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Post by charming thievery on Feb 14, 2019 21:59:20 GMT -5
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! ^^ (I MADE IT!! *FIST PUMP*) And yes, I actually drew something for this special day! And no, it's not colored yet because I procrastinated on working on it and underestimated how long it'd actually take me to draw and clean up. T-T Well, anyway...enjoy? Brynnso is pretty much asking for this. So I happily obliged. :3 Will scanning this (as opposed to taking a pic with my phone) make the words straighter, or did I really just draw the letters slanted? Also, I'm tired. Would you believe just this drawing took me about 6+ hours to complete? Yeah. I'm that slow. This is honestly why I never progress my drawings beyond sketches or draw anything really detailed. OTZ Anyway...I also had an idea for a corresponding blushy Hanso version, but didn't actually have enough time to start it beyond thinking of the tagline and possible pose. Next time, I guess. So maybe after a week or more, I'll have this colored? Perhaps it can be an Art Gallery submission next year. *shrugs* (Oops...I need to edit that exclamation point to bring the dot in front instead. And fix Hanso's hand. But ugh, I don't want to suffer through that again, lol.) Once I color this, I'm going to have to figure out a way to make the Ixi lines on his face actually look *good*. I excluded them here because they looked bad, haha. Brynnso sketch dump: Descriptions for each sketch: 1 - Drawing Brynn is kinda hard. Well, drawing Hanso is equally hard. So I really like how this sketch came out. 2 - Oooh, so very, very rough, but I still kinda like Brynn here. Also, here on out are human Brynnso drawings. I got really into it because of a Brynnso-y idea I have. One day I'll actually finish that project. 3a - I kinda didn't want to include a close-up of Brynn because oof, I can't draw her in a straight-on perspective. Why do I keep doing this though? Even TNT didn't. I actually had to erase the details on her torso because they just looked bad. But I like her expression, so...yeah. 3b - I really liked Hanso's expression here and just the overall sketch. My only regret is that it's too light, but I dare not try to darken it with a pencil. 4 - Not sure how satisfied I am with my human Brynn, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't like these particular sketches. :3 5 - Created for that Brynnso project I mentioned. Love his expression here, but those non-existent hands kind of detract from this sketch. I like it enough that'd I'd want to finalize it though, but...*remembers Valentine's Day drawing and the suffering that ensued...* 6 - I dunno, guys, I think I just really like blushy Brynn. xD 7 - I gotta learn how to draw natural arm poses. That right arm is rather distracting in how awkward it looks. And again, I couldn't bring myself to actually draw the hands. But I'm pretty pleased with his jacket, if only so-so on his face. Kinda feels like I'm just drawing people dressed up like Brynn and Hanso. Maybe I am. But this is what I can do at this point, so I'll take it. I'm happy. 8 - Does his head/hair look too big for his face? But I liked how [cleanly] I drew it, so I didn't want to change it. 9 - Last but not least, this one. The image that was created expressly for the Brynnso project I mentioned above, and the one I really loved. And the one that somehow got half-erased (Hanso's face, I mean. The other dude always looked like that, lol), much to my horror. And fixing it kinda changed it a bit, so I'm rather sad. So this is a picture I snapped before the damage happened, so thank God I liked admiring it so much that I wanted to do it on my phone too, lol. Ugh, I just really loved his mouth and his nose and like everything (those were the details that got slightly erased...). Plus, it really captured what I was trying to get across. Basically, his thief friend is trying to dissuade him from his affection for Brynn ("She's the enemy!"), but he sees her, and well, the boy is too far gone. x3 So yeah. I've been busy with sketches. And I have this Brynnso project that I want to make happen, but I stopped because I couldn't get the poses right and all the faces I drew started sucking. So I took a break. But now I'm into another idea (non-Brynnso) that I can't wait to share, though a finished product will be a long-time coming, so I'd probably just prematurely post the sketches. I mean, my art thread is called "Charming SKETCHES", so like, very aptly named, I'd say. 'Kay, I'm done. Hope you liked these. A lot of them I like enough to try to clean up into more finished drawings, but many of these were a product of that Brynnso project I keep mentioning, so if/when I finally get around to finishing that, there'll be some similar drawings/poses as these. Yup.
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Post by charming thievery on Nov 12, 2019 22:24:22 GMT -5
Well, since I seem bent on procrastinating on certain IRL things I'm supposed to do, I may as well remove some of the distractions I find more appealing from my to-do list. So here's some art I've done from the last several months. Also, sorry for the lack of editing some of these pictures clearly have - I usually edit them on my phone, but due to space issues, I moved them to my laptop, where I don't actually have any photo editing software aside from Paint...which can't really do much, lol. Let's start with some nostalgia over Faerieland, shall we? I had just bought myself some new soft pastels and was eager to use them, so this happened. I resized the image to make it smaller since honestly, it just looks better the farther away you are. It didn't quite come out the way I wanted (and hoo boy, there was a lot of extra chalky dust), but at least you can tell it's Faerieland? Pencil drawing of my Alaina Inktober image I usually always prefer my pencil drawings, and this is no exception. Sorry it's so light and slightly fuzzy. I'm just posting the pencil version here, since you can see the final in the Inktober 2019 thread. Wait, why did I never realize I could resize my image using BBCode? Well, moving on. Cool Xweetok (You may have seen him first in the Inktober thread, but I had originally planned on posting him here first before I disappeared off the face of the NTWF for several months.) So up-close pencil drawing from the Inktober version first. I definitely prefer it over the inked version, bleh. The original pen drawing ...which I infinitely prefer, as far as his face is concerned. Anyway, so his conception actually started when I was restocking at the Igloo Garage Sale and noticed there were a cool pair of shades in stock for Xwees. I'm not sure I managed to snag them then since I was aiming for items to sell rather than to keep. But I eventually looked up the item on JN and found the awesome ensemble that is the Cool Xweetok outfit. I loved how the jacket looked especially, but the item art looked better than how it appeared when a Xweetok wore it. So I just *had* to draw it myself! That is why this is a bit more anthro-y than I normally depict Neopets.
Also...the shades had the most hilarious description: Cool Xweetok has time for no one. xD
I just really loved how this drawing came out and ended up creating a character for him. Essentially, he's a species-specific model for Dress to Impress, a modeling agency in Neopia. He currently focuses on male Xweetok clothing, but he aspires to expand to the NC Mall, as there's far more selection. (I was considering taking requests for outfits that he could model, kinda like a way for him to gain some attention and show that there's some demand for his work in stuff other than Xweetok-only clothing. There were still some outfits I wanted to draw first, but that didn't happen, and well, I'm a little afraid to take on requests, given my current work ethic. ^^; But if you have an outfit you'd like to see him model, please feel free to send it on via like, DTI link or something.)
I didn't want to neglect that amazing description from the shades, so I was playing with the idea of making him some ridiculously pretentious guy who just always went around calling himself "Cool Xweetok" and referring to himself in the third person. Which he'd do because he otherwise had a name he was embarrassed about, like Bob or something (or, if we want to get Neopets meta, _Bob293_9769). But the deeper I got into developing his story, the more seriously I took him, so I haven't quite decided if I want to commit to that initial idea or not, lol. ^^; Otherwise, Cool Xweetok would be more like his brand name. Space Pirate Outfit Here's the second outfit I drew him in. It wasn't quite finished, but I didn't want to deal with fixing stuff like the jacket tied around his waist, so I just left it. He usually keeps his Cool Xweetok hair (that was also the outfit he was wearing when he was first discovered) and his earring (he's a Pirate Xwee) for every outfit, unless the new one comes with better hair. He's been angry with me over delaying his debut, since I told him it would happen months ago but obviously never did. ^^; So I think that's it for now?
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Post by charming thievery on Dec 13, 2019 23:06:03 GMT -5
Thanks to the shout-out in the news, I've joined in on Ugly Sweater Week! It's actually my first time participating in the BC too, so it's even more exciting! Though seeing the number of boards that have popped up on the Art Chat and not really caring to be part of that (edit: I mean, as far as having to bump it and stuff...I suppose it's kind of nice to have just in terms of getting some visibility and maybe giving people a place to give feedback on my entry if they want to. I guess I'll make one when I feel like properly going through the other contestants and their threads at my leisure), I think I'll just post a link on the main USW board, and that'll be that. ^^; (...Or...I would really like to place actually...there are only 4 entries for Korbats, so I'd have a decent chance if I tried advertising more...) Anyway...I decided to draw my Korbat, Sam, for this theme! [TALKING HERE] (I recently moved her onto my main, and it's almost sad to me that she, a newcomer, gets her character debut - well, somewhat - before say, Penny Jr., for whom I've already started work on her..."backstory" comic and had other ideas but never finished. But ah, well. Penny Jr. will have more than her 15 minutes in the spotlight eventually, lol.) She's my goth girl who definitely does not like bright cheery sweaters in her wardrobe and did not appreciate being stuffed into one by my other pets. Yes, that's the gist of the comic idea I have for this, haha. (She's based on Sam Manson from Danny Phantom since I like creating/customizing Neopets as existing characters, but aside from certain similarities and the name, she's her own bat.)
