one: the little details in this game make me so happy but one of my favorites is the central reserve model built out of random office supplies. binders and boxes and erasers and someone, I know in my heart it was Jen, dumped out a plant to get the dirt for the mine.
two: watching Banks and Rion dissolve at opposite sides of the table is so good. as is Zan's increasing energy drink consumption.
Redraw of Leyendecker's "Man and Woman Dancing/Dancing Couple". Listened too much to Melancholia Waltz and imagined these two infiltrating a fancy gala for a case, as you do. I had a lot of fun doing this, enjoy!
Also, have a bit of a behind the scenes below the cut:
I painted this on grayscale first and then did the colors on Color Mode Layers. I've got a timelapse of the process and will upload it eventually, and the "Complete" timelapse lasts about 6 minutes! Crazy! (I'm uploading the 60 second version, though. unless anyone wants to see it ig??)
The flowers Jen and Dessa are wearing are carnations and asphodels and alpenroses, respectively! The first two because they're associated with death, and the second because alpenroses supposedly attract storms?? The sources were. Disputable. But they're nice, so!
Melancholia Waltz is a track from Tom Francis' first game, Gunpoint! It's straight up a detective Noir game, Banks' theme was inspired by its very jazz soundtrack (iirc, this is mentioned in the developer's commentary) and you should play it if you haven't.
also this illustration exists thanks to my bestie @ariiamgoblin, who lovingly nagged me into creating this into existence bc they knew id have fun. And they were right! :]
I love how Robby says "we're a safety net, and nets have holes" but then the entire episode is a love letter to nurses and how they keep patients from falling through the cracks. Dana immediately goes and interferes to make sure that Gus is admitted to the hospital. Perlah has the most emotional response to Louie's death, and it's the nurses who are all mourning his loss together. When Roxie is struggling with her bedpan and humiliated, Princess kindly reminds her that that's what she's here for. Dana and Emma take care of Louie's body and Dana tells Emma's that it's the last thing they can do for patients. When Joy asks Robby how Kim "already knows all that" he responds that "she just does" because she's an experienced nurse who knows what she's doing. They can't get an ASL translator so Princess tries her best with her less than perfect ASL just so a patient can know they haven't forgotten her. Donnie is taking time to teach the med students how to suture because he's better at it than the guy who's been a doctor for a week. Jesse immediately goes and gets Gus a drink because he's starving and holds the drink and straw for him. Princess comforts and holds the panicked sister of a patient as she worries about "what's wrong with him". And then, at the end, Emma holds Louie's hand because there's no one else there to hold it
robby’s suicidal ideation is so much scarier this season than last. last season we were inside his head. this season we’re experiencing him like the people around him are—temperamental & selfish & basically given up. he’s pushed the audience away as much as he has anyone else.
i feel like the visual storytelling is really supporting that in a few ways; we're not accompanying robby into private, quiet moments anymore, we don't see his flashbacks and the way they affect how he treats the people around him in their aftermath, we're not seeing him try to stay calm & collected for other people's behalf.
and as robby's behavior likely becomes more erratic and angrier as the day goes on, as he pushes the people that love him further and further away... it's going to be interesting to see if the show frames that kind of breakdown. because it's just as much of a mental health crisis, but it's a significantly less easy one for the audience to sympathize with when the show is keeping us at arm's length.
i think that that's an immensely interesting storytelling decision and i am really, really excited (and terrified) to see how it unfolds.