so when i was around 14 years old i found this manga at my local library called “shutterbox” and i LOVED it, i re-read it several times. unfortunately as the years passed i would remember the title as “chatterbox” and ive been frustrated for years trying to track it down and then this last wednesday i was super bored and decided to give it one more go and trying some alternative phrases since my english wasnt as good at 14, and i found it! ive ordered book 1 and 2 and im super psyched. this series captured my heart as a little teen and i want it to have more fanart so heres my contribution.
here you can see the cover art i did a fanart of, the first sketch, blobbing out colors and finished render. more details under the cut
i choose to simplify the original design in alot of places, in the original there are beautiful details all over the cover, i wanted to focus the eye to her upper body and face. as well as trying to bring more dimension in by a clearer difference between foreground and background. the silhouette of the stonewall and megans silhouette blending toghether perfectly where that bush meets the hair was also an easy area to redesing to make her stand out more. also lending for a more interesting line for the middle ground overall.
i also changed the color pallette slightly. notably in making the sky have more blue tones than the original to tie together with the blue flower as well as pop and contrast megans hair. since i decided against adding in the second stonewall framing megan from the cover i had the space to put something light there to bring some of the romantic mood in from the cover back into my own painting. this hazy sailor moon style sky and moon felt like a perfect component to add. the white also balances out the collar and white wrist sleeve details well.
how to stylize her face was an interesting series of choices, i sketched 2 other faces before settling on the one in my sketch, very stylized manga faces can be hard to translate but a softer face with pretty wideset eyes felt right and true to the character. i ended up further morphing the face as i went along in my painting, pushing the nose and mouth up for a younger look. i did a lot of drawing and redrawing of the eyebrows to get that dreamy look that has been captured so well on the real cover.
Books, manga edition. I’m moving into a much smaller house, so it’s time to declutter.
Volumes 1-4 of ShutterBox by Rikki Simons and Tavisha. [Wikipedia] I wouldn’t describe them as being in the best condition, but they’re definitely readable - there’s just a little light cosmetic damage to some of the covers, and one cover is a little sun-bleached on the spine. I think this series is no longer in print. £4 for all four volumes + P&P from the UK to wherever you are.
If you’re interested you can message me here on Tumblr, DM me on Twitter, message me on Telegram (@cassolotl) or email me: cassian DOT lodge AT gmail DOT com.
You can see my other stuff for sale in my for sale tag. I will edit posts to cross things out when they sell.