The decision to draw my Korbat (aside from her being the only one with an "easy" face) probably stemmed from my trying to customize her with the Ugly Christmas Sweater wearable and finding that it wasn't working with her current custom, lol. But I wanted all my pets who weren't Babies to wear Christmas outfits! That particular sweater was the only one left and I had no other pets I wanted to put it on, lol. Well, here she is in all her disgusted and horrified glory! xD [ART HERE]WHAT IS THIS?!Uh, so due to unfamiliarity with how the drawing app that I used worked, I did not realize that I wouldn't be able to resize the canvas, which is something I knew I could do in Photoshop and clearly took for granted. Thus, the awkward cropping at the bottom there, with the result being a shorter mini skirt than I intended and some awkward-looking legs. ^^; It honestly hadn't looked that short before I drew the legs, but like, they needed to be there, as awkward as they look. I didn't want to make her look like she's floating with nothing else there. I know that's practically what a Korbat looks like in this skirt though, lol, but she's got legs, you idiot!* I was essentially planning on finishing up everything else and then, I dunno, merging all the layers so I could move the whole drawing around or resize it (if that was possible) to give more room to draw the rest. But that sounded like too much work, especially since I didn't finish tidying everything up until like 3am today. I wanted a quick background too but didn't know what to do, so...left it as is! Anyway, I tried to emulate the way the existing wearables looked on Neopets, but I really had no idea what I was doing with the shading. The skirt is the one I'm not particularly pleased with (when I was doing warm-up coloring practice, I initially used the watercolor tool or whatever it was, so the transparency actually made the skirt look nicer and didn't distract from the cobweb design, but like...I wanted solid opaque coloring throughout, so I tried this method, which wasn't as successful). There's other things that bother me - the left side of her hair was something I was supposed to fix, but I got lazy. It looks good overall, so meh. I had left the sweater design for last. I'm not very good at designing things and this was supposed to be ugly?? (I knew it didn't have to be, but I was playing around with the idea that my other pets actually designed this sweater for her and well, had a bit too much fun with it, lol.) After too long of procrastinating, I just decided to go with something simple. My mom passed along her love of gingerbread men to me, so have a Jinjah. Also, this does make me wonder how exactly Korbats get their arms through things, what with their wings and all. *I hope you got the reference otherwise I just sounded like a jerk there. OTZ I'm really very proud of how this turned out. I mean, sure, I did put a lot of effort into it, but it somehow just seems to look better than other work I've done. I have a feeling working digitally played a part in that, which I shall explain below! [OVERLONG TALKING HERE]1) I've always felt that digital just had an inherently clean, polished quality to it that lends itself nicely to artwork. Like, you could just draw a single stroke, and it was already fairly pleasing to the eye. And messy sketches also somehow look more cleaned-up and decent than its traditional equivalent. Though some of the difference there I think leads me to my second point!
2) Digital drawings just look better when viewed digitally (especially compared to traditional, which I keep bringing up because I mainly work in traditional mediums, and I'm trying to rationalize why this new digital drawing looks more appealing to me than my previous traditional work, lol). Unless you have great lighting and great photography skills, traditional work can't quite compare when viewed on a digital platform. And I mean, it'll always look better in person. It loses too much in a photo. Except for compression issues and whatnot, you basically lose nothing in a digital work when you're looking at it the same way it was created: digitally. (Sad fact is, I don't often look at my old traditionally rendered work - when I do take another look, it's via a screen 'cause I posted it online. It's just easier access than digging through old sketchbooks/notebooks. So that may play a part in how I feel about my past work compared to this one and why I'm bringing up digital vs traditional when viewed on a screen. Because I'm quite happy when I look at the actual thing in person. :3)
3) Working digitally actually allowed me to be a bit looser in terms of my line work. I wanted to get that nice fluid look, along with the tapering/varying line quality, and it only seemed to happen when I made one broad flourish with the stylus/Pencil. That, and the slippery feel of the screen made me feel like I couldn't just pause midway through a line without creating some unwanted marking. This - single, confident lines/strokes - was always something I struggled with, period. Traditional also makes it easier to get away with multiple overlays of a line, at least when sketching. Inking is a different story. So I think practicing drawing digitally could also help improve my traditional work as well, especially in regards to inking (this bodes well for future Inktobers!), as it's also more forgiving (gotta love that undo function).
My best work was always my initial sketches, where I'd be much looser and didn't worry too much about making mistakes. Once I reached the final line art (which did not happen often, lol), I'd end up putting too much pressure on myself and overworking things in an effort to make it look perfect. It usually ended up looking stiffer and more lifeless than the original sketch, as it would lose a lot of the dynamic quality the sketch possessed.
So the fact that I initially sketched out the expression and pose with a pen on paper and then traced over that sketch digitally and maintained a relatively loose way of drawing benefited this particular piece. I probably also felt less pressure since I knew I wasn't quite used to working digitally, so that allowed for some leeway. Also, because even the "messy" strokes looked nice, I actually could forgive some "mistakes" and didn't bother to correct some of them. (Some of that was also because it was 3AM and I wanted to be done with this. Also, trying to correct or duplicate something you created in one smooth flourish is...not easy.) The less-than-perfect/refined quality about it actually gave it more appeal, which I think is also why sketches are similarly appealing.
4) Uh...I feel like I had more, but I'm starting to get tired of writing this - my poor dry eyes don't want to stare anymore, and my brain says it's done thinking so hard. Here are some pen sketches I'd done to try to figure out some expressions. I ended up using the first ones I did though, but I appreciate the practice. [YES, ART HERE]
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Post by charming thievery on Feb 15, 2020 0:48:06 GMT -5
Happy Valentine’s Day! (It doesn't feel like too long ago since I last wrote that here, lol.) Posting this first via the Tapatalk app so I can upload directly from my iPad (which I used to draw this). [Art]Blurb will come tomorrow, I think. 2.16.20 - Ha, nope, the day after tomorrow. [Words] Also, I just decided to post this on Twitter, and I am kinda on a high right now since it definitely got more recognition there in the past 30 minutes than in several hours/days on IG, lol. Now I'm wondering if I should put this on Tumblr too...I do have a blog dedicated to TFR stuff...Ahhhh, why do I care so much about likes and such nonsense...Dx Anyway...This piece has the honor of being my very first Art Gallery submission! ^^ It's also the first actually completed Brynnso drawing I've done...in the nearly 10 years that these two have existed. OTZ And it took me a year to finally get it colored, haha... Ahem. Well, Valentine's Day cards are always ripe with puns, and this particular commonly-used phrase fit so well with these two! So of course this needed to be made. :3 (As does another one...which I will use for a companion piece eventually so we can enjoy a blushy Hanso this time! xD) So with my line art, I had settled for a simple style (because let's face it, it's gonna be a long time before I can even hope to match the comic's art...so this was my way to avoid seeing how far off I was at getting them to closely resemble themselves). Thus, I felt it called for a simple coloring style as well. I've always loved lineless art and wanted to try it out myself! I'm pretty pleased with the turnout. :3 Also, it's a good thing I can more easily work with digital now because dude...Hanso went through some major revisions in an effort to make him look more like his charming self. Coloring straight from my line art...he looked SO creepy! D: And you know what? I had started this drawing liking Brynn more, but after my edits, I kinda like Hanso better (face-wise!). So yay, I fixed him! Anyway, this has boosted my confidence that I *can* draw both of them and actually have them resemble themselves. I'm still kinda scared though, lol. I guess I just need to stop trying to replicate the comic style and draw in my own style (whatever that is, lol). That's what made drawing my pets easier too. Speaking of which...I was gonna post the panels I'd sketched out for my Sam's Ugly Sweater comic here too, but like...I feel that would be too long. So it shall get its own post, and maybe I'd have sketched more?? Probably not though. Scorchio Day is my priority. (Also, please, someone, tell me to stop trying to make my Scorchio Day idea too ambitious!! I'm literally imagining an animation or a comic with lots of panels...OTZ) And hey, I decided I'm going to create an art petpage for myself since now I do have a decent number of drawings I actually like. ...I'm so sorry. I can't seem to keep these things short, lol...
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Post by charming thievery on Mar 13, 2020 23:32:19 GMT -5
Happy Scorchio Day!! I finally did it! I finally completed the idea I've had since reading DoN Series 2, Mission 4 (probably in 2011-2012) in time to submit it for the Scorchio-themed Art Gallery! :') Ahhh, I can finally not stress out and disappoint myself every time March rolls around...I'm so happy! T'is here! [Placeholder until I upload it from my iPad in a few minutes. Please wait. :3]I can honestly see this happening, lol. Technical comments: Really happy with Torchio's coloring, and pleased with how Lightning Lenny's legs came out once they got colored! You don't know how much I struggled with them...Ugh, I hate drawing legs, and he has such long ones, omg...
Surprisingly I also labored over those candles, as far as color choices went. They were a small but critical part of the piece, and they were getting lost in the background! I alternated between green and purple, and the paper and candle suffered from that indecision. Perhaps I ought to have gone with green anyway since the purple appears too dark. Sigh. Well, that's why I had to use the white pen to outline it, but it makes it look odd when I'm trying to show it being lit by the flames. Oh, well.
This piece also ground my white colored pencil to half its size, and I had just opened this set for this drawing. OTZ I had to use it to obtain certain colors like gray, and then since it resulted in a waxy, blended texture instead of the usual colored pencil one, I used it for everything else too so things didn't stick out too much. Haaaa. Maybe I should use the method of sharpening pencils with a blade...perhaps I wouldn't lose as much that way? But I am uncomfortable with that...>-< Concept & Changes: This idea has gone through a few changes since its conception. Having a Defender use Torchio as a candle lighter has always been the premise, and Lightning Lenny became the obvious candidate for that, even before I'd even read his comic. From his checkers shenanigans in Torchio's comic, he seemed like the type of Neopet who would do something like this, lol. And Torchio is the sarcastic type who finds this unamusing (and the comic kindly provided the perfect reference pose/expression)!
