I wanted to upload the scratchpad canvas I used while planning the birthday comic I uploaded earlier: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/63775074/
The rest of this description is just me talking about the thoughts behind it.


The doodle + comic in the top left and the text in the top right were the first. I wanted to plan out the overall idea of the comic. You can see on the flashy evolution evolution panel my original idea for what would give the experience point: cutting a sheet of paper with scissors. I didn't feel like that was a "complete" enough action so I switched to opening a soda instead. You can also see that the Absol form was originally going to be a normal Absol, but I decided to stylize it a bit more.

That's when I moved to the bottom row: identifying the most important parts of Absol's design (to me) and building an anthro form using Simm's colors. I decided to give the horn more of a scrollwork feel to make the design more unique, and used the red from his hair as little accents on the tips of his fur instead to keep the mostly uniform color of the body and "hair". I also tried playing with the tail a little bit since I'm not all that much of a fan of depicting 'sol tails as stiff as many do. The light part of Simm's lower limbs was pushed to just the claws.

I couldn't decide if I wanted to keep Simm's lighter belly panel or not. I think it looks good and makes the design feel more "him" without straying too far from an Absol's design like the hair would. On the other hand, it does break from the uniform fur color a bit. Ultimately, the only reason I didn't use it was because it was already far past midnight when I was working on colors in the comic and I didn't want to do the extra few minutes of work.


The Absol paintover in the bottom center was actually done after the anthro one was done being colored. I wanted to work though what that horn design would look like if moved to a normal 'sol. I also switched to the swoopy gem shape inspired by the Simmsolplush comm from Sumiaou which is why it's present there and in the comic and not in the anthro designs.

I then played around with the tail design a bit more (seen in the center). I wanted to have it poking up in the comic or flicking around a bit during the pause or otherwise appearing, but the posing never felt right so I erased all but the base of it in the final piece. Design-wise, I looked at images of Gothic and Rococo iron scrollwork to make something that felt "flat but decorative" as if shaped to match Simm's other features. The one thing I wanted to avoid was trying to look too much like a shark tail motif because he's wasn't a shark anymore.

Finally on the right above-center is the sketches I did for planning the final panel. At first I wanted him to be angry over it, then moved to tired resignation, before settling on him being happy. It's his (and my) birthday. He got transformed into his favorite Pokemon, and he even gets to stand on two legs and keep his dexterity this time.

Fun facts:
1. I did indeed turn 27 today.
2. Level 27 is the level at which Absol learns Night Slash.
3. Night Slash is my favorite move for an Absol to learn.
I am very happy that my confidence in drawing is at the point where I was able to do this. A year later and it wouldn't have lined up so nicely!