Amid the Sunflowers: Christmas in July 2024

(Hoping the link to the user works!) CyanideCrystal User Profile | DeviantArt I am your gifter!

Once again I took part in the Christmas in July Secret Santa event from Nuzlocke-Challenge and I was so excited by who I got. It was Pearl from Grannylocke, any of her team and something summery. Pearl is such a unique character as we rarely get elderly protagonists in the nuzlocke world and she is such a sweetheart. The 'rival' is the one helping her understand the league which is giving her a new lease of life, while mysterious things happen. The story is so intriguing and I love Pearl. She needs protecting!

As for what to do, I turned to my husband for ideas and he suggested a BBQ or gardening. Gardening was already floating in my mind and then it was an easy jump to sunflowers. Sunflowers are hard to draw, why did I choose them?! Pearl is wielding a watering can sporting a sweet because she loves sweets: so much so that she named her Pokémon after them. Bonbon the Shinx and Tootsie the Bidoof are playing while she waters. Yes, perspective continues to elude me, but I felt these two deserved some focus as I haven't seen anyone draw them yet.

I was getting worried I wouldn't be able to complete this as the carpal tunnel struck again. I used my wrists too much around 7th July but gave it a couple of weeks rest and I was all good (I still worked on this, just in smaller doses over bigger periods of rest). But I had got the line art done so at least something would have been submitted. Still glad I got it done in time!

Go read Grannylocke on NuzlockeForums all! You won't regret it!