#painfull

Starting from least drastic to most drastic, because. It’s so weird to look back on— this was Cecils first drawn image ever, next to his final.

He doesn’t exactly look any different from how he does now aside from… I guess me being more comfortable drawing him. Oh, and his nose is more pronounced now than my previous initial cowardice. He just hit the right vibes from the start 😩 There really wasn’t much to change at all. (Even if his current render imo is also somewhat outdated, but I still use it as a reference so I guess it does it’s job. Idk why I messed up his hand so bad later, it bugs me to no end.)

BAD NEWS! Most of Emilio’s initial drafts don’t exist anymore. He was the first guy made, so whatever headspace I had is just lost now, coupled with the whole “learning to draw twst” thing. HOWEVER! I did manage to see ONE weird layer that i happened to not delete on his original render file. Just look at him next to his current form.

I’m not sure what I was doing at that point, but considering this was the only “earlier” draft layer left, I was probably honing in on what I was going to end up doing. TBH in general he was just a face for a named guy in this fic, so there really wasn’t any strong personality direction in mind for his visual concepts (even in his final). He’s a little more fleshed out now I would hope, but much like his inspiration character he kinda gets muddy sometimes. He was probably shown too early for my taste but I sure do give into pressure.

Nyoka’s initial draft is SUCH a far cry from where he ended up. I drew it traditionally so there’s just this one single ominous photo of it that i never shared ever, until, like now I guess. He changed significantly compared to the others. At first I was veering much closer to a… sycophant snake henchmen type…? He was like, small, skinny and kind of a crazy freak.

LIKE WHO EVEN IS THIS GUY? WHO IS THAT! Besides, there’s already a crazy snake freak in a hoodie-blazer combo at school.

Either way, he had no progress until for whatever reason until a month later. I randomly had a “but what if he was like… an academic type in Savanaclaw?” then the floodgates just FLEW open (and was also just a better twst-energy parallel). Throw some glasses on? ✋Cinema.✋Even his second redo attempt, while it certainly was closer to where I would ultimately end up later that year— is still pretty different compared to the final, aside from stylistic shifts since twst wasn’t nearly as much of a hassle to draw by that point. “MAKE HIM HANDSOMER!!” *BREAKS IKEMEN BUTTON*

There’s a reason this stuff takes me a year to do (or more, even) 😭 SOME KNOCK IT OUT RIGHT AWAY, others take a second wind or more. I’m sure for everyone aside from Cecil there were MORE iterations, but I no longer have them. It’s weird. Cecil was technically made last chronologically, but Nyoka wasn’t in his “final form” until after he was made.

And even then because I’m fickle, I still end up adjusting and shifting minor aspects. BUT!! FOR THE MOST PART!! I think everybody is in a state of equilibrium. There was borderline no art of any of these guys beyond basic reference stuff prior to publicizing. So, that’s as deep as this goes 💀

Tia was made before all these guys of course, but I kinda showed that off a little on some other ask I currently cannot find.