Hi everyone! Today we’ll be looking at the art process for 2 artworks featuring Niko and Ren from Canvas Menagerie, doing totally normal not-date stuff. Just two coworkers hanging out.
Snack Time
First piece we’ll look at is Snack Time! Pretty self explanatory- Niko & Ren are out getting a quick bite to eat. There’s a scene in the first act that might’ve been inspired by this drawing…
As you can see from the sketch, I start off with basic shapes (a circle and triangle for the head, quick lines for the body, etc.) and then make a more refined sketch on top that includes character details. I also like to color code character- it makes it a lot easier to line if they overlap or if there’s a lot of sketchy parts going on.
When it came to putting down the flat colors, I changed up Ren’s eyes. He doesn’t care who’s looking at him right now, he just wants his cinnamon roll!
And here’s the finished piece! This was one of the first pieces I’d finished for Canvas Menagerie, before Ren’s character sprite was even colored. A lot of the shading here was me practicing how I wanted the game to look (especially with the hair shading).
Bonus: here’s a pride flag version of the artwork!
Key Art
The new key art features Niko and Ren together behind a script—they’re not actually reading it, so what are they doing…? ♥
The initial idea for this was for a quick kiss hidden behind a book / their script. It’s actually Niko’s script, something I tend to draw him with a lot.
With the full sketch, you can see Ren is also pulling Niko closer. Again, I color code my sketches to make it easier to see what parts go with what character.
Niko is supposed to be somewhat bashful in this artwork—he’s not looking at Ren, his face turned away slightly, but his cheeks are flushed. The flat colors don’t show off their full expressions, so let’s go to the fully shaded version…
And there we have it! I feel like this key art better shows off the more romantic angle of the game.
— Arimia
