Clip Studio Paint went on sale a few weeks back and I picked it up to futz around and

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my
lawdy

I'm having a good time with those brushes. I engaged in OC shenanigans to pin down my work flow, and these three were the first batch. They're not the tightest or cleanest, but I still think they came out super spiffy.

The rat wasn't always a rat. The cat wasn't always a cat. The dog wasn't always a dog. I should elaborate on this a bit.

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Somewhere there's a town, a small flicker of light nestled between the sea and a vast, vast forest. The sun never quite rises, and it doesn't stay up for long. No one knows where it is, but the only way to arrive is by washing up on its shores. The people there are strange, with secrets to share and secrets to keep. They all seem to come from different times and places, and what's more, the longer you stay, the more you start to change, and people can stay for a long, long time. The townsfolk make a reasonable living growing whatever takes to the soil and salvaging debris that washes up on the beach, doing what they can to make it through the night and with each other. Of course, living near the forest doesn't make this easier. It's a place filled with voices that know your name, that know who you are, and know what you've done. Sometimes these voices are imagined, sometimes terribly real, but they are always, always calling.

It's a place where light is precious, but you must live with what it reveals, along with the shadows it casts.

Candlelight Cove is the town's name, or at least the only name anyone remembers.

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Some townsfolk:

Olli's a calico, and more or less the only source of entertainment in town, so if you don't like her insistence on covering prog-rock tunes on her accordion, you're out of luck. She plays loud.

Eliza's a saluki/greyhound. She stands guard on the town wall at night because otherwise bad, bad things will try to break in and she's having none of it. If you take a look at Cleo, you can figure out the kinds of things she has to contend with.

Brynne's a rat, and she's always down for a good time. Her lack of sight doesn't hinder her ability to know what's happening to those around her. Her other senses can pick up on things going on inside you before you even realize it's happening.

There are other characters of course. I tend to doodle them on my stream or post on my twitter (along with other cool things :y) A more illustrative-intense version of Coyote Daughter or Needful Thing is more or less how I'd like to tackle the story, but that's all for another day.