Midsummer Eve - sticker and process with a dab of nsfw

Hi guys! I was not expecting that creating a sticker for this month's goodie bags will take so many tries @-@" I had an idea in my mind that later on I've decided to separate and create at a different time, but that decision threw me into a spiral of "what the fuck am I suppose to do now?" XD Here's the process~

I had an idea to incorporate Topielica - a folk creature who seduces people from the water to then drown them, into the Midsummer topic. In Poland the summer solstice includes a tradition of women putting a candle inside of a wreath to then let them float on the water. The last one to sink is suppose to find their love first. In another iteration of this tradition, men would swim and dive to save a sunken flower crown - this being a brave ordeal since Topielica would be in the water to potentially drown the brave lover.

The idea that ended up a whole separate concept for me - was to draw a distressed Topielica under water, looking at all the flower crowns swim above her, a symbol of the human love being something she can never get. The sticker would depict her holding her own wreath, a symbol of the love she oh so dearly desires. I really love this idea and will for sure make it a reality, just not this time.

 Here is the rendered idea of the Topielica sticker and some warm up sketches after I've decided to shelve the first idea. Since the print drawing included Filip jumping over the fire I thought that a sticker with his crotch on fire would be funny hence the very rough sketch in the middle. Then I wanted to see Possum Fili in a flower crown for my own amusement, so there he is~

 NSFW warning!

The sleeping Fili from above prompted me to see sleeping Bryan, so there he is~
I was stuck though. No major ideas were coming to my mind, so the best course was to go back to the topic and do a little association map. What were the main ideas behind the Midsummer, what are the symbols, the feelings? One of them was a Maypole, a phallic symbol of fertility. I thought "why not taking the symbol out of it and just make it a real thing~?" A penis in a wreath decorated with ribbons would match a Monstera Penis sticker I did in the past!

I was not satisfied with the looks of it though, so back to the main topic I was. Associating the sticker with the print is something I really like to do~ It makes the whole goodie bag really nice and cohesive ✨ Here's an attempt on drawing Filip with burnt pants covering himself with a flower crown (an idea I like but felt like it was a bit too specific as a stand alone. Beneath it is an attempt on the sweet Jean just laying in the grass, next to it a quick doodle on a pose I thought would make the Filip above a bit more legible. Sometimes changing an angle can help a lot!

 And as much as I love how it came out I've decided that it is too inside jokey. Maybe I'll release it in a shop during the next update, for all of those who are in for the joke 👀

Back to the penis Maypole I was though. Rough sketch shown me that the making this sticker a reality would be very challenging and the effects could be not as satisfying as I imagined it in the first place.

Then I've invited demon Fili to join, and played around with the placement of his wreath~

Drawing my demon boy helped a lot to loosen up my creative muscles, and what came next was exactly what i was looking for. A good stand alone piece encapsulating the the energy of a mid night celebrations in nature~ Here it is! A final design for this month's goodie bag sticker!

Here is a thank you note that will go with the goodie bag~

 And a sealer for the envelopes!