#rambles from neko

[nekonicole]

Habby Birf-tay Dr. Habit!

(there would've been a drawing or a little writing snippet or smthn, but I couldn't focus for the absolute LIFE of me yesterday & today, so that's probably just gonna come later)

[asmolbirb]

i’ve gotta admit, i was skeptical when picking up Death in the Spires since it’s not quite Charles’ usual fare, but that’ll teach me to doubt the queen !! holy SHIT i am having a full on implosion in the bar right now

[nekojaf]

Mm. It's probably a bad sign if my body won't let me be productive until I drink a Cherry Cola.

[larz-barz]

i’ve unlocked a new obsession

muicat:3

[grif-hawaiian-rolls]

The urge to make and share more oc content bc i think they deserve the attention and validation vs trying to actually talk about them and explain them enough in a way that makes other people interested in them when there are canon characters that you can just throw out to the masses

Fight fight fight fight

[moonsinkfoxgirl]

browsing my 2016 tumblr dash from long before I joined and resisting the urge to like mutuals' 0 notes posts so as to not terrorize them with visions of the past

[kittykatzvillage]

They're staring at each other

[ink-going-insane]

"why did you get into neko atsume?" aphmau.

"why did you get into mystic messenger?" aphmau.

"why did you get into okage shadow king?" aphmau.

"what was part of the reason you got into kingdom hearts?" aphmau.

"why are you trying to get into final fantasy?" aphmau.

conclusion: aphmau somehow led to me getting a bunch of different obsessions lol

[neko265]

Clip Studio is on Sale

so is the upgrade price is you already own version 2 and want to upgrade to v3 :D

(so, potential hack with upgrading? If you get the upgrade with GOLD it charges you in yen and the exchange rate to yen is great right now)

[nekonicole]

This was all (besides the Leonin and Paige-) old sketchwork for the old birthday drawing I wanted to make for Habit! Some of it was a little more melancholic, while others were funny, but I'm still pretty sad that I never actually got anything done for it.

The first drawing here is actually in reference to that one post from nice/naughty cats of the week at this one place; "Felix - He knows what he did"

The Leonin was my first iteration of a design for Boris in this big, random DnD idea I got (which I do have more random doodles for; I might post those later or smthn)

And the last one is based off that quote from Arin Hanson - "That reminds me of a dream I had where I was kissing y-

...

A girl."

And finally, we have the (unfortunately very rushed) drawing of Paige and Poppy that I would have submitted for the 5th anniversary zine if I had actually finished it in time and been able to send it in in the first place. Either way, I think it's a goofy little composition that really shows off this stupid kid's feral-ness, and I feel like, in some way - somehow, this game really helped me. Besides scaring/guilting me into taking better care of my teeth, I think there's a lesson to be learned from it; a lot of lessons. About breaking the cycle of abuse, about finding healthy ways to deal with trauma, about the little things that you might not've thought were important but meant the world for someone else, and this game was also one of the many kickers that point out my painfully obvious soft-spot for Tragic Characters and my "I-can-fix-them-itus" - fatal with no cure™️

But in all seriousness, this silly little indie game about making people smile made me feel such a hurricane of emotions for a character that probably also gave me a new lasting fear of dentists.

Thank you, LimboLane, for this masterpiece of a game and the death-grip it has taken over my brain and heart.

(2/2)

HAPPY (late-) ANNIVERSARY!!!

Guess who hasn't been able to post anything for the past month-ish! ME!

Anyways, now that I can, I wanna share some of the doodles I've made for this wonderful game and its community!

To start off, we have the two more "collective" photos; just a big overview of all this... whatever that I've made over time

This is Poppy Thorns! My design for the Flower Kid! They're aro/ace, selectively mute, and despite being a chronic do-gooder, they can be very sassy and smug when they want to

Now for the feral child; Paige Raskals! They're also mute, just... A little different? They won't talk, but they will growl and try to bite at anyone that gets too close. Also, they have an opossum that they just sorta picked up one day named Apple Slices

Here we've got my attempts at figuring out a design for Wallus! And also a drawing of Kamal and an opossum- but he was pretty fun to mess around with, figuring out how I wanted his hair to look; although actually trying to draw the dreads was a pain in my side, all because "the urge to make his hair look like a mop is strong..."

