Sketchbook - Famine and Death

This week I have the other half of the Four Horsemen combo from Hellhoney. This was drawn around the same time as the other two, which was months ago. Luckily I still have some old sketches to keep this column rolling while I draw up another pile of sketches!

Remember how I said I liked drawing curvy girls or downright obese people over super skinny figures? Well, here's a drawing of a skinny villain so it doesn't look like I'm picking on one body type. Famine is riddled with parasites and you can practically see her organs throbbing through her skin, but she still thinks she's hot stuff among this group of bullies-turned-evil-threat.

And finally the inheritor of Death's horse, the Queen Bee of the group. She's very pretty and smart, but got mixed up with the wrong crowd due to teenage insecurities. Due to the crowd she hangs out with, though, she has a low opinion of humanity in general. But unlike the other three, she could probably turn out to be a nice person if she just broke away from the low standards and meanness of her clique and mingled with other people.

Next week I'll try to have some mermaids for you to look at!

State of the Projects - January 2013

Aaah, a New Year, a new start! I pretty much said my intentions regarding this year in the last State of the Projects, so I shouldn't take long here.

In short, I have three planners I'm working from (I received another one for Christmas!): the 2012 Planner, the 2013 Planner, and then Another 2013 Planner which combines the two, making a Bare Minimum for me to complete each day. I probably shouldn't tell what my bare 'minimum' is, since I'll probably get yelled at. If I get the bare minimum done, then I'll go to the 2013 Planner. With that done, I'll go to the 2012 Planner. Every week I'll upload what I have inked to dA (except for things that must be posted elsewhere, like comics and Dark Writers stuff.) At the end of the month, I'll reorder the priorities to reflect which projects are received most favorably. It's time for me to set things right this year!

In the future, I'll green the titles that I'm on track with and red the titles I'm behind on. I don't want to see a lot of red this year on these posts!

Major Projects

1.) Hellhoney - Still working on the comic and hoping it will debut this month. I have some more illustrations planned, too!

2.) Minervellas - Still working on the novel and photocard illustrations.

3.) The Fart Eaters - Another novel I'm working on and there's a few illustrations planned, too. And a short comic!

4.) Power Warp - The comic and illustration sets are still on!

5.) Toilet Spawn - If the guide starts rolling along, maybe it won't sound so flat and uninteresting. And trading cards!

Minor Projects

1.) QT Crawlies - I actually made a dent in this series last year, but there's a comic strip and more illustrations to come!

2.) Mervscorn - Comics and watercolors are planned for this series.

3.) Plush Illustrations - Meet my fluffy friends as they do cute stuff and teach about my pet peeves!

4.) Hobo Story - Inked story pages will be posted to The Dark Writers blog and if it gets a following, I'll color it!

5.) Zodiac - Still working on each sign.

6.) Random/Silly Calendar - I don't have much left to do on this one, so I better get my butt in gear!

7.) Optimizzy - More death-filled hi-jinks this year!

8.) Super Popcorn - If I don't re-scan that comic soon, I'll scream. Also, more comics and illustrations planned!

9.) Birds - 15 birds a month in either watercolor, digital, colored pencil, or pastel. Can I do it?

10.) Pantheon - More illustrations of gods and heroes (including Arthur's Round Table) planned!

11.) Pin-Up Calendars - Still working on a set of guys and a set of girls.

12.) Faeries - I found an old story from junior high and wanted to draw the faeries from it. I think I threw away the original drawings almost eight years ago, so I'll have to redesign them!

13.) Random/Original Art - Mostly to use up other art supplies I have.

14.) Playing Cards - With cameos from various projects.

15.) Tunnels and Elevators - I've got to find the manuscript again, but this is another comic (one-shot) that I want progress on.

16.) Game Levels - I want to create several 2D video game-style "landscapes."

17.) I'm A Bug?! - Still re-doing this book.

18.) Coloring Book - A new project that I hope will turn into something more.

19.) Tutorials - I'm still going on about this?!

Collaborations

0.) The Dark Writers - Lots of ideas for writings and drawings for this. We will survive  (I hope my power stays on so I can make my post on Thursday!)

0.) Collaboration with Meshia - A blend of comics and prose that I also hope will take off this year (by take off, I mean WHOOOSH! lots of people enjoy it!)

0.) Illustrations for Rica - Because I promised them and I've anticipated doing them FOREVER, and by golly I will. Even though I'm doing them for her to use as she likes, it's also fan art because I fell in love with her characters and I want to have fun with them this year!

Fan Art

- Pokemon - Still working on drawing every Pokemon and various illustrations. Of note is a planned series involving evolution stones (my brother's idea, actually. Thanks, bro!)

- Idols - Lots of fan art planned, including a series based on single/album outfits of Morning Musume. Also a crossover gag comic and a small series of Idoling!!! illustrations, since those girls have grown on me, too, with their YouTube channel.

- Other Fan Art - My Sailor Moon series and other little random fan arts will go here.

Sketchbook - I want to fill up most of my sketchbooks this year!

Okay, off to make good on my New Year's Resolutions and To-Do Lists!

