StarDust Nerds (2)

June is slowly coming to a close now. Been a busy month for me, what with preparing character sheets for ArtFight and drawing comics about one of my favorite movies (amongst other things)

But as much as I've enjoyed the challenges I've overcome the last few weeks and the upcoming shenanigans I am excited to participate in, I realized I also needed to slow down and do something purely for myself sometimes. No pressure to preform or do good or anything like that.

So I decided to indulge in an activity I've had for the last few months: remaking something with my current art skills.

Roughly 4 years apart from each other. 2025 - 2021

 Safe to say I am reasonably pleased with my artistic development over the years. Still learning and improving, obviously! But it's nice to look at one of my old and most favorite art pieces and then recreate it into a new favorite artwork I can enjoy for the next few years.

Sunlight and Foreshadowing

Well! Guess who just spent the whole week drawing *checks notes* practically ten pages of comics and a few little sketches besides that?

Yeah, I know right! In hindsight I'm still processing the fact I did all of that too!
But to be fair, when the inspiration hits and the hyperfixation bites your ankle what else are you supposed to do?

 If I had to pick a favorite page I drew tho, I think I'd pick this one.

Only because it took me over an hour to get that blasted clock right, AND I had to fix it a few times because needing to get the correct time in reverse was maybe a little harder than expected. Also the lighting still pleases me.

Added and Fractured

 Had a long week

Got all the RK character sheets I needed to do, though! With a good few weeks before ArtFight started too, no less! So that's good.

Still thinking about the stitchpunks though, so I know exactly what I'm going to be doing with every second of my spare time for June. 

lil stitchpunk guys

RIGHT! So I just spent most of my week making character sheets getting ready for Art Fight this year, and I got them all done! Mostly! And that's really cool because I wasn't expecting it to be done so fast!

However! It also means I've had no extra time to do other sketches, so I've had to pull up a random thing I drew last week instead- which is fine with me, because these lil guys still spark joy 

Stitchpunks my beloved, you will never not be fun to draw. Especially when your personalities get mashed together by the forces of science XD

Dyed hair and Dragon eyes

 Well! That was a week I had!

Was it busy? *so-so gesture* I'm always busy, but I think this week I was more busy burning out and realizing I needed to rest some more before trying to go back to all of the projects and ideas I've got in my head.

I played Pokerogue a lot, and even checked out some of the fanfic writing I made in 2023! So even if I didn't achieve anything impressive, I had fun and I'm intending to revisit old stories just to stretch my brain while my creativity takes a break.

In the meantime, I'm glad I seem to always have a surplus of doodles and sketches to share every week! So enjoy the Dragon Eyed duo!

Sapphire Sea

okay so I knew I was tired today, but forgetting to post on my blog until after midnight. Hm! maybe I am as tired as I think I am XD

Anyway! I drew a UV thing earlier this week, so I'mma throw that into the void and go get my midnight snack

For something that was just meant to keep my hands busy, I'm pretty pleased how this turned out

Tara Fight Stance (gif)

 Whelp! My obsession about making little gifs has reached it's climax! I've now made one for every main character in RK!

I'm proud of them all for different reasons, but I think the one I made for Tara ended up being the most technically challenging one. Which means it's also the one I like the most XD

 The hair fwishing and bright yellow colors make me very happy. Lookat her go! <3

Bristly Whittling (gif)

 okay so turns out the insanity I was having last week has kept following me through the last 7 days. I've almost made a little 4-frame gif for every major RK character, which is something that has been both a fun challenge and also gratifying knowing that 13-year-old me would be so excited to see me 'animating'

 

 Regardless if I keep making little gifs, try moving onto something more 'complicated' or just go back to regular drawings and comics, I've enjoyed myself so far! :3

Lapis in Rain (gif)

 Once again I had a moment of insanity, so I decided to try making a quick gif in the span of a few hours yesterday!

Overall pretty pleased how it came out! I had no idea what I was doing, but I think it's cute.
Might do it again, if I feel like it. The simplistic coloring style I use for my RK kiddies make it very easy to do.

Post-Apocalyptic Postie

OKAY

Who wants to a see a magic trick?
And by magic trick, I mean looking at this picture I made in 2021 and then looking at THIS:

I have now become insane and decided to think about this post-apocalyptic steampunk mailman again! It's been almost a week and I'm in danger of becoming obsessed with this nerd in new and exciting ways teenager-me couldn't have imagined.
And now he's got a robot dog friend! So that's surprising and fun! XD

The Dragon Knight (and her squires)

 Somehow the last week took a thousand years to end, yet I'm still surprised now that it has

A bit busy, a bit of nothing, a bit of enrichment and the opposite of enrichment for good measure.
So overall an average week? for what it's worth?

