The 2013 Advent Calendar Challenge!

Day 1

Merry Christmas, Baby

Its time for the calendar and our leading girl this year is Decon's own Yuna, from his developing series Barnbellows Estate (more clock for your tower with a little home sweet home). Yuna's a lot like the C&C crew and I don't mean just the supernatural stuff, I mean the whole X-box load of outfits. I went with a more hip and costume-y look, but with a sporty touch, because Yuna's more of an active wear kinda girl.

I'm hoping to do a lot more collages this year, since I've been doing them before Animal Crossing and Pokemon booty called me. The main body is a page from a Target catalogue and I covered up some writing with paper and stickers. I really like the way it turned out, with a very energetic look and lots of round ball shapes.

Yuna and Barnbellows Estate belong to Decon.

Day 2

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

I'm still jet-lagged to hell, so I chose a nice quiet scene with Ever.Free's mermaid cutie Melody. I draw her with legs so often i guess its time to do her with her fins. I saw a similar pic that so reminded me of her I had to try it. I went with pencils to soften the under the water look, but perhaps I should have used a cooler or lighter outline.

Melody and Ever.Free belong to me.

Day 3

Silent Night

Today I tried a looser style (though I think I could have gone much more looser), with loose watercolor and a little pencil. I used Akiva from Misfit Demons for a quiet but colorful picture. If I were to do it again, I would just dive in with pens rather than have a loose pencil under drawing.

Akiva and Misfit Demons belong to me.

Day 4

Pilgrim Snow

Chronecxi, goddess of cameras, stars in today's pic, with her moon swing and a shower of candy canes, stockings and snowflakes. Sadly, the metallic stickers and wrapping paper doesn't really show up scanned well, but hopefully I can get a better pic of it up later with a camera, since the moon has a lovely royal purple sheen to it.

Nexci's a new character so there isn't much art of her out yet, but it means she has time to grow into her world. Perhaps next time she'll be in a pic with her friend, Monkey (though the other gods merely call him "pet"). The title comes from a Yoko Kanno song of the same name.

Chronexci and Captured Time belong to me.

Day 5

SAMPO Cake

So my good friend Adam, whose cutie fox boy Xander has been a Dec. 5 staple for some years as a birthday present, said he wanted a SAMPO for his birthday.

So I drew him a SAMPO.

If you have no clue what a SAMPO is, you haven't lived.

Happy birthday, Adam!

Xander belongs to Adam Hebert (though he appears in Creepy & Crawly).

Day 6

Christmas Wine

This one takes a record time of 40 minutes for actual work (though deciding who and what took much longer @_@). In terms of execution, only Day 7 of last year and Day 9 of 2011 were close to that time, but 40 is about my quickest. I wanted something in the cross hatch style I like with some added color, and Ransom's christmas vino was the perfect blend of simple and minimalist but classy. I've slightly redesigned his coat for this year, since he hasn't really had a christmas outfit hard design since I started in 2007. Still, its a lovely work, if I can say so myself.

Ransom Creeps and Creepy & Crawly: West Branch belong to me.

Day 7

Christmas Pix

Its been a long time since the last Mumler Club pic, a series that technically precedes Creepy & Crawly (only by creation). Mei's brother Mitsuru and the Mumler Club (a photography club created by the Kurosaki sisters Mia and Mai forcusing on supernatural pictures and local mysteries) actually predate C&C but now it runs concurrently, and more infrequently. I redesigned Mitsuru's, Mai's and Mia's outfits now, taking into account some discarded outfits from the Fatal Frame 2 remake.

The selfie pose was difficult, and if I had more time, i might've spent more time blocking it, but it came out very charming. The camera Mia has is a mix between a Polaroid Z2300 and a Nikon Coolpix (in series, its called a Niko 3k).

Mitsuru Asakawa, Mia and Mai Kurosaki and The Mumler Club belong to me.

Day 8

Christmas Wrapping

Aina's heading this up, cuz I had another idea, and then I bought a tree and we have to decorate. @_@ When did the holidays sneak up on us??

