Jolly Good: Cakes and Ale Free-for-All Discussion Thread Where Spoilers May Appear

Yes, please do more :grin: also, I can’t believe Harlow is a hobo…

I’ll do this in bits and pieces as I go along! The characters will be in order of the cast list.

Row 1:

Colonel Firesnuff

I knew right away I wanted some red on him, as an ode to his name. Originally, I thought of giving him ginger hair, but knowing he’s close to Aunt Primrose’s age, that wouldn’t really be feasible (plus, according to Gower, he has grey muttonchops!), so I tacked the red on his outfit instead. His outfit is a sort of mishmash of various military outfits I’ve encountered while doing research, and most closely resembles british uniforms from the 1890s.

The grey of his hair leans slightly to the warmer side, though!

I’ve always pictured him with a bit of heft, so it made me happy to know that Gower imagined that too!

Figs

He was a challenge–I wasn’t entirely sure how to make him look weasel-ish or otter-ish without adding a scraggly moustache on him, which I’ve always pictured him having. Which doesn’t really make sense, honestly, because the Professor Hickory disguise has a moustache too, which means he’s probably clean shaven.

In the end, I based his design off Linguini from Rattatouille, Ian from Onward, and Roger from 101 Dalmations, who I felt best embodied the description Gower gave me. I think I like the results–he looks rather close to Mopsie’s age too, which is great!

Mopsie

(I’ll upload a higher res Mopsie when I’m home! I can’t believe I don’t have it on my phone!)

She’s the absolute first character I drew out of all of them, because I just had such a clear vision of her in my head while playing Tally Ho. While double checking with Gower, I was supremely pleased to know he pictured her with dark hair, which I did too! I’ve always pictured her to be POC too, so I’m glad Gower was okay with that bit of creative liberty!

There was a bit of an issue with the first draft–she looked much too young! I had to adjust her proportions a bit to look more like a 20 year old (if a bit short). Also, despite Mopsie being a fashionable young lady, I just couldn’t seem to picture her with the streamlined skirts of the 30s… she’s Mopsie! Bouncy, flouncy, Mopsie! So I gave her a fuller skirt. It adds a lot to her youthful flavour!

I love her a lot!

Aunt Primrose

Aunt Primrose was also another character that I had a pretty good idea of since the beginning of the project. I knew she had to wear green. I knew she had to look fierce and imposing. There were other details though, as per Gower’s own vision: Aunt Primrose was tall and athletic woman.

I’ve always pictured her rounder, and jollier, but I’m happy that those traits went to my version of Aunt Primrose instead–I feel like it suits their personalities more. Aunt Prim always seemed much more practical to me… an elderly tomboy.

Aunt Primrose is also a skinshade that’s between Mopsie and Rory. POC!

I have several aunts who remind me greatly of her and her loving disapproval, so I referenced them quite a bit!

Rory

My love. My light in the darkness. My disaster spouses.

While playing Tally Ho, I’ve always pictured Rory having rather unique eyes–wide, innocent, friendly… and green. The soft kind of green. Almost cloudy–the colour of seaglass, maybe. I’ve based everything else on that.

The scarf and tie were entirely Gower’s idea–it was definitely tough to find something that looks logically ugly, but at the same time appealing when you view the character as a whole. We want Rory to look like a disaster, of course, but not too much of a disaster that our eyes actually hurt.

Rory’s also unique in that their skin colour is a few shades darker than a lot of the other white-coded characters, to show their blood relationship with Aunt Prim and Mopsie.

The burning book was a joke in my head. He was probably reading a Fifi Buttercup novel–and we all know how hot and steamy those are.

Frankincense

Frankincese was fun. Gower didn’t give specific instructions on their hair colour, or things like that–mostly that they were elegant, taller than average, rich, and had benevolent expressions.

In my playthroughs, I always imagined Frankincense to look like the perfect spousal specimen–with hair the colour of their namesake.

