Animal Crossing Gets Literary

Hello, friends! I hope you are all hanging in there during these times of self-isolation. Out here in Chicago, we've been pretty much shut down for almost two weeks now. As a home body, this time has definitely flown by for me! Especially due to the recent release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. To celebrate the new game, I've recreated some of the most iconic outfits from YA books!

Celaena Sardothien: Heir of Fire - Sarah J. Maas

Here we see that Celaena is enjoying the island life. She doesn't have a bow here, but she is still a good shot with her slingshot.

Putting together this look ended up being difficult particularly because of the intricate patterns and limited color palette in the design editor.

Lena Duchannes: Beautiful Creatures - Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

It's her 16th birthday and Lena is struggling with the dichotomy of good and evil! While the Beautiful Creatures movie wasn't particularly true to the book, I do feel it holds up as a movie on its own. Plus, the soundtrack is incredible.

In the interest of using a palette with a flesh color to simulate the neckline on Lena's dress, I had to miss out on a wider variety of gray-scale colors.

Annabeth Chase: The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan

It looks like Annabeth is waiting for seaweed brain to finish up his son of Poseidon nonsense. Maybe a game of capture the flag later?

This design was a bit ambitious since there aren't that many pixels allowed in a custom design AND the way the pixels attach can be a bit unpredictable. Overall, I think the orange color really does resemble the Camp Half-Blood t-shirt (and I guess the design vaguely resembles a winged horse).

Nina Zenik: Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

Nina is ready for the big heist and hoping everything goes according to plan!

Obviously our friendly villagers are a bit more modest and a bit less curvy than our girl Nina, so I couldn't quite replicate the silhouette. BUT, I did make this meme using reactions (potentially a spoiler???):

Katniss Everdeen: The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Katniss Everdeen from District 12 is going to twirl for us! The Girl on Fire!

Katniss has so many great dresses throughout the series, but I decided to go with this classic. I went through many different ideas for how to do the flames, but this is the one I felt worked the best for the effect.

Hermione Granger: Harry Potter and... - J.K. Rowling

It turns out that you can still hang out inside and study all day even on an island getaway! You can find Hermione in the study pretty much at all times.

Obviously had to take a stab at a Hogwarts uniform for this series! The pleats were a bit difficult and there was no gold on the palette, but I think it ended up looking pretty good. Plus, I was able to get this meme going using reactions:

Lara Jean: To All the Boys I've Loved Before - Jenny Han

Last but not least, we can see Lara Jean excitedly checking her mail. There's just something so magically about a physical letter!

This one is my absolute favorite of the whole design series. This outfit worked super well since the silhouette perfectly matched one of the options for the custom design editor. I'm so obsessed with it that I've had my character wearing it ever since I finished it!

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I hope you've enjoyed my Animal Crossing YA book dress up! This was definitely a fun and challenging exercise, getting to know how the editor works and figuring out the styling with my currently limited wardrobe (the Able sisters haven't set up shop on my island yet). Maybe I'll make another set of bookish outfits soon!

- Kiersten

Are you playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
What bookish characters should I design next?
Let us know in the comments!