Well. I think this is the first time I've visited my Grandparent's house in over a year. I think the last time was in winter 2020.. I'm not sure.
It's good to be back, though. Nice and familiar, even if it feels a little emptier than normal.
Made this sketch on Tuesday, and was 100% meaning to do a counterpart for this sketch, but alas! Driving down to visit family and then being busy throughout the rest of the week disrupted those plans.
That's okay, though. I can do it later. :)
Hello! I wish I could say I had the energy to talk, but alas! I do not. My head is empty and I want to do other things tonight.
That's okay though. Some days be like that.
I drew my Sapphy girl in both her classic color-scheme and her Reverse one this week.
I need to draw some other UV cast in their opposite colors one day..
Eh. Future plans.
Spent most of my week resting and filling up my creative tank (again), but I'm happy to report I haven't been punishing myself for taking it easy.
A good start to the new year if there ever was one. I CAN be taught! :)
Played a little bit of video games and read a bit. Mostly just hung in the bedroom listening to Tally Hall. Did manage to create this before sunset yesterday, though.
My current Pokemon protagonist (Apple the Chimchar) with her partner (Stormie the Oshawott). Really love the fire/water combo. Plus their personalities are almost the opposite, so it makes it a lot of fun when they get into trouble.
Forgot how much I loved Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, to be honest. Really needed to play it again. <3
Haha, accidentally burnt my self out with my latest drawing obsession this week, so I was out of commission for a few days.
Read lots about Hematology and had plenty of discussions with my siblings and friends, so all in all I still think it was a good week.
Also an incredibly long one?? When I was told it had only been a week since New Years I was stumped.
Feels like a month already tbh.
Anyway!
I found a pile of concept thumbnails for potential drawings that I made months ago, so I used one of them as inspiration for tonight's piece.
Yes, it's one of those cool 'flip them upside down and it still looks good' paintings!
I love drawing those so much.
Characters are based off my Inside Out emotions, but honestly they're starting to take a life of their own in their little CottageCore world and I'm not quite sure what to do with that.
Let them run free and see if I can use any of their shenanigans as inspiration, I guess! It's what I always do. :)
2022 may be upon us, but I'm personally apathetic to the new year. I don't have any grand plans or ambitions in mind, for I am still tired from barely completing my last resolutions.. (which was hard enough)
But I am thinking about making a portfolio.
I've proven I can stick to a comic project - and no doubt I'll have more this year - but I reckon I need to dust off my rendering skills and try to make a few impressive art pieces. The kind where it takes a week to complete. Maybe once a month...
But we'll see. That's future me problems, and I am tired.
I'm perfectly content just sketching inconsequential things for now.
I had a song on repeat for about 2 days, which inspired my tangerine vampire gal. But she looked like she'd have a colorful social life, so I gave her some friends in the form of a buttercup witch and a snake charmer.
No doubt they've all been friends since they were teenagers, but one of them doesn't age properly, and one used witchcraft to make herself immortal.
The last one probably just has a naturally long life or something.
I'm not going to do anything with them, but that's not the point. They were a fun way to spend an hour. :)
At the end of 2020, one of my New Year's resolutions was to draw and complete one long-term comic project before January 2022.
Beginning as a side-gig (just something I did in the background while I tried to brainstorm my Purity comic... cuz my brain needs variety) this ended up becoming my full-time focus when I realized I wanted experience and endurance before I put my whole heart into the thing I really wanted to look good.
And I took the advice of other comic artists to start off with something that was 20 pages or less.
This was 20 pages exactly.
And Purity was going to be over 20. Maybe even over 40 or 50.
So yeah.
Began drawing the thumbnails in mid June. Kicked and screamed and cried through the challenges until December 24. Then promptly praised God for blessing me and for giving me strength and courage for seeing this through to the very end. Despite everything.
Is it perfect? I wish it was. It is not.
But would I do it all over again? Absolutely.
I learnt A LOT about perspective, anatomy, paneling, writing, perseverance, patience, and self-discipline. Amongst other things.
And overall I am pretty content.
I'm looking forward to doing it aaaaall over again when I next have the energy to spare. XD
And now whenever I go back to look at my old art, I shall probably cringe and hastily scroll past and pretend I never drew any of this. XD
Ah. Such is the life of an artist.
But in all seriousness, this was probably the hardest thing I had to do all year. And 100% self-imposed to boot.
The last time I completed a comic completely was in 2016. Five years ago.
I've tried and failed drawing comics dozens of times since then, so the fact that I am here now - despite ALL the temptations to give up and the burnouts - surprises me a lot.
Man. What a good Christmas gift for myself. And what a way to end the year!
Never going to top this, that's for sure.
Anyway. That's all from me for now.
