I need to have something to look forward to in order to productive, ie a deadline or something that’s not finished. That’s why whenever I finish something I go into sloth mode and get nothing done HAHAH ): I have a commission and a gift piece to CG (and those 40 more sketches) but what I really wanted to draw was was a big huge scene of grandeur or chaos, some environment that shows veloce as a powerful figure. I didn’t really know what would be an effective way to portray that, the only thing I was sure of was devastating weather, and the fact that I don’t want to draw her sitting/standing around doing nothing. I actually wanted to draw her casting or fighting because movement is a big part of her fighting style. While sorcery is a mental exercise and the best sorcerers can fight without moving an inch, she isn’t the type where power translates to elegance and control. She also doesn’t use magic unless she really has to, regardless of the Prohibition.

But in the end I couldn’t draw a fight scene without compromising the feel of might ): she just looked like an ordinary or extraordinary fighter in those pictures, not someone unfazed by overwhelming forces. So I ended up drawing something like that arrogance sketch I did for my high priest. I don’t know if you can actually tell what’s going on here… I would work more on it but it’s time I put it away and use it as the drive to get my commissions/gift/sketches done LOL. I look forward to working on / finishing this picture though, because I already know what I want it to look like. Usually the sketches that I have a clear image for look like shit because I don’t want to spend time jotting down what I already know HAHA

And I’m not very creative when it comes to shit like this lol ): but I usually don’t try very hard with poses for repeats of past sketches that didn’t pass the CG test. My friend was like bb is doomed to be a man so I made it look more like she is the lady seducing a man(with boobs and wearing a tank?)? I might cg this one too because it looks nice and easy!

And I’m listening to the art of piano documentary again so here’s some cziffra! I don’t know why aside from the really corny stuff they say in the documentary, I really really like the performances they had in the documentary even though they’re mostly mono, low quality, has lots of mistakes and don’t really conform to the standard expectations of how each of the pieces should be performed. I guess it just feels… alive? Like I can feel the insane over the top happiness of the artist in this recording like he’s lost his mind LOL… God I just want to go nuts at the piano right now I AM EXPLODING WITH ENERGY

Also it sounds like liszt was trolling someone into thinking that it’s a grande waltz brilliante ripoff HAHAH

I want to draw 2 or 3 different things right now but I can’t get a hang of any of them LOL…

I’m surprised the colours turned out like that, usually I’d have to layer-mode the shit out of a pic to get those kind of colours ): but ya I wanted to draw the background of a huge castle in the distance in front of a huge cloud, then I thought I could somehow work this into the veloce overlooking a disaster scene I wanted redo before. But I guess I forgot nice blue skies != disaster… I GUESS I CAN’T BE LAZY AND HAVE TO DRAW 2 DIFFERENT PICS BOOO

And I was going to take a picture of my cat sleeping, since she rarely ever stays still when I try to take pics of her. Except she was sleeping on this very unfashionable towel and I was like man this is totally ruining my otherwise ~*kawaii*~ photo… THEN I REALIZED, SHE’S BLACK AND WHITE!! I can just hue the towel to some other less obtrusive colour. But instead of doing that I made this rainbow gif HAHA

She is immune to hue and saturation

Documenting the entire drawing process from start to finish (sans 1 hour in the middle)! For some reason I have the tendency to move the canvas around instead of moving my hand around the tablet, so the speed video is like seizure inducing lol ):

My rest week turned into a do everything else week as expected. I felt a lot better on wednesday so I started working on those 100 free sketches. I’ve also decided to draw them on separate pieces of paper. At least this way they look a lot better than if I were to scribble with a pen onto the books LOL. I try to keep them fast but I can’t draw them any faster than like 15-20 minutes each so after 2 days of (half distracted) work, I’m only at 40 ): 60 more to go! and counting on people who don’t pay because I’m not drawing their sketches until they pay HAHA. I had wanted to finish all of them by today but I was short yesterday’s quota by like 50% so I think the work will have to go into next week ): I intend to send off my art to make prints next week as well, so although I wanted to draw a gothic/punk pic as the last new print of the year I don’t think I’ll have time ): NEXT YEAR IT IS.

I want to post some of the sketches because I kinda like them, but that wouldn’t be nice to the people getting them haha. After 40 sketches it’s still pretty fun although even though I’ve drawn like 35 veloce/blackbirds and 2 weirin/keris so far LUL I think I just have ocd issues

SPESHIAL HALF-HOUR SKETCH FOR SUMBADY

For some reason the charas in my traditional sketches look so young I don’t know why hahaha :D they start to look old when I paint them but I think it’s because I draw such big heads and cute short little arms and hands, and I fix those with freetransform on photoshop when I paint them. This is what you should NOT do guys, practice a bad habit so hard that you naturally do it and can’t tell what’s wrong with it.

ok time to do 60 more sketches! I’m so amazingly motivated recently it’s surreal

Someone from my preorder list didn’t make it to first 100, but the form was sent before I removed the sketch/charm options so he still managed to get in a request of Meron with modern clothes XD I thought it was a good chance to draw something that’s NOT VELOCE/BLACKBIRD so I tried to do it anyway! The actual preorder sketches would really be sketches though, not something nearly as polished as thisLOL. But having it penned in your book should be cooler than something plastered on my blog for everyone to see :D…

Speaking of preorder sketches, I was contemplating whether to draw it on the book or on a separate piece of paper. The latter is much easier (because holding a book cover open to draw is not cool), I can start right now, and I can use a pencil and not be scared of mistakes. I haven’t drawn with a pen for like 5 years and the last time I did it, it sucked, so I did a page of freehand pen portraits tonight and it wasn’t that bad! Although everything looks really scribbly because that’s the way I draw with pencil, but I think I was able to do ok with them because I wasn’t focused on the fact that I can’t make any mistakes. So I will practice soem more for the actual book sketches, plus maybe try a test manga page with a pen again ^^

It’s only 2 am and I’m so tired… I was  going to rest this week because of last week’s crap, but decided not to because I know I’d start wondering what I could work on with my “free time” on day 1 LOL… but now I think I have to, I’ll just minimize productivity or something, and be prepared to work when the books arrive. I am intensely editing the next arc of CP and I’m really in a writing mood and not a drawing mood, so I’ll probably not draw anything else all week. I get into writing mood too easily ): and whenever I do I don’t want to think about drawing it’s horrible LMAO

I’ve also decided to focus on completing the overarching plot for CP this year, and get as much details out as possible, instead of spreading out my interests. At the beginning of the year, I think on my new year’s resolution, I had planned to work on Winter’s Garden oneshot along side CP so that I could publish more than one manga book next year. But I really have no ideas for WG, CP is in way more urgent need of work as an ongoing series, and the rest of my random creativity seem to be all going to Monarch atm. It’s not something I can control so I thought I shouldn’t force it into my schedule if I’m really not into it.

god I just read what I wrote LOL TIME TO SHUT UP AND SLEEP `u` HAPPY BIRTHDAY FINA I’d wish you more success in sepiatis but it would jeopardize my personal safety if your infections get out of hand

WARNING: INC CHARACTER WALL OF TEXT. but first, have some wips

I think I scared some people by showing how my art look like in rough stage, especially if I do it all on photoshop lmfao BUT HERE THIS LOOKS BETTER

So my hearing loss for the past months is probably an inner ear problem because I suddenly started getting vertigo yesterday afternoon, and was feeling nauseated all day. Being the dumbass that I am and totally have never felt dizziness before, I kept shaking my head trying to figure out wtf was going on LOL AND MADE IT WORSE… I’m a lot better today, but my head feels heavy from oversleeping/overresting and my eyes are dying from looking at the ipad in the dark. But some computer usage fixed my eyesight! (WHO WOULD’VE THOUGHT… well it’s because my screen is placed at a nice height and really far away from me LOL) and I guess some work will snap my brain out of sleep mode. My dad’s like you’re overworking, you need to balance work rest and exercise but I’m like BUT LOOK AT MY FRIENDS… RUNNING ON COFFEE/REDBULL AND NO SLEEP WHY DOES NOTHING EVER HAPPEN TO THEM

As usual I feel the need to do something when I’m resting so my time isn’t ~*WaStEd*~, and I’ve been wanting to create more characters using my RO charas that I am turning into an original story (no name… just going to call it Monarch for now) So I did some mental character design for my RO characters. Apparently it works better than sketching for preliminary designs because it’s the stage where I have no idea wtf I’m doing, so with mental work I don’t have to keep erasing shit that don’t work! Here is the result of my hours of ceiling staring:

the lovechild of a Lif and Kaidaten LOLOL… It was inevitable because the original character is my RO soul linker which IS a Lif in her RO character design, and the wings theme randomly popped up when I used her in the WIP above ): you can totally tell I only care about her hair LOL… THE MIDDLE ONE WHERE I OUTLINED THE SHAPES OF THE LAYERS LOOKS LIKE A CABBAGE HAHAHAHA. I love this fresh green colour especially for hair, but keri already has this colour and his hair is not fun to draw…… I will try to change her hair some more when I research more birds later, not that it’s not insane enough already I can’t think of anyone in their right mind except for me who would want to illustrate something like that, let alone use the design in a manga setting HAHA BUT I DON’T CARE RIGHT NOW IM A HAPPY TROOPER

I came up with most of her character themes when I randomly decided to use her as the foreground of the CG. The background was a sky with huge clouds at first, and when I was deciding between day time and night time, I thought that it suits this character because I have two soul linkers, and they’re identical with identical names. I decided that they would have some control over weather, one for day and one for night. I haven’t found a good sounding name or a cool story for a mythological bird yet so their temp name will be Phoenix! LOL at least they have a name unlike my high priest chara…

Like my high priest chara and all my RO charas to be incorporated into this story, they are one of the Monarchs of the world. Monarchs give up some of their memories to the Mistress of the world, and in exchange have their talents boosted to godly levels and given a city/area/kingdom to rule over. The two Phoenixes are different entities with different souls, but they are inseparable and only one can be awake and aware at a time. They share the same name and appearance and no one except the Mistress knows that there’re 2 of them. They’re borderline intelligent, incapable of speech and acts like infants. Most importantly they lack some kind of long term memory. So they love to roam because everything is always fascinating and new to them, all the while influencing the weather of the world without knowing. But they always get lost and never know the way home. Whenever they start feeling miserable they bring forth storms and devastate the area, until someone capable of calming them down or returning to their home do so, and after a short while they repeat the event.

Some of these regions are well ruled, some of them are a fucking mess and Phoenix’s region is the latter due to their… absolute inability to be remotely responsible about their job. These regions also have weird tensions with one another because the Mistress doesn’t interfere with their ruling and the Monarchs weren’t chosen with the benefit of these states in mind. Phoenix’s constant–albeit unintentional–harassment put their region in terrible relations with almost every other region and it’s pretty much a miracle that their state is still standing.