WIP Wednesday 2019 Vol 1

I'm attempting to move away from using Photoshop and using Clip Studio entirely. I recently invested in a Microsoft Surface Pro, and Clip Studio runs better on it. Normally I use Photoshop to do all my coloring, but I am attempting to learn to use Clip Studio for that now. This means that I am moving a little slower than I'd like. 

Like I said last week, I will be working primarily on smaller things. This is going to be released as a badge and a button (and maybe a sticker too, but doing stickers might be chasing squirrels at this time). 

Developer's Notes - 3

It's been a busy 2 weeks. Ekoja and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary last week. I finally got to see Thor: Ragnarok. I absolutely loved it, but I will avoid gushing about that here. I also got to see the MLP movie, which was also pretty decent. I found the animation to be a little oversaturated color-wise and a little overstimulating, especially at the beginning. I still enjoyed it though. I've been busy drawing. Since I'm coming back from a 2-3 year hiatus, I have a lot of work to do to freshen up my table. I have retired most of my old prints and badges--you can purchase any old designs from my Etsy at significant discount if you are interested. I am keeping some designs, mostly for those sets I plan on adding to, like the Movie Poster prints and What Would prints. Given that I have retired almost everything, though, that means I have to create a lot of new stuff now. This year's focus is going to be on creation. I will be applying to some tables, but it won't be as strong a focus as straight up creating new things for my table. 

Speaking of tables, I will be attending the Asheville Anime Regional Convention at the Asheville Civic Center--which is called something else now, because people like to change names of things just to confuse old people like me. I'm excited about getting into this con. It's small, but it's in one of my favorite cities in the United States. Anyways, if you will be at the AARC, stop by my table and say hi.

So, what am I working on? I have about 9 different print series that I am actively attempting to make progress on. A good number of these will be original designs, but there will be some fanart. Most of it will be in the form of parodies, like the What Would prints and Movie Poster prints. I am starting a new version of the Anime Tarot deck, although I think I will need to call it something else because it's going to feature characters beyond anime and video games. Would it be too awkward just to call it The Tarot Deck of Things Panda Likes? I am putting a lot of effort into the design for the new deck. The original deck was intended to be funny, but some of the cards communicated this intention better than others.  I'd like the design for the new set to more clearly communicate that focus. 

I have several series of original prints that I am working on. Some will be funny, and others will be more designed to be pretty. There will be several print series based around the Character Archetype badge series. I also want to do an original character series (loosely) inspired by traditional Japanese landscape painting and the fruits of the spirit from the book of Galatians in the Bible. I've found the challenge of creating characters to match different virtues both fun and frustrating. This is an idea I've had for years, but I've only recently come up with a design that I am pleased with. We won't talk about how many designs for this project I've thrown out over the years. I also have lots of designs that I like but don't think fit this project. I'm not sure what I'll do with those... I'm also doing a set of mermaids in a similar style as the fruits prints ... because, no reason other than I want to. =P I will also be revisiting the Western Zodiac designs. 

Beyond prints, we are redoing all of our badges. I am changing the format in which I make these. Ideally they will be easier for me to create, but the real motivation to make the change is that (assuming everything goes as planned) will open up all kinds of creative options for them that were not practical before.

We are also continuing to add to our button and bookmark series. For buttons, I will be expanding my Final Fantasy series, because who doesn't need more Final Fantasy? I will also be adding a few other series, including Guardians of the Galaxy (unusual, but I was inspired...) and maybe Bravely Second. I'll be adding a 4th set of Sailor Moon bookmarks, as well as a few other bookmark sets, including Dragonlance, Firefly, and Love Live sets. 

And last, but not least, I am also working on art for the newest game from Team Sidequest, Texas Zombie Massacre. This has been a huge challenge, not just for the sheer number of cards to draw, but drawing cartoonish zombies is not something I'm super comfortable with drawing. So far, though, I'm pretty pleased with the progress. 

