We got through the worst of it, guys, haha!
This episode was for sure the most difficult one I had to write up until now, and I don't think anything else will top that. I remember, while I was working on this episode, that I genuinely had to take a break. But I am really proud of the results! It wasn't easy to capture Bloom's fear and dread, and I think that was what made this episode so hard to write. I essentially had to put myself in Bloom's shoes and think, 'What would I feel in a situation like this?'. Needless to say, I would not be as strong as Bloom 😆
While writing the transformation into Dark Bloom, I wanted to lean into the invasive side of it. Originally the spell entered Bloom quite easily, but I wanted to make it feel like a struggle. Like a physical entity burrowing itself into Bloom's very essence. I think it describes the horror of the spell more accurately. The word 'parasite' came to mind here multiple times, something drawn to Bloom's light and burrowing itself there—manipulating the host to do its bidding. 'Virus' and 'parasite' are two of my favourite words to use for the shadow; they perfectly describe Darkar's magic to me. It's not just dark magic, like Valtor uses, but it almost feels alive. He has the ability to summon numerous creatures to fight on his behalf, with all shadow creatures drawing upon his magic like parasites.
I enjoyed getting descriptive with the story in this episode, haha. Although it got quite disturbing at times 🙈, I felt like this was an amazing challenge for my writing skills, and since it's a webtoon, I never get the chance to do that! I still struggle, but this helped me with creating more vivid descriptions the reader can really feel—or so I hope at least, lol.
As for the art, I was thinking about how I was going to do Darkar's lair for so long, and I could never think about a design that fitted the atmosphere and would not take ages to draw. Rocky formations are the absolute worst to draw. I also knew this episode was getting very long, which is why I had to split it in the first place, so I had to make sure it wouldn't take too much time to create something. In the end I think I made the right decision by just having no background. There are backgrounds in Alfea, but once Bloom enters Darkar's lair, there is only darkness. While this was for sure a decision to make my life easier, it also feels fitting. Of course, Bloom's memory would be limited to the fear and pain she felt while being captured. She would not have had much time to take in her surroundings and make the scenes feel more claustrophobic. The only light being the bit coming from the fake Avalon, making it impossible to ignore him, also added another layer. So while I did experiment and debate the background a lot, sometimes keeping it simple works best :))
Avalon's design changed from season 1 as well. I remember drawing him back in episode 3 with just the red lines on his face and debating whether I wanted to be inconsistent with his design. The red lines really just do not scream 'terrifying' to me, and I thought I could get away with one small inconsistency this one time. Since he only flashed through Bloom's mind back in episode 3, you could even say that Bloom's mind was trying to protect her. By making her forget just how horrifying he truly looked. So, I think this little change can even work in the narrative's favour! And I'm very glad I changed his look; the scenes with him just hit so much harder when he looks like an actual monster rather than Avalon with paint, haha.