maijiI did my best to capture their essence!! ...I miss Miitomo đ„ș
âïž Destruction / Strength
I love making flippy compositions! Also while I was working on this I was told/reminded that it's #Swordtember so my timing is đȘ
For closeups of the faces, wip sketches, and more commentary on cool sword names and translation: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/5345770
#StarOcean2 #StarOceanSecondStoryR #MastoArt #CreativeToots #ClaudeCKenni #ClaudeCKenny #DiasFlac
maiji: ćŁ / ć (Destruction / Strength)
Alt text description: [READ-MORE] [Black and white digital ink-brush style illustration in a flipping composition similar to a playing card design. Claude and Dias from Star Ocean The Second Story wielding their new Second Story R ultimate weapons, the blades crossing each other at the centre of the illustration. 1) Illustration with Claude oriented upright at the top. He's glancing up towards his left, with broad diagonal strokes of ink splashed behind him. White splatters across it create the effect of the white background being slashed to reveal a view of spiral galaxies and stars behind him. Characters to the top left read "destruction" with an accompanying kanji. 2) Illustration with Dias oriented upright at the top. He's looking down and glancing towards his right, with broad diagonal strokes of ink splashed behind him giving the impression of multiple slashes with blood splatters. Text to the top left read "strength" with an accompanying kanji.][/READ-MORE]Detail and wips[READ-MORE][2 close up images of Claude and Dias' expressions][The illustration at various sketch stages. One is a very rough sketch, the other is more refined and detailed with facial expressions. The swords positions shift in the two sketches, and the crossing of the blades has a more open angle.] [/READ-MORE]I love conceiving flippy compositions, so it was fun to come up with this after having not done one in quite a while! I also worked in a bit of calligraphy practice! Hope it looks okay; calligraphy is hard.This illustration is inspired by Claude and Diasâ new Second Story R ultimate weapons! They are, respectively, âAzure Swordâ Planeteer [Destruction] and âFlashing Bladeâ Hachimentei [Strength]. The words in quote marks are the weapon descriptors/titles, which are my translation attempts from the original Japanese. The official translation dropped them. I was like aww, but they're cool⊠But theyâre also a lot shorter character count-wise in Japanese, so maybe thatâs why we lost them in English, haha. The special kanji, or [bracketed words], appear at the end of the name after you upgrade the weapons to even more ultimate forms. Because ultimacy is endless these days. Iâm super into poetic/symbolic/thematic names and translation contortions, and the names of the weapons these two use have a lot of that kind of stuff. For those interested, I made an overview of all of them, with commentary!.Something I didnât mention in that post is fun Buddhist connections for the special kanji. ćŁ (translated as âDestructionâ) appears in the term ćŁć« ekou - âkalpa of destructionâ. A kalpa, often translated as eon or aeon, is essentially a massive time period measuring the cyclical rise and annihilation of worlds. This kalpa is the third, the age in which the universe is destroyed. Sometimes it's also translated as "kalpa of disintegration". ć (translated as âStrengthâ) appears in the term éć kongo - âvajraâ. A vajra is a conceptual weapon so powerful, made of a material so brilliant and hard, that it can cut through anything, including the delusion that blocks you from enlightenment. Itâs usually referenced or envisioned metaphorically as a diamond or a thunderbolt.
Dream Team Then and Now đ€
Blueberries forever!! đȘ (also Sword of Life is life đ )
Full transcript + commentary on fighting with Claude, Ernest, Dias, Bowman over the years: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/5226448
#StarOcean2 #StarOceanSecondStoryR #comics #fanart #fancomic #ClaudeCKenni #ClaudeCKenny #DiasFlac #ErnestRaviede #BowmanJean #BowmanJeane #gameplay
maiji: Dream Team Then and Now (Star Ocean 2/Second Story R)
[images: Comic with digital inks and rough painted colours, titled âDream Team Then and Now" by maiji. It is a 2-panel comic about the artist's favourite battle party in Star Ocean 2: Claude, Ernest, Dias, Bowman. Full story and detailed descriptions in the text below.]Full transcript [READ-MORE]Then (Star Ocean The Second Story):Dias and Ernest are coughing up blood and collapsing left and right.Claude is throwing blueberries at them, and glances over at Bowman while screaming and crying: Oh my god!! Dias and Ernest are dying!! Help!! Bowman!! Youâre a doctor!! Please!! Rena only lets me use blueberries!! Bowman!!Bowman, in the background flying upside down through the air, completely oblivious: ha ha ha Pillory!Now (Star Ocean The Second Story R):Claude, his eyes blacked out horror-movie style with dark circles under them, is wearing Bloody Armor and cross-body sling bags packed with blueberries and blackberries. Heâs wielding the Aeterna with 20% HP Drain and equipped