02-10-2023 Update Artist's Commentary (Patreon)

James, Director: Welcome to the artists commentary for this month. I just ate breakfast.

Chumi, this update made her insane: Update 6 huh lads?? What a dramatic one for sure, and one that has lingered on my mind for a really long time. I love seeing my favorite characters evolve and change over the years (just like me fr), and this one gave me so much material to chew on. Years of living this crazy (or not crazy enough) life have really changed everyone it seems. Jade’s not at her greatest but she’s still the greatest in my heart, and I think this update’s art did her justice. Let’s get into it!

Kim, going fucken ham in CSP: I’m especially excited to talk about the art for this update! And there’s a WHOLE lot to talk about, so this commentary is gonna be a hefty one. >:] This update has one of the first bigger style departures from what we have yet to see in Homestuck. I’m glad to see it was very well received and also honored to be the one to spearhead it for this upd8!! Especially as the current art team had been handed the torch from the previous team, we as the artists had several big discussions about how we wanted to move forward with the art. Discussing the mediums we wanted to approach, the visual art style, and the character designs themselves!

To elaborate, one of the many things I’ve always admired about Homestuck is the way it utilized varying art styles to emphasize the mood the viewer should be feeling. Like how in the base comic, whenever it would switch into Hero Mode, it would feel especially exciting for readers like, “WHOA, special moment time!!! They’re depicted all cool and serious now instead of funny little guys!!” I wanted to incite that same feeling! Whenever things would start ramping up in the story, the art would follow suit. Likewise, when things would wind down or go comedic, the art would thus reflect that too.

Before comic production properly began, the art team had been conceptualizing a new style that we’ve been dubbing as “Guardian Mode” that was inspired off of the Guardian depictions within Homestuck (of course), Hero Mode, Andrew Hussie’s traditional sketches, and a bit of our own artistic flairs sprinkled in as well. It would be a style specifically reserved for the now adult cast of Homestuck characters, to further emphasize how they’ve truly changed and grown compared to how they were originally depicted as just silly teens in the original comic.

Chumi: The changes in style from Homestuck to Homestuck^2 to Beyond Canon… And now we’ve got another style under our arms!! The franchises’ styles are quite different from my own so it’s been a learning experience that involves a lot of studying and referencing here and there, back and forth.

James: You’re doing a great job. Like Kim mentioned there was a point early on in production where we had this idea to render the characters as adults. We are so used to seeing them as funny little sprites, but at this point they are as old as their parents were in the original run. Why aren’t they rendered as such?

Some of this boils down to my own experiences with adulthood. You never stop seeing yourself as the “Main Character” of your story, but that shifts over time. One day you look in the mirror and you look like somebody's dad, but that doesn’t just happen overnight. I thought it would be interesting to show this shift especially when the adults are being perceived by the children.

James: Then, the artists just ran away with it. They went crazy with it.

Kim: Here are a few explorations we did as we were feeling out how we wanted Guardian Mode to look like! We used prior existing panels within Beyond Canon as a jumping off point to challenge ourselves how we would visualize these characters and scenarios in Guardian Mode.

Style tests by Kim Quach

Style tests by Haven

Kim: Lines… no lines… with color… without color? How about MINIMAL color? As you can see, there were a variety of ways Guardian Mode could’ve possibly been approached! I’m pretty happy with what we ended up settling on that you all now have seen within the comic– and you’ll definitely be seeing plenty more and variations of it in other future updates! 😉

I think what’s important to note: there’s not a singular set way to draw in Guardian Mode– there’s a lot of artistic freedom allowed with it! But, if there’s anything we all agreed upon: like most art within Homestuck, it should be loose, fun, and easy to draw!

Aside from the visual style, the next most noticeable thing you may have noticed within this update are some outfit changes! … Well, perhaps not so much changes, but just streamlining what they were already wearing LOL.

Concept art of Candy-Jade and Candy-Kanaya’s designs by Kim Quach

Chumi: I Love Jade and Kanaya’s New Outfits!!!

Andi: Kanaya sexy.

Kim: We wanted to settle for a look that artists would feel comfortable habitually drawing going forward, yet still snazzy and distinct! Each change was made very deliberately– because as much as I love the look of camo print, I just felt in my gut it would increasingly become more difficult every time we had to draw Candy-Jade. 😭

Kanaya with the sleeves and open-shoulder look was moreso a “rule of cool” decision coined by one of our very close friends LOL. It’s quite funny because I remember approaching the team, “we could either change things as minimally as possible and give ourselves less work, OR… we can go back, do the most miniscule of cosmetic changes, and adjust Kanaya’s battlesuit because damn does she just look cool as FUCK tho.”