State of the Projects - December 2012

December already. I can't even kid myself anymore... not even ten percent of that to-do list is going to be done by the end of this year. I guess if I posted my to-do list, I wouldn't look as much of a failure. There were thousands of drawings and comic pages on it. Any sane person who saw it would have taken me aside and said, "Tori, this is more than a human could do in a year. The daily goals are all unrealistic. Heck, even if you stayed in your room all year long and didn't need food or sleep or the bathroom, you probably wouldn't be able to finish it all. You're just one person."

And it wasn't just drawings or writing projects on that to-do list. I even outlined my entertainment, from what books I'd read to what shows I'd watch to what video games I'd play. I didn't make much of a dent in those lists either.

Now I'm planning on doing it all over again.

Scratch out 2012 and make it 2013. But I already made a 2013 to-do list... so I'll be working from two to-do lists next year. At least my 2013 list isn't as big as my 2012 list! (I sort of learned my lesson...) (And that makes no sense because I'm combining the two...)

Yes, I'm stubborn. But I don't think 2013 will be the year I pass out from exhaustion. Rather, I hope it serves the purpose 2012 was meant to serve: see what sticks. I didn't get enough variety out this year to see what concepts interest people and what concepts aren't worth progressing further. That was why I had the changing priority list (I still never assigned points to each project. There wasn't enough posted stuff to compete. I guess QT Crawlies won?)

So next year! No point in writing the list out this month. All I did this month was work on my NaNo, a collaboration with a friend, and a commission. (And I watched the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and fell in love with Donatello, gaaah, the cuteee...!!) And raked lots of leaves. And had stresses and scares. And played a little bit of Pokemon SoulSilver, which I finally started on my birthday (yay, recently I beat the first gym!)

Next year I'll have the same list, but with one new main project (this year's NaNo-related projects) and at least one new minor project (a fun coloring book concept that came to me while coloring earlier.) I'll also include the collaboration projects, my fan-art, and my sketchbook to the list. They won't have priority numbers since the first is a high priority and the other two are whatever. But it will give me a sense of accomplishment (or failure) if I list them, too.

And like this year, I probably won't be doing a whole lot of coloring (at least not digitally), but I'm going to try to color one well-liked lineart from my dA gallery a week so I won't fall out of practice for when I do get a new computer (and hopefully new Wacom, too!)

Okay, okay, before you leave shaking your head at my lack of accomplishment again... I'm still going to try to finish some things this month. I want to jump easily into 2013, and here's my unfinished business of 2012:

1.) The Dark Writers blog will become active starting this month (active as in... people posting stuff!) Rica's turn is first, mine will be the second week. Please check it out!

2.) Illustrations for Rica! I'll get the first batch to you soon! (I know I said this last month...) That way I can start inking stuff in 2013!

3. Collaboration with Meshia! Hopefully we will get all the details ironed out this month so we can work on the collaboration proper in 2013!

4.) Work more on the NaNo! (Alas, I didn't finish this year. Again. Not even close.)

5.) Clean my room! The stack of sketchbooks and notebooks has become more of a detriment than an aid now.

6.) Finish filling out the details of my super to-do list!

...

That's the main stuff, but I'll have more... see you next year!

State of the Projects - November 2012

Aaaaa, it's already November?!! (Actually, it's the 27th of October, Kuduu's birthday -she's my favorite Morning Musume-, and I'm typing this up in advance since I don't think I'll be online for the first!)

Obviously my goals this month are going to be with NaNo (I was going to use "lie with", but I don't want to jinx myself!) And now I'm at the point where every project is a free-for-all in my mad rush to get as much done as possible before the end of the year!

I wish I could read faster. It's my major distraction...

And I wish my physical writing (with pen/pencil or keyboard) was as fast as my mind. I get on the computer twice (and this time, maybe once) a week and I can't seem to find the time to read, reply, type out, scan, post, and watch everything that I want to. I either have to skim or skimp (something I'm loathe to do) or just add things to my backlog... which stretches back to April in some cases! (And in the case of some shows, last year... there's no hope for them now and I should just drop them, huh?) (And my art is infamously backlogged since prehistoric times, it's so sad!)

I may not get my NaNo all typed out in time to qualify for winning, but I'm going to try very hard to fill up the rest of a large notebook with it handwritten out (I only used one of the five subjects in high school, so there's plenty of paper for 50,000 words if I write very small.) If only I could get my NaNo Prep done...

Major Projects

1.) Hellhoney - Nothing.
2.) Toilet Spawn - Nothing.
3.) Minervellas - Nothing.
4.) Power Warp - Nothing.

Minor Projects

1.) Plush Owls - Nothing.
2.) Random Silly Calendar- Nothing.
3.) QT Crawlies - Nothing.
4.) Zodiac - Nothing.
5.) Random Original Art - Nothing.
6.) Mervscorn - Nothing.
7.) Birds - Nothing.
8.) Super Popcorn - Nothing.
9.) Pantheon - Nothing.
10.) I'm a Bug?! - Nothing.
11.) Optimizzy - Nothing.
12.) Pin-Up Calendars - Nothing.
13.) Tunnels and Elevators - Nothing.
14.) Playing Cards - Nothing.
15.) Hobo Story - Nothing.
16.) Tutorials - Nothing.

