#i won't put this in the art tag cus it's mostly just me rambling lmfao

[northern-passage]

so i thought i lost these pictures to time (locked myself out of my old laptop, purged my art instagram, deleted them all off the blog) BUT i found the old character lineup i did !! i forgot i had an art folder on my phone for my old art insta. i don’t know how many people remember the original art i did back in 2020, but i tend to delete a lot of the older art off the blog because i really don’t like my old art and i get self-conscious about it... but it also means i lose a lot of art.

i’m not sure if i ever did post the full lineup, if i remember correctly this version of merry was actually gender-selectable so i drew her pretty “ambiguous” and i don’t know if i ever ended up sharing her and noel. i think it’s pretty funny/interesting to see the changes both in the designs (i didn’t know how to draw or design clothes back then) and also the change in my art in just about 2 years.

first things first: no i do not know why merry is so fucking stanced. i do actually still like her design (those thigh high boots....), her & clementine’s are the two i still actually think look good here. i really like the bandana completely covering her head and i like the cowries in merry’s hair, though i think it’s funny i drew them in her hair and not noel’s when i’ve always had that as a part of noel’s character description (i still didn’t draw them in the most recent one because i forgot lol)

i do still like lea’s alchemy belt and the little bottle hanging off their other belt, too. i just wish i could remember what i was thinking with their pants. at least they’re not purple..... and they don’t even have their hooves yet :/ i remember drawing them with their hair down a lot because i couldn’t figure out how to draw a bun lmfao. rip to their eyebrow slit (but at least we have their beauty marks now... a fair trade i think)

noel’s design is the weakest in my opinion and i remember struggling the most with xem, too. not really sure what i was going for.... still have xir white boots tho 👼 and i do like xem with the longer locs in a ponytail. i cringe that i didn’t properly color his palms, i’m assuming i didn’t since i just did flat colors on all of them but i definitely still should have colored xir palms. and most obviously here is that noel started out pretty small. i think i drew this and almost immediately wanted to change his design (there are a few older pieces from this time where i Did try to make xem bigger) but i didn’t have a lot of practice drawing different body types. i’m glad that’s one thing i’ve definitely improved on since then.

it’s nice to have this to compare to the newer art and actually be able to see how much i’ve improved, and also the evolution of everyone. i remember i tried to make bases with the original lineup and i messed up every single one and couldnt use any of them again lmfao and this time i have successful bases for everyone so i can play dress up doll hehe

i also think everyone looks way warmer now and like they wouldn’t freeze their asses off in blackwater...

i also clearly went back to a more illustrative style - back in 2020 i was looking at a lot of animation and drawing my characters in that way, with flat colors and not really rendering anything, and now i’ve started moving back into a more painterly style. anyways. pretty cool! also i just realized i even coincidentally lined them up in the same order 🥺

#thanks everyone for tolerating all my art posting lately i don't share my art anywhere else so i appreciate everyone being nice :-) #i won't put this in the art tag cus it's mostly just me rambling lmfao #personal