dev diary: cringing at old syrup 2 art

i've been writing so many scenes you guys. i'm so happy the game is coming along again, i feel like i can make it to the end... i mean i'm focusing on making a patron build before i get the steam demo ready, but i keep adding unplanned scenes, AND I CAN'T STOP BECAUSE THEY'RE ALL GOOD!!! but it really got me back in the flow of working on things, so it all feels very easy right now... oh i also switched to being part time at my job LOL so this is pretty much the only thing i'm focused on right now!!! which means there's enough to share that i can write weekly dev diaries again!!!!! (this was true last week too but i was too caught up in the big news drop to mention it haha)

ok so the title. i have a bunch of old assets from when i first started on this game in like 2017/2018, and i thought itd be fun to talk about them and compare it to how the game looks now

first of all, this sketch???

i think this was before i knew what i wanted the alchemy to look like, so i was thinking "uhh idk draw syrup cooking it", but then i was like... drawing all this is so much work, i have the sprites, i could just have syrup hold up a little flask and show the item instead.

that's not what i wanted to talk about tho, mostly i wanted to show you THE VERY FIRST BUSTS i drew for this game... they're closer to the poses from syrup 1 but......

THESE ARE NOT CUTE!!!!!!!! i wasn't satisfied with them at all so i scrapped them completely. it's uncanny looking at them now... i don't have an accurate date on the files, maybe it was 2019? who knows... so glad i redrew them...

but even after i redrew them, pastille was a huge struggle lol, here he is before i knew how to draw his hat

i gave his torso a bit more volume too... i think this was changed between the original demo in 2020 and the wip build i released in 2022? it's the post-starry flowers difference hahaha.

his other pose was really difficult too, at least i didn't color him before deciding to redraw it...

the disgaea hitstun pose is what i always think of, i drew him like that in syrup 1 too hahaha. i think the current pose looks more stern tho? which is more fitting for the faces he makes... (actually i should move the hat-star over more....... also his little bent leg is sooo cute, pastille you're soooo cute)

oh no i have to show you guys periwinkle next. ok actually he doesn't look as wonky as i remember but i did a ton of work to improve it LOL

DID YOU KNOW SYRUP 2 IS THE REASON I WROTE STARRY FLOWERS???? i wrote the peristille scenes in it first, and the more i thought about them and gave them a whole storyline the more i was like... wtf this can't be OPTIONAL content... it's too real..... but now syrup 2 is coming out so much later that this pairing is old news........

anyway i drew his eyes too low in the first one so he looks like he has a giant head and his other expressions were a bit strange because of the weird positioning, he looks so much more mature in the current version... his hat's a better shape and his dress comes up higher to match his starry flowers look OHH he's so cute, i felt so bad about having to redraw this one because i never want peri to look bad. but i guess it was fine before, it's just better now.

i think some of the shape-weirdness happens because i do a lot of refining when i go from the original sketch to final version, for example:

so i think because i'd be adjusting a lot already, i would feel like it was too much effort to adjust it even more after it's colored... but nowadays i'm brave and don't mind!!

i just changed treat yesterday, it's pretty minor so i drew arrows...

it was bothering me that her hat hid her eyebrows so i moved it up, and tbh i need to do another pass because there's all these tangents with her ear fluff now. and i like how in the old version the part where her ears stick out looks better AGH i'll mess with it again today... (grr i lost the shading on her face too, having to layer it for the eyebrows to show correctly messed everything up!!!!!)

alright that's enough rambling for the day! gotta get back to writing new cutscenes!!!!! see u again next week ;)