Spring Fairy -From start to finish-

my natsume calenday for March/april has lovely cherry blossoms... i've been wanting to draw some myself... and this is what i got.

again i ran out of room on the page (stupid me drew the flower first instead of the girl.) but still i wanted to do something with my copic markers.
but that meant i had to pick between a few different option.
1. redraw the whole thing on paper better suited to makers.
2. use the copic in the sketchbook even thugh i have no idea how the marker will react to this paper.
3. screw it all and do it digitally

I decided to do a mix of the last two.
i would try just doing it in the sketchbook and if i screwed up i would just do it digitally...
so i inkied it.

tried to tweak some thigns... screwed up the hands but meh... i always seem to mess them up now.
then i did a few tests...
the marker looked a bit spotty on the paper but i knew it may just add a level of texture/with the amount of layers i do it would smooth out.
the other thing i nothiced is despite having slipped some of my no bleed paper underneith.... the moleskine paper didn't bleed at all
not even a little
and i like to work when the ink is wet for blending... and it didn't effect it at all.

i love little experiemnts like this...

originally i scanned the image cause i don't have a proper photography set up for traditional art.
however the result irritated me.

it looks alright... i guess... but all my light colours like the light pink and light yellow and light blue background were gone.
so i set up a markshift photography station on my desk... it wasn't perfect but the result was much better... albeit a tiny bit distorted.

agai nthe light i was using washed out some of the colour but the depth of colour was more noticab;e and that was good enough for me.
unfortunately the best way to see tradtional art is and always will be in person.

still i'll try and get a better photograph later.

anyways i hope everyone had a nice easter and i how everyone a nice spring... i'm just happy to see all that snow melt away.

Completed: You've been Trumped.

I love documentaries, any time i have the chance i try to watch them... but there is one thing people need to be cognoscente of when they watch any documentary.

All documentaries, hell all media ever, have a Bias.
As human beings we can't help but have a bias. well all have things we like and don't like and that shapes us into who we are. Even those who try their damnedest to be unbiased are still biased.
such is life.
You can't take things at face value, you have to do your own research before you can truly make your opinion.

That being said this review will be based on what i took from this documentary and my own personal experience with media regarding donald trump... that is where my Bias comes from.
I still urge you to go see this film and form your own opinion, do you own research and stop letting people think for you.

So.... whats it all about?

Donald trump is a well known man with a lot of money, a lot of power and an affinity for hotels and Golf.
He sets his sight on a small shire in Scotland called Aberdeen which is known for it's natural dunes and very pretty albeit simple landscape.
The people who live there have almost all always lived there, their homes and lifestyles are simple, many are farmers, some are fishers they all have their place in the community.
However Trump things this community could really use one of his 'lovely' golf courses.
The documentary is about how he treats the locals and uses his power to get his way even when it's going above the law.

Not too long ago a trump towers was built not too far from here and i just need to say it's one of the most tacky buildings i have seen, however i will never need to use it so thast where my opinion of it ends.
What i'm trying to say is I don't personally like Mr. Trumps taste, i'm sure some do but i'm not one of them.

and maybe it's because i myself am half Scottish that i feel part of the charm of going there would be to see the countryside as it is instead of some tacky building among much simpler houses (granted he tried to hide the houses cause... who cares what the people living in the houses would think it's his land and he can do whatever he wants!)

but hey it's not like Scotland has any well established well respected golf courses.
oh... oh wait ... a quick search on this magical thing i've found at random called Google shows there are quite a few gold courses.... well... fancy that.

now i'd love to tell you trumps side on all this but considering he wouldn't talk in an interview all we get is that he doesn't like the houses there and theres an ugly win farm in the ocean thats spoiling his view.
awww muffin... life must be hard.

the way he is show treating the locals is terrible. part of that could be editing but there's a clip used off his own show mentioning that he just wants them to hide one guys house and who cares what people think, it's spoiling his view. i think theres one thing that is obvious... some people only care about themselves. It's quite sad what he does to the landscape which i thought was quite pretty.

but the worst part is.... remember that wind farm? well he's put his entire project on hold simply cause they wind-farm is just too unsightly  and it would ruin peoples enjoyment of the golf.

all that destruction
all that money
essentially wasted.

he may eventually continue to project such is up to him if he so chooses, still i think most of the world sees his empire as a joke... this is the man that tried to copyright "you're fired" simply cause he said it on his show, this is a man who has probably the most ridiculousness comb-over ever... but yeah films like this i'm sure don't help his image.

but again, do not take my word for it, if you have the chance watch it for yourself and make your own opinion. do your own research.

You've been Trumped Website

I'm just going to talk about college...

and you know what? my blog so yeah... gunna talk about whatever i feel like... cause thats what i do.

Now i've mentioned before that i went to College for art.... in fact i went to a college that is well known specifically for their animation and illustration.
If you've seen Technical Dave's videos on youtube (which you should cause they are great.) I went to the same school as him and in fact i even went to a similar program.

I did a course known as Visual and Creative arts
what does that mean?
it was a 2-3 year program that essentially focused on a bunch of different types of art instead of one specific medium.
well what does that mean?
 It means that we had a Life drawing class, a Life Painting class, a 3d materials/sculpture class, a graphic design class, a new media/digital media/photography class and some sort of class where they could give us work like art history/english or an elective.

sounds like a lot of work doesn't it?
well... yeah... the 6-7 classes a semester at 3 hours each... each with anywhere from 3-6 hours per class worth of homework.

yet the despite the sheer amount of work one thing remains true about VCA students like myself and Art fundies (exact same course but only 1 year long and a bit sped up due to the short time frame) students like technical dave... one common truth...

we get completely shit on.

it's sad but true despite the amount of work we do no one gives us any respect... why? cause it doesn't take a portfolio to get into VCA... anyone can get in as long as their grades are good enough and there's enough space.
it doesn't matter that we work our ass off and the course it kind of designed in a way where if you can't take the class load you will be kicked out/drop out.
hell in my first year we enough people drop out where a few groups (cause we had the same people every class) need to be amalgamated into other groups cause you can't have under a certain amount of students... and keeping in mind every class has 30 students... yeah...
hell in my last year i had some classes (cause at this point we got to pink our times) that only had 8 students in them... great for critiques but it shows you that it's not an easy course to stay in.
but still we get shit on.
teachers from the other programs were amazed at the work we were put through but no... still shit on.
just cause no portfolio.

the elitism at the school wasn't that bad but there was a lack of any kind of acknowledgement from the other students.
the best example i can think of is in my final year we put on a year end show and one of the fundraiser events was to sell prints.
some of the works were nice but as my friend (who went from vca to Animation) overheard someone saying "i would never buy those cause they are just in VCA"

i never understood this mentality...
why does it matter what program their in.... do you like the piece? yes or no.... what else matters?

still i was happy for my friends when they got in to whatever programs they tried for, they were confused why i never even tried to get into anything else...
1. i don't think i have the skills for the big two programs... i honestly just don't think i would make it through a portfolio selection. (especially since i'd rather go for illustration and my style just wouldn't mesh)
2. i don't like the idea of spending another 4 years in school.. after the 2 i spent saving up for college and the three i spent in it i really want to get on with my life.
3. i'm already partially working in the industry i want to be in so more school, while would be helpful for my skill level, would not help me in the job front.

but the question is one of "is VCA/fundies a good program"
only if you are willing to push yourself as hard as you can.
but in the end... that goes for any program now doesn't it?

i enjoyed my time in VCA, i know i improved as an artist and more importantly i learned what makes me tick.. i could have learned this in the other program i'm sure but it may not have been the same aha moment... it may have taken longer... it may have happened right away...
i will never know... all i know is that i met some of my best friends whom i hope to be friends for life with and that alone means i wouldn't trade my time in VCA, the most shit of program i have ever seen, for anything.

anyways this is quite personal so i'll just keep this to myself... i just needed to talk... and thast what blogs are for... aren't they?

also the line in technical dave's video that spurred this on was
"an illustration teacher came in and said 'i'm amazed at the work you do, we don't push our kids this hard'"
and it's true... we did a lot of work... even if no one ever recognized it... it didn't matter... we still did it.

now excuse me... i'm gunna go draw something.
anything.

also i'm not sayign the other programs don't work hard... i never had to pull an all nighter at the school... i'm just saying when my friend told me the story about the prints, i got a little defensive... this has been a long time coming... and it's dangerous to bottle things up for that long. 

