Cool thread idea!
So one of the big ideas I wanted to sell about Errant is: "It's about a group of dysfunctional 20-something year old friends."
So there was one obvious inspiration to draw from here, a show that hasn't aged well, but for me was a big part of my teens with an iconic opening that evokes that exact idea:
The opening of Friends, where they're all clustered together in these whimsical shots being cool and quirky was the tone I wanted to set.
My main goal is that you should want to get to know each of these individuals and to be friends with them.
Rekki is in a very traditional "knight" pose, like a statue, kinda symbolising that she's the one tied most to the tradition of being a knight, but it also has some sinister connotations, with Excalibur looming behind her and with the pose not being unlike a dead warrior engraved on a tomb or a Viking laid to rest. Her sword matching Excalibur's position will be relevant in many ways.
Subo is close to Rekki and relaxed, he adds a sort of grounding element to the image, just as he's kind of the character who keeps the team grounded.
Sarin is as far away from Rekki as she can really be while still sitting on those boxes, leaning away with her back turned and barriers set up with her raised leg and crossed arms. There's discomfort and unease in their relationship, and a break in that break in the space. Also there's something by her foot which is definitely totally irrelevant and you should just ignore it. Anyway, moving on!
Jules is mostly useful for this image in that her knowing smile is inviting. She's just lurking back there, knowing something you don't and that's pretty much her role in the story.
Mysterious right hand character is moving with the spirits and seems to be kinda shooting off the page adding some much needed dynamism and breaking off from the static poses of everyone else. The pointing with the sword is kinda like "Let's go!"
The pink/purple colours to the boxes, spirits and Excalibur, plus the pink highlight colour are there to evoke the look and feel of things that I think have a similarity in feel to my series, like Steven Universe, Netflix She-Ra or even Sailor Moon. Like yeah, this is kinda shounen manga and adventure, but it's not necessarily macho or masculine. It has a lot of queer characters and a focus on female friendship and relationship drama, so I wanted to evoke an airy, feminine feeling that would stand out from a lot of the heavier, darker, more red and grey dominated covers in the action genre.