I am doing a few other things that aren't related to drawing, but I think I'll leave those for another post. I'll go into more detail on some of these projects later as well. This post is meant to be a quick overview of what drawing stuff I am planning this year. There's a lot here, and that's pretty typical of how I work. I do not focus well. I never have. If I don't have a million projects going at the same time, I start having panic attacks. Of course, so many projects does run the risk of becoming overwhelming, so it'll be an interesting balancing act. 

If you're interested in seeing WIP pictures, I post those at random on my Instagram account now rather than sharing them here. I find it easier to update there on a less static schedule than here weekly. For instance, I find it simpler to just snap a picture and share a finished sketch there rather than waiting to try and collect all the things I've worked on each week. My work schedule is very variable, so posting here consistently has proven challenging. So, anyways, follow Instagram for WIP updates, and also cats and other random things from my life. There's not much of that though. It's mostly WIP pics and cats.

One-A-Day Pokemon

I've been working to revitalize my art. I've been away for a long time for a variety of reasons (maybe one of these days I'll post about that). One of the things I've decided to do is to try to finish one Pokemon button drawing every week day for 2017. I felt this would be a good challenge because it would get me drawing, and it would give me a chance to draw more animals, which is a little out of my comfort zone. So far, I've only missed 3 days. Of course, I'd rather that number be 0, but another thing I'm doing this year is keeping things in perspective. In this case, perspective means being kind to myself when things don't go perfectly.

So, anyways... So far, I've posted 26 Pokemon! I'm pretty pleased with that. Right now, I'm going through the Pokemon Sun and Moon Pokedex. That may not be the most creative way to go through this project, but it does give focus, which is good, especially on days when I might not be feeling it. These buttons will be available for purchase online, or for pick-up at conventions, but I'm not planning on taking them with me to conventions to put on my table. For one, there will be just too many designs--it's a lot to print and a lot to carry around. I will be doing these print-on-demand-style.

If you want to follow my Pokemon progress, I am sharing them on my Facebook page and my Tumblr. Here are the ones I have finished including #27, which I will be posting later today.

If you're interested in purchasing Pokemon buttons, then send me a message via Tumblr or Facebook. Or, you can purchase a Button listing from Etsy. Or, you can send me an email. If not purchased through Etsy, you can pay via Paypal. In your message, let me know which Pokemon buttons you want. Buttons are 1-3/4 inches diameter and are $2 each. 

Art WIP -- Bravely Default Buttons

If you read my review of Bravely Default, I'm sure you saw this coming. There's going to be more after this too; I'm just not going to tell you what just yet. *blows raspberries* Immature. Yes, but then I feel that maturity can be quite overrated (at times--all things in moderation, right... except cosplay. No need to moderate that).

But I digress. I have been wanting to make buttons for Bravely Default for a while. My problem: what do I put on them. I could draw just the main 4 characters. Then what outfits do I pick. Do I go with the basic Freelancer job or do I go with the special outfits you can earn through rebuilding Norende? Or I could just pick my favorites, but there are quite a few of those. @_@ I'm still not 100% decided. I'm not sure I could draw all of them, but I might try, since, you know, I'm a sucker for large impossible projects. If I drew every outfit combination for the main four, including the special ones, then I'd be looking at 100 button designs plus a couple more if I feel like including the vestal garb for Agnes, as an example. You can see my quandary. So for now, I have the characters drawn, but they're naked. Ok, not entirely... they have undies on because I don't draw nudity. =P Yes... I did draw undies so they can be decent until I decide what to clothe them in. Yes... that means I'm concerned about the modesty of two-dimensional fictional fanart characters. I never claimed to be in my right mind. 

WIP Volume 37

This is going to be a longish post. =P I've been busy since my last WIP post. First up blanket progress. I've finished all the "squares". Now I'm assembling them. The second picture is progress on that.

 

Final Fantasy IV Buttons + 1 bookmark/postcard design.

Flutterplush

Anime RPG art clean up: The original sketch, and lineart progress.

Hobbit movie poster parody

Totebag projects--I made a Fluttershy bag, and now I'm making a few other bags. #1: White Mage inspired bag, #2 Purple and Black quilted bag--I plan on appliqueing a panda on it, #3: Black quilted bag cause I think it'll be pretty.

MLP Mashup set 1

More What Would ___ Do designs.