#the comic is also one of the reasons i’ve started to learn how to draw

[milligramspoison]

when will ur comic be up

Uhhhh as of rn I’m gonna say at least 2025

Ik it’s far off lmao, but what I want to do is going to take a while to execute. And ofc, I’m still learning to draw, hence why I’m (currently) saying it’ll be 2025

And I also want to dabble in other things when it comes to drawing before attempting to do the comic since the comic is a pretty big project to do

Anyways yeah- 2025 at the moment, when in 2025 I have no idea

[dokidokitsuna]

Magical Girl #1

So I realize I haven’t been posting a lot here lately…there are several reasons.

Most of it was just a garden-variety depressive episode, which was unfortunately extended after I had to go on antibiotics for a couple weeks. It got to a point where I considered canceling a bunch of projects because I just didn’t like to draw anymore. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (Still recovering from that, tbh…)

After a while I decided to focus on my writing instead, at least to take my mind off that frightening thought. ^^; I got pretty far into a new novel (which I’ll probably talk about later) but more importantly, I managed to complete a 19-page script for ^this concept, the first new original comic idea I’ve had in years.

It’s basically my take on the idea of a solitary magical girl, which you don’t see so much of nowadays…I think the most famous is Cardcaptor Sakura, and even she had some magical sidekicks (iirc, they just had different sources of power, something like that). I’m not familiar with any examples in the genre where it’s literally just her, ala typical Western superhero…

But that’s not really the reason I wanted to write this story– I developed it mainly to explore the idea of a solitary protagonist, someone who doesn’t have any conventional social relationships outside of their family, AND doesn’t use the story to form any. How could I develop an entertaining story around such a person; what sort of character arc would they go through? Might this character realize, to some degree, that they’re not a ‘traditional’ protagonist, and have some thoughts about this…?

For a while I toyed with the idea of applying this framework to an existing idea, but then I figured it’d be easier (and shorter) to write a completely new self-contained story. Which led to the creation of Anno the magical girl, and her partner Armitage. ^^

My #1 rule was ‘no crutches’: No making her (2) family members stick to her like glue and take the place of the usual friendgroup, for instance. This rule also forced me to change the usual characterization of the helpful fairy sidekick to that of an abusive parasite…which ended up being one of the best writing decisions I ever made. ^^ I love Armitage; not only are he and Anno a great comedy duo, but I think his meanness makes Anno a stronger character.

His worst ‘friendless loser’ insults towards her are just simple statements based (oddly enough) on things I’ve heard people express about themselves. So his dialogue becomes almost cathartic, and Anno’s reactions to it become more realistic as a result. She can’t just brush off his comments as meaningless hate; she kinda has to internalize them whether she wants to or not…if she were just a little more sensitive, this story would probably have a very unhappy ending. ^^;;; But as it is, it’s just an introspective comedy about a neurodivergent girl learning to love and trust herself.

I’m not 100% sure what I’m going to do with the script now that it’s done…mostly I’ve just been using it as motivation to draw for fun again, and to continue developing a manga style (I think I’m getting close to something solid).  But will I actually attempt to draw the manga? Will I try that thing I always wanted to try where I commission some artists to draw it with me…? Or will I just hang onto it and start writing a sequel in my spare time, like I usually do? ^^; Only time will tell…

[the-100-days-of-junkan]

Day 80

Yeah that’s fucking right. It’s a Gif.

I fucking learned how to Animate for this Project. This is the first time I’ve ever made a proper functioning animation. Before ANYTHING else. Thankyou to my darling girlfriend @sunmellows who made this possible by giving me a ton of pointers on how to do this.

So anyway, you’re probably wondering “JEM. Why the fuck did you do this-” It was funny.

The answer is that it was funny.

I was thinking of what to do for the 80’s Junkan, how do I go up from a comic, to learning how to paint good, to now. And I was like “Wouldn’t it be funny if I just randomly jumpscared Val with a full gif of Junkan??” because yes my sense of humor has devolved to the point where i find comedy in putting in massive amounts of effort just to see how people react to it. Don’t know where that came from.

Surprisingly this did not take long from what I remember. Around 2 weeks if not less. 

Saying I have zero animation experience prior to this is technically incorrect, however said previous experience barely constitutes as such. But I guess it gave me the absolute bare minimum, and i mean BARE.

The Gif standing before you is the culmination of me having to learn pretty much everything i could all on the fly. There was actually supposed to be more since I wanted it to be a perfect loop, however, I cracked from the exhaustion and just left it after the kiss, and then asked Yves to add a fade out. I was also originally supposed to FINISH the gif. My original plan was to just line and color every frame of the gif until it was completely done one day at a time once the project started. However, and it’s been awhile since I mentioned this, by the time this project was done and ready to post I was so fucking burnt out on it. I would have loved to finish this but my god I don’t have it in me. 

Oh yeah the gif itself. Was it gonna be anything other than a kiss? I mean, c’mon. It’s not like that’s already super hard to draw and almost definitely harder to animate, what reason would I have NOT to make them kiss? Also still happy with the little detail of Junko wiping away Mikan’s tears.

Hardest part to animate was the hair, oh my god the fucking hair. I love drawing it, but animating? Please god never again.

As always, Reblogs, Comments, and Little Notes in the Tags are appreciated!~ They always make my day!~

If you wanted a version without the fade to black at the end, here you go.

[typewritingyip]

Hi ! I don’t know what hour is it where u live but it’s pretty late for me so : apologies for this hehe

LETS BE HONEST HERE : I LOVE YOUR STORY ! Im currently only on like….chapter 4, but

BUT i love the world building, we can see you really thought about all of that deeply

And. *chief kiss*

I have a proposition my dear writer.

