～ないではいられない・～ずにはいられない

"Recently, my body has been incredibly tired, and whenever I come home I can't help immediately going to bed."

I contemplate on changing my sleep schedule often back in mid-October, and how much of a mistake that was in terms of trying to make more time for myself. It's very difficult to wake at 2 a.m. on days when I don't need to... And I inevitably sleep through what's meant to be my free time in the middle of the night.

I honestly need a better job closer to home... And a car. Ugh. 😑

Winged King

Congratulations. After five years of being too lazy to buy a Nintendo Switch, this Pokémon alone has easily convinced me to purchase one for myself for the sole purpose of playing Pokémon Scarlet.

Had a mind to make this a little more like this piece... But I decided near the end that it might be too over the top for what I was going for. A simple background also felt enough.

Victoria Hearthwell (2022)

Oh, I truly feel a particular rush of pride when I see one of my oldest OCs no longer presented in black and white, but in full color. FOR ONCE.

Tori has existed since the early 2010's, with a wholly different design back then, as well as a different backstory. Much of both has changed, and I'm more pleased with how she is now compared to before.

My god, I'm still blown away by how well her left hand turned out. Goddamn. That is peak hand drawing right there. 😌

Summer at Booty Boardwalk

Now, here's a piece that harkens back to my digital art beginnings!

This Mario Party x Pokémon crossover piece is actually a gift art for my friend, LucaTheJackal. I offered to make him something for his birthday a couple of days ago. He wanted to see something with Lucario, Yoshi, and Goomba's Booty Boardwalk in the art. I promised to deliver, and deliver I have. 🚚

There was admittedly struggle with this piece; I wanted to show something in the style of all the landscape paintings I've been making in recent weeks. Unfortunately, it wasn't working out, and in sheer frustration, I scrapped a good chunk of my work to redo the piece. I returned to my old cel shading style of coloring, and the result was even better--and more satisfying--than I expected. I wanted something colorful that popped out, and here it is.

As I've said before on my stream, sometimes the best way to move forward is to take a step back. 😌

Fuecoco Doodles

Soooooo the new Pokémon games have been announced, and I discovered that one of the new starters is THIS CUTE LITTLE GATOR BOYE--

...

I need him.

PAC 2016 #12 - Gigalith (Revamped)

Hey, guys! To commemorate the 50 followers we accumulated on my Twitch channel, I revamped my Gigalith ink from the Pokémon Art Challenge I participated in last December 2016 and featured it on my Twitch stream. The full version of this cleaner version will be available for download exclusively for my Supporters and VIPs on Patreon and Ko-fi, included with my other rewards for January! This will also feature a showcase of the process from start to finish as well.

Thank you to everyone who has been supporting me and helping my art career grow! Looking forward to a productive February! 🎇🎉

-Zip

Safe Haven

 

"You're back."

"Yeah. And Tori is...?"

"She fell asleep, waiting for you."

"You could have at least taken her to bed, y'know."

"She wouldn't let me. She wanted to make sure you came home safe."

"I see."

Nanami placed her hand on her Trainer's shoulder, and gently shook her. "Tori... Tori. Wake up. He's home."

With a low groan, Tori regained consciousness, her droopy eyelids lifting. Her Sceptile was crouched before her, and he placed his hand onto her shoulder as well, planted right above Nanami's own.

"Did ya miss me?" He smirked.

Despite how sleepy she was, Tori couldn't help giggling. "I did. Welcome home."

---

Thought I'd draw something related to my Pokémon trainer OC for once. I think this is the first time I've ever properly drawn Tori in color, ever.

The art feels kinda sloppy on this one, mainly because I didn't pour in enough thought into how I wanted the final result to look. I thought of making the background some kind of tree in a field? Eventually, I just settled to making it into her secret base (which is a cavern in Route 118 in the Hoenn region).

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.

Migawari

The Japanese call this Migawari (身代わり). For everyone else who speaks English, we call this Substitute.

Inspired by my very own Substitute doll, which I took the liberty of nicknaming Spike. 😊

I wanted to sign this off in Japanese, but it slipped my mind until the last minute. 😞

Pointed Glare

"If you got a problem, punk, I'm right here. Oh don't worry, take your time... I got all fucking day."

---

Requested by a friend. Thankfully for him, I had coffee in my system at the time and I was more than willing to just go for it.

Also, I found my old scanner; it still works! A little editing here and there and I came up with this. While I'm contented with it in general, I'm still kinda iffy about those little patches of white though...

Lonely Stitches

Broken again. Ahhh, the neck is about to tear... Better get that fixed up right away. Ears aren't looking too good either. Why did he have to get all busted up like this anyway? Now, where did that sewing kit go? Oh, there it is. Okay, now he needs to thread this needle. Needs a steady hand, as usual... Steady now... Steady... Oh thank goodness it actually got through that tiny hole this time! Okay. Now to start on that neck, then he can work with the ears.

