The TF Gun line is that-a way

I heart red pandas. I used to adore giant pandas, those great lumps of black and white fur. They look like they’re built for hugging, honestly. Now, red pandas seem so much cuter. The thought of having a small bundle of fur asleep in my arms is more appealing <3.

Yeah, yeah, I’m such a girl sometimes, I know.

I blame Mroo for this. Because, hey, why not?

I’ve been playing with my mother’s watercolor pencils. They’re a nice compromise between the control of regular colored pencils, and the blend-ability of watercolors. However, my brushwork still leaves something to be desired, and I don’t like the way my index cards dry into curls, even if I do like the colors. I think I’d like to try markers too at some point. Maybe Liz’ll let me try out hers?

This quick sketch certainly put to rest some fears I had about color. Now it’s just something I have to work at (like everything else).

Did somebody say “moar Nega-Janet”?

Oh, come on; I know you were thinking it!

After years of pointedly not doing so, I’ve been trying to pay more attention to people around me, to their hair and facial features and what they’re wearing. This is the first real clothing experimentation/vairation I’ve done, and I think it made nega-Janet look pretty snazzy!

Negaverse alternate meets posiverse

After the Tao of Geek interlude, I now return you to Mad Scientist Wars pictures! Because we’re still not done with them, folks. These are my own characters, however, Janet Torvalds (Janitor) and her alternate.

Huh. I just got my hair cut, and apparently I now share nega-Janet’s cut. Ironically enough, I was trying not to make n-Janet look like me, since I usually have posi-Janitor’s cut and face.

In other news, I am completely tired out. I was tired at the end of last week too, but the weekend has managed to only exhaust me further. Luckily there are a ton of bright sides. For one thing, my schedule is so much easier in the coming week – a manageable amount of homework, and as few or as many appointments/responsibilities as I want to take on. Dan wants to bake cookies this week. I have a ticket to see Maya Angelou speak this Thursday, and the season primiere of Sanctuary is on Friday. Now if I can only make up for all the sleep I lost last week…

QS: BURN IT WITH FIRE!

New schedule: I will be posting on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays starting this week. Yay! It’s really hard to juggle my projects this semester, but Mark Two and Multiversed continue to progress. Unfortunately, I’m not sure when I’ll have things to show for them. Soon enough, I hope. Until then, I have quick sketches for the posting, such as this one!

Done for Herr Doktor of The Mad Scientist Wars, while he was having keyboard issues. Just previous, I had been working on Ian McLoring’s Multiversed character sheets, and was despairing of my ability to draw the male form. Drawing a hyper-muscular, highly-exaggerated man helped, that’s for sure. (Even though Ian’s a skeleton in comparison. Heh heh.)

SBE: Oh noes!

A wise, funny man (Dan Shive) once wrote, “I will not be stopped by random nudity.” Okay, so he said that early on in the archives of El Goonish Shive, and yes, I remembered it. Moving on, because I have to be out the door in fifteen minutes so’s I can see my own Dan!

If you will be stopped by random nudity, then go no further. A naked (but tasteful, I hope) woman follows.

Should Be Embarrassed Week: One unusual garden gnome

Happy 100th post! To celebrate, this week shall be deemed ‘Should Be Embarrassed Week,’ and all pictures posted shall demonstrate that my brain can be a very strange place to be. We kick things off with this quick sketch:

This may be one of my favorite quick sketches ever because of its quirkiness, but I have no idea where the idea came from. I was idly wondering if I should put a garden gnome in Robin Fenner’s backyard (for the comic Multiversed)… then next thing I knew I had an index card out and a few tabs open for Hindu- and gnome-related research.

I also started using white-out to fix inking mistakes. It makes for an ugly physical copy, but you can’t tell the difference in a scan! Everybody wins.

Speaking of inking, I’ve decided to try out different inking methods in the future. At the end of the week, I will start to do so. I’m nervous about it – I don’t have the steadiest hand for inking, and it takes forever even with the Micron pens I’m used to. At the same time, I’m excited to branch out. Practice makes perfect, right?

Strange old heroes

A few old Quick Sketches:

I got sick of Windows, and changed to Linux Ubuntu. Since my laptop’s named Kyle after the Green Lantern, Dan said he imagined me reprogramming the GL himself… and I had to draw it. Meh drawing; I went for concept rather than artwork, I think. As opposed to this one:

Sometimes, as you may or may not know, I can’t think of anything to draw for my quick sketches. On those occasions I use stock art. This was an exercise in shading, one that I think was mostly successful. Except for Jade’s chin, which turned into fail. Thanks to DeviantArt stock artist jademacalla, whose piece here served as my guide.

QS: Progress

So. Artsy things. I have a bit of a buffer, so let’s get some of them out of the way. Noteworthy is the fact that you can see my inking style changing as the months go by. And… uh… I don’t want a misunderstanding, but I’m not withholding any quick sketches. The date gap really does indicate how long it took me to do another sketch. *is embarrassed*

I’ve drawn Luz a couple of times before, in doodles. I like her hair, and the fact that she’s always smiling.

I’ve been playing FFX off and on since freshman year, which has given me a tendency for Final Fantasy kicks. This quick sketch was to mark my triumphant return to this blog. But that April I found I really needed a phoenix down, and never got around to updating here.

Me and Dan. I’d blush and say ‘nothing to see here, move along,’ except that this marks the beginning of my current inking style – thick outlines and thin lines to more accurately represent hair. It works really well for chibis.

The inking style isn’t so great for full-size people, but eh. I like it anyway. These two are Mentor and Rachel, not-quite-main characters from 3PF. Mentor is a bit lackadaisical, but a competent mage. His book tells him everything he wants to know about anybody or anything within his world. Rachel, on the other hand, is a chaosbringer (a mage with purple eyes). She’s a warrior through-and-through, toughened from a life in which everyone fears or hates her. Besides the actual-main characters, these two are my favorite. They don’t really like each other, which is a shame. I’d love to write a story with them both.

QS: Fly baby

Urg. A lapse? So soon? *sighs* In my defense, I had lots of homework dumped on me the last few days, and haven’t been sleeping very much at all because of it. And the coming weekend will be pretty busy, what with Valentine’s Day and prep-work so I can enjoy Valentine’s Day. (Dan and I are going to see “Coraline”! SQUEE!)

The first quick sketch of the semester isn’t my best work, just enough to get me back into the groove of things:

See ya tomorrow?

“I-I-I ke-ep on fall-in’…”

“In and out – of love – wi-ith you…”

I haven’t been very productive the last few days. What with Liz showing me “Merlin”; finding “Kingdom Hearts: Re: Chain of Memories” as delightful as the GBA version; and needing to go shopping before the blizzard warning kicked in. This is one of the few drawings I managed to eke out.

It’s a spoiler, really.

On Thursday I will – barring severe cerebral damage – attempt a 24-Hour Comic. I could draw one of my Cathy, Queen of Evil storylines, but I’ve decided to use a story set before the Mad Scientist Wars instead. Janitor has been given very little of my attention, when you consider all the fanart and doodles I’ve been doing for the other characters. The story, therefore, will focus on Dr. Derek Gluon as he attempts to find out who this ‘Janitor’ really is, and what secrets lie in her past. Oodles of backstory, and flashbacks and whatnot.

I’m afraid it won’t make so much sense for people off of the forums, but I’ll post it here anyway. The quick sketch above was an attempt to get a panel out of my head, but keep it ready for use on Thursday.

Er, clarification: Janet Torvalds won’t be naked in the story itself. I just kept the sketch that way? Because?  ^^;;