lonely warrior || xiaoven animatic

i'm finally free...
art, editing, eng translation by me
special thanks to axuanmii for translation help i am so bad at chinese
日本語和訳: ameblo.jp/danj...
original song by eason chan: • 《孤勇者》（《英雄聯盟：雙城之戰》動畫劇集中...
cover by miao jiang: www.bilibili.c...
programs used: krita, premiere pro, aegisub
instagram - / justtheblueberry
tumblr - / justheblueberry
bsky - bsky.app/profi...
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this was always intended to be a xiaoven animatic but somewhere along the way it mostly turned into a love letter to xiao. thanks for watching & happy lantern rite!!

[@justtheblueberry]

this animatic was drawn for the xvx festival! go check out everyone else's super cool works from feb. 1st-2nd on the pictsquare site here: pictsquare.net/5d3yj1w5tk2akyre2t8afwyayhejo129 (more info at xvxfestival.carrd.co/ ) special thanks to axuanmii for translation help, and to sharo for sending miao jiang's cover of this song in the exhibitor discord on like day 2, right when i was brainstorming art ideas and was about to have weeks of free time to dedicate to a stupid long project. i lost my whole winter break to drawing frames.

[@yah1dka]

every second of this animatic made me fall in love with xiaoven over and over again, it's mesmerizing!✨

[@justtheblueberry]

thank you,,,,i really channeled my love for them the whole time i was making it to keep me going!!!

[@babidoo9104]

AAAAAHHHH this song fits so well omg TOT incredible work frfr

[@themeepingfangirl]

OMG!!! I remember listening to this miaojang cover before BUT YOU MADE IT 1000% MORE TIMES AMAZING WITH YOUR ART HOLY BARBATOS' LYRE! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

[@Hua-lc2jl]

STUNNING WORK HERE WOWOWOW I'M HONESTLY KIND OF SPEECHLESS song choice absolutely immaculate, esp. w/the miao jiang cover. i do play in cn, so the connection btwn the singer n the subject material being xv was so so effortless AND I LOVE LOVE LOVED THE LINE THAT'S LIKE "i love how you're so similar to me, down to the same faults" bc YEAH!!!! THAT'S SO XV IT HURTS UGH n the bit abt "who says only those standing in the light can be regarded as heroes" !!! i love love love that you chose to do a song abt accepting faults, too--both of others and your own, bc of the recognition of similarity going on in there--n portray xv as being sweet n tender towards one another. bc yes, they are both dirty n they are ugly for the things they have done, but that doesn't mean they are undeserving of gentleness!!!!! (also i saw aegisub in the tools used section n feel very "*POINTS* I USED THAT TOO" c': such a wretched program to learn until you get the 921304 hotkeys configured lol) ANYWAY like i said, IMMACULATE song choice, n equally impeccable storyboarding to go with it. i need to go devour a whole ham like a piranha or smth to express the emotions this makes me feel now

[@justtheblueberry]

THANK UUU HUA!!!! i adoreeeee miao jiang's voice as venti and she sings so beautifully this song struck me DIRECTLY IN THE HEART when i first heard it!!! the lyrics hit so hard i saw so clearly the path i had to take.....many, many hours of drawing xiao..... their faults are so important to me!!! as characters they're at their most interesting and Human when you can peel back the layers of them, no longer simply the guardian adeptus or anemo archon, and magnify the terrible parts...yet still, as they live on and experience more of life, there is always something new to discover about guilt and atonement, selfishness and freedom, relationships and family... aegisub is quite the program indeed...i figured it out in the end!!!

[@axuanmii]

you have such incredible prowess over backgrounds got me chewing my bedsheets RAGHFHHFHFHGH. i knew it was gonna look insane colored but IT'S SO GOOD and the song works so well. xiao's movements are so beautiful and the way each scene blends into the next is incredible i don't have enough adjectives for this but know that it slaps

[@justtheblueberry]

WAHHHHHH THANK U ASH!!! i loved doing the backgrounds for this but i took so many reference pics ingame it's a huge chunk of my game screenshots now...

[@ailing9220]

IQHZJSHH THE SONG, THE LYRICS, MIAOJIANG'S VOICE, YOUR ANIMATICS , THE WHOLE THING FITS SO PERFECTLY I- I CRIED WATCHING THIS, WTF IS THIS MASTERPIECE 🥹😭😭✨️ IM JUST- im so speechless rn...like, I'm just amazed at your dedication and making an animatic FOR THE WHOLE FREAKING SONG?!?!? AND IN SUCH BEAUTIFUL QUALITY?!?!? GOSHHH i though I've seen everything of xiaoven, THIS WAS MY MISSING XIAOVEN PIECE THAT I WAS SEARCHING WAAAAA i wanna make a song like this one day and maybe someone will make an animatic out of it who knows:") BUT BOY THIS IS AMAZINGG RAAAAA😭😭✨️🫵🫵

[@justtheblueberry]

@@ailing9220 AHHHH THANK U FOR THE COMPLIMENTS!!!!! I DID DO THE WHOLE FREAKING SONG and it was so rough but I NEEDED TO DO ALL OF IT!!!! I BELIEVE YOU CAN DO THE SAME!!! MAKE THAT SONG!!!

[@caparashon]

This is INCREDIBLE! ❤

[@kavvueh]

SCREAMINGGGGGGGG ahhhh this is amazing!!! thank you for the food!!

[@klversions]

SO BEAUTIFUL OMG??

[@literallydone8235]

WAAAHHH!!!! Oh my goddd everything about this is so incredible!! Beautiful!! Absolutely stunning!! It really inspires me to continue writing my XiaoVen fic that's been a WIP for almost 2 years now 🥰

[@justtheblueberry]

@@literallydone8235 thank you so much!!!! i'm really happy to hear it could give you motivation!!! best of luck to you on your wip!!!

[@Solacie]

this is sooooo good omg T_T the song you chose for the animation, the pacing, the message.. you captured the essence of xvx so well with that animation!! THANK YOU

[@justtheblueberry]

AH..!! im really glad you say that i captured the essence of xvx-!! i was a little worried it was too much about xiao but the song fit him so well with venti singing about him...!

[@Solacie]

@@justtheblueberry that may be true but I think that Venti rescued Xiao from falling into madness is a huge aspect of them! Of course there is so much more, but you only had so much time you could put into the animation x3

[@lozzagnadraws]

oh this is ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE, i can't imagine how much time this took. i'm seriously blown away by this animatic ToT

[@justtheblueberry]

thank you!! it was weeks of work but it was worth it--!!

[@iveedoodle]

AAAAAH SO PRETTY!!!!

[@kaidan3684]

aaaaaaaaaaa jas this is so good!!!!!

[@justtheblueberry]

ty kaidan :DDDD

[@k0mikaru]

HOLY COW.... it was amazing

[@justtheblueberry]

THANK U KOMI....! it got tough at parts so your encouragement was incredibly helpful ❤

[@slightlyfreakish2811]

OMG AMAZING!!!!!

[@lilithuriel]

HELLOOOOOO I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS THANK YOU!! THIS IS SO GREAT

[@justtheblueberry]

tysm :D!!! i worked hard im glad u enjoyed!!

[@flowersnfireworks]

this is so gorgeous omg i love it so much

[@justtheblueberry]

THANK YOU!!! owwo 🫶