I've got some shenanigans to do with my family now, so I'll see you dudes in 2022.
*raises glass of apple&mango juice*
Here's to this year finally being over, and let's hope the next year will be a little better than we dare hope!
Or in the very least not quite as bad.
Cheers. And a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all. And thanks for reading.
*Drinks up*
Ah. Should've supposed that this week couldn't possibly have been as good as the last.
Still good. But it had it's down sides, too.
Such it is. :)
My laptop crashed yesterday and I lost a good half hour of drawing progress on a big art piece I was working on.
That didn't phase me, actually.
I mostly shrugged my shoulders and went 'Ay. Could've been worse. Could've lost the entire hour of work. That's fine. I'll just have to do the work I lost again later this afternoon; but better!"
And then my laptop crashed again and it took literally the entire afternoon to restart itself.
Yeah. That completely killed the mood for me. So I was rather frustrated, and sulked for a good hour or something while I tried to process my feelings.
Then I grew bored and decided I was going to draw anyway, but for fun.
Something sparkly and rainbow sounded good.
So anyway. That's the story behind this drawing.
Pretty experimental? But I think it's okay. I had fun. Even if I was still a little miffed.
WOW. This week was good!
I did a stupid amount of comic work (sketched all the backgrounds I had been neglecting for 4 months, colored 2 pages and redrew a bad page from scratch.. AND inked and colored it!) did a whole buncha light and shadow study work, and even had time to draw for fun in the form of my Interstellar Institute kids! (AKA my sci-fi found-family space adventure)
So yeah!
Despite how tired and nauseous I am, I feel great.
God's been good to me.
Tried putting that shading theory into practice here.. dunno how correct the shadows are, but boy I had fun with the colors. <3
Kinda sunrise-y, kinda homey. Which is what I was going for, cuz this is Hamish's last day on planet earth. He won't be coming back until 10-15 years later; when he's over 30 or something.
Being a part of a massive social experiment takes time, okay?? XD Ah, but in all seriousness, he's super stoked to be getting the chance to visit literally hundreds of planets and to help further the connections between alien species.
A bit naive atm, but he'll grow. :)
3 more weeks until Christmas, an only four til New Years.
I do not like this information. It alarms me.
Last I checked we still had ages til 2022.
On an unrelated note, I'm still playing LoZ Phantom Hourglass. And I've become invested enough to create my own fake screenshots.
Make of that what you will.
I've gotten the last sea chart a few days ago. Kinda cheated by looking up how to bypass all the rooms with minimal damage, but I didn't feel like I needed that extra stress, so I don't feel guilty.
Kinda sad my adventure is coming to a close, but that's what replaying the entire thing is for I guess. :)
I found my brother's old LoZ Phantom Hourglass cartridge this week.
Uh...
Might've inspired me a lil bit?
Maybe?
It's been WAY too long since I've played a new video game, and I am loving the experience that is sailing on a ship with a wonderful AWFUL captain, solving really fun interactive puzzles with boomerangs and shovels, and almost dying in old temple dungeons to terrifying knights of pure darkness.
It stresses me out at times, but it is so satisfying when I solve a problem by myself. And it makes me laugh at how goofy it is at times, and I love it for it.
Don't think I've ever managed to play a Zelda game past the tutorial town before, either.
I mean... I had lots of fun jumping off towers with chickens and vibing to music in Twilight Princess, but I don't think that counts as 'playing the game'. (To be fair, I was 10 or something. Would've gotten slaughtered if I had gone further than that IMO XD)
Anyway. That's what I've been doing in between drawing and doing house chores.
It's good.
I'll probably be drawing Zelda stuff over the next few days. Least until I stop fixating on it. :)
Ha. Coulda sworn I would've done something before Saturday. Alas, my brain got derailed, so I don't have anything that interesting to share.
Maybe next week. If I don't get so anxious I can't hold a pen properly, anyway.
*wanders off and tries to find something to distract bucket of nerves that is my brain*
Another week bites the dust. Still trying to be kind to myself, but also immerse myself back into my routine of comic making, art lessons, and general shenanigans. It's a tricky balance, but I've been keeping myself in check alright so far.
Not much to say apart from that. But I think that's good news.
I think my Moshi Monster fixation is slowing coming to a close. The ideas are getting smaller. The urges and prompts give me less dopamine reward.
But it has been really neat drawing the kids that are basically the reason I got into online MMORPG games in the first place. And to what I think helped push me to get better at drawing.
Moshi Monster gave me an opportunity to share my art online for the first time in my small, young life... which led me to Club Penguin, which eventually evolved into me finding Animal Jam, and that inspired me to create a silly blog about Vampire kangaroos that were allergic to cinnamon.
The rest is history.
It's a long, weird path... but it is still relevant.