As you can see…. coolness overruled, and I agree it was worth the effort LOL. There were a few other minor cosmetic changes too, but I’ll get to that later– Let's talk about the panels!

Kim: This update was in fact also thumbnailed and boarded by the writer, Floral, as well! As you can see… Floral has a much different approach to boarding than I do, LOL. I remember being handed these thumbnails and was kind of obsessed with them. If you’ve ever seen the storyboards for Knives Out, it’s exactly that feeling. (Amazing movie btw, if you haven’t already watched it.)

It’s also hilarious because sometimes I would reach out to Logan to clarify what some of these thumbnails meant and would be met with:

It’s ok, we always find a way to figure it out LOL.

James: I don’t know what it is either.

Chumi: Me too, Jade, me too… Smooch smooch smooch!!!

Kim: I just wanted to say I’m very fond of this sequence of panels because Yiffy is such a lil stinker LOL. Such a typical teen “Moooomm!! You’re embarrassing me!” moment. YOU’RE NEVER TOO COOL FOR YOUR MOM!!!

Also, I think the sketch I did for 557 is so funny to me.

Kim: I’m also a BIG fan of this panel too. It’s like the start… the introduction… of Real Shit is about to Go Down. Guardian Mode ramping up right about here… I remember, even before this update, ooohh I could TELL Kanaya had been BOILING over this whole thing once she found out. That boiling point finally coming to fruition in this update…!!!

Kim: I am also endlessly entertained by this panel. I love making funny animated gifs for Homestuck. And also fake in-universe brands.

There’s actually an earlier version of this panel where I misunderstood what the writer was asking for and accidentally animated the flip offs as an endless loop, which I think is equally hilarious. I figure I’d share it here as an extra bonus for y’all to enjoy too LOL.

Kim: Damn kid it’s just soda!!!

Chumi: Refusing this peace offering… A nice, cold can of Pepis.

James: Maybe more of a Pepis Zero person?

Kim: SPRITES SPOTTED. Like many of the characters so far, this is the first time we get to see them in their sprite form, so I had to make these from scratch!

I say this every time, but I’m always so amused seeing Homestuck sprites. They’re just so small and goofy looking, and it makes me chuckle. But even then, I had to erase the four vital pixels that make up their sprites’ smile…. Their joy and whimsy… GONE… Please, they are just little guys….!!!

Kim: Here are the Candy laydeeees’ default sprites! (Unfortunately, lavender lipstick Kanaya doesn’t have a smiling version u_u) Making Rose and Kanaya’s sprites were actually the trickiest to do because they’re both wearing pretty body-conforming clothes…

James: I think it's very funny how you never really see a sprite's legs, so the art team had to sort of reverse engineer how that worked.

Kim: I was worried for a sec’ because it seemed like an impossible challenge to translate. With every Homestuck sprite we have ever seen, I don’t think we have Ever seen a single one wearing anything else but baggy pants or generally loose clothes... It was like forbidden knowledge.

BUT THEN, I remembered the dancestors had sprites. Lo’ and behold LATULA was my savior…! So, fun fact, the base of their sprites are actually worked off of Latula’s! Maybe the dancestors really ARE the most important characters in Homestuck.

Chumi: Whoa is that the Arthur meme-

Kim: Another panel that I’m also really proud of! We have a lot of really tasty drama panels this update, but I think this one really nicely displays how Guardian Mode looks. Aside from the visual style, I love to experiment how color plays into the mood. The subdued, somber cool colors contrasting with the slowly surmounting rage of the color red…

We actually have a whole internal document about the color symbolism we’ve been utilizing for Beyond Canon too btw! I think you guys could easily guess what the color meanings are so far (and I’ve given away quite a few), but I’ll leave it to the fans to speculate and discuss the other possible ones, heheh. Some questions are better left unanswered. 🤫

Andi: I really, really want to emphasize how much thought we put into these panels, we really do gaf!!!

James: These are the most reposted panels in all of Homestuck.

Kim: As you can tell, I loooove when colors become bright and searing in relation to a character’s emotion. (I’m also guilty of this during the old Yiffy vs. Jane update as well… my calling card). I want the viewer’s visual impact of the colors to feel Exactly how the character must be feeling. Just like the use of the color red in these past few panels, they slowly intensify and dominate the composition of the panels alongside Kanaya's anger.

Kim: Flash back time! A particular detail of Yiffy’s history shown here that has me absolutely fascinated is how she had to hide her ears and tail growing up… What are all the ways and near-risks that might’ve happened when she was trying to hide her identity…?! Further crazy to think that means at the funeral, that’s when Jane stopped giving a shit about keeping the secret from the public too… 😭 It’s all coming apart, ahhh!!!

