WIP Wednesday 2019 Vol 4

So I lied, and it looks like I might be finishing these. I'm still not happy with them, except for the Hogwarts student. I like that one. Also there was no post Monday because I forgot to write it... Oops. But to be honest, losing track of my days is very easy to do with the "day" job I'm working now. It follows an alternating schedule (2 days on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 3 off) every two weeks, and instead of days, I actually work nights. So, on the off days, I'm adjusting to a day schedule because everything else in life exists on a day schedule, while on my on days, I'm on a night schedule. This is also why you will see posts from me on Twitter and other places at all hours of the day or night.

WIP Wednesday 2019 Vol 3

Not as much for this week. Some scribbly sketchy things. I'm not sure I'm happy with any of them, except maybe the last one. I'm probably going to throw the other two out. Or not. XD These are all badge designs. The first is the male version of Capricorn. The second is an elf sorcerer, which might become a sample for the DnD character cards/badges we are putting together. The third is a Hogwarts student, no specific character, for our Hogwarts student ID cards.

WIP Wednesday 2019 Vol 2

These projects are going to badges and/or buttons. They may also be turned into stickers (because stickers are my new obsession). You can see older WIP pictures of Capricorn on my WIP post from last week.

Capricorn mostly finished

Belle Sketch

Maleficent started inking

She Ra started inking

She Ra Sketch

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.

WIP Wednesday - 2017 - Volume 14

I've been a bit slow on this project the last week or so. There's only 2 new sketches for the new archetypes--Bondage Villain and Holy Knight:

WIP Wednesday - 2017 - Volume 12

This week's WIP is a little more on my crochet amigurumi plushies. I have part of a blue calico fox finished--only one ear, and it's not completely attached yet. XD

I'm working on some art to go with the plushies. The finished art will go on tags that will be packaged with the plushie. Here are some sketches I have for the kitties. Right now, I'm trying to decide between styles--more detailed or go simple. I kind of like both. I will probably finish and color these and see how they look before deciding. I may also try drawing some of the other animals in both styles as well because what works for the cats may or may not work for the bunnies and foxes as well--or any of the other animals I'm planning on making.

WIP Wednesday - 2017 - Volume 10

It's been moving a bit slower than I'd like--partially because I meant to spend the last couple of nights sketching here at work, but I kind of forgot to restock my drawing folder with paper, so I ran out of paper to draw on... Oops. In theory, I could draw on lined paper, because I still have lots of that, but it messes with my head. I'm not sure why it's such a mental problem for me, especially since I will be scanning all these pages into the computer to do the lines and color digitally. Is there anyone else weird about things like this? One of these days, I'll get over it... Maybe... One of these days, I'll also start doing the sketches on the computer too instead of insisting on pencil and paper.

Anyways, here's a few archetype tag sketches: Survivor, Lolita, and Fortune Teller. Again apologies for the bad pictures. Lighting is not great here at work.

WIP Wednesday - 2017 - Volume 8

This week, I'm sharing some pictures of some crochet amigurumi plushies I've been working on. I'm working on some badge tags to go with them, too. These are similar to the ones I've made in the past, except I've cleaned up the patterns, and instead of just using scrap yarn from around my craft room, I'm picking a specific brand of yarn with lots of color options, so I can keep things consistent to go with the tags. Pictured this week is a Kitty and part of a Bunny. I'm working on redesigning the bunny tail so I'm not using the little poof balls anymore. Those were cute and fuzzy, but they're a pain to find in my area, and the colors don't necessarily go with what I want to use with the yarn, so... working on alternatives. You can see what I've come up with below. I'm debating on a small tail, which is more proportionate, or a larger tail more the size of what I had with the poofs. I'm also loving the colored eyes eye I got to experiment with this time around. Will definitely want to order more of those. Anyways, pictures were taken at work at about 2am, so lighting is meh at best. =P

Bunny

Bunny with larger tail

Bunny with smaller tail

Kitty

Will be a blue calico Kitty

WIP Wednesday - 2017- Volume 6

This post is brought to you by more work on the new badges. I'm working on sketching all of them out before I put them in the computer to finish. This week adds the Bounty Hunter, Mecha, Swordsman, Magic Girl, and Lycanthrope to the finished sketches. Apologies for lame photo quality. =P I was using my phone and it was kind of late, so bad lighting.

WIP Wednesday - 2017 - Volume 1

I've been a bit out of it the last year. School really ate a lot of my time. Now that I'm not doing that, however, I am free to get back to art. =D I have so many ideas and plans for this year, but I'm not going to go into those specifically here. ;-) Suffice to say that there will be a lot of fun stuff coming this year, including a more up-to-date blog!

