You Could Think Better With A Hole In Your Head

you could think better with a hole in your head

your home for the next year

I discovered you recently and was scrolling through your stuff when I fell in love with your Joker redesign. It’s just so Good! Not only is your art style perfect (for all your art, really) but the thought you put into it was just wonderful. My favorite part were the horns, they just fit so well! I’d love to see any other ideas you have, but really I just wanted to gush about how much I loved it. Thank you!

Aw, that makes me so incredibly happy!!!! As much as I rag on P5's story execution, I do adore all the potential there is to the characters and the potential in redesigns that better fit the character's personalities. I'll repost all the ones I've finished for funsies, but I think now is actually a good time to mention that I'm going to be compiling all my p5 redesigns into a little zine (a re-de-zine haha) with more detailed thought process behind what I was thinking when redesigning them (there wasnt enough blank space for all my notes, or my sketches)! I'll add some blurbs from the document I have in [these] brackets! I actually focused heavily on his mask, so I'm super relieved and excited that it's what you liked most about it!

JOKER

[[Aside from Akechi’s prince outfit (which I think was flawlessly executed), I knew that I couldn’t allow myself to butcher Joker’s design- especially since I intended to remake his mask, despite his mask being perfect as it is (and was also my base for the Black Mask design before I decided to remake everyone else). // My main concern was to make the outfit represent all of PT’s, not just Joker, but I also wanted to highlight Akechi’s part in playing as his foil. As such, where Akira has a heart shape connecting all phantom thieves together by a silver string of fate, Akechi has a distorted red glow that extends chains to weigh him down as well as wings to show his ability to choose his own path.]]

AKECHI [[I wanted to keep his face obscured, but add an option to show himself if he wished. So, a hood helped cover him up for me. It helped me make it feel as though it’s a “lost” part of Robin Hood that still clings on to his Black Mask design- a desire (though weak and decaying) to be a good person underneath it all for someone he once cared about. //

Akechi's chains (from his heart) symbolize his outlook on bonds, and how they tie you down, whereas Jokers symbolize the strength he has with his teammates. I felt like this was a little too sad to write on the concept page. Reading “Goro Akechi has no friends and it manifests in his Black Mask outfit” isn’t the most uplifting sentence you want to stumble across.]] ANN [[Ann was often forced to hold her tongue around Kamoshida in order to protect Shiho, and Shiho in turn tried to do the same to protect Ann. The whip I created for her is a play on the phrase “hold your tongue” showing a lion with it’s mouth open and its tongue hanging out- filled with thorns and ready to be used as a weapon to protect those that she values. One of her biggest weaknesses now becomes her force for change and success, and she ultimately uses her power as a thief to open the maw of the man that told her to be quiet- revealing all his ugly secrets with his own words.]]

FUTABA [[This one doesn't have any notes I can share yet, but she took ages to design, so that's why, lmfao!]]

MORGANA

[[ I wanted to make him blend in more with a classic SMT demon such as Jack Frost, but still distinct enough to stand out as “more than a demon”.

//

Since Morgana is the collective human hope, I think he can take any shape or form. I only retained his cat persona because I wanted to stay true to the original design concept of it being an animal. If I was allowed complete creative form over a “guiding light” however, I think I would base Morgana’s design on Anubis or psychopomps- guides of souls (souls of human hope). The interesting thing about psychopomps is that while Anubis is also an example of one, commonly, so are crows. Meaning, I would have to design Morgana to fit a canine in order to imply Akechi himself could have perhaps had a guide similar to Mona if he was not used to bring about ruin. However, Morgana’s cat aesthetic is tied into Joker’s own traits (sometimes down to mannerisms), so getting rid of the cat persona was not something I really wanted. That, and the fact the last protagonist was based on a loyal dog made it hard for me to choose canine. I would have liked to pull something out of zoroastrianism if possible, but I was not sure how far I could take it before his design became entirely unrecognisable. And the point of a redesign was not to entirely change them to become different characters, but just to play around with different themes to better fit the character and their backstory/feelings/traits.

]]

I really hope this content was fun to read!!!! The next design I have in my WIPS is Yusuke. Honestly, I find Ryuji and Yusuke are going to be super challenging, since I ADORE their designs and I genuinely do not want to just touch them up randomly without purpose and happen to downgrade them. Morgana and Ann were my easiest targets haha.

Didn’t really have anything to post this week so I’ll post the full Maruki pic as some people requested :)

Persona 5 Royal + What To Say If Someone Is Gaslighting You

a cold february evening

or: “I am an emotionally compromised artist and must cry”