When the recently closed Pastabilities leaves few options for an ideal date locale, Bea and Micah settle on Possum Springs' most renowned eatery, Clik Clak Diner, to have their first date...
... unaware that they have an audience of one just outside.
(Check out underneath the cut for the process I went about when drawing the above piece, as well as some insightful gushing on my latest F/Os— Bea and Mae!)
Just about a month ago, I finished my lengthy playthrough of Winds of Change, and the eighteen hour long experience I had with the game is one that I'll never forget. I'm working on writing a post detailing what I thought of it in its entirety, though once I finished Winds of Change... I realized my 'furry game' need wasn't entirely satiated.
That's not to say that Winds of Change didn't deliver on its promised "ultimate furry tale"— trust me, it is more than deserving of that title— though I found myself raring to dive headfirst into another furry-centric game to play on my Switch, and luckily, I remembered that there existed a game that I've been wanting to give a go for a short while now...
Night in the Woods.
Going into playing the game for the first time, I knew very little about it, save for three things— the main character, Mae (Mae-n character, if you will), one of the main characters is a goth crocodile girl, and another one of the main characters has this adorably goofy flailing animation... naturally, the such paired with Night in the Woods' GORGEOUS visual style warranted a play!
Now, I've only just reached the second act of the game, so there's still lots for me to learn about Night in the Woods' story and cast, though what I have played of it so far made me realize that— with every new piece of media I consume— a rule applies, that being "I will walk out of this with a new F/O"... and it shouldn't come as any surprise that I already have two from NiTW!
While I'm sure many people interacting with this post are familiar with these characters, I'm going to take a moment and introduce them both to followers who are unfamiliar (Seeing as it's also an excuse to gush), starting with my newest romantic F/O, Bea! Say hi, Bea! 🖤💚🖤
That'll do! Bea is a grungy and stoic crocodile who serves as the "like, whatever" character of Night in the Woods. She is a very melancholic individual with a habit of smoking, and is easily identifiable by her all-black outfit. It would seem that Bea was once best friends with Mae when they were kids, but upon growing up and enduring hardships, a rift of sorts has grown between them, though Bea still has respect for Mae even if she doesn't show it.
From being one of the main reasons behind me playing Night in the Woods, it was almost a given that she would see a spot on my ever-growing list of F/Os... and funnily, much like my experience with Valessa, my admiration for her was yet another 'love at first sight' instance, seeing as I recall audibly gasping when she appeared on-screen for the first time... and that's not even getting into how I reacted seeing fanart of her.
I'm positive that Bea is the first of my romantic F/Os to be of the despondent type (Think Forsburn from Rivals/Lovers of Aether), though I've always had a deep love for that kind of characterization and— on top of finding her incredibly bea-utiful— Bea is a character that I think deserves to be welcomed with open arms and showered with the love and affection she deserves.
Like, seriously. Look at her. That is the face of a girl who deserves all of the hugs in the world. Something tells me that she's the type that keeps her feelings to herself until she finds a person she trusts enough to confide them in, and to be that person for her feel wonderful... Bea deserves so much love.
You know who isn't the type to keep her feelings to herself?
Mae is a reckless and cynical cat that serves as the star of the show in Night of the Woods. After dropping out of college during her sophomore year, she ventures back to her hometown, Possum Springs, in the hopes to continue her 'lay-low' lifestyle, but finds it tough to when the familiarity of her home is crumbling and all of her friends have grown and matured (But certainly haven't forgotten about her).
Now, look— I know I say this every other new F/O, but since the first few minutes of gameplay, I was very much sold on F/Oing Mae as a younger sister F/O, because I see so much of myself in her. Granted, I don't smash cars with a baseball bat or walk on powerlines, but there's just something about her that reminds me so much of myself.
... it might be because she's got a lax lifestyle, or maybe it's because she's a known gamer, though I think the trait we share the most is holding onto our friends no matter what. Mae's friends were one of the first few people she went to after arriving home, and it really seems like they're almost family to her... I mean, they're all in a band together. How could they not be tightly knit?
Mae is for certain a F/O I would adore to hang out with. Running aimlessly about Possum Springs and crashing in her bedroom to play video games and listen to her practice her bass make for the most pleasant imagines, and it's something I'd love to focus a future art piece on.
Speaking of art pieces... the process behind creating ship art for a Night in the Woods-ified version of myself and Bea was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be! In my many years of recreating artstyles, I think NiTW's artstyle is the one I can most closely recreate... just look at the turnout of my very first attempt!!
I actually thought I would struggle with it, seeing as it's all lineless, but it seemed easy enough that I wanted to try my hand at drawing myself with Bea! The idea of a 'first date' type of scenario came to mind almost instantaneously, and after whipping up a concept of what I would look like in the NiTW canon, I was ready to get to work...
... but where would we have our first date?
Clik Clak Diner, a restaurant that Mae and company hang out at after she reunites with them, seemed like a perfect fit! Not only do I like its aesthetic, but it also looked like it would be a fun challenge to redraw for the setting of the art piece! It took a good deal of attention to detail in colors, lighting and making sure it looked as closely to the original as I could manage...
... and I think it's safe to say I nailed it! Everything you see above was remade from scratch (Save for the mostly obscured framed photo on the far right, which I copy-pasted from an upscaled version of the diner's interior), and the only thing I had to slightly change was the color of the booth's seat so that Bea's skin (?) color could stand out more.
Night in the Woods veterans might also note that Bea is rocking a new outfit! I was originally going to draw her in her usual gothic duds, though after daydreaming about how pretty she would look in a striped shirt and necklace, I drew her in just that while staying true to her sense of fashion in terms of the shirt's darker colors!
There are several other little details that I'd like to discuss about this piece, though I think I'll save those for the tags since what I have already more than enough makes for a good read! I think this Mae Bea my best drawing of 2022 so far (Geddit?), and I'm so excited to finally show it off!! 💖💖💖
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