"...laying an entire city to rest isn't something that's easy to forget."
My piece for @thehumandictionary's fic for @aurorabigbang!
Here's the fic!
And here's the rest of the collection on AO3! :D The Aurora Big Bang blog will also be reblogging everything everyone made so make sure to go check that out as well! :D
Ramblings under the cut because I like talking and you can't stop me! Includes a bit of spoilers for the fic :>
Okay, first of all, the fic was sooo good you guys have nooooo idea how hard it was for me to pick a scene to draw ToT
I ended up deciding on this one though, not only because it gave me an excuse to draw most of the outfits that I've designed for everyone, but also because I wanted to try and capture the joyous atmosphere of the party and Kendal's complicated feelings on the matter simultaneously. I thought it would be an interesting contrast to explore :> and also it's important to the core of the fic :>
That being said, outfit design rambles!!
First off, Alinua! I'm so sad that I couldn't find a place to include her in the drawing, but she was somewhere else during this scene so you guys can have an additional doodle instead. I really like making her hair as fluffy as possible lol :>
Going in chronological designing order, next up is Erin! I ended up simplifying the ruffly cape thing in the end because I just could not figure out the logistics of how it worked, but honestly the rectangular cape makes for a much cleaner silhouette anyways. Thinking back on it now, the first version would have been a bit hard to read, with all the flowy fabric going everywhere.
Next is Dainix and Falst together, I don't have as much to say about these two except I gave them matching bracelets lol. For all the beads and turquoise stuff in the final design, I was inspired by that one drawing of Dainix at a festival wearing a lot of glass beads and thought it might be fun to include that :>
Next is Vash!! I really liked the concept for this one, I was inspired by the line "I've had plenty of time to grieve. It's nice to remember" and was like hey what if Vash's outfit was a sort of memorial/tribute to the memory and history of his people soooooo you might wanna go take a closer look at the embroidery on his jacket in the final piece 👀 ignore the fact that I forgot his epaulette
Tess! Tess! Tess! I've been trying to give someone a suit-dress fusion this entire time and she finally gave me an excuse to do so!! Thanks Tess :>
also
Finally, KENDAL!! His outfit gave me soo much trouble I had to redraw him sooo many times but I loved the way it turned out! He's the main character in this fic so I wanted to make sure his design is perfect but the problem was that I didn't really know how to design tighter clothing and his shirt was described as hard to swordfight in soooo-
But it was a really interesting design exercise! I ended up settling on giving him a vest in the same style as Vash's jacket, with an undershirt made of a slightly shimmery/iridescent fabric, which also let me practice drawing stiffer fabrics (I really really like drawing flowy fabrics so this was an interesting change of pace for me). The goal was to create distinct designs for Kendal and Vash that highlights their individuality while still showing their connection to one another and I think it worked out pretty nicely. If I didn't forget the epaulette on Vash they would have made a complete set with one on the opposite shoulder each but I did forget the epaulette so uh welp. you didn't see that nope-
Bonuses time!
Location brainstorm sketches!
Paneling concepts!
Bonus doodles!
Caliban in fancy party clothes!!! Because they're my favorite dang it and I want to draw herrrrrrrrrr he can be fancy. as a treat. because I said so
Anyways yeah that's my piece for Aurora Big Bang 2025!! Thank you to TheHumanDictionary for writing this awesome fic, to Mod Floofs and Mod Goggles for organizing this awesome event, and to everyone who participated!! It was my first time participating in any sort of fandom event and everyone was so nice and talented and I had a great time! :D You guys are awesome and I really hope I get to participate again next year! :>