Happy Easter 13 -from start to finish-

i'm in a kind of art funk at the moment and i suddenly wanted to draw something so sickningly adorable pople who gaze upon it may have their teeth rot out of there head....

...
however all i could manage was

other then the hands being freakishly small and the face i though it looked okay... at least good enough to call it my easter pic of the yet.

still i didn't know if i was gunna have the motivation to finish it in time...
so i inked it and then thought. "maybe i can live stream for an hour... having people watch will make me go faster.
at the end of the livestream i had.

however i knew the remaining thigns would maybe take another hour or so of work so i took a break, watched some anime (don't worry nothing i'm watching finishes for the next few days so it wont be so review heavy) and then got back to work cause i just want it done for the holiday.

so yeah another hour of work later and i have...

still not thrilled with it all but in the end it was a lot of fun. and i'm so bad for doing holiday pics at all that it's fun to at least get this one out.

and those that were in the live stream got to see the laziest of the lazy colouring... but yeah all good.
hopefully more art on the way... if not then i'll try and get some reading done.
also hopefully i'm able to finish a pic with a real bg soon, i draw them all the time just lose motivation.

but yeah i hope you like it and Happy easter/om nom nom all the chocolate in sight day.

Completed: A darkness in the East (the dragonprince's arrows#1) by Aaron Pogue

Mister Aaron Pogue if you ever read this please allow me to say two things.

You are one hell of a glorious troll and i mean that in the kindest way possible
and
I really loved this novella and i look forward to the next instalment. 

But dammit that ending....
I'm just gunna go to my waiting corner and wait for the next instalment to come out *sighs*
I'm bad at waiting... especially with an ending that good.

Um it's a novella so i can't describe much plot wise without spoilers so all I'll say is that it's a short story set in the Dragon Prince's universe at some point between the second and third book.
Oh and i guess i can mention that Daven is the main character.

oh and if you haven't gather by now i really enjoyed it... i only called the author a troll cause that was one hell of a way to end it and it makes me want more and there isn't any more yet....


so yeah.

The good:
Well written, this is pretty much a given for this author... i just really like his style.
Good character development, even in this short story i get to see Daven's character arc and that makes me really happy.
the time it's set, i look forward to seeing more of Daven's adventures between book 2 and 3

The not so good:
It's not stand alone, I'm sure you could enjoy it if you hadn't read any of the other Dragon prince books but you'd be missing out on so much... especially that ending. Though as someone who has read the other novels it was great seeing certain characters again... but yeah not a stand alone short story at all.
it's a novella so it's short (approx 85 pages according to amazon) and in my case i just want more... cause I'm greedy. 

The bad:
no dancing.... *sighs*

and only one person who reads that will get it... but that's okay.

so yeah I really liked this novella, it was a lot of fun and glad it'll be it's own small series.
it's priced at 2.99 on kindle *grumbles about current USD to CAD conversion*if i had just waited one day...
and yeah i suggest you pick it up and all the other dragon prince books.

ALSO to those wondering why i haven't done many novel reviews lately.

1. I tend to get 95% of my reading done on transit since otherwise i can't multitask when reading... however lately i haven't gone on transit at all... so I'm going to try and set aside some time from painting to sit down and read.

2. The book I'm currently read is painful but I'm so close to the end that i just want to finish it and be done with it... move onto something that has been suggested to me... i just know if i switch to a different full length novel i wont go back to it.... so i gotta push through the pain... beside it may redeem itself.

alright..... so yeah.... have you gotten the dragon prince books yet?
Aaron Pogue's Amazon Page

Completed: Maoyu

True story:
One day my friend wanted a breakfrom the piles of homework she had so she came to my place so we could marathon some Natsume on a decent sized screen.
When she got here we talked about how there are a few real gems this season and while looking at the list we discussed what we liked and disliked of all the shows we tried.
I point to Maoyu and she goes.
"ugh, i got halfway through the first episode and closed it.... i just couldn't take anymore of that crap"
I burst out laughing, she explains exactly where she stopped and once i catch my breath i simply say
"you stopped before it got good"

she thought i was kidding but Maoyu isn't a bad show at all. however to that same token it's nota great show either. i told her if she couldn't get through ep one don't bother but the show as a whole is more of a social commentary then anything else... unfortunately the first ep makes it look a little fanservice heavy.... it's not.

SO.... Maoyu aka Maoyu maou yuusha
it's a show about a hero who has gone to fight a demon king.... who ends up being a demon queen of sorts and instead of fighting they end up making a deal to find a way to end the war through things like agriculture, trade and trying to have demons and humans live in harmony... the demon king knows the war is just a ruse in order to get the capital to seem rich and she is simply trying to break that monopoly and bring peace.

The good:
it's a different take on a fantasy setting... the focus is more on creating things then destroying them. the idea that humans are so hell bent on the war is cause they are essentially uneducated and fighting is all they know, however they have the capacity and the drive to learn and change their ways.
Hiroshi kamiya was instantly recognizable as the merchant and i love his slightly sinister yet still trickster like voice.
the intro and ending songs are lovely, both detail every event that happens in the show but through different styles and it doesn't end up spoiling anything.
the art style while a bit floaty for my taste is well excuted and i love the watercolour feel to the backgrounds.... there is some didgy CG but nowadays when isn't there.
considering how this anime originated it has some really strong and interesting female characters who aren't just there for fanservice... even Maoyu with her mounds of useless flesh isn't used as a way to entice others but more a way for her to so how insecure she is despite being an all powerful demon king.

The not so good:
There is an ongoing trend for short shows to not give characters names.
Maoyu translated to Demon king
Yuusha is hero
Onna kishi is female knight.
i kinda hate this trend.... it probably originatedcause japan loves their punny names and this kinda just skips the middle man.... but ugh i just don't like it... but to be fair it never deters from the story.

The bad:
The first episode has a completely different tone from the rest of the series and as i mentioned before it may scare some people off cause it makes itself out to be this show that pokes fun at the fact that Yuusha is a virgin and Maoyu has large breasts that she's self conscious about.... and it's just not... it's a tale about people learning to grow up and maybe try something other then fighting to achieve peace.
The ending kinda sucks, i can't imagine the show ending any other way.... but it just needed a bit more closure in my mind. 
There is a lack of chemistry between a few characters so it made me think "why should i care" in some situations.

the show is good, not great but i didn't begrudge the time i spent watching it. if you are curious give it a shot but try to at least watch 2 episodes.
again everything this season i watched is on crunchyroll, it's free though the last episode wont be free till next week.

okay plans for the day!
Paint!
Finish Aaron Pogues new novella!
and then maybe some fire emblem... pretty close to the end.
See you in a bit (cause the novella wont take much longer)

Completed: Blast of tempest

AKA Zetsuen no tempest: ~the civilization blaster~
Crunchyroll called in blast of tempest though so i'm going with that.

I know i could hold off and post this tomorrow but you know what? My blog and i wanna talk about it now not later.
besides it's not my fault that Kotoura-san and this release on the same day at the same time and both happen to end in the same week.

Blast of tempest is about a few things.... oh boy this is going to be fun without spoilers.