If you describe me how you see Hound, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Breakdown in this AU, both in human and mech form (important things, like weapons, or facial features for the human part)

Then I want to draw them. I don’t know if I will have the time to actually illustrate this but AT LEAST I wanna have a full image in mind when I read this blorbos in your (amazing) style

Also also it’s funny because I was reading your story and I saw your pfp and I’ve been like ‘eh ? I know this’

And yes. You are the kind person that always like and comment on my drawings and I wanted to say TYSM <333

Oh my gosh, Hi!

I’m so glad you love the story, it’s been entirely amazing to be able to write like I have been. You have made my entire day so much better, thank you!

As for the crew of Arcturus One, man, I don’t even know where to begin. I know I briefly described how the ingrained tech was different for each of them in a different post probably here, but actually describing them and their suits…

Hound is what I’ve pictured as the very typical run of the mill military guy, he’s in his late 20’s/early 30’s and has been piloting for around 10 years. Probably started between 20-22, younger but not the youngest to become a pilot. When I’ve spoken about him out loud, I kinda have described him as a better version of Duke from GI Joe, but a lot less blonde. He’s probably a brunette in my minds eye. He stands without the suit around 5’11, on the fitter side of things, and had perpetual eye-bag syndrome. Mans is always tired. He very much would have had that “boy next door” look about him in his younger days (when he first met his ex-wife *cough*) but yeah. That very typical American who is mostly white but generally has a bit of everything there. He has been known to have facial hair but prefers the military look, just cause he does emulate his father in that respect.

Breakdown is from Ukraine, he is the tall guy of the group like 6’ and above. Very stoic in appearance, but the guy is so kind that he is only really intimidating when you don’t know him. He’s on the older side of things, has been a pilot for around 15 years, and probably is one of the longest standing ones. His number came about when he emigrated to the US, getting things changed and re-organized so he has been a pilot longer than Jazz but not in the same programs till after Jazz was around. He’s the eastern block guy of the group, dry humor and certainly knows more English than he lets on. But he still learned a lot of it from movies and things. I’d put him on the slightly bulkier side of things, he’s put in a lot of hard labor and his mech is harder to control than the others. It’s older and heavier, but familiar.

Now the twins, I probably know the most about their appearance. Being born and raised in Florida, I wanted to give them a bit more history and culture, (make Hound feel like the odd one out, sort of) but their mom was from Cuba and their dad met her when he was visiting from New York. They are fraternal twins and Sides took after his dad while Sunny took after their mom. Meaning Sides got hella straight hair and Sunny has got curls, which he will be the first to say are the biggest pain in space. They both are around 6 foot, not taller than that and are pretty lanky. The reason they became pilots is cause they were going to get arrested for drug dealing and street racing, they weren’t dealing drugs but welcome to America. This happened around 16/17, and they’ve been pilots for about 7 or 8 years, so early to mid 20’s right now. Still pretty young.

So to just briefly explain, Hound remind me of just a better/older looking Duke from GI Joe (comics not movies), Breakdown is Ukrainian with the touches of scaring from growing up behind the iron curtain. Sunstreaker is Cuban-Italian, with more features from his mom’s side. Sideswipe is also Cuban-Italian, with more features from his dad’s side. They look incredibly alike and can be confused for identical but they certainly are fraternal.

Now for the Mech suits, the hardest part for me.

Hound is green and very military themed, kinda take War Machine from marvel but make it typical military green in a way. They still have the smoother edges and rounded corners, unlike the Cybertronian’s. The military wanted to make him look approachable to kids, so he sorta looks like a giant thing wearing a helmet to them, but his visor is whole face (like Soundwave sorta in TFP) It had the ability to light up and darken, it was newer tech that they were attempting to make the mechs seem less threatening (*cough cough* blame vortex *cough cough*) He does not have wings or additional thrusters other than the ones that help him stay upright, so he cannot fly/float. Hence the parachutes in chapter 4. His gun stores in part of his leg just cause there wasn’t many other places it would fit, it’s a hand gun with the ability to add a longer barrel to it to make a rifle. It’s not mounted or anything so it looks kinda like he’s unarmed most of the time.

Breakdown is very utilitarian, I mean it doesn’t look dissimilar from the mech suits that the Russian’s pilots in pacific rim on the bottom half, they got a bunch of regime contractors and engineers together to make a defense system and that’s what he pilots. The head was re-designed on his entering Mecha’s service to be more appealing towards marketing. Hence the orange battle mask, I really haven’t described it so much in person but his suit’s head looks much more cybertronian than the others, spots for eyes etc. I’d say his head is much more Earthspark shaped than TFP but that’s just me. His suit is mostly blue though like TFP. He had a soviet era anti-aircraft style cannon attached at the top of his arm/shoulder but that’s received some upgrades. I think I also mentioned other weapons for him but I can’t find it at the moment.

The twins suits aren’t dissimilar other than for the shape of their heads, weapon choice, and color. Their suit’s aren’t dissimilar in shape to Hot Rods here, but once again lack the door wings. They also only have the partial facial visors, mostly covering where eyes would be. They effectively have blades on the outer side of their arms, the bracers I mention in later chapters, for Sunny that is all he has preferring close combat because his mech is lighter and faster than most other pilots (other than Blur, which your design for him is peak I might add.) Sides has those but one side can pop out to be an actual sword/blade that he prefers to use. That took a lot of trial and error to make work.

—

Wow, that was a lot to write out. Also, if you want more information on them or other character's who will appear in later Arcturus missions (because I have a list, muhahaha) feel free to reach out! I love talking about these guys, I love writing them, and it’s just my current escape from the hellscape that is LSAT prep. Also for everyone, I live in eastern standard time, so New York time zone. Next part will hopefully be out tomorrow night at 4:30 ish.