Carried over from last month:

Other things that should be worked on this month at high priority:

- That large list of art I want to do for Rica's novel but keep getting side-tracked on because I want it to be perfect. I had one drawn at the beginning of this year and felt bad about it and have been wallowing in shame all this time... forgive me, Rica! Of the main characters, I'm going to start at the bottom (boom! squawk!) to break the ice and work my way up to the main main characters. Then tackle minor characters. I hope this works. I just can't start at the top of the list because that's where I messed up.

- Other gift art I wanted to get done since forever. I'll need to scribble the references down since I likely won't have the computer on while drawing them!

- Boatloads of Pokemon! How about just playing some Pokemon as a reward for doing something. On my birthday, I want to play the SoulSilver I got last Christmas. I haven't opened it yet. I was so excited for it, but I wanted the mood to be perfect when playing it, because the Johto games are my favorite. It's like I'm setting up a date with this game and I don't want anything to go wrong. I want it to laaaast. Of course, playing the game will motivate me to doodle more Pokemon...

- Boatloads of Hello!Project! The videos and gifs and translations I've seen lately make me want to draw the new Morning Musume soooo bad. I love them. ;_; Seriously, the "Wakuteka Take a Chance" dance is really cool and Kudo and Sato are hilarious (not in the music video, but elsewhere.)

- That October NaNo Prep Challenge thingie from writing.com. Still haven't finished this... I have to hurry!

- NaNo itself, as mentioned earlier.

- And last, but not least, the collaboration I'm working on with Meshia! I have so many ideas I need to flesh out.

- Okay, false alarm up there. This is the last, but not least... Dark Writers stuff for our launch (for serious!) in December. 8D

And I have to clean my room...! I have notebooks and sketchbooks all around and on my desk and my room needs dusting and what am I going to do?? D: Give me back January!!

Sketchbook - Plague and War

I wanted some second-tier villains in Hellhoney (a middle ground before the "final boss"), so I decided to make Nicolina's sister and sister's friends into the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Plague. Her germs create zombies.

War. Her acne burns.

The next two won't be so large, but for some reason I like drawing these curves. And for villains, I can exaggerate more. Skinny exaggeration is limited by a skeleton, but with these girls... wow, if I don't exert some self control, they might be several tons by the time I finish the comic.

Sketchbook - Walrus and Puffin

Some more mermaids. I was going to have more humanized plush sketches, but I don't feel like getting out my scanner.

The Walrus. She's really silly and likes to make a lot of noise! I think she turned out cute.

The Puffin. She may look like a spunky-type character, but she's just as ditsy as real puffins.

The bird-maids turn out so weird. Wait till you see the duck.

State of the Projects - October 2012

Nothing new here. Moving on.

Okay, I have high standards for myself and this past seventy-five percent of the year has piled a mountain of frustration on me. And this pencil I've been writing with must not be graphite because it has horrible cleavage and barely shows up but I still wish to use it up because I'm economical like that. Grr.

I did get posts done each week, including a Dark Writers one this month. Accomplishment. I have a lot of plans for my NaNo and a couple pages of notes. Accomplishment. I'm beginning to hate tumblr. Am I doing it right? I've got a plan for getting back on track. I'm stubborn and I'l probably fail again, but we'll see. Sketches. Woo?

I still am trying to finish Toilet Spawn, my Plush art, and the Silly Calendar. I'll have to make it up this month since the last weeks of September didn't work out so well.

But this month's focus is Hellhoney. And for the first half, QT Crawlies and Zodiac. For the second half, uncategorized original art and Mervscorn.

And for other things (like fanart plans), I have a month a week at this point.

I am insane.

Major Projects

1.) Hellhoney - Nothing.
2.) Toilet Spawn - Nothing.
3.) Minervellas - Nothing.
4.) Power Warp - Nothing.

Minor Projects

1.) Plush Owls - Nothing.
2.) Random Silly Calendar- Nothing.
3.) QT Crawlies - Nothing.
4.) Zodiac - Nothing.
5.) Random Original Art - Nothing.
6.) Mervscorn - Nothing.
7.) Birds - Nothing.
8.) Super Popcorn - Nothing.
9.) Pantheon - Nothing.
10.) I'm a Bug?! - Nothing.
11.) Optimizzy - Nothing.
12.) Pin-Up Calendars - Nothing.
13.) Tunnels and Elevators - Nothing.
14.) Playing Cards - Nothing.
15.) Hobo Story - Nothing.
16.) Tutorials - Nothing.

Other things that should be worked on this month at high priority:

- That large list of art I want to do for Rica's novel but keep getting side-tracked on because I want it to be perfect. I had one drawn at the beginning of this year and felt bad about it and have been wallowing in shame all this time... forgive me, Rica!

- Other gift art I wanted to get done since forever.

- Boatloads of Pokemon!

- Boatloads of Hello!Project! (Does anyone care besides me, lol?)

- That October NaNo Prep Challenge thingie from writing.com.