1st: it's about a boy named Mahiro, his step sister Aika and his friend Yoshino... according to Aika Yoshino is someone who looks innocent enough but would be willing to lie to your face if it meant keepign the peace. Then Aika is murdered and Mahiro leaves to try and find out who/why.
2nd: it's about Yoshino who gets thrown into a situation so far over his head simply cause he he knows Mahiro and the government seems to be interested since he seems to show up in areas where people are turning to metal but he comes out unharmed.
also some nice foreshadowing in this ep, just one line but seriously BoT well done.
3rd: it's about a girl, apparently a princess, named Hakaze being put on an island in a barrel while wearing a summer dress by her older brother Salmon who is claiming they have to do it to save the world.
4th: it's about Salmon reviving the magical Tree of Exodus since apparently the Tree of Genesis is actually evil (thouh gives them magic for some reason)
5th: it's also about Aika and what a rotten personality she has and how you really don't wanna piss her off.
6th: it's about even though you may start weak and pathetic get the shit kicked out of you enough and you'll get stronger.
7th: trust no one cause everyoen looks out for themself and may not be what they appear
8th: Trust everyone cause they probably want to help you as best they can.
9th: Love sucks
10th: Shakespeare is a bit of an asshole
11th: people who quote Shakespeare as a way of spinning riddles are assholes.
12th: mots importantly it's about what kind of life you lead, do you play alogn with some script or do you fight fate to the best of your ability even if in the end you may be powerless.

i think.... i think i covered everything....

oh and it's kinda like if the tempest crashed with hamlet and maybe some 12th night thrown in for fun.

And it's my favorite show this season.

The good:
The art and animation... it is so lovely, so detailed, colourful but muted at the same time... oh i just love it.
the rules to the world are ALWAYS upheld.... i get so annoyed when creators skirt the rules in order to make plot but no.... no matter what we know a few things. Aika IS dead, Mages of Gensis can only use magic if they sacrifice something that uses technology, the more advanced the technology the stronger the magic. The mage of Exodus can negate the mage of genesis however there is only ever one in the world at a given time. Mahiro and Yoshino are normal human beings doign their best despite the lack of magic to help out.
those things never change.
Though yoshino is scary clever.
The Music, it's a lot of classical and classical sounding pieces... and i just love that kind of music so yeah...
characters are all different and no one falls into "well my role is this to the plot and after that i will vanish and never be spoken of again"

The not so good:
The first endign song is such a troll, many a episode had me near tears then the happiest peppiest ending song i have ever heard starts playing.... it's like... screw you BoT i'm sad and you happy music is going against all my feelings....
it's still a fun song though.
some people may complain that a large chunk of episodes (i think 5?) take place in one spot and essentially one convo.... and they all end of cliffhangers. some people were other by this... i didn't mind but i figured i should mention it.

The bad:
... hm
...
nothing jumps out as bad... Mahiro is a bit fickle i guess? that can kinda be irritating? didn't bug me.

in the end i loved this show, i look forward to owning it on dvd... though it'll be done through Aniplex which... ugh... i'm sorry but there stuff is a bit too expensive for my taste... still i will buy it eventually.

for now it's all available on Crunchyroll for free, the final episode will be free next week.
But yeah this show is good and it kinda flew under the radar so please at least check it out, you probably wont be disappointed.

Completed: Kotoura-san

Rai, you have stated multiple times that you hate Moe.
Why would you watch a show that is so incredibly moe in design.

Truth be told i almost didn't even give this show a chance.
the proportions... the art it was all just so sickeningly adorable....
however one day after work while i waited for my ride to be done what she was doing i figured... may as well give an episode a shot.
The damn show nearly made me cry.

The first 10 minutes of the show will more then likely rip out your heart and show it to you before shoving it back in and asking kindly to keep watching.

so whast this deceptively moe show about?
Kotoura is a girl with psychic powers... though she doesn't know that's not normal and even when she tried to keep it to herself she cont control what she says and she can't always tell whats being thought and whats being said.
Sadness ensues....
that is until she gets to highschool and meets a perverted boy who seems to thing that the whole reading minds thing is pretty awesome.
Hilarity ensues.
until bullying....
then sadness.... then funny and sad all mixed up together....

essentially what i'm trying to say is that this is a comedy anime that may make you tear up a bit.
It's very sweet and has a lot of heart and it's probably my favorite of the season... well next to the show that happens to air on the same day..... at the exact same time....

i would love to say more about kotoura-san but again i don't wanna spoil anything since half the fun is in the reveal.

The good:
The animation is lovely and fluid and colourful and while it looks quite moe itnever falls into the moe traps of panty shots or stupid annoying helium sucking characters with no purpose other then looking cute.
I can't pick a favorite character cause they are all so diverse and well rounded.
The intro song is fun and goofy but i just smile when i hear it.

The not so good:
the middle drags a bit.... the start and end have pretty muhc a perfect balance but the middle relies a little too much on the goofy aspect or it just doesn't use kotoura enough.... it's not bad but it's hard continue givign something so good when by the end of the first episode i knew it was going to be one of the best shows this season.

The bad:
It's short : ( i would have loved to see more but honestly it told the story it needed to tell... still.. sad to see it end.

OKAY now i gotta go watch some blast of tempest!

Saturn -From start to finish-

and thus my chibi sailor scout series comes to an end.

But Rai! what about the stars series senshi?

truth be told, i'm not a fan of that season, i think chibi chibi is adorable and sailor cosmos has a nice designs but otherwise... just not my thing.

besides for me doing nine images with the same ruleset (inteactign with their symbols/no weapons/chibi) is hard and i nearly broke a few times with the outers.... so... justsayign right now... that series is done.

i will do more sailor moon art it just wont be sticking so close to the others.

so, this all began on a whim.

one day i wanted to draw sailor moon... a series i had never been good at drawing.... so i drew her and it didn't turn out terrible.

so i figured.... i could try another one.
it turned out pretty terrible... damn...

so one day i was at work waiting for my ride to be ready to go and i ended up drawing all the inners i hadn't drawn....

so i figured id finish the inners since people seems to like it.

but then after i finished them since i had done Chibi-usa as well people were asking me if i'd do the outers?
i'm not a fan of the outers mainly cause their entire season could have been more interesting had the two groups sat down over coffee and talked it over...
still i figured may as well since i really like sailor saturn and pluto.

this marks the end of something that i spent a little over 5 months on.
sad thing is i did three of them this week.... just needed a little motivation...

so even though saturn is probably my fav of the outers her sketch turned out the worst.

ugh... what is that.... why does it look so weird.... ugh... ick... no... no thats gunan need a huge edit.

so i fixed it all in inking and after a little bit of flat colour it looked like

well it's better then the original sketch.

now i was going to finish this tomorrow but after listening to some you tube videos and knowing that i am going to be writing two reviews tomorrow i figures do it now... though if i don't hurry it'll technically be tomorrow... DAMMIT

so i coloured and had fun and ended up with.

this was a lot of fun and i hope you like the series... tomorrow i'll do a big image with all them together maybe... for fun.

for now i'm going to go rest since i don't want to relapse on this cold.

Redbubble Stickers

Completed: Shin Sekai Yori -From The New World-

so in just a few hours i go from one of the shows the season i hated the most to one i enjoyed the most.
funny thing about this show.... i almost gave up.

Unlike my Amnesia review i will not spoil a single thing cause half the joy of this show is the reveal.

in fact all i can say is Saki is a girl, she's still in school and part of a group... it seems everyone in this world has power (most can be equated to psychic abilities but i'd say some don't fall into any real category) and the world isn't everything it seems.
oh and we spend about 20 years with Saki over 25 episodes.

*thinks* yeah.... unfortunately any more info would be a spoiler.

