Big Bang: SshHrRrrnNkk

★ Illustration for The Incredible Shrinking Agent: An Alex Danvers Adventure by Thelxiope.

Little doggie~!

So this has been absolutely fun to work on. I've always wanted to do a CYOA. I even looked into Ren'Py but then I realized I do not want to write a story, I only wanted to draw. So this month (or last month?) was THE month I finally got to do it -- with an incredible story, even.

CYOA immediately makes me think of the books so I wanted to make the illustration like a book cover. I decided to go for fewer main elements with a "simple" background. It wasn't as simple as I thought though. I underestimated the zippers.

Initially, the plan was too keep things sketchy and not get too detailed but wouldn't this lessen the emphasis of how shrunken the main character was? Something like, if you were to shrink yourself, wouldn't your surroundings be filled with detail you wouldn't notice if you were regular sized?

I tried resorting to 3d, my back-up plan, but I forgot how frustrating I find working with 3d is. I gave up 3d and instead, made brushes for each of the angles of the zipper whenever it twists around, then painted the lights and shadows accordingly. Anyway, I've never hated drawing zippers this much. I regret not having enough patience.

As for the main character, I was trying to capture the facial expression like the ones I've seen in pulp covers -- they always seem to have this distressed or shocked look, especially the sci-fi ones.

More illustrations (spoilers) ahead!

These little drawings were so much fun to draw. Probably the closest I got to drawing in the style I've always wanted to be able to do.

I want to make a "harpoon" joke so bad but apparently, I based the weapon on a lyre and not a harp so... :(

This one made my brain keep playing the line "Giant woman~" from Steven Universe over and over.

The flap things on the side of the coccoon were inspired by Piccolo's arms (I actually thought it was Cell's but I just checked right now and I remembered wrong).