Embedded Files
Dec. 1
Let's Go, Christmas!
Its been a struggle, but I'm going to do my best to stick the landings on these this year. I have a lot of catching up for previous years and its been really stressful on the job front in the Adulting World. So here's today's pic, because guess who got Let's Go, Eevee? 8D The hair came out really cute, and so did the outfit.
Eevee, trainer and Pokemon: Let's Go Eevee belong to Nintendo.
Dec. 2
Tags and Trim
Still trying to get into the swing of things so I'm trying out different kinds of images to try to experiment. I found this patterned paper in a set of scrapbooking paper, trimmed it while keeping the different boxes intact, and supplemented the missing portions with washi tape. In choosing a series, I found I didn't have many trios as main characters (usually I have a lot of teams of 4-5 or duos), and I almost did Aro and company from Pot Sticker, but I hadn't drawn the Winchester boys in ages, and I usually give the winter spotlight to JP because of the winter special, so I went with them this time. I have a few of the boxes left over so they'll probably appear in a later image.
Ash & Oak Winchester, Rhys Hunter, and Boulevard of Distance belong to me.
Dec. 3
Ice Blue Caravan
Coming down on a wire. I will be glad when work isn't going to be the issue anymore. I decided I wanted to try some washi tape blocking like one of my favorite artists, LaughingBear, and originally was going to block in Hawkins' coat in tape. Something about it didn't quite jive, so I went with the scarf instead and I'm glad I did. It feels a lot less cluttered, and the pattern seemed to fit the scarf much better. There are only a few touches of color, namely his gold colored eyes and the green buttons and ear stud. I wanted the washi tape to do the talking but the mood was also set by his expression. I really also like how his condensated breath came out.
Lucky Hawkins and MapGunners belong to me.
Dec. 4
Wonderful Things on Strings
Its been so busy I barely have time anymore to do much of anything. Even on lunch breaks I have no time, so I keep trying to think of compositions through the day so that ass soon as dinner and cookies are done, I can keep going. @_@ I updated Kozumi's outfit since he hasn't had an update in like....FORVER since his creation nearly a decade ago. Time to change our clothes, scrubs! I added a croupier vest to his default outfit since his holiday outfit is literally....his default with a scarf. @_@;; I orginally was going to hatch the entire background, but I laid it un with a pencil and it didn't feel right, so I went with a softer color pencil approach, and added the presents on strings. Perspective is off, but I do like the concept.
Kozumi and Neo Black 9: Second Rush belong to me.
Dec. 5
Linings in Silver
This one was based off of a pendant I once saw years ago but never bought. And like so many accessories and clothes I don't get to buy, I draw. Its sort of a way of attaining an unobtainable thing. I wasn't sure the metallic sharpie was going to show but it blocked in nicely. I think if I were to have done it on colored paper with fresh sharpie, it might've been a touch more metallic, but my metallic pens are going on 3 years old now. The lavender purple gradient into dark blue is much more subtle but I kinda like that.
Lunis and Dreaming³ belong to me.
Dec. 6
Santa's Little Helpers
I have a huge backlog to catch up on, so bear with me. I finally quit a job I used to love but now grew to hate and I've been struggling to keep up. Most of the late art was in fact due to work and overwork as well as mentally draining stress where I had little to no time to myself once I got home; the lack of time to even draw was one of the worst things I've ever felt in my life as an artist. In any case, I'm going to cram as much as I can in between the usual holiday madness. So here's Rudy, Decon's reindeer boy and Lucy the Winterdeer together for the first time ever in one image. I think i should make it a habit to put them in more images together because they really do compliment each other despite the style differences.
Rudy the Reindeer belongs to Decon, Lucy the Winterdeer belongs to me.