This is something i'd classify as Art anime.
i don't really know if technically it is but i would consider it as such, there is so much empahsis put in the visuals and how the story is told through what you see instead of what you hear.

why did i almost give up?
the first 12 episodes are confusing, slow and a little uncomfortable.... you have no idea whats going on, what some things are and why some characters act certain ways. the way they pair people up really made me squirm more so cause of their age then anything else.
however you hit ep 13 and... well... all that stuff you thought was inconsiquential... it starts all making perfect sense.

so i'm glad i stuck with it.

The good:
I'm the type of person who constantly is guessing how the story will end and i actually am upset when i'm right... this show had me unsure till the very end and i love it for that. and despite not knowing where the story was going i still knew what it was all about and nothing felt out of place.
The animation is a little more simple then some shows but it has a unique style and it's just well done.
both ending songs are nice but i do like the first ones visuals a tad but more... it's colour blocked and reminds me of motion graphics and reminds me i need to make one of those before i forget how to do it.

The not so good:
no intro song?? what is this?
okay to be fair one episodes (16 i think?) has an intro song..... none of the others do.

The bad:
again the only thing i can think of as being bad is it gets really uncomfortable when you see children doing what they do.... it makes perfect sense in context of the story but... dammit they are kids
oh and one thing happens at the end that they had been foreshadowing the entire time but i still just can't see it... it works in the end but.... yeah i don't think they built it up enough.

but yeah i'm afraid i've already said too much, if you want to see a thought provoking anime that is a little on the slow side but still overall interesting give this one a shot.
it's over on crunchyroll and the first 24 episodes are viewable for free with ep 25 being available next week.

sadly my plans to see From up on poppy hill feel through : ( sad about it but of well... maybe i'll just go see it on my own while it's still playing at that theater. (it leaves on thursday so thats unlikely)

Completed: Amnesia (spoilers/rage/long)

You know, i don't consider myself a negative person.... i really don't.
I'm a critical person.... i TRY to see positives and negatives in everything since nothing can be truly perfect and nothing doesn't deserve to exist.

however there are a few anime that from the pit of my stomach make me mad. so mad then i get adrenalin just thinking about how much it pissed me off.

in no particular order.
School days
K-on!
Second season of sword art online
and now this... Amnesia.

now what do these titles have in common?
other then K-on! they all have characters that don't seem to understand what love is/show that japan has an incredibly distorted sense of love.
K-on! is on the list cause i personally blame it for setting back animation about a decade or so...


before i get mad and spoil the entire show some ground rules.

1. this is going to be long since i have a lot to say.
2. normally when i catch myself swearing on this blog i go back and change it..... probably not going to do that....
3. I will spoil everything cause i can't talk about why this is one of the worst shows i have ever seen without sayign all the horrible shit it does.
4. I won't be using anyone's name cause honestly i can't remember most of them... so nicknames it is.

so quickly before i get into spoiler funtime... the TL;dr: this is one of the most terrible shows i have ever seen, it's an awful example of a reverse harem and the actions of the characters are truly deplorable and they ALL need to see help.

this is your final warning if for some reason you still want to watch this show turn away NOW and go watch it on crunchyroll.

okay.... so if you made it this far your ready for some anger? great.


SPOILERS

Pluto -From Start to finish-

home strech is in sight... after this one all i have left is Saturn

so the original sketch was my least fav of the three so i deiced to do her before saturn otherwise this project may have gone into limbo again...
and as fun as it has been... i'll be glad to be able to move onto something else.


so i moved how she held onto the symboland resized some things, also her hair covered most of her symbol so i had it go through the hole and i think it looks a little better... who knows.

part of me wanted to draw her key staff thingy but i didn't draw any of the others with their weapons so i didn't want to break the series.
to be honest of the outs she's probably the most interesting to me... i love her story and i love the fact that she is no longer a planet adds to the feelingshe's been forgotten by time to all but those who encountered her.
i'm thinking too much into this.

Saturn should be done soon.... probably not tomorrow cause i have a rage review to write, a wow i wasn't expectign that review AND a from up on poppy hill review (which i may hold off till a day i don't have shows finishing... but i'm seeing it tomorrow...
too much this week.
anyways enjoy

you can find it over at redbubble

Completed: The Unlimited Hyobu Kyosuke

thou the title card has the added thing of "courtesy of Zettai Karen Children"
however thats a stupidly long title so from here out i will refer to it as Unlimited.

If i had to rank the shows this season.... this would be in the top 5 easily.

Also a quick note i have never seen Zettai Karen children (it's called soemthing liek psychic squad over here? not 100% on that) and i know nothing of ongoing plots, characters or events.

My friend who started at the exact same mindset did watch all of it though and read all the manga out and judgeing by her blogs after each episode it made her have a vastly different experience then me... i hope to get a little blurb from her later but as I am an unemployed bum who has no worries ATM she has that school thing that piles on all that wonderfull homework stuff and it doesn't help that they are near the end of the semester.

SO the plot:
Hyobu Kyosuke is a powerful esper who is the leader of a terrorist group called P.A.N.D.R.A... however he gets himself caught (surprisingly willingly) and while in esper prison he bumps into Andy Hinomiya, an esper who doesn't seem to have any powers... yet somwhow.... probably cause they are both a little on the eccentric side... they become friends....
sure it involves hyobu poisoning andy but it was done to help him escape i promise.

So the reason hyobu was so willing to be kidnapped was because and esper child he cared for ws being experimented on in the basement and he wanted to get her out and just for fun he helps Andy as well and makes him a member of the ship.

Soon after we find out more about Andy.... he's abilities manifest as nullifying the powers of espers around him, even later we find out he can temporarily lock their powers if he touches them... and some other stuff but you can figure that out yourself.

anyways antics ensue as Andy tries to mesh with the rest of the crew.

The good:
Andy and Hyobu's relationship is pretty funny... andy is a perfect character to add for an in medias res plot because he, like us, has no clue what the hell is going on.
the show pokes fun at things.... mainly

so yeah.... that happened.
the animation is lovely and colourful and yeah has a few derpy moments but those will probably be fixed for a dvd release (you know like pretty much any show ever)
Ongoing themes, like heart... lots of different stuff happens that have to do with hearts.... it's not wonder certain characters are shipped like mad.... it's damn near canon too.

the not so good:
the story on it's own while making perfect sense is kinda inconsequential.... it doesn't tie up all the loose ends of it's own story because it can't... whether or not that stuff is elaborated on or outright solved in zettai karen children i wont know until i watch it.
It feels like it could have a secondseason but my friend pretty much told me flat out that no it can't... maybe after seeing the final ep she'll change her mind but i doubt it.

certain events are a little anticlimactic... all this build and you get a payoff but not as much as i was expecting...
funky physics funtime..... Andy runs up a ship in three steps!.. yeah kinda silly.

'The children' felt out of place... i get there point but i can't decide if they (and in turn B.A.B.E.L.) were used too much or maybe not enough....

The bad:
nothing about this show is bad aside from the fact that i feel if you wanna get the full experience you have to watch zettai karen children which is just over 50 eps and for some people thats a bit of an investment.
oh and some people may feel hyobu is too powerful, i can see where they are coming from but it didn't bug me.

in the end even if you haven't see the other show i think this is really good... one of the best this season. it had a good balance of fun and silly with serious and tear jerking... it's over at crunchyroll and thefirst 11 episodes are free (ep 12 will be free next week)
So tomorrow i'll probably end up doing two reviews.... one of the worst show this season and one of the best...
if you look at what airs tomorrow on crunchyroll it won't be hard to figure out which is which.
and i'll probably lost my shit... so yeah pre-warning funtimes....
i'm not looking forward to it.
maybe i'll get my friend to comment on that one too.......
kinda wish i had a better setup/wasn't so damn camera shy cause i don't think i'll be accurately able to describe how made the show made me in text...
guess we will see.

Edit: 03/30/13

My friend finished her review, as i mentioned before we both started out knowing nothing but she went and watched the parent series while i waited.

