#ddlh

This took way longer than I thought it would. At least it's in depth.

I used cell shading with no line widths to save time and I wasn't intending to leave it that way but I got attached to this style because it makes it look like simplified styles in anime. I've also been experimenting with different body types and these girls made it easier so I tried giving them all different shapes that's vaguely based off their canon art (but there isn't too much difference in those sprites aside from bust size so it was only as reference).

I suppose I should so a bit of explaining for my design choices. The previous designs are here for reference. I'll start with the canon ones and yes I know the heights are not even close to the canon ones but I wanted to make the difference more exaggerated. I like making things cartoony so expect to see a running theme here. I wanted each character to be wearing the blazer differently and for them all to have different socks to stand out and the shoe colours match their eyes because the shoe/sock coding thing isn't important in this AU.

Sayori: My goal was to make her look miserable so I gave her pale skin that looks cold due to the blue hue of the shading. Her bow is bigger, her shirt is even more of a mess (or is that just due to the bigger collar? idk), the bow is lopsided to emphasise that sloppiness like she was quickly putting on her uniform that morning, same with the wonky jumper and falling sock. I folded her sleeves because I think it looks nice on her and I gave her a penguin pin because she reminds me of my old best friend who used to wear pins from kenji and I figured Sayori would shop there too due to the way her room looks. Oh and I gave her eyebags.

Yuri: She was the tallest in canon so I made her taller. Her hair is basically the same, just a lot more pointy and sticky out to give her a more distinct silhouette. Her hair is a bit more pink so it doesn't look too similar to her skirt (some shading thing in the original prevented that but I don't shade that way so it was looking too similar). I made it so her blazer is tucked in because it looks tucked in in her official artwork for the original game and I figured she would be wearing a size bigger, not just to make sure her sleeves cover her arms when she does the hand on chest post but also because then there would be more space on her chest. Her socks are smaller too because I'm not sure actually it was something I did in her original redesign and it stuck. I gave her some eyeliner, mascara and dark purple eyeshadow to look all mysterious.

Natsuki: I nicked the waistcoat idea from some art YouTuber in their redesign video (forgot who) and I thought it'll be cool. The polka dotted socks is 'cause she's not fully aware but in act 2 she wrote that "poem" talking about how she's noticed everyone acting off so I thought it'll be fitting to the sock code to give her a bit of black. I made her look thinner, especially on the thighs and overarms and then made the lower leg and forarms much thicker. Her pigtails are bigger and more curly and I wasn't sure what to do with the ribbons so they defy gravity now. Also gave her some pins and made her bow smaller to look cute. I kept her skirt the same length also to look cute and it highlights her legs. I gave her pink eyeshadow and lipstick as I imagine Natsuki is fiddling with makeup from Claire's to try to make her look cuter.

Monika: Basically the same but her shoes also follow the eye thing, she has freckles now because freckles are pretty, her bow is massive, her front bits of hair are more curly to match her ponytail and she's slightly more tan as it matches the brown brown of her hair that I gave her rather than the coral brown of the canon. She's the only one wearing the uniform properly which I think matches her personality. Also she has some light makeup because she's one of the popular girls and she gives me the vibe that she wants to look presentable whenever she goes outside. Her skirt is the same length because the thigh highs are iconic and sit on her hips in a nicer silhouette due to the way it sticks out.

Emari: Alright this is my OC who went a personality makeover since the last time I drew her. I'm not exactly sure how her evil version will be used but I designed her to be her "dere" form and her normal one is her "kuu" form and because this is based on act 2 screwery, she's uhhhhh...maybe a bit too happy about her crush. I kept her cool vibe in the normal form and I think the only difference in her outfit is her sleeves are rolled up not short sleeved as it looks better with the blazer tied around. That and her skirt is a bit shorter so it's not inline with said blazer and shows off her long legs more. Her hair is more red that I can't tell if it's an unnatural red or a natural red that was chucked into a cartoony filter (like yellow hair for blonde and blue hair for black) so I call this: shrodinger's hair shade. I replaced the hairband with glasses to make her look more nerdy or smart or something. She was originally shorter than Monika but Monika was the last one I sketched out and I wanted her tall but not too similar to Yuri and she lined up with Emari because I gave Emari leg surgery since the last time I had drawings of these 2 that I drew in the same drawing and not seperate like in the old artworks I linked earlier.

wheeeeeeeee!

I like the poses from this image so I'll probably used the circled one for Sayori.

From left to right: Emari, Monika's new sprite, the old sprite, the official sprite

I mean, I knew it was going to be longer than the official game but damn. Half of those pages are from today too. Some parts have lines from the original game because it works the best in that situation, some are like a mish mash like when Monika suggests writing poems, and others are written completely by me, hoping I'm writing them in character but I'm a bit of a crap writer so probably not. Eh, it's fanfiction. It can excuse being crappily written.

I should start programming something so I have something to note on the August dev log video. Or September dev log video? Idk I'm just going based on how much I've done.

I have the original script from when Emari was basically just a lesbian version of MC. It's about half the length story wise and about a quarter of the length word count wise.

I've been trying to draw the physics of this skirt for the past 15 minuites but it always looks weird. I traced over the original sprite to see how the skirt is shaped (the picture on the left) which is pretty helpful when drawing things based off a reference.

mad respects to the original artist who had to draw this annoying skirt.

Edit (like 4 hours later):

Here's the girl!

I had to make it widescreen to fit them all on. For a fangame thing. No idea when I'll actually use these sprites though as they don't appear on the start screen.

The poses were based on the original sprites and I kinda regret doing that as the skirts were a pain to look right (especially Sayori's)...and Monika's left hand. I changed the shoe colours to match their colours, Sayori's top 3 shirt buttons are undone, the bow is tied unevenly, she has a penguin pin on her blazer (hard to tell in this drawing though), her left sock is falling down and her skirt is to her knees; Yuri's blazer is longer, tucked in and the top button is undone (hard to see with that pose though), her socks are shorter or pushed down I can't really tell and her skirt also goes to her knees; Natsuki's blazer doesn't have any sleeves (they're all wearing blazers different ways), with pins and her shirt has shorter sleeves and her socks have polka dots and there is a reason for that but spoilers; Monika basically looks the same but with freckles and wavier hair; Emari's an OC but I followed the formula of: have hair accessory and black socks are reserved for sentient characters only. Also the colours are either brighter or darker than the original it depends on the thing. The glitched ones are holding an item that represents them: Yuri has a butterfly knife, Natsuki has her phone to represent the people who screw her over, and Sayori...well it's self explanatory. Basically Monika's the only one who looks just like her official sprite but with a stiffer pose as posing is hard to draw. Yuri and Monika are a good few inches taller than their canon height; Natsuki is like a foot shorter than Yuri now.