Design Academy. They have storyboard classes there and I know a lot of people have recommended them. 

Designer’s Reflection: Thousand Wishes

Obtained: first Chinese New Year hell event

Rarity: UR

Attribute: Green/Fresh

Awakened Suit: Thousand Memories

Story - transcripts from Design’s Reflections

Chapter 1 - Blossoms Fall

Chapter 2 - Blooming Flowers

Chapter 3 - Winter Arrives

Chapter 4 - Spring Returns

Chapter 5 - Blooming Again

Story - summarized

Everyone ages, but not Yexiao. Ten years could pass by, and not a single part of her will change. She used to live with a family of three and spend time painting with the little girl. Unfortunately, the other villagers were scared of her unique trait and formed a mob to try to run her out of town,

The little girl rushed to defend Yexiao, leaving the child with a scar on her arm. Tearfully, the two of them said goodbye. So, Yexiao drifted from town to town, never staying longer than a few years at a time. And every time she left, her memories would fade. It was like starting over with the seasons, but it still hurt to let go of something so precious.

During one of her moves, she comes to Cloudcrest, to the home she currently stays in. An elderly lady lives there, too, and Yexiao finds contentment caring for her and painting the blossoms in the yard. Just as she is getting comfortable, a young man finds her and asks about her paintings. He mentions a legendary designer of old who would make similar paintings to Yexiao’s.

She worries that this man has figured out her secret. After he leaves, she packs her belongings and tries to leave. But the old lady falls ill, and while her last living child lives in town, she still needed attention. Yexiao decides to wait until the lady is better before leaving Cloudcrest.

Seasons change, but the old lady is still sick. When spring comes, the young man comes to call again. This time, he shows a painting that came from the same yard that Yexiao and the old lady live in. It’s not Yexiao’s painting, so that means it has to be the old lady’s.

But something in the painting is familiar. Memories resurface, and Yexiao asks to check the old lady’s arm. Sure enough, there is a scar there - the same scar the little girl had when she defended Yexiao from the angry mob.

This is that little girl! A hundred years have passed, and she is still here.

The young man knows, but he never had any attention of tattling on her. His name is Qin Yi, and he only wants her help in finding the Puzzle Solver. Otherwise, he leaves her alone.

Yexiao enjoys the rest of the season painting with the old lady in the yard.

Connections

-Qin Yi asks if Yexiao is the Puzzle Solver. In Vol. 1, you help Nikki find the Puzzle Solver to unlock the secret of Leonid’s Manuscript.

-This is not the first time Yexiao has had to deal with her immortality. In Mind Maze Ch. 5, she used to live in Banyan Town, which was a perfect village that lasted forever - until waters from the Ocean of Memories seeped through and slowly destroyed everything, except Yexiao.

-While the Yexiao we know was “born” on the Ark (and therefore can’t age or die by natural causes), we time travel to the past in the Dunhuang hell event and see Yexiao working for Queen Joyeux. This may very well be Yexiao’s “original self,” who could still age and change.

Fun Facts

-During the hell event, when Nikki and Momo collect wishes in Luming’s place, they find Yexiao’s wish. All she wants is to live a content life, to enjoy her life, and that nothing changes again.

-In Chinese symbology, peaches are tied to immortality.