I’ve also moved all my crap back upstairs to my old work room because it seems unlikely for the summer heat to return again this year. I can’t work in peace anymore because my dad took up half of my desk with his work stuff and he’s always behind me now. Like all Asian parents, their colourful commentary about my WIPs aren’t always encouraging so I usually don’t work in front of them ): HOPEFULLY MY WORK RATE WON’T BE HINDERED TOO MUCH. I just have to carefully plan when to work on what lmao

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

I can’t believe I’m actually working on the new website layout I’ve been talking about for a year. I also can’t believe I’ve kept this theme across every single version of my layouts, although this one is largely just a copy/redraw/improvement of the last one. I had thought about going for the professional look like everyone else and putting an actual illustration as the header to represent my art better, but I decided to just do that with content layout, and preserve this ridiculous happy pastel world I’ve created. It totally looks NOTHING like what I normally draw lol

And so, as per usual, you can see my test page here as I slowly work on it: http://ashen-ray.com/5/ It features broken stuff everywhere, gibberish and the occasional coding explosion because I’m a noob.

Since my summer retreat to the basement to avoid AC bills, my cat has enjoyed sitting next to me greatly. First it was just my seat, then my armrest, and recently she’s moved onto the desk. She likes to watch me draw and try to catch my pencil (aside from being kawaii it’s also VERY ANNOYING LOL) but when she’s tired she just bums there. So I took some pics! (the towel on me is because I just washed my hair)

she’s THAT GOOD OK sitting comfortably half on desk half on armrest

don’t mind her 4 ears from my hand shake ): BUT THAT’S BASICALLY WHAT SHE’S LIKE WHEN I WORK

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

I’m trying to slowly morph Veloce’s clothing from her current simple, comfortable, down-to-earth design to her final over the top unrealistic design with each clothing design change. Each time she needs some replacement, I would logically want it to be something similar to what she had before because it suit her, but at the same time use the opportunity to add on something extra to reflect her character change.

She starts conservative, but gradually becomes reckless with letting her true personality get to her. She had preferred to stay out of things, and didn’t like to dress to represent her rank, or arm because it will attract attention. But as time goes she begins to dismiss the notions of keeping to herself and forgets her effort to not become like her mother, and it slowly shows as she adds (well, I give her…) excess ornaments and dress without reserve.

As for the sword… every time I draw it it changes ): but there isn’t really any ceiling I want to achieve for it so I don’t really want to spend a lot of time and settle the design. It needs to feel like a strange piece of art rather than a weapon, which is why its design keeps getting weirder and unusable (since its ancient, symmetrical and generic version on a very old poster sketch.) When Veloce is first presented the sword she turns it down despite appreciating its artistry because it’s needlessly big and ornate.

Ugh I slept late last night, then woke up a few times for extended periods in the middle of the night because some random pollen allergy I’ve been getting lately. I eventually gave up and used the allergy spray my dad gave me and it MADE IT WORSE. Then I got woken up pretty early (for my standards) by the door bell for some packages; turns out they’re cushart’s artbooks and the bahamut figure that I bought from 2 weeks ago. So I was all overexcited and tired/sleepy at the same time unwrapping them and had a super hard time putting his tail together and sticking the stand up his ass… BUT HERE HE IS IN ALL HIS GLORY I’m so happy he got here alive

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
[Embedded music: view full post to listen]

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

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 ):