Whelp, got about ten minutes before I'm due to socialize with cousins. Guess that means you know it's getting warmer over here; longer days, and shorter time to prepare posts.
Gonna need to start organizing this stuff beforehand, huh?
We all know I wont. XD
Have another zombie lad with his smol pink friend in the meanwhile tho.
I just find it endearing whenever someone clearly not violent or aggressive wears the most hardcore punk outfit, with their clearly cursed (but good) friend giving them compliments and self-esteem boosts in the background.
It's very cute. :)
Picked up my Cintiq tablet for the first time in almost 2 weeks on Thursday and gotta say it's good to be back on digital again. My wrist was a little stiff and sore after only two hours or drawing, but that just means I need to exercise it again over the next week or two. It's cool. I'll get my endurance back soon.
Anyway. I didn't want to pressure myself with any serious drawing projects just after I got over my burnout, so I figured "Y'know what? Moshi Monsters sounds really fun right now. Let's draw those crazy kids and don't worry about what other people think for a change".
So I did.
I doodled all six monsters on Thursday, but yesterday I felt like focusing on only one of them. Really work out how they look like in my style, and colour them to my taste. Maybe add some more personality to them while I was at it.
Think I've done a pretty alright job! :)
If the picture looks a little (or very) blurry then you can blame me for using a brush with the width of 1 pixel, instead of my normal inked pens.
Why was I using a brush that was only 1 pixel big? Because one of the best ways to overcome art anxiety for me is picking a random pencil/pen/crayon/etc that I would never dream of using and using it instead of my perfected settings and brushes.
It's super fun, but very experimental. And results may not look 100% pleasing, but hey. That wasn't the point for me this week.
Fast, loose, hard-edged and very old-school... It felt cool. Made me think of all those first artists on the computer and what they must've put up with.
I've deduced I am very lucky living in the modern age.
Another week away from the laptop brings me a little bit closer to feeling up to the tasks that challenge me every day. But I'm gonna need some more time alone before I can pick up my drawing tablet and start working again for real.
That's okay though.
When Christmas rolls around I'll have all the time in the world to do what I need to.
It's cool.
Enjoy a rough sketch of my Phossy boy in the meantime.
Have a nice weekend, guys. Hope you're all doin' your best, and if that best just happens to be not very good (like mine) then know it's only your best today and your best tomorrow might be better.
Feeling more alive than I was last week, but I think I need to spend a good three days playing pokemon and listening to SPG before I can think about drawing seriously again. Which still kinda sucks, but I'm at the zen-point of the cycle so I'm just gonna vibe.
*shrug* Guess I'm spending the October in survival mode. That's okay, tho. Some months be like that.
Whenever I have an ongoing comic project, I make a point to not let myself draw fanart (uh, or just the same thing as the comic project...) because that's just using up juice which could've been used on the comic.
Which helps? (It does, I swear) But then I'm just sitting there with two dozen ideas which I resist drawing and I get sad because I really want to draw them.
But since I'm taking a break, I figured I'd let myself have some fun and draw my Joy and Fear.
Hi there.
Burnout finally caught up with me again. You probably saw it creeping up on me over the past few weeks, but it came as a shock to me.
Nothing new was drawn as a result. So I'll share this sketch I did last week.
Looking through all my old art was interesting.
This is the original drawing from like... March 2018 I think.
Uuh...
My brain feels like it's full of white fog.
Hm.
Well. I kinda fell flat halfway through the week and I was unable to draw anything 'productive'. So I let myself have some fun with a quick Inside Out sketch instead.
It was really nice colouring something to a ridiculous degree again.
The pose didn't come out too badly either.
And compared with what I could do last year, I think it's safe to say I improved a little bit. So that made me happy. :)
Not gonna lie. Kinda had my eye on the calendar all month for this day.
Not because I had anything special planned. It was just because today gave me a wonderful excuse to draw my favorite vampiric nerds again. :)
They're all still living rent-free in my brain. And I don't intend to start charging them anytime soon.
*Raises fruit juice into air* May you live long and prosper, my children! And Fang too. And may you continue to give me joy and headaches for years to come. *Drains glass*
That is all, folks.
*Slams glass into table and accidentally cracks it*
I ain't got much to say, except How're ya doin' on this fine day!
And then we'll all leave because life's busy and you have things to do.
But that's okay, because this is just a pit-stop making you take a break before you do something more important.
As it should be.
September is the month that makes me think of my kids, and the children of my kids. So that's why we have some little DeathDancer's on the scene today.
Their colours make me very happy on the inside. Alexis looks like her mother (but slightly pinker), Vincent takes after his father (except more fluffy), and Aeron is a throwback to his uncles, Grandfather, and Great-Grandfather.
