Lighting Study 5 + Terra Sketch(es) 3

Lighting practice but with Terra as my model. Well, my design of her, at least.

I feel more confident about her anatomy here compared to the one a few days ago.

Lighting Study 4

Lighting studies, but with my hand as reference.

I think I'll be hyperfixated with lighting for the rest of this art challenge, at this point.

Lighting Study 3

Still keeping the crosshairs on lighting studies. I took a further step towards working with something more basic than yesterday by using spheres and cylinders to understand lighting. I've been watching both this Marco Bucci video and this Lighting Mentor video that were recommended to me by a friend and they've been helping me move more towards the right direction... Hopefully.

Lighting Study 2

More attempts at lighting studies. I was struggling to decide on what subjects to practice on today, and for the last one I settled ultimately for Ramza, since I have his Bring Arts figurine just on display beside my tablet. 🥰

Lighting Study 1

I recently joined an art group and after they gave me some feedback on some of my art, I was told that I needed to broaden my understanding of lighting. Lighting is certainly something I struggle to understand immensely, and they pointed me to something I could read up on to understand this further. So I've indulged in simply trying to understand more of it through these shapes, though I couldn't help being curious and applying the concepts onto a human bust at the end. 😅

I was also striving to render more comfortably in this lineless art style again, but make further strides towards a style similar to that of concept art in Guild Wars 2. I realized I could attempt to do this by softening the edges of the darker areas with a soft round brush. You can see this effect at the bottom row of the image.

Gold Rendering Study

Was digging up more tutorials and decided to try painting gold today. This art challenge was definitely a good opportunity to finally get to some of these. My brushstrokes were pretty lazy but looking at things from afar these actually aren't too bad 😎

Composition Sketches - Portrait

I have a bunch of ideas drifting around in my head for future art pieces. I figured this was a good opportunity to sketch some of them on paper and create these composition sketches.

Surprisingly, I ended up indulging in art pieces that involved more characters than backgrounds... 😅

Terra Sketch(es) 2

Indulging in another Terra sketch because oh my god the new Dissidia for mobile has been announced and she looks so cute...

I wanted to just stick to a simple sketch but one thing led to another and now it has color and (sloppily added) cel shaded rendering. Like all the rest of the Studytober art pieces so far, this isn't particularly a serious work, though I am not proud of how much time I invested in it (at least 5 hours). And now it's almost 6 a.m. Good lord.

Anyway, I'll definitely have a more serious Terra art piece soon... I hope...

Nature Landscape Studies 1

Ugh, it's been a while since I jumped into anything related to landscapes... This was such a itch I enjoyed scratching.

For the first image, I used this tutorial as a reference and wanted to recreate it. The second image is from a reference photo I took of Mike Lake at Golden Ears Provincial Park in Canada. The third image from a reference photo from Numata, Okayamachi in Japan.

Trees: Rendering 1

Been focusing too much on anatomy so I thought it would be a good time to change things up a little bit. I was looking through some of my saved pins on Pinterest for a couple of tree references and attempted recreating a few of them. I'm not really liking that last one over there if I'm being honest with you... 😅

Nose Sketches 1

Going back to more fundaments... Though I admittedly started later than usual for Day 11.

Noses are definitely up there on my list of things I struggle with. I'm going to have to come back to doing more practice sketches again at some point.

Terra Sketches 1

Man. I haven't drawn Terra in ages. It's definitely a breath of fresh air seeing her in my style today compared to before. I should dredge up my old Terra sketch from the early 2010's. It's probably sitting locked away in my old dA account  vault somewhere.

I was actually supposed to do another set of eye sketches, because me and a friend thought it would be funny to look at it like the eye-mouth-eye emoji combination (an inside joke between us). But I was feeling uninterested in drawing more eyes after I finished with mouths, and I decided I wanted to indulge in some fangirling and draw Terra after seeing all the fan art of her flooding my Twitter. 🥰

Apparently there's a hashtag called #1日1ティナ that's gone viral and it's everyone and their dog posting one art piece of Terra everyday. I figure it's because October is also her birthday month so that's a thing. Not gonna lie though, I am eating good with all the Terra content... But I thought I'd also want to add in my contributions. 😋

This also turned into a bit of a study on hair and bangs again, in addition to putting my previous study of eyes to good use. I would have loved to make more for this post, but I ended up being pressed for time at the end of the day. I settled for just four sketches of her for now; I'm very keen on making more again some time later in the challenge.

Mouth Sketches 1

Yesterday I was focusing on eyes, so today I focused on mouths next. 👄 Nothing really groundbreaking, but I'd like to have my characters to have more expressive faces when I sketch them.