Dec. 7
Nearer My Heart to Thee
This image kinda snuck up on me without much stress. Images can come easily, or difficultly depending on the time, but luckily this one came out really easy all things considered. I miss the E.Q. terribly, what with another huge hiatus due to aforementioned work stress. I'm so upset I've had such a long time from them, but fortunately for fans, I've been considering moving the entire story to a dedicated webpage for easier access to chapters and better story flow than its previous home on Tumblr, so watch this space for news. Its likely going to be a Google page, unless I relocate. Decon's suggestion of tackling it with pencils was a brilliant stroke of genius, and I kept the background simple except for the falling notes, which is a nod towards one of my favorite Piston Quints album cover I did a few years ago.
Treble, Bass and E.Q. belong to me.
Dec. 8
Dance of the Sugar Plum Mermaid
Of the attempts at something new, I'd say I'm roughly 80% happy with this one. I wanted something very similar to Akiva's color block, cross hatching style from last year, inspired by Heywai, but with some more interesting shapes. I chose some colored doilies and a portion of some cutout scrapbooking paper for interesting texture and laid in a mostly freehanded ink pen outline with minimal pencil underdrawing to guide me. The white pen highlights aren't as successful due to the larger white negative spaces, which also made consistent hatching from paper to under paper difficult due to paper width. Still, I'm actually pleasantly surprised looks better than I expected, though next time I am going to stick with solid paper XD.
Melody and Ever.Free belong to me.
Dec. 9
Visions of Christmas
Here's a quiet picture of Beowulf from Our Ladies of War and I rather like the look of these bubbles with light coming off of them. I've been working with a couple select Copic markers and I think I'm slowly starting to get the hang of it. This one came out pretty good and easily, which was good because I have so much stuff to get to for the holidays @_@. The parfait came out really cute.
Beowulf and Our Ladies of War belong to me.
Dec. 10
Wintermint
I took another stab at the washi tape art technique, by Laughingbear. Aina's stockings and sweater was carefully traced with a Sharpie pen and then handcut with scissors. I tried to match the tape across the seams and I think I did pretty ok at it. I have so much tape, I think I could use it in another image and still not use it all. Aina's Christmas outfit always changes every year I do it. XD The striped shadow was a little difficult but it came out really nice. Its been awhile since I've drawn Loki but Aina's outfit is much more interesting.
Aina Fidela and Ragnatropolis belong to me.
Dec. 11
Flight of Winter
I borrowed Decon's character Tony Harper since it'd been years since the last time I drew him; in fact the last time before Battlemania, it was 2009, so nearly 10 years. Therefore, I have been out of practice with that hair. XD I've had many a good days wrestling with that hair though there was a time I was still pretty good at it. The feather motif was something that got attached to him as time went, though I never knew why. Maybe they were power-ups. I went with the silhouette look at a suggestion and I'm glad I took it. This style is very fun, though it relies a lot on having strong silhouette poses, with clear posing.
Tony Harper and Beyond Human belong to Decon.
Dec. 12
Girls with Film
Originally I was working on this image for the 11th...and then my Copic marker for her skin tone died @.@ So I ended up having to rush order a new one through Amazon in time to get through the rest of the month. I've been sitting on this giant 7 Gypsies camera sticker for awhile and wanted to use it in a Mei image. Some of the proportion is a bit off but other than that, I'm really happy with it. The sticker was a funny, rubbery texture so I inserted the date via washi tape. Don't get me started on how many red markers I went through either.
Mei Asakawa and Creepy & Crawly belong to me.
Dec. 13
Make a Splash
Yes I know its late. Its Splatfest this weekend. XD;;; More washi tape art, inspired by Laughing Bear. I wanted a dynamic shot of washi tape "rain" being broken up and thought something like that would suit an inkling. I used Lyra since I plan to use Marimo or her and someone from her squad for Saturday, since its Splatfest (sadly, not festive like I was hoping with the sparkly glitter ink; I'm hoping we get Frosty Fest later). The orange was a bit leaning towards red, but it kind of works out like that. I used in-game gear, the pink hoodie and red hi-horses because they would go nice with the green squid santa hat. The pose came out nearly perfect to what I envisioned so that's a plus.
Inklings and Splatoon belong to Nintendo, Lyra designed by me.
