From the Sketchbook

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There is something particularly charming about drawing cute pictures for people requesting characters that they have a strong connection with. Of course, as with any situation, you might run into less than courteous characters, but for the most part, I really enjoy doing these types of requests. It also serves as a nice space in which I can experiment a little bit with different drawing styles and just generally practice making art in a more relaxed setting.

Recently, I've decided to try a sort of "quick-sketch" style. Partly for increased speed. And also because I really love the soft coloring style, and wanted to find a way to do it myself. Nice solid rendering is nice, but there's something about soft colors that just really makes my heart do flips.

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And Then There Was Snow

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~ Trees and bushes dressed in their winter's finest of plush snow-furs and cloaks of white. ~

I always enjoy wintery scenes where all the greenery is covered in a fresh coat of fluffy white snow, making them look particularly round and cuddly. I'm sure it's not great for the plants to be weighed down so much, but I have to admit I find it very beautiful.

With winter also comes warm, comforting drinks in cozy corners. I myself am always partial to some hot chocolate with whipped cream on top. Or a hot cup of tea, but that's weird with whipped cream. It's nice to sit in a little cafe, alone or with a friend, and just enjoy the quiet moment of contemplating the steam rising up in front of you.

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University Ballet of Chicago Presents: Raymonda

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For the first show of our 2015 - 2016 season, University Ballet of Chicago Presents Raymonda!

It is the height of the Fifth Crusade. War threatens to keep Crusader Knight Jean de Brienne and his beloved, Raymonda, apart. The arrival of an enigmatic foreigner jeopardizes Raymonda’s happiness--forever. Set to Alexander Glazunov’s brilliant score and adapted from Marius Petipa’s legendary choreography, witness the valiant triumph of devotion over deceit in the Holy War.

I myself danced two roles in this show: as an emissary featured in the Grand Pas Hongrois, and also as one of the maidens in the Valse Provençale. The Grand Pas is indeed one of my favorite ballet scenes, and the music is so very beautiful, so I was very exited to have the opportunity to perform it!

Much of the costuming was very frantic and last-minute, but we managed to pull it together in the end! Here is the outfit for the Valse maidens.





For the Grand Pas, I spent the last couple of days before the show making the sparkle fabric overlays for the tutus, as well as the matching armbands and fan-shaped headpieces for all of the women.










I had fun dancing, the show came together just in time, and I had lots of friends and family come see me! Also, best partner ever ^_^

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Just Drawing Some Manatee~isms

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I found out about the LINE Webtoon Challenge League contest, and decided to try to make something to submit, even though the deadline was super close. You can read the first five episodes of "Manatee~isms" here! If you like cute manatees doing funny things, you might like it?

I'd very much like to continue drawing cute manatee (or other animal) cartoons in this vein, although I think it is something that will take considerable more time planning storyboards before I can consistently produce them in the future.

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Finding the Ocarina of Time

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I've always felt like wind instruments have a certain old-fashioned charm to them that fills my yearning for woodland and fairy beauty. Ocarinas especially capture my imagination, with their airy almost ethereal sound and their unusual rustic-looking shapes. Of course, now you can get ocarinas in all sorts of interesting and modern designs, but I think I still associate them most strongly with mostly round and gourd-like forms.



I have had my ocarina for a while, but never really spent enough time learning to play it beyond just fiddling around once in a blue moon. I finally decided to buy a couple of simple songbooks for it so I can more easily get comfortable playing actual songs, instead of just twittering around blindly. I'm especially enjoying the "Anime" one because it turns out to exclusively contain songs from Studio Ghibli films, which I adore.

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From the Sketchbook

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Now that the hatsumode collage is done, I delivered it, and returned to a more normal routine of drawing requests. I tried out a new lineart technique on this one and I think I might try to do it more. It has thinner lines than I've been doing previously. It at least works better for nice flowy hair of the style I like.

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From the Sketchbook

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Most of this week has been spent working intensely on the hatsumode picture so I could finish it, and finish it I did!

Here it is in all it's low-res glory... I think doing the background was actually the least comfortable part for me, just because I don't draw landscape things often and don't feel like I'm very good at it. Perspective and composition is hard, and I think it turned out a little awkwardly. But I tried? >_> I was hoping to be a able to deliver it this weekend, but I was just a tad too late finishing it, so I'll hold onto it for next weekend when everyone who requested for the collage might actually be around again.

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Cover ~ Hoshimura Mai/Bleach "Sakura Biyori"

I've decided to challenge myself to record more songs, and I thought trying "quick and dirty" recordings might help. It'll also be good for me to learn that things don't always have to be perfect to be good. These will have minimal editing, probably just a single take with instrumental playing lightly in the background. But they're a lot less stressful to make and I might even be able to make myself make them more frequently!

I'm also going to try to continue doing all of the artwork for my videos myself now ^_^

I adore this song so much, the lyrics are really touching but it is also musically soothing, which I think makes for a wonderful ballad combination. I hope you enjoy it too!

"Sakura Biyori"
Original by: Hoshimura Mai for Bleach

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Vocals: Kyttyee (http://www.youtube.com/KyttyeeChii)

Feel free to use these lyrics/mp3 if you enjoyed them! Just please make sure to credit properly and include a link back to this video ^_^

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~ MP3: http://www.mediafire.com/listen/if6uumpszmupixc/Sakura_Biyori_[Kyttyee].mp3

From the Sketchbook

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This week, I've been working on a very large and much longer-term project than I originally expected. I'm not sure why I thought I could do a fully colored picture with 42 characters and a fully rendered background in a short amount of time...



Massive collage is massive. Actually, I'm not sure why they call it a collage, but it's a large picture containing many different characters from different series. The common theme here is Hatsumode, the first shrine visit of the year in Shinto religion. It's a lovely Japanese tradition, and all these characters are either coming in their New Year kimonos, or are mikos working at the shrine.

For now, two of the 42 characters are in color. Silhouettes are done, but actual coloring is going to be a while yet.

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From the Sketchbook

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Happy Year of the Sheep!



Or goat, or ram, or whatever ovine creature of choice you'd like to substitute.

In related news, I've been drawing a lot of animanga requests and posting them under a pseudonym on some secondary accounts: http://10103.tumblr.com/ and http://10103.deviantart.com/

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