More character sheets (thus exeeding my expectations and raising the bar higher than it used to be)

 My brain is full of fog and my memory is shot and all the pits of glass and marbles are falling all over the place.

But apparently I made 3 more character sheets for AF?? Which surprised me because I was sure Joy and Fear's was going to be the only ones I made. Not that I'm complaining! I'm just bemused XD

 I've now got... what? 2 more days until Art Fight starts again? So I probably won't make any more character sheets and just save my energy for the month-long battle ahead of me.
(She said, tempting fate.)

No, I don't want to tempt fate. I am merely stating an obvious fact and I hope my hubris won't trip me up just to prove how chaotic my hyperfixation is!
(Fate is smiling, and is still coming closer anyway)

It's getting close to that time of year again!

 Right! Had a busy week. Watched the IO2 movie. Had a dental appointment. Somehow made two character sheets for AF (with a third still a wip) and made a 20 panel comic in the span of 4 days.

Safe to say I am exhausted! But also content? I think? Or at least less anxious, which is a good start.

So yeah! Ah, here! These are the character sheets I made for Art Fight this year.

 

For years I've resisted the temptation to include my IO-sonas onto AF because I wanted them to be a "me" thing? if that makes sense? But after being obsessed with Inside Out for 4 months and watching the second movie I figured "If this year isn't the year I include my emotional kiddies onto AF, then it'll never happen" so I cracked and let all the pieces fall to the floor XD

I'm not gonna make character sheets for all 9 of my emotions (at least this year) but Joy and Fear are a good start. I'm looking forward to the fight this year! Should be a good and busy time!
And all I have to do is make sure I don't burn out before July starts. Lets see if I can manage that XD

Anxious Hugs all 'round

Anxiety still on the fritz, but considering I could turn on my laptop almost every day of the week and not feel the crushing weight of reality I think that's a good start!

And I feel like having my anxiety chill out is appropriate, considering the second IO movie came out this week.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but hopefully I will in a few days! And when I do, you bet I'm gonna get emotional and probably plan a whole bunch of drawing projects around those emotions.

But until then, I'm just glad I survive another week.

The brightest vamp you'll ever meet

Well. Been a hot minute since I've spent an entire week in survival mode like that. Anxiety has thankfully chilled out (a little) by now, but hm!  that was a slow and intense 7 days.

At least I made something before the weekly deadline for my blog, so that's something.

Now excuse me while I crawl under something comfy and turn out all the lights. There's a glowing vampire looming over me and it's called Life with GAD.

Pokemon Rogue doodles

 Still in the thick of burnout, but luckily a new game was brought to my attention and I've been spending a lot of time messing around in that. Made a few sketches inspired by the shenanigans I've been up to, but mostly I've been trying to take it easy and not tempt myself with drawing when I should be resting.

Hopefully in another week I'll feel less like death, but I won't mind playing more Pokemon Rogue in the meantime. It is very satisfying and fast-paced and challenging without being new or strange.

Super bright.

 right, now that I'm officially only ash and cinders and there's nothing left to burnout, I can. I dunno, do my best to not draw anything for a few days or weeks? Knowing me I'll just draw anyway, regardless if there's anything in my tank or not XD

Least I made this a few days ago, and I'm still reasonably happy with it!

Turns out without any bad light pollution and on a clear sky, the full moon can be real bright! Blindingly bright. It was cool.

Not burning but not smothered yet

Teetering on the edge of burnout and creative ingenuity is a frustrating trick. A familiar one! but I'm looking at the signs of unhealthy coping mechanisms and habits like "hm. I've still got the ability to draw, but for how long?"

At least I have the opportunity to indulge in an old hobby again, so that's sparking some joy <3

Stabbing heart, torn fabric, pricking needles and fraying thread. Something will snap, something will cut. The risk of making something and the reward of pulling something that should've rested are the same.
Raw fingers, misplaced hope. Bleeding determination. The crux of creativity.