[drawinglin]

Hello. Regarding Hellraiser III, I seem to recall you making a comment about how you believed Elliott and Unbound!Pinhead to be physical manifestations of Freud's model of the psyche - super-ego and id respectively. I am in total agreement with you there, and I have believed this same thing for a long time now. This would also make normal 'Bound' Pinhead that we meet in the first two films, and the films following Bloodline, to be the actual Ego itself. I think this makes the third film, and the characterisations so much more interesting, rather than doing what the early 90s HR comics did, which was to have Pinhead be an Aztec 'demon' who possesses Elliott, making them separate people altogether. That's boring and predictable, and just goes against everything that the movies established in the earlier films for Pinhead. By having Unbound and Elliott be one and the same, just different aspects of the same man, which is basically what HR is about - our deepest, darkest desires explored and enhanced, it builds on the HR mythology. This is why I've always loved HR3, and why I don't think it's a bad film, and why I just adore Unbound as a character. This is Pinhead off the leash. I still believe that Unbound would still be very fond of Kirsty, and still would be driven to protect her in some way. Even without his human side. But for the most part, he would be super eager to have her join him. Though he'd treat her much differently than he did the club patrons. I don't think the love/lust for Kirsty comes from just his human side. It comes from all of him.

Anyway, I thought I'd share my thoughts on the matter with you. I found this online regarding id, ego, super-ego, and it reminded me of the boys even more so. Maybe you could draw something out of this? It's an idea. I love your art. Keep up the good work! :)

Your analysis of Unbound and Elliot is exactly what I was thinking. It almost makes me cry. I’ve always found it hard to dislike HR3 for this reason. After watching the HR1 and HR2, I felt that human desires and darkness are what truly terrify us. So when I discovered that HR3 split the Hell Priest into two characters, I was super excited.

The human version of Elliot is relatively mature; after all, he carries the memories and burdens from his time as a human, as well as the PTSD of being a survivor of World War I. He is also someone who adheres strictly to rules. I guess this leadership quality and personality is what attracted Leviathan to him, eventually leading him to become the priest managing hell. In the moment of their separation, the repressed desires, dark sides, and nature of the human were individually extracted, like a newly born child without constraints. They both possess things that the other lacks. I’m really looking forward to their journey of hatred and self-destruction gradually turning into understanding, culminating in a new interpretation of a single person. It’s amazing! But unfortunately, HR3 didn’t delve into their complex psychological relationship in detail. This regret has made me want to doodle their story.

I was shocked to learn that the comic had mentioned the demon's setting before; I had no idea about that. Thank you for sharing! Like you, I’m more inclined towards the idea of the id and superego!

I agree that Elliot and Unbound have an obsession with Kirsty and surely hope that she would join their ranks as a Cenobite.

But to me,I tend to see their relationship as a complex ambiguity; I imagine it as a sense of distance rather than a romantic interaction. Their conflicts would actually bring them closer together.

For Kirsty, the Hell Priest undoubtedly intervened in her life and indirectly destroyed her family. Even if it started because of someone else’s involvement, he still cast a huge shadow over Kirsty. In their contract relationship, the Hell Priest has let her go multiple times, and Elliot himself has said that Kirsty is his friend. Therefore, I believe they share a relationship that is both contradictory and beautiful!

The existence of their relationship is so enchanting, which is probably why so many people like it!

And thank you for the pictures you provided. I love your thoughts every time you share them; they truly inspire me!🥰❤️ ❤️

[mrghostrat]

i appreciate all the kindness for my uni rejection, and anyone going through the same thing should def read through my replies if they need similar comfort. there’s a lot of “ATAR isn’t everything!” comments tho, which made me realise i haven’t actually talked much about my goals, so i wanted to share a little context.

i’m 30 (on the 17th). i took a gap year after high school and i went to uni at 19. i even dropped out a semester before graduating to pursue the one thing that was making me happy (my first original comic) during a really bad depression (undiagnosed adhd burnout). i got the last units and graduated a year later, a bachelor of game design.

haven’t used my degree once. i went into comics and freelance rather than games. but i also loved that degree and would do it all again, it was absolutely worth it.

i’ve been freelance and self sufficient for 6-7 years, and it’s fun and i’m proud of the things i’ve made, but i’m so tired. i’m specifically tired of having to work 7 different angles to make up one sufficient salary, and even if it ends up being temporary, i’d give anything for a 9-5. have someone else in charge for once.

got to the end of my rope last year and sat down to figure out what i like and what i’m good at. a Life Plan, yknow. i’ve always had an interest in teaching, helping, connecting like that. figured out degrees and became really invested in this new trajectory i pictured my life going on. i was also tired of waiting, because every time i wanted to move back to the city from this tiny town we’re in, somethings come up or delayed it. so zita helped me figure out how we could get the ball rolling and break our lease 3 months early, so we could move back to melbourne and i could start my degree this year. we looked for (and found) an apartment specifically on the side of the city that would be closest to my campus.

i hope that gives a lil context as to why i’m so devastated right now. the last 5 months have been me revving up to start this new chapter at the end of feb and one little email said nah.

the degree i wanted to do was a double degree, secondary education (hons) and a BA of fine arts. i was equally excited for both, because i never got to do a lot of actual art learning in my last degree, and the BA would give me all of that— life drawing, sculpting, painting, wood/metal/jewellery working, digital, fuckin everything. but it was the less important of the pair, when it comes to getting myself a job as an art teacher, because i already have the art experience. it was just a fun bonus, and the education degree was the one i NEEDED.

in nov i had to travel to melbourne to present a portfolio and interview for the BA. they showed me around the studio too, and i fell a little bit in love. i got the acceptance email in december, but i still didn’t have an offer for the education degree. another reason why i’m so discombobulated— i technically have an invitation, but it’s for the less important degree that would just be a money sink. do i go to uni anyway?? or just ignore this invitation and move on?