I mean, apart from the penguin genetics of course. But that goes without saying.
Hey.
I made another OverKill sketch yesterday.
And it's of our Phossy lad! P4!
Considering I had no idea how to draw glowing phosphorus, I think I did a pretty good job!
He looks the right amount of spooky and ethereal. Fragile and delicate, but you know very well you should keep your hands off him.
Excellent.
Ah, September is upon us again, and with it comes hotter weather and breezes straight from the ocean. And 20's swing music for some reason.
*shrug* One of those vibes that invites itself over for some reason. But who am I to question it? It's good. I'm having fun with it.
Hm. Not much I want to say this week. So I guess I'll go and try to sketch something before dinner.
*****
UH YEAH I accidentally spaced out and it's now almost ten minutes later and I'm still here oKAYBYE HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND GUYS!
Eh. Had one of those weeks where it feels like your brain is on a restart loop, so you have to cope by turning on autopilot and hoping nothing exciting happens until you can blink for a few times without feeling like you've fallen into an alternative dimension, or like your memory has been linked to a light switch that's being flicked on and off by an angry child trying to blow a fuse.
I know the vibes have been good. I just can't remember why. Or... anything, really.
Probably not that important in the long run. But still. Lil' frustrating.
Which is why I drew this.
I have to force myself to continue my train of thought often. Like pushing a train uphill by myself. And then my focus isn't focused on what I was thinking on, but is focused on focusing on focusing on thinking. And it gets tiring. And then I stop trying, and let my body travel without my brain. And I wake up to find myself doing something else two rooms from where I used to be; all a very smooth procedure, if you don't squint and analyze every little detail anyway. And it feels odd.
It even happens in the middle of talking to my family. I have to trust that the part of me that's still controlling my body can continue without me. Even if I can't remember what we were talking about. Or where we're going. Or why. Or when it will stop so I don't have to worry about forgetting to talk back. Or coming up with an answer to continue a conversation that I can't even remember being a part of.
My brain's always done this. It just feels like it's doing it a lot more than usual this week.
I miss thinking coherently.
Hm.
Didn't mean to go this overboard on a shenanigan sketch, but I guess it gives me something to share with you tonight.
If you're gonna get brainwashed, ya might as well have fun and go all out with it, amiright?
Well HOWDY, there! I'm back, but I don't have time to stay for long, so I'll post this and I'll be on my way.
I have things to do and dinner to eat before the clock strikes 7:30. So let's do this quickly.
My lil' cousin has been introducing me to some new music, and I've been drawing quick sketches inspired by them for fun.
If I hadn't had such a tiring week (or less time), I probably would've loved to try and colour this. But alas, my energies are needed elsewhere, and I can't indulge on silly sketches. Even if this took me almost 2 hours to make.
Weapons are hard to draw, maaan... Why do I gotta keep doing this to myself?
At least it was good drawing my agents again.
Ha, well...
New month again. Always seems to happen just as I was getting used to the old one.
Ain't that the way.
Anyway. You're here to check what I've been up to since last time, yeah?
It's not much, but I can offer a little something.
Here you go -
This pic was basically just me letting my hand do it's thing while my brain took five. Not planned. Not polished. Just... *motions* art. Y'know?
I'll admit, tho, some of the vibes have been rattling in my head for a few weeks. Joy humming and plinking on the controls is a, uh... concept drawing trying to expand my idea of my HQ console?
Like, obviously it's got a lot of buttons and levers and stuff, but I really liked the idea of there being a second layer underneath the official desk - like a hidden drawer - that when you pull it out, it has a very old fashioned 70's keyboard/synthesizer built into it.
(Maybe it glows rainbows. Maybe it doesn't. I haven't decided yet.)
It's not meant to control actions; just stimming and general shenanigans. Because even if I haven't played the piano since I was 15, I loved the finger movements and flying across the keyboard to my own beat. Much to the bemusement of my music teacher.
And pretending I can play a tune to a song in my head is very enjoyable. Even if it doesn't make sense.
Disgust adjusting Fear's tie is another vibe I've liked thinking about sometimes too. Because after Fear took up position as Lead Emotion, Disgust might not have approved of the change in leadership, but she did take her chance to adjust and straighten his attire as much as possible. Can't have a sloppy leader, right?
Disgust did her best with Joy, but the personification of happiness and bliss wasn't going to change her t-shirt and shorts for nobody. And good for her, too.
The other two little sketches was just... me needing something easy to draw. No special reason why I drew what I drew.
Kinda like the Sadness one, tho.
*******
Hm. Yeah...
Guess I just needed a break from being serious for a week.(She says while she's always trying not to be serious)
Hopefully things will get better next week. We'll see.
But till then, you take care my dudes. See you around! And thanks for dropping by. :)