Guess I've got ponies on the brain or something

 *massive sigh* Guess who tripped back into the mlp hole again? 

Oh, don't worry! I didn't fall far. Just accidentally leaned backwards to far and now I've got dirt all over my shorts. But I'm sitting here like "out of all the things I expected to happen this week, deciding to turn my emotions into MLP characters was not one of them" XD

Quite liked how they turned out tho!

 

I think I needed the brief rest, too. Burnt out a few days ago so I needed something silly to draw instead of my usual shenanigans. <3

Emotional Plushies!

 Because I spent most of the week writing fanfiction or working on new comic projects, I didn't know what I was gonna post on here tonight. But browsing through my entire IO folder like "nope. nope. Already shared that. Nah, people might find that depressing. Oh! Plushies!" made me remember I drew something last night while chatting to my sisters via Discord.

So yeah! I got these to offer tonight! :3

10/10 would love and cherish each and every one of these plushies if I had them IRL. But as it is I adore them in my head, and this way my emotions can love and appreciate them for me. <3

Lil' Mario bros!

 Didn't draw anything impressive like last week, but I did get the chance to watch my twin play a good chunk of Partners in Time (the Mario&Luigi video game) so that inspired me to sketch this out real quick

Can't believe I used to draw these lil' guys all the time when I was a teenager. Not much has changed, yet everything has improved I think! XD

Inner Gold

 Got inspired by a new song this week, and I then spent a good hour or 2 drawing this little piece.

Sometimes you just gotta draw something for the vibes, y'know?

The AEEE gang (more concept sketches)

 Right! Been making tweaks and adjustments to some of the designs I gave to my new IO emotions, aaaaand at this point I've more or less gotten used to the idea they'll be living in my brainspace. But yknow. I can still pretend I'm sitting on the fence to keep my public in suspense XD

Gotta say tho, these guys are heaps of fun to draw. The colors alone are enough to give me dopamine, but the shapes and expressions just make my day.

We're doing ALL the art tonight, folks!!

 Another year passed, another year old. Being 22 probably won't feel any different from being 21 or 23, but the novelty of having matching digits will be pleasing for a while.

Can't say I've gotten wiser since last year. But I can say I am thankful I got through everything I had to do and with any luck I'll get through the next 12 months in one piece too.

In the meantime! Did you know I've been drawing a lot? And I mean A LOT a lot? I couldn't decided which of the dozen things I had drawn was my favorite, so I decided to say "STUFF IT! It's my birthday week, and I can show off more than one drawing this time!" so I am!

And here they are!

 ... I don't have anything else to say. I'm just mighty pleased with all these things I made.

I'll catch you all next week, and with any luck I'll make it through another year too.

The emotional kids

 I don't have any energy or interesting words to say tonight. But may I offer you some art in the meantime?

These were only meant to keep my hand interested while I chatted to my sisters on Discord, but I am pleased I managed to draw them all anyway.

May the rest of your night (or day) be reasonable and pleasant. <3

Light in the dark

Just spent another week drawing almost non-stop. Maybe not as much drawing as the previous week, but definitely was a surprise to finish 2 more 10-panel comic projects and a short 3-panel comic project, as well as various other drawings and sketches I made in the span of 7 days.

It's been a lot of work, but it's been a lot of fun too. It's nice to be busy, even if it's only going to be for a short time before I need to do something else besides draw for an average of 5-6 hours every day.

I'm optimistic at what next week will bring me, even if I don't draw nearly as much. As long as I have fun and make sure I listen to myself when I need a break, I reckon I'll be fine.

All Eyes on Me

 Well! I'd say that was a busy and overall successful week. Didn't die despite driving the car a few times, and managed to finish sketching my latest comic project (60 panels!) and still had some time left over to make myself a new phone lockscreen. Because I have one of those now, and it is oddly motivating to draw rendered and sparkly things if it means I can see it every time I turn on my phone.