my state recently made education/teaching degrees free as a way of encouraging more teacher jobs. i learnt about this after i decided i wanted to pursue teaching, so it was just a fun lil bonus that i wouldn’t be adding to my student debt. apparently not, bc i didn’t think about how every teenager and their dog would apply for teaching degrees so they could get straight into uni without any debt. so, even tho i’m a graduate and i’m not relying on school scores, i was one in a million, likely just numbers on a page, and didn’t get in.

there could be other paths. i could start the BA and add the Edu degree later? i could reapply for mid year intake. i could… idk, most of what i could do requires emailing Monash and asking wtf, because i have no idea what’s actually possible and will need someone to lay it out for me.

still feels like i’ve run into a brick wall though. little bit shut down. more sad, not quite angry, but suddenly really spiteful for some reason— like “oh, you don’t want me? okay fuck you then, i won’t ever teach.” so stupid. just a bit fragile rn

[nalonzooo]

Hi you’re very kind in always answering people with their art questions i appreciate you so much!! I wanted to ask if u have any books/videos that helped you on your art journey? Love your art so much ur an inspiration 😘😘

hi!! this is so nice of you to say and you’re very welcome 🥰 - books and videos under the cut!

videos

what helped me a lot when i started with art is to watch time lapses or draw-with-me sessions so i can kind of copy how artists draw or paint. however it’s "Level Up your Portrait Drawings" by Chris Hong (ETA: sorry the link doesn't seem to be working, so i've included the title of the class) that was like a turning point in how i drew faces. it’s available via membership on skillshare but i think you can sign up for a month free. i can’t recommend it enough! the quality of my portraits changed after this especially with regards to anchor points—i learned how to tweak my art with this video and i do feel it carried over and improved the way i drew very visibly <3

another video i feel created a huge improvement in my drawing is this class by Lexin Yuan (qrbits). this is a lot more rigorous and thorough than the previous one and also included feedback from the artist (!!) and it’s available via subscription to Class101 but lexin has since made a free version on their youtube which i HIGHLY recommend as well (actually i would recommend their entire channel) - from here i learned how to make characters stand and pose properly, i learned to draw from dance videos, i learned about boxes and anatomy in a very approachable way.

another artist i’m subscribed to and whom i enjoy watching draw is likelihoodart. i love looking at their art bc i feel like they have the perfect blend of semi-realism and stylization - plus their OCs are amazing (the general art rule for teeth is don’t fill them out, but i’ve never seen anyone draw teeth a good as them! i mean look at this work in particular). i picked up some rendering styles and tips from watching their draw-with-me videos.

i’m also currently subscribed to Loish’s patreon where she has very useful and in-depth tutorials and guides. she explains it so well and i also see a lot of the artists in their patreon community sharing their improvements and it's SO cool and encouraging. she has accessible tutorials here you can check out :)

books

comic books/graphic novels - i think i mentioned before but when i first started drawing (again, after living artless as a corporate cog), i was in my marvel (mcu//stucky) phase and one of my fav comics back then was matt fraction’s hawkeye. i liked david aja’s style and i would copy entire panels from the comic in ink into my sketchbook. so i would recommend copying whatever art style comic or manga or graphic novel you like into your sketchbook as personal practice (not for public sharing). re-draw your favorite panels! copying directly from the source also helps you figure out how the artist might have drawn their works.

figure drawing by michael hampton - if i were to recommend just one figure drawing/anatomy book to you, it would be this one - this is also a direct recommendation by lexin yuan and i found this book to be easy to follow and the concepts are understandable. i am at heart more of a gesture drawing artist so his emphasis on line of action and dynamism is something i really appreciated.

ART BOOKS! in particular: spider-verse 1 and 2 art books - everyone knows these and for good reason; ami thompson's character expression sheets alone are worth the price. seeing concept art is always very special--you get to read how a team of creatives come up with ideas and you can learn how to incorporate them into your own art. these two are currently my favorite art books, but i also like the art of tangled (glen keane's sketches are in the inside of the covers and that alone made me want to weep they're so beautiful). and sometimes i go into the japanese section of my local bookstore and see what art books they have - i got this one last year which i really enjoyed, and i got a copy of ryoko kui's doodle book for dungeon meshi and i just love it SO much. their character designs are varied and top-notch and it's just so FUN to go through (if you're interested in this, they'll be releasing an english version soon!)

i also draw a lot of inspiration from artists who make and sell zines of their own art or sketches or sketchbooks - some of them even offer it for free! it seems to be a lost art nowadays because people think zines have to be like big collaborative productions, but it can just be a pdf of your sketches. i literally have a page from one of my fav artist's digital zines printed and taped in front of my desk for constant inspiration, and it's just a sketch of theirs. there's nothing quite like seeing an artist's work in zine format <3

my gawd sorry that was so long BUT i hope these are helpful to you in any way!! <3

[waroferas]

from one hyrule warriors enjoyer to another... i bestow upon you the scared question...

what are your favorite things about hyrule warriors?

i'm honestly just curious because your like, one of my favorite blogs when it comes to hyrule warriors and i would just be interested to get peoples different responses!! it's cool to see what people think!!

