Industrious Illustrating #25 – A Year of Progress

Robin Leave a comment

This month I’ve been working a lot on “Flamechaser” behind the scenes as the team develops the 0.6 demo build that we hope to post on Itch (https://jarojakd.itch.io/flamechaser) early this year. It’s been nearly a year since I joined the team, and as a result of foraying into game art and mecha design for the project, I’ve developed a lot of new techniques and built upon old ones.

I drew the new illustration of the Penguin and the Phoenix Heart clashing in hand-to-hand combat this year on the 11th, while I drew the old illustration of the 3rd of February last year. When I put these two images side by side, I’m pretty satisfied with how much progress I’ve made over the past year! I’m motivated to keep working on my art to see what new heights I can reach artistically in the future.

If you’re an artist, I encourage you to try redrawing an old piece of art that’s a year old or older and compare them side by side to see all the places where you’ve improved and where you can still continue to improve. I promise it’s a good exercise and also motivational!

Unhinged Auntie Hima

Micey Leave a comment

This is Brinnslow’s Auntie Hima. I may have talked about Brinnslow in the past, all you need to know is that Brinnslow was separated from her family when she was young, and has body horror-themed powers. Hima has similar powers that she uses for destruction and revenge. I wanted to give Hima a plain red coat similar to Brinnslow’s, but I realized she’d contrast Brinnslow better with more classy and stylish clothing. With spikes, of course. I would give her aviators but I don’t like drawing sunglasses. It was cool drawing someone who is older. I think I made Hima to be in her 40s?

The Kingdom of Tokavsk, Session 10: Potential Conflict of Interest

Alias Leave a comment

Tokavsk does accept foreign emissaries in its court, and indeed almost every day of the year one can find an ambassador roaming within the castle’s walls.  There is little to distinguish Tokavsk from other nations in how it receives representatives from abroad.  Visiting parties are given appropriate accommodations regardless of foreign relations, though it is rumored the nicest rooms are often saved for the King’s enemies.  An interpreter either brought by the emissary or supplied by the Court facilitates communication.  Foreigners are introduced to Tokavskan customs and treated with cold respect.  Tokavsk, at least under the current King, is not inclined to war.

This is why whispers of the missing ambassador are so fascinating.  There is no evidence to suggest King Stergye Tallat would resort to subterfuge, nor is there documentation implying such corruption among his courtiers.  At the time of this anthology’s compilation, there is no definitive proof of the ambassador’s disappearance beyond the two documents included previously.  We have little reason to believe this matter needs to be analyzed further, as it does not concern the subject of this anthology.  Rather, these documents have been included to be juxtaposed with Tokavskan legends to provide a detailed report on Tokavskan history and culture.

However, if more evidence is to come upon our desks, we are wont to include it in this anthology.  Such a scandal would provide a picture of the culture in the modern Tokavskan court.  While we surmise more information will be made known to us as we compile this report, we are uncertain how it will impact our project at this time.

Sagas Among the Arcana: Four of Swords Flash Fiction

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The four of swords is drawn — recuperation 

 

Every night passes and there is still the man on the bench. His jeans are worn not yet torn. His face is always covered by a fedora hat. No one knows from where he came, just that one night he appeared there on the bench, and when comes daylight, he is gone. 

Once someone tried to give him money, but he simply tilted up his fedora and propped up a knee. “No thank you, sir. I’m just resting here you see.” After that, no one tried to approach him again. They simply mill about their evenings, occasionally glancing at that notorious lump on the bench.

During daytime, when he’s not there. They get anxious. They wonder where he is, where has gone that fedora of his? They spend sunlight hours lost in their curiosities about him, then when he reappears by nightfall, so too do their worries fall. They spend the late nights in peace, happy that the man on the bench still comes there for his nights to spend. 

Finally, again, someone decides to address him. “Why are you on this bench?” asks the girl. Once again, the man tilts his fedora hat. “Why simply whiling away my time at ease and at rest.” Then he points to another bench just further down. “Hey, why don’t you try?” And so she does. 

By the next night, there are two benches occupied. At first, the second resident is nervous. Everyone is looking at me! She thinks as people pretend not to stare. But soon the humming of car engines passing by and taps of heels on the sidewalk nearby all join together to lull her body to relax. Oh . . . this bench isn’t quite so bad . . . 

By dawn, she awakes. Never once through the night did she think of her household up the lake and how they aggravated her with much debate. She observed the fedora man rising as well, so she thanks him with a yell.

He tips his hat and wanders back . . . to wherever he comes from.

She wonders if he too has a home with noisy conundrums. 

end

The Jukebox: Townie

thimai 1 Comment

Lyrics from “Townie” by Mitski. I interpreted these lines as someone fighting to make their own path in life, despite it going against who they should be. The song itself is loud and audibly busy, so I tried to visualize that my filling up the canvas with big shapes and bold text. It’s a little messy so the lyrics are as follows: I’m holding my breath with a baseball bat / but I don’t know what I’m waiting for / I am not gonna be what my daddy wants me to be. 

Letters by Lydia: Karin Brushmarker Pro

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Happy Wednesday everyone! Today we’re taking a look at what are probably my favorite pens of all time: the Karin Brushmarker Pro.

These are notorious in the handlettering community for being some of the best brush pens out there.  Unfortunately, they have the price to match, but we’ll get into that later.

Karin is a Polish company that, as far as I know, literally only makes brushpens.  They have three different types, the decobrush, decobrush metallic, and the brushmarker pro.  The two types of decobrush are opaque and good for dark surfaces, and the brushmarker pro is their version of your standard brush pen, which what I have.  They’re super juicy, pigmented, and high quality.  The tips are made of nylon instead of felt or bristles, which makes them extra bouncy and durable.  They can fray a bit, but it takes them a lot longer than felt tip pens.  For example, when you look below at the swatches I included, you can see that some of the pens can get a finer upstroke than others.

They make 72 colors total, but I only have the small set, which comes with 26 colors (swatches above) and a blender pen.  If you don’t know, a blender pen is a colorless pen that is supposed to be used, as you might’ve guessed, for blending different colors together.  However, I don’t love the blender pen with this set, because Karin markers are already super juicy and actually blend really well together using water and a paintbrush, no blender pen needed.  In my opinion, it also just doesn’t work super well.

The only other major con of this pen set is the price, like I mentioned before.  This set of 27 pens is $60, and the set of all 72 colors runs for $153.  In my opinion, the quality is well worth it, but that doesn’t change the fact that buying a set of these is a pretty big purchase.

Overall, this is more of a fangirl post as opposed to a legitimate recommendation, because I know most college students aren’t gonna be able to shell out $60 for a few pens (I got these for Christmas a few years ago).  But if you ever do get the chance to use them, enjoy!