with Sword of Life, and radiating ominous constantly-dying energy. His speech bubbles look like theyâre dripping blood. He says: Okay. Weâre ready for the next boss battle. *arrow that reads: Rena still wonât let him use anything except for berries*Dias is sweating bullets and standing behind Claude, eyeing him with a very nervous expression. Ernest, also standing behind Claude and sweating nervously, looks over his shoulder at Bowman.Bowman, still in the background flying upside down through the air obliviously: ha ha ha Neck Snap![/READ-MORE]In the PS1 days: One of the reasons Claude, Ernest, Dias and Bowman were my dream team is because I like my battles with fast-paced chaos. All four of them are frontline fighters with short- and long range attacks that allow them to fly across the entire field. However, this team configuration was not considered optimal for a variety of reasons. The biggest one is that there is no healer. Players also had varying complaints about things like: Diasâ low defence; Ernestâs special moves leaving him open to hits; Bowmanâs slow normal attack speed; et cetera. (As main character, Claude is designed to be one of your best fighters, so complaints about him in battle were uncommon.) Additionally, the way I played and used the game AI meant that all four of them had a tendency to swarm the enemy with attack spams. This meant everyone was concentrated in one place, especially with a boss. If there was a localized area attack, theyâd all get hit at the same time. Because both Claude and Bowman had moves where they could heal themselves (Energy Sword and Secret Medicine, respectively), they were usually OK. I almost always controlled Claude, so I would leave Bowman to his own devices, and heal Dias and Ernest with items when I needed to. However, Little Me was not particularly good at paying attention to peopleâs HP. So I often didnât notice they were dying until, well, they were really dying or dead. Or paralyzed, poisoned, stoned, etc. So, Dias and Ernest died a lot. Additionally, Little Me was very cheap and had a tendency of hoarding items in my inventory. But I usually had lots of berries and they were very easy to replenish. So, that was what Iâd use. Even if I had significantly better healing items. Today: I talk about HP Drain on the Eternal Sphere/Aeterna and Bloody Armor here. (I feel like the actual experience of wearing something like Bloody Armor in real life would be pretty terrible.) Claudeâs Energy Sword, Sword of Life in the remakes, has been upgraded in SO2R to be absolutely ridiculous. It recovers HP not just for him but also nearby allies, and even attacks the enemy at the same time. You can now play Claude as a very mobile, high damage-dealing healer. Basically this little 19 year old on-call medic running around the battlefield after anyone whoâs dying. I havenât noticed much difference in my experience of Dias, whose attacks were always strong and fast, nor Bowman, aside from the latter seeming to heal himself less frequently in my gameâŠ? But Ernest is fantastic now, and combined with the range of his whip, itâs great. He certainly seems faster, at times killing things across the field before even Dias or Claude can reach them. This team still has a tendency to swarm, practically running on top of each other trying to attack the enemy. Before this was a bad thingâin fact while playing SO2R I had an instance of all four of them getting Tractor Beamed together and dumped upside down on their heads right as the battle ended, which cracked me up. But now, itâs rare because theyâre all so fast and break enemies frequently, and in any case the close proximity now also means everyone is in range for Sword of Lifeâs healing spirals. And then the enemy often breaks at the same time, and everyone continues spamming attacks nonstop. Despite being a multi-Fol-liannaire in SO2R, I am still very cheap and hoard my items. I continue to sell things or use them for Item Creation when my inventory gets too full, instead of using them in battle. Old habits die hard. Blueberry bonanza for everyone. Yes, yes, thereâs now Assault Formation, and you can now summon a bunch of all-party heals via Rena, Noel, Opera without them having to actually be in the active party. The problem is 1) thereâs a recovery time for the Assault Formation heals before you can use them again and 2) honestly I just keep forgetting it exists and default to Claude Sword of Life-ing and throwing blueberries. This comic is actually outdated now, because I did more Remaking and got the entire dream team HP Drain on their weapons with Bloody Armor, so all four of them get to be invincible (unless they have a hard time reaching something...) and constantly dying in battle. Thus I blasted through Fienel and the final boss five times and am now blasting through the Fun City Arena, raid bosses, etc. With the periodic Sword of Life and berries, of course.
Ashton, Gyoro and Ururun; Dias and Claude for qmy and Peko đ Ink and water are so fun to work with! These were done with a Sailor Fude de Mannen and a waterbrush for blobbing the ink for shading.
