[Outfit Post] 2/13 ~ 2/29

I've been lax both about taking outfit snaps and about posting, unfortunately. Part of that is due to my main laptop going into a sudden decline... Luckily I've gotten a new netbook to tide me over until I can get a real updated laptop next year!

So here's all the snaps I managed to take for the 2nd half of February:


Skirt: Emily Temple Cute
Shoes: Sugar



JSK: Emily Temple Cute
Shoes: Geox



Skirt: Baby the Stars Shine Bright



JSK: Innocent World
Blouse: Baby the Stars Shine Bright

[Outfit Post] 2/6

Yes, only one outfit snap this week, because it was laundry week so my living room was filled with racks of drying clothes XD Not exactly a good backdrop...



Cardigan: Bodyline
JSK: Boguta
Hairbow: Innocent World

[Outfit Post] Weekly Outfits 1/30 ~ 2/5

There was a relatively lower concentration of actual Lolita outfits this week... I guess I got lazy XD



Hoodie: Target
Dress: 59 Seconds
Necklace: lemontree11




Cardigan/Cutsew: Target
Skirt: Baby the Stars Shine Bright
Hairclip: Chocomint
Shoes: Geox




Hoodie: Target
Dress: 59 Seconds
Boots: Sugar

Pony Overload

The ATG finally got back on track, and is now finished!! And I did in fact manage to submit *something* for all five days of the ATG ^_^ Granted, Day 3 was just kind of a rough sketch (I didn't even have time to ink the lineart digitally...), but it's still something! I'm going to eventually go back and actually polish that up... y'know, in all of my free time... XD

In any case, here's the rest of my submissions!

Day 3 Assignment: Draw a pony dueling.


Day 4 Assignment: Draw a pony on a rescue mission.



Day 5 Assignment: Draw a pony coming home.

You look sad when you think he can't see you...

You look sad when you think he can't see you...

Created using: Wacom Intuos tablet + Photoshop CS3

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Inspired by watching the BBC Sherlock series, this piece is my tribute to the friendship between Sherlock and John, one which I find indescribably beautiful. Their relationship is one that has been interpreted many times in many different ways, but to me, the core of it is just a connection at a very deep level. Whether the surface result is a wonderful friendship, bromance, romantic attraction, something else, or any combination thereof, I just find this basic connection something really wonderful to observe.

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In a way, I really needed to draw this piece to express all the emotions I had accrued from watching "Sherlock", particularly since I essentially marathoned it (as much as I ever marathon any show). As much as all the action and intrigue was exciting (and yes, I really like feeling smart when I think I figure something out faster than Sherlock), what I really enjoyed the most about the show was the portrayal of humanness, and particularly the developing friendship between Sherlock and John. So first and foremost, that's where the motivation for this piece came from.

The title is one of my favorite quotes from the series, and one that I think is especially telling of the level of friendship formed between the two men over the course of the series. It not only confirms to us, the viewers, what we've been observing, but I think also serves as sort of a lightbulb or emotional realization point for Sherlock, who I perceive as becoming more and more human through his relationship with John.

On a more technical note, I've been slowly experimenting with different ways of using my drawing tablet over the past couple of weeks. In particular, while I've gotten fairly comfortable with vector-style art (think standard My Little Pony), I've been wanting to learn how to execute a more painting-like style. This turned out a little bit simplistic and almost block-like, but I quite enjoyed getting to play with shading and texture. I'm not sure I'll ever achieve a highly polished level of digital painting, but I actually feel fairly satisfied to have pulled of this simpler style.

I've also been trying out some different nibs in the process. I stuck with the standard nib for the preliminary sketching and placement planning, but then switched to the "brush" nib once I moved into the coloring phase. My conclusion is that I really love the feel of the brush nib and will definitely be using it more.

I apologize for the influx of fandom recently, but it really does give me the impetus to draw despite my lack of free time. Hopefully I'll start finding the inspiration to draw more original works soon XD

Lilac Rose Vine Scarf

As a birthday present for Aaron, I took up the task of knitting his sister a scarf (since he doesn't know how to knit himself). I had hoped to get it done in time for Hanukkah, but I underestimated how much time I would need to invent and execute the pattern, and also how much free time I had at the end of the Fall quarter.

In any case, it's finally done and sent to her, so I can post about it now!

I used lilac and pink yarn, because purple is her favorite color and pink represents her fight against breast cancer. I wanted to make it more interesting than just a plain scarf, and I thought that a winding vine motif would be pretty. It took me a couple of false starts and a lot of tearing out and re-knitting to get the pattern right, but I eventually did it ^_^

So onto the pictures! It's actually pretty simple-looking, so there wasn't a lot to take pictures of. But here's the scarf in its entirety:


And a closeup of the vine going down the center:


I'm really glad that the colors worked out nicely, and that the winding vine actually does stand out enough to be seen. And of course, I'm really really happy that she likes the scarf ^_^

[Outfit Post] Catch-up... 1/16 ~ 1/29

Apparently I'm getting lax with these posts already!! In part due to laziness with dressing up, but also laziness/forgetfulness with posting, but here's a catch-up post with three photos as usual, but spanning something like 1.5 weeks!




Jacket: A.Byer
Cutsew: Innocent World
Skirt: Innocent World



Cutsew: Baby the Stars Shine Bright
Skirt: Innocent World
Socks: Metamorphose Temps de Fille
Hairbow: Innocent World



Skirt: Baby the Stars Shine Bright

ああ、夜が明ける (Aa, Yo ga Akeru) / Berryz工房 (Berrzy Koubou)

This is my rendition of "Aa, Yo ga Akeru" by Berryz Koubou. I sang this primarily for the Neko Neko song challenge!! ^_^

I had a lot of fun messing with the various effects, although sadly my voice has been kind of in and out due to a constant cold T_T

I hope you enjoy it!!

[Outfit Post] Weekly Outfits 1/9 ~ 1/15

Another weekly outfit roundup! I went with more colors this time, not just black and white XD



Skirt/brooch: Bodyline



Skirt: Baby the Stars Shine Bright



Bolero/Skirt: Bodyline
Hairbow: Innocent World

Draw All the Ponies!!

I don't think I've actually talked about my My Little Pony interest much on here, but I am in fact a fan, in the same way that I am a fan of my various J-pop groups. I'm not really obsessive about it, nor do I tend to produce much fan-art/fiction/anything, but I do enjoy it.

That said, I decided a good way to become acquainted with my new drawing tablet (other than Photoshopping different animal heads and bodies together for my research stimuli), would be to participate in some sort of drawing challenge. In comes Equestria Daily's Artist Training Grounds!

It's actually been postponed a bit, but the assignments for the first two days already were released. The premise is that there is a mock war between ponies and griffins, and all the assignments center around that. I figured I didn't produce *terrible* things, so I might as well post them here ^_^;;

Day 1 Assignment: Draw a pony in armor or uniform.


Day 2 Assignment: Draw a pony in training.


I forgot to color the lineart for the first day, so I was very determined to do it for the second day. I'm thinking about trying a different style completely for the third day (more like, a painting type thing, no clear outlines, more shading, etc.) but that might just be unfeasible ^_^;; I guess we'll see how much time I end up having.