I also knew they had to have a much more mature look to contrast with Rory–I remember from a previous post in the Tally Ho thread that they were almost 30, after all. I gave F!Frankincense hair inspired by Kate Hepburn’s own perfectly curled hair circa the 30s.

The python and spiders are nods to the boat race in Tally Ho! I won’t spoil it for those who have yet to try bringing Frankincense along–but it’s super funny.

Haze

Ah, Haze… yet another character that flowed from my tablet pen easily. It’s funny, but Haze’s look in my brain tended to change depending on their gender.

F!Haze has always seemed much more punkish, or possibly even gothic lolita-ish in their presentation and dress, while M!Haze was much more firmly a dapper goth. F!Haze always seemed much more wilder in an abrasive/bold sense, while M!Haze was wild in a much more seductive, mysterious sense.

In any case, our favourite sneak thief has one thing in common: I knew they had to have lean bodies–perfect for skulking about.

Haze also has unique eyes no other characters have. It’s a blue that’s almost purple. Like Elizabeth Taylor.

Valentine

Valentine didn’t come with a hair colour in Gower’s description, but they’ve always been a firm ginger in my head. Maybe it’s their youthful attitude, or their zest for living. I’m not sure. But the red hair seemed almost mandatory to me.

Gower also emphasized their slight build–so I hope I got that across too! M!Valentine is actually one of the shorter male characters in my interpretation, but I feel like it suits him. Eagerness, peppiness–those are words I kept on repeating to myself when I drew them!

The picnic basket, is of course, a nod to their introduction to you! Originally, I wanted to draw the M!Valentine chewing on a pear, but I couldn’t figure out how to make eating a pear look eager and youthful. Maybe next time!

Valentine also has a unique eye colour. They’re a shade of brown that’s almost red.

Carlington

Carlington was a very late addition to this cast list, and that’s because of his future appearance in Tea and Scones! I hadn’t considered him too major of a character before then. Sorry Carlington! :’)

Gower had a clear vision for Carlington–he’s based off Richie Rich’s butler… Herbert Cadbury. But with the disapproving, aging essence of Carson from Downton Abbey.

I can’t wait to replay now that I know what he looks like! (Originally, I’d imagined him looking almost like Max, Darla Dimple’s butler from Cats Don’t Dance!)

Trina

Trina!!! You know, it really says something about an author’s writing skill when you can just picture a character from their interactions with you.

Trina wears similar colours to other Cadbury Club servants, despite not being a member herself. Her key is also a mirror of Regina’s own housekeys–I wanted an element that indicated their relationship to one another.

The jacks in her hands are a nod to something you can do while on the Inner Circle mission where you meet her. I needed to keep her soft though, to show that she’s still a child, so her hard edges are rounded off by some elements like her hair, and her socks which are slightly frilly.

And of course, in between her feet, is Shambles, the Gila Monster.

Regina

Regina was a character that was a little tough for me to draw–because I pictured her as waaaay older than she actually was! Can you believe Regina is actually younger than Aunt Primrose?

I also struggled with how to pose her with an element that defined her… so I settled with the motorcycle helmet.

Her dress is much more mature and slightly old fashioned compared to Valentine’s own maid dress, to show her age and professionalism. Also, while it’s not very noticeable, Regina’s white hair is a different shade of white than Trina’s. Trina’s has a slight creamy tone, to show that hers is due to albinism, while Regina’s is a cooler, greyer shade of white, to show it’s due to age.

Inspector Ambrose

Ha! Inspector Ambrose was incredibly fun to draw, and Gower’s instructions were happily synonymous to how I’d pictured him.

While on the surface he looks like he’s the perfect detective, a slightly closer look will reveal little things that indicate he’s anything but. The crooked deerstalker hat. The slight paunch.

Something I knew I had to get right was his expression–he just needs to look like he knows something you don’t. Because he probably does.

Gloves complete the ensemble.

Gloves actually are a fun tool I use while character designing. If a character wears gloves, it’s probably to indicate something important about them. For Frankincense, it’s their wealth and daintiness. For Aunt Primrose, it’s a nod to the baccarat scene. For Fitzie… well.