(Old post about my tools and techniques here: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/623322)
#StarOcean2 #StarOceanSecondEvolution #StarOceanTheSecondStoryR #AshtonAnchors #DiasFlac #ClaudeCKenni #ClaudeCKenny #fanart #ink #FountainPenInk
maiji: How I got into/work with ink (an artist's perspective)
This is a cleaned-up version of a post from November 14, 2018 on tumblr in response to a question about how I use inks in my artwork. Sharing in case it is helpful for others interested in this medium!How I got into itItâs only been in the last maybe five or so years that Iâve actually started to pay more attention to art supplies. In the case of ink, it really started with fountain pens.Long story short, one of my professors was really into them and let me try one of his vintage pens, and I was vaguely interested. Then my best friend really got into them, and I tagged along to a fountain pen show (shoutout to Scriptus Toronto!!). From there it was a slow burn over a period of months from âthis is neatâ to âWOWWW OKAY I GUESS IâM REALLY INTO THIS NOWâ.It was a (relatively, for me) quick entry once I discovered the online fountain pen community. These people are incredibly passionate, highly articulate, and best of all, document EVERYTHING. I found the ink reviews especially spectacular and thatâs probably what hooked me the most.A few other things that helped in the appeal factor:I have a tendency to grip writing implements excessively hard, which is bad for my hands. A number of people mentioned that fountain pens helped them to alleviate this because generally you donât need/want to apply pressure when using them. Iâve found it has helped, and also has enabled me to reduce unnecessary pressure even when writing or drawing with more conventional pens (ballpoints etc.).Iâve always been interested in forms that combine words and images. This merges literary and artistic worlds in a very clear way.Iâve been on a long personal journey of wanting to incorporate much more Chinese/Taiwanese/East Asian heritage and cultural traditions into my work. Thus, Iâve been gravitating towards things emphasizing brush, ink, water, elements of calligraphy and⊠not sure if spontaneity is the word I want, but things that help me overthink less when I draw, and get better at letting go. How I work with inkMy (main) toolsFude de mannen: This is basically a fountain pen that mimics a brush for Asian calligraphy. It has a bent nib that enables you to change stroke thickness by varying your hand angle. I love this pen so much I got a second one so I could have a different colour (I use washi tape to help me tell the pens apart). You can see more of it in the video interview I did with PindotPress.Brush pen: A pen that is a brush. A number of companies make them; I use the Pentel Pocket Brush because itâs the first one I tried and I liked it a lot. Itâs smooth, has great line variation, and the tip has yet to fail me. (Although the cap started falling apart, hence all the tape on my first one.) I currently have three: one for permanent black, one for permanent red, and one because I couldnât resist buying a coloured version of the pen.Glass dip pen: These dip pens are pretty, but what's awesome is that they are super easy and fast to clean. I can quickly switch between multiple colours of bottled inks. The grooves in the nib hold ink, so you need to slightly turn the pen as you go to access all the ink. You can also get a wider stroke by slanting the pen and using the side of the glass nib. Itâs not that easy to control your lines, but I actually like this because it creates a lot of happy accidents. And âoops well damn" accidents, but like I said Iâm trying to cultivate the whole âlearn to let go" mindset.Waterbrush: Basically a brush that carries its own water reservoir. Iâve used a few different brands but I find I like the Pentel Aquash (small brush tip) the best. Some people fill them with ink like a brush pen, but Iâve not really done that. (I did it once with a different brand that was harder to open/refill and I got mad.) I use it to paint with the inks.Pencil I got for free: Unless I'm doodling, I usually draw base pencils of some sort. Even if itâs just a very rough, light sketch or a quick thumbnail on another sheet of paper. Every so often I get an inquiry asking what special kind of pencil I use, but Iâm afraid theyâre just normal pencils rolled with recycled newsprint. I got free samples like a million years ago and I have been using them forever. (I think Iâm finally down to my last three.)Eraser: Iâve been trying a few different ones but it takes me forever to work through an eraser. You want it to be able to pick up the lines without requiring you to scrub and take the ink too or destroying the fibres of your paper. This one actually works pretty well. If youâre really curious you can see the non-destroyed packaging here!Toilet or tissue paper: Something to pick up the water. This is my âundo buttonâ in real life when Iâm painting/using the waterbrush. Also I drown everything with water so itâs very important.Ink swatches: Every time I get a new ink I make a sample and add it here. Itâs great for colour palettes and when Iâm looking at other inks and trying to decide whether to get it or not - e.g., is it different from everything I already have? (Although my definition of âdifferentâ is very generousâŠ) I donât actually own all these inks; some were samples from friends. Iâve found I tend to gravitate towards very complex, nuanced neutrals. (This sounds so sophisticated but when you see them all it once itâs like. Oh. Apparently I like shades of grey, brown, and other hard to classify "muddyâ or in-between colours lmao. But more on that in a bit.) Lately Iâve been getting glittery inks because theyâre fun and they add a magical dimension to the physical piece.Here is my current selection of inks - on the shelf to the immediate left of my laptop and my head as I am typing this right now. The box at the bottom left is all the samples. My approachIn my mind, I broadly classify my approach into two categories: âdryâ and âwetâ.