So, Ekoja was going to post this week, but he's been down and out for the last several days with the flu, so you've got me again. =P I'm writing this now on severe sleep deprivation, so prepare for a lot of rambling and possible incoherence.
Ekoja is still working on his mystery podcast, although progress has been slowed by illness. I'm drawing... all the things. Follow my instagram for WIP pictures. I'm still working on getting into a good groove for posting on there, but that is where I'm posting most of my progress pictures and finished pictures. And also cats. And occasionally some other more personal things, mostly fun shenanigans, like the 2 headed snowman my kids built when it actually snowed here or Sophie's hair when I put it up in a Rapunzel-inspired braid. But it will mostly be WIP and cats.
I'm almost finished with the next chibigurumi plushie, and I look forward to sharing that with early in March. I might link that from here. I will definitely share it from my Facebook page. You can see the Pikachu I finished for this month on my Etsy.
Since we design games, we also play a lot of games. We meet with friends once a month to play some kind of tabletop role-playing game. Usually it's D&D or Pathfinder. This month we started a Starfinder campaign. I'm not super-hyped on the setting, but then I'm not really into sci-fi in general so it's nothing personal. I do, however, love my character. I'm playing an Android Envoy. I'm playing her like a bard, so think Vocaloid. Her name is Muse. I really appreciate that our current GM is flexible with how we play our characters and what we can do with them. Even if we're following a set adventure, it doesn't feel like we're being led along or shoe-horned into a particular course of action. Needless to say, I had fun. Most of our group seems pretty pleased with the Starfinder system. My participation was limited to primarily skill checks (by choice because that's how I'm playing this character) so I can't speak personally, but by the overall positive response from the others, it seems like it's a pretty solid system.
I've also been watching things. I'm slowly working my way though a bunch of things, like only watching one episode or so at a time over a longer period of time. So, if I watch 3 episodes in one evening, they're from 3 different shows. Right now I'm watching Shannara, The Irregular at Magic High School, and Your Lie in April. The Shannara series appeals to me because I read and loved the books when I was younger, and although the series follows one of my least favorite books from the series (The Elfstones of Shannara) it's not horrible (actually I'm kind of enjoying it, although I wish the main characters behaved a little less like teenagers). I'm still undecided on The Irregular at Magic High School. I'm going to give it a fair chance, but I do find the way the sister flirts with her brother a little creepy personally. I'm waiting for the plot, as I've only watched the first episode or two where they're introducing characters and setting. However, I am loving Your Lie in April. I think it probably appeals to me because of the music theme. I used to play music when I was in middle school and high school, and even a little in college. I have not played in a very long time. Sometimes I miss it too. I'm going to watch an episode of this when I take my break at work tonight to eat my dinner/breakfast meal thing. On this note, I'm feeling inspired to add Lord of the Rings and Shannara (based on books not so much the series on Netflix). I'm also considering doing some bookmarks for some of the Pern books as well. Because the world always needs more bookmarks for people like me who just cannot transition to digital books.
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.
