Yeah, it's been three months since my last art update. Been very busy with a game due this October and I was just...well, busy.

A few weeks ago I noticed some friends from the art department were posting very nice pieces of digital art for what they call an "art jam" -- so being the presumptuous game designer that I am, I asked if I can join as a sort of newbie-so-don't-take-me-seriously contributor for their weekly art submission. Their previous themes were about faeries (don't ask) or orcs or other fantasy creatures, and lucky me, last week's theme was a "character from a video game." So maybe I can do this -- not with their level of skill, but I think I can scrape through with something.

Anyway, I've been meaning to do a fan art from Final Fantasy 9 for a long time, but I was just too scared or too lazy to do it; it's my favorite FF, by the way, so it's really a no-brainer. I started working on something Vivi-related last week inspired by that heartfelt scene at Dali Village where our tiny black mage discovered something horrific...



...only to replace it with another concept while traveling to work a few days later (Pro-tip: hop on a bus, sit at the corner, and just think) and decided to tie it to my previous work (a kid playing as Wander of SotC).



After a few days of experimenting and revising and polishing (and repeating almost everything), I finished the too-soon-for-Halloween boy in a Vivi costume fan art:



I'll save the dramatic Vivi scene for later. :-)