Her full review can be read here

Here's a quick excerpt

I think I should talk about whether this show really works as a stand-alone thing or not. In terms of understanding the story and the main characters, yeah it can stand on its own. However, if I was being completely honest, I would recommend watching Zettai Karen Children and then The Unlimited, but it’s not absolutely necessary. It’s just that there are so many little things thrown around that will make fans of the original series very happy.

 So yeah i think it's safe to say that the show works whether or not you watch the parent series but it sounds like you may get more out of it if you watch Zettai Karen children first.

also a quick side note even though ECM and power levels were never explained i still figured out what they meant to a point.... can someone explain to me why there is a flying squirrel with telepathy that has a screw in it's head? cause... yeah.... i didn't understand why that needed to be there other then having a cute animal sidekick.

Dropped: Oreshura

apparently it has a longer title that translates to "my girlfriend and my childhood freind fight too much" but crunchy calls it Oreshura so thats what i'm calling it.

Dammit i'm so close to the end.... but a few things happened...

first the plot (if the title doesn't give it away)
Eita is a male character in a harem anime consisting of
1. a girl who is pretending to be his girlfriend in order to stop getting asked out cause she is actually really evil and hates love (or does she?)
2. The childhood friend who used to be good at kendo but now can't do it cause of an injury.
then later
3. a girl who claims to have been eita's lover in a past life.
4. a even younger childhood friend who claimed that Eita promised to marry her when they were older and expects him to uphold this promise despite it being made in kindergarten.

the catch?
Eita is kinda a hopeless nerd who is trying his damnedest to be a doctor while th first girl i mentioned has a notebook she uses to blackmail him because it's full of his fantastical fantasies about his previous life.

Before i start 'bashing the anime'.... some things of note

The anime does have some funny moments.... any time eita's being tortured with the notebook i had to giggle.
This anime references a lot of other shows like deathnote and Jo jo's bazaar adventures... again these things (the ones i got at least) got me to chuckle.
The show isn't really terrible.... i just have a hard time stickign with Harem anime because they are so insanely stupid that i just want to rip my hair out.

why did i stop?
currently there are 12 episodes out when the 13th (and as far as i know final) one to be released in 5 days.
HOWEVER at the end of the introduction of girl #4 motivation i stopped.... that was ep 9....
i tried to watch ep 10 just now and couldn't do it knowing i just had 2 more episodes of this shit lined up after it.

falling behind one week for me is risky but sometimes stuff gets piled up....
Two is 50/50 shot of if i will continue or not
three is 75% chance i'm not gunan keep up with it...
4 is dead to me i obviously done care if a month goes by and i haven't had the 20 mins to squeeze it in

Thing is i drop shit all the time without writing a full 'review' on them... why is this one different.

Cause it was all good and fine to a point.... and i wanna talk about it.... and it's my blog.... i don't force anyone to read it.

so why did i watch 9.5 episodes?
i thought the character dynamic between the first two girls and eita was really well done... best i had seen done in a harem anime (cause if i haven't made it clear.... i'm not a fan of the genre... and we'll find out later this week i don't like reverse harems much more) anyways these three characters had really nice chemestry (in a sick and twisted) way and they each had unique connections to Eita....
then the third girl gets introduced and i thought it was a little strange but she was quiet most of the time and mostly used for comic relief and getting Eita in trouble with the first two girls... i didn't like the addition but i did feel it wasn't necessary. 

Then the fourth girl showed up.... ugh.
now... she's not an awful character.... it's just... dammit this storyline gets used so often.
a) why would you expect a promise made in kindergarten to be honoured?
b) why would you expect that promise to be upheld if he doesn't even remember you DESPITE your pink hair which in this universe seems a little uncommon.
c) why would you expect him to trust you when you've been lying about your love life?
d) why would you expect him to like you back when you act like you hate him and call him names and act all tsundere by running away
e) WHY?

She actually annoyed me more so cause she was such a typical harem girl trope and it spit in the face of the other three who don't fall into stereotypes .... even the childhood friend is played a little different then i'm used to seeing.
but the very second she comes along the show stops torturing him as much (cause the girlfriend isn't there as much to torture him) and it starts being more about why these 3 (4?) girls can't stop thinking about eita for every moment of their life.
i mean pinky here is introduced to the show as the one trying to close down the club in order to get eita to stop being surrounded by girls... only to join the club herself....
and less then halfway through ep 10 i thought to myself. "you know what? i honestly don't care.... i don't want to watch another 4 episodes of these characters bickering.... i don't want to watch another 4 episodes of this super washed out show (seriously they need to turn down the gamma) I don't care if the girlfriend really likes him or not.... i stopped give a shit a long time ago... and i have so many other things to watch... why would i waste my time on something thats irritating me? (to be fair there's another show(s?) this season that made me rage but i was caught up on it and it was hard watching the next episode but i feel i will have more right to bitch if i finish it) why am i wastign my time when i could be doing something fun."

cause in the end... i watch anime to enjoy.... i don't always like it... sometimes it makes me rage but most of time i leave it going "damn that was fun/interesting/thought provoking"

however this show just made me go "yeah i don't care what happens... you needed to be firther along in the plot by now...."

but it wasn't.... the plot hadn't progessed an iota from episode one... there were just more girls now....
thats not plot progression... not even in an anime.

however if you like Harem shows you probably will enjoy oreshura.... maybe.... my friend likes them and he couldn't even get past ep 1 cause the girlfriend character is "too perfect" as he put it.
and she is... the not loving isn't played up as a flaw enough... and she never (at least not through ep 1-9.5) gets a smack for her actions.

ah it feels good to get all this off my chest...

also this week will be review heavy since i kept up with way more series then normal and most end this week (think at least count of 12 shows i'm watching 8 or 9 end this week... thought with this off it's 7 or 8)

If you like this show... thats great... i really just hate Moe, harem shows and shows that perpetuate awful ideas of what 'being in love' entails.
this show isn't all that.... but those are things that auto get on my "i'm not gunna have a good time list."
and hey... i never claim to be unbiased....

so lets schedual this stuff out shall i?

Monday: Unlimited
Tuesday: Amenesia, love live (i think), Shin Sekai yori
Wednesday: nothing! so i may move one of the three on tues to release today. (probably love live)
Thursday: Hakkenden, Blast of Tempest, Kotoura-san
Friday: Maoyu
Saturday: nothing cause i dropped this...
Sunday: nothing cause there was nothing on on sunday to begin with.

so yeah... i'll try to spread it out.... but thats when the shows air.... i may push hakkenden.. guess we'll see...

so yeah.... you're gunan see me ramble and rant lots this week.... i hope i'm not too annoying (though even if i am... i'm gunan do it anyways... cause it's my blog and no one forces you to read it.... yay)
see ya tomorrow with one of the best shows of the season (gunna try and get a blurb from my friend since we started in the same mindset but ended up in pretty different ones... but she has homework and work so who knows)  and then i guess i'll just take it from there.

also yeah all these titles are on crunchyroll... easiest way for me to watch legal anime... yay~

Monday, March 25th edit:

Original article here: http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2013/03/25-1/poll-winter-shows-you-shouldnt-have-dropped

yeah.... i still regret nothing

Uranus - From start to finish

Home stretch for these chibis...
originally i drew the original senshi one day while i was waiting for my ride to be ready to go at work...
i never planned to do the outers cause honestly they aren't my fav characters...
but people liked the inner senshi WAY more then i was expecting and people kept asking would i do the outers or the stars.
I did like pluto and saturn so i figured fine... i will do the 4 outers...
i will not do stars.
i actually didn't like that season much at all.
if someone commissioned me to draw them i would but otherwise... i don't feel like it.

cause in th end it was all on a whim.
anyways i was really sick this past week (still kinda am but at least i can hear things now and my voice doesn't cut out as much) and i couldn't really get much more then the random sketch or study out.... and i was thinking about what i could do... and i'm planning on getting a button machine (i have been saying this for months fun fact) but then i wondered what i would make into buttons.... well if i had all the senshi i could sell them as a set...
but that would involve finishing the three i have left.
....
...
..
.
fine!
so i sketched the three and i'm pretyt happy with the result... still need to touch them up but thats what inking is for.

so since Uranus was the nicest of the three and the one who needed the least touchign up i did her first
i forgot to make the line art bigger so the image is small for me but oh well it was fun... in the end it'll only ever be 600 wide on the internet... but still i like making it bigger for sticker purposes.

so yeah i hope you like it.
and if i messed up on some details then sorry.

