Turning a cancelled project into fanart

A rare fanart season feat. Naruto and Frieren

Hey dear readers!

Sometimes I feel like every great creative newsletter has an endless supply of thoughtful essays, useful resources, and clever observations ready to share. Meanwhile, I often find myself wanting to simply show what I’ve been working on, sending updates from my daily life, and share less bright things. I hope you still like my follow along! ☺️

So today is one of those simpler updates: two new pieces, let’s get into it!

New Fanart

I didn’t make any dedicated fanart in a long time, probably at least 3-4 years. Suer, I like to sneak references into my illustrations, or cars that I like. But it’s been a while since I made something fully centered around fandom.

I usually prefer working on original projects, and personally, I’ve never been too interested in building a portfolio around existing IPs. Lately though, I got into a mood to show my appreciation for some fandoms again, not by copying styles and characters, but by making them my own. It started with this drawing:

This illustration was originally created for a coloring book pitch. The project had already been discussed with the publisher, a deal had been made, but unfortunately it was canceled due to cost-cutting before we started the actual production.

I was genuinely excited about the book, so it was disappointing to see this disappear. It happens, but the last two years are just unusually difficult for landing client/commissioned projects. Anyway, keeping a constructive mindset, I wondered what else this illustration could become. (I actually thought about just doing the whole coloring book myself, but…let’s keep a small scope for now 😄)

The whimsical setting, the books, the quiet atmosphere..I felt this was a perfect setting for a Frieren fanart. So I began adding references to the series, and of course put Ms. Frieren herself in there:

Apparently I was in the right mood after finishing this piece, as I immediately jumped into bringing another idea to life. I had this concept in my sketchbook for years now: An isometric interpretation of Konohagakure!

Naruto is special to me, it’s one of the first Anime I intensely watched in my youth. And Konoha always had this certain vibe that I wanted to characterize. This took me pretty long to draw, but I enjoyed the process.

I hope to share a long screencap of this on my YT channel soon as well.

Both artworks are now available as prints in my shop. If you’re a premium subscriber here on Substack, you’ll also get access to download links for high-res files of these. Or check out my Patreon (the downloads will be up shortly).

There’s already another idea sitting in my sketchbook right now, we’ll see if I find the time to turn it into another fanart. If you have any ideas for what fandom would be a great match for my style and that I should put on my list, let me know!

What’s next?

I’m taking things a little slower right now, giving myself a bit of rest after doing 3 conventions in less than 4 weeks.

Soon, I’ll be diving into the next card for the Quiet City Tarot Art Club, of course you’ll get a little sneak peek once I’m on it. And next week, the Suits of Life card decks and books will finally go on their world tour!

Thanks for reading today’s update!

Cheers
Stefan