#bad about not drawing more for this year's artfight

[star-ts-farts]

My Artfights in

Characters listed in chronological order

-"Pigeon": Spy

-Pokemon oc: Eden: lilaccoffin

-Midsommer: KAZUZUKADI

-Glitz: wumppernuggets

-Duke Jr / Dee: xxheyjude

[thedrotter]

a once in a lifetime miracle: oc art!! this is Shiva.

doodles from a month or so, but i cant really draw properly right now. but i wanted to do something meanwhile so i colored these :33

[elvenking42]

Stayed up to 3am playing games when I could have been

1. Doing more artfights

2. Working on commissioned work

3. Going to bed in time for work tomorrow

4. Any combination of the above, really

[arolesbianism]

I'm starting to see ppl talk abt updating their artfight pages and at first I was like what why it's still months away and then it hit me that by months it was two months and now I'm just silently sweating as my anual side project to remake the eternal gales refs and give them all icons comes back to haunt me

[homosexualcitron]

doing art trades made me realize how slow i becomed at drawing and aaahhhh this is not a problem but artfight is gonna be hard this year

[catgirlkirigiri]

a vivisection of me yielded the start of a mystery

[woosh-floosh-art]

Bits and Pieces: 2024

Went through all my 2024 files and here's all the stuff I didn't post!

Dragon Quest slimes... The idea was to do a slime gacha of some sort but... there's so many slimes man I can't draw them all.

Teeny Sanguini variations. The idea was to make a keychain of each teeny sanguini variation but.. that would cost a lot of money and I don't even know how well does keychains would sell. Maybe people just want basic teeny sanguini and I'm wasting my money buying other keychains.. Oh well. The basic teeny sanguini keychain I ordered has sold well, we'll have to see if I decide to order one of the variations.

Various Ouioui's. I think the goal was to eventually draw them all? I just needed something simple but with some room for experimentation to draw everyday. Early 2024 was a rough time for me.

Fan Ouioui design. This one is good. I would imagine the body of the thing would be a scrunchie so you can put it in your hair or on your wrist.

CMY(K) and spring dango themed galumpin dops.

PEARL DRONE!! The goal was to make stickers, that didn't happen lol. Still cute though...

Various little doodles I thought were cute. Badniks, two headed minecraft calf sticker concept (I didn't think it was very clear in it's design..), kirby :D, alien cow, and a true fact about aphids.

SA2 animal sticker gacha. Like I said, in early 2024 I was really looking for something simple and repetitive to draw with just enough variation to keep things interesting. Like the slimes and the ouiouis this one fizzled out. There was just TOO much variation. I ended up doing all of those gyroids which was perfect for the time and also sold really well as stickers! I also did all those damn kirby stickers which did NOT sell as well.

Okay enough about the grief and depression, let's talk about SONIC OCS!! I really loved the periodical cicada emergence this year so I wanted to make a sonic oc based on them. Her wings are crumpled (like many cicadas I saw this year, unfortunately her and the other cicadas will never fly) but she was some wisp powered roller blades to let her zoom around! I used to do a lot of character design as a teen but now I struggle with it. But I don't think this is that bad of a design? It's fun, she's fun.

Every year for artfight people make new characters based on the theme, and this year I wanted to try as well! He's supposed to be an anthropomorphic ray, a prince that must set out on an adventure! The eyebrow design is cuter but I think the widows peak design better conveys that he is supposed to be a ray. Bottom right is my favorite but I would switch the cutlass for the rapier. It's just a bit more of a princely sword.

Blue eyed cicada sticker concept. During the cicada emergence this year someone found a blue eyed cicada!! This is the mock up if I made stickers of that. I didn't because I was soooo sick of handcutting those damn cicadas, they were not easy to cut. Also they did not sell very well. We need more cicada fans in this world...

Lastly... two pages to a comic I never finished. It was supposed to be the prologue to my oc story but... it's a little scary making comics about original characters! There's a lot more to think about and manage over doing fan comics. I would still like to return to my little world and characters but I just haven't been in the mood for it. Ironically there was only one page left in the prologue but it's been so long I don't think I'm going to finish it!

Also, to try and combat the anxiety that comes with making an original story I didn't plan the layouts at all?? I guess to make the process faster and not worry as much?? The thumbnails in my sketchbook are just loose unconnected panels next to the script. That is not how I typically plan comics... and for good reason! Looks at the paneling in page two! It's bad! It's really bad!! When I come back to my characters I going to have to swallow my fear and put some more time and care into the layouts.