Redbubble

I'm just gunna talk about Natsume

cause i can...
and i want to...
so...... i'm gunna..... yay~

Also i'll be posting some pictures, i sized them all but still it may be a little photo heavy so i apologize

So... Me and Natsume Yuujinchou/Natsume's Book of Friends (just calling it Natsume from here on out).

I watched this show on a whim.
One day i was going though Crunchyrolls catalogue cause i had watched all the shows i wanted to and i wasn't yet a subscriber... and the image they used on the title card looked really pretty and ethereal (it's the Season 1 dvd cover... i'll have a pic of it later) so i figured it looks nice why not give it a shot.

First episode.
Aww this is kind cute, love when supernatural stuff and slice of life are smashed together, i think i will enjoy this show... though it's a little too laid back for me... oh well it should still be fun.

Second Episode.
*gross sobs* so.... so sad... so lovely.... so sweet... Isn't the weather nice? *sobs*

To this day... i don't think a show has ever made me cry so hard in the second episode (Kotoura would have beat it out had i not been at work but in the end... i didn't cry so it doesn't count)
and yes i do cry easily but i only cry if i'm invested in the characters.... if i don't care about them i will not shed a single tear... yet this show managed to get me so invested so fast.

Still i continued to watch, the episodes were all pretty good... none got the same emotional impact as ep 2 (well... not on the first watching at least) but i did cry more then once....
then episode 13 the intro changed.
I mention this as much as i can cram in but Ano Hi Time Machine is the best use of an intro song ever.
Not only does the song kick ass but the animation does a wonderful job of showing you the normal world and how Natsume sees the world but it also introduces all the major characters and shows (subtly) what connections they have to natsume AND if they have any ability to see spirits themselves. 
all in one and a half minutes....

before this we've only met a few recurring characters and in this season we get a few more as well as starting to see Natsume's way of thinking change from closing everyone off to slowly accepting help when he can.

But then it just kinda ended.
I was having a good time but i was so sad that there wasn't anymore... i had no idea if it was gunna get another season but it was going on three years with no mention of a sequel... so i was a little disappointed but it was what it was.

a year or half a year passed and i was in college now and suddenly Crunchyroll announces they'll be simulcasting season three.
I was excited to see where the story went from here and i even got a good friend of mine into it (it's funny cause that friend and i have complete opposite taste with her liking shonen and me liking shoujo but we tend to latch onto the same things... so odd) and wow we get so much more development this season.
There is more focus on Natsume deciding between humans or yokai, we learn more about him as a child as well as some other supporting characters past.
Most importantly we get the series Antagonist... 3 seasons in and we kinda have a villian.... who really doesn't do anything wrong but is creepy.
at this point we have established all the major reoccuring characters and we finally get to work through everyone's motivation-- wait it's over again? DAMMIT!
oh well the last episode states that there is only going to be a 3 month wait till we get season 4

So... season 4 is a little different.
this show is for the most part episodic with the rare multiple part episodes.
seaso n4 throws that out the window.
there are four story lines that take up multiple episodes...
and they are so lovely, season three made the show easily one of my top.... this season made it number one.

so when NISA annouced they had the rights i made a noise only dogs could probably hear.
but then... waited...
and waited
and waited....
it had been almost half a year since they announced having it... did something happen? it wouldn't be an issue of dubbing cause NISA doesn't dub anime.
WHAT WAS TAKING SO LONG??

Oh..... oh thast why it took so long.... it was going to be first AND second season (dvd only)

wow that's a pretty box.... is it textured? (yes)
and whats all this?

is that an artbook? with concept art and random images?
i'm sorry i ever doubted you NISA.
best part i was expecting to pay 50 per season... this made it so i was getting two seasons for the price of one... again dvd only but i didn't care since my room is only equip with a dvd played and... i don't wanna bother the rest of my family with my gross sobbing just so i can watch the blue ray in the living room.

still if it took that long to get the first two seasons out and they got the license around the time season 3 came out... it'd be a while longer before i got more natume goodness....
so i got myself some merchandise

now it's hard to get any natsume merch in North america cause no one has heard of this series... still that means when you do find it you can get it pretty cheap.... most of the time... so this is the first nyanko-sensei plush i got, i wouldn't have been happier with one that looks forward but again... not easy to find so i took what i could get.
then i found...

this thing is pretty big and has the ability for me to stick my hands through it for some unknown reason... also works great as a pillow for when your in a hotel with 4 other people and not enough pillows.
as much as i love cats and Nyanko sensei i really want more Natsume merch...
and by more i mean any... there was a stunning figure that was released many years before i had ever heard of the show and it goes from 300-600 on ebay and i love the show but not that much...
but thats not all the merch i have..... i have a blank book of friends.

i plan to use it as a sketchbook cause i love long compositions but then i went to a Con.... and i got a fun idea.

omg i'm such a nerd... i got the AVGN to sign my book of friends.
i would have gotten the other members of TGWTG to sign it as well but i had a nasty cold/fever and i only spent half a day at a con that i prepayed the entire weekend... i just wasn't well enough to force me and my good friend to wait in another line.

i'm still gunna use it as a sketchbook... probably.... but yeah.... new autograph book.

and now, just yesterday season 3 dvd arrived on my doorstep... i was scared cause the box it came in was half crushed. but when i got it out the boxset was completely unharmed.

how is the box allowed to be this pretty?
now i mentioned earlier that season 1&2 boxset was textured, this one is too but it feels a bit softer.... imagination? probably just something i noticed.
this time it's only season 3 but it's dvd/blue ray

and this is the other side, we get our creepy but not really evil but also not good antagonist.

close up, you can kinda see the texture but yeah love the art on these boxes.

and yet another artbook, full of more character designs and lovely art and i just love this show.

i did get both pre-order bonus items but i forgot to take pictures and i'm too lazy to get my setup back cause it means moving lights and stuff

also random fact, the menus on the dvd cross fade into each other/into the show.
i don't know why this amuses me so much but it does.

ah... that felt good.... i just love this show so much and i really hope more people will check it out
it's all over at Crunchyroll for free
also the NISA boxsets are lovely.... yeah a little pricy but keep in mind everything you get... more then worth it in my opinion (better then some other companies that expect me to pay 50 bucks for 13 episodes in a flimsy cardboard box and no special features.... but the joy of a dub i guess.... still)

so this has been me gushing over my fav show
i may do one of these later for all my Falcom stuff... but considering i'll probably be doing a minimum of 7 reviews next week.... i'll hold off...
maybe
i have no will power so who knows.

hopefully when i do that i'll have my proper photography setup back.... or a new on that isn't my bed with lights on it.

alright better get back to making art and stuff...
or i could just go back to rewatching season 3...
hm...
yeah.... i think i'll go with that.

Completed: Andrew Lloyd Webber's New Production The Wizard of Oz

Rai that cant possibly be the title...
really?

So...
A little back story.

My brother, who is autistic, really loves theater... musical theater specifically but really he just enjoys going out.