âDryâ - ink only, no water. I have pretty unsteady hands and hate âinkingâ - if we think of inking as an exercise in achieving a âcleanâ, controlled line drawing with consistent line width/stroke thickness, neatness, etc. So I love pens that support me in what I think of as "controlled loss of control" - wide variations in brush width and stroke character. Brush pens and fude de mannen pens are perfect for this. They have lines that offer a wide range of dynamic, organic, and textural opportunity. My Inktober illustrations fall into this category. A few examples below, followed by links to the full set.Inktober 2017 - fude de mannenInktober 2018 - brush penâWetâ - Basically I blob water around. Depending on when I do it (before, with/during, after the application of the ink), you can get different results. The water causes the ink to bleed, semi-watercolour-like, and can be used for shading, environmental effects etc. For obvious reasons, this works best with non-waterproof inks (which the vast majority of fountain pen inks are), but you can do this even with waterproof inks. Just let the ink hit water before it has a chance to soak into the paper and you can get cool effects! And you can also do it with other pens too, not just fountain pen inks. Examples:Tiles of Toronto urban sketch seriesRaizen and Hokushin doodlesArikoto from OokuAs you might imagine, this is really great for on-the-go drawings, because you just need a pen (or a couple of pens) and a waterbrush.The âwetâ approach is also where the very complex inks that look âboringâ (greys, taupes etc.) are just complete magic. When the dye elements separate, other colours emerge, and you get really wonderful textural effects and rings of colour where the ink pools and dries. Diamine Earl Grey is a colour Iâve mentioned several times that I LOOOVE because it separates into blues, browns, purples, even pinkish tones. Itâs a gorgeous ink. You can see some examples and closeups here.Another colour that does this really powerfully is Sailor Jentle Rikyucha. Itâs a dark tea brown-green that separates very easily into pale blue-greens and more and has amazing tonal and textural qualities. The Tendril Wreath illustration here really shows this.For the most part I look at things I like and then experiment to figure out what happens. After working with the same tools for a while, you get a sense of how the different elements might react and respond naturally. The Genjimonogatari series employs both dry and wet extensively and is an example of the experimenting and playing Iâm doing. I keep finding new aspects to the inks I thought I knew, and making âinterestingâ mistakes. And trying to fix them as I go with varying levels of success. But Iâm always learning!One more thing about this hobbyI feel compelled to finish with some talk about the pure aesthetic appeal, or the MULTIPLE LEVELS OF FUN I get out of these inks. Not just the colour, not just how the ink behaves, but⊠the name of the ink as well! Similar to how the presentation of a dish is part of the experience, the name of an ink adds so much to my enjoyment of it. My least favourite ink names are [standard adjective]+[standard colour name]. My favourite ones are really convoluted with literary and poetic references, I just love them. Asian fountain pen inks I find tend to do this especially well - partly because of how much you can pack into how few syllables, I suppose. It makes me sad that a lot of sites donât include the original names, often referencing them with just a number, though I understand it is difficult to translate. But I learn a lot with these names as a starting point!For example, bookpenscom #25 Zhenjing is a gorgeous warm brown with generous gold flakes. To understand the name, it took a bit of back and forth with my parents to look it up and then interpret the complex line of poetry. It was a fun and fascinating exercise. The source is â18 Songs of a Nomad Fluteâ by Liu Shang about the poet Lady Wenji/Cai Yan/Tsai Yen. The phrase âzhenjingâ conveys an internal tremor, shock/shudder. A great name canât save an ink I donât like, but a good name elevates an ink I do like even more. It can be really inspiring for making stuff. For example, take Pen BBS Mirrorflower Watermoon. I adore the colour of this ink - itâs a very subtle grey-pale green with silver flakes. I used it heavily in the Hokushin fanart âNorthern Deityâ (you can see it here with photos of the sparkly).The name is actually highly recognizable if youâre familiar with classic East Asian literature/poetry. I read it out loud to my parents with no context other than âthis is the name of one of my favourite ink coloursâ while they were eating dinner and they both said at the same time, âI know this! DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER!â which cracked me up. Itâs a very Buddhist idiom or phrase referring to the illusory nature of things, likening it to the reflection of a flower in a mirror or the reflection of the moon in water.I hope this helps others in exploring and playing with this lovely medium!
Welcome, Dias!
Gaming is eating up drawing time...
Full transcript and commentary: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/5175704
#StarOcean2 #StarOceanSecondStoryR #ClaudeCKenni #ClaudeCKenny #DiasFlac #RenaLanford #comic #fanart #fancomic
maiji: Welcome, Dias!
[images: Comic with digital inks and rough painted colours, titled âWelcome, Dias! a true story (sort of, every time I play Rena's story)" by maiji. It is a short story about the artist's gameplay shenanigans every time Dias is recruited, translated into a narrative. Full story and detailed descriptions in the text below.]Full Transcript [READ-MORE]Welcome, Dias! Part 1 - a true story (sort of, every time I play Rena's story)Rena: Yay! Dias finally joined the party! At last!Rena: *holding up an egg and grains* Dias, letâs cook something!Dias: I donât know how to cook. [Knife, Recipe, Keen Eye skills level: 0]*Rena points at Claude, making him write textbooks for Dias to learn skills*Rena: Dias, letâs go fishing!Dias: I donât know how to fish. [Biology, Item Knowledge skills level: 0]*once again, Rena makes Claude write textbooks for Dias, repeat ad infinitum. The pile of textbooks grows bigger*Claude: *looking frazzled at Dias as he frantically writes textbooks* How the heck did you survive when you were travelling alone??Dias: Mm? *chewing on raw meat and grass*Welcome, Dias! Part 2 - a true story (sort of, every time I play Rena's story)Claude: *wiping his brow and still trying to write textbooks as fast as he can*Dias: *waiting for Claude to finish writing more textbooks. He notices a random book lying around that he hasnât read yet**reads the book, which turns out to be The Great Star Ocean*Someone else (probably another party member): Huh? Whenâd their relationship level get so high? He literally just joined downstairsâŠ??The end.