Arslan refuses to let summer end! He’s having way to much fun spending lazy days at Eiden’s island resort. To spice things up, they both decide to take a day trip to nearby island, famous for its secrecy, even inviting some friends along the way.
Arslan takes the passenger princess role this time, because Eiden is the only one that has a maritime license. Lets just say big blonde boy is more than happy to let his boyfriend take the wheel and pick up a tan above the sea.
Hey guys! Not a lot of lore or story on this piece, was trying to focus on producing a full illustration with a background and some visual storytelling. Which is sort of the new standard I’ll be trying to hit with each new work.
tangent
At the end of August I’ll be reaching the end of my buffer, basically 3 months ago or so – I had a backlog of illustrations so massive it was stressing me out. This included around 100 illustrations some of which were WIPS other were full color. I backed up what I wanted to keep – the rest was hit with a big massive DELETE button. Meaning I reinstalled procreate.
Now thanks to an app those illustrations are being posted daily on my twitter/x – I do feel like my style has changed even if ever so slightly, and at the end of August that backlog will be finally finished.
Because of that I’ve decided to take it slow and really give each piece the background and time it deserves. I might be outgrowing the white void. However long it takes, I wanna upload works I’m proud off and take my sweet time with each.
end tangent
Nevertheless, my style references for this piece were:
- Wind Waker
- Skyward Sword
- Links Awakening.
Of course I’m still ways off from reaching anywhere similar to the style of those games, for one, it seems I’m allergic to shadows.
But it’s good to have a goal, right?
Those 3 games affected me deeply as a teen and would play them again in a heartbeat as an adult, I’ve always been a Zelda fan anyway. But now it feels good to say it out loud, like I’m finally realizing the style path I wanna pursue. And being able to go back and reference those games for specific things really helps out when feeling directionless or like I’ve lost my way.
Maybe someday in the future I’d like to explore a darker style for my art, like Twilight Princess for example. But for now I’m in love with vibrant soft cell shaded colors. It fits into the narrative of the characters anyway and their true purpose with the story. Like, what they represent and their embodiment within their purpose of the larger narrative. I’m talking about the OG timeline (the title of this blog) now turned into Anamnesis.
My only wish is that it really becomes eye candy.
Final Takeaways:
- The boats are actually 3D, removed shadows and lights to keep in line with the flat color style.
- The water is a texture inspired by Wind Waker.
- I paid special attention to the boats and tried to make them be “on the water” as much as possible. One key take away seems to be: Boats reflect on the water and their shadow is cast on the sea floor. I would really like to deep dive into how WW handles this but I might need to turn on the game for that one. And capture references. Looking at gameplay is not enough!
- The left boat “breaking” the water really helps sell the effect that they’re in motion imo.
- This little effect was added after the fact I had already flatten the background layers so that’s why it looks a little funky. Something to take into consideration when crafting works with boats in the future.
- Of course I was gonna add the lgbtqua flag! You know that boat is blasting Lady Gaga! Should I add floptropica next?
- The NPC’s add a lot of story with little effort, like who are they, where do they come and why are they partying on their own boat? So many questions left for the viewer to answer.
- In my head they’re driving a small boat made for two and Eiden just turns back and snaps a pic real quick.
- The bokeh is probably the most important part and my favorite little thing to do. It adds realism like it’s and actual camera. And lets me control it to my hearts content.
Want more?
I just finished a new comic featuring Eduardo and Eiden, oc’s from a webtoon I’m currently working on within my story multiverse.
Also I’ve uploaded a wip, of Exploration V2. More than a year ago I started the second volume of Exploration a spicy (nsfw) comic featuring Arslan and Eiden. More info of V2RE and possibly V3 in one megapack soon. I have not given up on them!
Also since you’re all the way down here, there might also be V4????????
Yeah that’s pretty much it for now! Enjoy and have a good day!
Anamnesis 
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