Eye Sketches 1

Decided to be more focused on something compared to the head and face sketches I've been practicing through my requests. Today, I tackled drawing eyes in a more structured way and just adding a bit of variation in some of them. The expressions I focused on are neutral, half-lidded, and eyes staring upward.

Twintail Agrias

The last of six requests I've been working on. This one of Agrias in twintails is from Desiree Whitehall in the Kingdom of Ivalice Discord server.

I don't think she's at all pleased to have her hair up like this, but she's putting up with it anyway. 😛

Slade

The fourth and last request from Comic in the Kingdom of Ivalice Discord server. Slade is the patriarch of this little family of four.

I actually drew Slade before I started working on Spade, actually. When I learned they were father and son, I was already drawing Spade in such a way that he inherited some traits from his dad, like the eyes and eyebrows. Then I just stayed on that course and became more proactive in keeping the genetics consistent in some way.

That wraps it up for Comic's requests! I have to say, drawing the four of them was a lovely exercise in ensuring characters match certain traits of their parents... Even though I admittedly spent a lot more time focusing on shaping the noses. 😅

Diamond

The third of four requests from Comic in the Kingdom of Ivalice Discord server. This is Diamond, Spade's sister and Shade's daughter.

Her sprite was basically a female Chemist wearing Reis' dress. I tried to draw her in such a way that she would basically look like a slimmer, shorter-haired Shade in her youth. Before I confirmed that she was Shade's daughter, she actually had a much sharper jaw than she does now.

Shade

The second of four requests from Comic in the Kingdom of Ivalice Discord server. This is Shade, Spade's mom who's coping with the loss of her husband.

Considering this was someone supposedly in her forties, I tried to make her look more like that age by adding a few lines and wrinkles to her face. I think drawing Peitha so often has helped me feel rather comfortable trying to draw faces affected by aging.

Since I'm drawing Spade and his family, I'm also trying to practice drawing people that have genetic features passed down/inherited from their parents. That said, I tried to draw in such a way that Shade would have physical features her children would inherit (I'm still working on her daughter as we speak).

Spade

The first of four requests from Comic in the Kingdom of Ivalice Discord server. This is his thief OC, Spade. In the coming days, I'll be featuring the rest of his family ✌

Isilud

A request from Caddlewacker in the Kingdom of Ivalice Discord server. I agreed to draw Isilud, but I never mentioned how he was going to look like... 😏

Studytober 2025

Oh, god, it's October again. You all know what that means... My yearly October art challenge that I'm going to struggle to finish on time! 😂😭

This year, I've decided that I want to focus on properly understanding art fundamentals, honing my art skills, and learning some rendering techniques. I've been feeling stagnant in terms of my art skill lately, and I figured the best ways to overcome it are to just have a firmer grasp on the basics and to learn new things.

I've been working on a few requests for some people in my pursuit of these goals. A lot of my focus has been on drawing heads and faces from the front, noses, and more natural-looking hair.

As is custom with my art challenges, I have to start with a self-portrait:

This was a result of studying curls. I was looking at these tutorials for reference mostly. My hair is naturally curly, though I did have a period in my youth when I thought my hair looked terrible compared to straight hair. You can blame Filipino commercials spreading that propaganda. 😑

Honestly, I haven't felt as comfortable with a self-portrait up until this one. It best resonates with my actual everyday appearance compared to my previous ones. The self-portrait I made in 2024 was supposed to have a more realistic hairstyle. It did, but the hair wasn't curly enough to my liking; it felt like straight hair but bouncier.

In addition, sometime earlier this year (March or April, I think), I started to feel like my 2024 self-portrait didn't properly reflect my identity. This felt especially true when I further associated the look to my nameless, self-insert Wayfinder. She has her own personality and backstory in my headcanons, even if we do mirror in some aspects. I like to self-insert in OCs like my Wayfinder, but I also pride myself in being a separate individual to them. I want my OCs to be their own people, you know?

Later this year, I'm planning to make a proper full body portrait of my avatar, featuring this hairstyle. It should have been done earlier in September but I got caught up on the Tactics remaster hype. 😅

Anyway, this is my first entry for Studytober 2025. Will I be able to complete the challenge on time this year? I sure hell hope so! As always, you can find the tag for this year's art challenge under the Crossover Map on the right side of the website. 👉

Respite for the Mercenary

Very pleased to unveil my first serious contribution to the Final Fantasy Tactics fandom 🥰 And right on time for the Ivalice Chronicles remaster... 😏

This was certainly a first serious foray into properly rendering metal; I have to thank my friend Jinjatea for sharing this link to me to watch. I've never rendered metal as realistically up until now. It came out looking rather matte, which is what I originally intended for, but I will need to change it up when I decide to go for something more glossy. This could use further improvement, but man, the shivers and excitement I felt having that initial art epiphany... 😩👌

I'll be posting more Tactics-related content as the days go on, just to further commemorate the release of the remaster ✌

Ramza Sketches 2

Me indulging in more Ramza sketches... Because I've been meaning to scratch this itch again for days. And I am so glad to be able to entertain more of this.