I usually tack gloves on characters who are closed off emotionally, or characters who have more under their surface than we originally expect. Complexity, basically.

Phew! Well, that was a fun use of this hour long train ride!

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Uncle Chum is so adorable. I feel bad for constantly using his name to bail my MC when they are out of money.

Buck is just the way I imagine Buck is; I hope we can romance him in Tea & Scones. It’ll be hilarious to try to pair My clueless and soothing MC with him :rofl:

Starling looks very disapproving that I want to constantly drawing that look from them.

And the Noble Gasses! Exactly (or even better than) my imagination. @Shyranno you managed to perfectly capture their characters. These are so good!

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Now that i’ve finally got time to look respectfully at all the characters, i cannot praise the artist enough for these amazing arts. They all got so much personalities and styles that you could tell them apart.

My favorites, aside from the current ros, have to be Juniper and especially Pilcrow like wow but i have to say Buck is a very pleasant surprise to me cause for some reason i never imagine him to be so gruffly attractive or atractive at all really, i think i must be mistaken Buck with Firesnuff cause i alway imagine him with a moustache :sweat_smile:. Now that i know what he looks like tho the prospect of romancing him is very :eyes:

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Yes :grin: I didn’t exactly picture him like that. I somewhat picture him with a very shiny bald hair and a chipped of handler mustache :sweat_smile:. Anyways, what is the amount of point we need to get pipsy and thunder to kiss ? I’m starting at the press first so I have 50 minutes left

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You’ll need 55 or higher. If you got the hidden stats dlc you can find out exactly how many points you currently have there.

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Mine was actually 71 but the option to take their photo was not there :hushed:. Maybe it was the time ? :thinking:

What round is it currently? The moment should be available after Round 3 (or, if you want to get technical, (time >= 7) and (time <= 17)). But you mentioned there are only 50 mins left so the option should be available?

Huh, weird. No “Why, Thunder and Pipsy are sneaking off to that side room in what looks like a romantic way! I should follow them. (takes 10 minutes)” choice showed up?

It was round 5 actually. Does taking the photo even take that long? :thinking:

Nope :confused:

Making this a new comment so things will be more readable. Apologies for the “Unread Topics (1)” spam.

Even weirder. All the options that increase Thunder and Pipsy’s relationship should be locked behind a variable so you can only access them if you knew about Rose and Thorns in the first place. Might be a bug?

That is weird. I’ll poke through the code some time and see if I can spot anything.

That was amazing, and it’s really neat to hear your thought process as you transformed the words into the image. I want to add a few details to your discussion, too. I’ll start and edit this as the day goes on.

Assorted facts and trivia (and don’t worry–there will be no spoilers for Tea and Scones or Port in Storm herein):

Col. Firesnuff

Col. Magnus Firesnuff was and is a really easy character to write. His voice took its origin in the voice of Captain Haddock from the Tintin comics, mixed with Il Capitano from Commedia. His plot function, as far as my original outline went, was to be the one who particularly noticed you doing things sneakily and get increasingly irritated at you about it.

Incidentally, while writing Tally Ho, I played a character named Magnus Firesnuff in Fallen London for over a year. Really helped me get the voice down.

Figs

Figs is a straight-up homage to Gussie Fink-Nottle from the Wodehouse Jeeves stories. Except instead of being a fan of newts, he is an artist. He is the hapless, weird-looking, perpetually need friend. Part of the challenge with Figs was to make him potentially sympathetic while also really needy and annoying. If I had to change one thing in Tally Ho, I would make you be able to skip helping Figs in Chapter Five entirely and let you do something else instead if you chose, because that’s the part that stands out as the most railroaded in the game.

To make it up to players, though, I allowed them to wreak some revenge in the art gallery in Chapter Six of Cakes and Ale…if you want.

