2016 Advent Calendar: What Christmas Means to Me

Welcome to the 10th annual Advent Calendar! I didn't realize I would be doing this for so long (in fact if you had asked me back then if I'd still be doing it, I'd have scoffed). In honor of the 10 year of slaving away on paper and pens and markers, this year has a theme. I chose Stevie Wonder's "What Christmas Means to Me", with every day representing a line or 2 (or 3) of the song. I'm also aiming for a sort of showcase to my favorite and most memorable techniques over the years, to see if I still have what it takes, so hopefully you'll see some old reworked into the new this year. Please check the Gallery Section on the site, as it will contain previous year's art organized by the day, to watch the progress from 2007 all the way to last year.

Dec. 1

Candles Burning Low

I decided for the line about candles to go chiaroscuro all over again, and for that I wanted to do it as a sort of throwback to Ichii on the cover of Decon's Chiaroscuro album, and of course I chose Ichii for it. I might rescan later with a higher contrast like the cover, but I rather like the more subtle approach. It was hard doing this candlelight image, so it may have a few snafus but over all I'm very happy with it. Starting strong sets the tone for the rest of the calendar, though there are targeted days where I find I have to work a little extra harder (Day 16 in particular and Day 20 with 7 our of 9 really knocking it out the park). It also echoes 2011's Day 9, with its simple approach, almost like a photo-negative in terms of execution as well as technique. I do plan to revisit my cross hatching style this month as well as the blocked in style of 2010's Day 5. Highly stylized techniques really feel satisfying.

Ichii and Forest Life belong to me.

Dec. 2

Lots of Mistletoe

Another stab at Art Nouveau, more specifically every shoujo manga-ka's favorite artist: Alphonse Mucha. I last attempted a similar style to Mucha in 2014 with Beowulf, but I went to another aspect of his art syle, which was the thin lines that make the hair strands, and focused on that as well as integrating leaves. This image is pretty much inspired by this image here, with the greens and the close-up profile of the woman's face. While I didn't go with a curly haired girl for this one, I certainly wanted long tresses, so i picked Rya for it. I used some christmas paper for the background to shave time from rendering a lot (I got cookies to frost as of writing @_@), then cut a pice of cardstock in a circle, on which the rest of the image is drawn. The pencil rendering was to try to capture Mucha's subtle shading techniques I love so much. Overall, its a piece I'm proud of.

Rya Li St. John and Neo Black 9 belong to me.

Dec. 3

Lots of Snow & Ice Everywhere We Go

This one came out softer than I anticipated for the markers, but I've had a computer upgrade since last year and the scanner driver is all wacky @_@ I wanted a nice simple look, so with Claris Sinclair from NiGHTS into dreams and a snow nightopian, I went with a bubble like background and solid colors.

This would have probably benefited best with copic markers, but we know how darn expensive they are! XD Though I am building a decent library, its still mostly greys for shading and tones. So that the pencils wouldn't show in the ink, I used a light table with the bubble background laid in on the back and traced straight into marker on the right side. Its a technique i use a lot when i don't want my foundation sketches to show beneath. It also justifies keeping this big ol' chunky light table I've had since I was in art school. XD In any case, my NiGHTS illustrations always seem to satisfy.

Claris Sinclair, nightopians, and NiGHTS into dreams belong to Sega.

Dec. 4

Choirs Singing Carols Right Outside my Door

This one was a little bit of an outlier; it combines a few characters across different series, none of which are even remotely related. They were chosen because I needed singers, and I found out quite quickly, there aren't very many in my series outside of E.Q. which is heavily music based, and even then, the roster of actual singers (by designation or by "occupation") in E.Q. as main characters is startlingly small (Fade excluded of course). But in the end, I chose Senza, which was a consolation prize since she can't sing very much in the current mainline series. Melody as a mermaid has a natural ability, and Rebecca is training to be an opera singer, so they were also naturally chosen. Brennon too was chosen, since I never really said he didn't provide vocals to his own electronic music.

The execution here is similar to another piece on the same day, which worried me into thinking perhaps the concept wasn't solid but I do like it much more in the end, despite the off-centered look. I also realize my cursive is in need of improvement. XD

Melody and Ever.Free, Brennon Phillips and Ragnatropolis, Senza and E.Q., Rebecca Odelle and Creepy & Crawly: West Branch all belong to me.

