#dandiesindanger

I did a little bit of research (not as much as I normally would do but I knew I'd have to fudge it either way) on what an English ship hand would be wearing in the late 1700s. Ended up basing it on some old paintings I was able to find, a couple historical fashion blogs, and the drawings of Billy and Liam, and I ended up with this! The main thing I needed to know was whether or not it would be weird for Zach to be wearing a waistcoat, because with what Liam is wearing that seemed like it might be out of place to me. As it turns out, run of the mill boat workers like Zach and Liam didn't have much of a uniform, so while a waistcoat might be inadvisable in the heat, it wouldn't register as strange. The more you know!

The following scene with Adrian yelling at him about it solidified these two as having one of my favourite dynamics between the main cast. The whole energy of that scene is fantastic. "Excuse the fuck out of me? Excuse the fuck out of you!!!"

Boys, boys, you're both all sorts of fucked up; can we leave the ghost ship now?

Anyways. This scene and the following scenes haunt me. What do you mean Zach was tortured for hours and then he forced himself to just keep walking. What do you mean he'd rather suffer the worst of what the hunters could do to him if it meant his friends remained unharmed. What do you mean he didn't expect anyone to care all that much since it served their purposes in the end. What do you mean Adrian is completely unwilling to accept that because as far as he's concerned the other Ladz are fundamentally more important than himself and he'd rather die than let any of them feel the way he does. They make me sick in the head.

They're both very aware that they have bad track records of valuing their own safety (tbh the only one who doesn't have that problem post Arc 3 is Daniel but I digress) but they also have really bad self esteem, so they keep telling each other to "LOVE YOURSELF DAMMIT!!" but then both of them keep responding "NO YOU!!!!"

Process stuff:

I spent a lot of time with this one trying to figure out if she would use her cane while dancing? I'm gonna need to look into it more because I think it depends on what the cane is actually for (like, is it more for balance and stability or more for weight distribution and support) and what someone with achondroplasia would most likely need. For now until I get more research done I'm operating under the impression that it's mostly for helping with walking longer distances (it's also described in the narration as a "walking stick" and has a lion head handle which doesn't sound particularly ergonomic?), so I think she could set it by the piano for the dance without much trouble. Aaaaand That is the average amount of overthinking that goes into a cute sketch on the side of the primary subject! Send help.

In all seriousness though, I do love looking into this sort of thing. I think including these details that most audiences wouldn't notice is what makes the difference between a character that feels like a character Vs a character that feels like a person.

The last sketch on the right is her during the big finale fight, when she deflects Busch's attack on Daniel. We mostly focus on Daniel for that bit, which makes sense, but for some reason I can picture Dorothea's face at that moment so clearly. The horror of watching that malicious magic head towards him, the sudden realization that she actually does have the power to help, a grin of satisfaction when her deflect succeeds with a telltale shattering sound to confirm it. Solid proof that she is not powerless here. It's such a kickass moment that only lasts for a second but it really stuck in my mind as a HUGE thing for her.

So I was literally in the middle of sketching out a stupid fucking meme for this scene and then the rest of the scene came rocketing at me and I had to stop and draw the serious part. And then Adrian opened his goddamn mouth and oops I'm laughing again. They're so fucking stupid I care about them so much. Liam's anguished face is really fun to draw, which I didn't expect, but probably should have. Adrian Edwards, light of my life, you are the LEAST reassuring person on the goddamn planet

Btw the stupid meme was gonna be one of these