Digitober 2020: In Closing

While I ended the challenge with my last post about Trey, I decided to give this challenge a proper closing.

Digitober Thoughts

After a month of Digitober, I can definitely say I made some notable development as an artist. I learned a lot of techniques in digital painting--from watercolor techniques to generating lightning to painting rain. Pixel art-wise, I didn't feel like I had learned much apart from creating 2.5D sprites. Still, it's something. 😄

Prior to this challenge, I had always felt so daunted with Photoshop. It just felt like something that was a pain to figure out and work with. Admittedly, I also still preferred to use Pixelmator over Photoshop because I was so familiar with the former, even though it had been a long time ever since I touched a Mac (it was a weird and irrational thing I just needed to get over). Now, I feel a lot more settled and comfortable with using it, and I came to realize it was also more convenient that I used it anyway because most tutorials involve the use of Photoshop over other applications.

I don't know if I'm gonna be keen on doing another month's worth of challenges in the future. I realized how time-consuming it is to just make the art and brainstorm on how to draw what I have in mind. I definitely missed my evenings and weekends of just gaming. It's nice to be productive, but I really burned out near the end of the challenge, and getting sick for three days only made it more difficult for me to keep up.

I noticed I've also been making Gator Buddies focal in most of my work. The more I see these characters in digital, the more I want to further explore and develop them. However, it does leave me a bit bored seeing the same style of painting over and over sometimes, so...

Improvements

Now, I would like to focus more on perspective drawing. There's a lot of stuff I want to draw but can't because I don't know enough about perspective. I want to take the time to just draw stuff in perspective, in freehand or with perspective grids, just to get a feel for it and learn how it works. I have a number of photos I can use as references...

I also wanna do more anatomy studies as well. My drawing style of people has highly unchanged since 8 years ago, and I just really wanna improve on that. I also realized how inconsistent my anatomy tends to be too, so that's another thing to improve upon.

All in All...

Will there be another Digitober or Inktober next year? Hard to say right now. It's still too far ahead in the future, and I don't know how I'll feel then.

Will there be more art this month? Yes, but I'm still fairly burnt out from last month's challenge. I need a break from art for like a week or two, just to refresh my head again. Won't stop me from taking some time to make perspective drawings as practice though.

I'm still disappointed about not being able to finish Digitober this year, but honestly, I'm quite satisfied knowing I've made a lot of stuff for the challenge and that I've made some kind of progress with art. And there's surely more art to come. 😊

Trey's Threads

Oof, didn't make it in time this year after all 😫

Anyway. For this piece, I've decided to feature Trey from the Beaver Brothers! I haven't really featured him in any of my work, so now was a good time to do that. Looking as swaggy as I imagined. 😄

With the turn of a new month, I normally would make something to catch up to my missed days of Inktober. I really should do the same for this challenge, but I've decided to end Digitober with this post of Trey. Digitober was great while it lasted, even though I'm disappointed that I didn't finish on time. I learned a lot of new things about digital art that I wouldn't have if I didn't do the challenge. However, at this point, I just want to have evenings again for a while, and spend them building model kits and playing games. And maybe get more hours of sleep. Sleep would be great. 😴

Shimeji Sketchdump

...Seems my lack of motivation to finish the challenge is really, really telling.

I was recently introduced to the concept of shimejis, which were, surprisingly, nothing to do with any mushrooms. Apparently, these are these little desktop buddies you can activate so they can lounge about on your screen doing their own thing while you work. A friend of mine has a website where she makes them for a living, and I downloaded a Dreepy shimeji from her site just before I bought my Dragapult plush. You can check out her site here; feel free to show her some support too!

Anyway, I decided to make use of this idea of shimejis by making a half-assed sketchdump of my Swamplands characters chilling and doing whatever on my screen.

Borgars

I happened upon this news at work. I was incredibly tempted to order via Grab, but I stopped myself, mainly because I didn't want to spend, and I just spent nearly $100 USD on these bad boys from Shopee.

Instead, I did a quick doodle to suffice. I wasn't really thinking of putting too much effort into keeping all the ingredients accurate. I was more concerned about just ensuring they all had a level height, and that each had the necessary and prominent ingredients to be just distinguishable from each other.

Yes, there is a pineapple slice in that burger; that's just the way it's made and it tastes amazing. Don't @ me 🙄

Zip's Tools of the Trade

Just a quick something I cooked up for my about page, for all the stuff I use to make art. Of course, I've mostly transitioned to digital media now, but there's still a rare occasion where I do traditional stuff, so the ones I use for pencil sketches and inks are still worth mentioning nonetheless.