Okay that's all for 2024! I have a couple more things to post from December and then that's a wrap on 2024! Thanks for reading! ^_^

[sawnickrings]

2024 art recap

My favorite piece from each month! I can't say I've grown much over the past year, but perhaps a little. Open the post to see my reflection on each piece. 💙

Tw for first two months mentions of $H

January

This was the only thing I could find from January, since my old phone got busted and all the dates on my photos got messed up. But luckily I really like it anyway so I guess it's my favorite of the month by default! During this time I was still battling with s3lf harm and so this character was supposed to represent that. Yes it's edgy, no I wouldn't have picked this one if I had any other image from January. This one was also very experimental, I've used this brush a grand total of 1 time other than this one. I felt it fit the aesthetic.

February

Again, this period was sort of like the dark ages in the fact that most of my images got screwed with after switching phones, so I don't have many drawings that I know were from February. However, this one again is a favorite of mine in general so it's not so bad. This is the only other time I used that brush. I also created this character as a sort of way to cope with my s3lf harm urges, except she's far older than the last one. This image doesn't feature it, but they have lots of scars and often open/bandaged self-inflicted wounds due to how their power works, which is blood manipulation. Again, edgy as all get-out.

March

I'm not super happy with some aspects of this but I worked really hard on it. This is a character of mine that I didn't design but still cherish lots. Her name is Coralina or just Coral for short. You'll see her again soon.

April

Once again I could not find much for April, but luckily I remembered that I did a bunch of chalk stuff at a school event that month and this one is both relevant to my blog and one of my favorites. I did a good ring too but that's in a different image.

May

This was something I designed as a contest entry that I don't believe I won so as far as I know it's my character now. I think the spots on the tail clash with the gradient but oh well.

June

There were a lot of good options for this month since I got back into commissions and art trades, but there's something about this one that I especially like. It's not fancy or anything but it showcases my style well.

July

Artfight season! Surprisingly this wasn't an attack but rather a character I made specifically for Artfight. They're based off of Miracle Musical's album Hawaii: Part II. I'm really proud of the design but I haven't really done anything with him since besides a couple drawings.

August

Here she is again! I used this image a lot to show an example of my work when offering art trades. I think I made it with that in mind? It's hard to remember. But anyway, here she is again! Plus one of my sonas, Pop Rocks!! I love her to bits. I originally made her as an adoptable that I traded to someone else, but I regretted it later and luckily my friend got her back for me! I have so many drawings of that little goofball but this is my favorite.

September

There are absolutely parts of this that suck balls but there are parts that I really like too. And I remember enjoying drawing it. This was for an art trade.

October

During this time I made matching bust drawings of all the 10 main characters from my comic. (calling it a comic is a bit of a stretch, I only have 2 chapters drawn and it's been well over a year (maybe two?) since I've touched those pages) Although I've made next to no progress on actual pages, I draw the characters often and love them with all my heart. I especially like how this one turned out.

November

At the time of drawing this I hadn't practiced drawing ferals in ages, so I was very worried about the result, but it turned out better than I could have imagined! This was another art trade, and I love the character design so much!!

December

And now we're here! I've been doing more scenes recently with my fanart, but I just love how Sonic turned out in this one so I had to include it. It almost doesn't look like my art, though the hands give it away. At first I wasn't impressed with how Shadow was looking but it's grown on me. ❤️🖤

[splatcat64]

Oooh here we go, I finally worked up the courage to post some stuff about one of my Blands ocs!!

This is Tusk! They've existed for years, but I finally worked up the motivation to draw them a ref sheet that wasn't from like, 2021. Out of my handful of Borderlands ocs, they're my only Tales one, but GOD do I adore them. They have miles of lore, and it's still on going with a story/au that my friend @doglintime made, and that we're currently writing along. They're a bigger/plus sized guy, Non-Binary [genderfluid], and Bisexual.

We have SOOO much lore down for this bad boy. They run around with The Group in tales, not really interacting with many canon characters outside of the game, at least during the story.

They maaaay be shipped with Rhys [shh], but they've got pretty strong bonds with everyone in the group.

They're the owner of two skags, Jackwes and Skewer. I've posted Jackwes here already, and I'll post Skewer sometime soon, but they LOVE their skags to death. Being a huge expert [nerd] about wildlife is basically their whole deal, but I could go on and on about that. They were born on Pandora, yet despite that, they're actually a pretty nice and moral dude. [Give or take being an ass more often than not]

Despite their attitude sometimes, Tusk really does care deeply about their friends. He'd go to the moon and back for all of them.