I had actually initially considered making it really puffy like Gerry's hair, but it didn't really look right. Also, I imagine that he'd always keep a pack of gum and a pocketbook for learning French with him.

(1/2)

[cutabello]

y'know, like rawr XD

[larz-barz]

lil newsflash

milo is permanently a neko now, it’s no longer just an au

now human milo is an au lol

ima go figure out a way to explain why she hasn’t been a neko for the whole “Love Story” series

ooo

figured smth out

hehe

brb gonna go continue writing chapter 6

mrrp

-Larz❤️

ppl who’d probably wanna know this new development: @muichirothehashira (don’t edit the tanjmilo stories for this pls, her status as a neko spirit isn’t necessary it just gives more depth to the reason her uncle hates her tbh, they can just be human milo au❤️) @muichinno @sakurasunkiss @cloudymistedskies @tokito-dulya20

[threadmonster]

The bad part about returning to work is (luckily) not that I have no energy after the day, it's that I now have too much time to think about projects and not enough time to complete projects (⁠─⁠.⁠─⁠|⁠|⁠）

The backlog has gotten longer already.

[shitposting-fox]

Personal head cannon: the reason Okarun gets depressed in his yokai form is due to the lingering effects of Turbo-granny and the location-bound spirit. Spoilers for the manga will be under the cut!

This is due to a few things:

1. The backstory of the tunnel, yokai, and spirit

2. "Dandadan" as a word's potential meaning (major manga spoilers at that point!)

First, the spirits. We've already seen with Momo her ability to view the past of a yokai (Arco Silky) and we know Seiko was aware of the ongoing history behind the tunnel both Turbo-granny and the location-bound spirit where in.

With a combination of the curse, it's not a far stretch that the lingering emotions from the deceased may be having a subtle effect on Okarun.

While it's not been very overt, we've seen how the origin of a yokai is important to how they act. Those who are more vengeful will be more likely to attack whereas those who are from grief may try to protect (albeit a violent way).

While Turbo-granny is in the maneki-neko and her powers are in Okarun, there's a chance that the feelings that helped form those powers may have a subconscious effect on him. Hence, the general depression but extreme protectiveness.

Spoilers from the manga below!!

We saw him literally get on all fours like a guard dog, and push his body to the breaking point repeatedly. Going with the assumption the deceased are subconsciously effecting him, it makes more sense why the protectiveness is amped up too.

Many of the girls were probably desperate for someone to save them, anyone, and that urgency could translate into the need to protect the others (especially Momo) as a result.

The second reason I have this theory is because of the potential meaning of "dandadan"!

This one is a lot more flimsy so bear with me here. While I've already wanted for manga spoilers I'm gonna mention again MAJOR SPOILERS for the manga.

Alright so! Dandadan as a word is similar to だんだん or "dandan" which often translates to "gradually".

I don't know very much about Japanese wordplay besides a few from songs (Love Ka, song based on the Japanese word for frilled shark and the English word love), so I could be completely wrong in this guess. But I feel like the word could be an original creation for implying the gradual change of an individual due to surrounding yokai and spirits

Before I get into the Shinto rambling, I'll mention the big point that got me thinking this was the effects after Okarun lost his powers. He still excelled is a lot of sport areas and, while it could be attributed to him working out consistently, there's also a possibility he has some... Influence, let's say, from a certain yokai.

We haven't seen much of him yet after all of this, so it could be very wrong, but the way it was brought up seemed to imply a greater importance than just normal athleticism.

Now for the Shinto rambling!!

To keep it pretty short: the body plays a major role in Shinto. We've seen it with the golden balls (strong life force amped up by a yokai) plus the give and take of various yokai forms (physicality for Okarun, hair treatment for Aira).

Shinto itself has the body on a pretty high importance. Most Asian religions tend to have more focus on the body, weather it be on asceticism (bodily denial) or purity

Dandadan has shown a lot of Shinto aspects already, from the existence of Yokai and Kami to the various interacts people have with the world.

Since the body is important, it's not too far a stretch to assume the continued themes of religion and the body are going to continue through the rest of the series.