This picture of Figs is clearly the Tally Ho version, as the Cakes and Ale version is probably a mite tidier. Art critics have to look good, after all.

Mopsie

Mopsie is mildly influenced by the energetic and willful young women in many of Wodehouse’s stories, but she’s very much her own person. Once I figured out how her relationship bar would work, her voice followed without any trouble. Honestly I was most influenced by this one woman I played in a larp with about a decade ago who was playing a rebellious and loud young woman who would not stop clicking the pearls on her necklace. I imported that straight into Mopsie. The description I always think about most, Mopsie-wise, is that she is mostly hair and a mouth.

My two favorite words in all of Tally Ho are Mopsie related: first, when she says someone is full of “bologna.” I think I find that spelling really funny. I can’t explain it. Second, the word “cashut.”

Aunt Primrose

Aunt Primrose is straight-up my riff on Aunt Dahlia from the Jeeves stories. Period. She is the nice-but-tough and sort of athletic aunt. I added her shocking back story, though, which I took and repurposed from a character in a Wodehouse larp that I played. Actually, that larp was where I first learned about Wodehouse, back in 1999. I read some stories to prepare for the game and got hooked.

Rory

Rory, while taking a lot from Bertie Wooster of the Jeeves stories, is only a half-relation of Bertie. I think Rory is a bit more dreamy and anxious. Rory is clumsier, but also has more personal magnetism. They both, alas, have the same fashion sense. Rory resists The Servant (the MC of Tally Ho) a little bit in terms of “who is in charge here” but I think at the end of the day Rory knows The Servant is in charge.

Making Rory be either male or female really helped me avoid some of the annoying gendered cliches of the Wodehouse stories, which are aggressively stereotypically gendered.

Incidentally, Rory can totally be a girl’s name, for those naysayers. It’s short for Aurora.

When I was writing Chapter 2 of Tally Ho, where The Servant apart from Rory for the whole chapter, I had a long moment of panic, where I suddenly was concerned that I had made a terrible decision by making the main character the servant rather than the employer, because now that they were separated, I suddenly wasn’t so sure if it would be that fun to be just taking orders from everyone without an obvious way to assert your own opinions and desires. Luckily, I figured that out, and realized that having that limitation could actually be the whole fun of it.

The romance story with Rory was the first part of the game I drafted out, and in a lot of ways, it’s the core of Tally Ho, even though I don’t think of it as the canonical romance or anything. It’s just the center of the story around which I overlaid the other plots. I wanted the romance to be sweet, and about pushing past internal barriers and resistance. Note that Rory does not have a dark secret to uncover in the game.

I think my favorite ending in the game is the one where you are Rory’s servant from afar, writing letters back and forth.

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Picture me sitting cross-legged, with my hands under my chin and rocking slightly back and forth. I’m always eager to hear your tales!

Edit: A larping professor?! Why do you get cooler and cooler? It’s unfair. People should have a limit to their coolness.

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I have no idea how this thought came about, since the characters are so very unlike each other, but now I have this fun notion about how Fifi Buttercup’s novels would be immediately seized by the Ministry of Public Decency in that universe.

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Thank you :pray:

That’s interesting … @Gower who was the second romance ? :thinking:

Ooh… that’s interesting

Poor Fifi Buttercup no matter what universe they’re in their books would always be considered as a danger to society… I guess they should start writing a book regarding comedies or the eldritch horrors or a mix of both from now on.

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Continuing the commentary below! Part One can be found here~

Row 2:

Tabby

Tabby!! Lovely Tabby came easily to me the first time I drew her. I’ve always pictured her with sleek lines, to complement her hipster-esque, almost Parisian outfit. Her red hair always seemed much more red than orange to me too–it just seemed more striking. Dramatic.

Tabby has one of the cleanest designs in the cast… all her lines are very minimal and functional, with no messy edges, especially when contrasted with Vyv or Fitzie! I just love drawing her.

