I drew some chibis to make into stickers for a few conventions I attended a couple of weeks back. I don't usually like to draw chibis, but they're pretty easy to draw, overall. I did them mostly for shows I've watched, since... I didn't want to do them for shows I don't watch, I suppose?

Well, enough rambling!


( LET'S PLAY ROCK BAND GUISE. CAPTAIN'S ORDERS. )

I watched Victor Victoria yesterday. Julie Andrews looks good in a suit, but doesn't really pass for a man. :I

I had a pretty crap day, so I drew some Star Trek fanart to cheer myself up.

The first is a fanart for this story.


( Read more... )


And McCoy, because he's my favorite.


( Read more... )

Still stoked for Season 2 of Merlin, as nenadi and hiphopelephant will testify, since I spent more time than either would prefer telling them exactly how stoked I was. Neither of them really give a crap either, but I don't know anyone else who likes the show.

Anyway, since I was stoked, and I was upset about not being able to learn how to use Painter adequately (I think that the learning curve is not so much a learning curve as a learning wall. The concrete types with barbed wire at the top and strobe lights to keep you from getting over it.), I was fiddling around with photoshop and trying out a technique I saw somewhere online with some Merlin fanart.

Which didn't work at all, and it was generally an upsetting experience, so I don't think I'll be experimenting with that again anytime soon.

But, the fanart anyway. I actually hate it a lot, and I'd rather not look at it if I don't have to. Part of me is wondering if I should post it at all. I'm not happy with it, but I don't think I can stand working on it any longer. (Not to mention I lost my saved file. :/)




( disclaimer: major suckage. They look nothing like the actors. Some blood. )


And another pic, because I actually like Gwen/Merlin. I think they're really cute. I like Arthur/Morgana too, and Merlin/Morgana, just for the heck of it.

I don't really like Gwen/Arthur yet, but I hope I do. I hope they start bickering or something, because I know that'll get me to like them.


( ++++++++++ )

It's been so long since I've drawn anything that isn't directly related to the few comics I'm working on that I just wanted to draw something for the hell of it.

And for some reason or another, I started to read Merlin fanfics again (probably stoked for season 2), so I thought I may as well! As I've previously mentioned, I'm really bad at capturing the likeness of people, so if you have any pointers for me, please let me know.


( Merlin... and a merlin. I guess. )


( fabulously fabulous )

edit: *scratches head* I thought I read somewhere on the merlin/arthur comm that it's okay if one of them is in the post, but apparently I remembered wrong. Sorry, guys.

My sister sent me 40 or so chapters of Kekkaishi and demanded that I read them all. So I did.

...And then I drew fanart. I couldn't help it! Yoshimori got all badass-like, and I'm a complete sucker for things like that! Not to mention Yoshimori is the type of main character I like.


( Insert thoughtful quote here )

Finished reading Dragon Eye up to around volume 9 the other day. I heard that it's on hiatus, which sucks becuase for some reason vol 10 hasn't been released yet, so the story is hanging right in the middle of a battle and before a climatic event.

In any case, my favorite character is still Sakuraba, for some reason. I even remember his birthday, sinice it's on Pi Day. And he wasn't in the tournament, but he still got plenty 'o airtime, so I was happy.


( ++++++++++ )

I'm enjoying Dragon Eye waaaayyy too much. heart_mint couldn't find scans of volumes 7-9 online, so we ended up purchasing it on Yesasia.

Personally, I blame the library. If I hadn't found that first volume, I wouldn't have given another 40 bucks to yesasia. And now that we have volumes 7, 8 and 9, this means that eventually we'll have to get the first 6 volumes too, because that's the way it works. (I'm still trying to complete my Banana Fish set...)

Anyway, Dragon Eye was just fun and exciting to read, and my favorite character is... surprise!! Sakuraba!



( ++++++++++ )

Anyway, then I drew Ivan a little. Just for kicks.


( +++++++++ )

Sometimes, I think it totally blows that I'm just a complete fan at heart. Nothing propels me like liking something. Enjoying a new series cheers me up completely like nothing else really does, and when I don't have a fandom to obsess over, I get pretty bored and down.

Is anyone else like that?

I was reading Black Jack again yesterday. Since the last time I read it, I was 6 or 7, I barely remember anything about him except that he's a doctor and he had black and white hair. I also remember a few vague things, like Pinoko and how he got the different coloured face, but overall my impression of him was pretty blurry.

So when I read it again, I definately didn't remember him being such a woobie. Good god, he's a woobie!

Anyway, it was pretty good, as usual, as all of Tezuka's stuff is. I was looking for fanart on Pixiv, and I kept seeing a character named Dr. K, who hasn't shown up yet, and for some reason I remember nothing about him. Well, waiting for him to show up...