The Problem With Self-Diagnosis

...Or it's something that just doesn't mean anything at all.

Not gonna lie, this was me these last three days until I found out it was just a mere case of tonsilitis. Some Tylenol, Rexidol, saltwater, and ginger tea did the trick, along with several hours of rest and not being at my laptop all the time. I did have a weird craving for pizza the whole time, which I sated this afternoon 😆.

Holy cripes, I have so many missed days of art for the challenge. Here's hoping I catch up and actually make all my entries on time! 😫

Ryusei-Go

Finally, a style that deviates from the usual! 😝

Yesterday, while I was taking a break from doing my comic, I was looking through my shelf full of Gunpla on display, fondly reminiscing days of when I spent some of my afternoons at the sharehouse just building model kits for hours. My display features a fair number of blue and white Gunpla, like the 00 Raiser and the Exia. What caught my attention, however, was the Ryusei-Go, which stands out fairly differently because of its predominantly magenta color scheme, and the quirky shark face it has.

Now, I've never watched Iron-Blooded Orphans myself, but I don't think I need to watch the anime just to admire how nice this mobile suit looks (Same goes for all the other Gunpla in my collection 😊). Needless to say, when my comic was done, I pulled the Ryusei-Go from the shelf, started tracing its bust on Photoshop, and got painting.

I'm quite happy with this messy piece. I wouldn't mind seeing this on a shirt or something. 😄

Gator Meets Gatorgrass (Part 4)

Friday unfolds quite differently compared to the past five days... But it's only getting better.

More experimenting with stuff in this comic. In the fifth panel, I wanted to draw a bunch of crooked lines for the lightning, but then I decided to try something different. I discovered this simple tutorial for lightning in Photoshop, and it turned out more impressive than I expected. Of course, it somewhat deviates from my usual style so it looks a bit out of place... 😅

The second panel looks a bit half-assed to me, with how I drew the canopy. The ones in the other panels I really like though; I used a few of those scattered-looking brushes to get that effect of the sky peeking between the leaves. In retrospect, I probably should have used that for the second panel instead... Ah, whatever.

As for the rain, I drew it as per usual, but to get that sort of misty and somber ambiance, I slapped a new layer over each panel and painted the whole thing in light purple. Afterward, I set the opacity to around 18-24%.

[2/15/2022] Edit: Change file format to PNG.

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🐊 Gator Buddies 🐊

Gator Meets Gatorgrass
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Gator Meets Gatorgrass (Part 3)

Seems it's taken a liking to Honey Lemon too. ...As well as everything else Crocigator's handed over to it. 😛

I've been trying to paint something different but to no avail... It doesn't help that I feel the call of procrastinating by playing more video games instead. Oddly enough, I feel more drawn towards further continuing this series of comics, so maybe I'll try to keep this going while I can.

[2/15/2022] Edit: Change file format to PNG.

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🐊 Gator Buddies 🐊

Gator Meets Gatorgrass
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Gator Meets Gatorgrass (Part 2)

Crocigator makes new friends too! 😊

This was my first time drawing speed lines in Photoshop. I used the photos on this link as a reference. The one I made could be better, but it did have the effect I was going for.

I wasn't sure how the panels for this comic would go at first, actually. Then I remembered an excerpt I read from one of my Japanese animal encyclopedias which mentioned how an old man easily kept the mouth of a crocodile shut with one hand; this was because crocodiles don't have a lot of strength in their mouths and snoots, and they won't be able to open their mouths when they get clamped shut.

[2/15/2022] Edit: Change file format to PNG.

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🐊 Gator Buddies 🐊

Gator Meets Gatorgrass
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Gator Meets Gatorgrass (Part 1)

That's no weed... And it certainly doesn't look too pleased either.

Lagging behind again 😫 But, turns out I just needed a proper night's sleep to get my creative juices flowing again. I should be good to get back on track again, hopefully... Fingers crossed. 🤞

Anyway, lots of flowers on this one. I wanted to feature more swamp vegetation in my work that isn't just reeds and cattails, so I looked up some quick on Google (I was also getting sick of painting almost nothing but different shades of green all the time). The swamp mallow/swamp hibiscus caught my attention; it's bright and flashy enough to be noticeable in the swamp. It's also a fairly common flower in wetlands, and I imagined a bunch of these things just growing on the side of Crocigator's shack and he just tends to them.

