This post came a bit latter than I had hopped but I'm pleased to announce that the Rock-Aozora 5 crew of characters is now complete, aside from a potential re-design of Magius in the center to distance his look a bit further from his inspiration (Persona 5's Joker). The process took from January 2018 to June 2019 to flesh out the gang of Sid, Monty, Demija, Tenor, Codra, Suzie, Bryan, and Magius.
So who's next? Well, this is still technically what will be the series' fifth arc, and while I have some pretty in-depth plans for who will come next, the general rise of commission prices alongside some non-revealed designs that I had to scrap for looking too similar to an unintended character. Plus, I've decided to use other sites besides DeviantART to seek for designers because the site's job offers forum posts get flooded with artists that don't fit the character archetype I'm looking for (often consisting of artists that solely stick to female artists and an art style that is more focused on "cutesy" designs that under most circumstances don't fit the Aozora-verse.
Because of these circumstances it's become harder for me to find artists to work with, and thus since the beginning of January I've only received...
- Gemini, form Rock-Aozora IV
- Pelevin, from Aozora's Adventure RPG 2
- Kalmanu, from Rock-Aozora 3
- Than, a miscellaneous character used for Girou's storyline
- Edurizo, from Aozora's Adventure III
- Tenor, from Rock-Aozora 5
Plus with the slew of conventions I've attended this year (including three in the span of just one month), it's become more challenging to manage my budget for hiring artists.
For what's next apart from Rock-Aozora 3's Ottomar who I may use DeviantART to find an artist for for old times' sake, there's the nine characters of Aozora: Gates of Illusion and the remaining six of Rock-Aozora World IV. The others, being low priority, probably won't be considered to get designed anytime soon. And that's not getting into the many, many designs I have planned for Arc 6, including the rosters of Rock-Aozora 6, Aozora's Adventure XXL, and Aozora's Adventure Corruption.
Needless to say I'll have to go through more detail someday.
