Happy Holidays

By komicer, 23 Dec 2021

Before you know it, it is the end of 2021. Can you believe that it has been around two years since the studio shifted to an almost-permanent WFH model? And we are still paying rent for our physical studio which is closer to a warehouse at this point of time.

^{Illustrated by our current intern, Emolyneo. Do you recognize the characters?}

And with that, let’s check out some of our 2021 highlights. I must admit that while some months had obvious choices, others are… a bit of a stretch. But that’s the rules! One highlight per month. Let’s go!

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Jan 2021

It was a quiet start to the year. However, MSE Singapore was releasing the artworks that Poopiepuff did for them!

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It was a simple, straight-forward enough project. We’re glad we did it.

Feb 2021

We’ve worked with a number of Youtubers and Bijuu Mike is one of the biggest we’ve worked with. In Feb 2021, he unveiled the mascot and banner artwork we did for him! Even now (as of Dec 2021), our artwork still stands as his banner artwork on Twitter and Youtube!

. @waffles_ham designed Scrub-tan and drew a new banner artwork for @BijuuMike. He was really nice to work with! https://t.co/YzqoEhpW6A pic.twitter.com/pGJ1xUO6Wg

— Collateral Damage Studios @ WFH (@collateralds) February 3, 2021

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Mar 2021

March 2021 saw the announcement of Bullet Orange… but the biggest highlight has to go to the unveiling of the Miku Expo design we did for Kaomoji. Having now done an officially approved Miku licensed artwork, I can strike another dream project off the list.

PRE-ORDERS ARE LIVE!! 🥬
MIKU EXPO x KAOMOJIhttps://t.co/Dddj6uM4Qy@mikuexpo @cfm_miku_en #kaomoji #MIKUEXPO2021 pic.twitter.com/WNkAYZXcGp

— kaomoji.eth (◕‿◕) (@kaomoji_co) March 26, 2021

Apr 2021

I know. I know. Bullet Orange was announced in the earlier month. But there’s still news coming out from that end in Apr! We were quite happy to be acknowledged by Fruitbat Factory!

Josh and Marco show off more characters from the upcoming crossover expansion Bullet🍊! Stream starts at 4:30 PM on April 7 Mountain Time!

Set your reminder here: https://t.co/ZLmSYpCwDs pic.twitter.com/oNsfbLQc6s

— Level 99 Games (@Level99Games) April 7, 2021

May 2021

Microsoft officially shuts the door on Internet Explorer. And that means good bye Aizawa Inori too. BUT that’s not exactly a highlight. SPJA officially announced Anime Expo Lite and with it, their initiative with Hate is a virus. We are proud to support such an initiative and to have contributed an artwork for it.

Happy to provide the artwork for @AnimeExpo's initiative.

Every registration for #AnimeExpoLite 2021 will be donated to the @hateisavirus_ commUNITY Action Fund which support community organizations, mental health programs, AAPI representation, & more. https://t.co/i42vsUYo7K pic.twitter.com/sh5zPFtf8M

— Collateral Damage Studios @ WFH (@collateralds) May 31, 2021

While it is announced in May, the campaign officially starts in Jul. Here is how the artworks look in the end.

Nora Solis managed to collect all six @AnimeExpo lite coasters! Have you collected them all yet?

p.s. I miss visiting LA for AX pic.twitter.com/ATVnasPqGQ

— Collateral Damage Studios @ WFH (@collateralds) July 3, 2021

For a good cause as part of our CSR.

Jun 2021

Jun was a relatively quiet month for us on the marketing front. But the artwork we did for Sekai Project’s summer sales got released!

The @gogcom Summer Sale has begun! All releases we publish will be on sale from today until June 28th, 1 PM UTC! https://t.co/bbrH37LjyS pic.twitter.com/JPPvMpdVOd

— Sekai Project (@sekaiproject) June 9, 2021

There’s actually tons of activities going on in the background for the studio. But I’m not sure if those will eventually see daylight. Hopefully one day….

Jul 2021

Jul was another quiet month. But I do want to showcase this fanart that we were commissioned to do! While everyone plays Granblue Fantasy, I still play Fire Emblem Heroes. And it is nice to be commissioned something… slightly lower in stakes!

Sophia at the piano. made by @Usanekorin , commissioned by me.

#FireEmblem #FEHeroes #FEH #ファイアーエムブレム #ソフィーヤ　 #封印の剣 pic.twitter.com/cKyLCl7M5h

— Eric (@japanbrowser441) July 6, 2021

Yes, we do quite a number of non-commercial commissions too. And this in particular, is one of my favourite pieces of the year.

Aug 2021

Is that something animated?! We worked with Twitch streamer, Badgertail to design her mascot and even animated an intro and outro for her stream! The mascot was designed by GSong while we enlisted Mysterimaan to animate the illustrations!

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Collateral were an absolute joy to work with and everything they produced was blew me away, thank you! https://t.co/C1DY0UkqAG

— Badgertail (@Badgertail_) August 23, 2021

Sep 2021

This is probably the biggest highlight of our year. Through a recommendation, Kronii from Hololive EN commissioned us to do some simple icons and emotes for her Youtube Subscription membership launch! It’s simple but it did have quite an impact for us.

Special thanks to @collateralds for the emotes and badges and to @Melonturtle_ for the overlays! pic.twitter.com/BVf45L8fFn

— Ouro Kronii⏳holoEN (@ourokronii) September 21, 2021

It will be really nice if another of such opportunity come about again…

Oct 2021

Another animated one!

merch promos like no other✨ pic.twitter.com/hh4xvzMTWD

— OtakuVs (@OtakuVs) October 1, 2021

We love working with OtakuVS and coming up with marketing materials for them and their creations. It is unfortunate that we can sometimes be too overwhelmed with deadlines to come up with something new. But when we do… WaHa goes all out.

Nov 2021

Ok. Valentine Imouri? That’s quite a stretch. But… I really couldn’t find a good highlight for Nov 2021. orz

BUT it is an amazing itasha that Ryan did there. Can’t deny it. If I have a car like that, I’ll never drive it.

The biggest giveaway to ever hit our store is happening this month along with sooooo many other things 😳 November is gonna be crazy 😵‍💫 We'll keep you informed ✍️ pic.twitter.com/rhkgcln4a7

— imouri (@imourishop) November 5, 2021

Dec 2021

Wrapping up 2021 with something of our own. After years in the making, we finally managed to launch Kemono Singapore by Desti. If you are reading this, please buy a copy. We really need to sell books.

In conclusion

The year started out slow but… it picked up! Let’s hope it continues the momentum.

Despite only selecting 12 ‘highlights’ of the year, one per month, there was actually a lot of things going on behind the scenes. Everything is locked behind an NDA and it’s really quite crazy. We hope that one day, we can unlock the vault to show off what we have been working out throughout 2021 from home.

And with that… let’s look forward to 2022. Let’s keep surviving!