Originally, I had planned to draw Judge Hog holding the cake, with Lightning Lenny holding the candle over Torchio's flames. But I couldn't find a good pose for all of them, and I didn't relish having to draw three Neopets, especially one who was quite buff. (I can't draw nice torsos yet, least of all ripped ones! If I could draw abs, I'd be indulging in lots of hot guy drawings by now, haha.)
Then with the Celebrations and Reunions collab, I considered making this a comic. But I wanted to keep the simplicity of my original idea (and it was always intended to be my first Art Gallery submission), and that was just too much to draw. Somewhere around this time, I also thought about adding the Elasti-Chia superhero (sorry, never read his comic yet, so I don't know his name) to hold up the banner, and Lightning Lenny would be zooming all over the place getting things set up and inflating balloons and releasing them everywhere. But again, too much to draw.
And for this year, once I had decided to drop everyone else and just use Lightning Lenny and Torchio (and make use of LL's powers), then the more ambitious part of me wanted to try making it paper art (always wanted to try it!) and then I wanted to try making it an animation! LL's powers would benefit from that! ...Yeah, no.
Finally settled on this simpler staging. And I actually added a background, terrible as it is! It's a shame the candle loses the focus, as that was the main idea, and I hope Lightning Lenny doesn't steal attention from Torchio, but...for the most part, I'm pretty pleased with the result. Line Art: [PLACEHOLDER]This is the tracing paper version because of course I overworked the original and needed to transfer it to a new sheet of paper in order to color it (messed up tons on the coloring too - the white pencil came in handy for those fixes). But it's easier to see the concept in this simpler, less distracting version. :3 Also, how is it I didn't know my photo editing app had a Whiten feature??? Torchio only (colored): [PLACEHOLDER]I'm just really pleased with how he turned out, okay? I'm sorry, I babbled on again. Read at your own risk, for I do not provide tl;dr's. xD As a final note...I just wanted to say that it would have been cool if this piece actually *had* been my first Art Gallery entry since...the trophy is a Scorchio holding a picture. I almost regret it a bit, but I can't be sad about Brynnso being my first. Besides, I feel everything has its own time, and this was when I was meant to finish this idea. Considering all the changes the idea has gone through, it wouldn't have come out like this if I had worked on it at any other time. Edit: Also won a Tyrannian Petpet Paint Brush from this as well! *o*
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Post by charming thievery on Jun 30, 2020 1:27:58 GMT -5
I normally like to post this stuff in order, so technically my BC entries should come first. But, since my collab entry just came out (so I'm more eager to talk about that right now) and the actual thing is sadly quite blurry, I'll post about my comic first. First, thank you all for even hosting these collabs. I've gotten three submissions into the Times thus far, and it's all because of these amazing themed issues that I wanted to be a part of! ^^ ...I suppose I ought to actually post that in the review thread, lol. Once I start posting some reviews, I will. Anyway...better quality comic version first (I said better not good): Book text is still blurry, but it's at least a little more readable, unlike in the actual site submission. T-T And good Fyora, did I not put a space between "themselves" and "in"? OTZ In my first submission, I'd actually forgotten the "my biggest fan <3" part. Thank Fyora I'd caught it. I mean, I had been planning my review thread post for weeks, and it was based on that one little line. At first, I was debating whether it was worth it to add it back in (it was around 9am after an all-nighter), but then I remembered THE PLAN. And now I'm glad I did, as someone had neomailed me saying they laughed really hard at that bit. I was pleased. :3 This entire thing took the whole month of June basically (some of May too for the planning/idea stage). I mean, sure, it didn't help that the Altador Cup was going on at the same time, and earlier in the month, I was also still finishing my BC entries (and then had to advertise a bit for that week), but considering my process, it was always going to take weeks to complete anyway. I will eventually jot that all down here, so if you're interested to hear about my painstaking process, check back in a few days. But if you're just here to see art, then you're in luck! You've caught me at a time when I want to make this post but don't feel like going into all the details just yet. ^^; The short of it is, especially for the Hanso panels: 1) Pen sketch thumbnail/practice > 2) Painstaking drawing in sketchbook with erasing and reworking > 3) Tracing with tracing paper + graphite paper onto sketchbook with thicker paper ('cause I don't have watercolor paper that I actually like) > 4) Water soluble colored pencil layer > 5) Water layer to smooth out coloring (was like watercolor painting) > 6) Regular colored pencils to add shading + sometimes recolor > 7) Take picture to import to iPad sketch app > 8) Digitally edit and refine details. That for each panel except the doodles. OTZ Panel 1 & 2 My favorite panels. :3 And the ones I took my time with, as I did them early. Panel 3 After digital editing: The multiply blending option was my friend. I hadn't really used it much before, but I'd seen everyone saying that that's how they did their shading. I UNDERSTOOD WHY. It's amazing. :3 But yeah, I used it for the shadow on top of the Hanso drawing. I basically cut out the top part of my traditionally-rendered shadow, pasted it as its own layer with the multiply blending applied, and bam! It looks convincing as a natural shadow over that digitally pasted Hanso drawing. Panel 4 Hoo boy, did I ever rework his face. I couldn't quite capture the cheeky expression I wanted, but after so much erasing and do-overs, now he doesn't even resemble Hanso much. Colored version before digital retouching: After digital editing: Sadly those eyes are creepy regardless. -___- ' Panel 7 Sigh, I liked this sketch SOOOOOO much. I thought I had finally gotten pretty good at drawing Hanso's face. And then the coloring happened, lol. Even digitally remastering it couldn't restore it to its former glory. OTZ Panel 8 I also thought I'd done a good job with this sketch. I drew this and the previous Hanso sketch one after the other. I was really pleased with the result after overworking the dungeon Hanso sketch until it no longer really resembled Hanso. The original colored sketch was posted earlier, so here's the digitally edited version. Last panel Sorry, you can't see much here. By this point, I knew I'd be digitally editing it, so I just let myself go with the mess-ups, lol. Yikes. I never had much appreciation for the skew tool until it did me a solid with those Hanso book covers, lol. Also, to be clear, that's not Brynn up front. It's a Hanso fangirl who's capitalizing on the fact that her crush has a thing for redheaded orange Kougras, lol. xD I didn't know what I should draw for the first person in line, as I knew it wasn't going to be Brynn. She can't be seen approving this book, and besides, Hanso already gave her a signed copy. ALSO, yes. That's me on the far left (but ugh...I hate how I look, lol). Because make no mistake, if this was happening, especially in Neopia Central where my neohome is, Penny Jr. (the baby Bruce up ahead who had no patience to wait for my chit chat) and I would rush over to a Hanso signing any day. Because that's the Magical Bookshop. I was gonna do Brightvale Books until I looked at the shop image and didn't think it captured the look I was going for. You know, from here it looks like I used the actual item image on the sign, but it's actually my drawn version of the book. Enjoy this behind the scenes look at the making of my comic. (But stay tuned for a more in-depth explanation!) Edit (8.29.20): Finally getting around to adding my own commentary to this process...Uh, it's long, so if you don't want to read, then...don't, lol. Oof, I...was really scared to make this comic. It'd be the first time (publicly) writing in Hanso's voice and drawing Hanso in a way that really tried to imitate what he looks like on site, and I didn't think I could do it. Not well, anyway. Not to mention it'd be the first time my work was on display in the review threads. Frankly I was terrified by that as well. ^^; Anyway...I tried really hard to find something else I could do instead, even though when my mind first thought of this book, it offered a glimpse of how I could approach it, which none of the other book ideas I'd considered had. But eventually I succumbed to the fact that this was the best one for me, and here we are. I knew I wanted it to be a comic. I wanted to write as LITTLE as possible, since right now I have more faith in my art-making abilities than I do in my writing skills, even if that breaks my heart a little. I was stumped on what advice I could possibly include in this. I was trying to think of logical solutions and brainstormed for ideas. I even looked up famous escapes from prisons and became quite fascinated with one Jack Sheppard, a real life thief who most notably managed to escape 4 times before finally being executed (by that point in reading about him, I was a little disappointed by that, LOL). My post on the bookkeeping thread (which I had a lot of fun writing, and I even came up with ideas on the fly by doing so) gave me direction and some silly little Hanso-ish bits I could include (including his doodles was one of the more inspired ideas, and no wonder it came about at a time when I was loose and having fun with the idea). Aside from trying to figure out logical ways Hanso might actually escape, I did want to frame it in a comical way. I wanted to emulate the Wiki How style in the How To portions of the comic (that sadly didn't come across as I didn't really have a chance to format it properly like that). My bookkeeping post mentioned offering a tour through the Brightvale dungeons, so I had thought to include a "map" but drawn in a way similar to those maze puzzles for children and then highlight different features of a jail cell/prison as if it were a travel brochure. I still quite like those ideas, so they'd be the ones I'd include in future installments if I decide to continue it. I had other ideas as well. Maybe I'd just do it casually for myself and not really formatted as a comic, as this one kind of burned me. It also made me realize Neopets isn't really kind to traditional media. There's a lot more extra...detail? data? present in a photo of traditional art that translates into a bigger file size, or at least makes it harder to compress without losing quality. Digital has less of a problem with that. Anyway...when I had lamented to my friend about how much pressure I was putting on myself to make this comic AMAZING and that I wasn't sure how to approach the jail escaping methods, she offered me some general suggestions like, "bribe the guard", "distract the guard", "trick the guard", "disguise as the guard". She also phrased it as, (and I'm paraphrasing here) "just come up with some Hanso-like ways to escape". That was VERY helpful, and I realized I was trying to think too specifically and seriously, when this didn't need to be serious at all. You'll notice in my Hanso doodles, I basically used these suggestions. I didn't want to describe it with her exact words, as I felt that would be taking her idea...and giving her credit might be seen as a collab to the editor even though it wasn't. So I tried to think of a comical...