[/READ-MORE]As seen here:[status screen showing Dias' Friendship Levels. He has 3.5 full hearts for Claude, 1.75 full hearts for Rena, and 0 hearts for everyone else.]This is essentially what I do whenever I recruit Dias into my party in every version of this game (aside from Fishing being a new thing in SO2R). Honestly, the main reason this is "sort of" a true story is because Rena didnât actually make Claude write the books after Dias joined. Rena made Claude write them way back when I was in Linga and Hilton because, as mentioned previously, I was full on prepping for Dias' recruitment. So Claudeâs been forced to lug all these textbooks around the whole time, hahaha.Some commentary on the book-based relationship manipulation system. [READ-MORE]Ocean of Stars (original PS1 translation)/The Great Star Ocean (SE and SO2R translation) is of course one of Claudeâs two relationship books. In the original game, this was the one for romance values, and the other is Planet of the Winds/Planet of Wind which was for friendship values. Book effects were unidirectional and only changed the affection/relationship values for the character reading the book.[screenshot showing successful item creation of two copies of The Great Star Ocean. The description reads: A book written by Claude. "The patrol ship Palma raced across the deep ocean of stars that spread all around..." Effect: Friendship Level with Claude will become 28.]SO2R seems to have collapsed the two types of values into a single âfriendshipâ level, and itâs bidirectional now: reading the book affects one relationship score for the writer and the reader at the same time. So instead of affecting specifically romance values, Ocean of Stars/The Great Star Ocean now gives a massive overall relationship boost at this relatively early part of the game. Based on the description of the item, it also looks like they maintained the mechanism that instead of giving points, it actually sets the relationship to a specific number of points. So if Dias and Claudeâs relationship grows more (which it already has since Iâve passed several story scenes and PAs beyond the Frontlines), if this book is used again, it would actually reset them back down to a lower score. Doesnât really matter for Dias and Claude since they only have one ending, but I wonder how they chose to treat situations where two characters had multiple possible endings? They used to be based on the two different types of values, and whether the charactersâ individual scores were lower/higher or equal, but it seems like thatâs gone now. The only thing I can think of is that the endings will now be points based? So some endings will be considered higher points? My guess.Anyways, for those interested, hereâs what the points look like visually. This first screen is when you first meet Dias in Mars, you can only see his score with Rena, who he's known for at least a decade.[status screen showing Dias' Friendship Levels when he's a guest character in Mars Village. He has about 1.5 hearts for Rena.]This screen is when you officially recruit Dias. I went back to grab the screenshot from before I had slapped him with a ton of books (seen at the top of this post). [status screen showing Dias' Friendship Levels when he officially joins at the Lacour Frontlines. He has about .25 heart for Claude, 1.75 full hearts for Rena, and 0 hearts for everyone else.]You can see he doesnât like anyone except for Rena and Claude. Literally nothing for anyone else. As an interesting point of comparison, his friendship level with Claude visually appears to be the same as Leon's starting values for the characters he's closest to. You can see Leon's starting values here - this is guest Leon in a Rena game, so I can't keep him.[status screen showing Leon's Friendship Levels when he is a guest during the Hoffman Ruins. He has .25 of a heart for Claude, Rena, Bowman, and 0 hearts for everyone else.] Thanks to goofing off with some items earlier, I know for sure that two full hearts = 16 points, so one full heart is 8 points. Ocean of Stars now sets the store to a walloping 28 points, which is what you see for Claude in the first Dias screen in this post. Thus, that tiny sliver on Claude when Dias first joins should be about 2 points, and Dias' starting value with Rena is about 14 points. At 28 points, it brings in those little floating heart icons around the character. I assume it means 1) one character will now berserk when the other dies in battle, and 2) their ending is guaranteed unless I consciously mess it up further and introduce some serious competition. Fear not, Iâm keeping a careful eye on this. Though at this point there's essentially zero chance of anyone else catching up since Dias and Claude are almost at max hearts now, hahah. (And even if that somehow happens, I already have two copies of Planet of the Winds ready to slap a reset to 16 points.)I havenât actually been able to confirm 1) yet because my dream team has been doing too well in battle and completely destroyed the bosses during the battles where I remembered Dias hilariously dying a lot (and getting hit with a million status effects at the same time)... Maybe later. I do remember the Field of Might boss is one where I used to get it because Claude AI would keep running into the instant death attack, so we shall see![/READ-MORE]
Yaaaay the first set is done!! đ
Star Ocean The Second Story Modern Wear Group 1: The Found Family
Closeup of the four of them, plus commentary:
https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/5010029
#MastoArt #CreativeToots #fanart #fashion #StarOcean2 #StarOceanTheSecondStory #StarOceanSecondStoryR #LeonDSGeeste #ClaudeCKenny #DiasFlac #RenaLanford
maiji: Second Story Modern Wear - Group 1: The Found Family
