I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is my BIGGEST DRAWING YET. This project spanned 500+ layers because I didn't want to reference just one mode from the game - I went for EVERY MODE, even the minigames! Over the past 11 days, I worked on one section of the art at a time to avoid burnout, trying my best to represent each and every mode with utmost love and dedication to the game. I even tossed in bonus constellations for some of the other characters that debuted in this game!
This isn't just one big drawing celebrating a Kirby game released 30 years ago. This is a monument honoring the legacy of a video game that defined the little pink puff's future for years to come. And it introduced me to one of Kirby's greatest villains who persists as one of the most prominent and popular to the franchise to this very day, even helping me get into this quaint little franchise that helped guide my art career.
Happy Mermay! I've been trying to figure out how I want to play with Mermaids in the Kirby universe for a while now, and I think we've made some progress. Meet Petite Lobster and Squee, both affectionately named by my Twitch chat. XD
Squee doesn't have a lot of story at the moment. She's really just "Squishy, but make it a mermaid". Petite however, is a little more fleshed out. The story we came up with was that she's made from the same metal as Heavy Lobster from Kirby Superstar, and her primary objective is to collect parts of ships that have fallen into the ocean to rebuild them (namely, the Halberd). Given the resemblance to Susie, I imagine she might be a creation of the Haltmann Works Company, but we'll have to see. A huge thank you to @beth-purcell, @iggymtg, and @graycoin for their contributions to this, you guys rock. XD
Under the cut are the original sketches before we fleshed out these.
As you can see, there's a third here, a Patchlander betta fish mermaid that loves to collect treasure. I'm not feeling as certain about her, but maybe we can revisit another day. I'm having a lot of fun with these, they're very cute. <3