*rephrased* description akin to how Hanso describes his stealing, lol. I'm not great with this, so I could only come up with two examples. ^^; (Trying to be funny and clever with this was very difficult! I needed an idea that was simple and easy to depict with stick figures and also something that could be phrased in a less incriminating but ultimately positive and comical way!) Still, I thought that necessitated *some* credit, so I thought of including an Acknowledgments page. But I certainly didn't want to begin the comic like that, so I landed on the Disney storybook opening idea. And that eventually led to the book reading and signing idea. These ideas all came to me fairly late in the process, which probably contributed to why my comic's panels and pacing didn't turn out very well. Late ideas + rushing to finish + BC/ALTADOR CUP/FLUFFADOR CUP/DRAWING/ADVERTISING/FREAKING OUT/BAD SLEEP SCHEDULE/I'M SO SLOW/UGHHHH is an unfortunate combo, I think. ^^; Also, I probably never used to consider such things in comics before (this is quite possibly my second completed comic ever...?), but now I will. I wanted to add more to the Acknowledgments page, but the text wouldn't fit (while still being readable). I wasn't sure about the phrasing anyway, so maybe that was a good thing. It's detailed in the review thread here. The main point was to credit my friend, but as I was putting her in the "Special thanks to my fans" section, I couldn't help adding myself there as well...uh...above her name...^^; By this point, I was certain I was screwing myself over, lol. With the addition of the book signing idea, I had to add in three new art panels, the last of which had SIX characters and a full background. AND it was a large drawing to boot. The AC was in full swing, the official NTWF 2-weeks before deadline was either a few days away or already past...How was I possibly going to finish this?? Fast forward to the night before and morning of the deadline (same time period for me), I was frantically trying to finish up the final touches on panels and put everything together. The app I was using did not handle scaling text well AT ALL, so desperate me hastily downloaded GIMP at like, what? sometime between 4-8am in the morning maybe? and added in the text. Scaling and rotating it also didn't turn out well in GIMP, but it was much better than how my iPad app had handled it. Since I didn't want to transfer it back to my iPad to add in the speech bubbles and non-book text, I just did it with GIMP too. Ugh, big mistake. I prefer hand-drawn speech bubbles and handwritten text (or handwritten font - that's my favorite type~), and I didn't know how to customize the speech bubbles. So I ended up with ugly text. -___- Trying to compress it was frustrating as well. I had to do it several times, especially when I realized I'd forgotten to add in the "Jazan <--- my biggest fan" part. The result made it look awful. It already didn't look great and I wasn't satisfied with how it read...so that just made it worse. Not to mention most of the art, aside from the beginning book opening sequence and the Hanso doodles, make me cringe. I had avoided drawing Hanso and Brynn for soooo long because I didn't think I could do them justice, and when I finally do it, it...it turns out like crap. I hate all my finished Hanso drawings (aside from the book cover, as that was a direct copy with a simpler design). But hey! Now that I've already messed up drawing him, there's nothing stopping me from drawing him now! Surely I can only improve? But uh...after this, and my subsequent Hanso comic, I'm feeling some Hanso fatigue, as I'm not quite satisfied in how I portray him...I've always liked a more measured? (not sure if that's the right word) even? approach in his portrayal, rather than just only emphasizing the charming and humorous aspects. Which I was kind of going ham on with my comics. But I suppose since they're comics...ANYWAY. I do agree with the rushed and confusing pacing and paneling, and after I saw the final result with the horribly ugly textboxes, I hated it. I didn't want anyone to see it; it was so awful. But I'd spent over a month stressing out trying to finish it, so there was no way I wasn't submitting it. And I'd been planning what to write for my review thread posting that I needed to make that post too, even though I honestly didn't want to hear criticism on it, constructive or otherwise. (While it did sting initially and take me some time to address the reviews, they very much did help me with subsequent comic attempts. So thanks very much! ^^) At least I got some nice comments on this comic. My fellow FLUFFians took a look (since I'd been constantly mentioning my art on the boards, lol), and a fellow Hanso fan sent me a neomail about it! I was happy to get to employ another part of my plan - send everyone who'd read it and commented on it a copy of Hansos Guide to Escaping Dungeons with a message from my TFR account (whose name I temporarily changed to "Hanso") that would act as the "signed" portion, as signed copies *were* promised on my review thread post. "To ____, my #1 Fan:
You have excellent taste in books.
- Hanso"
That was inspired by the 2013 April Fool's Day pretend autograph merch item, which I missed because I was taking an ill-timed hiatus. -__- I didn't do this for actual reviews here, as I'd taken so long to reply back and felt sheepish about it (it's now sooooo long ago that that comic was relevant, and I don't want to draw attention to it anymore!), and then was further blocked by a full inventory when I actually tried for the first one. My sheepishness made me reluctant to pursue it further after that. ^^; Sorry if you would have liked it!
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Post by charming thievery on Sept 17, 2020 3:23:03 GMT -5
Oof...I'm really behind in posting art updates here. And I actually have lots of art I've made! Anyway, here are my Period Costume BC entries that should have been posted before the comic if I had maintained chronological order. Otherwise known as - "Can you tell I really wanted to draw humans?" (more relevant after my Brucey pic). Penny Jr.
She won gold! I will have to draw a follow-up image of her proudly holding her trophy sometime. Sporting an American Revolutionary soldier costume, Penny Jr. poses dramatically with a Pull Along Toy Cannon. I meant this to be humorous, as Penny Jr. takes herself quite seriously, unaware that she is often dramatic to the point of being comical and ridiculous. It's hard to take her seriously sometimes. I added the tacky background, text and arrow as a way to further emphasize the comical aspect. It hadn't occurred to me when I first decided this outfit for her, but it's especially fitting because she's my battle pet. x) Penny Jr. had initially been put out when she wasn't given an actual weapon, but she found this Pull Along Toy Cannon to be acceptable. Full image, half-edited/half-unedited (i.e. fixed up certain mess-ups in the drawing but didn't enhance the overall quality of the image). And here's the sketch. I had been considering doing an EXPECTATION vs REALITY drawing here, with the expectation being this really intimidating and fierce-looking Bruce soldier, but I ultimately abandoned that idea due to lack of time and not wanting to draw any more, lol. I believe that idea came to me when I was telling my friend about my Period Costume ideas, and she hadn't realized my Brucey was a baby. xD Blue
He won third place in a fairly competitive Bori week! (Not insanely, but it was more than 5, iirc. Edit: It was 8.) Blue, as a fashionable Victorian gentleman. My favorite of the bunch. It took me...3 attempts at coloring to get here? Attempt #1 - I had used black colored pencil for the outlines and realized what a mistake that was. Attempt #2 - I started on the face and hair and avoided the black pencil this time, when I decided toned paper might work even better for this! Attempt #3 - Well, this was attempt #3. I am super proud of the coloring. I saw old...prints, they might have been? Well, they reminded me of prints, back when I took printmaking classes. Anyway, I saw old Victorian era illustrations and the texture of the shading looked really cool (and they were sepia tone, hence the paper decision). So I decided to emulate it with my own coloring. (Side note: I had considered making this a sepia-toned image, but...I had already colored his hair and face and I wanted to use blue.) I layered several colors using just hatching according to the shape of the form. I was honestly impressed it turned out like that. I will never underestimate shading/coloring strokes ever again. And here's the sketch. MoomooShe also won bronze. I was a *little* disappointed, since there were only 3 Kaus that week, so I basically came in last, but eh. It was during the AC. I wasn't advertising as much as I could've, and the other Kaus were great too. :3 Moomoo is living it up as a 1920s flapper, having a blast dancing the Charleston at all the jazz clubs. She was also going to be colored traditionally, but when I tried...she looked like a green alien from Uncanny Valley. It no longer resembled the sketch, and I was in love with the sketch. Dismayed, I figured my only other option was to color her digitally, and it turned out great! Black and white not only worked for Moomoo, but it fit the time period too. :3 I also got a chance to try lineless coloring with shading this time. Also, let me tell you, art deco jewelry is a pain to try to draw, so please ignore those sad attempts, lol. I also purposely didn't give her hair finger curls. I dunno, I felt like it would be hard to depict among her other facial details, and I still wanted her hairstyle to resemble her usual (it's just shorter for this). I really like how the instruments came out. I obviously omitted a lot of detail, particularly on the sax (it had started out with a lot, and then I got rid of it because it started looking too busy and I didn't want to continue). Her sketch was the hardest to draw, but it's the one I love the most. ^^ I normally prefer to draw my Kaus with hooves, but I couldn't work them in and make them not look weird in this particular hand/wrist pose that I was adamant to include. That is how they held their hands dancing the Charleston! Oh, and while this pose was based primarily on a single image I found, I did spend some time watching videos on how to dance the Charleston, haha. Relevant Ramblings: When I first saw the theme advertised, I definitely was intrigued, though I initially didn't think I'd enter. It was only after telling my friend what I *would* do for it if I actually were to enter that I became invested in the idea, haha. Originally, I had ideas for Cowzer and Sam as well.
Cowzer, I decided, was to be a muse from classical Greece, though initially she was gonna be my '90s girl. Thanks to working on the Re:Creation challenges and pinning down certain characteristics of my Kau, I've come to realize that my Kau would very much favor Altador due to their colors of yellow and orange (her faves!) and the fact that she likes the sun. So dressing her up in ancient Greece attire would actually fit.
