This is fanart, in a way. But I didn’t draw it on some loving whim, although there’s nothing negative to be said about those who do such things. Expressing your love, even for creations of others, is quite a beautiful thing. It’s just not what I do, not exactly. Just…in a way, like I said.
I prepared a one-off tabletop RPG adventure for two of my friends to take place over 2-3 hours. My friends designed their characters as having recently died and now, after death, they had to face a set of challenges to get into Heaven. I hence called the “The Afterlife One-Off.”
The main NPC they interacted with was Manny from Grim Fandango; he acted as their shepherd through the adventure. I could have chosen anything or anyone, but I chose my favourite character. I drew for many aspects of the game, but I didn’t really “need” to draw Manny. This was a nice visual to put up on the screen (we were playing over Discord) at the start of the game. I could have used a picture from Grim Fandango itself I guess, but I wanted to draw him. And so I did.
My fanart, in my way. Now I can say that I fondly took the time to draw Manny Calavera even when I don’t typically draw anyone else’s characters. That, to me, is a special love.
Khadeja Ali draws 