Vyv

Vyv was a joy to draw. I had a clear image of them in my head while playing through Cakes and Ale–the very first thing that came to me was the phrase “effortless beauty”. That seems to suit Vyv. Slightly ethereal, wispy, and flowy. Not entirely in this world.

The props they’re holding are also a nod to the direction you can push them in–whether to focus on their studies (hence the book with M!Vyv), or their art (hence the sketchpad with F!Vyv).

Fitzie

Haha! Fitzie!! I knew from the moment they bounded into the game that this was a character that’s going to be the death of me. Gower’s description of them was so vivid, I just had to get them across just right.

Rough edges. Imperfect uniforms. Gloves (for stealing purposes or to symbolize something else?). Lack of care in posing.

F!Fitzie is representative of a Fitzie with the upperhand on you, hence her much more brazenly lazy pose, while M!Fitzie is the opposite, hence his slightly more appropriate stance. Instead of a black tie, I gave them something in deep red–an echo to Valentine’s own red accents.

Fitzie is the only Cadbury Club member who’s primary colour is not black.

Fitzie is drawn as a visual contrast to Starling, who I’ll explain in their own section!

Gilberto

Our hero!! His design is based off the square-jawed action heroes from Dreamworks’ 2d fare, like Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, or Road to El Dorado.

Gilberto’s pants are fun–they’re shaded, to give that golden effect, which is something not many other characters have on their own clothes. The silhouette of the pants are also a nod to a little joke in one of the posts in this very thread–someone called his trousers tights. I just thought that was so funny.

Gilberto also has green eyes–one of the more rarer colours in the whole cast. It would’ve been easy to go for brown, but I scratched that idea out early because both Vyv and Fitzie already had brown eyes, and I wanted each of the ROs to be as different from each other as possible. His eyes are the same colour as the handle of his epee!

Ernie

Ernie!! Ernie is all soft edges and curved lines. Friend-shaped. His design is based off some old disney dads, like the Sultan from Aladdin, or Maurice from Beauty and the Beast.

The challenge in Ernie was choosing the right colours for him to wear. According to Gower, he dresses eccentrically because he just puts on the first thing in he finds in his closet. So I tried to give him a top and bottom that most definitely do not match… but still none-the-less sorta works. I think. If that makes sense.

Pilcrow

I love Pilcrow as a character!! For her design, I kept in mind a few things, the description of her hair being like “a dark veil”, and a conversation you can have with her about how people think she’s emotionless, when that’s not true at all.

The first version of Pilcrow didn’t quite work out so well, but I couldn’t figure out how to fix it until the very, very last moment. Her bangs were originally supposed to look a bit sharp in the middle, to resemble a crow’s beak. I still like that idea, but I’m not too sure how I’d incorporate that properly. (I know, I know a pilcrow has nothing to do with actual crows, but I just thought it’d be funny!)

I’ve always loved her relationship with Merle in the game, so I just had to have them together.

Standard Cadbury Club black and white.

The Noblest Gas

Pointy!! All points, everywhere. I love drawing old men in particular, it’s always fun to customize their facial features!

The Noblest Gas always seemed rickety but slightly crazy, which I tried to get across through his bushy hair… slightly reminiscent of the mad hatter.

His cane came together after feedback from Gower–originally it was just a plain one, but now the handle’s changed. It’s not very noticeable, but it’s actually supposed to be in the shape of a bird’s head, as a nod to Merle.

His suit is based off popular men’s fashion from the 1890s.

Clever Clive

Clever Clive was a late addition to the cast, but I’m so glad to have added him! His outfit is definitely based off something a bit more stereotypically magician-y, with the coat-tails and bow tie!

A small fun thing, the visible cards actually have little meanings in them. The Ace of Spades represents ill fortune–the MC’s scandal. The 5 of Hearts represent the MC and the 4 available ROs. The 3 of Clubs represent the three clubs. The Ace of Diamonds in Clever Clive’s boot represents change… but the good kind of change. The MCs future. Hopefully.

