April 28, 2014 - Friend's Request

A good buddy of mine had asked if I would be able to do a Final Fantasy type title card for a video series he was doing.

He asked me for this a LONG time ago, and I feel like a total jerk for not getting it to him sooner.  I'm not sure if he will be happy with the results.  I really like the fragmented sketchy look to it.  I was going for something like the Final Fantasy Titles.  Not sure how well it turned out, but we'll find out soon enough. 

April 27, 2014 - Favorite Monster Girl (Slime Girl)

Next Monster Girl Picture I did.
Literally did this in a few minutes haha.  But im super happy with the results.

Revisiting the Slime Girl

I wasn't exactly sure what to do for this one "Favorite Monster Girl"  Slime and Robots are probably my two favorites and I already used one of my characters for the robot, so I figured I'd redraw  one that I'd like to explore more as a character...  So...  Slime girl again!  As I said earlier, I did this one in a matter of 4 or 5 min (if even that)   My ability to pick up on shapes and forms has progressed far enough so I'm able to quickly throw out a pose and at least be able to see what is right and wrong then shape it into something that looks a little better.  Not to mention, I'm genuinely proud of that face haha.  It's not perfect, but it looks nice.  There hasn't been a lot of big updates, lots of things are going on.  Not bad things, just things to keep me busy for a while. 

Original Slime Girl can be found here
http://doggyzart.blogspot.com/2013/08/aug-25-27-2013-gestures-and-monster.html

Gotta keep moving, onward march!
MORE TRAINING!

April 26, 2014 - Monster Girl MultiLimb

Just got the monster girl done today. Turned out pretty good though!

I didn't use reference again for this picture.  Im noticing myself being able to recall the shapes of the body a bit easier.  Not a lot more to say, but I really like it.  I actually wouldn't mind making some of these into actual characters haha.  But we'll see.

April 25, 2014 - Gestures and Yokai Girl

Some 2 min Gestures.

Next Monster girl
Yokai! (ghost, phantom, strange apparition)

Reaaallly like how this one turned out. I didn't use any reference for this one and I think it turned out really well.  I think the hands could have been a little bit better, but This one had a good flow to it, especially with the legs.  Not bad.

April 24, 2014 - Huge Gaming Cutback. (No art)

I have hinted towards it and played around with the idea in my head for many months now...  But I've finally decided to cut back on my gaming.

While my gaming in general had taken a huge cut because of real life events, it's come to my attention that gaming in general has done little to no good in helping achieve my goal as an artist.  I used to proudly consider myself a gamer with perhaps slightly above average abilities...  But I feel this time has passed. 

I wont be giving it up completely, but I will be limiting myself to at most, an hour a day (or none if at all possible).  I have learned a lot through gaming, but I need to redirect my focus and hang up the gamer hat.  (AT LEAST TILL SMASH BROS COMES OUT ON THE WIIU LOOLOLOLO)

The question that it all really boils down to is...  How badly do I want this whole art thing to work?  I still feel as though all the odds are stacked against me.  I have to give it my all, and unfortunately my favorite pastime has been the biggest obstacle in my progress.

More on this at a later date.
Till then...
MORE TRAINING!

April 22, 2014 - Feline Girl

Monster girl thing.
Feline Girl!

I drew the character Miss Fortune from, Skull Girls.  While I was happy with this one, I think it looks a bit too much like the reference material that I used.  I might end up redoing it one day, but as of now I like it.

Edit~~
Random quote I found.

“Don’t worry about being original, she said dismissively. Yes, everything’s been written, but also, the thing you want to write, before you wrote it, was impossible to write. Otherwise it would already exist. You writing it makes it possible.”

—	Alexander Chen

Not exactly drawing related, but I'd like to bend it out of context a bit to make it fit.  I think the same thing could be said about any art form in general.  Your art was impossible until YOU create it.  Otherwise it would already exist.  Thinking about art in this way really does the entire concept of creation, regardless of the quality.  It was IMPOSSIBLE till you created it.  Which even makes our failures stand out as somewhat of an accomplishment. 


Lastly, I also saw an interesting 2 part video series on Leonardo DaVinci and other artists were "Losers" or not always successful.
It's worth a look. (they are each about 5 min long)
Part1
http://vimeo.com/84022735
Part2
http://vimeo.com/87448006

April 21, 2014 - Bunny Pics! and figure drawings

Tis the season I suppose!
This past christmas I drew Nona in a christmasy outfit...  So I figured I'd draw her in a Bunny outfit for the easter occasion.  Might make this a thing haha.
So here she is, Bunny Nona.

 Wasn't really in much of a coloring or inking mood so i just kinda left it as a sketch.
Didn't turn out too bad.

I wanted to do another so I figured I would draw another picture of this new character Im working on.

The details on her aren't quite ironed out yet.  I just got an idea for a silly head design then ran with it a bit.  She was originally gonna be a slime character but not so sure.  I'm thinking more of silly puddy consistency.  I'm not sure if I shared these, but these are the original sketches of her from a little while back.

Then here's these 2 min figure drawings.

Hey, ya know!  Not too bad really.  That's all i can really say haha.  Not bad.  Need to do more of these.  MANY MANY MORE!

NEED TO KEEP UP MY TRAINING!

April 20, 2014 - Time to Face the Music

Time to face the music...

WITH FACES!

Originally set out to draw only faces, but the body creeped in on a few of these.  I'm just trying to get used to drawing the face/expressions.  I do still need to do more formal studies, but I do kinda like this little style I've got going.  Something simple, but too the point.  I cant wait to build on it to see how far i can push it and see how it evolves.