I really enjoy this shift to making more comic strips. Nothing like bringing more of your own characters to life and weaving a story with them.

[2/15/2022] Edit: Change file format to PNG.

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🐊 Gator Buddies 🐊

Gator Meets Gatorgrass
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

To the One That Would Have Been

I have a bunch of ideas, but I couldn't decide what I ought to start with... And then I found myself reminiscing about Stardew Valley and of the time when I used to play it every day as a means of coping with my struggles three years ago. I feel as though I've regressed to such a state as a result of this pandemic, but I try to stay hopeful that things will get better for me eventually.

I've said once before that I used to dislike what I looked and I felt completely inadequate compared to other people. If I tried hard enough I could change what I was by attempting to be something else, I would be able to feel better about myself... And it took me a long time to realize how self-destructive that was. My hair becoming incredibly unhealthy as a result of my attempts to straighten it was a testimony to that. I won't say I'm completely better off now than I was then, but I can certainly say that I'm a little more accepting of myself, and my hair is a lot more grateful for it too.

And it wasn't just my hair. Trying to mingle in an attempt to fit in a community I didn't really belong to, trying to be that overly friendly person... I utterly cringe thinking about how toxic I was being towards myself; I became everyone's doormat and it infuriates me to think about how I could have allowed myself to be like that.

Still, I know I did what I did was just an attempt to find self-satisfaction and adequacy. To feel like I was worth something. So as cringey as it was, I also think it's important to be able to accept even that cringey part of ourselves, of that time when we did all the things we probably shouldn't have but did anyway. It's part of what makes us who we are, and mistakes are merely a part of life.

I don't believe I can ever become whatever greatness or ideal self I once strived to be, but I can be content as long as that I don't need to pretend to be something else to live my own life... Even if this pandemic is making it difficult. 😅

On a lighter note, I'm really happy ConcernedApe finally added a freaking wardrobe to his game (the clothes my avatar is wearing in this pic is the same as what I changed into in-game). Being able to dress up and change what I'm wearing every day of the week of every season is nothing significantly game-changing, but it certainly adds to the whole RP value, and I love it. 👌

Honey-Toothed

"Oh, jeez." Nightlight sighed as she watched the little gator sloppily put another piece of honey lemon inside his mouth. "So this is where you've been off to."

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Currently lagging behind schedule again, orz, but that hasn't stopped me from catching up to get content done! 🎉

This was actually a WIP I had on my computer for like two years. I didn't know what I ought to do with it then, so I shelved it. Then I took another look at it just a while ago and realized I could do more with this piece now, given what I've learned in the past two weeks. It was also a good opportunity to feature honey lemons. 😊🍋

Crocigator's Shack - 1F

Ever wondered what it looks like inside a lazy gator's house in Gatorville? Say no more. Yes, that's a Venus flytrap with a face beside the bookshelf.

Back at it again with the pixel art rooms. It's not as good as my first try, but this works just fine.

Only did the first floor because stuff's been happening IRL that's keeping me away from doing my work on time. I'll post the pixel art of the second floor on a different date, preferably once I'm caught up with my missed dates for Digitober. 😊

The Betrayal of the Water Horse

"Dh'èirich Mi Moch (b' Fheàrr Nach Do Dh'èirich), which is a really intriguing song, and one I love very much...  It's quite interesting because the main character in this is the creature called the each-uisge or the water horse, who is this creature of the otherworld and who is often portrayed in songs as the terror. And then there's a victim, usually a woman, who was taken away by him. But in this song, things are turned around, and he's the victim. He has had a love affair with a mortal woman. She's borne him a child and she's left them. And he can't care for the child and he's begging her to come back. And I like that contrast and in terms of the characters, and the sense of loss from this allegedly terrifying creature's point of view."

- Julie Fowlis, in The Making of "alterum" 

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A short comic inspired by a song from my favorite Scottish singer. And the best part? It fits the page. 😄

A few years ago, I drew the each-uisge in a separate post, and since I'm such a fan of Julie's music, I wanted to feature something from her songs for once. Now I can't speak Scottish for shit, but I had known from the get-go years ago that this song was already gonna be depressing. And when I found out what the lyrics meant, it only became much, much worse.

Here's where I got a reference on how to paint rain, if in case you too felt like painting rain as well.

