#my human art style has changed drastically since I last drew most of them so it’s been a struggle

[chisatowo]

Lil pose practice thing I started that I’m not gonna finish

[beatcroc]

a year!!! as of today i have now been drawing these funny little pizza freaks, to the exclusion of almost everything else, for!!! an entire year!!! i wanted to do a nice group shot/lineup of everybody to compare to when i first started trying to draw them because oh boy were they bad. i never even posted most of them anywhere because they were so bad. but im posting them here, now, to see how everything's changed/evolved.

this is probably the hardest time i've ever had trying to figure out how to work with a style, but we got there eventually; i'm pretty happy with the handle i've got on everybody now...dont let ur memes be dreams. lots of unimportant journaling and idle thoughts abt it below.

older pics

the first one is the VERY first time i drew them, before i thought i was going to actually have any interest in drawing them [lmao]; it was just the one isolated image, for my friendserver, to illustrate the funney message, so there was no attempt to make it Good or actually understand anything going on w/ the designs or style.

second is the original run of practices sketches to start trying to figure them out for real; done after i started having ideas for the comics and such and realized oh god maybe i am actually gonna draw fanart for this. [again, lol, and lmao.]

third one is the first pt art thing i posted on here. there were a couple weeks of sprite studies between this one and the previous image. the one on the top right wasn't part of that post i just threw it on as space filler; i'd intended to shift to doing Sprite Redraws But Stylized to explore tings more, but that was the only one i did. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

individual characters

peppino: by far the hardest dear god. bro what ARE your shapes how DOES your face work. jesus christ. everything i have trouble with this style for, peppino has it in excess. i draw in polygons! i need consistency! and that is the last thing this kind of style is concerned with. they are made of squarshy clay and i do not understand how to mold them. i was really hoping trying to learn this game's style would GIVE me that kind of flexibility for fun exaggerated facial expression but i don't think much came of it in the end 😔. anyway on the bright side all this means once i got peppino figured out a little bit everybody else clicked way easier.

fake peppino: honestly i never did anything with him on purpose except for how his eyes work + the perma-smile thing. i figured ok hes supposed to look weird and off model so whatever happens with him happens. and it did. and it kept happening. it is still, in fact, happening.

noise/ette: somehow, for every bit that peppino was the least natural thing i've ever tried, these two worked pretty much right off the bat. i still don't understand it, seeing as pretty much all the things at play for peppino are also at work for them. i think the new sketches are actually a little worse than older ones but not enough that i care.

gustavo: really funny bc i drew him on model twice and just went 'okay, cool nice, easy, um. he doesn't have any fucking legs?' fortunately he was the only one i had a strong idea for how to stylize him [square] and it worked exactly as i was hoping so wahoo.

brick: is an animal and therefore 5000x easier and more natural for me to draw/stylize than anything else in the cast. that is Just a rat bro. i can draw a rat.

gerome: i think the funniest one here. the most drastic and least necessary change imo. i was gonna have him be really small at first, like smaller than the noises, but then i just... didn't. he's just peppino-sized now. also i gave him like. actual human facial structure, which is funny bc in most cases i'd do anything to avoid, but it works well for his being A Rock to give him some angles and definition like that+ to differentiate his vibe from the rest of the cast who are all very squishy. also since he is essentially Just A Head it's good to emphasize that too ig.

john: i only drew john a couple times but he gets to be here because i like him. and because most of the stuff i applied to gerome was readily applicable to john, though i did try to keep him a little more uncanny because he is a Huge And Lanky Freak. i hate that he is barefoot btw but idk how to make his color balance look right with shoes.

pizzahead: i did not want to put him on here honestly but i Have drawn him a handful of times and more importantly i didn't know what i was gonna do with john's pose if i didn't have him there to be glared at. the only thing that's different with him is giving him wider-bottomed pants, which i got from when i tried to draw these guys in clone high style [i never posted that one either][i will eventually]

snick: he gets to be here because 1. he's like 6 lines 2. i like him and 3. ive scribbled him a few times offhand and it went pretty well

misc

there are some guys missing because those are guys i didn't draw enough [or at all] to have gotten comfortable with them. sorry

i would have Liked to shade these but for the time being i have accepted that my grasp of light/shadow has decayed to the point im not going to be happy with anything i try there, so For Now i am working on my presentation with flats i guess. gerome has a shadow only because he's shaded like that ingame and looks naked without it

