SuggestionDoodles (Early Access): Robin's Drone Distress (Patreon)

Nico Robin finds herself dealing with more than just Spandam and the CP9 in this version of the Enies Lobby arc of One Piece! Can her Hana Hana powers save her?

The Rant:

Suggested by one of my $10 patrons:

" Nico Robin (Enies Lobby outfit) mid-autotaped! (Ala We-R-Nomad) "

This was a bit of a challenge because a lot of One Piece's "uniqueness" in terms of design, (at least, in early chapters) came down to author Eichiro Oda's personal art-style. Yeah there were a lot of exceptions to that rule (the Fishman pirates in the Arlong Park arch), and Oda would get A LOT better at diversifying his designs rather than using his style (the Kuja Pirates of Amazon Lily, the prisoners of Impel Down, and the Whitebeard War arc, and only getting better after the design skip), but initially, Nico Robin was "just" an hourglass brunette in a leather jacket and thigh-high boots. I would need to do more to make her recognizable as Robin (to non-One Piece afficionados), because I'm not really a style emulation artist.

I think a few things helped, though I'm not sure if I ultimately succeeded or not. 

For one, the NOSE. Robin, in her early design, had a very distinct, angled, and pointed nose. It got smoothed out as One Piece went on, but early on, one easy way to ID One Piece fanart was by the noses its fans gave its female characters. 

Secondly, this is where "scenario" and "character" come in, through character acting/posing and silhouette. How characters react to things tells you a lot about that character. Even willing submissives act different to each other, and that can tell you a lot about the sub beyond "they were written/drawn to like this." When peeps resist, they resist in different ways, and that also tells you a lot about them.

So, naturally, Robin would be fighting off her attackers, rather than submitting to them, hence the silhouette. admittedly, her powers (sprouting limbs from anything large enough to do so and fighting with them) are confusing without context to a casual viewer, but I think that trade-off is worth it. After all, "Google" is a thing, and there are enough keywords in the description for others to do their own research.

Also, background! I tried to do the parapet from that arc where Robin declares that she wants to live, to give the scene some more context. I think doing color for the main Abby capers has subliminally forced me to more properly consider backgrounds in my work, and I think that's a change for the better!

What do you think? Let me know in the comments, and thank you for your Patronage!