And with that, I'm finally caught up on Digitober again! Hooray! 🙌 I just might finish this on time after all this year! 😄

Hotdog Appreciation

More food today. 🌭 This time I was inspired by seeing some paintings in GTA Online, particularly the ones you can use to decorate your Casino Penthouse with.

Here in the Philippines, there's a local chain of fast-food restaurants called Jollibee. They sell a hotdog on their menu called a Jolly Hotdog, which looks basically what I painted: brown sausage in a hotdog bun with ketchup and some kind of mayonnaise/relish, topped with grated bits of cheese. Not the healthiest thing to be eating, but it sure tastes hella good. 👍

This was originally supposed to be a painting about my ideal cinema foods, but it instead became just one about hotdogs.

Exotic Foods From the Swamplands

The Swamplands has its share of culinary delights. While not as sophisticated as what humans have, these are nonetheless considered local delicacies by swamp inhabitants.

Semi-Vectored Ruiner

Ack, late! Well, at least I somehow managed to catch up...

Anyway, for today I decided to try doing vectors. Almost-vectors. I was watching this video about someone drawing a vector of a car and thought, hey, I have a ton of cars in GTA Online that I'd love to try this on. Looked pretty simple too.

So I loaded up my game, pulled out my Ruiner from the garage, and took some screenies of it. I loaded the screenies in Photoshop and got to work. I thought then this wouldn't take me as long as it usually would; boy, I thought wrong. Instead of a mere three hours, this project got me for seven. 😑

Still, I found more stuff on Photoshop to fiddle around with, like the Magnetic Lasso Tool, which I had no clue of until I watched that hyperlinked video. Now I know how people manage to snap off stuff from other photos so cleanly... Really good to know. 😄

Aside from drawing the rims (which I decided not to actually do for the sake of meeting deadlines) on the tires, I think the trickiest thing on this piece was the text on the door. I couldn't figure out what the font used on the Ruiner was, so I decided to just trace the font myself. After that, I used the Select Tool to just create some really thin lines across the blue parts and erased the selections to get the same design nailed down.

Artsy Blep

(Edit: Changed the hair a bit.)

Time for something that isn't too fancy-lookin'!

I actually had something else planned for today, but I came to recognize that drawing cityscapes are still kinda too much for me to be doing in one day. That said, I shelved the idea for now and decided to do a quick doodle instead, so I stay on schedule for Digitober.

Honestly, I'm starting to feel the burn of doing so much art in one go... Most of my free time is just devoted to doing this art challenge now, and sometimes I just wanna go back to grinding in GTA Online. Maybe I just need a nap. Ten hours oughta do it. 😴

Anyway, I was thinking of slowly adding more to this piece so it's not just a simple doodle of me working on my tablet. Something to make this more colorful, turn it into some kind of collage. Maybe add more OCs in the back doing stuff...

This also makes me want to revamp my profile pic again...

Skritt and the Shiny Rods of Westwatch

In Guild Wars 2, my most favorite map is Auric Basin, which features a golden city named Tarir in the middle of a lush jungle valley. Sentient, magical gold constructs called the Exalted live there, and are tasked with protecting the crystal dragon Glint's legacy.

In the outskirts of the city are outposts, named based on which direction they are located: Northwatch, Westwatch, Southwatch, and Eastwatch, the latter turned to ruins after being overrun with Mordrem, minions of the Jungle Dragon. Events in the Auric Basin focus on the activation of these outposts and golden pylons scattered throughout the valley and recalling Enchanted Armors that can be used to defend Tarir.

My favorite event chain to run on this map is the one for Southwatch. It takes longer and is more daunting to do compared to the other outposts, but it's for the same reason that I love doing it, to begin with. However, in terms of the most enjoyable, I'd say the event chain for Westwatch is my favorite. I love the light-hearted interactions between the Exalted and the skritt (a race of rat people who love shiny things); it's a welcome sight when you think about how the entire Maguuma is just trying to kill everything not nailed down or on fire.

This is my first time actually drawing the Exalted, and there doesn't seem to be enough art of them anywhere... Can't be helped though. They're a bit of a pain to draw. 😅 I did, however, enjoy drawing the skritt.

Also, more watercolor-style painting. I was kinda rushing on the colors so I kinda half-assed it, but I like the messy look. And I dunno if it's just because I scanned the original drawing, but it also looks more like a piece made with colored pencils instead of actual watercolor.

