Keyframe test for ‘Butterflies‘, a personal project born from a fanfic I wrote years ago. During 2022 I transitioned the story and characters into an original lore and universe.
Software: Clip Studio Paint
The keyframe story
Zahhak attacks Yara. A great fire snake, Boitata, takes pity on the slain heroine.
Chew, an artisan, is traveling with a group of merchants. During the night he is drawn towards a creature’s white-hot glowing trail. It leads him to the wounded woman, and the merchants carry her to their town.
The woman may be cursed, and as she heals in the artisan’s home and workshop, their story exposes the world’s lore and scenery.
(And they fall in love… Of course they do!)
Keyframe development
The artwork is inspired by a Brazilian oil painting named Moema (1866) by Victor Meirelles.
It depicts an indigenous woman lying down on the shoreline of a beach, with half of her body touching the water. Her eyes are closed. The painting is the author’s interpretation of the epic poem Caramuru (1781).
Progress pictures. Most shapes are “flat” and simpler, showing fewer shades of reds, greens and shadows to build the composition. There is visible lineart under the color shapes.
I’ve been posting in-depth step by steps and insights in social media and Patreon, and learned a lot in this journey.
Butterflies is a treasured universe I’m loving to revisit and polish in my free time.
Chew and Yara concepts
Both characters wear earth-tones in their costumes. The man wears his signature artisan apron, and the woman wears layers of a pilgrim or traveler clothing, complete with a long green cloak.
Yara’s bow is also in the picture — a spectral weapon painted with white and blue tones. It resembles a series of twigs neatly arranged and twisted together in symmetrical fashion.
Long description
This section has a long text description of this post’s first picture, the bog scene with Boitata.
Painting of a night scene in which a gigantic, long, bright-red creature curls and intertwines itself with the scenery: A lush green bog with tall grass and trees.
The skies are almost black. An unconscious woman, Yara, is afloat in a shallow part of the bog. She wears earth-toned, torn clothes.
A man with glasses and dark hair, Chew, bends forward to examine her.
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