[image set of digital illustrations. 1) Leon, Claude, Dias and Rena from Star Ocean The Second Story, in contemporary clothing. Text reads "The Found Family". 2) Spread showing full body version of the illustrations over a space themed background. Next to each character is a short profile listing each character's age, birthday, zodiac sign, height.]This is a series of illustrations Iâve been slowly poking at, on and off, between other things. The idea is every (original playable) member of the Star Ocean 2 cast in modern casual wear that feels realistic for their personality and style. Iâve sketched out all the outfits, and am redrawing and refining them properly so that I can have fun lining them up and assembling them into collages and groups! There are 12 characters in total, so Iâm hoping to gradually complete and post them in batches of 4. Thanks to my friend orange for acting as my creative director and helping me finalize the layout of the text and boxes across the spread, haha.First up: our found family duos. I love that when Star Ocean 2 makes you choose whose story you play, itâs also essentially making you choose between a pair of siblings. You get either child genius mage Leon and his big brother Claude, or master swordsman Dias and his little sister Rena. Both have very cute found family dynamics. For example, Claude and Leon can go to the theme park and see a super cheesy Power Rangers-style kids show. Partway through Claude is really incredulous, like âWTF is this??â and then he looks over at Leon giggling with excitement and heâs like âGuess I better watch till the endâŠâ and it always makes me laugh. And Dias is constantly trying to give Rena advice to not piss off her friends while sheâs like âDias is an old man! Dias doesnât know what heâs talking about!â Plus one of Renaâs official profiles confirms she gave Dias headaches when she was little because she'd make stuff up and then talk about them as if they were real. Yes, yes, youâre saving the world and youâre very cool, but you can also be a dorky sibling with your charming family relationships. It just makes everyone feel so well-rounded! Sadly, the way the story choice is set up means all four of them together as your actual party is gameplay impossible⊠but we know itâs canonically possible! Also Tri-Ace gifts us so many details about every character; I couldâve put a ton of other facts in the image. Do you want their weight? Their favourite food? Their favourite musical instrument? The kind of books they would write? And so on. More commentary about the outfits and characters below the cut.[READ-MORE]Leon D.S. Geeste: His clothes were probably picked out by his mom, or Claudeâs mom. I had a bit of a challenge figuring out his colour palette, but I think this works without being too similar or too different from his official palette. I always thought it was really cute that his original design has a fanny pack, so I have converted it into a crossbody. I was originally going to draw him holding a book, but then changed it to an oversized OLED Switch on a whim. Random story: After Nintendo released the DS Lite, my friends and I would sometimes call him Leon D.S. Lite.Also, the game has a Cooking Master competition which is basically Iron Chef. Every character who enters as a challenger gets introduced with their own special title, and they all have a reaction to it. Many many years ago I played the game enough times to recruit and enter every single character, so I wrote it all down. These are the original PS1 English translations. Here's Leon's. Leon's Cooking Master IntroThe Little Big Chef, Leon!!Leon: (angry cloud) You don't need the 'little' part!! Claude C. Kenni: His outfit was a no-brainer for me. Streetwear hoodie with warp-space Calnus starship print and cargo pants! Bunched up fabric around elbows and knees are some of my favourite things to draw, and the pale khaki+white palette plays up a contemporary Warrior of Light aesthetic. I styled his hair closer to the vibes of his actual game sprite, a kind of mushroom/bowl undercut, with this one funny part that sticks out in the back and bounces up and down when heâs walking in profile. I draw Claude so much that I was like oh heâll be super easy!⊠until I realized partway through that I rarely ever draw people with their backs to the viewer. Suffice to say itâs taking everything I have to not turn this post into a whole rant about drawing butts. Butts are very hard to draw. I went on about this over at Mastodon for days. Anyways, Iâm relieved itâs over, and no one else in this series will have their back to the viewer so help me god. Claude's Cooking Master IntroThe Peace Corps Cuisine Squad Chief, Claude!!Claude: Huh? What is that. Dias Flac: The simplicity of the end result belies how much I struggled with him (though, as it turned out, not as much as I struggled with you-know-what. Dias was more a struggle at the beginning; Claude was more a struggle at the end. That was a completely unintentional pun). I wanted him to look cool, but I also wanted him to look like he didnât spend more than 30 seconds thinking about what to wear. I feel like Dias would be one of those people who has multiples of the same shirt and pants all in the same colour over and over because âitâs fine, why do I need anything else, save brain power/effort for other thingsâ. I gave him an umbrella at the last minute to replace his sword. I also consciously drew his hair much less scruffy than I usually draw it, because this Dias would have access to shampoo and conditioner. Dias' Cooking Master Intro The Silent Cooking Master, Dias!!!Dias: ... How stupid. Rena Lanford: To me, Rena fashion should be something cute and light and pretty, with cozy knit elements. I knew the overall look and articles of clothing I wanted to give her: a skirt with tights or high socks, a little puffy-sleeved cardigan. Moon motif and pastelly felt right. The main things I spent more time trying to figure out are details and accessories. Also gave her an emerald pendant to dangle with her Quadratic Key because of that PA she has with Claude in SalvaRena's Cooking Master IntroThe Love of Home Cooking Fighting Woman, Rena!!Rena: (...)** this is the actual animated dot dot dot, so it's not text. It comes up as a speech bubble over her head and then three dots slowly coming in one at a time for emphasis.[/READ-MORE]Upcoming (will link these once I finish all the posts) The Found Family (you are here) The Expellians The Off-Worlders Everyone together!
My archives of Past Me whatevering on #StarOcean2 is the gift that never stops giving. I'll periodically post more amusing things Iâve found in old folders.
10+ years ago, several friends and I were critiquing character designs. One person said something to the effect of, âThe shoulder rings on Diasâ cloak make no senseâ. I replied, âI disagree. I believe theyâre one of the parts of his character design that actually make sense. Hereâs whyâ and quickly drew this to explain my theory.
Every so often, my brain does a thing during sleep time housekeeping where it jams together a bunch of stuff Iâve been doing/thinking about and manages to make a coherent slice-of-life dream/fanfic that I actually remember when I wake up. Here's this morning's!
