Behind the Design: 2022 Self Portrait Timelapse

I thought it would be fun to share a timelapse video with y’all today showing how my 2022 self portrait came about.

I’m thinking about creating a new one for 2024, so I wanna milk this one while it’s still up as my face in most places 😁

🌟 Flash warning!! 🌟

This video is a timelapse video, which includes flashing images due to the nature of the process. Please do NOT view if you can be harmed by flashing imagery. There is a video description following the video itself for those who may need it!

Self Portrait Timelapse Video Description

A 4 minute 12 second video without sound showing the process of Jessi’s self portrait timelapse for 2022. It starts out showing the brainstorming process: a few pencil sketches of Jessi in various poses before settling on the final pose of them sitting with their knees up and supporting their tablet close to their face as they draw with an intense look on their face.

They’re wearing a light purple sweater with the sleeves rolled up and a blue skirt that covers their feet. They sit on a purple couch with a peperomia plant nearby in a turquoise vase. On the couch next to them is a pair of drawings: one shows a snake and one shows two femme people linking arms.

An abstract pink and yellow background is behind them, and up in the air, emanating from the tablet, is a speech bubble that shows what Jessi’s drawing: a black and white sketch of a nude, fat person with the word “butt” next to the butt. On the yellow part of the abstract background, there is purple handwritten font that reads, “Jessi Eoin: Illustrations and Comics. And butts.”

The video shows the process of illustrating all of these and coloring it. The first few poses are simple and bland poses of Jessi looking at the viewer or holding up a comic in front of their face. Jessi then sketches out the final pose, adjusts the facial expression, and tidies up the line work. They draw a dragon and griffin with a flower for some reason before erasing it.

They fill in the colors of themself before moving on to creating the background, starting with the couch. They experiment with the remainder of the background (cycling through trees, plants, trees with fantasy elements, and abstract lines) before settling on a simple background divided into yellow and pink.

They move on to drawing the bubble with the nude figure in it, taking several times to sketch out a satisfying figure that works within the confines of the bubble. Initially they include little sparkles around the butt, but they eventually decide to just write “butt” and leave it at that.

They then work on hand lettering the text featuring their name and what they do. It takes them a few tries to get the result they want, experimenting with size and placement and lettering format.

After that, they move on the plant next to the couch, experimenting with a fiddle leaf fig, a peace lily plant, and a snake plant before settling on the peperomia plant and coloring it a light green color. They experiment with and use some textures for the clothes to give it depth, then fill in the plant to also give it more depth.

They then add the illustrations to the papers on the couch and give the text a final adjustment making their name bigger and adjusting the positioning of everything.

End of video description.

If you enjoyed this look at the thought that went into this self portrait, you might like to subscribe to my newsletter Into the Bramble. You can also follow me on Patreon to get notified when the next one goes up! My Patreon includes additional exclusive behind the scenes looks that don’t get posted here on the blog. 

If you’re into comics and in the market for a new read, I also recommend checking out my series More Comics Please! or the monthly release lists for new comics each month. You can also find me and say hi on Instagram and Twitter!