Sam, I envisioned as a chic girl from the '50s or '60s, though I also considered a medieval style. Okay, you know what? Now that I actually looked up the origin of goths for Goth Week and learned the connection between Gothic architecture during the Middle Ages, as well as Gothic literature, etc. towards the development of the modern aesthetic, I think a medieval style would have suited Sam best. ^^
^ Also, I apologize if any of the historical stuff is inaccurate. I did *some* research, but as I actually dislike researching things, I can't say it was super in-depth.
Still, I did enjoy looking up fashions for those periods, and it did put me in the mood for some historical fiction. So one of my advertising boards was asking for historical fiction recs. :3 With the libraries closed, I suppose it might be a bit harder to actually check out the recommendations I received, but I guess I can look into audiobooks?
Oh, and why I chose the time periods I did? I guess I wanted to choose eras that had an easily recognizable fashion (like if I, being rather ignorant of historical periods, could recognize it, then it was "easily recognizable") and were also periods I was personally interested in.
I really adore the Victorian look, especially the neck pieces on men and the waistcoats, (so like, that's another element of Tale of Woe that I appreciate, lol), so that was an obvious choice for Blue. He also seemed to have a fitting personality for a Victorian gentleman as well. I wanted to draw male fashion not only because I especially liked it, but also...HECK NO am I drawing those super detailed gowns that the upperclass women wore, omg.
When I think of period fashions, I also immediately think of 1920s flappers, and their fun, independent, and rebellious image fit with my fun-loving Kau's personality. ^^ Also, that style is really familiar to people, though I admit, I probably referenced their daytime attire more than their jazz/night club/dancing attire.
The period leading up to the American Revolution is my favorite historical time period thanks to Johnny Tremain. I don't actually know all that much about it, except what was covered in history books in school, but I think I can still say it's my favorite? I get the most excited learning about it in any case. I don't know why I initially chose Penny Jr. for it, but she just seemed to fit it the most, lol. But now that I remember she's my BD pet, it is quite fitting. ^^
Anyhow...I definitely was the most invested for this theme. 5 ideas, and 3 pets actually entered? Whoaaa... And because I had the Altador Cup and Neo Lit comic looming over me, I started on these about a month in advance (maybe a little earlier).
While I disliked that so many things were taking place at the same time, I have to say I did enjoy the fact that the advertising week took place during the AC. While that did mean I wasn't advertising a lot on the Art Chat (though one of my fellow FLUFFians helped bump for me while I was uh...sleeping in the afternoon, 'cause that was when I had a lousy sleep schedule which is actually repeating NOW), it did mean a lot of my fellow FLUFF members would see my siggy, as I'm a prominent poster on the FLUFF board.
Oh, yeah, and I know my Bori and Kau have particularly human-like poses. I think when I'm referencing things like clothes, I often end up drawing it as close to the reference as possible, but I probably also have a hard time adapting them to animal-like proportions.
Uhhh...do I have anything else to add to this?
Edit (9.19.20): Yes, I do! I wanted to say that these drawings 1) made me realize I need to stop drawing lineart on binder paper 'cause now they actually come out good, and 2) gave me more confidence in my art. :3
Well, I pretty much only seem to enter the BC during theme weeks, but I may break it next week. I mean, I suppose Goth Week is continuing with some late entries, but...with the upcoming Faerie Festival, it's also going to be the 10th anniversary of when TFR started. IT'S BEEN 10 YEARS SINCE THAT AMAZING PLOT BEGAN OMG. So I want to enter something in every contest (if I can) throughout the year to celebrate the plot. Starting with the Customization Spotlight! I entered my two pets on charming that had relevant petrified faeries in the custom. ^^ It's actually quite fitting that I finally started submitting TFR art and stuff the year it turns 10 years old! I mean, I wish I'd done it sooner, but oh, well. I treat these art threads like it's a diary entry, huh? ^^;
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Post by charming thievery on Oct 20, 2020 15:26:52 GMT -5
October (due to Inktober) is usually my most productive month art-wise, but interestingly, that's not the case this year. Kind of funny that the year I'm putting out a lot of art is the year I'm hardly doing much for October prompts, haha. Especially since I'm doing Neotober, which is only 6 prompts for the whole month? But that could be a part of it too...With such a big gap between prompts, you lose the momentum, while also having time and incentive to want to build up each piece to be something really good (until it becomes too big). Whereas the daily challenge meant it was best to do something quick and small ideally. In addition, I always needed Inktober to wake me from my art hibernation, and this year, I don't need that prodding. Andddd I just had a lot of stuff to finish by the time October 1st rolled around, so I started off behind already. That's no good for motivation, lol. ANYWAY. Enough of my blathering! On to the art! Well, as I've already thrown chronology out the window, I'm just gonna post things as a group of related work (plus, if I tried to post in chronological order, I feel like I might just make one post per drawing, and I've actually finished quite a few things since my last posts. So that would take too long). First is the stuff I did for RE:Creation! Drew this for challenge 2 (Day 6 - Key Interests): I was really proud of the cute stylized look I managed to do! I was drawing really loosely and quite enjoying the pen tool, haha. Also initially drawn for challenge 2 but officially used & submitted for challenge 7 (Day 20 - Expressions): Again drawn very loosely. Probably these two works are the only times my linework actually looks good. T-T Drawn for challenge 7 (Day 19 - Char Ref Image): Front view is really stiff, I know. Oh, so I did include the beauty mark, lol. I'm still on the fence if I want that as part of her design, even if I do use it in her custom. My fave reference image. Oof, this one was really challenging 'cause I am not to great with profiles (and hence why it's on binder paper, lol. Didn't mean for it to be the actual final). I thought I did a good job though. Refused to draw a back view, lol. More buttons!!! (Challenge 10, Day 28 - Linkback) When I saw that procuring or making a button was one of the challenges, I was SO happy I'd learned how to make one earlier on. What great timing, amirite? I think I made the button image too sharp though. OTZ Lastly, art for other people in the workshop. (Challenge 20 - Day 58 - Fanart) Uh...did I actually do a better job for someone else's pet than for my own??? Anyway, this is Elegy's Bori miner/social climber character. Based on a scene from her origin story. (I did ask if I could post this art here, but not sure if she's okay with me mentioning a username. So I'll err on the side of caution.) Admittedly, I hadn't actually wanted to do any fanart, so I was dreading this challenge. I only like drawing what I want, especially since it takes so much time and effort! But, after reading through her page, I got really invested in her character and found myself already thinking of what kind of fanart I should draw. ...And I ended up drawing two things for her, lol. A human!! I haven't drawn an actual human in months! LOL. But ah, yeah. Bori are NOT easy for me to draw, so I had asked if it was okay to draw her as a human if I could not make the Bori thing work. It was not going well, so for funsies, I decided to see how much easier and better a human version would be over my sad Bori attempts. This is one of the results, and I liked it so much, I decided to go with it. I felt bad that I wasn't depicting her character as the Neopet she actually was, so the Bori miner pic came afterward (and I tried REALLY HARD to make the Bori thing work, and I think I can say I succeeded), but yeah. While I knew I wanted to draw that origin scene, this elegant faux-elite is the version of herself that her character actually wants to be seen as, y'know? I thought it was important to capture that in something that's supposed to be fanart. But I couldn't just let go of my other ideas (and glamorous Bori I knew was definitely not happening, lol), so I was like...why not both? xD Aside from the outer outline, the lines in the human drawing were my original pencil lines that I just extracted via Medibang. :3 The Bori drawing allowed me to experiment with trying to do a more painterly style, and I really like the looseness! I've already done some drawings of my own pets with this coloring style. Human drawing I was playing around with gradients. They're fun! But I've noticed a more skillful way of coloring where there's a gradient effect (e.g. TFR), but I have no idea how that's done?
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Post by charming thievery on Nov 29, 2020 3:37:14 GMT -5
All right! Now that I've finally fixed and photographed one of my pieces, I can make this post! Here are my next batch of BC entries, all of which I started or worked on primarily after midnight right before the contest started. OTZ Goth Week - Sam (9.11.20) Sam is not amused.Mediums: India ink & brush, acrylic paint, (erasable) markers, digital retouching How could I not enter my goth girl into such a fitting theme week? And she upgraded her silver to gold. :3 I was pretty stumped on what to do for this, hence the major procrastination. I looked up information about goths for inspiration, but I'm not sure if that really helped much (though what I learned was interesting!). Eventually I settled on using an old expression sketch I'd done much earlier - when I was figuring out her Ugly Sweater entry actually - and incorporated her custom into the piece.
If I remember correctly, I think I chose ink because I wanted to try out the "comic book" style of inking/shading with the harsh contrast and black shadows. I really like the effect, though my anatomy and lighting knowledge needs work. I'd love to do more in this style (and I tried with Inktober, but it came out differently), so I guess I ought to study lighting and form further. Also - India ink is so black! I love it. xD
Once I started inking her face (with a brush, omg), I immediately felt like I'd messed up. But, to try to keep myself from feeling like a failure, I told myself that I didn't need to enter this; I could just use this as an experiment since these weren't mediums I used often. So I kept going and eventually I actually ended up with something I liked!
Thank God for digital though, otherwise her face would have been ruined. White paint can only fix so much, especially when the lumpiness of it was the problem! OTZ It otherwise looks quite nice in person, I think, except my eyes instantly zoom in on the mistake and I can't enjoy it as much. ^^; TFR 10th Anniversary - Penny Jr. (9.18.20) Penny Jr. mourning the poor stone pie.(In remembrance of that fateful Faerie Festival and the ill-fated stone pie. Happy 10 years, TFR!)I belatedly decided to do something for TFR's 10th anniversary, which was this year's Faerie Festival on September 20th (and coming up fast at the time). I wasn't sure if I had any good ideas for it to submit to the AG, but then this one came to mind, and it was a pretty unique and character-oriented take that I had to do it, even though I had hardly given myself any time at all! I settled on colored pencils because I do my best with them, and they'd be quick for something so last minute.