(p.s. your hyrule warriors art is so banger i would give you the BIGGEST hug if i could)

AWW MAN !!! THAANK YOU SO MUCH for giving me a reason to talk about this because i have actually answered this question before . but now that i’ve actually come to learn how the game works i hold a lot more respect for it overall LOL

i put forward Link’s arc with the master sword/temple of souls in the first post but i would rlly like to revisit that and get a bit more specific abt WHY i love it. under the cut bc it’s screenshot heavy LOL

to start out stage 12, they explain that link is Really jamming on the master sword

you start at the Front of the hyrulean forces and are immediately thrown into combat while Proxi cheers you on, and Impa seems apprehensive

Overall this stage is Overwhelming. you have lots of keeps to capture across the entire map, only one warrior to control, and they keep spawning Very annoying Very powerful enemies that immediately begin advancing towards Zelda. After you’ve neutralized that threat, Cia only makes things worse

this is awesome . this is actually so great . i LOVE dark link as a concept and i ADOOOOORE the way they really expand on the whole “manifestation of the darkness in your heart” thing by giving link Specific Flaws to be fighting against.

not to mention the fact that it’s a flaw that you could argue was present Before the master sword ie. ignoring his comrades and running into battle despite still being a trainee in the Opening cutscenes.

couldnt find a natural way to weave this in but i also find it so interesting that these things are Both true.

when impa told link that hes the chosen hero he “did not believe himself worthy of the honor” despite knowing he’s an excellent swordsman . really shows that when he embraces his role later on a little Too enthusiastically there is Growth .

i think i would kill for this game to have the capability of providing a more intricate and moment-to-moment narrative just to see how this arc would play out on an intimate level, AND what it actually means when link considers himself not worthy yet. but this game canonically spans a matter of Months adding up the several “weeks passed” timeskips so that would be crazy. i will have to do it myself >.o

this rlly is just about one thing . MY BAD!!!

a couple Quick honorable mentions:

i think it’s cool we get to play with characters who would never reappear in the franchise otherwise. its one hell of an excuse but i am still delighted by it

this seems like a Good strategy game as far as gameplay goes . it has been fun and challenging cutting my teeth on this new format

i reaaaally like the adventure mode . it’s whacky and Really Hard at times but bringing in the old maps ? deeelish.

LINKLEEEEEEE

SHEEIIIIIIIIIIIK . if anybody deserves to be the most op most broken breakdancing Freak it’s that blue guy . can you tell i’m a sonic fan

my fairy is comical in ways that delight me . TO THE SALON!!

i’m trying not to just name all the women on the roster . i LOVE WOMEN. impa just one chance babe

oookay that’s all i can think of off the top of my head . THABK YOU AGAIN FOR THE ASK !! and thank youuuu teehee i Love drawing . here’s a sneak peek of smth i will hopefully finish soon

[dysfunctional-doodle]

if its not a big ask (you mention your busy so idk) could you do more redraws of your old stuff? like in the best way your art has changed a lot since like last year i think it would be cool to see some of your old comics and stuff redone!! ❤️ ☀️

also some of your stuff that old is missing?, idk why? did you delete some or is glitch?

I do really want to do some redraws because I really hate my old art but I’m not very happy with my art rn tbh, and I know I will just end up redrawing the again. Also, due to my very old, 10+ year old iPad that I draw on, I have to delete all my drawings pretty much instantly so the app doesn’t crash when I create new ones. So I don’t have any old TIFF files anymore - only a few PNGs that remain on social media and lurk on my phone. But I do really want to draw some! If anyone has any particular requests I might try later in the year if I don’t get frustrated with my expectation vs reality again.

Eh, but what is art if you don’t constantly seek to learn and improve? I have a lot to learn and drawing daily is helping my quest in trying to teach myself how to function with my trusty tablet that can’t even load a Google page 😂

Wow, I got on a tangent. But I kinda did answer the second question:

The reason why some of my stuff disappears is because I delete them because I think they’re terrible, which they very much are. I’ve been drawing for about a year and a half now, and there is definite improvement from when I started in about November 2022 (A LOT in some areas). I see someone like a drawing that I did over a year ago and I hate being reminded of it’s existence so impulsively delete it. I know, it’s dumb! Sorry for erasing some stuff you liked, but I do want to redraw my oldest stuff so hopefully you get a better version at some point before the end of this year :)

God, I gotta stop rambling.

Tldr: I want to redraw my old art and I am very stupid in the fact I delete all trace of my old art, thus making it hard to then redraw it lol

[kosmicdream]

I got this ask on curiouscat but.. the site wont let me post my reply?? so i just decided to put it here since i dont get a lot of questions these days. so i like to answer them when i actually have something more to say. this one also went kinda off topic but w/e.

==

Q: How do you keep the motivation to work on all your long comics? I always start and then abandon a project cause another distracts me or I feel unsatisfied with the result... I admire your commitment so much!

===

Aw, thank you! I really appreciate it. But don’t get too discouraged.. I get distracted too! I currently have 9 ongoing comic projects with 2 more i eagerly want to start drawing, and at least a dozen concepts on the backburner that have been around for sometimes over a decade. I think that what I’ve found, is that starting a new comic takes so much time. It takes a lot of time to get a story really rolling, time to learn how to draw the story how you want and in a weird way - having a longer comic you’ve had more experience with, you can pull a lot more things from. I generally find that FFAK and NRD are much easier comics for me to work on because of all those years of experience with them. But it still can get demoralizing if i focus too much on the faults or how long I still have to go. Sometimes its easy to feel that readers have lost interest and moved on, or its just not as good as you wanted it to be, ect. If you look for reasons like that, reasons to demotivate you, you’ll find them in spades.So i try my best to NOT do that, because working on a comic is hard enough.

In a weird way, when i sometimes find myself in the pit of struggles like this - i realize every author ive ever read has been in the same shoes as me. There is no artist that just magically has it easier and never runs into some challenges like this, some challenges can never be overcome because they’re part of the experience of making the project. There’s limitations involved and things change overtime. You won’t always have the same experience with the same story as you make it, or the same feelings involved. Sometimes that's really hard to let go of, if you feel the earlier years were so much better than the struggles you have now. I know I faced that hurdle with FFAK and I am currently going through that with NRD, but even the harder times do change too. It never gets easy to make a comic, but it changes. 

