Adrift

 

The final version of this that I uploaded to Tumblr and Cara isn't too different from this version. Progress! Still taking me two hours to do them. Still things to improve, as always.

Stray Gods just hit its one year release anniversary. The soundtrack for this game helped me through the thick of last year. Especially the song Adrift. The song came up on shuffle as I was about to start a DD for today. I started crying. Is this an Austin Wintory thing, maybe. I will cry if I hear I Was Born For This without warning.

To this day I still haven't sold anything on Redbubble. I opened the store in March of this year, had enough designs to open in late May, early June. So while I made it 5 months ago, it's only maybe been active for roughly 3 months? I'm trying to stay positive. One of my big problems is marketing. I had hoped that if I uploaded weekly that my designs might pop up in an algorithm somewhere for an active store. From what I've read on reddit, not the case lol. No chance of being found on the website unless I market myself externally. The time to create an insta account is approaching...

Before I do, I still hope to start a Ko Fi. Maybe have some promotional free downloads. I want to... make a papercraft something. I have an idea for papercraft rpg dice? In a terrarium, aquarium, or gelatinous cube design. As much as I'd like to try for the terrarium, its maybe an oversaturated idea? I hesitate to research - I'll probably be disheartened that I won't be able to compete with other people's designs that I envy. But dice shapes should be pretty easy? I'm going to test it out anyway. If not, I thought... of a Dragon Age garland lol. Flat image. Minimal assembly. Line up of all the party members with their hands to their sides in a T pose kinda, so if you string them up it will hopefully look like they're all holding hands in a line. lol. maybe. Will likely be more time consuming than the dice though? So. I dunno. Not sure if I should set a deadline for having that. Maybe by the end of October? I've got busy months ahead. I don't want that to discourage me. Go me. GO ME I CAN DO IT. DO MY BEST. 

This is maybe pathetic, but I placed an order for a few of my Redbubble designs. There's no tally for the number of items sold, so it's not as though I'm inflating my own numbers. It just... kinda feels like an L that my first sale in my store was myself. But anyway, i wanted to know how the colours look on the final product. I have a lot of dark grey designs that look almost black on certain monitors. That bothers me. So I'd like to verify if I should adjust them and take note of the shading values. Additionally I think I'll try using the ones I've bought for marketing purposes? I bought some of my potion labels (lmao I ordered the Holy Water before catching the grammatical error and uploading a correction) that I plan on taking some snaps of. Buy some green soda, put it in a bottle/jar, slap a Poison label on there, take photos. I don't know if I should be weary about advertising a label that says poison. I'll have to put a safety message in there?

Upcoming label ideas: blanks (animals holding up fillable label boxes, invisibility potions, health potions (varying strengths), variety potions (genuine snake oil (would I be allowed to do this??), battery acid, potion seller's strongest potion, and idk what else. something fun hopefully).

Still Free

 

space sapphics

i ended up colouring much more of this, but it took an extra 80mins so here's the roughest splash of stuff for this wannabe Haven movie poster. I want to try and do more fanart in this poster-looking style. It's good practice for me to work on my eye for composition, and a nice way for me to journal and wear my fandom on my sleeve.

In July i've been working on developing a format to open commissions. I got 4 portraits done of OCs belonging to friends. Learnt a lot through trial and error for how to engage with what someone wants, and how I should streamline the design queries and get the illustration done too. That has been my focus, as well as gradually getting better with my redbubble. I'm trying to post something every week on either Friday or Saturday, however I was delayed last week and only uploaded something today.
annnddd, to my surprised my Ezio pixel designs are visible! My submission was approved, and I now have a Fan Art Artist badge of achievment on my profile! Woohoo! Hopefully it will help get eyes on my store. 
hoping hoping hoping~

in unrelated matters, Haven! I just finished playing Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden yesterday. I've wanted these poster-ready designs of fan art for games that I like to be an ongoing personal project. In Banishers the two protagonists have really intricate designs. And very realistic-looking. It felt a bit steeper of a challenge than I wanted to comfortably attempt tonight, so I went for another great couple in a video game. I've been meaning to draw these two for a long time. I actually wanted to design some stickers for them to put on redbubble before I read up on the IP and unauthorised fanart policies. 

I really loved this game. 
I'm still not sophisticated enough to articulate the things I loved so much about it. I need to post here more to work on my writing. Actual writing. Not just typing like I am now. Creative writing, and read up on it.

Ghosts Again

 

only medusa heard my prayer.

Medusa has morphed into something I need to turn to, kind of? 
i was treated badly for years, and i was silent as stone about it. i fought back and am seen as a monster, when i would argue the one who did it is the true monster.

something like that.

i just bought the perpetual license for clip studio paint. I've been doodling around for a couple of hours, it's going to take some getting used to - but it's fantastic. the breadth of options, my gosh. maybe it's just cause i'm coming from years of using just SAI to do everything that it's mindblowing to me. i like the EFFECTS brushes! MANGA EFFECTS. the bishounen-loving 15year old within me is RATTLING in her cage. 

Seriously though, by the end of the week I need to have a Redbubble update. 
Still no word back on my AC fan art submission. Fingies crossed, man.

Confide in Me

 Lots of music video inspo this year. I had the idea jotted down in my sketchbook to do stylised drawings of all of Kylie's different appearances in the video clip for Confide in Me.
I'm trying not to be too hard on myself for how this turned out. I keep wanting everything to look amazing, but I end up feeling so disappointed with how it takes shape. I think I need to focus on figure drawing and speed sketches. I'm so concerned about how long it takes me to draw anything, so I think I need to try focusing on speed.

in redbubble news, I saw the list of affiliate IPs for fanart had been updated - it now lists Assassin's Creed! I fixed up and made adjustments and resizes to some old Ezio pixels I did years ago. Uploaded, tagged and awaiting approval. Hopefully it brings a bit of attention to my store!