anyway if you are still reading [hi?] i get to shamelessly plug now. i'm over the hill of my pizza run now, and while i still have plenty of things i want to make here, most of the bigger more in-depth ones have passed. pizza tower was the first thing in THREE YEARS to get me out of my oc groove to doing fanart, and once i am done with my ideas here i will be going right back to it. if you like my art or how i write characters/interactions you should check out my oc/webcomic blog @jamverse . i can't promise people who like pizza stuff will be terribly into my designs, but i can guarantee i treat my guys with the exact same sort of tone i handle the pt guys with. and hell, i've mentioned it a few times before, but like 70% of my characterization for fake pep is just copied off one of my characters, so if u are going to miss him... he will still be there in spirit >;p

and if you dont care about any of that and are still reading thank you anyway. actually making these comics + seeing how shockingly well-received they've been has done a lot for my confidence, and for seeing that my kind of stuff IS something people enjoy :')

[jacqthehermit]

Art Summary and Art vs Artist 2022

2022 Art Ramblings and Other Shenanigans:

A.) I am not speed

Whenever artists wanna try something new to improve their art, we tend to make big drastic changes right away. This can be effective for others but not for everyone. As you can see, my art style is still the same as last year with minimal tweaks.

I decided that if I'm gonna make improvements, I'm gonna do it gradually instead of incorporating them all at once. This can be a big help in maintaining consistency. If the changes were small, we can easily remember and apply them on our next artwork.

“So is it effective? Did your art improve?”

It’s barely noticeable but yes it did. I like the direction in which my art progress is currently going. I am at the point where I actually like my finished work more than my sketch. You know that meme where artists like their sketch more than their finished work bec it looks better? I don’t feel like that anymore and that surely tells something haha.

B.) I failed successfully

Last year, I made a pseudo new years' resolution where I said "I hope I can draw my ships, anime and original stuff" since I mostly did Genshin. Well, I successfully drew my ships, anime and original stuff this year HOWEVER I made less videos lol.

I tried doing 1-2 artworks in between videos but sometimes the artwork took me longer to finish so I wasn't able to make video content afterwards. Another thing was the fact that I sorta dedicated some months tryna help save our country but in the end we failed miserably... Anyways! Let's not talk about that here.

Even though I made less videos, I managed to make 2 impactful videos which contributed a lot to my channel's growth this year. One of them is now my most viewed video. 

C.) I wanna delete everything

Checking other artists' IG accounts makes me want to turn my account into an art only account. But then again I know I'll be having the urge to shitpost and post irl stuff every now and then so as much as I wanted to be one of those mysterious artists who only post/talk about their art, I can't lmao. 

I feel like there's a lot of pressure on the artists who only post art related stuff bec people will always be expecting you to post art or even if they don't, you yourself might think they expect you to. And this kinda contributes to being burnt out somehow. 

Whenever I am on the verge of deleting everything (except art) I remind myself that it's fine even if I ain't one of those cool artists accounts. I am human and I do other human activities too besides drawing. It's like taking a breather I guess. 

"Make 2 accounts, one art and one personal"

Not everyone has the capacity to manage 2 accounts in one platform when you’re already managing other accounts on other platforms. Even if you did, most people who followed you for your art won't give a fuck about your personal one which kinda defeats the purpose haha. 

I know this is not applicable to all artists, especially the professionals/veterans. But for hobbyists like me, maybe you should consider this. I am not forcing you to post personal stuff bec I know not everyone likes that. I'm just saying that it's important to emphasize every once in a while to your audience that you are human too and not just an art producing machine. 

D.) I miss time traveling

Long time ago, during my Deviantart days, I used to type a bunch of shit in the description box of my artworks. Then came the Tumblr era where I continued to blog my heart out. When these platforms "died" and Twitter and IG migration happened, I slowly stopped doing this without me noticing it. 

I still say things on Twitter but since there's a limit and making threads is a pain in the ass, I ain't as expressive as before. And these platforms (Twitter and IG) made me adapt to its "culture" of short tweets/captions or sometimes nothing at all, just pictures. Which was great! I mean not everyone needs to know your entire business on the interweb right lol. 