With FFAK, i don’t honestly know how I will finish the complete story. I often struggle too, especially with the third (final) arc, if it really is good enough. In a way, a lot of places of it feel incomplete and rushed, so I tend to worry a lot about how that will go. However, I never thought i’d have a comic like FFAK in the first place, so i feel really lucky to have made it this far at all. Endings do scare me, as there’s just so much pressure involved to deliver and even reach it at all, that it feels almost like an impossible fantasy to pull off in a satisfying manner to yourself or the readers. However, I do think I’ve gotten more excited to reach endings than I used to be even a couple years ago, and I have gotten more forgiving of myself for not being perfect at it. No matter what I manage to make, I’m going to have my own critiques of it because there’s improvements to be made in all aspects of the story. I’m looking forward to seeing what I can actually do so I can learn from it and be more confident in the future. 

FFAK also has such a huge cast, it can be a technical nightmare to figure out. I dont envy authors like GRRM that have a seemingly endless cast to deal with. I already have so much of my hands full with what is essentially one family. And I know for my other comics that I’ve made, the cast has never gotten as out of hand as FFAK’s. But I dont mind having FFAK be like this, because it has been part of my enjoyment of writing the story too. FFAK is generally very motivating because I always have something I’m excited to share about it, and every small progress is a big reward for me. I’ve put a lot of years of work into ARC2 and i am desperate to get to share it with everyone, so I hope readers will enjoy what is to come for the future of the story even though it already is a decade old at this point.

[infini-tree]

now for something completely different (and something of a third anniversary post)!

as i’ve stated once in a while about the music room scene in the comic: it was one of several scenes i’ve been extremely excited to draw. its gone through a lot of revisions, which is detailed here.

it, along with captain’s first appearance was literally one of several reasons why this part of sticky notes au exists as a comic as opposed to just writing it as a fanfic. sure, it may have taken less time to write, but words can’t really compare to the buildup, gutpunch, and subsequent tone shift that came with that one scene.

i’ve literally been revising this one specific part since october 2020, which puts into perspective as to how long i agonized over it (for reference, the scene went live online in fall 2022*). so have that process to the lead-up to the snap.

* (disclaimer: a good chunk of the scene was in my drafts for months prior to its posting, but you get the idea.)

late 2020 (pics 1-2): 

the original plan was for krupp to fall. i never figured out how or why-- maybe he just slipped on some vc-barf! i think some versions had him additionally fall back into the stairs as a result of that. but in that moment the boys just took advantage of that moment and snapped their fingers to switch him over before he hit the ground. this was also back when krupp also knew the method of switching, hence his hands in the first pic.

early 2021 (pics 3-5): 

still had the concept of krupp knowing about snapping, but i swapped it to the idea to him learning it right at the moment before he switches over in the coming months. early sticky notes krupp and captain are learning how this works and having their initial assumptions about the other challenged, so i figured it would be the more appropriate story beat for the whole thing at the time.

i don’t remember the context of the comic thumbnails in the 4th photo, i think i was just playing with how the snap itself was going to be illustrated. but the right panel was a different version of it. krupp was initially supposed to say... something. i don’t think i planned that out in specifics, but the point was that he was supposed to be genuinely afraid. the hand was going to come into view, and was blurry. when it snaps, the hand is the one in focus and krupp is blurry. the change in focus is all symbolic. here’s my original commentary on the subject:

theres going to be a future page where the boys start talking but it just continues to linger on krupp's pov for a lil bit and how he feels abt the boys just being v casual and callous about the fact that theyre making him fight a monster (semantics about how its CAPTAIN whos gonna fight notwithstanding)

before yanking the pov back to the boys for some sweet sweet dissonance

a version of this dissonance does make it in the final comic, so there’s that.

2022 (pics 6-9): 

we’re almost there folks. the trio of poses (and gif made of those 3 poses) was from a version of events that had less block-busting. basically, the gag eel was at the door much sooner, and running out of options, the boys essentially say “the stealthy [prank] option isn’t working, he’s dry enough, we have to do it now”. krupp is confused and panicked on the fact that there’s a monster and this whole bit in the music room was a set-up. 

he starts panicking and hurling accusations/theories about how they did it. he even had a throwaway line along the lines of “did you steal one of melvin’s inventions [to make me into captain]”. that line was immediately scrapped since mentioning him felt a little out of left field at this point of the story and i wanted to keep the scope small.

while in this version of the thumbnails, the frames were meant to gradually zoom in to krupp’s face, i did do a set of full body poses just in case i did want something more than a waist up... mostly to make sure if krupp’s pose and hand placement could be feasible

note the fact that he’s covering his head but not his ears. he’s really working off of assumptions

[just-a-carrot]

Hello Carrot!

Ok so I was the anonymous poly asker but since I wanna draw some of the Au’s I yapped about I don’t see a reason to ask anonymously anymore.

that and I was originally soo terrified of asking a question cause I’ve been in many many toxic fandoms (I had to be hyped up to even originally ask my question )

First of all, this fandom has been one of the nicest and most respectful fan bases I’ve ever encountered.

Second, Ow was one of the first media’s to ever make me shed a tear I honestly loved everything about Ow (I also developed I mini obsession with Jerry, that and I sounded like an absolute crazy person playing the game while on call with friends and during arc 5 I out of nowhere yelled “NO MOTHER JERRY”)

But the reason I wrote Is because I got an Au idea and ist been plaguing my mind all day.

Basically at the end of every arc Iggy wished for smt and the two that stuck with me where the wish he never existed and the wanting to make his friends happy one.

And in the Au that popped up he kinda gets that wish with everyone waking up back at home with like a déjà vu feeling and since I think bucks ended up there too ig the reason she goes to wonderland is to save their kid.

They all end up in Wonderland at the same time with the feeling of wanting to find smt and end up hearing a conversation of one of the bunny soldiers scolding someone for exploring all by himself and that dinner would be soon.