The Swamplands

Welcome to the Swamplands, a vast expanse of dense, forested wetlands located somewhere in the southeastern part of North America. Its ecosystem is rich and flourishing with all sorts of wildlife and vegetation. Humans once dwelled in the swamp as well, but most if not all of them eventually decided to move into cities and other urbanized areas, where they had a better quality of living.

As a result, local animals laid claim on a number of abandoned human settlements, converting them into their own dwellings and creating their own communities with them. This can be seen in the towns of Gatorville and Two-River, where run-down white-painted swamp shacks are inhabited by gators, frogs, and others. In some communities like Reedside and Waterfront, beavers and otters came together to build wooden structures with thatched roofs, and are said to have built boat-like structures to trade with each other across the grand Lake Arca.

The Swamplands seem to be shrouded with some air of mystery as well. Stories and rumors tell of a savage beast that dwells in the marshes and devours anything it sees.  Some speak of ghosts haunting any weary travelers by the roadside at night. Of cave monsters in the Blackout Mountains. And on a less spooky note, others say that the waters of Lake Flicker are said to be full of magic and are said to heal all sorts of illnesses... Among others.

Here in the Swamplands, in the small town of Gatorville, two gators, Stubbygator and Crocigator, live their lives contentedly together in relative peace. However, as Stubby's curiosity grows, so does his desire to see more of the world around him. Alongside their neighbor Pudgygator and his snail friend Pointy, they go on all sorts of adventures, meeting new friends, uncovering the secrets of the Swamplands... And making sure they all have enough fish for dinner.

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Wow, what a load of work!

This is my first time making a world map on Photoshop. Not gonna lie, I had next to no idea what I was doing, even when I had some references from Google. Had a bit of trouble brainstorming on the names of places, but I'm pretty content with the names I came up for all of them. I was also going for a rather cartoonish look, which I feel like I managed to do, so I'm satisfied.

I'm also very glad to finally have the map of the Swamplands all nailed down. I may add locations in the future, but for now, this is the official map for the swamp where our Gator Buddies live in. I'll also add a more detailed explanation to each location later on. 😊

Components of a Good Japanese Curry

 

More pixel art for today! This one harkens back to my old post about how to make Japanese curry in a rice cooker. Of course, it doesn't include all the ingredients; rather, the key ingredients that made my curries good to eat (also, salt and pepper are pretty much a given).

I'm really liking the poster look here. Though originally, I also wanted to omit the words Japanese Curry so I could let the viewer figure out what it was on their own. But I found leaving that text on looked pretty good too.

I'm really loving pixel art as a medium. Like I told a friend once, it's like playing with old school MS Paint, or editing your logo in Mario Kart DS. And making sprites are so much fun to do.

Quench

I sought to use more of the watercolor techniques that I learned about and tried it on this portrait I drew of Sylvie. The results blew my mind. To say I'm amazed is a complete understatement.

I am incredibly proud of this.

I had problems with the shading on her face, and then my girlfriend talked about trying making it look more like makeup rather than just the wispy effect of a paintbrush. I was almost immediately reminded of the existence of the Smudge tool, which I used a lot for my Evoland 2 poster. I was squealing in glee once I saw just how well that heightened the effect.

When I finished, my heart swelled at my sense of achievement. This is my first proper watercolor painting on Photoshop, and I've learned so much from doing this piece alone. I'm really happy for myself and what I've accomplished. Was worth sleeping at 4 a.m. for.

I'm also very proud of that hanko-style stamp signature I made too. I'm definitely going to be using that from now on.

I'd really like to work on the backstory of her and her sister more... But it's difficult to come up with something.

Steak Sealies

I remember one evening, back when I still lived in Japan, I went to downtown Ikebukuro with my siblings to see the aquarium. We arrived a little bit later than we intended since we kinda got lost trying to find the entrance despite knowing where it was. We eventually got up there, but by the time we arrived the place was well near closing time, much to our disappointment, as we all came to see the otters.

On the way out, there was a souvenir shop. Me, being the complete sucker I am for all things soft and floofy, found myself fawning over this white seal plush stacked with all the other marine animal plushes. The temptation to spend was too strong to resist, and before I regretted anything, I grabbed the seal, went to the counter, flashed the yens, and bought it for myself.

Back at the sharehouse, I was brainstorming ideas for what to name this new addition to my ever-growing collection of stuffed animals. At the same time, I was on a video call with my girlfriend, and I vividly recall telling her, "I need one that just resonates originality. Uniqueness. Something so well thought of and just quirky enough to be memorable."