Duddles

Duddles was a challenge! A “friendly goosefish”. How do you draw something like that? I went through a few versions, scrapped certain ideas, rehashed others… until I finally settled on this version.

One of the previous versions of Duddles I played with had him look like a close relation of Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. Another had him look like a stereotypical thug/meathead. But none of those seemed to fit the bill.

In the end, I took inspiration from one of the Frog Hunters in Princess and the Frog, who had the sort of look I could imagine Duddles having. It all really came together when I re-read the scene where he’s crying because he didn’t know the lyrics to the club song.

Duddles wears a sweater vest too, because of that one conversation where he says he’ll never wear a tuxedo–ever since then, he struck me as someone who’d definitely prioritize comfort over fashion! His original design was wearing a hat, but I thought the curls gave him a cute, innocent look, so I ditched that.

There’s black paint splattered all over his back. You can thank Rory for that.

He holds a martini.

Toppers

Toppers design is taken directly from the cover art of Cakes and Ale! The design already matched Gower’s vision, and I also really like it!!

The only thing different is the Captain’s hat, which is a nod to the second chapter, where she leaves for her maritime romp. She’s also holding a billiard ball–the black 8.

Paige

Haha! Paige was really fun–I loved trying to capture her, in Gower’s terms, “prickliness”! Everything about her body language is closed off–the book across her chest, the crossed arms, and of course, the gloves.

Even her hair is prickly and pointy at the edges.

The glasses were my own bit of creative liberty–I thought it’d really sell her “intellectual snoot” look!

According to Gower, Paige dresses in simple, dark clothes–so the pink shirt she’s wearing is a nod to her design on the Cakes and Ale cover, which I actually adore. It’s very cute! I think the pink softens her design considerably too.

While designing the characters, I like to cross-reference already existing descriptions in the game, Gower’s own visualisations and references, as well as personality. This usually gets me a good picture of them in my head!

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Frankincense’s–their romance story is so wrapped up and connected with the Rory romance story that they had to come next. Although the gazebo scene in chapter six, which is the big scene for Frankincense’s romance was a pretty late addition!

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Oooh… since we now know who’s the first 2 ROs in Tally Ho can you tell us who’s the last RO in TH?

And, @Gower sorry to bother you but have you fixed the matchmaking bug in the arena ? I’m hoping it’s fixed so I can play it again. I’m Sorry if this sounds very passive aggressive.

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Not passive agressive at all! I won’t be able to take a deep dive in that issue for a little while, I fear, probably next week. I haven’t been able to replicate that bug on my end yet, but I’ll keep at it. I’m wondering if it’s actually an issue with the DLC not reporting the correct “thunderpipsy” value?

I’m trying to get ch.1 of Tea and Scones done in January, so all of my energy is bent to that end right now. But I won’t forget, I promise!

I don’t actually usually work that way, writing stuff in sequence–I happened to come up with the Rory/Frankincense stuff first and sketched them out, but then I wrote most of the love stories together, almost simultaneously, hopping back and forth among them. I will say that the romantic epilogue with Valentine was the very last bit I finished, though.

Specifically, I remember writing that one of Valentine’s friends was “sloe-eyed.” I think that whatever sentence had that in it was the very last sentence I wrote for Tally Ho, if you like trivia.

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Ooh thank you for the answer :blush:. And, I’m glad you’ve made progress on Tea & scones

Part 3 of ze visual commentary!

String-bean Sally

String-bean Sally changed a bit from her concept—I originally drew her a lot more square-jawed, but later on decided to really lean into her nickname and made her as much like a string-bean as possible. Because she’s an “athletic woman” and “gets hurt a lot”, I really couldn’t picture her wearing anything else but a riding outfit!

She is one of only three women in the cast to wear pants.

Gloves

Gloves was really fun! His design is mostly based on the one on the Cakes and Ale cover. I really enjoyed drawing his almost smarmy expression!

Gloves is unique. Since he has “gorgeous skin”, he’s the only male in the cast to have a rosy flush to his cheeks—something I reserve only for the women. He also has dewy highlights.