Dec. 5

All These Things and More

So there were a couple things I wanted to do for this pic. Chiefly, number 1, I wanted to draw Final Fantasy XV's Ignis all sexy like with frosting. Check. Secondly, Prompto going camera fanboy over a camera obscura, and Yuuri. Check. And King Regis, who happens to be my second favorite character behind Ignis (what can I say, I'm a sucker for glasses, accents and cooking ka-ching). I also wanted to do a high contrast coloring style, where only the shadows would be colored or inked. This was because the amount of black required for this venture would have destroyed all my black markers. The temperature of the different blacks surprised me, but it like that. The biggest challenge in this entire affair was actually eye color and Noctus' hair. JESUS TIDDY CINNAMON THAT HAIR OMG. I also nearly forgot Gladiolus' tattoos. Oops. I'm rather proud of it, in particular Ignis, Regis and how cute Luna looks. Nailed it. Did I mention Noct's hair made me wanna table-flip? I have a kotatsu now--incidently I drew this at the kotatsu.

Final Fantasy XV belongs to SquareEnix and shit I want those Kingsglaive cars.

Dec. 6

That's What Christmas Means to Me, My Love

At the beginning of November this year, my beloved Molly went peacefully in my arms over the Rainbow Bridge. She had been battling mast cell cancer since June, and while aggressive chemotherapy worked, it wasn't enough. It was a hard decision to put her down, given she had overcome so many brushes with death (her owners could no longer care for her as she started to go blind and almost put her to sleep at 9 years old, then she was severely underweight with IBD), but as the tumor was growing at an alarming rate and was interfering with her ability to walk, I wanted to give her the dignity she deserved for all her 14 years, 2 and 1/2 with us, and nearly 2 with her foster mom Jean. The day she was to pass (we had a vet come to our place to do the procedure so she could pass peacefully at home surrounded by family), Decon wrote a song for her that I played while she ate one of her favorite treats, a raw marrow bone. She seemed to enjoy it; Molly, since she was blind, really liked listening to music, though jazz and classical were her favorite--and the occasional electronic track. The remix of this song can be found here for Decon's 12 Track project. I chose to draw her as I loved seeing her, in a forest, surrounded by her favorite treats (biscuits and salmon), dozing. Christmas should mean loving family, and all your favorite things together, and that's why I drew it in tribute to her. We love you Molly girl, my Mamawolf.

Dec. 7

I See Your Smiling Face Like I've Never Seen Before

It should be no surprise I have a lot of black instant pics because Dumbass McGee here often forgets to take the lens cap off her camera, and I tend to hoard them to make use in other things like collages and masks for other images. In this case I ended up using them for the lyrics, and added more pics with my polaroid zink photos, attaching things with pretty washi tape. Mei pictures usually come quickly in a flash, so it wasn't a lot of work, since I had work and cookies to do @_@.

Mei Asakawa and Creepy & Crawly belong to me.

Dec. 8

Even Though I Love You Madly, It Seems I Love You More

I found a piece of Tiger & Bunny fanart and really liked the cuddling pose, so that was the inspiration. They're really cute when they aren't having to dodge life and death threats XD. I didn't know what to put for Bass' music making program's UI, so I made stuff up XD;;; This year was E.Q.'s 5 year anniversary, though it has been in hiatus since Molly had taken sick and passed away. I hope to get back to it soon.

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

Dec. 9

The Little Card You Give Me Will Touch My Heart For Sure

I think cards, so I painted etegami, or japanese hand-painted postcards. And when it comes to paint, gotta have Marimo, my inkling girl, whom has graced Decon's single You Ain't From Inkopolis.

I drew Cody this time, since I drew Molly not too long ago, and he actually stayed laying by me as I painted him. Rarely does he hold or stay sitting up in one place for that long.

This is also the first time I painted 2 cards that are linked together by a line; by themselves, the words don't make much sense but make a lot together. I like doing card sets like this.

Splatoon belongs to Nintendo.

Dec. 10

All These Things and More

So friends came over, and since I didn't have much planned, it was suggested to do us hanging out. I initially declined (kinda thought it would work better for tomorrow), but then it grew on me and I did it.

Then we started drinking.

And that's why its just a rough ink right now. 8D

Hanging with friends is one of my favorite things for christmas, and we haven't done a holiday party in years.

Dec. 11

That's What Christmas Means to Me

This one I did as a piece of stationary, so the middle is open for writing letters and the such (do people still do that??). Lucy the winterdeer appears looking super cute, per usual.

Lucy always looks a little different every time I draw her, but given I usually draw her only one a year, its not surprising.

Lucy the winterdeer belongs to me.

Dec. 12

That's What Christmas Means to Me, My Love

Lunis always delivers when I need him, and one of the things christmas is for me is doing this calendar. Lunis represents this to me, so if I had to choose only a single character for the effort, it'd be him or Lucy.

This was another collage (you may have asked before but are collages really that fun; and I may have answered before but, yes, yes they are XD), with the fisheye village below on black paper, and Lunis handcut from cardstock to lay over a colored page. I don't currently have an exacto knife and cutting board, so all of the collages are cut by hand with scissors, which can be tedious as well as hand cramping, but as its become something I've done for so long, I don't mind the effort. The key is to pivot the paper you're cutting rather than the scissors.