I'll be making a more serious piece about Ramza soon, as soon as I figure out my composition. 😌

Hastur and Ryuuji

A grayscale commission I made for Shizuhiku, featuring his OC Ryuuji and Hastur from Housamo. He wanted me to draw them just sitting together, kind of back to back as they looked up at the stars together.

Objet d'Art (Part 13)

I've been sick, but I am recovering and I have prevailed! ...Sort of. I've come in clutch for the last week of August at least!

A slew of massive changes in my life has taken place, and it now immensely affects my schedule... But I will keep persisting to make more art during what little free time I now have.

🌌A Wayfinder/Peitha Series🌌

Objet d'Art

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Ramza Sketches

Been feeling really sick lately, so I've been holed up at home barely able to do anything... I'm getting better though. Also got back into my Final Fantasy phase from waaaay back in the day in the meantime (like 2008? 2009? Jesus, it's been ages). Final Fantasy Tactics on the PSP is one of my all-time favorites, and you can just imagine my excitement when I learned it's getting a remaster.

And when I also learned Ramza was playable in Dissidia NT?? It was like my guy suddenly had a glow-up. Coupled with his voice? Hot damn. Up until now I had never really found him so attractive. So I decided to indulge. 😏

Objet d'Art (Part 12)

Oh, finally. Now we can start honing in on the real focus of this fancomic. 👌😏

Also feeling a little proud of how Peitha turned out here. Her anatomy has been a real pain to figure out for the longest time... But I'm glad I've reached the point where I can feel comfortable going back to some of my old sketches of her and using them as a reference.

🌌A Wayfinder/Peitha Series🌌

Objet d'Art

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Objet d'Art (Part 11)

Wayfinder with scars 😩🙏

What's great is knowing I'll be drawing her like this moving forward and it has me all giddy. 😊

🌌A Wayfinder/Peitha Series🌌

Objet d'Art

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Objet d'Art (Part 10)

I decided to release parts 10 and 11 on the same day.

Been preoccupied with a lot of things, and now it's to the point where I can foresee my life taking a depressing turn... I'm still going to try and keep updating this comic while I try to get my life in order, or at least before things get worse.

🌌A Wayfinder/Peitha Series🌌

Objet d'Art

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Eye Contact

"Oh, I do quite prefer seeing you without your glasses, Wayfinder."

---

Just a little guilty pleasure sketch of a pairing my comic is supposed to be central to, but is taking me ages to actually show. 😅

Objet d'Art (Part 9)

Well, I had expected this to be done in like three days? 😅 Though I was frankly also trying to figure out how to make Blightghast's body look like it was decaying. I'm really not used to drawing undead creatures.

I also found out through the Guild Wars 2 Wiki that both Tequatl and Blightghast share the same model... And I had to try to differentiate one from the other. I figured altering the tail spikes (Tequatl has two per tailbone segment) was my best bet.

Halfway through the sketch I also started to feel like my exposure to bara is definitely showing when I saw how muscular Blightghast turned out, especially on his chest. A friend jokingly told me that I might even spark some neuron activations with members of the furry community... 😶

🌌A Wayfinder/Peitha Series🌌

Objet d'Art

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Objet d'Art (Part 8)

Oh, boy. Now we're finally getting some of that delicious angsty action. 😏

That last panel was such a pain... I had to look through references of the Risen mobs in-game, and used this zombie tutorial to pull off those sketches. I'm pretty content with myself after all that. 😌

Next page shouldn't take another month, though. Should be done pretty quick if I hunker down like I did earlier today 😅

🌌A Wayfinder/Peitha Series🌌

Objet d'Art

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Courtney's LeafieHang

Oh, hey! A painting made waaaay back in March, but only uploaded now? What gives?

So just a little backstory: Some time ago, I was invited to contribute to a wholesome endeavor by Courtney Visser's community. I naturally wanted to pitch in; while I haven't been hanging out in her channel lately, I have a lot of fond memories with her and her friends. This, to me, was my way of giving back for all their kindness, and especially the kindness I've received from Courtney herself. And it's only right that I show it best through my artwork, no?