I like the gold ribbon on there with the blue green, and its very minimalist. Its nice to see Aina in a very nice light, away from Loki because he's such an ass. XD

Aina Fidela and Ragnatropolis belong to me.

Day 9

Here Comes Santa Claus

Like clockwork, sometime within the first couple weeks, I catch my winter cold. And today is that day. @_@ Despite that, I wanted to do something colorful, so I found some inspiration in my reference folders. Arthur was the star of one of my best pieces so I knew he wouldn't disappoint again. The pencils could have been a little more smoother, but it came out like how I envisioned it. The softer look makes it look charming.

Arthur Pendragon and Pantheon Chronicles belong to me.

Day 10

O Tannenbaum

I didn't think I'd have time for something saturated and colorful, but I managed to get it in. Rya's always fun to draw, since she's part of one of my oldest series as well as one of my oldest collaborations. The top down view onto the floor was something I wanted to try. I used to lay on the ground and look up at my tree, through the lights and branches, because it was so pretty (and reminded me of the Chip and Dale cartoon wherein they take up residence in a tree). Some day I'll get back into the series and do more work.

Rya Li St. John, Who the theif, Darek the drunken swordsman, Ryori Shoujin, Tenten Two-twenty and Neo Black 9 belong to me.

Day 11

All I Want for Christmas

Decon's girl Sarah from From Dreams to Nightmares makes an appearance today. Inspired by the The Bobs' song of the same name, I wanted something simple but bold. The colors are more muted, more earthy, than most holiday outfits I've done, but its nice to have some variety than just red & green (the orange gives a warmer feel than you'd expect). There's a few mistakes, but I think they're pretty negligible.

Sarah and From Dreams to Nightmares belongs to Decon.

Day 12

Coventry Carol

Things are picking up again in real life, so I went with something more minimal. Of course, it takes time to make a light burst like that, so perhaps my thinking is only minimalist in terms of composition. XD

Lunis never fails to disappoint so I put him in silhouette. The 2 blacks I used appear very different when scanned, so I made sure they were very distinct blocks instead of random. I think it adds a little depth I never thought I'd get. Originally it was a light burst on the ground with a shadow silhouette but now it looks more like a backlit sunburst, so things worked out pleasantly in a different way.

Lunis and Dreaming x3 belongs to me.

Day 13

Yuletide

A quicker color piece, similar to the Ransom piece from earlier, but with a more lined look to the color. I can't get enough of these variety Sharpies, with lots of neat colors.

I like drawing Lucy, though her outfit changes a little every time I draw her. XD Her antlers too.

Lucy belongs to me.

Day 14

Street Pass Party

The party pics are always late, of course, since I roll in after midnight most of the time, and they're only ever pencils cuz I never have the space to bring colors, but I guarantee, its going to be great.

This year was a Streetpass Weekend, so if you passed a Nintendo Zone, they would drop someone who passed by before you. Kinda neat. So I drew my friends' Miis, which I think was a really fun experiment. From bottom left clockwise: Chocothunda, AlisterNix, Skuld, Yi-yi, Aki, Spirit Snare, Cinti, and Doc.

Day 15

Jingle Belle

Its been a crazy weekend, so I went with something I knew I could make pretty. I felt it was time to take another stab at Mapgunners and Hawkins never disappoints. I wanted to do something with a horse finally, as the MG equivalent we call steeds (I know, so clever), so I checked out some pics a friend had of various horses (some of her own too), and drew up a nice simple one that would look good in blues and golds. His color scheme is mirrored in Hawkins' colors. The 15th is a strong day (and so is tomorrow's @_@).

Hawkins and Mapgunners belongs to me.

Day 16

Christmas Time is Here

Its still a crazy bunch of days, as we near the end, but I do know its going to be pretty good. This year's C&C pic gets to include 2 more characters that haven't really been put to paper too often, namely Professor Harold P. Arkham, and his Daemon assistant Yuuchiro Kiriyama. I was inspired by a spread in a catalogue and I really liked the though of just objects being held by different people, which shows off personality without actually showing faces.