Lunis and Dreaming x3 belong to me.

Dec. 13

I Feel Like Running Wild, As Anxious as a Little Child

Christmas pikachu/raichu is festive, so I reworked some Pokemon Go outfits to look more festive and drew that. Today I caught my first x-mas pikachu so i was inspired. XD Since PG encourages you to go on walks, I felt it fit the lyrics the best. Also Alola doesn't really have cold clothing and I haven't gotten very far in Pokemon Moon yet).

I usually try to do a Pokemon related pic, though there are some regions I've yet to draw out (Hoenn and Unova as well as Alola).

Pokemon Go and pikachu/raichu belong to Game Freak and Nintendo.

Dec. 14

Greet You 'Neath the Mistletoe

Another E.Q. piece, this time, the Side B backstory portions. This idea was easy; choosing the right couple was harder @_@. If I hadn't done my NiGHTS piece so early this year, I would have done that, but this one really felt right. The series turned 5 years old this year, so maybe a little extra exposure isn't bad.

Its the 3rd try at this loose watercolor style, done once before in 2013 with Akiva of Misfit Demon Manor, and again with Mei in 2014. I think I'm almost there with what I want to achieve, but this one turned put really well, and only needed a little tweaking for more vibrancy.

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

Dec. 15

Kiss You Once and Then Some More

I knew I wanted to have a cutesy kissy pic for today, and what's better than a couple having cuddle time? 3 people having couple time! I liked the pic of Rya laying on the floor beneath the tree, so I did a similar layout, with half wrapped presents and glasses of wine.

Hey, sometimes wrapping your kids' gifts is a lot of work and you need time to unwind. Parents need their gifts too. :3

Decon and I had to quick design Adult James and Henri's outfits since I never designed any and Mei's was formulated for 2014's Battlemania project. This one came out rather nice, though it took longer to color @_@

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

Dec. 16

Wish You a Merry Christmas, Baby

When you have parties all lined up in the last few weekends of the month, things get hectic. @_@ I had a Animal Crossing Happy Home poster as inspiration for different scenes, and its a lot like the Ragnatropolis/BGP image from a few years ago. That was a favorite of mine, so I went for that kind of image again. Since my first set of images with the entire cast of Misfit Demon Manor, I've added a few more characters, like a mummy girl, and a ghost girl (and not shown are a fairy and a vampire boy, whom are antagonists), but I kind of wanted more of a variety of supernatural denizens in the series.

Aggie the doll, Elodie the ghost, Ankha the mummy, Kotaro the yokai, Mordecai the demon, Akiva, Rusty the zombie, Sammy the pumpkin demon, Skylar, Buster the werewolf and Gretchen the medusa and Misfit Demon Manor belong to me.

Dec. 18

Let's Deck the Halls With Holly

I love the style here, which I always associated with the DS game Feel The Magic, where the characters are represented as solid blocks of black. They're simple images but do take some planning. This one was primarily with a brush pen, then the smaller details were done with an extra fine pen, to create the finer shades, which translate nice in thumbnails. I used Beowulf because she has nice flowy details. Using the lyrics as ornaments was a last minute choice and a little crowded but I like the look of it. I was sitting on these holly decals for like 2 years so I'm glad I used them. The gems show nice in the scan.

Beowulf and Our Ladies of War belong to me.

Dec. 19

Sing Sweet Silent Night

I know, I know, its a 3rd E.Q. image, but I just had to use Melody (Side B or past version of Fade) for the lyric since she really does come to mind for me when I think singing. And hey, like I said, it's the series' 5 year anniversary, and I wanted to commemorate the yearly christmas story with a picture. Since 2013's image was related to its story, I wanted to try that again. I redesigned Melody's outfit from the last time I drew it last year so hopefully that won't be too jarring, but I really wanted something more elegant. Though her image color is yellow, she really looks nice in blue. Other charming parts of the image are the curls of her hair and the background gradients. i liked how they look, as they harken back to Arthur's image in 2013.

Melody and E.Q. belong to me.

Dec. 20

Fill the Tree With Angel Hair

December 20th is Isabelle's birthday so I tend to do a birthday pic every year now. I based this image on a vintage card I saw off "Kitschy Living", and I really like the tree hat/hair look. Angel hair is a tinsel decoration that's basically lots of free strands of mylar or like plastic. Its really pretty, like strings of silver all over your tree (though they come in other colors like gold and the such). I gesso'ed a tree shape on scrapbook paper, so the white acrylic paint would take to it, then cut out washi paper in shapes like fossils and bell bags and pitfalls. The angel hair is done with silver sharpie. Overall I'm really pleased with it. The tree is very subtle and the washi paper really gives it a nice vintage look.

Isabelle and Animal Crossing: New Leaf belong to Nintendo.