The Last Of Us 2 fans have created a wide variety of tributes in a variety of mediums to the critically-acclaimed but polarizing game. One fan is drawing on wells of determination that would probably impress the game's hard-bitten player characters, with the goal being to recreate Ellie's journal from The Last Of Us 2 in physical form.
Redditor robertsimpson97 has been working on this project since The Last Of Us 2 was first released, and they've now completed 13 of the 20 journal entries players can collect during the game. Each page is written on ruled yellow notepaper, its contents carefully hand-crafted to mimic Ellie's handwriting and even her drawings. Another The Last Of Us fan recreated Ellie's tattoo as embroidery and caught Naughty Dog's attention, and judging by the level of detail in robertsimpson97's work, it also has the potential to earn similar levels of interest.
One of the first posts created for this project is a comparison of the original in-game journal and a physical page made by the artist. While the photograph's lighting is very different from the screenshot's lighting, everything else, including the studies of noses and eyes, the scribbled-out faces, and scratched-out lines, is incredibly accurate to the game. The incredible attention to detail is reminiscent of the poster another The Last Of Us 2 fan created to celebrate the hard-hitting title.
As of writing, the most recent installment is page 13 of Ellie's journal, which contains a number of sketches of mushrooms and some sobering commentary about how kids used to think the fruiting bodies were cute. As the world of The Last Of Us was devastated by a fungal infection that effectively turns the infected into zombies, this comes off as a very mournful observation. Robertsimpson97 has expertly captured Ellie's scratchy shading, her loose figure studies, and her surprisingly cute art style. The page may make fans wonder how fanart of an infected Ellie might look if presented in this loose but still detailed style.
Page 12 focuses more on Ellie's notes than her art, but still contains a series of increasingly detailed moth sketches. As with the rest of the project, this page appears to have been warmly received on Reddit, where posters have responded enthusiastically to robertsimpson97's attempt at bringing Ellie's journal into real life. The creator has confirmed their intentions to recreate all 20 entries from the main timeline, and then potentially add the ones seen in "The Birthday Gift" and flashbacks later if they have time. Now that HBO's The Last Of Us is filming, this project may be a fun way for fans to whet their appetites in the lead-up to the upcoming franchise installments.
The Last of Us 2 is available now for PS4.