I need to work on some designs to add...

I've had a sketch for Unown designs for a Pokemon Gold and Silver poster I've been wanting to do. I think I came up with the sketches while procrastinating on working on the wedding invite stuff? Well, i'm putting a pin in those designs. Only working on printable stuff. Because. Anything I upload to redbubble, especially if its fanart, I wave the rights to. I'm the creator but not the owner anymore. I'm really attached to these Unown designs so.... I'm going to keep them as mine haha. If I reach a point where I want to print and sell my own stuff, that's when I might bust them out. In the meantime, I have to build my portfolio of designs. In the coming weeks I have to work on self-promo things. bleh. embarrassing and cringe.

Recap of where I am:

Tumblr - the showoff blog, has the most regular updates.
Cara - doodles and sketches, with the occasional thing I'm proud of. Maybe to promote work? Maybe I should network?

Where I should establish:

Facebook? - I'd be able to share updates with people who I know by sharing updates to my personal profile. Then again, I'd just be making a facebook page to avoid spamming my personal contacts, so what's the point. gosh i dunno, again this is the embarrassing part. 
Insta? - The data scraping with no opt-out option is very concerning. Maybe if/once they allow for opt-out I will reconsider. 

I've been mentally prepping and forcing myself to understand that once I upload an image ANYWHERE, that its use is out of my hands. I can't control its use, so I have to emotionally let go of what I create. It's still mine, but not entirely anymore. That will change if I print my own, but for now in the self-promo phase, I will make these loose designs. Unfortunately this also means, I don't LOVE the designs I've got out there. My redbubble is going to feel so mid. I'm so fucking poor right now though so I have to aim for the cents not dollars yet, work my way up. 

I've not sold anything on my redbubble yet. Why? Because I haven't advertised anything lol. I keep hoping that the people who like the maneki designs will somehow discover them organically. It doesn't really work that way though does it.

『バッハの旋律を夜に聴いたせいです。』

 

hastily done DD.
squeezed it in juuust before midnight.
i really like sakanaction. it's pretty good for almost depression music. like i'm not wading through the muck of depression, i'm not in that pit right now, but there's something nearby. that's my sensation listening to their music. it's like they get it.

I've finally, FINALLY, gotten the ball rolling on my redbubble. It's made me realise I need to develop my sense of design alongside my illustration aspirations. Drawing for whatever VS developing a design for a product has different principles. I think for years I had this sense that selling art like this was somehow selling out. That it compromises "real art" to do this. I haven't had this view regarding other artists, it somehow only applies to myself. Eariler this year I attended a local workshop/info seminar about starting your own business to sell art. It was aimed at ceramicists and fine artists, I felt like an absolute outsider as a wannabe digital illustrator, but welp there I was. I did take away some useful tips though, and one helpful affirmation: selling art as a product is a traditions that's been ongoing for centuries. Millenniums! So attempting to enter the market with my own shop isn't shamefully compromising some core principal of art, the speaker at the seminar called it noble. Which was... profound to me. Surely it's something that's been said before, but it was my first time hearing someone talk about it in that way. It's something I needed to hear, and I heard it at the right time in my life.

so there's RedBubble.

The current goal is to sell on Inprnt someday. I'm intimidated by the quality of art that's available on there already - a lot of artists I admire are on there, and it's daunting to imagine my art appearing alongside that level of skill and beauty. Also practically, I think anything I do couldn't hold a candle to their artworks, so who would buy my shit haha. Understandably! 

So I think, my roadmap to inprnt is to update my tumblr with shop updates and continue to upload my own non-sellable art (like fanart, anything I don't have the IP right to sell) and get more comfortable and familiar with that process. I signed up for Cara the other day, I don't really have a feel for what the climate is like there, so I think I might post shitty doodles and sketches that I don't want on my tumblr to there. At some point open a Ko-fi? There's a shop function there? At least I can drop my hat on a sidewalk there for folks to donate alms to if they like any fanart I do that caught their eye. That sounds so... bad. I dunno. That's still an uncomfortable idea, but I dunno, is that something to just overcome in the pursuit of art? I'm dipping into my savings every month to pay for things. Currently only working casual hours has been rough, especially now that it's getting colder. Putting off heating the house and keeping my grocery shopping to a bare minimum. I think I've only gotten food delivery a couple of times this year? It's just too expensive for my tight budget. But anyway, this is all just to say, it'd be good to have this time that I have to PROPERLY invest into working on developing my art and try to create things that people would be glad to buy. Product design is kind of exciting! It's so creative. I have to be honest with myself though - do I like the idea of it, or do I actually want to make the things. Like how I wanted to learn violin years ago. Do I actually want to play the violin or do I just like the idea of being able to play songs I like on the violin. I'm not passionate about playing any instrument. What if that's how I find that I feel about creative designy things. hhhh. i hope. i like it. so much. that i do it. in all my free time.

ラブストーリーは突然に

 

i feel the big sad.

and why oh whyyy can't i make anime faces work.

A Human's Touch

 Cover art appreciation for TWRP's new single "A Human's Touch".

I'm pretty sure the original artist is Lazerhorse.
I want to do a mini album cover art tribute to their work they did for TWRP's music, I love these covers.

Thinking I might get Clip Studio Paint? Didn't know it has an animating feature. Since losing Photoshop I haven't had any software that lets me animate. Not that I ever did anything grand with it, but having it as an option was nice?

Well. art updates?
Focusing on redbubble stuff, maybe inprint down the track if I can get in? Sell some fanart there. Stickers to start on redbubble.