Penny Jr. loves food and eating best of all and would cry buckets to see the petrified state of this poor pie that she would have wanted to eat. What a loss and such a shame!! Dx She'd have definitely joined the PPL (Petrified Pie Liberators), which is actually what inspired this idea. I wasn't around at the time, nor did I frequent the boards when I finally did rediscover Neopets in Dec. 2010, but having scoured the Neopian Times for TFR submissions, I had of course learned about the hilarious Save the Pie campaign.
Anyway, this contest happened to be back-to-back with Goth Week, and since I didn't relish having to advertise *again*, I figured I'd take it easy this time round. Penny Jr. already had a gold trophy. ...But... Penny Jr. was immensely proud of that gold trophy and there were 5 Bruce entrants! And this was to honor The Faeries' Ruin!!
I ended up advertising the most I ever had. I made my Art Chat thread, which was helped bumped by a fellow TFR fan; I posted on other people's boards more than I usually did (and later the surge of Caption Contest entrants making voting boards really helped, lol); I made a thread on the Premium boards; I made a "Junk Swap" board on the NCC; I opened a FQC (gifted by a Team FL member and which I'd been saving...TFR's anniversary seemed a good time, considering the faerie quest event was a result of the plot) so I could post on the Premium quest board every day; I made sure to post a bit on the RE:C board on the PC; and of course I posted on my home base: the FLUFF boards.
Not only did Penny Jr. win gold in species, she won 5th overall. I was shocked. Never will I underestimate what advertising can do. OTZ But anyway, I'd say that was a nice tribute to TFR!
Of course, when I saw people mentioning how there hadn't been any TFR entries in the AG, I wish I'd done something for that as well (and I'm already missing my November entry deadlines...SO many Random Days and Xweetok Day...but as with anything TFR, I get too ambitious, lol). I mean, an Art Gallery submission would be there FOREVER, unlike my BC entry. Oh, well, I'd had fun coming up with different board names and I could talk about TFR with people who came to my board. ^^ Cosmic Week - Binky (10.2.20) Binky loves gazing at the stars.Mediums: watercolor, acrylic, cardstock (paper art) I hadn't ever really planned on drawing Binky or entering her in the BC. But for the Cosmic theme, considering it was to comprise ALL the creative contests (and it was fun seeing it happen!), I felt I needed to participate somehow! Since Binky has a stargazing custom, she was the obvious choice, and I quickly decided that I wanted to try a beautiful watercolor sky.
I am not experienced with watercolor though, so I was apprehensive and probably put it off a little. But around this time I was also trying to finish up the last things for RE:C, which I hadn't finished until Oct. 1st, so okay, that's why I only had one day to start and finish this. I began at 2am Oct. 2nd, the morning of the contest.
As this was the third time I had started and finished a last-minute BC entry (and my sleep schedule continued to elude normal waking hours), I suppose I knew I'd be okay. I mean, that must have been the reason, otherwise I don't know WHY I then decided that HEY! This would be a perfect time to try paper art! Two things I was inexperienced with and had to scramble a bit to locate my supplies, and I decided a piece I was starting at 2am was the perfect time to try them both. OTZ
But hey, it worked out well. I found a small sheet of watercolor paper from a how-to-do-watercolor kit, panicked a little when I discovered the included tiny tubes were dried out, frantically searched for and luckily located another watercolor set, and set to work practicing several times to create a nice wash.
I first tried to find the cardstock my sis had previously lent me, just to make sure I had it before she went to sleep and I couldn't ask to borrow more. I did, and after I'd finished the watercolor step, I proceeded to make a quick sketch of my baby Kau, and traced all the individual pieces onto the cardstock and cut them out. Then I painted them with acrylic and layered them on.
I couldn't get a good picture, so I ended up digitally coloring the paper with white (the image here isn't the one I submitted since I'd noticed lots of mistakes - forgot to color her cheek and didn't thoroughly color over the paper during the digital retouching. This is why you don't rush entries! But anyway...Since I was able to get good lighting, I didn't digitally edit it this time). This made a lot of people seeing my entry think it was digital, instead of a traditional entry, unless they happened to look at my petpage and saw the process steps I included on there.
Binky ended up with her first trophy - and a gold one at that - and I have a piece I'm still happy to look at. ^^ Process pictures: The various pieces. It took several practice tries to get here. *o* First layer: Binky Second layer: Scarf Third layer: Ear Fourth layer: Hat ♫ Put them together and what have you got? Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo ♫ I assembled these simply for process pictures. That's why some of them are out of order in terms of finished states. Oh, God. Maybe I shouldn't group my art anymore. I write too much for each, which takes a while and means I'm staring at the screen for a few hours. My eyes hurt, but I'm afraid to leave everything I’ve written open and unpublished lest I lose it, and I don't want to post it unfinished.
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Post by charming thievery on Dec 20, 2020 7:29:49 GMT -5
Still have a massive backlog and I wish I could post these according to relevant seasons and holidays, but too late for that, haha. One of the themed prompts I did in October was School Days/Daze, and I made a lot of drawings for that. Well, several are still in the rough pen sketch phase that I haven't even penciled, least of all colored , so I won't be posting those. One day I will color them though! Then I can post them on my pets' pages. School Days/Daze Intro Image - Classroom I really wish the chalkboard banner was colored at least so you can see the erased "Days", but I don't want to have this half-colored. I also don't want to deal with coloring this yet either though - I'm not sure I want it digitally rendered, so that leaves traditional. I want to keep the pencil drawing, so that means tracing everything, but omg, this is a lot to have to trace. OTZ Anyway, that's Cowzer up front furiously taking notes; Penny Jr. eating her "first lunch" (second lunch would be actual lunch time in the cafeteria); Blue dutifully listening to the lecture and jotting down important details; Moomoo fast asleep in the back; and Sam boredly staring out the window. I feel like this nicely captures how my pets feel about school and further develops their personalities a bit. ^^ School PicturesI wanted to capture a lot of the school experience, and since I was including sections for each of my pets, I thought of giving them school photos! Cowzer First up is Cowzer, the pet who is most enthusiastic about school! She's cute and sweet and would make sure to have a nice smile for her picture. ^^ I also entered this into the BC for what was originally scheduled to be a Back to School theme week. I'd been so excited when I saw it, as Cowzer LOVES school, and she hadn't yet had her chance in the Beauty Contest. This was also back when I only entered for theme weeks because I otherwise didn't draw my pets much, so it was a big deal and PERFECT! Alas, the theme changed, but I still entered her that week anyway. This originally was just Cowzer herself as a transparent .png, and I'd found a school picture backdrop image that I coded behind her. However, when I entered her for the BC, I used the image as a reference and experimented with several brushes in order to create my own convincing school backdrop. I think I did a good job on that, and I am still very proud of the result, haha. Anyway, she placed second for her first BC outing. :3 Sam I think Sam was my favorite drawing. She seemed like the type who wouldn't bother smiling for a school picture, so she isn't. Because I liked it so much, I also entered this into the BC. It convinced me that I probably would enter the BC whenever I had a new drawing of my pet, lol. So I guess I probably haven't escaped from its clutches...And advertising isn't something I can avoid either, as I always want to earn a trophy for each drawing I submit, lol. It just makes it more worthwhile. Anyhow, Sam won gold and was also once more told that she looked like Mavis from Hotel Transylvania, haha. I suppose a goth Korbat based on her is more fitting than Sam Manson from Danny Phantom, but I never fangirled over Mavis, y'know? I dig her design and stuff but I LOVED DP. Moomoo I feel like there's always a danger with Moomoo in making her look a bit like an uncanny valley alien, and I fear this is one example of that. Still, I do think I did a nice job with her coloring, especially on her sweater, so I'm showing her next (yes, I like the pictures of my next two pets even less, lol). I realize I probably should have had her hoof in front of that strand of hair though. Anyhow, continuing with the school experience thing, I thought, hey, retakes are a thing! I should include that! And my goofy, exuberant green Kau seemed like the type to mess up her school photo, lol. So the camera captured her as she was about to sneeze. xD Bonus sketches: I originally wasn't going to post these here, as I'd probably have to edit this post later on when I finally finished it so I could replace this sketch with the completed version. But I figure that might be a while, so here 'tis. Moomoo is often very bored in class and spends the period either doodling, passing notes, or sleeping (or all three). But her grades do suffer ("suffer" - when I decided on her report card - because, yes, that was another school experience that I needed to include in this prompt! - I couldn't bring myself to give her anything lower than a B-, lol. Realistically, I'm sure she gets some C's though), so she was trying to pay attention in class! Even drawing herself a little note/doodle to remind herself not to fall asleep! ...She did not succeed however. ^^; This is also a glimpse into my process, I guess? I jot down my ideas as rough pen sketches in a cheap lined notebook first. It's a way to practice a pose I'm having trouble with as well as figuring out composition. Once I started drawing more, I required fewer practice drawings and noticed I'd be able to draw much faster and with more satisfactory results. :3 It's neat that I managed to incorporate this step as a valuable part of my process. At the beginning of this thread, which I will claim as the start of this recent period of productivity and improvement in my drawing journey, this used to be the only way I could draw - with a pen on notebook paper. I avoided pencil drawings because I was so frustrated with the constant erasing I would do. I used to think I had to get it perfect the first and only time I would start a drawing - no planning or practice was done prior. That was a lot of pressure, so I would only ever draw with pen in my cheap notebooks, as there wasn't any pressure in it. I thought this inability to make anything but rough pen drawings was a bad thing. But somewhere along the way, I realized that what I thought was like, some psychological crutch or something that I needed to overcome was actually a necessary and useful part of the process. Once I embraced that, art and drawing was actually fun again, and quicker and easier than before! So now I happily have a collection of cheap notebooks that I sketch freely in with pen! I don't care how good or bad the sketches are, because if they're bad, I'll just try again to improve the idea! I feel like I've come a long way. :') Penny Jr. Photographer: Uh, kid, you wanna set the muffin down first? Penny Jr.: *shakes head while munching on muffin*Photographer: O-kay. Do you want the muffin in the picture? Penny Jr.: *nods and munches on muffin*I feel like the proportions on her face/head are rather sloppily done - can you tell I was getting rather tired and impatient drawing this? I seem to recall drawing it in a bit of a hurry. The pen sketch I traced this with was likely pretty rough too. Anyway, the main thing you need to know about Penny Jr. is that she loves to eat, lol. She is a Brucey of few words, though perhaps that's because she's usually busy stuffing her face. x) Blue Oof. Ah, Blue, Blue, Blue. I think I've mentioned before that I find Bori quite difficult to draw? Yeah. Doesn't help when I kind of rush a Bori drawing either, lol. I feel like I'll never be able to depict him as well as I did the first time I ever drew him, which was the Victorian gentleman/Period Costume BC entry. D: Anyway, Blue is calm and mild-mannered, so I felt his school picture would involve a nice, easy-going smile.