Also it is amusing seeing so many eyes staring at me every time I turn on my phone, even if it's just for a few seconds XD

The colors are so satisfying to me, too. I always love bright colors, but seeing so many bright colors in one place is giving me an extra level of delight.

The AEEE gang (concept sketches)

 okay, so I am aware I completely forgot to post on this blog last week. But in my defense, I was trying to eek out as much time with my twin as I could before we abandoned her to the rigorous and novel life of college. And then on Sunday I had spent 7-8 hours in the car and might've forgotten to post on my blog again. The rest of my week has been long and busy and there was no room left in my brain to worry about my blog.

However! Now that I have been reunited with my cintiq tablet, I was able to draw a lot of stuff (mostly comic stuff I'll probably post on my instagram when I'm done with it) and thanks to a new official trailer that came out yesterday, I have some thoughts and ideas that might make up for the lack of art from last week.

Sounds good? a reasonable tradeoff? Well, either way, here we go!

Anyone who knows my art habits for long enough will remember that I quite like the concept of Inside Out as a way to express and explore myself. Dumping all of my troubles and quirks onto characters and making them go through stories reflecting my own life is not only great for me to better understand myself but it's also stupidly fun. And I've been doing it for 4 years, at this point. My Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness have all played a significant part in helping me grow up while still remembering why I do the things that I do. And they were great therapy when I was still convinced therapy was for 'other' people.

And with the dawn of a sequel to the movie that's imprinted on me like a good-quality newspaper machine, of course I'm gonna draw my kids even more. And maybe draw some new members to that emotional family.
I had my doubts about the idea of adding new emotions to the canon (because I thought 5 emotions was perfect, and adding new 'Emotions' was going to wreck the balance I had become so attached to) but after finally getting a proper trailer for the 2nd movie and getting a taste for what kind of shenanigans we could go on..... I'm cautiously optimistic! And excited. And still mad that the second movie isn't going to be what 'I' envisioned it to be. And I am so looking forward to seeing Riley's emotions get put through the wringer again. And I'm gonna be keenly interested to see what kind of psychology tips, tricks and jokes we're gonna see.

Again. Still not 100% committed to the idea of Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy and Ennui as being 'characters' (I think anxiety could've been expressed through Joy+Fear, while embarrassment and envy could've been combinations of all of the emotions, and I'm squinting at 'a lack of emotion' as an emotion like "whachu doing there buddy?") but of course I love designing characters and I could not help myself getting my own concepts out of my brain.

Anyway! We'll see where this leads in the future. And we'll see if these guys worm their way into my brain before the 2nd movie comes out or after. XD

It's dangerous to stay home alone, so take THIS-

 Out of all the things I knew was gonna happen this week, I am glad to announce that getting a phone was the least stressful thing that happened. Which probably doesn't surprise anybody else, but it surprised me because I have been fighting tooth and nail to not get a phone for all of my teenage life and early adult life. Until now, that is.

 It's only been a few days, but safe to say I am getting used to the concept of having my own phone. Slowly but surely.

We'll see how this goes in the long run.

Sunset and Sand

 Been going through a small patch of burnout, but it's only related to the struggle to stay balanced despite everything so I've been coping better than normal.

Haven't drawn much this week as a result, but I did make this and it's not too bad in my books.

 Wanted to draw something sunsety, in all honesty. Didn't put much focus on anything except the colors, but it's still decent overall I think.

Color Blinding Beauty

Been a busy week. Felt like a thousand years, but it's only been 7 days.

Kinda want the next week to be longer than a thousand years, but it'll probably be quicker than I'd like. 

But anyway! Been slowly figuring out what the rest of the main cast looks like for this story. And not gonna lie, the strongest motivation for me to figure out what Barbara looked like was so I could do THIS-

 

-and quickly followed up with a version showing off her color-blindness. The green-blindness one, to be specific.

It was oddly satisfying seeing this come together. 10/10 would draw this gal again in any color.