Concept sketches of Toddler Yiffy by Kim Quach

Kim: I don’t know how many more times we’ll get to see Yiffy as a toddler, but nonetheless I made a brief design ref for her. Also, now that I think about it, it’s probably the only time in Homestuck a younger version of a character had a different hairstyle rather than just them but shrunk? LMFAO. I like to imagine Yiffy’s hair back then was always cut by Jade herself, but when Yiffy got sent to boarding school she started cutting her own hair.

Chumi: I definitely utilized these panels as a reference when drawing the January Patreon illustration!

Kim: Fun story about this panel, the majority of my time was spent trying to draw those got dam spooky hands. When this panel came out, my friend was complimenting it cooing, “aww, look at the baby!” But I was so caught up on the hands, the first thing that fell out of my mouth was, “what baby.” THE BABY… IN THE FOCAL POINT OF THE COMPOSITION…. I’m so sorry, guys.

Kim: This is a very short animation, but I spent a probably-more-than-necessary amount of time animating it because I am a stickler for comedic timing. I’m holding you all hostage here to make you appreciate and observe each frame and all the little nuances I included here LOL.

Besides that, I thought you guys might enjoy seeing a lil’ showcase of a few stills, isolated sprites, and some unused ones!

Kim: To make animating sprites easier for me, I essentially broke down the sprites by each individual part (eyes, mouth, glasses, head, hair, legs etc.) in a PSD so it has all the parts available to move and click on n’ off like a puppet rig! Plus, it’s a lot of fun to toggle different combinations of parts because I can make funny faces with them. I have so much power.

Like look at this Tavvy I made.

Kim: I also need you guys to know I spent a whole day trying to map out a whole isometric of the Rosemary control room for these sprite panels, but I only later realized that you barely actually get to see any of it in the few sprite panels for this update. But just know… a whole isometric exists…

Kim: You may be thinking to yourself, “KIM… THIS COMMENTARY IS SO LONG… WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO SAY… YOU’VE SAID ALL THE WORDS THERE IS TO POSSIBLY EXIST…” NOT YET!

There’s still one last thing to cover that I’m excited to get to! With this particular update drop, those with keen eyes may have noticed there have been veerryy small cosmetic changes that occurred! I already mentioned one: Kanaya’s updated battlesuit. BUT ALSO! Two other changes were the removal of a single (1) stripe off of each of Yiffy’s socks and a more streamlined design for Candy-Rose’s hair.

It may seem like very miniscule cosmetic changes to the everyday person, but I can assure you they were all definitely vital! As Beyond Canon’s production started up again, we spent a lot of time cookin’ on the artistic development side of things. As you may know, we’ve talked plenty before about how during the previous production we, as the artists, worked with a MUCH shorter turnaround schedule. Because of that, we had to submit a lot of art assets during pre-hiatus as first draft designs or literally make them up on the spot as the panels were being drawn.

Now that we were given the opportunity to reapproach this project and allowed ourselves the time to come back with a fresher mind instead of rushing ourselves– we finally took the time to solidify character designs, background layouts, etc.! And not only for current designs, but also for stuff planned for the way, wayyy future which I can’t wait for y’all to eventually see one day! Planning this far ahead, a lot of the artistic decisions made were very deliberate so that it’d be easier for artists in the long run, but also to make for a more cohesive design.

Plus, doesn’t it feel good to redraw your old art? Knowing that you can come back more powerful… STRONGER THAN BEFORE…

Most of the adjustments were pretty small, but I’ll share some before-and-after’s of the ones with the more notable changes!

Kim: This one also had to have the background slightly altered too because, as I was drawing this update, I noticed the window design was inconsistent with the following panels. 😅

Kim: Man, I remember drawing the original panel of this all the way back in 2019! I can’t believe it has already been FIVE whole years! That’s a lot of time for me to come back and stare at my old art and go, “dang, why did I draw her head so big!”

I figured since I was already going back and doing some of these cosmetic changes, why not spruce up my old art too? Especially cos’ it’s the money shot too! Our girl deserves it! Now that I have a better grasp of the art style, pushing the pose a little more, adjusting the character acting so it feels more in-character, etc. I’m a LOT more satisfied with it.

Kim: I like this one just cos’ it’s cute, LOL. The changes in this were mostly to, once again, adjust her to be more on-model with our current character sheets and so the character acting would be more in-character for her.

When these panels were originally made back in 2019, we as the artists only had a veeerrry brief understanding of the newer characters. Since the new production, the whole team has now been able to further flesh out together an understanding of everyone and everything– especially Yiffy too!

I know y’all have only briefly met the Omega kids as far as what’s out, but there really is so much the audience has yet to see of them! I’m shaking in anticipation over here– the fact that this really is only the beginning!!! RAHHH I CAN’T WAIT!!

*Kim has now exploded from excitement proceeding to end this commentary*