But as time passed by, I began to realize that I love backreading (I dunno if this is the right term) whatever shit I used to talk about in the past. It's actually amusing no matter how cringe, happy or lonely it was. However, since transferring to Twt and IG, I can no longer go back to a certain period in my life to reminisce what the hell I was thinking, doing and feeling that time because I got nothing to backread and that made me kinda sad?

Even though I am still bad with words, I am trying my best to resurrect my old self here in IG (just less cringe and more careful this time). Don’t worry I am not going to make long posts everyday lmao.

"Nobody's gonna read all that"

True. HOWEVER my future self would and I think that's more important. It's the same as writing in your diary, you write for yourself first and foremost.

“Why don’t you just go back to Tumblr to blog”

My time on Tumblr has passed. Whatever good or bad memories I have there, I just wanna keep them as they are and no longer add some haha. I still love the platform and post my artworks there tho.

Conclusion:

Art progress and channel growth did great this year. Tho I fell short in terms of quantity of my video content, the quality compensated. I am not gonna make any pseudo new year’s resolutions this year. All I can say is I have a lot of ideas and I hope I can execute them.

Before I end this, I just wanna say hi to my future self. I know you’re reading this again for the nth time. Maybe you’re feeling sentimental or just bored as usual haha. Nevertheless I hope you’re doing well.

Happy New Year everyone! Stay safe and see you on my next video~

Jacq out.

P.S. Fuck AI generated images. 

[the-gal-in-the-greenblue-armor]

So apparently it’s Shaman King’s 20th anniversary. Which means I’ve been thinking about the series for several days and need to type out my thoughts about it otherwise I’m going to be stuck in this brain hole for the next 2 weeks until another series briefly distracts me.

I’m going to throw this under a “read more” and be warned that I may touch on some mild to slightly spicy spoilers.

I just want to start this short essay off by stating that Shaman King is one of my all time favourite manga series. It was one of the first 4kids anime I watched on Saturday mornings when I was like...8 and was the second manga series I rediscovered when I was 13 (the first was One Piece) and the first series I finished (sort off since the series has 2 endings but I’ll cover that later). It’s one of the few manga series where I periodically reread from start to finish every few years and whenever I finish reading it think “Man, I love this”. 

Is the series perfect? No, there are some obvious flaws in the mangaka’s design of one of the main characters (who’s African-American) and the Patch Tribe (a fictional North American Indigenous Tribe that’s hella VITAL to the plot). The characters themselves are good multi-dimensional beings, but how they’re drawn would definitely not have flown had the series been released in modern day. 

However, the series has a lot going for it in terms of its characters and the reoccurring themes in the narrative. So let’s dive in shall we?

The Main Characters:

1. Asakura Yoh is the main protagonist of the series. Like many shounen protagonists, his dream is to essentially become the greatest “x” ever. In this series that title is the “Shaman King”, who is basically a god-like figure who has beaten all the other “world’s greatest” shamans in this massive tournament that takes place once every 500 years. However, our boy Yoh deviates from other shounen protagonists because his initial motivation is that he’s lazy and figures out that if he becomes the Shaman King, he won’t have to work and can just “chill out” for the rest of his life. His later motivation comes into play when he sees all the crazy folks fighting in the tournament and thinks “yikes, probably shouldn’t let these people be given this ultimate cosmic power”. 

What’s most interesting about this protagonist is while he is undoubtedly a “good” person, he seems to fall under the category of “neutral”. Despite his grand ambition, he wouldn’t be considered an “ambitious” person. Heck, when he meets someone that has a better reason for becoming the Shaman King he almost quits on the spot. He’s content to just go with the flow and see where it spits him out in life. Practically nothing fazes him and his easy-going nature unnerves his uptight allies and foes. However his greatest strength is his single core belief that “anyone who can see spirits can’t be all bad” and that philosophy allows him to befriend pretty much every character in the series, “good” and “bad”.

2. Kyoyama Anna is Yoh’s fiance and one of my all time favourite female characters. She would sell you for a corn chip and stab you without warning. She’s tough and straightforward and terrifies every character who meets her. Yoh promised her that if he becomes Shaman King she’ll be taken care of for the rest of her life and dammit she’s wants that good life. So she acts like his coach and puts him through her “torture training” because if it were up to him he would nap all day. Despite her clear personality differences with Yoh, they genuinely love each other and trust and respect each other. There’s no drama between them and I live for that good relationship goals.

