This is the last part of my Octransfur summary, and since i completed these pictures out of order, I'll also be sharing my thoughts about them out of order, in order of completion. The full resolution pictures are still arranged by numerical order though, much like the timelapse playlist, which you can find by clicking here.
Day 26 - Novice - I skipped ahead to this pic before doing 24 or 25 since it was a paid commission and I didn't want to keep either of these kind fluffs waiting. Aside from that, working (and transforming) with these two was a straightforward, lovely time. One detail I took special care to get right was keeping the clothes lagging slightly behind the TF, to really sell the shrinking aspect of the transformation. I also added a few ghost outlines above us to imply what led up to this moment. Add in a cave and you've got a little adventure on your paws~
Day 30 - Button - I actually did this one a couple days ahead of schedule, skipping past all the other ones since this was the last remaining paid(-in-advance) commission, and the commissioner wouldn't be available on the 30th itself for work reasons. So we moved it up because time is whatever we want it to be. Anyhow, this was the other drawover of the month, and you can actually spot most of my drawover tricks in it. The big three things to keep in mind for a drawover (in the order I encounter them) are perspective, clipping, and lighting.Sketch and draw your character to match the perspective of the scene, clip away the parts that would be hidden by other objects in the scene, and then light them to match the scene. Matching the shadow cast by the overhead lamp(s) was particularly fiddly: The shadow cast by his wing had multiple parts because there is more than one light source in the room. I made sure to match the angle and color of the shadow cast by the end table and that was that~
Day 25 - Winter - With all the paid-in-advance commissions out of the way, I could relax again, just a bit. Of course there's still five more pictures to finish (six if you count Day 24), but we could keep things nice and lighthearted. There's also the fact that I drew this on November 4, but let's focus on the picture itself. I had two pals in the mood for Chien-Pao, and I was happy to indulge them. That our colors made a little spectrum of values (from darker to lighter) was a happy coincidence, too. I'm particularly happy with getting Blitz's face to be both underneath and on the outside of the costume as it fused/changed him~
Day 27 - Classic - I was running low on energy by this point, and I needed to wrap this up so that I could move onto working on the Christmas jigsaw puzzles. So for all the remaining pictures I focused on self-indulgent ideas. Self-TF is the best form of self-care, after all. But of course, that doesn't mean I'm not about to have fun with (or of) my friends, too! For this picture I chose our forms first (it's a little in-joke between me and Car), and then let the idea follow from there. I was still feeling mischievous (as I always do), so why not remind everyone how old they are? It turns out that dealing psychic damage is one of my specialties, fittingly enough.I made it a post-TF to keep things simple. Just add clothing confetti, torn-up pants, and a bit of magic smoke to make any dazed Pokémon an ex-human~
Day 28 - Powder - Final stretch! Why not flex a bit with a very self-indulgent mid-TF~? I don't know why I have a soft spot for Ivysaur; maybe it's a dash of nostalgia mixed with an affinity for being quadrupedal and just a little bit chubby...Anyhow! Back on topic, making your own TF powder / smokescreen and being powerless to stop it seemed right up my alley. I figured that the pose would be essential to really selling the idea that I'm not going to be bipedal for much longer, so I put a lot of thought and focus into getting it. Bracing myself against the door and the cameo (thanks, Mato!) felt the most right, so I went with that. Rather late in the process I realized I didn't have time to draw a proper reflection, so I just amped up the TF smoke effect to 11 and covered up the mirror with an extra pollen cloud. It goes without saying, but I'm really happy with how this one turned out.
Day 29 - Anxiety - The self-indulgence continues, as does the final stretch (more literally in this case). This is another one where I wanted to tease/gift a friend, and if I remember right Watchog just happened to be one of the moods on our mind at the time. Naturally, that made me think of Super Mystery Dungeon again, and I mixed that with a bunch of other things I liked (Poketopia, reality shift) to settle on the idea of exam anxiety. After that, it was simply a matter of execution and having fun with the tiny details.For example: on the transforming calculus textbook, I copied the cover design of one of my actual college textbooks, mostly because the title (Calculus Early Transcendentals) stood out to me as a particularly cool name. I also thought it would be funny to shift it to "Transcendatals for Early Learners" in the post-shift form. Often, it's the little jokes that give me the most giggles when drawing something like this~
Day 31 - Candy - Dessert. What else can I say? I wanted to end on a nice big, round, and huggable note to wrap up Octransfur. I kept it pretty simple, despite briefly considering doing a mini-comic (as you can see in the timelapse). You might also notice that I kept drawing myself a bit chubbier in lining, but that's just the right way to turn into a Dragonite, isn't it? But back on topic, I finished on yet another classic example of the post-TF trick. Add on some torn-up clothes, a dash of smoke, and a great big "RIIIIIIP!" to get a TF in no time flat~!
And that's the whole summary for Octransfur 2025. I was closer to finishing on time last year than I have been in quite a while, so I've got high hopes for this upcoming year! As it says on my website, I'll start assembling the prompt list in August and release the final list on the first TFTuesday of September. With any luck, I'll be able to finish at least one more batch of comms before then.
Here are a little fun statistics about how Octransfur went for me in 2025 (you can find these on my website, too):
Number of commissions: ~30 characters (spread over 19 days)
Total stream time: ~121 hours (5 days)
Total length of timelapses: ~51 minutes (link to playlist)
Average time to complete a piece: ~4¼ hours
17 Plushies, 5 Pooltoys, & 25 other “object” forms
Total number of Pokémon: ~70
Frequent Flyers: Mew (7½), Pichu (6½), Eevee (4), Oreo (2½), Chien-Pao (2½)
Days without a Pokémon: 7 (23%)
Mid-TF pics: 7 (23%); Sequences: 3
Pictures with clothing confetti: 11 (35%)
Total time behind schedule: 27 days
Until then, I'll try my best to check back with weekly updates and early looks at stuff that I hope to post later. Once I settle on plans for the next big project (likely either another jigsaw puzzle or an Octransfur art book), I'll unlock the top tier and tell you all about that, too. See you around~