Fast forward and their at the town and find the younger versions of Bucks and Gidget and they offer to take them “home” witch is similar to Gidget’s house in arc 5 but with the downstairs area being filled with toys and plushies with caretaker bunnies running around and the upstairs being more nicer and put together kinda like an apartment

They they end up meeting Iggy who’s like also kind of a caretaker with him occasionally joining the kids for dinner or to play games with them on their request (which refers slightly back to the wanting to make all his friends happy wish)

But the others want him back of course, which would lead to like a minor conflict of him not wanting to leave the kids but also wanting to make Wonderland safer because it was not safe when he first entered etc.

I’d dunno how I’d end it might make a comic about it cause I feel like there’s some potential in the Au I’ll have to see.

BTW SOO SORRY IT BECAME THIS LONG !!

I’ll most likely take a brake of asking questions (and also learn to yapp less) to focus more on drawing Ow stuff until I get a good grip on how to draw everyone.

Again soo sorry for yapping this much 

ahhhhhh i'm sorry you felt nervous!! i get it though it's really hard for me too to reach out or message someone / send in an ask, etc.

i never mind long asks! though i don't always know how to respond very well all the time lkdjfad so you'll have to sometimes forgive me. and hahaha i'm really glad you liked jerry!!

that sounds really interesting. like an AU where somehow the kid versions of them are also there in wonderland or something?? unless i'm misunderstanding. admittedly the "make my friends happy" wish was the wish he made AS a kid (and why he's now stuck in loops trying to make them all happy, except that he can't), but i could see like, some interesting possibilities where it somehow becomes even more morphed and convoluted with the different versions or something, perhaps if like, there just get to be too many different timelines so they all start to converge perhaps. i've never thought about something like that before

a version of wonderland that's NOT all messed up even when they're adults would be particularly interesting to explore. well, i suppose that's what bucks, gidget, and orlam experienced at first when they first went in LOL

[fearlessdevil17]

Spoiler’s for Sonic x Shadow Generations down below

(i had way too much fun with this game btw lol)

WDYM Shadow lost his new power’s after defeating Black Doom?!?! Nah I refuse to believe that!! He’s a hybrid for a reason ya know!!!

It has been so long since I’ve fixated on the Sonic franchise in general, that i think the last time I’ve ever fixated on it was all the way back in junior high. But imma be honest, I think the reason I didn’t associate with this franchise for so long could be because although i can being obsessively quirky whenever I fixate on something, twelve year old me was far worse when it came to Sonic (in my defence, this was my first feeling of hyper fixation ever). Despite being a lot more mature now, with entirely different opinions on things I somewhat remember (as well as laugh my ass off when looking back on it), what hasn’t changed throughout the years is my love for the franchise as a whole. I genuinely loved all the Sonic games I’m able to play, my comic’s that I own, and watching the TV shows, and movies. But my favourite part is definitely playing the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, those are the best.

But even during my fixation, i was still practicing to draw humans at that time, so i have never once thought about drawing about a Sonic character. That is until I started watching the “Dark Beginning’s” shorts. I still remember all the sonic lore details I’ve learned so far, and grew invested into playing SxSG, it’s been a while since I’ve played the original, and playing through this game gave me a lot of nostalgia.

But on the side note, playing through Shadow’s story was definitely an experience I’ll never forget. It reminds me as to why he’s one of my favourite (as well as one of the best) characters in the Sonic franchise.

In my opinion, this has got to be the best story for Shadow ever, and it really gives a lot of justice to both his character and background!!!

All the lore and collectables that came with this story was wild and fantastic!! But the icing on the cake has to go to Shadow’s Doom Powers, Those were by far the best thing within the entire game, i had way too much fun with those lol. And the fact that this was all taking place during SG is crazy to think about, Child me would’ve been bouncing off the walls right now if this was in the original game lol.

I started to practice drawing Shadow after watching the first EP of Dark Beginnings, Now after playing the game, I really wanted to make something involving the Doom Power’s, and just like how my brain never disappoints me when it comes to ideas, I’ve immediately came up with this one because I refused to believe that Shadow was unable to keep his new powers after killing Black Doom!!!

So I Headcanon that after Shadow defeated Black Doom, the power Black Doom bestowed upon him now laid dormant within Shadows Black Arm DNA, and few weeks after the events of SG, his Doom Power reawakens and turned him into the Doom Morph out of nowhere, causing Shadow to freak out, thinking that Black Doom was still alive, and fled away from the public eye. Rouge and Omega were able to find him and calm him down, and would later tell Shadow that it was his own doing that his Doom Power reawakened. With Black Doom gone, these powers now belong to Shadow for the rest of his life, it’s now his to control, and his decision as to what he’s willing to do with them.

But since they don’t appear throughout the other games, i also Headcanon that Shadow rarely uses his Doom powers and only uses them when absolutely needed since he’s perfectly capable of handling things without them.

There are so many more ideas I want to make for this game due to it’s huge amount of new lore, but I’ve settled with this first because the Doom Morph was definitely my favourite power to use and drawing it in my own style was really fun. Definitely more to come after this :D

Never would i have thought that i would fixate on the Sonic franchise again by being invested in a remake for a game i played years back, but i am happy i did!! This game was amazing!!

Bonus:

He’s fine, i promise ;)

[bvannn]

Weekly Update November 29, 2024

I’ve had awful insomnia and not a lot of motivation to draw, but I think I figured out why the second one is true: I recently moved into a new apartment, and it has terrible ventilation, and my hands are freezing cold all the time! It’s going to get worse as winter approaches, since I live in the Midwest, but I ordered a space heater today to hopefully remedy this for now, plus I’m trying to get a better job so I can move somewhere nicer, but I guess a degree in the field and a couple years of experience in the field aren’t good enough nowadays. I think it’s because no one wants new employees once they realize they need to pay them, so they put out listings that never get filled. It’s fine I’m doing what I can about it. I’m trying to work around my problems.

