The 2014 Advent Calendar Challenge

Lucy heads off our calendar this year, with bold colors and minimal shading. I wanted something with blocks of color, but half way through realized I inked outlines…XD;;; As I always note, her outfit changes slightly every year, mostly because I forget details. So scatterbrained!

My favorite details are the shape of her skirt, the candy cane, and her antlers.

Chronexci, goddess of cameras, was chosen for the second day. I wanted to try the blocked in technique again, from 2010's version with Coleco. This time, I added more color hatching for variety. Maybe the blue shades are too much next to the red, which brings a different kind of mind, but the green stands out very nice. The various silhouettes of camera things and other holiday shapes came out better in this attempt.

Fade was chosen for today, since I wanted a good close-up with really big eyes. The boys in E.Q. usually hog the spotlight (mostly because I have a preference for handsome men, of course), so I wanted to do something more gentler and sweeter. By the way, last year's E.Q. was rather bittersweet, a sad kind of story, and it came with a sad kind of image, and that's another reason to go with something warmer. The girls in the series are going to have more of a spotlight in second season/second album.

Fade's heart gloves are something I would like to have, and I usually have the tendency to draw clothes I want on my characters, if its not clothing or outfits I already have. Wish fulfillment. XD

Today was a super bad day for me, so trying to think of a good image was very hard. I knew I wanted something that wouldn't have a lot of white in the background, since most day 4s have a lot of white, but I didn't think I could have the heart to do something too elaborate. Gypsy, one of my android girls (which is why her skin appears dark and artificial looking, as well as her having joint lines) appears with a slightly darker dress (my pinks weren't the same as the last time I drew her @_@), and the overall composition is very simple, but it turned out nice, with the sort of yellow halo/halation around her as a border. It makes her pop out nicely. Still, it seems very half-hearted, but much more colorful, thankfully.

Its been a long time since I drew Aro and Kage. They came from Pot Sticker, which actually precedes Creepy & Crawly. They started the universe, and helped codify the sorta Daemon-Human-Spirit relationship to the investigation unit. As a shonen ai series, I liked the relationship between an immortal and a human, and of course gay. Cuz I'm a girl. XD

I updated the outfit slightly, and gave Kage a new one, but I liked the cute image of someone sharing a coat on someone, especially between people with very different heights. Kage's sorta a pro to-Henri, but Henri's true love was Mei, so the relationship became different. XD Not that I would have Henri hook up with anyone on the C&C team except James (and that did happen in the end so….XD).

I went with drawing Green for this one since I hadn't yet, and she had a winter outfit, according a Game Freak new year's card. Green's really fun to draw.

I admit…there aren't really any sugar plums…I just liked the title.

Back to cookies. @_@

Rya heads up a nice simple image. I love doing this sorta weird pattern with shapes, candy canes, boxes, etc. I first used it with Arthur in 2010 and break it out every now and again for times when I need a lot of fanciness with minimal effort. XD I miss my older markers, which were lighter generally, but this darker blue makes her dress look more like its made of velvet instead of cotton.

Dio and cookies…. Pretty much my life in December.

These days, I've been trying to color in Dio's skin closer to my own, under Decon's suggestion, but I gotta say. I'm a bitch to blend in color. @_@

I decided to bring back collages, since its been awhile and they make for wonderful images when you use pretty paper. I chose this pretty sea foam teal with a storm of snow, and had to think of someone with a good holiday outfit palette that would match it.

Gretchen has only appeared one other time with the main cast of Misfit Demons, and she and Mordecai both have this matching teal skin (despite the fact they're different species, a gorgon and a half-demon respectively), so she seemed to fit. I like how it came out in the end, though I was doubtful I could cut around her snake pigtails. It turned out they weren't that complicated in shape.

Happy birthday, Isabelle (and Digby)! Thanks to the Animal Crossing Plaza on the WiiU, we know a lot of the special characters' birthdays.

I had Ichi go fetch her a present. To me I think that's Ichi's type: the slightly clumsy but sweet girl next door. XD

I used the same design of the festive dress on Isabelle, and went with a style halfway between my usual style and closer to the actual renders. She looks really cute that way.

So I did get my awesome Dino Drac funpack, and among the awesomely bad holiday movie and a cel from A Christmas Story (and I promise to review that before the year is out @_@), I also got a pack of Holiday Warriors, which was a DD packaged set of tiny, cheapy, vending machiney toys. A glow-in-the-dark alien, a ninja, and a dinosaur came in my pack, and I just love all 3. The packaging is what makes it awesome; if you're an X-E vet, it has a little Corporate Viscera feel to it. A really epic story to these little toys. It makes them that much more special.

I also included the Mother's Day card that was in a recent article. Just read the article and enjoy the awesomeness that is a youth's attempt to make a totally badass card for his mom (if I was a mom I think I woulda loved it XD).

This year was so busy, what with the late cookies, lots of work, and the amazing 12 Tracks project from Decon, its was stressful, but I can't deny it made for some great pics this year. A good strong year, which is always intimidating the following year. @_@

This year I decided on christmas ornaments. This year we only added one new series, Our Ladies of War, but we're just 2 shy of 30 series represented (twin character series this year showcased the other, so California, Toby, Ridley, and Treble this year when Ohio, Jessica, Riley, and Bass appeared last year). Its got a lot to be done, but a good rest sounds nice too right now.

Merry christmas!!