When Wicked came to town h badgered us for months to buy tickets.
When Joseph and the Amazing technicolour dreamcoat came to town he asked every day till we caved.
same thing with Cats.

SO when this was announced having the two things he really likes in a play (ALW and Oz) we were surprised that he didn't make a peep.
however one day my mother got an email from the theater and he saw it and he siddenly wanted tickets.

so even though we knew it was probably just a retelling of the film we figured some things would have to be added for Andrew Lloyd Webber to be claiming it at his new production.

So this is my third ALW show... and yeah.... i notice he has a very distinc style...
that.... i'm kinda sorta not a huge fan of.
i don't dislike anything he does.
well... cept Cats..... Cats was terrible and time that was wasted i will never get back.... but i already wrote a review on that...
anyways i don't hate on him cause he's super popular i just don't tend to like his stuff.
Jesus Christ Superstar is pretty much forever my favorite musical.... but other then that they all seem to be lacking something.
This is no different.

Also fun fact this was in the exact same theater that Wicked was in so yeah.... i will be compairing the two and i don't care if it's unfair.

super short Story description because everyone has seen the movie.
Dorothy Gale is a girl who just wants more in life, more attention, more validation and most importantly more colour.
then she gets all that and she suddenly wants to go back to her quiet life in Kansas... well at least she goes back a better person.
oversimplification? hell yes but again... i don't need to tell you the story... you knwo it.

This play is that story with a few more songs and a few lyrics added to old songs. nothing is different.

but thats what you expect i guess.

The good:
The costumes were lovely, my favorite being Glinda's though the wicked witch's second dress was pretty spectacular as well.
The sets had a pretty cool style, they did a good job of sepia Kansas vs super colourful and glittery Oz. also there was neat use of perspective.
The singing was pretty spectacular... apparently there was a TV show to pick who Dorothy would be played by... i can see why she won.
The acting was well done.... for the most part.

The not so good.
ALW's added songs... none of them added to the story except the first one which did work a little.... but as the play goes on his added songs get more and more tedious... the worst one being just before she leaves oz.... i was praying for it to just end so we could get it over with... it was just too much.... him and didn't fit in with the rest of the songs at all.
The modernization is kinda.... random... and i really just mean how lines were dilivered.... like they were so close to the original film but changed ever so slightly to make sure every moron in the place got it... and some scenes really dragged thanks to it.

The Bad:
We tend to get the cheapest seats possible when we go to plays simply because even the cheapest seats can cost around 100 bucks in town... for all four of us to go it can get really expensive. Also my brother tends to have reallybad taste and the things he wants to see the most tend to be the worst so if we are wasting our life... we don't wanna burn a hole in our wallet.

We were in the very back row for this play (which had half the theater curtained off which is just a way to make false Sold out sales) and despite being as far back as we possibly could it still cost 120 per person.
120 to see something that is essentially the play version of a film.
All because ALW name is attached to it?
.... yeah
Hey.... hey theater industry? hey you know how no one goes to see plays anymore? yeah it's cause your tickets are an arm and a leg.
to be fair... like i said before that exact theater the previous year for wicked was cheaper... we were a few rows back still  it was a more decent price.


Which did i like better? Wicked or this?
Wicked, Wicked kicked so much ass. if you have a chance to see it in theater take it. it's funny, it's moving and the songs are just so clever.

This is by no means a bad play.... it's really well done but unless you're a super wizard of oz fan or you maybe want to see the film told in a slightly different don't bother.
unless you can get tickets from 30-80 bucks... then i would say it's probably worth it just for the spectacle.

But seriously it is kinda silly that ALW can simply add a couple of songs and suddenly it's his play? i mean he gives credit to the original song writers but he still claims it as his own.

oh well...
Les Mis is coming to town apparently.... maybe i'll check that out? (probably not cause i am cheap)

but yeah seriously i want Glinda's outfit and i would just wear it all the time... sequence would be everywhere and i wouldn't care...

OC Ponies -from start to finish-

short story
I'm really really really sick right now, i can't go 2 mins without sneezing or coughing.
however.... no fever... so i tried to draw... well couldn't do anything creative.
...
so i looked at the style of my little pony.
I have watched the first two season, it's a cute show but i'm not a fan of it as much as other people.
however i think the style is nice and i thought it would be fun, cause i'm terrible at drawing fanart/animals/things in other peoples style so i decided to find some proprtion guilds and i found http://www.thegeekprofessor.com/ponies/how-i-learned-to-draw-my-little-pony-art/
and i tried to follow it.
my result was.... meh...

still i thought it would be fun to turn some of my ocs into ponies just cause i had a base now.... so i tried it

well.... i have the line art..... may as well colour it.... and do a few more so i have all three types... (not counting Alicorns cause people seem to automatically call them mary sues and i'm not a big enough fan of the series to deal with that....)

SO the unicorn would be Raichana, the normal pony would be Arian (AU cause i think doing a knife dripping in blood would be illfitting to just playing around with designs) and Melody is the pegasus with the stupidly long hair cause... well it made me chuckle.

though i guess they would have to have different names based on cutey marks or whatever
again... too sick/not enough of a fan to be creative with this.

but yeah it was fun even if all i was doing was playing around... still don't plan to do anything like this again.
but yeah.... time to take meds and get over this cold once and for all (i hope before friday cause i'm going to a play and i think it's rude to be sneezing the entire time...)

Little Arian -From start to finish-

So i had the line art done 2 days ago, i just spent a lot of time running errands and taking my Brother to interviews for a program that helps adults with Autism... when i tried to work on it after finishing all those errands i realized i wasn't feeling too great so i took a nyquill, watched chihayafuru 2 and tried to get as much coloured as i could before the meds kicked in and i'd no longer be able to holdmy tablet pen.

This morning i wake up and i can't hear or breath properly thanks to random out of nowhere sick.... fantastic... i hate when this happens cause i felt really good and then bam.... so sick i can hardly stand.

but i still wanted to finish this little chibi cause i had gotten 3 of 5 layers coloured before the meds kicked in and for me the longer i leave something sitting the less likely i am to finish.

so yeah i took a decongestant (which has only helped me hear a little better... really hope i don't need to go to the doctor for this.... i hope it goes away as fast as it hit me) and sat down and finished the other two layers.

this was the final of the 9 chibi set i set

and i felt bad cause she's one of my earliest/favorite character but i never draw her... hell her outfit design may or may not be the one i go with... i still haven't decided. as you will see in a second the outfit she has in the sketch and the one i inked are different... i'm just too indecisive.

oh and i changed her arms cause... the other way they felt odd.... i mean they still feel odd but they felt more odd...
if that made any sense.

i would say more but my head is kinda in a fog and i should probably go rest... so yeah i'll go do that.
stupid random sick.... i haven't even been around anyone lately how the hell did i catch a cold?
*thinks about it* the driving lesson instructor..... he was coughing.......
....
SON OF A *lets out pitiful cry of rage*

Frequently Asked Art Questions

now let me start off by simply saying a few things.

I have little to no confidence in my art, every single time i post something online i can't stop myself from nitpicking every little mistake or lazy shortcut.
I am not alone in this, almost anyone who does any art form of any kind from drawing to acting to writing to whatever is incredibly self conscious about their art.
so please don't take this as me saying "omg look how gud at art i am so many people askin questions!" cause i'm not.... i'm just addressing a few questions that i seem to be getting a lot... cause i normally give short answers that leaves people feeling like "well thast just what everyone else tells me."

and yeah.... this is going ot be a lot of "shit i've been told a million times before"
with some random "my opinion" stuff thrown in for good measure... cause that's what i do~



so....
Question 1: How did you get better at drawing (enter specific body part here) 

For me people seem to ask about hands the most... i don't know why.... my hands have a myriad of problems like they tend to be a little stiff looking or too small anatomy speaking..... mostly cause in real life my hands are on the small side.... anyways onto the answer. 

