Advent Calendar 2011

December 1

Christmas Star:

Lunis kicks off this year with a nice simple image. Its a lot like an older image of him with hanging stars (in fact, its the site banner button on the front page XD), but I like his fluid and light poses.

I've drawn and colored Lunis in his holiday outfit way more than his default. XD Seems he only comes out for December nowadays.

Lunis and Dreaming Dreaming Dreaming belong to me.

December 2

Christmas Cake:

Clio last appeared in her current, redesigned form last year in the huge AICA spread. With some color tweaks, I used her for a cute and simple image. Its nice to do a holiday outfit in something other than red. XD

Clio, AICA, and Psychic Cafe belong to me.

December 3

Cinnamon:

Lucy the Winterdeer appears in a style that's a lot like last year's pic with Coleco only I added the facial details like the eyes and finger outlines with white gel pen, which makes it pop. Usually, lucy's hair is black, but since her flesh tones are in blocked black, I used the same red on her dress as her hair, to unite the whole image. The silver pen was hard to scan, which means its sparkly doesn't show, but the antler garland is a silvery glitter pen.

Lucy belongs to me.

December 4

Winter Sleep:

DJ, one of the main characters in the Distance spinoff Distance: Caller, is a Morpher, like Jimmie. His species is a water based one, so DJ finds joy in water and takes the cold rather easily. The egg resting in his scarf is a Call egg that will eventually hatch into a WaterCat Call, which is an evolutionary offshoot of one of JP's--his mentor--Calls. The fore ground of the ornaments and branch make the image look dimensional.

DJ and Boulevard of Distance: Caller belong to me.

December 5

Candy Ribbon:

Xander, a character that belongs to my friend Adam, appears today, since its Adam's birthday. I designed a more earthy coat for him, and did a plaid pattern as the accent. It seems to suit him well. His fluffy tail is a cute point.

The peppermint ribbon border is made from some scrap wrapping paper I keep around for the calendar, which also appears on Gaia's dress from last year.

Xander belongs to Adam Hebert.

December 6

Boughs of Holly:

This image is probably one of the few (mostly) complete main cast of Ragnatropolis. Its the first time Wednesday appears (in color no less) as well as Tif, and its only the second appearance of certain characters (everyone excluding Aina and Loki). It was fun trying to fit them all into the picture as well as not obscuring the tree too much.

To make sure the characters popped, I did the tree in pencils, so that the bold marker would show. It was a nice touch.

Ragnatropolis and the characters belong to me.

December 7

Silent NiGHTS:

Another couples pic of Elliot and Claris, I wanted to do something with fisheye lens effect. I also wanted to try out watercolor pencils, which was a little tough (the paper I have in the sketchbook wasn't exactly made for watercolor), and buckled. But I like the delicate look to it. I think it looks homemade. XD

It sort of worked out. It wasn't perfect, but I think it looks better that way.

NiGHTS: into dreams belongs to Sega and Sonic Team.

December 8

Holiday Belle:

I've attempted the artstyle before, but went with lengthened proportions to achieve a fairy-like look, which worked out really well. The simplicity of the entry really works with it.

Syndelin belongs to me.

December 9

Holiday Paper Doll--Mei Asakawa:

A new experiment this year, I wanted to do a paper doll activity with Mei. I first drew her in her slip, then traced the outline onto another sheet and with a lightboard, put it under the page and drew the new outfits over the model so they would fit. Its not exact (in fact I forgot to include the base at first), so there may be a few flaws, but it was really fun to do.

Mei's outfits here include her usual holiday outfit, her winter attire from episodes 5-6, a christmas yukata set with tights and a christmas kimono. Next time I try it, I might do more props.

Mei Asakawa and Creepy & Crawly belong to me.

December 11

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (& Cat):

Joel and the bots aboard the Satellite of 5 take a break (and while Sonny seems quite festive, Meowingtons is not XD). This was the first time I tried rendering Daft Punk in color, let along that much curvy metal. @_@ I wouldn't say it was exactly perfect but its successful enough. Thomas' visor was written with a white gel pen plus green color over that to show up.

Truth be told, the satellite bridge is much cozier than the SOL, which this parody is based on, but I just assume Guy-Manuel is the ship decorator. ^^

December 12

I Brings You a Tree:

I can has cheeseburger nao? (You didn't really need your teeth, did you?? XD)

December 13

The Star of Christmas:

Drawing Luna, many many years since I last drew any Sailor Moon characters, was a homecoming, since Princess Kaguya's Lover is one of my all-time favorite animated movies. It was nice to see (almost) the whole cast in a movie, and because its so close to christmas, I think it was a good choice. Luna's eye details are my favorite point.