Dec. 14
Winter Ideya
I'm going back to basics again with the color block style I picked up from Heywai. While Melody's from a few days ago was pretty, it didn't have the punch I wanted so I went back to solid paper. I did add back in the washi tape style, combining both styles with the Ideya being made of washi tape (except for yellow, strangely I lack any mainly yellow washi tape @_@), and using white pen to highlight and hatching to shade. Instead of all hatching, though, this time I did full color on the portions without paper, so that it gives a sort of overlay layering effect rather than straight out high contrast. I actually really like this much better, busy as it is. Sadly the shiny wrapping paper stocking got blown out by my scanner. :/ Drawing Claris from NiGHTS: into dreams always is fun and easy. I can't do Christmas without NiGHTS.
Claris Sinclair, Ideya, and NiGHTS: into dreams belong to Sega.
Dec. 15
I've Got You to Keep Me Warm
Skint and Brassic being snuggly together. Decon's been working on them for his Splatoon concept album, and I can tell you I'm a huge fan of them too. ^^ Both came from rough childhoods on opposite sides of the spectrum of affluent and less than fortunate but somehow found each other and have been long time fans. I get the same kind of comfortable feeling between them that's similar to the magnetic pull between Felipe and Arpeggio. Of unusual hairstyles, Skint's up there but thankfully being tentacles instead of actual hair makes it MUCH easier on me. Brassic's is based off a style in game with a different angling to the spikes.
Inklings and Splatoon/Splatoon 2 belong to Nintendo. Brassic and Skint designed by Decon.
Dec. 16
Clemintines and Kotatsu
Leave it to me to get sick in December, though this year, its a lot later than usual. Here's the High Color Squids (with members of the 55s) enjoying my favorite pastime: eating clementines while under a warm kotatsu. Its a bit oversized, higher than it ought to be, but I just wasn't getting the perspective right and still not block some of the characters in the back, so I heightened it. Marimo's back to her traditional, original green with red tips style, and I also gave it to Mimiko because that's her kohai. ^^ You'll notice the various peeling methods on the table; Mimiko's is my favorite of a snail XD. I also tried to make each of their cups look like something in their style, from Octavin's traditional tea cup, to the porcelain blue pattern Mimiko has, to Marimo's Off the Hook love cup. My favorite is obviously Calliope being snug as a cat on clean laundry XD. The holiday outfits are a little closer to finalized, though things will probably change if I draw them all again.
Inklings and Splatoon/Splatoon 2 belong to Nintendo. (starting from top left) Lyra, Octavin, Marimo, Tenori, Calliope, Mimiko, and Octoban designed by me.
Dec. 17
Good Appetite
Still playing catch up. Once a month, I do a DnD session with friends, DM'd by our very own Chocothunda. This is a new campaign for 5th edition, and we're all having tons of fun. If my character in the middle--Locke--looks a lot like Breath of the Wild Link, you're right. XD I said, after the stressful run in 4th ed. as a cleric, that I wanted something different, and as I wasn't feeling well way back when we rolled characters for 5th ed. I had my friends roll up a character that was pretty much Link; right on down to the fact I'm a half elf that's been asleep for the last 100 years. XD;;; I didn't plan for it, but I'm having a lot of fun playing a slightly sassy, kind of short sighted, food motivated, but somehow aces with the bow and has the tendency to try to get my companions out of the wildest trouble half-elf. I previously was a teenaged, slightly pervy cleric, so this was a refreshing change of pace to be a little more forthright in being silly. The lavender lass in the back is Myxi, with Jack the hero to the left, the gruff Chaplain on the right, and the gorgeous elf Valeria on the far right. She's the one who calls me a mixed blooded idiot; I like to think Locke takes this as misplaced friendliness. XD He's also a dab hand at cooking (like Link), and in the last session, found 2 eggs, hatched one as a chick and then rolled a nat 20 to make a huge ass omlette from the remaining single egg, thus the omurice. He also has the tendency, if he kills a creature, to shoot an arrow down its gullet and makes a bad pun (still my favorite was killing a flaming bone skull with a ricocheting arrow in its mouth and yelling BONE APPETITE).