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Post by charming thievery on Sept 29, 2021 6:10:19 GMT -5
Oops, it's been way too long. Uhh...what haven't I posted yet...? ^^; Okay, random art dump then! (I don't think I rambled *too* much this time, so you're in luck! It's probably been too long, lol.) Ayyyy, it's my Neosona! xD I drew this for my portfolio page and then ended up using it as my profile pic on my social media art accounts. It's great because I can remove the Aisha ears and it'll just be normal human me! Of course, since I feel like I still primarily post/draw Neopets stuff, I haven't felt the need to do that yet. ^^; But I'm on my way to actually drawing fanart of my favorite animated movies/cartoons, which is something I've wanted to do for over 10 years now! x'D This was my entry for the last Random Contest back in January, I think? The one where we were prompted to draw wearables for hobbies. Eating is Penny Jr.'s main hobby, and I WANT BABY PETS TO HAVE DESSERT HANDHELDS SO BADLY. Then my Brucey can finally eat 24/7 the way she wants to. :3 (She currently enjoys waving her bubble wand around though, so I can't complain too much.) Does this background look familiar? Why, that's because I pretty much aped the New Years in Neopia Central background. Perhaps that's also why this didn't get selected, lol. I think I wanted to wait to add this to a TFR-themed post, but meh. The other related drawings fit in different groupings, and this has waited long enough. Anyway, I drew this for the NeoCreation Week - Toys. I was so proud. Even though this was the only category I participated in, I was just relieved and happy I got something in for it. It really helped that they gave more than one day to enter stuff per prompt, unlike the previous year they'd done it. So yeah. Hanso action figure. There was supposed to be a matching Brynn one (and hey, why not a matching Xandra to complete the set? xD), but she needed a cooler action-y pose, and I can't do poses, sooooo...that didn't actually happen. But hey. My latest TFR drawing (that I haven't posted because I wanted to make some tweaks but lost interest in that along the way) has some action-y poses that I could translate into Brynn and Xandra action figures. :3 I probably won't anytime soon because ughhh but the idea is still in my head. TNT, just release irl action figures, please. Oh, wait, release on-site versions too. x) And like, just ANY TFR merch?? (Also, what the heck happened to the rendering on this image??? It's so...artifact-y. D: Also, the unevenness of the stand still bugs me. Did I ever fix it when I reposted it on one of my art accounts?) I'm ready for Inktober/Neotober/October prompts! This year, I pretty much stopped drawing after MerMay, so I could really use the motivation boost that October prompts usually bring. I also have a lot of unfinished Halloween pieces I'd love to finally complete, so hopefully I can actually get around to those as well. Since apparently I've never reposted my past Inktober/Neotober drawings on my art thread here, I will do so now. Even though the 2019 ones make me cringe. We're gonna hide those under many spoiler tags, lol. 2020 October Prompts Neotober 2020 - Day 5 - Tomb This was the absolute perfect prompt for Nox Memorial Day during TFR's 20th anniversary year. It was featured on Neopets' IG story and retweeted on their Twitter, thus earning me the most retweets/likes any of my art posted there has ever received. :') ...Oh, I see. I decided to be brief when I posted these on the Artober 2020 thread. Well then! Let me elaborate on this! This was done on a small square piece of black paper with colored pencils. How it appears on screen here is probably around the size of the actual thing irl (maybe slightly smaller). I'm *pretty* proud of this. :3 Right! And this was based on the 2011 Advent Calendar animation, the first of what is now an annual Nox and MAGAX tradition. Inktober - Day 11: Disgusting Anyway, this here is Sam making a disgusted expression. Or it's *supposed* to look disgusted; it could have been pushed further to be more expressive. Oh, well. She still cute. It's just her ears I cringe over. The messy ink stains there look like blood, not to mention the shape of the ears is completely unKorbat-y. Ew. D: I think I've since learned how to draw Korbat ears, but def not my favorite thing to draw. Nope. Artober 2020 thread, page 3Neotober Days 11-15: Fangs And here's my silly Kau, Moomoo, showing Sam her new fangs. xD I should probably color this. But hey, look, I drew nicer Korbat ears. Artober 2020 thread, page 4
Annnddd, sadly that was all I did for 2020 because I got caught up trying to draw complicated things. Like this was supposed to be for Neotober - Days 6-10: Lightning, but...I had no idea what to do for the background, and I just gave up. I did attempt to color this digitally, thinking I could more easily fudge the background that way, but I ended up not liking how it was turning out. For this prompt, I wanted to be unique! A flash of lightning? No! ...Lightning Lenny? Better, but still no! (I probably also didn't want to draw him again, lol.) A baby Lenny trick-or-treating *as* Lightning Lenny? YES! Yeah, this is one of those drawings I mentioned that I wanted to complete this October. We'll see. I still don't know what to do about the background, ha. Oh, but if I do, I could probably try to get it in for the Halloween Art Gallery. Hmm. 2019 Inktober - ew, don't look. Inktober 2019 thread, page 4Oh, look, it's my Neosona again. I really like the Babaa (based off my fave Pink Babaa Plushie), but ugh, the whole thing is so messy, lol. Penny Jr. taking revenge on Boochi in the battledome. It looked better as a pencil sketch, which is now lost since I inked it. See, it's mediocre results like this that have led me to trace pencil sketches to another sheet and then ink and color that instead. It often loses some of the appeal doing that though since I can't trace the lines perfectly. :/ Omg, I tried so hard with this one. But her pose is still whack. I thought it was a good concept though. It's my air faerie OC, Alaina (which I still think works better as a light faerie name, but oh, well), who's homesick for floating Faerieland and has never quite gotten used to its grounded state. If I were a better designer, especially of clothes, she'd be wearing something different. I think her hair would be short now too. Items seen here: Faerieland Building Blocks and Cloud Rug. Inktober 2019 thread, page 5Turned it into a lame, low-effort magazine cover, lol. Please, avert your eyes from my shame. You know how I said I now trace my lineart onto a new sheet of paper but it doesn't turn out as nice? Yeah, this is a prime example. I posted this previously, but this is the original pen drawing. See how far the Inktober one has fallen compared to this one. Okay, I was attempting to do simpler things after getting burnt out by the previous days' efforts, but like...what is this. I dunno, lol. I still think it's cute, but I have no words. xD But yeah, it's a Blobikins trying to be punny. Okay, so that's actually soot, but close enough. x') I did more interesting things with this one, but it's still not something I want to proudly show off. ^^; I think for this Inktober/Neotober/October, I'm gonna just do simple things. Simple so I can focus on certain inking techniques instead. :3 So I was thinking Neopets items! Specifically spooky-cute stuff. I've already made a list on JN for potential contenders. We'll see how that goes. I also have a bunch of pencil sketches that could use inking, so maybe this could be the time I finally get those done too. xD Hopefully my next post will finally be the TFR pic I had been so proud of, ha. If you really want to see it though, it's in AG 3027.
