Hi there Reader!

I'm writing to you from a cosy café in Krakow to share with you some very good news! Today we are finally going to see some finished illustrations from the book, and I have some pretty inspiration to share with you on top of it 🌸

Let's get started!

The book is getting some light 🕯️

If you're reading this, there is a big chance that you've been following this book project for a while; from the rough sketches, the long grind to ink the illustrations, and the rush to get them in color.

Now, we finally reached the final stage: the light and shadows!

Last week, after coming back from my big adventure in France, I managed to complete 3 pages of the book :)
Not as much as I hoped for, but the first one was very complex and the fourth one is almost done!

I'm really so happy to have reached this step, to finally see everything coming together.

Before adding shadows, I tend to really dislike the look of my illustrations; so now imagine how long it must have felt to have 14 works in progress for that long!

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I wasn't hating all of them, of course, but getting there is a relief.

I have now 10 more illustrations to finish, some more complex than others. So expect new waves of finished illustrations in the next two weeks!

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Here's a vacation for you 🐛☀️

This week I rediscovered a longtime inspiration of mine, and it did a lot of good to my soul; I really couldn't pass on sharing it with you!

If you know me, you probably know (or guessed) that I'm a huge nerd when it comes to video games.And last year I started diving deeper into the PS2 catalogue, since I can run those games on my computer now.

All of that to say that I finally had the capacity to visit a game whose art inspired me for a long time: Boku No Natsuyasumi 2.

Literally "Boku's summer vacation", this game sends you to a small coastal town in 1975 Japan. No goal is explicitly given to you; you just need to spend the month of August exploring this island.

As I said, the art for this game has been an inspiration and simply a source of joy for a while. While the game is technically 3D, all backgrounds are static, hand-painted sceneries; just like a lot of adventure games at the time.

But this one really sets itself apart for how pretty it looks. All of them have been created by an animation studio specialized in background art, and it shows.

When I first learned about the game, no English translation were available, but I did a lot of studies of the different environments :)

I only have this picture left unfortunately. I don't have the exact date, but you can see I did this study in the middle of the night: back then I was working night shifts to sustain myself. I was doing my best to improve my drawing when I had some free time!

Despite this period being very hard, I look back fondly at those exercises. And I got way better at drawing backgrounds as a result!

But let's come back to the game now:

The game is extremely relaxing and precious; each day on this island feels like a carefree adventure, which is exactly what summer vacations are when you're just a kid.

A personal fascination of mine is how games manage to create a sense of "place", to trigger the part of your brain that convinces you that this location is actually real and can be explored. This game, along with its beautiful art, has been a delight in that regard.

But what also feels like a summer vacation is sadly the knowledge that it will inevitably end:

as you explore the island, time progresses, and you have only a month to live in this small town. You can talk to other characters and explore their stories, but you literally cannot see everything in one playthrough.

I was a bit frustrated at first, stressed even: I want to see everything!

But then I finally accepted it.

After all, just like in life, there are infinitely more things that you could do compared to what you have time for.

Your local library has tens of thousands of books, and even if you would read one every week for the rest of your life, you wouldn't be able to read them all.

The question then becomes not how many books you can read, but which ones are good for you.

Thank you for reading this week's issue of my Newsletter Club! I'll see you next week for more finished illustrations; it's very exciting to finally show them to you :)

In the meantime, I wish you to enjoy your week and do things you love.

Take care,
- Nighten