2023 Wrap-Up

Hey, folks. Been a while since I actually sat down to do a blog post like this where I just talk about my feelings (disgusting, I know). With 2023 coming to a close, I decided to follow this trend on Twitter where everyone is just posting their top four art pieces of the year or something of that sort. So I scoured through my collection, and made a top four collection of my own:

I'm fully aware it's all Housamo fan art. Not that it's all a big problem, though.

Even though I've been set back from a lot of my personal projects as a result of focusing on nothing but fan art since January, it's been more beneficial to me than anything. I've learned a slew of things I don't think I would have learned otherwise. My art has improved significantly and I couldn't ask for a better outcome than this, really.

Of course there's still more to learn, and that's just part of the whole journey. It's a never-ending cycle of learning down the road... Just the way I like it.

So here's to a full year of art, of continuous learning and constant improvement. 2024 brings new challenges and new knowledge that can be acquired over the horizon. I look forward to the future with optimism, eager to learn all the new things I've yet to discover.

Cheers to 2023, and to the year ahead! 🧃

-Zip

Yuletide Dance (聖夜のダンス)

"A-Are you certain you're alright dancing with a mere maid such as myself...?"

"Relax, Melusine. I'm also actually not that great at dancing, so... I'm counting on you."

---

There's an astonishing lack of Melusine fan art, and I am here today to change that. Her role in the Ikebukuro Christmas event cannot be emphasized enough. I absolutely loved how she was featured in the event. 💕

I think here I was mostly held up with the dress design I made for the MC. I wanted to give her dress a floral motif, but I wanted to stay away from cherry blossoms because it became so overrated to me. That said, I went with chrysanthemum, which, while also predominantly common in Japan, were also symbolic; not only does the white chrysanthemum represent loyalty and honesty--values I hold especially dear--but it also represents death in Japanese culture, which harkens to the cycle of death and rebirth the MC experiences throughout the game's lore.

I wasn't particularly sure with how to tackle the embroidery design along the hem and the seams at first. I even wondered if I should use stitch brushes to make it work. Then I found this incredibly simple looking design, and used it as a reference to draw the embroidery. I may or may not have gotten a little too carried away doodling in the design after the first time.

The next thing I was held up over (though not by too much) was the background. I wanted to move away from incredibly detailed landscapes from the time being and create something more abstract. I particularly wanted to create an out-of-focus background with blurry circle particles, which I later learned was an effect called bokeh. Soon enough, I discovered this video on bokeh brushes, and I easily managed to pull off the background I wanted.

Consider this art piece my Christmas entry this year, guys. Happy holidays and more to come! 🎉🥳🥂

Onsen Horkeu (温泉ホロケウ)

Good god, this art piece of Onsen Horkeu is finally finished!

I was stuck here for a good three weeks pulling my hair out and trying to understand how to make his fur pop out better. It was only thanks to this video that I finally got some sort of guidance, though even with that, I struggled to stay motivated working on this piece.

I finished the original one yesterday, but I had to also do a full overhaul of the background because I felt like I just imitated the one from his Onsen variant. I replaced it with this outdoorsy one instead, all the while keeping the color scheme throughout the piece constant.