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Post by charming thievery on Apr 2, 2022 0:53:29 GMT -5
Long time, no art. Hey, hey! After about a year of procrastinating, I finally got around to finishing the last of the edits I made to this! [My usual rambling]: It's interesting how time and distance can change your feelings about something. When I first was working on this, I was SO PROUD. I thought it looked really close to the official style. Now that I look at it again... I see that I still have a long way to go, haha. xD That'll be a long-term goal I guess. Anyway, this made it into the Art Gallery for the Heroes and Villains theme. Would it be arrogant to say that I was so confident in this piece that I not only expected it to make it into the AG, but also felt it could be the one featured in the news? I dunno, at the time I felt it was my best work yet, so if this one didn't get featured (or Fyora forbid make it into the AG), then nothing else I would ever make would. Plus, my logical side reasoned that it included both heroes AND a villain, so it basically captured the entirety of the theme in one image. Thus, that gave it a good chance to be chosen. :3 Kikocat usually posts the new AG pages on the Art Chat fairly early before the news goes up, so I didn't have to wait long to feel relief and elation that my piece was selected! And then later I found out that it was indeed featured on the news! It even took up the whole space, which I think is not usually the norm? (Probably would've been too small otherwise.) It's a good thing I journaled about how proud I was of this piece when I still felt it because now I'm like...meh. xD I still like it and think it's one of my better pieces but mostly in regards to scale/ambitiousness rather than technical proficiency. I look at it now and mostly see areas I need to improve in. ^^; Oh, well. I'm glad I made something that feels like a proper tribute to this amazing plot that I love so much! ^^ I originally had this idea as part of my TFR 10th Anniversary celebration, since I wanted to do something WORTHY of this momentous occasion! My plan for that did not end up happening though since I am a major procrastinator, but when Kikocat announced the Heroes and Villains theme, I was like, THIS IS MY CHANCE. This is the perfect theme for this piece and I told myself, if you don't make it for this gallery, then this idea might never be realized ever. I'm so glad I made it. :3
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Post by erroro on Apr 20, 2022 11:45:48 GMT -5
Your art! IS SO GOOD!!! Gosh I wish I was as eloquent as everyone else but I've just gone through every piece in this thread and I love everything!!! I'm hope I'm not toooo biased when I say I think your latest piece for the Faeries' Ruin is my favourite. You're right, it really does fit the theme, and ahhh Xandra looks so good! As much as I like crazy Xandra, I appreciate that you didn't make her look too crazy? Weird compliment, I know. But surpising myself, I think I like Brynn the most in this, she just looks so good and I love how you drew her hair!
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Post by charming thievery on Jun 4, 2022 2:01:38 GMT -5
It's Altador Cup time! And so I bring you - Team Faerieland-themed adoptables! So last year I'd gotten the idea to make a customizable adoptable system based on the Disney emoji maker, but for Team Faerieland. I got as far as making a Brucey base and drew backdrops (cloud, net, logo, colors) and trinkets (muffin, slushie, flag, faerie yooyuball). This year I finished enough pet bases to share (Bruce, Kacheek, Aisha, Usul, Xweetok) and finally was able to debut it on my Team FL petpage The FLUFF Guide! I'm pretty proud of how they turned out. :3 They're even cuter than my initial sketches were, and I can never get tired of looking at the yellow Kacheek. It's so adorable! (if I do say so myself, lol.) Not nearly finished with my plans for them, but I won't be adding any more while the AC goes on. I have enough to prepare as it is! Original Brucey design: This was the original Bruce I had drawn last year. I tweaked it this year and think it's much improved now. But this one's based on the baby Bruce. Yellow Kacheek, Grey Usul Bigger than the next few, so I'm keeping them in separate spoiler tags. White Aisha, Pink Bruce, Faerie Xwee, Red Xwee, Green Usul So I coded my page so that people could visit and choose which designs they want in a kind of assembly line fashion. You first start with the backdrop, then the Neopet, then the trinket. Copy/paste the image codes in the specified sections of the provided code textbox, select all of that now finished code and voila! Copy/paste that where you want and you have a cute customized adoptable (it's transparent on the actual thing). I thought it was pretty clever, hehe. The coding technique was inspired by SunnyNeo's codes because some of their graphics are weirdly blocked on Neopets if you use the regular image tags, so they found a workaround that involves setting the image as the background of a div tag. So I based my code on both that concept and nested divs. :3 My Faerieland victory items! These two happened because I frequently search for muffins and trophies to give out to my fellow Team FL'ers and well...I'd always see and be envious of the fact that both Maraqua and Terror Mountain got their own themed muffin and trophy, respectively. How lucky for them! I wish Faerieland had the same! They would make perfect gifts/prizes! T-T So I took it upon myself to create my own. Initially I intended to code and share them as Fake Items with the option to use them as regular sized adoptables, but now I'm not so sure about the fake item idea. I don't know if that's okay to have in your shop, and when I tested it, it's positioned directly above a searched item in your shop, so I could see that getting really confusing. ^^; Faerieland Victory Muffins Oh, crap, did I choose the light blue background instead of the white? Anyway, this was based off the Maraqua Victory Mini Muffins item. I'm pretty pleased with the color and design scheme. :3 And if you're curious, I mean for these muffins to be strawberry, banana, and chocolate. Faerieland [Victory] Trophy This one's based on Terror Mountain Altador Cup Cup. It looked a lot more like cotton candy before I made some tweaks (and maybe still does) but it's supposed to be fluffy pink cloud. And of course I used the old logo. So I'm gonna debut these on my page upon Faerieland's first win of the season. Not match win (who knows how long that would take, lol) but a win in any of the four games. So hopefully we don't get swept the first day (or first few days, ha...But I think we usually can take at least one game if we're not up against an absolute powerhouse team). So yeah, if you're supporting Faerieland this year, I hope you'll enjoy using these! ^^ On an unrelated note, I found out about a new prompt called #JuneToon, and I WANT TO PARTICIPATE. I love the name and the concept (draw my favorite cartoons? YES PLEASE) but why must it occur during Altador Cup season when I will be devoting all my time to supporting my team?? This year's daily prompts don't really inspire many ideas, but looking through to see what others have done already, I see people have drawn Zuko for "burn"?? I have been meaning to draw him, and this would be a good excuse to. Ahhhhhh! We'll see if I can squeeze in at least one drawing.
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Post by charming thievery on Oct 1, 2023 23:51:31 GMT -5
Okay, it's been a while since I last posted (or drew, really). I was gonna wait until I was finished with a certain batch of drawings since they're all related, but I didn't know how long that would take, and I wanted some place to SQUEE over seeing all the fun new prompt/seasonal drawings that are appearing on my art IG and making me feel inspired. For once, I completely forgot about October = prompt month and thus, I'd already be starting behind. OTZ Not great for motivation, but I have some ideas/projects to complete first anyway. But I hope I have time! I've been trying to be a little more organized the past few days by writing out an outstanding list of to-dos, which includes art stuff, and it's been helping. Well, I joined a new art guild/discord and its first event was to draw each other's characters. And it's thanks to this that I started drawing again. I basically wanted art of Blue, but it's like, how could I submit Blue as a character if I wasn't going to contribute? So by entering Blue, I was committing to making art. It took me about two weeks until I finally got around to it, but I did! And I actually rather like the results. :3 Plushie Burlap Kau So a guild member was sharing art they'd done from tracing some Neopets images and said it helped with like muscle memory and they felt less stress making art doing this. I thought this was a great idea and decided to try it for the first pet I drew to get myself going. (Plus the art ref was SO good, and I'm horrible at coming up with poses on my own. So doing this saved me the stress of that.) I traced over this cutie, but subbed in yarn because the pet's name was a pun involving yarn. My initial lines were a bit rigid? The pose didn't look very smooth, so I decided to go with the thicker/smoother brush and for some of the areas freehanded some of the lines to flow better. Once I was done with this (it took forever. Apparently tracing cannot stop me from obsessing over little details to get "perfect". Also, I will never draw yarn again), I was rather impressed with the result. It actually looks pretty clean and polished??? *I* drew this?? Are you sure?? Custom Faerie Aisha Adopt If I was actually going to manage to draw other people's pets at one time (and more than one), I was going to have to make this easier for myself. So! I decided to use one of my already made adopts for an Aisha that had a unique design. Since my Faerieland themed backgrounds wasn't going to work, and I felt like maybe I should do a bit more since the main base was my premade Aisha drawing, I drew from their petpage's aesthetic as well as the backgrounds of the Disney Emoji Maker (the inspiration for this adopts style). This whole thing (read: the wings) took FOREVER. But I'm pretty pleased with the final thing. Baby Gelert Adopt This pet was a cute baby Gelert, which I thought would work nicely as an adopt. I made this one from scratch, so I guess I can start to add Gelerts to the list of available pets for my adopts, whenever I get around to that. Aside from the custom collar (which doesn't really work well with my floating head design), there wasn't as much distinguishing differences from a normal baby Gelert that I could add, so I felt kind of bad that this drawing was so simple compared to the Aisha adopt. I was impatient to submit and didn't know what to do for the background (I like to avoid those when I can, lol). So I made sure I submitted this one first, but I just posted the Aisha drawing today and now I feel terrible for how low effort this one now seems. :/ Even if that's not actually true since I take forever with every drawing trying to get the details right. But they don't know that. I also don't know how I'd distinguish baby Gelerts from regular Gelerts, lol. I dunno, seeing the finished products, I'm struck by two thoughts: 1) I'm always a bit startled by how nice some of my art actually looks sometimes. Perhaps this time it's the digital art effect (where even messy sketches look great), but it's definitely an ego boost for sure. 2) Simple cell shading is the superior rendering style. (Influence from my love of animation/cartoons?) I dunno, I've always liked the pieces where I've used simple coloring. Which is good, because I don't actually know how to color any other way, lol. I'd love to learn how to do that luminescent glowy look, but alas, I never want to actually watch tutorials or learn programs. I feel like this is why I tend to prefer traditional art, lol. And, when I think back about my perfectionistic tendencies, I'm starting to rethink the whole creative field dream job. Like, I don't feel creative enough to do art on demand for a job (plus I am so possessive of my work), but I want to be in that atmosphere and around creative folk (and envy them their jobs). So I guess something still in (or adjacent to) the creative industry but not actually doing the stressful art part. I say this, but I still want to experience doing the art part at least once though. I'm still in the "I'm not qualified for anything!!" mode though, so I wouldn't even bother applying. So maybe trying to do more art like this can provide some evidence to the contrary. (Though some of my problem isn't actually related to artistic proficiency. Maybe I'm hiding behind that.)
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