Drawing has been very limited due to cold hands, insomnia leaving me with a lack of energy, and some illness flareups. They’ve been extra bad this week for whatever reason, probably stress. I did a couple more epithet erased TTRPG drawings at the beginning of the week, got some maps done and decorated. I figured out the digital tabletop I want to use insofar as map making, I’ll have a friend walk me through fog of war and other features at some point. I wrote out a doc with the villains’ backstory, and I’m getting really attached, which is great. I’ll post tokens for some of them once I have them. Theoretically I could run the first ‘episode’ as soon as the last tokens for that are finished, but I think I’m going to put it off until I have stuff for the next couple episodes done.

I’ve fiddled around with music stuff this week but tried to stick with what I’ve already started. I posted Raccoon Rock, I’ve done a similar animation loop for the Blow Off Steam re-edit to make a lyric video out of, and I have sketches for a few other cover arts, including one for a batch. I have plans for that batch, finally, but I’m still going to release the songs first, just for the sake of having something to release. I found a couple vocaloid producer mutuals on Bluesky so that should help with motivation.

FF has the first round of tuning done, I did learn about a new program called tunelab which can help with pitchbends and pronunciation, although I’m not sure it’s entirely legal? If it is I’m totally using it though it looks really nice. I also finagled with my vocal mixing strategies again to get a hold on how to do growls, and I found a much easier method than what I was doing. I’ve been finaggling with OBS again and maybe if my hands are still cold next week and I run out of stuff to do that involves drawing I’ll make a tutorial.

I did a bit more of another animation project that’s been on the back burner, that’s also at a bottleneck since I need to draw more assets. Comic has also been going pretty slow due to art bottleneck but I did get page 12 finished and page 13 is sketched, we’re 41% done. I think right now the main concern is going to be waiting for that space heater, I’ll try to catch up on sleep and maybe watch cartoons or something to fix my mood. I do have another craft project I could do but I’m not going to start another craft project until a couple more art things are off my plate.

It is Black Friday so I’m tempted to spend money on something for my mood, but right now I’m just raiding all the music plugin giveaways. Maybe I’ll write some smaller songs to throw on the pile of unreleased music. Or maybe not, who knows.

[the-mspfa-200-favourites-project]

Monochrome

Monochrome…ah, yes, another fanadventure that has routinely taunted me from it’s banner whenever it’s anniversary week is on. But that is the best thing about this exercise, is that I get to LEARN and KNOW what those banners mean, from reading the webcomics associated with it. That was a nothing introduction so let’s just move on cleanly and swiftly.

It starts off with a bang, or rather, a knife. And also a very dark, black background. Awww yeah, baby. That’s how you know you’re in for…something, surely. Not some bland fanadventure. This one’s got STYLE. Well, I mean, all Fanadventures have SOME style, because they are basing themselves off of one of the most Stylish Webcomics Imaginable, but you know what I mean.

Oh this has BEAUTIFUL rendering. I think that’s because the comic seems to be in, well, monochrome, and thus can only create it’s drawings with various shades of grey. And that means you GOTTA know how lighting works and stuff like that. And this author DEFINITELY knows their stuff, it seems.

It’s been…so long…since I felt this…like, spark, of like, doing something COMPLETLEY OFF THE WALL compared to every other Fanadventure. Like, the last time I felt it was…either Tiny Cat People or Something in The Woods? Just something that, whilst it is obviously in conversation with the “Adventure” format, is doing something completely different from Problem Sleuth or Homestuck. Which is a lot of comics I’ve reviewed, but…I don’t know how to say this. This feels like an old forum adventure from like, 2011 or 2012, a SuperEgo or, more accurately to the color scheme of the work thus far, The Beginner’s Guide to the End of the Universe, except filtered through say, a more conventional webcomic style ala Desynced or Vast Error. I don’t know if that makes completely sense, but it’s what I’m thinking, anyways.

Oooo little detail but I like how the commands for the next page, like, grow in size? It’s a little thing but it makes it so much fun to click on it.

I think the reason why this reminds me of those older fanadventures so much, besides the limited color pallete and overall “this is not Homestuck” aethestic that’s being draped over it, is just…how SMOOTH all these animations are. Which is like, calling back to WaterWorks and Roomland in how, like, Flash Animators could get SO SMOOTH.

Okay yeah, if you’ve ever been curious about this work, you should check it out, it seems really competent about what it wants to do and is doing that thing really well.

[averytirednerd]

Introduction to my blog!

Soooo…

My name is Lachlan, welcome to my silly little blog. I’m your resident aroace person who loves consuming and creating media and the like.

Some of the creative stuff I do:

-Writing

-Photography

-Videography

-Editing

-Music

I’m also learning how to draw properly. I hope to officially add this to the list next year :]

Some random things I enjoy:

-Space

-Humanities / Social Sciences

-Reading

-Cooking & Baking

-Biking

What I currently post about (fandom-wise): N/A

(You can search specific tags though at the little search thing in the top left!)

Go check out my Pinterest account here!

Go check out my YouTube account here!

Go check out my (very unorganized) Spotify account here!

I am far more active on Pinterest atm. I keep forgetting this account exists.

Currently working on a comic! Side blog for that is: @avtn-productions. It’s gonna be a slow process because…learning how to draw people…but follow that blog if you’re interested. I’ll start posting stuff about the characters themselves first, character introductions and whatnot. Main reason I’ve created it this early on is because my friend drew one of the characters (go check out the drawing! it’s on the blog!)

I think that’s all for now? I’ll add more if I think of anything.

Stay tuned~

(Updated 8/28/2024)