( This operation will cost you... 50000 MILLION YEN! )

I also started to read Dragon Eye, because I found the first volume in the library. I didn't expect it to be very good, because... honestly, it's mostly because the cover isn't very attractive. But I'm glad I read it, because it was actually very enjoyable. The art's nice (it's better on the inside, honestly), the story's decent, the action's good, and I like the main character. Overall it was fun to read.

...Downloading the next 6 volumes now.

For some reason, I seem to have this really strange fixation on mafia AU's. It's a bit like how other people may like vampires, except I've never really been fond of vampires in general.

Anyway, so I was thinking that no venture into any fandom is really complete (for me) without having a mafia AU of some sort. Jojo doesn't count because it already has its own mafia!U.
So, Merlin. And Arthur. And also Edwin. Hey, I don't know, it's possible!

Also: please check out the goddamn awesome fic that karakalyn wrote, here. DAMN IT'S AWESOME.

Beware: Size warning, OOC-ness, drawings looking nothing like the actors.


( But the children lose their minds )

Manga Studio is pretty fun to use. It's a bit fustrating to figure out though, since there's no help menu and no manual. The forum's generally helpful though, so I guess that's okay.

Apparently, a scrap-booking album with black leather covers and no frame in front is near impossible to find. Sometimes, it seems to me that the simpler something is, the harder it is to get it.

Anyway, I drew some more Merlin fanart in between doing homework in spots, procrastinating on working on my webcomic, and episodes of Pushing Daisies. My favorite character is still Olive.

I was practicing that flat colour colouring style, but I didn't think I was all too successful in its application. Well, more practice for me, I suppose.


( Do I sense an impending adventure? )

I need to talk to someone about Merlin... anyone... anyone...? Beuller?

I drew Ivan in pchat, more or less to try to figure out his colours. He turned out to look a lot like Christmas, but I think I like it enough to keep the scheme.


( ++++++++++ )

Anyway, I started to watch Merlin a while ago to see what all the fuss was about. It was only one season long, so I didn't really mind watching all of it (I don't like watching series that are too long, I get discouraged even before I start). And I have to say, it's pretty entertaining. It's got action, and guys saving each other's lives a lot, and a slash!dragon (it took me a while to figure this one out), and dudes being touchy feely and destiny and magic and stuff like that, and it's generally pretty fun. I like it in the same way I like shounen manga.

Anyway, I guess it's pretty natural of me to want to draw fanart. Not like there's anything else I can do... I really suck at trying to capture realistic likeness though, so I didn't even try. I tried to get the essence of the characters though, however vague that may be.


( Arthur + Merlin )


( A bird... and a pie. )

A friend told me to watch Pushing Daisies, because he said that I might like it. So I did. And I did like it. I actually like Olive more than Chuck though, because Chuck is just way too perfect. Olive is more human but still manages to be a really sweet girl, and she just tries so hard that I can't help but root for her. Poor girl.

I also really like Emerson; he is a funny dude. But I think he must be gay because he is constantly with two good-looking woman and he doesn't even care.

Also started to watch Carnivale. I only watched two episodes so far, but it's looking to be really good.

And that's about it with the shows I've been watching, I suppose. Ah, teevee on the internet. Better than teevee on teevee.

Reading week! Yay!
Unfortunately, I have portfolio review during reading week, so I'll be working on that as opposed to doing anything very productive, such as sleeping and eating cookies.

( work )

( Opinions about Final Crisis )

In celebration of Countdown never happening, a pic of James Jesse! Because he didn't die during Countdown, nosiree.


( Countdown? What Countdown? )

I saw volumes 11, 16 and 17 of Banana Fish on sale today... so I bought them. One day, I will have the entire set.

Anyway, random fanart time.


( Rin, from Yasha )

heart_mint and I dug out our really really really old copy of Bust a Groove, and decided to spend way too much time playing it. It's a lot of fun, I'm kind of sad there'll never be a third one. There was that Dance Summit 2001 game, which wasn't all that great. :/

Well, some Heat fanart. For heart_mint, or else she won't convert episodes of Baccano for me.


( THE HEAT IS ON )

I've been a big fan of Akimi Yoshida lately. I can't really say that her comics are the best I've ever read, but the stories she draws are always pretty engrossing, the storytelling is good, the characters are more or less likable. Although I must say: the lady isn't capable of drawing any story where less than 75% of the cast doesn't die.

As for the art, I actually liked the style in the beginning of Banana Fish the most. It was tighter and more detailed, and the flow was clearer, if that makes any sense. Schumie says I'm partial to the old-school style, but I really thought that the artwork had aged better than say, Yasha, which was drawn a few years afterwards. By the time Yasha rolled around, it seemed to have gone back to the style of Lover's Kiss, and her artwork had gotten looser, although not necessarily in a good way. The paneling had also become a bit more typical shoujo, being a bit less structured, more freeform and to a certain degree, more expressive. However, I liked the artwork in BF right from the get-go, and Yasha... well, I wouldn't have picked it up if it wasn't drawn by Akimi Yoshida.