Full story/commentary: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/4896128
#StarOcean2 #StarOceanSecondStoryR #ClaudeCKenni #ClaudeCKenny #DiasFlac #dreams #BubbleTea #comic
maiji: Bubble tea with Dias
[image: Digital comic titled âBubble tea with Dias - a random dream from maijiâs REM brain". It is a short story where the narrator has a dream about being Claude from Star Ocean 2. Claude finds Dias at a new bubble tea/ice cream/cake shop. Dias doesn't know what to order and won't get out of the line so Claude ends up having to read the whole menu to him while the line behind them is getting really long. Full story and detailed descriptions in the text below.]Every so often, my brain does a thing during sleep time housekeeping where it jams together a bunch of stuff Iâve been doing/thinking about and manages to make a coherent slice-of-life dream/fanfic that I actually remember when I wake up. Thatâs how you get things like âA cute dreamâ (Touken Ranbu) and âA random dreamâ (Yu Yu Hakusho). This morning I had a funny Star Ocean 2 one that amused me, so here it is!Full story below the cut. [READ-MORE]So in this dream, I am Claude. Dias and I must be on Earth, because there are Starbucks Starfol? coffee and retail shops and whatever everywhere, some kind of outdoor shopping complex. Dias seems to have wandered off. But thatâs fine, heâs over six feet tall so he should be pretty easy to spot. Sure enough, I go around a corner and I see him standing in front of a new place that just opened. It seems to be a bubble tea, ice cream and cake shop. He has his hood pulled up over his head, and Iâm like, isnât he hot in this weather? Heâs also still wearing all his Expellian clothing/cloak/sword gear etc. but maybe people just assume heâs cosplaying. I pull my jacket hood over my head so at least he wonât be alone in looking weird on that front, and then I go over and stand behind him and say, âHey, do you know what youâre getting?â Dias turns to me and says âNo.â And then he turns back to continue looking at whatever he was looking at, which I assume is the menu. Which I canât see because Dias is blocking me. (Being 5â9 is apparently not tall enough in this dream to see anything.) But I have now committed to standing in the line with him so as to not disrupt things. Plus Iâm not sure Dias actually has currency they will accept, and he definitely doesnât have any credit cards, so I figure I better stay with him.Eventually we get to the front, and the staff at the counter asks Dias what he would like, and he makes a vague pointing gesture. And now that Iâm at the front next to him, I can see what he pointed at isnât a menu sign, itâs some random ad for something else, and I say, âYou canât order that. Thatâs not a thing.â and I tug his cloak slightly to the left where the actual menu is. Which is, as expected of a bubble tea place, a hugeass list with a ton of options just for the drinks, not to even mention the desserts.As I look at the very lengthy menu, I realize: Oh no. Dias doesnât know how to read this.So now Iâm doing that thing where you start scanning the whole menu, quickly realize itâs impractical to read every single item out, and switch to trying to narrow it down to one section or characteristic. âOkayâdo you want fruit? Do you want chocolate? Juice-based?? Milk tea??? One of their specialties????â And, infuriatingly, Dias keeps saying âNo. Hmm. No. No. No.â and I keep glancing over my shoulder and people keep coming in and Iâm like ahhhh the line behind us is getting longer!!! I know you can do things in ten seconds, PICK SOMETHING!!!Then my alarm went off so I donât know what we ended up ordering. Next time Iâll make an executive decision for him. If I can remember, haha.[/READ-MORE]
Pew! Haven't drawn chibis in a long time, hehe.
#MastoArt #CreativeToots #doodles #sketchbook #FountainPen #PencilCrayon #ClaudeCKenni #ClaudeCKenny #DiasFlac #StarOcean2 #StarOceanSecondStoryR
Had a good laugh last night discovering the Onsen Rena Rush Mode attacks in Anamnesis. So fanservicey (but equal opportunity fanservice) and very funny. Thank you people who record everything, haha.
There are 2 versions: a ladies' one with Opera, Celine, Chisato, and a men's one with Claude and Dias.