A few days later, I was still at a loss of what to name it. It wasn't until I flipped up my phone and contemplated whether or not I wanted to head over to my school's nearest station to have steak for dinner, that I had the epiphany I needed. I looked at my girlfriend on Skype, and excitedly told her I knew exactly what to name it.

"I'm gonna call him Steak!"

My girlfriend was in sheer bewilderment. But I was already congratulating myself. I was just proud of myself for that burst of absurdity originality. I christened the stuffed seal as Steak, and Steak has lived with me and all my other plushies since.

On a more artsy note, I had something else in mind for this piece instead of these stacks of Steak plushies. I wanted to do a style similar to most of my digital paintings in recent days. Instead, I fiddled around with stuff I learned from this watercolor painting tutorial for Photoshop on Youtube (which I definitely recommend to all budding digital artists that want to hone their skills), and my mind just went on a tangent full of randomness, and well... Here we are. 😅

Also, it's weird looking at this image; it's purely digital, but the way it looks... It looks like a simple pencil sketch of a seal that got copied and pasted all over the canvas, and I just slapped it with a label saying "Hey, this is digital art, even though it looks suspiciously like something done merely in pencil." 🤔 Eh, whatever.

Hey, Son

Please right-click to open in a new tab to enlarge the file, because extra large on Blogger is still too small, and sizing it to its original size is just too big, apparently:

Twig doesn't look very good... Though maybe more moonshine ought to fix that.

Good lord. This was more than what I initially expected when making a short comic for Digitober today. 😳

And did you know? The font they often use in manga is called Cc Wild Words. You can download it here for free. #themoaryouknow

Room 207

 

Around this time three years ago, I first moved out of my parents' house and into a sharehouse in Japan to begin my Japanese language studies. It's crazy when I think about how so much time has passed since then, and how it's already been a year since I came home.

It was in a quiet community somewhere in west Tokyo. I was a ways away from the main part of town around the station, but I was never too far from anything. On the days I went grocery shopping, I couldn't ride a bike like most people could, and so I was heavy lifting bags of groceries from the supermarket all the way back to the house. I can still remember how my muscles ached from the weight of what I bought, and how sore my hands would get from grasping the handles of the plastic bags, which felt like they were about to snap at any moment.

On a positive note, I had a lot of freedoms in my new home. For once I could freely decide what to eat, when to eat, when to sleep, and not worry about someone screeching in my ear about how I'm not awake yet or going downstairs yet to join everyone for dinner. Of course, I had the responsibility of going to school and studying, but that was only fair. And boy, study I did.

Best of all, I had the luxury of high-speed Internet, something I did not have living back in Manila. What took me a day to download instead took a mere hour. It was unbelievable. Many were the days I took full advantage of this fast Internet and downloaded games with massive amounts of gigabytes and I'd play Assassin's Creed games or GTA 5 for hours. I enjoyed it immensely until my last day there.

To pay homage to those times, I made this pixel art of my room in the sharehouse. I can still vividly remember how I arranged my room to accommodate most of my stuff because of how tiny it was. Like for example, I'd put a sack of rice on top of my luggage 'cause I couldn't afford to put it in my storage drawers on the first floor, since they were full of kitchen and cleaning supplies. Or I would keep a fairly large box I got from ordering on Amazon, and I'd put some stuff inside it to make up for my lack of space.

But don't get me wrong though; I loved the small space despite its disadvantages, and it felt cozy whenever I came home from a long day and I would just plop down on my bed for a nap, finding comfort in how clean and small and quiet my room was... Assuming it was actually clean, to begin with. Of course in this pixel art, the room looks a whole lot neater than it actually was. 😅

Here's a photo of what that white dresser in the back actually looks like, because I know people are gonna be confused as to what it is.

Grill Day

Most days, the gators eat their fish raw, but sometimes they want their fish done differently for a change.

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I really, really like how the smoke turned out over the fish.

This nearly got done late because of so many distractions... But it didn't. Huzzah! 🙌

Parental Anxiety

I was browsing through Amazon for stuff the other day, and I became completely enamored by this Dragapult plush I found. It was weird looking and incredibly cute, and I decided right then and there that I must have one for myself, despite the fact that there's shipping on top of its base price which has sure to have skyrocketed thanks to the pandemic. And burn me, it did.

