The characters of FF9 are extremely deep and emotional and the settings and designs are unique, even for the Final Fantasy franchise. The developers have said that they wanted FF9 to be different from the others while still retaining the Final Fantasy feel, and I believe they did that in every aspect. This game has continuously inspired me and my artwork throughout the years.
Over the past few years I've noticed a lull in my productivity regarding my artwork. I've been obsessed with creating and showing off finished works, instead of just drawing for the sake of drawing like I used to. That seems really professional, but I've realized that when I drew for the sake of drawing, I was far more creative. I don't have to show everyone my drawings. I can keep some private. And when I have a slight whim to draw something, I find some paper and draw it, even if I have very little hope for it.
This drawing came from a night of playing FF9 and running into a monster called the "Ragtime Mouse" about three times. That may not seem like too many times considering I had about a hundred encounters, but the ragtime mouse is actually a fairly uncommon find. In the game, he randomly appears in forests and announces that he has a pop quiz for you, during which he asks you one question about the game that was only obscurely mentioned once on a plaque you didn't need to read or requires a strong geographical knowledge of the land.
An interesting note about the ragtime mouse: I, too, thought it was strange that it was called a mouse when it looks nothing like one. However, now that I know Japanese, this makes sense. The original Japanese name for the ragtime mouse was ラグタイムマウス. The romaji spelling of this is "ragutaimu mausu." A translator who looks at "ragutaimu mausu," without looking at the character design, would definitely assume that "mausu" must be "mouse." However, Japanese does not have a "th" sound, and an "s" sound is what they replace it with. This still isn't as bad as replacing "sarisa" with "salsa," however, so I forgive you, translator.
In short, today's art lesson is: do for the sake of doing sometimes. You get more practise that way.