While it may not be as overt as Okarun attempting to get the rest of his genitalia back, it's still likely to appear as a major plot point.

Hence, the potential implications of "dandadan"

I could be remembering wrong, but I believe at one point Count Saint Germain even asked someone if they knew the meaning of the word, which implies it may be crucial to his current purpose in the story

We already know there's a large group of aliens who want to steal the yokai and Kami abilities so they can take over Earth and colonize more planets, and many are looking into ways of stealing them.

With the introduction of Kouki and people's powers being able to be stolen from a direct injury, we can reason that the current goal is for the aliens to find a way to get more people's powers to be then transfered to themselves.

If we go under the assumption dandadan is the gradual bleeding over of powers and/or merging of aura to where it allows a human to gain more supernatural powers they wouldn't have otherwise, it makes sense that Count Saint Germain and/or the invading aliens are attempting to find a way to utilize this ability

Of course this could be completely wrong, but it's been rotating in my brain for a while. Wanted to get it out there somewhere lol

[wayvchip]

cute dates with boyfriend!wayv

kun invites you over to his apartment to cook dinner and have a relaxing wine night. except maybe it wasn't that relaxing since you both turn it into a tipsy masterchef cooking competition. although you are quite intimidated by his cooking skills, you don't let that stop you from trying your best (which wasn't very good). kun, being the nicest guy ever, lets you win. the winner chooses the loser's punishment. you make him wear an embarrassing apron that says "kiss the cook but don't touch the buns" kun complies and prays the pictures you took of him on your phone never end up in yangyang's hands, or else he would never hear the end of it.

ten loves volunteering at the animal shelter, especially a shelter with lots of cats who need extra love and attention. you and ten spend the whole day playing with the cats, feeding them, cleaning out their cages, and brushing their fur. he almost wants to adopt yet another cat or two or three, but you gently remind him this isn't in real life neko atsume so he cannot collect all the cats in the world (unfortunately). ten's eyes soften when he sees you cuddling a senior kitty and he can't help but think to himself he wants to raise many cats with you in the future.

winwin would take you to the beach on a sunny day to enjoy the light breeze and salty air until the sun sets. you notice how he doesn't even try to hide the fact that he is checking you out. winwin compliments you endlessly and gives you one of his jackets to cover up because he hates the thought of other people staring at you. throughout the day, you help each other reapply sunscreen, and you giggle whenever he struggles to squeeze the tube that barely has any sunscreen left, because it sounds exactly like someone after they eat taco bell. during moments he thinks you aren't looking, winwin manages to find a pretty pearly white seashell among the billions of grains of sand and gives it to you.

xiaojun would invite you over to his place and you guys spend the whole time building legos and geeking out over the newest flower and plant lego sets. he starts sweating when your hand accidentally touches his hand while reaching for the same lego piece, even though you guys are literally dating. silly ahh boy. after you both finish building the set in one sitting, xiaojun makes you one of his famous oreo mug cakes, and he makes sure to lightly blow on the spoonful of batter to cool it down before feeding it to you and watching you eat it (he is so whipped for you)

hendery would take you to a hong kong style cafe. it's cozy and cute, and has lots of history behind how the shop came to be what it is today. you have trouble deciding what to order since you are unfamiliar with cantonese food but hendery excitedly explains each dish in detail just for you. once you decide what to get, hendery orders for you in cantonese, which makes you fall in love with him all over again. his eyes light up when you show interest in learning a few canto phrases and he feels his heart melt a little when you repeat after his words and ask if your pronounciation was okay.

yangyang loves going to the arcade section in the amusement park. the bright, colorful lights, silly circus music, and sound effects from the machines makes him feel like he's reliving his childhood again. yangyang tries to show off his claw machine skills because he wants to impress you. he literally tries so hard and finally wins a plushie for you after his like eleventh attempt. while yangyang is rambling on about how the "claw machine was rigged" and how "it wasn't a skill issue" on his part, you give him a quick kiss on the cheek, which makes him shut up immediately and start blushing furiously.