So, for the first round of WIP for 2017: One of the biggest series I will be working on this year is going to be majorly expanding my Character Archetype series. There will mean there will be more characters. All old characters are going to receive new art and will be put into new formats. I am revamping my badges! No more laminating. I am investing in a printer that will print directly onto a plastic badge tag. I am super excited about this. I will be funding the printer myself, but I'm planning a Kickstarter for stocking supplies and what-not. Here are a few sketches for the new badge designs:

Angel, Bondage Villain, Bunny Girl, Exorcist, Drunken Master

The above designs will have profiles on the back. The fun part about the way I'm setting up these new badges is that I will be able to allow some customization, like choice in colors for the character on the front or making the back profile more personalized. There are also going to be two print series stemming from this set--one of which is related to the Magic Girl Noir picture I did a couple of years ago. The other is more comedic, and will hopefully have a preview of some kind for next week's WIP post.

Along with the badges and prints, I'm planning several books including a series of mini-comics. The mini-comics will be short 28-page comic books featuring one of the characters from the Archetype set. Here is a preview from the Angel Mini-Comic--yes drawn the old fashioned way with pencil on folded pieces of paper.

So, yeah, 2017 is going to be full of fun and new art for me.

Coming Soon to an Anime Con Near You

After posting such brilliant prose Monday, I was really hard-pressed to come up with a topic for today that could really live up to the standards I set. XD I've been posting about a lot of random topics lately, especially just stuff going on in my life. Since this blog is really supposed to be what's going on with my art studio, I thought it'd be nice to write a blog post on that subject. =D (About time I got back on topic, right?) So, what I'm going to do in this post is give a little bit of a preview of what I'm planning on working on in the next couple of months. Some of it's stuff that will definitely happen; some of it's stuff that might happen with in the next year or two; some of it may just end up forgotten or set on the back-burner for an indefinite period of time. If there's something that strikes your fancy that you'd really love to see me finish, then by all means point it out to me--that increases the likelihood of it actually getting done.

Now, I do a lot of different things for my table, so to give this post a little bit of organization, I'm going to break the projects down by type--mainly art and plushies right now, and I might break the art down into bookmarks and other stuff. Let's start with the plushies. Since a lot of my upcoming conventions have strict rules on fanart vs. original art design ratios allowed on the table, I will be spending much of the next couple of months focusing on my original art designs. First up in the plushie world is going to be a variety of mini-amigurumis. These will be smaller than my Pikachus, Mokonas and such; they will be cheaper in price (because they're smaller and a little bit easier to make) and will come in a variety of color combinations. I'd also like to work out a design for a kitsune/fox mini-amigurumi, but I'm going to try and stay focused and finish the kitties and bunnies first. I'd also like to see a panda plushie completed--I think this one will have to be bigger, maybe about the size as my normal plushies. So that's what I've got bouncing around my head right now for original design plushies. For fanart plushies, the list is extensive. XD I want to do a Miyazaki themed set (Yakul, JiJi, a Soot Ball, Totoro, etc.), plus a couple more Pokemon (Plusel, Minun, Espeon, Mudkip?, for sure), and some other random ones like P-chan from Ranma 1/2. I've also gotten a request for a Chocobo (which I think would be fun to do). On top of all that, I'd love to do an Eastern Zodiac themed set of animal plushies (based loosely on Fruits Basket). Think I've got enough on my plate?

Let's move on to art. Let's start with the "other stuff" first and leave the bookmarks for last. Near the top of my list--I will probably be spending July working on these--is the other half of the Western Zodiac set. When I put together the set I have now, I'd intended to do two of each zodiac design--one guy and one girl. I did not have time to do that many drawings when I started working on it for AWA last year, so I had to settle with doing half of them--I did 6 guys and 6 girls. So, now I plan to finish that set. =) I also want to draw some more archetypes (I love these guys)--I want to do 14 more so I have a total of 42 (that's such a great number). I have a couple in mind, but I'm still debating on what character types to do for most of them. I also want to do some themed archetype badges--like classic D&D character classes or the Real Roleplayer-Twink-Loony-Real Men set. I've got lots of fun ideas here. On top of all this, I'd love to do some mythological sets or fantasy creature sets.

Last, but not least (definitely not least--this is where a lot of my fangirl obsessiveness is going to be focused), bookmarks... Currently in progress, I have sets of World of Warcraft, Dragonlance, and The Guild bookmarks in progress. I also "want" to do sets for Final Fantasy I, IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X (X-2), XII, and XIII, Kingdom Hearts, Soul Eater, Full Metal Alchemist (*squee*), Hetalia, Black Butler, Firefly, Marvel/DC characters, Slayers, and the list could go on for a while. This is definitely one of those places where, if you'd really like to see it finished, tell me, or it could end up at the bottom of a very long list.

So yeah... that's what I've got planned, roughly. My "To-Do" list is always growing and changing--kind of like a mutant bacterial parasite that threatens to eat my life.