But, enough incoherent nonsense for one post. Here's some old & relatively new sketches of him. They're totally living proof that I'm 100% normal about this game. I'll probably be posting little doodles of funny things in their little adventures with the others soon after artfight. If anyone has any questions about them too, I'll for sure answer them! If Borderlands Tumblr still fucks with ocs.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

⬇Older art, plus Tusk-ponified

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.

[windydrawallday]

You know what? I'll announce what I was meant to say for almost a week! I'll write this on the go so, it will probably be long:

Do you see all of that in those two pics? Those are ALL TF WIPs I hoarded between other dozens since 2022 (plus some almost finished and/or on the pipeline of being finished).

Well, having them constantly lingering in my present 2024 folder made it easy to grab and work on them on an almost daily-weekly basis...

... but it pushed aside my other personal projects that ended up in a secondary WIP folder that I barely touched since I fell into this robot hell.

Not a bad thing! This was fun, but after this year's mixture of creative exhaustion I'm facing, I want to slow down a bit my focus on TF art.

I will still work on the WIPs related to my pals @sug4r-melon , @goobygnarp, and @lovestruckmousey 's designs for our shared TF AUs.

(And probably some low-key simple projects like doing tiny vehicle mode icons of the TFA cast like how I did with the RB cast for a zine. I was thinking too about making plush-toy icons of my favs because I can).

(I already set up a sideblog to save a great part of my TF art, especially the Lockdown/Prowl ones but for now, I'll leave it all private. I won't purge my fanart but I prefer to be safe).

But the rest? If it's not in the final stage and/or scheduled already (I have one dated since the past year to be posted in September so, that still stands) the WIP/artwork will be canned on a folder apart until I can have the motivation to work again on them.

The other reason for this slowdown is... I'm currently in two Zines. One for TFs (that I feel super honored to be part of) and another with OCs.

I had quite a bumpy ride at the beginning of this year, trying to postulate to zines not centered around TFs because I really want to branch my art and expose my original stuff so...

Nailing that OC zine feels like a big VICTORY! And I hope to expand more because gosh darn: no one but ME can draw my OCs!

And I miss my critters... I didn't participate in Artfight because of zero updated refs. I really want to change that next year!

Yup... a long read. But I hope my point is understandable and I'm not sounding like a quitter or something sjfhdkjshfsdjfh

Thanks for the patience and know if any of ya still enjoy my TF work: there's quite a bulk on the #ifellinrobothellagain tag x) Many didn't get as much traction on its day so, they will always be there to poke and revisit 💖

And is not like you'll never see certain faces again: for me, nothing is lost... just transforms and takes new shapes and names.

[artfightdramaconfessions]

unimportant rant i need to get off my chest and throw to the void bc i think my friends are tired of hearing me complain lol but i think the thing about the tag search that gets me is how disheartening it is to even FIND other people's characters within a certain tag now. i do understand where its good in the sense that any "new" ocs wouldve automatically been first with a chronological search burying others that have been there for years, but im looking in a specific fandom tag and ill have to refresh the page 2-3 times sometimes just to get a new set of characters. which i know there is a lot of ocs in the tag too its not one with like 5 people it just feels incredibly limiting? like its just rng at this point and i have to wonder how many cool characters are being buried underneath the ones ive seen 5 times in the last 7 refreshes. and (admittedly my very selfish) other thought is wondering will anyone see my characters either. (i dont think so highly of myself that im assuming if someone sees my ocs theyll draw them, but it feels like there isnt even really a chance anymore for that to happen) literally a test of patience now also it kinda sucks for those of us that dont use the discord or have a social following or something. i know the easy answer to this problem ill be told is just "apply to hitlists" or "talk in the discord" but i dont want to have to play a social game and navigate a place people are always complaining about for good reason or do basically oc job applications (and i dont think anyone should HAVE TO) just to have their ocs found on the actual website. that they submit them to. and tag to be found. for people to be able to find and view and draw. i do intend to attack people first (and i dont expect revenges back or anything like that, i know that the point of artfight is to have fun drawing other peoples characters and i absolutely will even if i get 0 art in return) but thats not the point. it just feels bad you have to jump through hoops to even find other characters to have fun drawing and giving people art in the first place. straight up miserable to get to the fun part at this point. not gonna let it ruin it for me but i get frustrated every time i go looking to find ocs i want to draw (and im always proved right because i keep finding new ocs when i check on different days so im sure im still missing more)

.

[rhapsoddity]

I want to artfight so bad but I’m such a beginner artist do u have any tips?? Should I just do it?? :0

Just go for it!

My main advice is don't expect art from ppl, that's the quickest way to become bitter at artfight. Just try and have fun and not worry about it skill level, just vibe drawing ppls characters!