That said, happy birthday, Courtney. I've hardly a clue how old you are this year, not that it matters. 😏 May you and the Leafies continue to prosper and enjoy life together for many more years to come. 🍰

Sunflower (ヒマワリ)

Ever since I moved into my new place, I've been doing a lot of gardening. So far, I've successfully managed to grow a few crops from scratch, and this summer I decided I wanted to attempt growing sunflowers. I have around 10 growing from the seed right now; so far 4 have sprouted, and there's another one just about ready to pop up from the ground soon. My hope is they all grow into full-fleged flowers before the end of the summer, and I'm optimistic with the rate things are going.

I do confess though that sunflowers weren't exactly the first flower I had in mind for this painting. I was mulling over several choices before ultimately settling on sunflowers, since this was meant to be a summery piece more than anything. And what better flower encapsulates the summer, right?

I was also trying to attempt art techniques that deviated from my usual process. I was also trying my best to study how my friend's rendering style works. Usually, I would tackle rendering by shading in grayscale then make it more colorful if the final image looked too pale. This time, in my attempt to emulate his work, I went straight into painting with the base and rendered using the same flat colors. I like how more vibrant it's proven to be, and how I use less layers with this compared to before.

However, after some thought, I might just end up going back to my old shading tactics for the sake of consistency. I worry less about getting the colors and lighting right when I use the older method. And after looking at my final art piece, it feels like I've hardly changed... Like I've hit a glass ceiling of sorts and I need to figure out how to breach it somehow. Perhaps I need to take classes in art again... Or maybe I'm burning out without realizing it and I should take a break from art for a while?

Anyway, this was mostly a birthday gift to myself, albeit a late one. 🍰 Arc became relevant again in Chapter 16 (finally), and I wanted to depict them in my art after not painting about them in months. I had another WIP sketch of them that was more story-relevant, but I opted for this more wholesome version that tied to my gardening in some way (I think I'm meant to be a Setagaya Agricultural Academy attendee with how I've been invested in the outdoors at this rate 😆).

Objet d'Art (Part 7)

Whew! Managed to sneak one in before the month ended!

Next page is gonna take a while moving forward, I think... Since I'm feeling the pull to create Housamo fan art again. But rest assured, I'll still be working on the comic in between!

🌌A Wayfinder/Peitha Series🌌

Objet d'Art

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Objet d'Art (Part 6)

Finally, a fast update (though that's thanks to the copy and pasting I had to do 😏)! I spent today watching Eurovision 2025 finals live, so I was vibing to that while working on my comic.

I'll try to maintain this pace, so the next part should be out soon ✌

🌌A Wayfinder/Peitha Series🌌

Objet d'Art

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Objet d'Art (Part 5)

I hate that my last update for this was over a month ago 😖

Thankfully, I have a lot more free time now, so I should be able to make the next page faster. And I won't have to draw that Priory tent again either (though it would have been much less of a pain if I was making it with an oil painting style 😅).

🌌A Wayfinder/Peitha Series🌌

Objet d'Art

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Ryuuji the Gatekeeper

A commission I made for my friend, Shizuhiku. This is his Housamo OC, Ryuuji, a Transient hailing from the world of the Old Ones. He is also known as the Gatekeeper.

I used his OC as a model for some bara art study with a book called 「強い筋肉の描き方」(How to Draw Strong Muscles). The book featured art from four Japanese artists and the one whose art style I mainly focused on studying was GomTang; I especially like the way he draws his men and how he renders his characters. I got a physical copy of the book and a lot of the time I spent was trying to understand anatomy through his art style. Unfortunately, due to some other happenings IRL, I wasn't able to finish this as soon as I would have wanted... 😅

The spear wasn't too hard to conceptualize. I was honestly just looking over my Gunpla collection for some inspiration. The spear has a mechanism where the two side prongs unlatch and stick out, turning it into a three-pronged spear.

Objet d'Art (Part 4)

Part 4 is here! 🥳

Updates are slow, but they're coming along... Though I'll have to take a short break from updating this comic so I can finish a commission I'm currently working on.

🌌A Wayfinder/Peitha Series🌌

Objet d'Art

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Objet d'Art (Part 3)

This took much longer than it needed to...

I finally finished moving into my new place! We've spent the past week just unpacking and setting up some of our furniture and necessities. We still have a lot of things we need to take care of and unpack, but at least my desk and my tablet is set up! Now I can put more time in making the comic again 🙏

🌌A Wayfinder/Peitha Series🌌

Objet d'Art

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Objet d'Art (Part 2)

Oh, hey... This got taken care of faster than I expected. But I suppose that's only natural when you aren't making comics that need full color and rendering on every single element in every single panel.

The next page should be easy, but I'm going to probably be delayed by a bit because I'm currently in the process of moving out of my current residence. 😅

🌌A Wayfinder/Peitha Series🌌

Objet d'Art

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