April 19, 2014 - Alien, Cyclops, Satyr, Canine Monster Girls, Random doodles and Random Ramblings

Really kicking myself in gear.
Was able to sit down and do quite a few of these Monster Girl Drawings.
Alien Girl

  Cyclops Girl

Satyr Girl

Canine Girl Stuff.

And random doodles.  Tired starting on faces then stuff but got a bit tired working on them.

While I can stand back and nit pick the random little elements of these drawings, I can honestly say I'm pretty satisfied with them.  I was trying to feel the forms in my later monster girl drawings.  With some mixed results.  But that is what I was trying.  The entire point of the Monster Girl Challenge (at least for me) was not to create some wonderful pieces of art, or demonstrate fantastic character designs.  It was to just get me to draw a thing.  And I've managed to get some decent sketches out of the deal, so it's a win win. :D!

A bit on the sketches on the end, I tried to do faces and expressions.  Cartoony/animey expressions.  While drawing them I felt as though they were the absolute worst things ever...  But once again, as it always plays out, Looking back at them, some were actually not terrible.  Really want to focus on faces and stuff.

Random Ramblings

So this video art vlog thing i've been talking about for a while...  I know I've really hinted to wanting to start it, but I think I'm REALLY REALLY ready this time.  JUST GOTTA GEAR UP A BIT.  Soon.  Im learning how to not only redirect a lot of my attention back to art, but to also cope with the silly situations that are happening around me.  It's been a bit of a process.

I feel very passionately about one day doing these video blogs.  I'm sure I've mentioned this before on the blog, but over my years of creating silly little videos on youtube it's genuinely amazing how many people i have been able to touch and influence in a positive way.  Imagine if I'm able to do something of that nature with an art video log series??  If i'm able to help some poor soul somewhere avoid the silly mistakes i've made in my art past... wow.  That would be fantastic!

While there is still a part of me that wants to think "I'm too old" and that I've "Missed the bus" on this whole art thing.  I want to prove myself wrong, and show others that there is a way.  I just need to make sure I'm ready for the task.  The people I follow say there is a way.  Not just one, but ALL of them.  While I'm not entirely in doubt of myself, it all boils down to their word against mind.  And from what little improvement I've seen through the past year, I'm convinced these guys are 100% correct.  Just need to get in gear...  I was close, then it felt like it was all ripped away, now I'm moving back to where I need to be.  One step at a time.  One step at a time.

Need to keep up my training!!

April 7, 2014 - Cleanup, Animation, & It's ok to be Depressed

(I kinda moved things around this blog post, so pardon me if things might sound a little out of order)

During my little depression, I have returned to the cleanup!  There are many things that are still out of place and have been needing to fix up, so instead of sitting around like a lump, I took the initiative to take care of some long needed tasks.  I found that when I'm feeling down, I need to give myself things to do, and cleanup always seems to cheer me up a lot.  And one of the things that have been bothering me is my lack of animations.  So I jumped up and finished another NCS Animated just in time for NCS's Birthday on April 5th!  

Yea it's not my best work, and yea there were some things i probably could have done better, but I got it done.  Another check off the list.  Also, NCS saw it, and he really liked it, so that was some nice icing on the cake.


=================================
Ya know.  It's ok to be depressed.
Especially when things have taken a turn for the worst (or at least for what ever you believe is the worst)  One of my biggest qualms with society is it's strong discouragement from feeling very real and very basic human emotions.  Depression being one of them. (along with other "smaller" emotions like sadness, despair , or even some very positive emotions like happiness or joy... that's an entirely different topic of its own)  

While depression is definitely not a thing that anybody really wants to have on their "to do list" I think it can really speak volumes about your personality and how much you legitimately feel about a situation.  It is a strong negative feeling, but I think, much like any other emotion, we should let it's have it's moment instead of fighting it off.  Fighting it only creates more discomfort from our current discomfort.  The whole "I'm angry because I'm angry" "why is that?" "Because I'm angry" argument.  It can turn into a very powerful downward spiral that will only lead things to a very nasty place.

It's like denying yourself the ability to be human.  While I do believe there are some cases where depression can become become a bit too much to handle and might need further help if the situation is severe enough, but I do think many cases can be helped by just letting it run it's course and understanding that "Hey, yea, I am depressed, and this is the problem." then just continuing to look forward.  The quote "Not everything lasts forever" comes to mind, and that certainly applies negative things as well.

Just gotta stay strong and press on!

April 2, 2014 - Depression

Has it really been almost a month since the last update?  Jeeze.
Well, I figured I might as well get this one off my chest so here goes.  I've been avoiding the word depression for a while now but it really feels that there is no going around it.  The way things have been lately in my personal life have really taken a tole on my confidence not only in myself but just in my future in general.  As though a "perfect storm" of sorts has slowly been brewing over the past few years has just hit right as I thought things were truly beginning to look up (which only fuels my frustration because it actually felt like I was going somewhere).  This isn't of-course to imply that I won't go anywhere, it's just hard to stay focused... when focus has always been the thing I've never managed to keep and all these problems... ech.  It legitimately feels like other people are stomping all over my dreams, and that's not a good feeling at all.  I wish i could go into more detail with all this, but I think it would be in my best interest if I just kinda left it at that.

Despite everything that's going on, I want this to be a good month.  Just need to push myself a bit more.

and here's a silly gif.












You're welcome.