Yoko, Alestor Crawley, Professor Arkham, Leo Griffin, Yuuchiro Kiriyama, Henri Bitner, Mei Asakawa, James Marcus, and Creepy & Crawly belong to me.

Day 17

Christmas Jam

I try to always get a Pokemon image in every year, and though the last one for Black and White was the best, I like this one too. I used the trainer customization (clothes, hair, eyes, etc) to envision how my own trainers (I play both genders cuz I usually buy each game) would look dressed up. It was really fun doing different pokeballs for ornaments.

Pokemon X and Y belong to Nintendo.

Day 18

Winter Tale

Chocothunda was the only one who picked up on a request for this year, and he wanted something of a cover or title image for an upcoming story for his character Kundaba Lupon (whose no stranger to the calendar since he appeared last year).

All I can say is there's lots of ghosts, some undead, and a haunted plantation in southern america. Fun stuff!

Mei Asakawa and Creepy & Crawly belong to me. Kundaba Lupon belongs to Chocothunda.

Day 19

Winter Love Express

This year's Boulevard of Distance image has Maple, whom needed a whole new holiday outfit. I wanted something with lace that reminded one of angel wings, so it worked out. The jewel tones make her really stand out. Usually JP hogs the Distance spotlight in the winter (because of the Winter Special), but its nice to see the other faces of the Heroes of Chaos.

I used a gift bag for the floating presents, which all look really cute.

Maple Caine and Boulevard of Distance belong to me.

Day 20

Home for Christmas Eve

Today was crazy, but not only did I manage a longer length E.Q. story for christmas (as I am won't to do), but I had an accompanying image to go with it. Like some of JP's pics, its a little more melancholy, but the story is a bit of a sad story too (albeit with a happy ending). I inked it and then went back in with just graphite to shade it, because I wanted something a little closer to its source material. The touches of color really bring out the mood.

Arpeggio (Treble) and Felipe (Bass) and E.Q. belong to me.

Day 21

Happy (Cool) Birthday, Kristen!

So my sister comes home and says, "come look at what I got for my birthday."

And she rolls up with a giant ice sculpture.

No joke, guys. This thing is like huge, and had some colored sand in the color letters and balloons, with shaved ice packed in behind it. So I painted it up in water colors and it didn't come out too shabby. But seriously. Coolest present ever.

Day 22

Toy Day is Coming

So I've been moving against the grain, still playing Animal Crossing New Leaf well into the winter (so much new winter furniture!!), while everyone else is wasting time in Pokemon.

My town is so fly, ya'll.

So in honor of the holidays, here's a picture of obviously the most awesome AC character ever put to fuzzy polygons: Isabelle. Fun fact, her birthday (and her twin brother Digby's) was actually friday, the 20th (had E.Q. Friday not landed that day, I'd have moved this to friday).

So happy birthday, Isabelle!

Isabelle and Animal Crossing New Leaf belong to Nintendo.

Day 23

Christmas Tiki Hut

Every year I used to dedicate my 23rd to X-Entertainment's Advent Calendar, but since the move to Dinosaur Dracula, its less about an advent calendar and more about how others celebrate holidays. What I always loved about Matt's articles in the holidays is how he would celebrate other holidays, and encourage others to talk about their own traditions in his comments section.

This year, my favorite article was on his annual Tiki Hut, accompanied by a beautifully 90s era photo. Why I liked it is because these days, we can be so busy with our lives that we can kinda forget traditions; I mean, I just finished baking 149 DOZEN (so multiply that number by 12) cookies with my father. Our traditions can be very important family tying memories. As silly as it was, he still remembers this, and from what I can tell from the tone of the article, its quite fondly. More than anything else, its the fond memories that really make a good article, and while being humorous and self-deprecating, its still very honest, and lord knows we need that more in the internet. Thanks Matt and merry christmas!

Day 24

Gloria

I swear one year, this image will be done before christmas. XD;;;;

In the end, I went with chibis that all had different wings. If you think thinking up over 24 different kinds of wings is easy, you obviously have never tried. @_@ Some of my favorite shapes were Coleco's, Bass', Mei's, and Hawkins'.

Merry Christmas!!