I'm glad I did though, because the story's pretty good (the project was being scanlated by Shoujo Magic, but unfortunately they've dropped it due to "lack of interest"). But the scans that I'm reading lets me experience in full the woes of the language barrier (I can understand the 50% of the plot that's not in Simplified Chinese) and horrible typesetting (the page on the left: how the fuck did that sentence miss its intended target by 2 inches?).

After finishing Banana Fish and Kisso Tenyo, I had more or less stopped expecting any real slash in the stories, so imagine my surprise when there were prominent characters who were a canon gay couple! The story itself also hits pretty much every fetish in the book (except for the naked apron), including but not limited to:

1. Twincest. They have a love/hate/love/hate?/love/hate/love/?/are-you-me-or-am-I-you relationship.
2. Subservience. Twice. One's a bodyguard, one's a servant/best friend/lover.
3. Bromance. The bodyguards.
4. Childhood friends. The type who can tell if the protagonist is thinking about sacrificing himself and tell him to "snap out of it".

Overall it's pretty fun to read, but as it's written by Akimi Yoshida, I'm expecting at least one of the twins, one of the bodyguards, and two of the three childhood friends to die before the series is over.

*shakes fist, Colbert-style* YOSHIIIIDDAAAAAAA..!!

I conclude my rant with Rin/Takeru fanart, because I liked them the most.

( The first time I saw you, you were, like, sittin around. )

Rachael Dukes of Poseur Ink has some unexpected monetary issues, so please help her out if you'd like to buy some cool arts!

I finished my painting for the art box show, and dropped off my painting, but I won't be able to make the show itself because some unforseen family issues had arisen, forcing me to put off my events of the day.

But, here's the painting anyway!


( ++++++++++ )


I spent most of the day experimenting with painter. It was pretty frustrating, as the learning curve was not so much a curve, but a concrete wall. Most of my "experimenting" consisted of anger-induced scribbles on a blank canvas, as well as frantic switching of tools in hopes that one will cooperate with me.

Anyway, the results of all that anger is one Persona 4 fanart.

Spoilers for December!!


( contains spoilers for the end of December )


But despite all the frustrations I have for colouring, Painter is fantastic to ink with. It's a lot better than Photoshop. I started to use custom brushes for this pic, but it just felt like... working with Opencanvas, really.


( Outenkun fanart )

For unknown reasons, I decided to go back and re-read my entire set of Houshin Engi.

And... I realized why I loved it so much. Because it's awesome.
Logic follows that I ended up scouring the internets for fanart, and drawing plenty of my own. I was experimenting with Painter as well, so that may very well also be my excuse.

Assuming you've never read Houshin before, this will contain copious amounts of spoilers.


( Large Houshin dump )

Heheheh. Heheh...heh. Heh.


( ++++++++++ )

I've been feeling sick all day. It seems like I'm allergic to something because the skin around my eyes is so red and puffy that it looks like someone made me eat fist. Twice.

Lying around all day cause I almost keeled over at the mall. After that I drew some P4 fanart.


( Chie, Protag/Yosuke, Teddie (may contain spoilers) )

School's finally out for me, which means I have time to paint and work on commissions and so fourth! I keep hearing about these new-fangled water soluble oil paints (well, maybe not that new), and I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with them and if they could tell me how they compare to normal oils? I love using oils, I'm just a bit sick of the thinner and breathing in the fumes every time I want to paint.

Anyway... heart_mint finally got her copy of Persona 4, and started to play it a few days ago. I was pleased to find out that I liked everything about it way more than Persona 3. I didn't have very high hopes for the game, honestly, and I was pleasantly surprised. It felt to me like more of a throwback to the older Persona games, with references (like Chie's kung-fu) and general character dynamics. I also liked the protagonist more... go figure. He seemed more dorky and less "too cool for school" the way the P3 protag was.

But anyway, I won't rant on too much about it since I'm sure other people with similar opinions are much more articulate than I.

I did doodle a little bit, but not as much as I would like to. I had to spare some time of my day for painting and other trivial things.


( Yosuke, Chie, Protag/Yosuke )

I wanted to draw one more poster for upcoming AE, and I wasn't sure what to draw.

After a brief discussion with mahedot (which included the suggestion of "Heat! With flowers! Lots of flowers!"), I decided to ignore her and draw my favorite crack pairing.

Demi-Fiend and Futomimi

Seriously, I love these two so much. They're so crack. Except not. Except they are.

And... of course, for a picture I drew for a poster, I just had to go for a series that's not mainstream enough to make me much monies. Well, I don't want to draw what I don't want to draw.


( Slight spoilers. )

I'll be printing up more posters for the con, including HS ones that are sold out.