Dungeons & Dragons belongs to Wizards of the Coast. Myxi, Jack, Locke, Chaplain, and Valeria created by Jupigare, Jack Rhien, myself, Doc Tran, and Younha-kun (all aliases of course XD)
Dec. 18
How Beautiful Your Branches
Things are funny. I recently watched a tutorial by the brilliant Amanda Evanston Freund, aka Aunt Peaches, on how to paint christmas tree ornaments on wood. I LOVE LOVE LOVE her tutorials, and even bought a painting class by her for my February Flowers project she started. I plan on doing a whole batch of these for christmas presents, but I took the tutorial and tried to do it in markers, first on a ripped page of a Norton's Anthology I had lying around, and then on a piece of paper, blocked in with metallic sharpie instead of paint. Then I sat on it for a week or so, unable to do anything with these samples. Then today, a collage came to me quite easily and quickly, with Rya drawn on cardstock and then layered over the ripped page and the hand ripped sharpie version, then added some textured paper for a punch. I'm glad i was able to do something with the trees, though they're rough. I love the looseness of it; it felt nice to kind of get something created without trying to stress out over it.
Rya Li St. John and Neo Black 9 belong to me. Tutorial by Amanda Evanston Freund.
Dec. 19
Paper Girls: Dio
Well, I wanted to do another paper doll and decided this year to do my avatar Dio. She's had a number of Christmas outfits but not all of them could fit @_@. If you want the Battlemania outfit though, the best I could do was the red top and the skirt set. I did try my best to match the tabs well, better than Mei's first try, so hopefully this works out. Print it on cardstock and cut on the bold lines (fold the base on the dotted). If anyone prints this out and makes new outfits, give me a holler; I'd like to see. ^^
Dio is me! ^^
Dec. 20
Birthday Presents for Isabelle
This year's birthday image for Isabelle is a piece you can use for stationary if you crop out the date (or not if you want XD). I tried to do a design that is as close to the actual artstyle as possible, and it turned out pretty good. I had to redraw because I colored her the wrong colors accidentally @_@, but this turned out well since I could readjust some details like adding holly to her hairband and changing the tail position. I love Isabelle so much; she's so adorable, and her wave and smile are so healing. ^^
Isabelle and Animal Crossing belong to Nintendo.
Dec. 21
Happy Birthday, Sis!
I've been running around all day so I'm just barely under the wire here. @_@ Since its my sister's birthday today, I drew up our new doggies Zelda and Loki for the image and hatched them in along with now my favorite rendering of a bottle of Oban whiskey, the 14 year cuz we both LOVE Oban. I based the pic off of one of the pics on Zelda and Loki's IG page though the perspective is a bit off. I do like how it all came together, esp Loki's face in the back. Love ya, sis, happy birthday!
Dec. 22
Girls Wanna Have Christmas
Decon suggested Fiona from one of his series Wandering in the Dark, and Yuna from Barnballows Estate (and I can never remember if I spell it BarnBELLOWS or BarnBALLOWS XD;;;) , and I had a design for Fiona that I never used. I like the posing, as it turned out really cute and charming. I'm considering having Fiona have a cameo in the side series for Miskatonik in Creepy and Crawly; they'd actually be the kind of best friends were you'd think they were sisters. XD
Fiona Volk and Wandering in the Dark, and Yuna and Barnbellows Estate belong to Decon.
Dec. 23
ITS UGLY SWEATER TIME
So this year's Dinosaur Dracula funpack drawing prompt was to take characters from something in the box, like characters from Youngblood or TMNT and put them in tacky-ugly sweaters. Since the box came with a faux happy meal box (a Sonic toy from the 90s, and gummy fries and burger candy), and a plastic Energize It bunny, I chose him and Sonic to put them in sweaters. I chose a Flickie ring design and I think his expression came out pretty good. I have no clue why I put the bunny in a washi tape sweater with a cigarette. XD;;;;
Energize It Bunny belongs to Energizer. Sonic the Hedgehog belongs to Sega.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse