!!! I’m drawing an original piece OMG

although the pic is already not turning out the way I expected it to be (I didn’t mean to paint it like this but ended up doing so after painting her face and hair) I’m having a lot of fun going nuts over my own characters again. If only drawing everything is like this SIGHHH

I’m going to call this done (: The new layout is now up! Surprisingly it didn’t take a lot of time–or maybe I enjoyed it enough that it seemed quick. Like every update, I restructured things so that maintenance would be easy to do, and updates are all done in one place. I’m pretty happy with the result! The site is also feels less cramped now with more margin space, line space and less excessive text, which is what I wanted to fix about the last layout. Please let me know of errors you find and any suggestions you have to improve ease of use!

There are still a few problems with the new layout that I don’t know how to solve. My blog is not installed on the same domain as my website, and code I use to retrieve the most recent entry on the website front page doesn’t display paragraph formatting properly and I pretty much gave up on making it work. I’m considering switching over to an excerpt because any wordy entry would just be a huge wall of text on the front page. wow, fixed

The left side of each individual web page also feel empty. In the blog, the information tab fills it up a little. For other pages, I don’t really know what to put on it. I want to keep stuff concise and show off the art, but right now it’s a little lonely.

And here’s a sketch to cancel out the text, although I’ve posted it a few years ago when I first drew it. I picked this as the Blackbird piece to work on in the end (because really, I just wanted to draw a really ornate picture) but I suddenly got carried away with the site revamp lmfao

+1 class variety to my RO collection! a soul linker using a soul linker soul link HARHARHAR

And instead of working on a set of new pages I treat myself by making some random design that I can’t logically use for at least 7 more chapters

once again idk why everything is slanted… and I don’t understand why I don’t draw out a proper figure before I draw on clothing design and now she looks funny

More random thoughts about the design because changing her appearance is fun to think about for some reason. MAYBE I JUST LIKE TO WASTE TIME THINKING ABOUT TRIVIAL DETAILS
(more…)

I’M ON A ROLL WITH THESE SCRAPS they’re piling up at an exponential rate I’m going to be so screwed

My friend showed me this song called “haruame” on nico video, which means spring rain, created on VOCALOID by AVtechNO. It’s an alternate version; the “official” version sounds kinda generic and boring, but this version really hit me after a few listenings. I don’t known why I have such a depressed impression of it, but the image was strong and I really wanted to draw it even though I’m not that great at creating atmosphere. I’m kinda annoyed though because half way through drawing it, I realized there was a scene like this in Shin Angyo Onshi. damn my inability to remember ANYTHING when it mattered

I didn’t rely much on the lyrics because it was hard to translate. The image mostly came from when I heard the irony of the title in the orchestration. I haven’t been so in love with a new song for a really long time, but I don’t know if others will hear it the same way I do. Hopefully you can hear the song in this sketch!

Haruame – AVtechNO

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

It’s like a really angsty version of the other veloce sketch from 2 posts ago lol

and an alternate caption for those who don’t dig drama as much as I do: veloce’s sword is stuck on the ground and she’s sad she can’t pull it out

I WAS TIRED so I treated myself to a lot of red and folds and IMPOSSIBLE DRAPERY and shiny effects. IT WAS VERY ENJOYABLE. I will most likely leave it at this stage for a while before working on it further though ):

You can also view a slightly 18+ sketch here. It’s a retake on an ancient piece I drew if someone recognized the similarity and is wondering, though this one is a lot more intimate than it is erotic. I’ve been craving to create mood recently, probably because of the massive slew of character portraits I’ve been drawing ):

20-minute sketch from my livestream today. I don’t like a lot of things about this picture because it was done quick and live, so I will most likely redo itin the future!

[edit] I totally forgot to take a pic of the RO figurines I got SO HERE IT IS

[/edit]

I AM SO SAD THAT I DIDN’T HAVE MY CAMERA WITH ME AT OTAKON because I met SO MANY of my long time friends that I have never had a chance to meet. My parents came with me to baltimore, and they went sightseeing so I gave them the camera. Also it’s been a while since I’ve been with my con crew ): I didn’t get to hang out with them much because I couldn’t stay late, and I spent most of my time doing billions of commissions in an attempt to make some money to give to my parents for our outlet mall adventure after the con.

It was a pleasurable convention nonetheless; lots of fun was had and I wasn’t bored for any long period of time (mostly because I was so busy working the shit out of myself.) and the fire alarm on saturday was kind of entertaining aside from the fact that I had to mash with the ~20k other people that were kicked out of the convention grounds into the heat for an hour. I bought two (overpriced) RO figurines and got a bunch of goods from my friends, but I missed a jo chen art book because I was stupid and couldn’t get into the dealer’s room last minute…

The 10 hour drive down was actually decent, because we had to put conscious effort into finding the right exits since our tomtom is somehow borderline retarded. The drive back up proved it as it guided us off the highway and cut across this corn field in a gravel road, where we almost hit 2 DEERS that were crossing ]: We went to two outlet malls on our way back, and now my otakon profit has turned into a coach bag, some skanky shorts, a bunch of shirts, a michael kors watch and a pair of ugg boots. I will now forever have only one nice set of clothing and tomboy combos for the rest YEAAAAA

Since I don’t have any photos, here are two sketches I did at the con!