Short answer: I went to art school.

Long answer:  I went to art school where most of first year was focused on things like anatomy  and many projects focused on drawing one body part over and over... hell i think we counted and in our first year we did 21 self portraits over 6 different classes... that is a tone of looking at yourself in a mirror. second year was a lot of experimentation with mediums and ideas and third was a lot of trying to find your voice as an artist.... still all three years we did a ton of self portraits, pictures of hands or feet and most importantly life drawing/painting.

If you want to get better as an artist then find a life drawing class around you and go to it as often as you can. you may never be able to do high realism but it'll give you a grounding in anatomy and how the body looks... yes it means drawing people naked, you get over this pretty much instantly... my first day of life drawing was nerve wracking at first, i had never drawn in front of people or on such a large scale and i've never had to stare at someone naked and try to render every contour without it looking like a blob and for me worst of all i had never tried to draw realism.
then they disrobed and after a few poses you more worried about getting something on the page that you can be proud to hand in then the naked person mere feet away.
my realism is still not great, after 3 years of intense arting it's not bad but nothing i'd be willing to sell... however drawing all that realism helped my normal style improve.... i would try for this happy medium between full out anime and the shitty realism i could do. so proportions would be realistic and i actually draw the characters without clothing before draping it on in the end just so i could understand how it would fall.

but i honestly think without life drawing i wouldn't have improved as much in the three years then if i had just stayed at home....
oh and to tack on another answer i have pages and pages and pages and pages of studies in my sketchbook. anytime i'm not feeling creative but i want to draw i either grab nearby stuff and do a stilllife OR i draw hands or feet or eyes or whatever i am not feeling confident with atm. so yeah how you get better at drawing or anything really is to do it over and over and over and over and eventually it'll start looking like what it's supposed to.

I know it's what everyone tells you, just keep drawing it and it'll get better, but honestly it's the only way to improve.

Question 2: Why do you have a ridiculously positive attitude towards art? 

Short answer: not sure, probably because i'm so stubborn and lazy.

Long answer: Those who know me know i try to have a positive attitude about everything no matter how stressful it actually is.

two reasons for that.
When i was younger i got really sick, so sick the doctor thought i had asthma and gave me a puffer.... it ended up being whooping cough which a puffer does nothing for... however the stress of the whooping cough on my body plus the stress of potentially having to repeat a year since i had to miss 10 weeks of school (i ended up not having to but the simple idea of repeating a year didn't sound fun to me) caused me to get a different sickness shortly after getting over whoopign cough.... Shingles.
for those who don't know shingles is like chicken pox on crack, it's the same virus but it's sitting on a nerve and it hurts like hell... pretty much millions of tiny knives stabbing you in the affected area....
Unlike chicken pox you can get it again if you are under high amount of stress.
I NEVER want to go through that again so i am relaxed about everything OR i do things right away so i don't have to get stressed later.

so short version of that story is i'm never stressed towards art cause i don't wanna get sick.

The second thing is in my second year of college i hit a massive wall.
see in first year i vowed never to do a single anime pic for class. I knew how to draw anime i was here to learn a new skill.
Then in second year they were teaching a lot of the same stuff but with different materials.... i wasn't learning much of anything new.
and i hated the shit i was producing, i mean i have no love for anything i made for an assignment but i really disliked the stuff i was making. I questioned why i was in art since i didn't have the skill to be an artist... i even though i would just finish that year and get my piece of paper and bolt.
then it hit me... my stubbornness came and saved the day.... i simply took a deep breath and looked at myself in the mirror and said. "You know what Kathleen? Fuck em."
probably the most liberating moment of myself "how about this, you follow the assignment.... but do it your way.... you can't possibly fail (the way our school works is you pretty much know the exact moment you can't go below 60) so if they don't like it then they can fail you.... but at least you will like what you are creating"
and then i started getting the best grades i had gotten all year (not that anyone in the real world gives a shit about grades.)
not only that i decided to return for the third and final year of that program and that year was a blast... i learned so much about myself and how far i could be pushed by myself and others and how one teachers validation means nothing if you aren't proud of what you have accomplished.

so essentially i'm so happy and relaxed with art casue i don't want to make myself sick over it and i plan to make the best art i can and if people don't like it then i'll just have to do better next time but it's nothing to get upset by.

Question 3: how can you paint/draw/sculpt so large? i could never do that...

Short answer: Yes you can you just need to try.

Long answer: YES you CAN you just need to TRY! honestly this is coming from someone who is comfortable doing a full body sketch in a 5x7 sketchbook.... drawing big and drawing small are the same thing... one you just need a lot more room.... you can't say your unable to do something unless you try it. and you should try EVERYTHING you get your hands on.

Question 4: How do you deal with art block?

Short answer: There is no such thing as artblock.

Long answer: There is no such thing as artblock.... at least not in the way most people think.
When people say there in art block they mention things like nothings turning out right, they just can seem to finish a piece or maybe they can't think of what it is they want to draw.
This means one of two things.
you are in  bit of a creative slump and it's hard coming up with 'new' ideas all the time
and/or
you are currently find yourself lacking in skills which is either making your art not turn out as good as your hoping or its stoppinf you from being able finish a piece.
the solution to either of these problems is the same
do studies/try something new
"but Kat!" i hear you yell "in your early answer you mentioned you hit a wall in your second year of school"
and i did, but i was still able to make art.... i just hated all of it.... art block implies that you are physically unable to draw... that some mental block is stopping you from putting pencil to paper. it's not, if someone told you to do a page of circles you would be physically about to... you just may not be able to create something that could be a show stoppedi n this state of mind... but you are perfectly capable of drawing.
this is why doing studies is important.
for one it can be boring as hell, liek i said i have drawn many pages of hands... it's boring... tedious and i would rather be drawing anything else... now that i'm thinking "anything other then this" my mind might start going to more creative places and if i need to draw a hand in the future it'll at least be better then what i was producing before.
doing studies gets you out of the mindset of "i just can't draw right now" and into the mindset of "how can i improve my art today in the hopes of being able to draw tomorrow. "

i know some people say the best way to fight artblock (or as i call them Slumps/lack of confidence) is to sketch every day no matter what.... they are right but that mentality is wrong for someone like me who is stubborn and doesn't like being told what to do.
So i think of it as I will try to work on something art related every day.... if for some reason i can't manage it thats fine but i have to at least try.  it may sound the same but my brain can't deal with the "you have to do this" instead of the "you really should do this"

and i think those are the most common questions i've been asked recently.... these are mostly personal experience things but honestly theres a reason you keep hearing the same answers to all these questions.

You wanna get better at drawing something? draw it a lot
you want to have a good attitude towards art? stop worrying about what others thing and just do it for yourself.
you want to do bigger art? then go out there and try
how do you deal with art block? remember that artblock isn't real and it's more a lack in confidence so go and draw random stuff and fill your sketchbook full of them.

as a quick aside don't stick to one style.
all styles influence each other... drawing realism will make you anime better... doign minimalism will help you with detail stuff... random drawings may turn into an entire series... you don't know so just try as much as you can.

and NEVER say "well it looks like that cause it's my style" this is not a valid thing to say ever. it may well be your style but if it's stopping you from getting better as an artist then it's just hurting you.
at the same time do not marry yourself to the golden ratio of how things should look, most people don't fall into the 7 head, eyes spaced perfectly apart blah blah blah stuff.... like i said i have small hands but on the other hand large feet for someone my height... but you have to know the proper proportions before you start messing around with them

ah that was a lot to get off my chest... i feel better now....
i better go finish this random chibi and sketch something new to work on tomorrow.

if you read all this.......... do you just enjoy pain or something? i mean i'm super thankful that you read it all but wow... i didn't think anyone could sit through my incoherent babbling about random stuff to do with art. but seriously thank you!