Either way! I went insane and drew a motorcycle a few days ago!

Well actually I drew two pictures with a motorcycle, but this one is my favorite because it includes the good kiddies (as well as the other older kiddie whom I love very much)

Birthday Duck

 Got a new little nightlight yesterday! A ducky nightlight! Which was equally surprising and delightful to get!

 

Now I've got starry skies and a little duck to keep my company during the long nights of insomnia!
I've named the duck Desmond. They a good little creature :3

RK + Pokemon

 Okay, so turns out I've been in Brisbane for a little longer than expected. About a week longer, I should say! XD

But even if I haven't had the chance to draw digitally all week, I've still had some sketches hiding away in my pile, so I can share those instead of nothing.

Sometimes you just gotta drawing your OCs with pokemon you think suit them, y'know?

The Rose among Thorns

 Taking a quick detour from the typical weekday shenanigans I usually have, and I'm currently in Brisbane!
Been a hot minute since I've been anywhere this big. Or anywhere PERIOD, I guess! I can't remember the last time I've gone on a trip like this. 

Good thing I drew this earlier in the week!
Just a quick George sketch. Getting vibes down on paper is sometimes all I can do, and that's fine.

Necroknights

Well! spent most of my free time this week working on comic projects, so I  genuinely couldn't remember if I had made any other kind of art recently

Then I saw this picture and I went "OH YEAH! I did spend an hour sketching out some Necroknights" XD

So I did do something I can share and prove I've done something this week!

Next week, however? Who knows! We'll find out when we get there

The Crown Rose Prince

 Due to a recent breakthrough in RK thanks to some good old fashioned brainstorming and desire to draw characters with a rainbow shimmer effect through their hair, I drew probably the most colorful thing I've done in probably 2-3 weeks!

And boy howdy I'm actually pretty pleased with how it turned out! Wilfred has never looked so shiny before!

In other news my hometown is experiencing some floods again thanks to a cyclone, but since it's not quite as bad as the floods we got in 2022 I'm gonna hold my breath and see what happens next! XD

Delicate Flower

Head empty. No thoughts. Just my favorite depressed marshmallow Rose kid.

Sometimes you just gotta find a reference and copy and switch your brain off for a bit.

Jim and Bristly doodles

 Been one of those busy and tiring weeks, but I've gotten through it okay and now all I gotta do is find some extra energy to find some of the art I made recently and upload it on this blog.

Oh look! Found some art. Now just gotta get it up here!

And now I can wander off and try to enjoy the rest of the evening! which I shall do!

The Burdens we Carry

 Out of all the things I expected to make this week, a new phone background was not one of them but I'll take it!

Not clean or perfect, but I am reasonably pleased with how it turned out :3

Rose Knight Rainbow

 SO! That big drawing I talked about last week?
I finished it!

I've never drawn a full-colored picture featuring all of the main RK kiddies before, but I gotta say I am pretty pleased how it turned out!

Not perfect, and I'll definitely have to tweak some designs and vibes later down the road, but for now I can look at this and nod my head like "Yes, this is pretty neat"

Also it's now made my life so much easier when I need a color reference for more artsy projects. So that's handy! XD

Strawberry Lemonade Duo

 Decided to spend my week a fair distance away from social media cuz it was giving me the overwhelmies, but it also gave me enough time and energy to make some more complex and fun art pieces!
Still working on a big one, but I made this at the beginning of the week and I'm still pretty happy about it, so might as well share it here too!

There's at least two other colored versions of this drawing, but I think I'm the most fond of the pink+yellow combo. Gives it more of a pastel and candy vibe, which makes it sweeter compared to the other versions of this drawing.

I am also seriously thinking about making character sheets for all 8 of my RK kiddies, which is equally amusing and terrifying XD But I'll see if those feelings are serious or not later. Or maybe my hand will slip. We'll see!

Meeting the Neighbors

 Out-of-towner human gets introduced to a local resident of the forest!

They discuss current political shenanigans the Dragons have been getting up to, then have a nice chat before parting ways :)

Okay so that was a busy week I just had

 If anybody had asked me how much I thought I could've drawn in seven days, I would've given an optimistic "I dunno, maybe a dozen sketches and a comic if I'm feeling inspired?"

Which technically happened! ... and then it happened again, just to really make me blink in surprise XD

I drew so much and I still want to draw more. This is insane, someone needs to stop me before I burnout or something (but I am enjoying myself way too much so please don't stop me now)

Strange sense of deja vu

Okay I am now thoroughly back and diving deep into the Rose Knight hole and I don't think I'll be coming out anytime soon.

