#ProjectVardan
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eiliakins.bsky.social
For #Writevember I'm turning an older comic script into a novel!

#ProjectVardan is a BL fantasy mystery where Eric the storyteller starts a new life in a small village and tries a little too eagerly to impress Vardan the fox farmer.

All while a young thief causes a stir among the nature spirits...
A digital illustration and character headshots for my novel. An elven man named Vardan sits on a tree stump near a forest river with his two trained foxes. He's fishing and his fishing rod is propped up next to him. A curious blond stranger approaches from the path behind him. The headshots depict the three central characters; Eric the storyteller, Vardan the fox farmer and Geoffroi the reeve. Eric is a blond man with fluffy animal ears and dressed like a bard, Vardan is indeed an elf with brown skin, purple hair, a beard and dressed modestly, and Geoff is an elderly black nobleman with floppy spaniel ears.
November 1, 2025 at 3:34 PM
eiliakins.bsky.social
Third WIP is the first page of my future webcomic, #ProjectVardan
I wanted to start sooner but my arm nerf forced me to do something smaller first. :')

Working on Hex & Seal made me realize I will need help colouring this as it's a LONG project and I want the art to be detailed. xDD #WIP
A work-in-progress shot of a comic page. The first panel runs down the entire page as a background, A bird's eye view of a river running through a lush forest until it reaches a large, distant medieval fantasy city near an ocean. Various colours are used to mark roads, city walls and the edges of the forest but most of the forests have been drawn already. In the following panels the camera zooms in on two men walking along a forest road. One is an elderly weredog who happily rambles on about the apparent dangerous criminal he's tracking while the elven man accompanying him listens quietly. What could they find at the end of this scent trail? A necromancer and his fresh servant? A Demon?! Tune back in later when I actually finish this page and get to work on the next one, smiley face.
October 12, 2025 at 8:52 AM
eiliakins.bsky.social
Project Thread: #ProjectVardan

Webcomic: The Judge of Whiskerstream

❈ Slowburn BL Mystery
❈ Eric keeps causing trouble when trying to impress Vardan
❈ But surely not all the recent unfortunate events are his fault?
❈ What truly happened to the once-peaceful Whiskerstream Village?
#art #oc #ocSky
A digital illustration and character headshots for my future webcomic. An elven man named Vardan sits on a tree stump near a forest river with his two trained foxes. He's fishing and his fishing rod is propped up next to him. A curious blond stranger approaches from the path behind him. The headshots depict the three central characters; Eric the storyteller, Vardan the fox farmer and Geoffroi the reeve. Eric is a blond man with fluffy animal ears and dressed like a bard, Vardan is indeed an elf with brown skin, purple hair, a beard and dressed modestly, and Geoff is an elderly black nobleman with floppy spaniel ears.
November 14, 2024 at 7:53 PM
eiliakins.bsky.social
#Writevember check-in 1:
+ 6,034 Words

Ended up reworking chapter 10 completely so that slowed me down a bit. xD

As for the bonus...
#ProjectVardan was, once again, inspired by my playthrough of a farming sim, this time Stardew Valley. :-D

I'll link an earlier post on that in a reply!
My first sketches of Vardan and Eric. Their looks haven't changed much even the story sure has. The only change on Vardan is that his vest had a slightly simpler design. Just a brown leather vest with lacings instead of buttons. Eric is also mostly the same, though I changed his hat from this upside-down satchel like thing with a feather into a medieval flat cap. But his hair was always long, wavy, blond and all over his face. There also are my original character notes. The stuff that stayed the same are Vardan being mid-30s while Eric is early-30s, Vardan raising fire-elemental foxes, some of which have angora-like fur. He's big and tough, loves fishing but can't make a living on it, and likes people but needs space. Eric also still is sociable but not obnoxious. As for the stuff that changed, Vardan is no longer a mercenary nor a hunter. He just raises his foxes and helps the local reeve and townsfolk with whatever they need. Eric also is no-longer a bard but rather a storyteller. Eric also didn't choose to stay in town because of vardan, but rather moved in because he found out his late grandfather left him his old home. Meeting Vardan was just a nice bonus! And lastly, in the original script, vardan was sent to a war during which he realized he could die without telling Eric about his true feelings. And when Vardan finally returned home from the war, he finds out that Eric had left town while he was gone, having assumed Vardan didn't really care for him since he never said anything or even wrote him a letter. The story has indeed changed a lot on that front. Smiley face.
November 8, 2025 at 12:03 PM
eiliakins.bsky.social
Story Inspiration: #ProjectVardan

In my first playthrough of Stardew Valley, I got really into fishing. And cooking was actually useful!

So I ended up with a chara who liked fishing and was a good cook. A very practical fellow.

And then there was the "cave-clearing war" of Year 2... xD #oc #ocSky
A digital illustration and character headshots for my future webcomic. An elven man named Vardan sits on a tree stump near a forest river with his two trained foxes. He's fishing and his fishing rod is propped up next to him. A curious blond stranger approaches from the path behind him. The headshots depict the three central characters; Eric the storyteller, Vardan the fox farmer and Geoffroi the reeve. Eric is a blond man with fluffy animal ears and dressed like a bard, Vardan is indeed an elf with brown skin, purple hair, a beard and dressed modestly, and Geoff is an elderly black nobleman with floppy spaniel ears. Text on a gray background. Fisherman's Friend was the original development title. Idea based on my first playthrough of Stardew Valley. I played it super slow but on second winter I did all the caves. Didn't talk to anyone. Only caves. And at the start of Spring 3, finally did all the romance stuff. In first draft, Vardan was sent to war. There he realized he could die without ever letting his 'best friend' know his true feelings. The story has changed a LOT since. Here's a baby pic of Vardan... :3 included a screenshot of my Stardew Valley save file. Vardan has brown skin, purple hair on a neat bun and dark brown clothes. My first sketches of Vardan and Eric. Their looks haven't changed much even the story sure has. The only change on Vardan is that his vest had a slightly simpler design. Just a brown leather vest with lacings instead of buttons. Eric is also mostly the same, though I changed his hat from this upside-down satchel like thing with a feather into a medieval flat cap. But his hair was always long, wavy, blond and all over his face. There also are my original character notes. The stuff that stayed the same are Vardan being mid-30s while Eric is early-30s, Vardan raising fire-elemental foxes, some of which have angora-like fur. He's big and tough, loves fishing but can't make a living on it, and likes people but needs space. Eric also still is sociable but not obnoxious. As for the stuff that changed, Vardan is no longer a mercenary nor a hunter. He just raises his foxes and helps the local reeve and townsfolk with whatever they need. Eric also is no-longer a bard but rather a storyteller. Eric also didn't choose to stay in town because of vardan, but rather moved in because he found out his late grandfather left him his old home. Meeting Vardan was just a nice bonus! And lastly, in the original script, vardan was sent to a war during which he realized he could die without telling Eric about his true feelings. And when Vardan finally returned home from the war, he finds out that Eric had left town while he was gone, having assumed Vardan didn't really care for him since he never said anything or even wrote him a letter. The story has indeed changed a lot on that front. Smiley face.
November 21, 2024 at 12:18 PM