I've been doing artfight for eight years now and tbh it's helped me improve my art by looking at so many more character designs

[fadebolt]

I've seen some people posting their attacks collection from this year, so here's mine:

With the lovely targets being:

1. meowynn

2. aquaticnebulae

3. soul-sylver

4. sb-is-a-thing

5. saintwyrm

6. bindibites

7. phishtoast

8. pansear-doodles

9. toiletpapericecream

Decided not to ping them here, since I already did it once when I posted the attacks individually. But these are their blog names, and they're cool people with cool art - so feel free to look through their stuff!

This was an awesome first year of Artfight! Huge thanks to everyone who sent me their creations involving my powerswap scugs, I adore them all quite a lot! And thanks for all the wonderful comments and reactions to my attacks as well!

You guys were wonderful, and I hope I'll get to see you next year as well! :)

(Bonus ramblings about AF thoughts below cut. Be warned, they do be lengthy)

So when I was starting out with the site, I looked around on the internet to see what people had to say (out of curiosity, and to maybe find something helpful). And apparently, there are a bunch of entitled users that complain if the art you send them isn't "high quality" enough, or if you don't send a revenge for their attacks.

And I'm just sitting here, and wondering which Artfight did these people show up to, cus I've frankly never seen a person like that. Everyone was super sweet and appreciative when I attacked them, and I received zero scorn from attackers I didn't revenge. Perhaps it's something that happens only outside the Rain World community?

Anyhow, I ended this year with a solid 9/5, which might seem like rookie numbers for many, which... is actually kind of fair, considering that I am technically a rookie.

I really didn't expect to get attacked at all, considering that my refs were slightly rushed, and not particularly polished (something I'll hopefully get around to addressing in the meantime). Though I did have hopes that sharing my profile on Tumblr, and some Discord servers might help.

Funny thing is, I don't think any of those 5 people came from there, as they haven't interacted with me on Tumblr yet, and they haven't joined the servers that I was in. There's no way for me to confirm this, but they probably found me while browsing through the AF website itself, which is extremely flattering (especially since I initially thought that folks usually just attack their friends... turns out that ain't quite the case).

But this also proves that my theory about people liking powerswap Slugcats was actually correct! Which is great, cus they're a blast to create, and hopefully by next year, I'll get to have the other half of the cast (name ideas are 'Lightcat', 'The Crusader', 'The Solitary' 'The Augmented' and 'The Gambler', but it's all subject to change).

There were also some of my OCs which showed up in my attacks - I'm planning on adding them in, too. (So if you like necromancers, wizards that copy the spells of others, and weird fanchildren of niche ships, then I got some wonderful news for you!)

Speaking of my attacks, I definitely didn't draw nearly as much as I did for Art Month. That's because I decided it would be better to take things a bit slower, to have more fun, and avoid burnout. As I would rather send over a few attacks that I enjoyed, than to rapidly rush out like 60, to hit as many people as possible.

Sure, it'll mean that I won't get to attack as many people, but I still think it's worth it, as I get to enjoy myself more, while my target gets a better piece.

I was slightly concerned that a lot of people would find it insulting that I used a randomizer to pick targets, but nobody seemed to mind, which is great. After all, there were no bad intentions on my part, I just simply had too many people I considered worthy of being attacked, and I needed some outside help to combat my indecisiveness. There's simply too many great artists in this community!

My list consisted of SC members that stayed (I was grateful for their efforts to keep the place alive, and I felt this would be a great way to thank them), some other people from the fandom that I liked, and my attackers, who were given a multiplier of 5 to their chances, cus yeah xd

There were over 30 people there, so it's safe to say that I didn't get to most of them. I think next year, I'll give them increased chances too, and hopefully, I get around to most of 'em. (Unless I'll have to work on my thesis in July... I don't quite remember when that's going to happen. Hopefully, that won't be the case, and I'll have a bunch of free time, like this year, and I'll be able to do more than 9 attacks then. Fingers crossed)

So that's pretty much all I wanted to say here. I'm not sure if I should post any updates or uploads I do to my characters there btw. I suppose we'll see.

But the event was real fun, and I'm looking forward to experiencing it again!

[wabe3]

Quick doodles of my little lesbians cause I am tired but wanted to draw them cause I’ve been thinking about them a lot, once I have their story more coherent I will share, I will share currently it is very StarTrack inspired (even though I have never seen StarTrack) and I have quite a few more characters I have bouncing around in my head and I wanna try and have them all designed before artfight this year :D

Their ref sheet for more context on their designs (I will add cosmics braids are longer now + I actually have some lore ideas behind them as well)

Also yes their names are so cliche, IM REALLY BAD AT COMING UP WITH NAMES OK

[stellastra-scribbles]

PINNED POST - about me~

Made: Sept. 12, 2024

Updated: Dec. 25, 2024

IMPORTANT LINKS

Twitter: k_stellastra (retired account/not posting there anymore)

Bluesky: stellastra (I post sketches + WIPs here!)