Seriously forgot how nice it was to sketch and draw in color.

aaaaaAAAND WE'RE BACK TO ROSE KNIGHTS FOLKS

 OKAY

The Universe decided to give me a little surprise and now I'm obsessed about my Rose Knights again!
This took me and my 5 month long ISAT hyperfixation off guard and I am still processing and don't really know what to think about this. But either way! Feels good to think about some ocs for a change of pace.

What a way to start off 2025, huh?

Right! So, final Saturday of the year almost done and dusted! Don't have anything particularly clever or interesting to say. Just gonna keep doing what I'm always doing, except hopefully a little better than the last 12 months of my life.

Should be a good time! I'm looking forward to it!

You guys have yourself a nice New Year and I'll probably see you all next year! Onwards and upwards, I guess! <3

Ru and Harland as ISAT background characters

What do you mean it's only a few days until Christmas. Impossible. Inconceivable. Totally probable but my goldfish memory is still baffled all the same

Anyway! Burnout is still keeping me down, so I haven't drawn much this week. But that's fine, because it means I have an excuse to dig up these sketches again!

 

Due to shenanigans and bright ideas, I thought it'd be fun if I tried turning Ruby and Harland into ISAT background characters. These are just concept designs, but I am pretty pleased with how easily these two can be inserted into the ISAT universe.

And also incredibly weird seeing my color-coded characters in a greyscale style. XD

Cook Sif!

 One week later I can confirmed I have burnt out- through the roof and the floor! There's probably still something I can burn through, but for the most part I am tired and doing my best to rebuild before getting back into the groove of drawing.

With any luck I can see make some little sketches like this every once in a while.

Three Siffrins without a Trenchcoat

 Okay! I think I've finally burnt out again! Just a little!
In all fairness I think I always have an "exhausted" period after finishing a big comic project (and 11 pages of art is A LOT, especially for me) but also I think I've been steadily getting more desperate to prove my worth, especially now that I feel like I've got a reputation and standards to hold up to.

Which is obviously very silly, but eh. I'll figure out how to deal with it later.

For now, I've got 3 of my roleswap Siffrings stacked on top of each other like the gremlins they were truly meant to be

I need to draw more silly and nonsensical stuff when I get some of my creative energy back. But that's future problems.

The Siffrin Squad

Can't remember a single thing that happened to me this week at the top of my head, but I'm pretty sure most of it was related to all my various ISAT roleswap ideas.

Feeling the overstimulated and overwhelmed exhaustion, but gonna be okay I think. Probably.
Anyway! Siffrins be upon you!

It's fun to have all my roleswap Siffrin designs all lined up like this. Satisfying.

Gettin' Info

okay so I'm still sick a week later. Which of course hasn't stopped me from drawing, but unfortunately most of the things I've drawn are big comic projects (that are unfinished) and random little sketches that are harder to organize in a way that makes me happy on blogger

SO. Not showing any of that! just gonna show off one of my favorite sketches I made a while ago instead!

and in other news it has come to my attention that it's halfway through November. Could've sworn it was yesterday I was looking at the Christmas lights from 2023, and I am still convinced it should be October and not almost the end of the year.

Time is weird, huh!

Siffrin and Bonnie (Role!Swap Additions!)

got sick yesterday and if I thought I didn't have any energy last week I definitely don't have any energy now. However! I drew a lot! and I really liked how this one came out!

 

I'm thinking of pairing up everybody on the team in combinations so I can get a feel for the vibes for the dynamics in every roleswap AU.

But that's later! for now this is a good start and it makes me happy.

Fellow Travelers

Don't have much energy to talk about my week, but overall it was alright and I kept myself busy with so many drawing projects.

All of it roleswap AU related, of course.
I've got 4 of those things in my brain right now, and they're all crying for attention

Least I'm starting to get the hang of how I want to draw all these guys in every role swap AU. Looking forward to getting to draw all 20 together just to see the differences on a bigger scale!

More role!swap Sifs cuz why not

OUT OF ALL THE THINGS I EXPECTED TO HAPPEN IN A WEEK, PEOPLE NOTICING AND LIKING MY WEIRD ISAT ROLE!SWAP AUS ON TUMBLR WAS NOT ONE OF THEM.

Freaked me out more than I'd like to admit and flattered me to know I've now inspired a bunch of people to come up with their own ideas. Is it a wonder my lil heart has been so overwhelmed all week?

No matter! I'll either get over it or get to hide under my rock again without being bothered for a while. But until then, have some more role!swap Siffrin's!

Pretty happy with how I've made sure all the Sifs are recognizable but still distinct from each other. When I line them all up it's gonna look pretty cool imo.