I am really looking forward to the chance to CG this (among a bunch of other random ideas I had) but I know I won’t have the time to for a very long while LOL

This is incomplete but I am too tired/lazy to continue it ): I’ll probably redraw it some other time

And here are some commissions I did overnight at the hotel, when I did have the camera

This recently arrived in the mail! It’s a steampunk necklace from Simply Willow. It looks sooooo nice (as you can see :D) and I finally gave in and bought it even though it was so expensive LOL. I saved the image from an ad I saw from it MANY MANY years ago online because I liked it. Then I came across the file in the last few weeks and decided to google and check it out, and omg it has so much cool stuff ): Sucks I can only oogle at the rest of it because of their prices.

I’m leaving for Baltimore tomorrow for Otakon this weekend (: BY CAR (:!!!! for a 9 hour drive YAYYYY……… I’d put on my headphones and listen to music for 9 hours but that’s kinda cruel to my dad who will be driving ): I’ll be seeing a lot of old faces since I haven’t been to a con outside of Toronto for a few years, and I haven’t talked to these people much recently because we’re all busy. It shall be a MOST INTRIGUING EXPERIENCE.

I am pretty happy with my work progress in the few weeks leading up to today; I’ve managed to finish everything I wanted to finish before the con so none of my clients are kept waiting unexpectedly. I’ve got a lot of crap to do after I get back, but having lots of work is good! It means I can keep doing what I’m doing, at least for the near future. It’s just unfortunate that I have to push a lot of personal stuff out of the way to make time for work, like that website revamp that went on hiatus after the draft, and the 3 character portraits I have yet to do, and the abysmally slow Blackbird updates I’ve been pulling off ]: But sacrifices must be made for a good (?) cause!

edit: oh and have a villain! she’s not supposed to be this young (just a few years older) but I find chibis easier to deal with when designing outfits. I’d colour it for easier comprehension but I don’t have any colour scheme in mind ): she reminds me of chibiusa LOL so now my mental image of this pic is like all pink

See you when I get back :D

One of the people suggested on my journal to draw a fight scene, I don’t know if this is what I want to continue/finish though

This is totally the result of me being unable to get over the part in Dead Fantasy where they fall and fight, except this would logically last maybe like 3 seconds instead of 3 minutes, and this is not epically choreographed like DF LOL

as I drew this I also realized the irony of this picture, that even though Veloce is supposed to be the magic user, Blackbird is the one being fancy

But first! Two random scraps that I did while taking breaks from work so you don’t have to scroll past the wall of text to see them! Yes, I take breaks from drawing by drawing.

…

sepia: no shit it’s your last smoke THE PARTY IS 2 HIGH PRIESTS, NO KILLER

Carrying on… I came back from Europe like 10 days ago, organized my photos but forgot to post about it, so here they are: http://europe.ashen-ray.com. Most of them are obligatory non-spectacular scenic photos though ): but I promise some elements of beauty and hilarity? Europe was a nice place though; it made North America look like a boring wasteland–granted I don’t go anywhere so I don’t really have any grounds to speak on, but still ]:

We were incredibly lucky on this trip in my opinion; gorgeous weather and general good luck dealing with problematic situations were had in exchange for some minor unfortunate events. Nothing is worse than terribad weather on a long trip, and knowing Europe MOTHER NATURE DID ITS ABSOLUTE BEST.

Europe is exactly as I expected, except exponentially more breathtaking. I love to be impressed, and I truly was, by its history and otherworldly craft of its heritage. Just as my teachers and professors stated, photographs can’t possibly express the greatness of things I saw there, and that feeling of awe is exactly what I need to expand my horizon and add to my skill.

My favourites were London and Versailles. London streets themselves are a work of art; the swift pace, precision, and elegance of everything makes London a charming place to see. Plus everything that the Brits robbed from other countries are there so it made it even better. Versailles is just beyond description. I wished it was a little more well-maintained though, I mean the hallway of mirrors is like the hallway of dirty mirrors, but I realized it’s kind of hard given its size.

My least favourite was touristy Italy. It reminded me a lot of China with its poor manner, control, and the general atmosphere that you have to beware of everything. Plus it was super hot. Good thing it was touristy for good reason, otherwise it would’ve been a horrible way to end the trip.

Now, time to catch up with 3 commissions and 2 manga projects fldsj;flkjhgiodfgahs;jfa