The Summer series makes its triumphant return!

Self Critique: The perspective is a bit off with some objects (the ladder being one of them) Don’t really like the oval-ness of the front railing fasteners. I know I was supposed to some something like this since the perspective of the entire image is lower with some FOV warp, hence something like this is maybe supposed to happen. But I still feel like should’ve made them more equally round, if that makes any sense.

Addressing: Weird, warbly patterns all over the image. This is a thing called Glaze. It’s used to protect the artwork from AI dataset crawlers. It might still get picked up by them, but what their algorithms see will be very different, and possibly corrupted. I tried to keep the intensity as low as I can while not taking away from the image. This is the reality of things now, so from here on I have to glaze my artwork. My apologies if this is a problem for you.

Now then, let’s talk process! I started doing concept sketches last year for both Choco-tan and Nana-tan’s bikinis. The theme was still gonna be based on Pocky, but flavor adjacent for what they each represent. Choco-tan, representative of Chocolate Pocky, would rep Choco Mint. And Nana-tan, representative of Chocolate Banana, would rep the Japan exclusive Banana Bran Pocky. The design of their bikinis were partially based on the sets seen on Japanese catalog Funny Bikini (The High-leg T-back Bikini and the Brazilian Ruffle Bikini specifically, though the latter seems to be de-listed now), while the printed design on their bikini was based on inner wrapping in each box. With Nana-tan, normally her style of bikini would have extra straps going across her body and attached to her panties, but I didn’t want her to outdo Choco-tan’s bikini, more or less keeping them on a level playing field. This pic also gave me a chance to characterize both girls a bit, particularly Nana. Choco-tan is the “normal” one of the Pocky-tan group, while Nana is well into the gyaru culture and tans regularly. This is also reflected in their poses. Choco is just stretching, while Nana is leaning over and adjusting her glasses. Earlier I was hoping to have her be more in the back and sorta peeking out behind Choco, but knowing I was gonna tilt the perspective a bit after the 2^nd sketch phase (not to mention wanted her bikini to be fully visible), I had to settle on her spot. I do have a funnier, and rather informative, story about Nana-tan during her concept sketch, but I’ll leave that for when I put that post up at a later date. As for their shirts, they’re based on the ones I have on my RedBubble! I’ll link to those as the end of this post.

Moving to the background, there’s a bit of a running theme with each of the Summer pics I do, as well as a timeline of events that occur. In my head, Anri’s “Windy Summer” plays, with each pic representing a moment in the song. This one is one of the the earliest moments in the series. Before the concepting phase, it took me a while to figure out how I’d incorporate the Pocky-tan into the series. There’s only so much you can do with a beach theme without it being repetitive, especially with a micro-group within the larger Main Circle group. Then I thought… a boat! I can put some of them on a boat! So off I went to get some references for leisure boats. I also picked up a 3D model of a leisure boat (one of the few) from Clip Studio Assets. It wasn’t quite gelling with the 3D Model poses I had because of a part of the boat that was jutting out. So I jumbled together a bunch of primitive models and did a rough recreation of the boat I wanted. Seeing as I wanted to used this again in the future, I modeled the upper deck as well. I also pulled a 3D model of the ladder to trace it. At first I had a fold-able beach chair planned and sketched out, but the more I though about it and looked at the reference photos, the smaller boats had all their furniture attached to the deck to keep them from moving due to the waves. Of course, the larger boats wouldn’t really have this problem (physics and all that). So I nixed the beach chair and kept those recliner looking ones in the back.

Alright then, I’ve spoken a lot about this. Hopefully I’ve have another Summer pic for next year. I have an idea of who I wanna work on next, but those plans could change.

Tools and References

Done on Clip Studio Paint 2.0
Wacom Cintiq 16 tablet used.
Pics Glazed against AI datasets.
Poses referenced from Sexual Nude Pose Book: act Makoto Toda (pages 7 and 21)
Bikini designs referenced
3D Models traced during Construction Lines Phase
3D Model of foot traced for Nana-tan
3D Model of boat referenced, with primitives overlayed on it.
3D Model of ladder partially traced.
Image material of corrugated steel used in front of door on floor
Leis brush created by me, will make available at a later date.

Get their shirts over on my RedBubble!
Choco’s Shirt
Nana’s Shirt

Choco-tan and Nana-tan are © DeadPhoenX