So I went to another website and ordered there instead. It was still a bit overpriced, but it was better than buying it on Amazon. A few days later it arrived looking nice, neat, and new. He's such a chonk and precious boye, I love it.

His tail is as long as my forearm. What the fuck.

While I was waiting on my package, I was looking up Dragapult's evolutionary line on Bulbapedia. The one about Drakloak amused me, of how it gets really anxious when the Dreepy it was taking care of isn't on its head and would find a replacement until the Dreepy is found.

I found myself imagining the Dreepy being such an uncontrollable, random derp who is completely ignorant of everything else around it and just does whatever it wants without a care in the world. And the Drakloak is just an overprotective parent that just wants to keep its precious bby safe and gets a panic attack whenever the Dreepy isn't on its head.

And so this came to happen.

Digitober 2020

Ladies and gents, it's that time of the year again. That time where I take on a month-long art challenge every October and struggle to finish on time because fucking procrastination post something different every day. That's right, it's:

Not Inktober?

 

Yep. As I announced yesterday, I'll be doing what I call Digitober this year instead of Inktober. For the longest time, I've been doing nothing but inks and pencil sketches on this website. I want to finally get my ass up and move on to more digital media to better myself and be an overall more productive person by the end of the month. And I said I would do more digital media this 2020, and by god, you're all getting it. This year ain't ending without me posting a shitton of digital paintings and other digital artwork.

You can find all my work for this project filed under Digitober 2020, which I'll be featuring on the Crossover Map for the duration of this project.

Here's hoping that I actually finish on time for once!

-Zip

An Unexpected Mail...

Earlier today, I was checking something really quickly on my dead dA account, when I noticed I got a message from just last May:

Now just some backstory... Several years ago in dA, I used to play Tekken 2 a lot. I was immensely fascinated by the story and mystery surrounding Kazuya and his relationship with the Angel and the Devil vying for control within him. I ran on a high drawing pics of the three of them, posting my measly colored pencil drawings on dA to compensate for the lack of content of the three of them interacting with one another (and mostly for my own personal enjoyment more than anything).

I was also watching a buttload of videos about Tekken on Youtube as well. One of them was a compilation of CGI clips from various Tekken games while the song Summer Nights from Grease played in the background (and fucking end me because I can not find that video on Youtube anymore REEEEEEEEE). Videos like those mainly served as more fuel to draw them interacting with each other in a more lighthearted manner.

I remember also at the time, they were announcing Tekken Tag Tournament 2 on the PS3. I was just stoked to play it and was begging to see Angel on TTT2 or bloody riot. I got what I wanted eventually, and bought a copy of the game with Angel and Kunimitsu as available DLC characters. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to play it, let alone open it despite having pre-ordered it, as my life got too busy at the time for me to be interested to buy a PS3 and my interest had already long petered out.

This post is the last testimony I have of those times. The other artworks I posted on dA about them are no more. I stored them before I went inactive, but now I can no longer seem to find them. I suppose they got deleted probably after dA made their UI overhaul of the site.

The message was an unexpected, but welcome surprise to be honest. I sent them back an appropriate reply:

Feels good man. Feels very good.

09/30/2021 Changelog

Hey, guys. No art today (sadness), but as I am slowly revitalizing the website and fixing some things here and there, I figured now would be a good time to post updates regarding the blog itself and what you guys can expect in the near future.

So first off...

New website address. For the sake of having a nicer looking website, I changed the website's address from zipknight48.blogspot.com to zippyzipper.blogspot.com. That old dingy username from 11 years ago is no more. It's high time I went back to my old username, one with a lot of quirk. Just the way I like it. All of my links will now have the new site address. Shouldn't be too much of a complicated process as far as I'm aware. Unfortunately, my Gmail mailing address is still the same and I have no intent to change it.

New e-mail! I've recently created a new e-mail, on Yahoo! Why Yahoo? That shit's ancient! It's simple: the e-mail I wanted to make wasn't taken, and I had the app on my phone, so for the sake of just using it more I made my account there. Now you can reach me on more mails than before!

New profile pic! As mentioned previously, I've updated my profile pic to reflect the 2020 version of me more.

Removed Sharehouse Cooking as an individual page. I didn't think it was pretty necessary to keep it up, so I took it down. It still has its own tag in case you're keen on looking up the recipes I've made and posted about.

Soon on Crossover...

