Coffee House Date (喫茶店デート)

Recently, I was in Tokyo for the holidays. I had been mulling over what I was planning to do to commemorate Arc's birthday, and unlike last year, this time I wanted something a little more heartwarming. Cozy. Something just a tad nostalgic to my days as a foreign student just wandering around Tokyo and going to random coffee shops and restaurants in my spare time. I was young and adventurous, and I relished the opportunity I had to live in the country I could only dream of.

Initially, I wanted to go with a color scheme with the background as a friend suggested I do, something similar to what I did with these past art pieces. I didn't like the direction I was going for though, and I scrapped the idea entirely. But I think I ended up sticking to a color scheme of mostly yellows, browns and whites and only realized it by the end of the whole thing. 😅 So I guess it all worked out.

I did a poll in the r/Housamo Discord server to also determine what would end up on their plate. I had a bunch of desserts in the choices, though someone suggested I add soup as a choice for the memes. Results got tied, and one picker wheel spin later, we ultimately decided on cheesecake. 🧀

I was also trying to incorporate the rendering methods I did in my last self-portrait. Before it all got fuzzy to me I tried to make sure I remembered what I learned and did... Mostly... 👀 At least I can say with confidence though that Arc's hair is looking a lot better compared to before with this new rendering tactic I'm doing.

But anyway.

Happy birthday to my favorite enby. 🍰 To the one character that sent me tumbling down the Housamo rabbit hole once again... Subsequently forcing me to push my limits when it comes to art in a desperate attempt to self-sustain myself with content of all the Housamo characters I've grown to love. But no other Housamo character can trump my love and adoration for the lesser known Chain Wielder of Otemachi, even if I suggest otherwise at times.

Happy birthday Arc, and I can't wait for your inevitable and long-deserved plot relevancy in Book 3. 💕

2024 Wrap-Up

32 entries? Ayo this ain't what I originally envisioned for the start of last year... 😶

Anyway, happy new year to all! 🥳 I've been really busy as usual, but some art is in the oven and baking after I finally got some two weeks off of work. Until then, here's my four favorite artworks of 2024:

I didn't get as much done for 2024... But I'm hoping that 2025 will at least be different! Here's to another year of arting! 🧃

Also, just to let you guys know: I am slowly moving away from Twitter and migrating my content to Bluesky. I'll be posting a lot more sketches and little snippets of some headcanons there. You can follow me on Bluesky here.

Self-Insert Pact Commander - Concept

So I had been dabbling in my Guild Wars 2 brainrot as I said I would, and recently I had finally decided to create a character based on my avatar and use it as my design for my headcanon Pact Commander. The design is currenly lacking the cape, but I'll add in that detail into future works.

For the longest time, I have been playing as a thief through my OC Viresco. While the thought of making my avatar-based character floated through my head over the years, I never really ended up pushing through with it until like... Last week or so.

I never really associated myself with a particular profession in a fantasy setting other than simply being an artist. My avatar displayed power, sure; it was the power to create something out of nothing, turn fantasy into reality, wield immense strength, and accomplish various feats through the power of sheer will and determination. But I never found myself drawn to any of the typical classes and specializations. Heck, I didn't even have a weapon of choice.

After giving it a lot of thought though, I decided to settle for a mage class since a lot of world creation has to do with manipulating the elements and harnessing its power at will. I didn't really like mages or healers since they took on more supportive rather than offensive roles, but I eventually came around to liking them. I suppose it's all that time I spent playing a healer druid for the last 2-3 months. I definitely enjoyed playing the role of a person who keeps everyone alive and spamming the DPS we all need for the Janthir titans. 😋

In Guild Wars 2, mages are called elementalists instead. But I didn't want to settle for being a typical nerd mage with a tome or a staff or something. Around the time I was setting up my new elementalist, I received this epic spear skin from the Black Lion chests. I was mindblown by my sheer luck. The spear looked perfect bar the fact that I couldn't dye it red. But this cemented in my mind that a magical aura lance that can be fired like daggers was the perfect weapon for my character to be wielding, one that she generates like Zeus and his thunderbolts.

Needless to say, I am currently trying to learn how to play Fresh Air Tempest with a spear. Despite what people seem to say about it being a bit hard, this build is actually super fun to play... Though it had me stumbling a lot at first because I'm not used to such a very fragile class that didn't have enough evades like thieves did. The rotations seem complicated but I think it's easier to just play the class and let it all come naturally to you.