Luna and Sailor Moon belong to Naoko Takeuchi.

December 14

Christmas Wishes:

Rushing due to having to bake so many more cookies today, I ended up doing a simpler idea, with stickers, paper scrap presents, and a body only shot of Dio. I rather like the simplicity, which was inspired by a card I saw.

Dio belongs to me.

December 15

Holiday Shopping:

Rhys and the twins do holiday shopping for the family. The WinterWing charm Oak has is from the Vorelli Airship Shop, which not only sells WinterWing trinkets, but also is part of a plot against those very winter Calls (unbeknownst to almost everyone).

This time, I wanted to showcase Rhys' and the twins' outfits nicely, since last year's big cover image didn't allow it as much. I like all of Rhys' layers, it makes him look very warm. XD

Rhys Hunter, Oak & Ash Winchester and Boulevard of Distance belong to me.

December 16

Knight Club Soul Bells:

The holiday outfits for Bass and Treble were nice and fun to design (though you can't see Treble's f-hole details on his vest). I really liked how to everything turned out, from the shadows blocked in with black, to the poses, and even the guitar didn't turn out too badly. Its a perfect E.Q. scene.

Bass, Treble and E.Q. belong to me.

December 17

Party Party!:

See? I promised Gundam. XD We had the new gundam fighter up at the party. We also had wine tasting, courtesy of Yi-lan's stash. She had the tastiest eisweinn (or however its spelled). Also because our friend Theo couldn't make it to the party, we had an actually cardboard standee of him there, which i printed out and enhanced with markers.

Also included is Matty's present of "DAVIDS in Waders" which was nothing more than a calendar of hot chicks in fishermens' waders and bikinis, only with another friend's face pasted onto their faces. It was bar none the best present ever. XD

December 18

Regalo del Cielo:

I went with a simple Neo Black 9 image, with blocks of color with little outlines. This was colored on a light table, with the sketch behind, and colored in. That way, the pencil lines would not show. Its always nice to draw Rya in a slightly different style.

Rya Li St. John and Neo Black belong to me.

December 19

Ornament Monsters:

Using a collage technique, I got pictures of ornaments from magazines and ads in the newspaper and pasted them to the page in a tree organization. I drew on a few of them, which was really fun because a lot of pokemon look like ornaments. XD

This year and 2008's 19th images are the outliers in the calendars because they're the only 2 when the yearly party didn't fall on the 19th. It was an odd coincidence. XD

Pokemon belongs to Nintendo.

December 20

Like a Picture from Currier & Ives:

Christmas Eve at the Asakawa (Bitner-Marcus) residence, waiting for Santa and retelling some tales of old glories (but mostly ghost stories) from Christmases long, long ago.

James Marcus, Jessica, Toby, Mei Asakawa, Henri Bitner, and Creepy & Crawly: Next belong to me.

December 21

Happy Birthday Kristen!:

This year's birthday image was actually sewn into the book with embroidery thread, with paper glues to cardstock, so that it could withstand the needle and thread and not tear. I picked some of her favorite things, like some games, and Sailor Moon, which were really fun to make. Collages are so much fun. ^^

December 22

Its about time I did a pic of Joel and the bots (or Mike), and while this wasn't exactly the idea I wanted, this turned out pretty well. The sleeping chibis really adds a cute touch.

Drawing them was a little challenging, since its rare to see Crow's legs and Gypsy is a difficult to draw in different angles. But they S.O.L. crew is always fun to draw.

Crow T. Robot, Gypsy, Joel Robinson, Tom Servo and Mystery Science Theater 3000 belong to Best Brains Inc.

December 23

Merry Christmas, Matt!!:

Matt at X-Entertainment ( [link] ) had a packed season. Life comes at you, be nice, as Kero-chan once said. So despite the fact he couldn't do the playmobile calendar, or finish his videos, the fact he actually had the videos and kept at the site as much as possible was appreciated. I've always loved Matt's seasonal posts, no matter when or how often they came.

I understand the pressures of life versus your online tasks, and I too wasn't able to do my original idea for the 23rd (usually held by the X-E calendar hijinks), which was a massive all-character (and I do mean ALL) tribute to his work on the storyline. I think this one, a simpler, earnest thank you for your hard work kind of image, is the most meaningful.

So thank you, Matt. Enjoy the holiday season as you see fit, because you deserve it. ^^

Matt, Mare, Kuse, Knacks, Box (his feet are in the back XD), Hssxxllo, Mista Snowman, and Waiterbot belong to X-Entertainment.

December 24