Moar art! This is pretty much a given. I'm aiming to get more art pumped into this website before the end of the year. I also have a terribly abusive relationship with procrastination so in an attempt to break free of that I'm setting myself some deadlines to keep content running on the site. In line with that...

Scheduled posts. I am thinking of creating a schedule of what to post on specific days of the week. For example, Photography on Mondays, Inks on Tuesdays, Digital Art on Saturdays, etc. I don't really have it well-thought out just yet, and the idea is still up the air until the end of next month because...

Digitober. Breaking the tradition I've been attempting to successfully keep keeping on the site for several years, instead of Inktober this year I will be doing what I call Digitober. Essentially this is the same thing as Inktober where I post art everyday for a month, except in this case it's little bits of digital artwork instead. No photographs, just digital paintings of random things or whatever. Again, this is an attempt to finally break free from my abusive relationship with procrastination and to be more productive overall. This is also so that I stay true to my New Year's resolution of more digital art in 2020. Also, so I can add more color around here; this site is full of too much monochrome and grayscale and I wanna change that.

Patreon? This has really been nagging at me for the longest time. I've had some friends egg me to start a Patreon for my art, but I've been too unwilling to test the waters out of a lot of uncertainty and anxiety. I really want to change that, but first I need to learn to be more productive, and be more proactive with learning art overall. So like scheduled posts, this will be up in the air until further notice.

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That's all for now. Until next time, cheers!

-Zip

Then and Now (2020)

 

In my attempt to keep my website up-to-date, I drew a new, more appropriate looking avatar for my current self (excuse the blurriness of the second photo).

Thing is, back then I hated my curly, unruly hair. I was so into straightening my hair so much that I'd do just about whatever to do that. Over time though, the constant straightening sessions just damaged my hair so badly, and I had an unhealthy obsession of trying to portray myself as the appearance I perceived to really be, which fucked me several times over mentally and emotionally. I had believed so hard that if I tried hard enough, I could become just what I thought I could be, but in the end, it was just me trying to be something that wasn't. It took me such a long time to realize that, and to realize how fucked up it really was.

I came to eventually embrace this part of myself. First, it was hair that most women were just dying to have but never could, and I felt proud knowing I naturally had something that people envied so much (as petty as it sounds). But the real thing that convinced me to be more accepting of it was the fact that my hair could never really be kept down no matter what anyone did; it was wild, unruly, and rebellious... And I realized my hair and I just weren't all that different. The whole thought of it amused me enough to just be okay with it.

Since then I've been taking biotin pills on a daily basis, and just letting my hair grow and free as it wants to be. I'm actually going for a bit of a Spanish look with it; still a ways to go, but I'm getting there.

Coq Au Vin

(Would it still be called Sharehouse Cooking if I don't live in a sharehouse anymore? Or would it simply just be plain Cooking? Would it matter? Technically I am sharing my house with the rest of my family... Either way, you can still cook this in a sharehouse, so enough self-debating and let's get on to the recipe!)

In recent months and weeks, my free time has mostly been poured into playing Guild Wars 2. Just before the beginning of a meta event, it's customary to lay down some buff banners and food right by the crowd, so everyone participating gets a little boost that helps take down the big bosses. One of the foods people often put down in is Coq Au Vin, which buffs vary depending on the garnish or notable seasoning used, as you can see from these recipes over here.

After seeing several different instances of platters of chicken in red wine being passed and served around to the squads of adventurers seeking gold and glory, I couldn't stand it any longer and sought to recreate a version of my own in real life. I pulled up my old stash of recipes saved from my college days, and once I procured my ingredients, went to make some kitchen magic happen:

In lieu of frrrrrrresh chicken stock that I ought to have been making from scratch like a tr00 cHeF, I instead decided to use chicken cubes (chicken powder basically packaged to look like cubes). Besides, unless you're one of those people who are just incredibly anal about this stuff, chances are you'll want to spend the least amount of money possible; that bottle or carton of red wine alone is already gonna cost you a fair bit, for sure.

The end product tasted just as I expected, bringing to the forefront of my mind memories of a time when learning to create delicious food came at the cost of your mental and emotional health, as well as your own sanity, in addition to the already expensive tuition fee. Never fucking again.

But enough about my personal problems--at the end of the day, this classic French stew tastes just as fancy as it sounds, and is sure to not disappoint on a family gathering or a get-together with friends at your place. Best served with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli, and feel free to add some German sausages in there too if you want a heartier meal.