It Comes from the Deep

I realized, sometime late last month, that I hadn't done my traditional art share of Final Fantasy Randomizer’s tournaments art that I'd done. I like pulling all those designs together, looking back and them to see changes and improvements in my style. It felt like before we got too much deeper into 2026 I needed to get those out of the way before it felt too late. So, let's get into it and see what the art of 2025 looked like:

Winter Tournament 2025: The Great Chaos Caper

Last year's Winter Tournament organizing team asked me to make Chaos, the main villain of the first game, into a gundam. This year they had a different challenge: make him a Muppet. I thought the idea amusing enough that I didn't just make Chaos as a Muppet, I went whole hog and did the whole set of fiends, Lich, Kary, Kraken, and Tiamat included.

I based the designs on actual Muppets (since when you're doing something like this, it's best to go back to the source). I wanted that truly authentic feel. And because it was amusing, I made Kary into Janice from Dr. Teeth's band. Overall I was super happy with this one. I felt like I really nailed it.

Spring Duck Bootcamp 2025 (and Other Events)

The standard schedule has the Duck events follow Winter Tournament, bringing in new players that watched our main event and then training them up to play in what was next to come. Previous years were designed around racing themes, but this time around it was suggested that we go outside the box. Far outside the box. Over into another galaxy far, far away.

The design is amusing, and I liked making the duck into a space ship. It works for what it is, but I have to admit I do feel like I could have pushed the design a little further, all things considered.

And, of course, there's also the Duck Bootcamp, which hangs on a similar theme, and the Platy Party as well. This one I went for a Star Trek theme, just to be a little silly. Still, overall I felt like I could do more with this. Which I do, in 2026. But let's not get ahead of ourselves...

FFR Presents: Summer Marathon 2025 Live!

In 2025 FFR started doing a live marathon event. Because of that, we felt it prudent to come up with a whole new theme for the event. Since it took place in Charleston, WV, I themed the event around the Charleston cityscape, set against a night time background (to make the neon theming of the logo stand out).

I really liked this theme (well enough to reuse it for the upcoming 2026 marathon), and I feel like all the elements really came together here. This was actually the third design concept we went through, and it's certainly the most visually striking of the set. It came together nicely.

Summer Co-Op Bingo 2025

A simpler design here. The planning committee mashed up our traditional Co-Op and Bingo events into a big mess of both, which was a lot of fun to play. For the design, they asked for a simple bingo theme, with bingo balls. Lots of them. The end results, bingo balls and bingo cards, is what we settled on.

It's simple, but fun, and I do think it gets the point across for the event. Likely if we did this again, though, I'd want to move the design in a different direction. It's almost too simple for my tastes, honestly.

Fall League 2025: Night of the Tentacles

As is tradition, since Fall League overlaps with Halloween, we like to do a horror movie theme for the layout. Past years saw giant monsters, slasher films, and Hitchcockian horror, among others, so this year we wanted to go a different direction. The theme is a mashup on zombies and sci-fi, with a certain, striking feel. And I went whole hog and tried to make it look as much like a movie poster as I could.

I love this design. I think the play of design elements, the simple shapes and bold colors, really work well together. This is one of the most visually striking designs I've done in some time, and it's one of the few where if we ever printed posters of our designs, I'd want this one. It's fantastic, if I do say so myself.

SpeedGaming Live 2025

Since I do the design work for SpeedGaming, and FFR always participates in their live event, this feels like a good space to share my design work for them, too. The theme this year was space, and I just let my sci-fi aspirations wander on this work. It's weird and fun, in a kind of 1980s bedroom poster way, and I really like it.

FFR x Z1R AP Crossover Tournament: Across Connected Worlds

This year's Archipelago Crossover event saw FFR teaming up with the Zelda Randomizer (Z1R) community. For this, I was asked to do a kind of maship of Zelda and Final Fantasy, bringing both together. The design is inspired by a production image of Link staring out over Hyrule, along with a different image with Ganon looming over Link and Zelda.

I think the end result is pretty good. It stays true to the feel of the Zelda artwork. But I do also love the look of Chaos and Ganon looming over the landscape. It's creepy, and fun. It works as a solid design, all things considered.

FFR Presents: Winter Marathon 2025

Since the Summer Marathon got a redesign, it felt only right to give the Winter Marathon a refreshed coat of paint. It's an online event, so we didn't have a specific location to work off of. Because of that, I went with a far more generic "winter" theme (which felt right). I purposefully made it brighter than Summer's theme to give it some contrast and to make Winter feel distinct.

The design is pretty good, and I think it conveys what I was going for. But, if I'm being honest, I might tweak it around a bit for 2026. Touch things up a little. I see little bits I want to adjust, things I could do better. This is frequently how it works; even on designs I like I still see things I could change. The trick is knowing when to walk away and call it "good enough". This one is close, and a little massaging will probably get it there.

And Then...

And that's all we have for 2025, but as I always like to do, I want to leave you all with a little taste of what's to come. And that means showing the first bit of art for 2026: the Duck Bootcamp's winter theme, Duck to the Future.