Video, summary, translations: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/4885509
#StarOceanAnamnesis #OnsenRena #StarOcean2 #RenaLanford #ClaudeCKenni #ClaudeCKenny #DiasFlac #OperaVectra #CelineJules #ChisatoMadison
maiji: Onsen Rena special attack animations (Star Ocean Anamnesis)
[image: Screenshot from Star Ocean Anamnesis of Onsen Rena - Rena in a kimono and haori with a little tub of hot spring accessories (rubber duck, towel, bottle of shampoo or soap) and adjusting a butterfly hair ornament in front of a snow-laden outdoor hotspring with large pink SO2 bunnies hanging out in the waters.]A little mystery I had a while back that I resolved last night to much laughing. There's an amazing deviantART account by user Mihna-Cohrvenn who's pulled a bunch of models from Star Ocean Anamnesis. (I referenced the Claude model when drawing Shikifuku/Ceremonial Claude!) I was rather confused when going through them because there are several "onsen" models, including Dias and Claude, where they're just literally wearing a towel (I mentioned it in this post where I was like "I assume these are not battle models, that would be awkward lol"). Anyways, I finally actually read the description last night and learned these appear in Onsen Rena's Rush Mode attack, so I thought, hmm, interesting. I will look this up!(For the following, bear in mind I've everything I know about Anamnesis is through random searching and watching videos, and my Japanese is meh to ehhh especially when I can't see the text/any kanji.)Onsen Rena (æłé·ăŹă Senkyou Rena "[Hot] Spring Village Rena") is a cute Rena in a kimono and haori who attacks with a giant rifle because why not? From what I can tell, there seem to be two variations of the Rush Mode attack: a ladies one with Opera, Celine and Chisato, and a men's one with Claude and Dias. The idea is the same in both - Onsen Rena detects a creeper peeping on the onsen and she must protect the modesty of her friends!! The view of the people in the onsen is literally a split-second flythrough shot and then a split-second very cramped and partially obscured shot because of the game UI. To see all the little details, you really need to catch a recording and then slow the playback and increase the video quality as much as you can. You can see both of them here, one after the other. This video is a compilation of a bunch of different Rena rush combos, I've just linked directly to where the Onsen Rena one is. Claude and Dias version first, then the ladies version. (I'm gonna describe them in reverse order because it's funnier to me that way.)In the Opera, Celine, Chisato version: [READ-MORE] Rena says "ăăïŒăżăăȘă©ăăăȘïŒ" ("Are? Minna, doko kana?" roughly: "Eh? Where is everyone?") Then she detects something glinting in the distance (like a pair of eyes) through a window gap in the bamboo or wood or whatever forming the structure of the onsen walls and is like ! high alert! She spins around, presses her hand to her chest in a "my word!" kind of gesture, then pulls out a hugeass rifle, exclaims "ăȘă«ăăŠăăźăăăă§ïŒïŒ" ("Nanishitenokasokode?!" - "What are you/is this [creeper] doing?!"), aims and and fires decisively. The bullet shoots past Opera relaxing in the onsen, a hand to her chin. She's facing the right and looking in Rena's direction. Her leg is in the air, almost playfully, and she's lowering it just as the bullet flies by. She seems surprised. Then it flies past Celine, who is looking over her shoulder towards Opera and also looking in the direction of the bullet, with one hand near her shoulder pointing towards it. Then past Chisato, facing the right, with one arm outstretched. The bullet reaches the window. A bunch of stuff explodes, and the creeper (the enemy you've been fighting) is knocked out into the air. Then all three ladies can be seen standing, back to the viewer and facing the creeper. Chisato and Celine pull out giant mallets from (I guess) somewhere out of the water, presumably to wallop the creeper, while we see Rena standing with her hand out behind them, still holding the rifle in her lowered arm. Then the screen goes white and there's a bunch of damage totals. [Screenshot of the three ladies facing away from the viewer at the enemy. Chisato and Celine are holding giant mallets and Opera seems to be holding something the viewer can't see. Could be a gun.][/READ-MORE]In the Claude and Dias version: [READ-MORE] Rena says, "ćżăŸă§ăă«ăă«~" ("Kokoro made poka poka~!", literally something like "From my heart, such a warm feeling!" The sentiment is like "Ahhh~ so relaxing!" like she just got out of the hot onsen.) Setup of Rena sniping the creeper is the same, only this time, Rena shouts "ăăăăăăăăŻăă !!" ("A, oishii gohan ga!" Which is literally "Oh, delicious food!!", but in this context, lol) The bullet flies past Claude chillaxing in the onsen, one foot propped up against something since you can see his knee sticking out of the water. Then past Dias who's standing in the onsen in the midst of tying his hair up, when he turns slightly towards Claude just in time to see the bullet sailing by. Once again, bullet hits the window, stuff explodes, creeper blown up. Then you see what appears to be Claude facing the viewer/Rena's direction and trying to cover himself. Behind him, Dias, who has been tracking the trajectory of the bullet and the resulting explosion with his line of sight and now has his back to the viewer, pauses in a "what the??" kind of reaction. Then he unfreezes, reaches down and pulls out a sword from, again, apparently somewhere in the water. Claude dives into the water with a splash and you can see just a little bit of his hair/top of his head still visible above water. (Because the splash effect actually starts a little before Claude goes down, I guess from Dias drawing out the sword, the first few times I watched it I thought Dias backhanded him into the water lmao. Also Claude seriously does not even turn to look at the explosion behind him hahaha.) Same ending with Rena. [Screenshot of Claude facing the viewer/Rena and trying to cover himself, and Dias behind him with his arms up in mid hair adjustment and staring away from the viewer at the explosion.][/READ-MORE]The ladies one I pretty much got on the first watch-through, and the second slowed-down review was mostly "let me confirm what they're holding up at the end". The Claude and Dias one I had to watch several times even at the slowest speed and highest video quality, because I was like, "?? Is that really what they're doing?? LOL doublecheck". The lines Rena says seem random, because I found this other clip of the ladies version but with the pokapoka and oishiigohan line.Anyways, made my day. Thanks to the hard work of the team who conceptualized and put this together, to people who post their gameplay recordings, and orange for doublechecking my listening attempts. (I literally could not parse anything Rena was saying in the oishiigohan line and I never would have guessed in a million years that's what she's saying, so it's all thanks to orange for processing it, haha.) Don't spy on Rena's friends in the onsen!!