(Note, the next few characters are going to have shorter descriptions because spoilers and I can’t NOT talk about them because I love them) 

3. Oyamada Manta is Yoh’s best friend. He can see spirits but isn’t a Shaman. He’s a nerd that freaks out pretty easily but as he becomes closer with Yoh, he becomes braver. He’s kind of used for exposition since he’s not from a shaman family or background. Probably cannot legally say fuck.

4. Tao Ren: antagonist turned protagonist. Goes through some incredible character development and redemption without completely compromising the core of his character. Acts somewhat as Yoh’s rival. Arrogant and hot-headed with a snarky attitude. Would order a single black coffee with a car full of kids at a McDonald’s drive through.

5. Horohoro Usui: lovable idiot but also hecking strong and goes from 0 to 100 real quick if you fuck with him. From the Ainu tribe (Northern Japanese Indigenous Tribe). Loves nature and snowboarding. 

6. Lyserg Diethel: a relatively level-headed British boy who is out for revenge against the guy who killed his parents. Definitely a “looks like a cinnamon bun but will actually kill you”. Has a conflicting friendship with Yoh as their personal philosophies don’t match up at all. 

7. Chocolove McDonald: an African American shaman. As previously stated, his character design didn’t really age well. The mangaka drew him with big lips and a big nose. In the North American manga, he’s somewhat censored (they downplayed the lip thing but erasing the lines between his lips and the rest of his face. Looks a little bit better but still a bit yikes). Initially introduced as a comic relief character but once you get into his backstory and as the story progresses, he’s a pretty grounded character who’s just trying to make up for the awful stuff he’s done. Out of the 5 main male characters, he’s formally stated to be the strongest and most well-balanced out of all of them. He’s a character that I love more with every reread.

Main antagonists:

Hao: Introduced once the Shaman Fight starts. A bit sadistic and playful. Has reincarnated himself twice trying to become the Shaman King. Has killed tons of characters without remorse. Doesn’t really care about anyone and wants to kill off humanity because he hates humans. 

The X-Laws: an extremist group formed with the sole goal of taking down Hao. To them, justice is absolute. They don’t believe in second chances or redemption. Their goal is for their leader to become Shaman King, kill Hao, and purge the world of “evil”. The main protagonists don’t like this group AT ALL.

Reoccurring themes:

Consequences: One of my favourite things about this manga is that every action has a consequence and no character is safe. Character was redeemed? Too bad, their past is coming for them and doesn’t care that they’re a good guy now. Got revenge on another group? Well that other group is coming for you to get revenge for your revenge. As Yoh states: Violence only brings about more violence. 

Forgiveness: this series is big on characters learning to forgive themselves for what they’ve done or forgiving others for not living up to their expectations. Forgiveness plays a large role in almost every character’s development. 

Mortality: In a series about ghosts and death, this theme was inevitable. What is interesting is that at the end game of the series, the main characters mourn the fact that they’ve become desensitized to the casual violence of their new lives and that they can continue to fight even after watching their friend be brutally murdered in front of them without pausing to take it in. 

Other cool things:

Shaman King has two endings: the original ending and the true ending. The original ending is a cliffhanger for when the magazine that was publishing it went under and the mangaka had to quickly wrap up the series because he wasn’t sure if he’d get the chance to actually finish it. The true ending was when another publishing company picked up the series a few years later, which allowed the creator to publish the last 15-ish chapters and write the intended ending he’d been working on.

There are 2 versions of the series: the original and the redraw. The original version treats readers to the manga’s visual transformation from beginning to end. The style of chapter 1 is drastically different from that of the last chapter. This is the version you’d find in the North America releases. The second version is the redraw. The mangaka redrew the entire series in his polished art style from start to finish, to my knowledge little was changed plot wise.

This essay kind of went a bit all over the place but the bottom line is that I love this series. I love its weird integration of philosophy and religion from around the world. I love it’s visual transformation. I love that the characters are flawed and can’t be truly placed in the traditional shounen character tropes. I love that the female characters aren’t over-sexualized. I love that the series blurs the line between what’s good and bad. And I love how the plot unfolds and keeps me coming back to reread it and fall in love all over again.

I love Shaman King.