Carbuncles

Hehe, Carbuncles. I don’t really have much to say, except that I enjoyed drawing his pose and expression here! I wanted to really show his youth and enthusiasm! I imagine all the members of the Baklava Quartet to be in their low 20s.

Feathers

Feathers was a fun challenge! Because they’re non-binary, I tried my best to strike a balance between stereotypically masculine and feminine features. I’ve drawn androgynous characters before, but this is my first time drawing a character that’s explicitly non-binary! I’m so happy!!

There’s a feather in Feathers’ hat. For obvious reasons.

Myfanwy

Hee, I love drawing cute girls, so I had a good time drawing Myfanwy! Because of her love of flowers, I added some flower motifs to her clothes and hat! Her outfit is based off a design I spotted in an old 30s fashion magazine. I like to browse through them for ideas and inspiration—a bit of historical accuracy is always great!

Bunny

Bunny! I imagine her to have buck teeth, like a rabbits, though you can’t see it here since she’s stuffing herself with baklava. Her outfit’s based off the many silky gowns of 30s Hollywood stars, like Loretta Young and Carole Lombard.

I originally wanted to give her a scarf that resembled bunny ears, but that’s already claimed by Mopsie, so Bunny gets a bunny hair clip instead!

???

[redacted]

Juniper

I know everyone keeps on speculating Juniper’s a vampire—but I’ve always pictured her more fae-like. Not the Tinkerbell, cutesy kind, but the more traditional kind of fae: beautiful but twisty. You’re not entirely sure if she’s being sinister, or if she’s being playful, or both. “Too perfect.” That’s the phrase I held in my head.

I knew I had to draw her as flowy and wispy and ethereal as possible, so her colours match that. Her pose is also a call-back to the description that she’s “like a Botticelli painting”. She’s standing in an almost similar manner as Venus in the Birth of Venus… but reversed. And with hands clasped together.

Gloves.

Tristram

Tristram always struck me as almost… French. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s those impeccable manners. But he’s really fun to draw—especially his expression!

Morning suits in the 30s were often in a dark colour, but I didn’t feel like it suited the aesthetic of the Dormouse Society, so I tweaked it to be lighter… which also made it look a bit more expensive, I think! All of the Dormouse Society members wear colours that skew more towards the cool spectrum, in direct contrast to the Rowdy Roustabouts, who wear mostly warmer tones (even Buck has red suspenders!).

Pipsy and Thunder

I drew Pipsy and Thunder in the same Photoshop file! I thought it’d be easier to contrast them both—I knew they had to be visual opposites on almost every level.

The biggest challenge was designing Thunder’s face. A “bearded aubergine”. Haha! I’m happy with the results—I think that’s the best I can do without it looking too goofy.

It would’ve been more character appropriate to have Pipsy hold the teacup, and Thunder wear the boxing gloves, but I switched it up for fun. You could look at it as the both of them coming to accept each other’s strengths or something like that.

Stork

Stork!! Her design is based off Tianna Bartoletta, an Olympic long-jumper. Because of her athleticism, I had a tough time figuring out what to dress her in… until I saw an ad clipping of a transformable tennis outfit!

The outfit looks like a dress in first glance, but the skirt’s actually detachable, and reveals a pair of pleated tennis shorts underneath! It’s pretty nifty. I couldn’t picture Stork in anything else afterwards—though I’m pretty sure she’d probably ditch the skirt entirely.

Stork is the second female character in the cast to wear pants.

Buck

Buck’s design’s definitely based off noir-type anti-heroes and mob stereotypes. He’s one of my favourites—I’m just a sucker for jerks with soft centres!

His original design was much cleaner—it was Gower’s suggestion to have his trench coat look more beat up and used. I’m happy for the changes! It really added a whole layer of scruff to Buck that just pulled it all together better.

I originally wanted to give him brown eyes, to contrast with Juniper, but then decided on blue instead, to make his design stand out a bit more. Frosty look, and all that.

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