[purplealmonds]

Continuing to fire on all cylinders to make this Sky 🤝Mononoke collab a reality! 🐲⚖️🌊

Process GIFs and artist commentary below the cut. ⬇️

Left: Process GIF Middle: Just the background, cos I really like how it looks! Right: Illustration without the collab logo

And here are my notes on my inspirations and references. There's a lot of 'em, so instead of embedding relevant images one by one I put them in a callout sheet! For accessibility, I also included transcript (with bonus ramblings) below each sheet.

Ofuda circle modeled in Google Sketchup 2017, then lightly transformed in Photoshop to flare out. I tried my best to hand-draw these, but it the results came out really clunky and stiff. I figured if Mononoke shamelessly utilizes 3D in their show, I can too!

Krill and sky kid composition roughly inspired by the Ayakashi DVD cover illustration. On the surface level, the krill's black-and-red color scheme mirrored that of the bake-neko. Not to mention, in the world of Sky, the krill would be the best fit of a mononoke-like entity. The red background is also a nod to the red skies seen during a shard eruption in Sky.

Sky kid gesture based on the Festival Spin Dancer's Tier 3 poses and the Medicine Seller's iconic pose in the Zakishiwarahi episode as inspiration. This was the idea which springboarded this illustration into existence. I wanted to do my take of the Medicine Seller's pose, but in a more dynamic manner: rotate the pose to a profile position and set the ofuda in a diagonal, flared out arrangement.

Cape inspired by tenbin design featured in the 2024 Mononoke movie. This one's an interesting one - I wanted the cape to be a stiff material that doesn't "flap" when in flight - similar to the Aurora wing capes. It ended up looking like a kite of sorts, which I'm not entirely opposed to! I haven't had the opportunity to showcase the back view of this cape design, but I envision it having some mechanical aspects to it - the "wing" which are flared out in this illustration fold in like moth wings, and a little bell is attached to the "tail" part and it jingles a little whenever the sky kid flaps!

Bandana is based on the Scaredy Cadet's hairstyle from the Season of Assembly. Mask design utilizes the 2023 Days of Style mask and the Nintendo Pack mask as bases. Pretty self-explanatory. I basically went onto the Sky wiki and found the cosmetics that most closely matched what I was looking for. Then if necessary, I went to the Office space to do photoshoots to get the appropriate camera angles for them all.

Seasonal pendant inspired by the classic Medicine Seller's necklace and the eye motif featured in the 2024 Mononoke movie. Possibly the only one-to-one homage to the classic Medicine Seller design here, but his garnet necklace was too good of a match to the seasonal pendant. A side tangent: does the new Medicine Seller possess a necklace, let alone a mirror? So far all the shots of him don't feature it. Fascinating.

Dark dragon krill anatomy references a custom figurine crafted by @/escaflowne_n07 on Twitter. Until I found this, I was honestly at a loss finding reference for this - be it on the internet or during in-game photoshoots. The lighting on the krill in-game focused on its menacing silhouette rather than its structure. And not to mention, getting a close-up shot almost always set off the dark creature's aggro. I have no idea how this guy found the references to put this model together - well done!

Mantas, elder constellations, and sun dog references murals in the Cave of Prophecy. Krill aside, the overall illustration was leaning a little too much towards Mononoke so I tried finding opportunities to insert more Sky into it. Added bonus is that now there's storytelling in the background: during a shard eruption, a giant krill rises from the frothing waves of dark water to hunt down a flock of mantas.

Clouds behind the sun dog reference the ones featuring heavily in the Umibozu episode. This illustration has a lot of ocean theming, so I figured this would be appropriate.

Rendering style of the background is lightly inspired by the 2007 Mononoke illustration. Mainly having a 2D inked style to contrast with the more polished render of the sky kid. Funnily enough, this was a tertiary inspiration, which lead to the discovery in the next point!

Dark water waves and sun dog composition heavily references Hokusai's "The Great Wave". The waves were modified to be bottle-green of the Golden Wasteland's dark waters. The sun dog is in the spot where Mt. Fuji is in the original composition. these were all hand-drawn by the way! I merely emulated the style of the source material. As a side note, I also borrowed the spotted sea spray rendering for the krill's red spotlight.

Background pattern taken from the ofuda design featured in the 2024 Mononoke movie poster. Mainly to add some gritty texture to the sky. I worked pretty hard to replicate this ofuda design as a high-res asset so I wanted to use it more!