Reddit: stellastra

Toyhouse (for OC info): stellastra

Artfight: stellastra

Hi, hello! You can call me Stellastra. This is my art blog I made in September 2024, but I've been on tumblr since 2014 on my personal blog.

To tell you a bit about me: I like to draw, play video games, take photos, work out, and collect historical fashion books.

I'm admittedly a fairly shy and private person, so my posts will almost strictly be related to art and/or my OCs. However, feel free to send me a message, whether it's about me, my art, my OCs, or if you just wanted to drop in and say hello. If you send me an ask about my OC, I might accompany the answer with a drawing!

All I ask is for some basic cordiality if I don't know you.

Some Ground Rules:

I make art based on mature games/genres. My content is intended for an adult audience. I do not interact with minors (people under 18 years old).

Reposting my art off-site is fine, so long as I'm credited/it links back to me. For example, if I drew you something and you want to add it in your OC's reference compilation on Toyhouse or wherever, that's fine. Something as simple as "art by stellastra [insert link to my blog]" is all I ask for.

I can't believe I have to say this, but just be a decent human being. It's not that hard. I will not engage in petty discourse openly nor in DMs.

I am not doing commissions. I am not offering them nor do I intend on doing so in the foreseeable future.

My favorite video games are:

The Elder Scrolls series (particularly Morrowind)

Guild Wars (both GW1 and GW2. GW1 is my childhood jam~)

Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (a D&D-like fantasy setting paired with the 19th century aesthetic? *chef's kiss*)

Fire Emblem series (especially Shadows of Valentia and Three Houses, crossing my fingers for a proper remake of the Jugdral games)

Halo series (Bungie-era, haven't played any 343 entry since 4)

Tomb Raider series (the Legend games are my childhood classics)

More random fun facts about me I'm willing to share (if you wanted to know for some reason):

I'm half-Filipina (Igorot, specifically Kalinga) and half-white (apparently of mostly British ancestry, according to a 23andMe test my dad did).

I was born and raised in the the southeast USA.

Unfortunately, I can only speak English (+ some rusty high school-level French). I want to learn Tagalog or Ilocano (my mom's native language) someday.

I have pet cats.

I can safely say that I really started drawing when I was around 10 years old, when I was doodling in the margins of my schoolwork in the fourth grade.

I love watching 'so bad, it's good' movies like The Room, Troll 2, Samurai Cop, Neil Breen movies, etc.

I have an unhealthy collection of historical fashion books. Most of my collection is 19th century European stuff, but I'm always looking for books of an earlier time or even non-European cultures.

If you're looking for any specific resource regarding historical clothing, feel free to shoot me a message and I can point you to some resources for reference material. Should you need something specific, I'm willing take a look in my collection for you. I JUST LOVE TALKING ABOUT HISTORICAL CLOTHING!!!

Well, with that out of the way, it's a pleasure to meet y'all~

[theygotlost]

I'm really sorry guys but i dont think I have any more artfight in me. i have been defeated. i just cant find any kind of motivation to work on more attacks and i feel dread thinking about it like it's some kind of job. this might be my last year participating because I've become so allergic to creating art for other people unless its under an incredibly specific and arbitrary set of circumstances. i love everyone's ocs so much they are so so cool and I really do wish i could draw them but its so hard to make myself do it and when i do its hard to enjoy the process.

this is combined with the fact that lately ive just been feeling kinda unspired and I havent been feeling great about my art as a whole for the past like 2 months at least. I feel like i've stagnated again and i need to change how I do things like I did last year but now that I already did that big overhaul and experimentation with my style im out of ideas for how to change it and i feel like im stuck.

idk maybe i will be able to make a few more attacks before the month is out if the mood so strikes me but I can't promise anything. i just feel frustrated with myself and it sucks. i do have some other ideas for fanart I kind of want to draw but i would feel bad for drawing anything not artfight related during july cause it feels like I'm disrespecting and/or ignoring the other participants when i could be using that time to draw for them WHICH I REALIZE IS STUPID AND FAKE AND NOT TRUE AT ALL AND NOT A HEALTHY MINDSET TO HAVE BUT THATS JUST HOW IT FEELS !!!!!

wahtever this all probably stupid as hell i hate feeling this way. i gotta take a break or change or die