Hm... He might need a patch for this... Urgh, why did this have to be so difficult? This isn't supposed to be this hard... And yet when they used to do it, it looked so easy... And they were really good at keeping this neat and all patched up too.

Oh no. Tears again. He's shaking now, making his repairs harder to do, but he tries to stop himself, to focus on his work. He said he wouldn't cry this time; he would be strong and try to push it down so it wouldn't consume him. His Trainer wouldn't have wanted to see him in such a pitiful state...

And yet, despite his best efforts, the tears keep falling. And in the literal drop of a pin, he finds himself lost once again in the tempest of his own despair.

---

My friend suggested that I draw a Mimikyu, preferably one that was in tears. So I did that.

This little scene I wrote came as a result of my convo with him after I showed him the final draft:

Tori - Concept

My Pokémon Trainer OC over the years.

Been recently into developing her story in between my study sessions, and more especially ever since I had bought a new computer to replace my MSI while I have it repaired.

Some years ago I had come up with this old design for her as well as a backstory, which I plan to retcon and rewrite later on. I decided to also redo her B2W2 design to make her look less like Hilda, especially with her hairdo, so that she has her own personal appearance in general. Story-wise I also felt the mask was necessary.

Send help I want to write but I still have my proficiency test to study fOR AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

2/16 Birthday Request

Requested by my friend for one of his friend's birthday.

I haven't inked in forever! I'm glad it worked out well for the most part. If you're wondering why it looks dirty compared to my previous inks, not only was it because it's been a long time since I last did so, but also because I kinda fucked up with it by being a little too enthusiastic to ink instead of waiting for the outlined version to dry before erasing the lead... And so I ended up smudging it in some places. Truth be told, I had to use a whiteout to cover my mistakes...

Thank god for shooping and editing apps.

Trainer ID 2017

First of all, I'd like to thank those who've greeted me a happy birthday. I can't believe I'm actually 23 now. I feel older than I should be, and it doesn't help that I am constantly tired either.

But moving on, here's the real reason why I posted:

Thought I would do a Trainer ID meme thing where I feature another full-body pose of my avatar, and my team in Pokémon: Sun and Moon. My key items just happen to be all of my… Essentials, so to speak. :P I'm rather satisfied with how this turned out.

PAC 2016 #31 - Druddigon

December 31: Overall Favorite Pokémon.

Bless you, Unova. You've brought me the dragon I've always wanted to see in Pokémon (next to Charizard, to a degree). Of all my favorites, Crayoladragon topples and makes a full sweep of the entire competition.

I do admit that I used to have a hard time drawing this Pokémon, especially its head, which is a major reason why I hadn't been able to wrap up PAC 2016 as quickly as I should have done. While its 3D render from Gen. VI makes it significantly easier to see just how it should be drawn from various angles, it wasn't only until recently that I managed to get it looking exactly the way I wanted.

All that said and done, PAC 2016 IS OFFICIALLY FINISHED! Took me four goddamn months but it was worth it if it meant getting to finish with this image /orz

Now I can actually move on to other projects. I have a few things I've been meaning to do for a while now, but I haven't been able to pursue them because of IRL issues, plus the fact that I hadn't finished this challenge. With this done I feel a heavy burden finally off my shoulders, and am more able to freely push through with all the stuff I've had in mind.

Cheers to more projects (that actually end up getting done on time) in the future!

PAC 2016 #30 - Mega Charizard Y

December 30: Favorite Mega Evolution.

This was basically the Charizard redesign I've always wanted to see. It's not a Dragon-type, but personally, it doesn't really matter all that much.

PAC 2016 #29 - Alolan Marowak

December 29: Favorite Alolan Form Pokémon.

I've barely got any choices on this category. I actually feel neutral towards all of them, but if I had to choose a favorite I would really lean into this one.

PAC 2016 #28 - Leafeon

December 28: Favorite Eeveelution.

I don't think there's enough love for Leafeon about… Or maybe it's just because I see too many images of Sylveon as compared.

PAC 2016 #27 - Snivy

December 27: Favorite Starter Pokémon.

Though I've been fairly obsessed with Rowlet these days, Snivy remains as my favorite starter. Appearance-wise, it and its evolutions reminded me greatly of the character Neira from Suikoden Tierkreis, and I have even drawn a Serperior in the same robes before.

PAC 2016 #26 - Silvally

December 26: Favorite Legendary Pokémon.

The llama god clone's derpiness SPOILER: during the credits sequence won me over.

Its status as a legendary is questionable though, since it's a synthetic Pokémon and isn't really a legend in that sense. But whatever.