i haven't been up to very much this month, but it seems like August has gone by a bit slower, which is quite good. we're at the tail end of summer, which is good news for me. the weather is lovely when the temperature isn't in the triple-digits everyday.
i drew some neat stuff yesterday, which i'm pretty happy about.
these are based on small thoughts i've had lately, half-ideas that i think i could do some cool stuff with. the one on the left was mostly because i have a lot of different blue pens, and i wanted to try drawing Wyvern using just blue. the idea doesn't really come across yet, i don't think, but i didn't have the idea until i made the doodle. the one on the top right is based on a lyric from if the world doesn't end that i always have stuck in my head. "baring my soul (and my teeth too)" is a string of words that popped into my head the other day, and i thought it was too cool to not do something with. i'm thinking of using these concepts for more complete pieces later, because it could be pretty neat.
i've been meaning to try digital painting for a while now, because i have a lot of ideas that involve it (making concept art for a web series i'm thinking up, making album covers for a fictional band that's been in the back of my mind for a while), so i did a bit of it this month. it's more pictures of Wyvern.
all the stuff on the left was done a little bit ago, and the one on the right was done last night. they're less actual digital painting and more lineless and playing with shading a bit, but it's a step in the right direction, methinks. also, while i was looking for reference pictures for the one on the right, i discovered this website, which might be something of a game changer for me. the pop-ups are kind of annoying, but besides that it seems like a very useful resource.
one last thing; there was a new episode of The Amazing Digital Circus a couple weeks ago, which i enjoyed a lot, so i decided to digitalcircus-ify a couple of my characters. Wyvern was the first one, obviously. she's a very reliable muse.
i'm still figuring out how i want the colors to be and fine-tuning the outfit i want her in (to keep in line with the circus theming, i want to go for something reminiscent of a sad clown), but i've had a lot of fun thinking about the backstory and character details of this version of Wyvern. i'm going with the semi-canon backstory i have for her, which is that she became a popular online personality as a teenager, had a horrible time, and disappeared off the face of the internet on her twentieth birthday. the idea with the design was to make her softer and smoother than regular Wyvern, except for her scary pseudowolf mouth. i imagine that she'd be pretty self-conscious about it, at least at first. she'd have a rough time when she first entered the circus, but after acclimating she'd be one of the least likely to abstract. as long as she has song and dance, she intends to live forever.
the other one i've put in the digital circus is my good old boy Derpy. i first designed him in fourth grade, and i had a big story planned for him that i wrote a decent amount for, but he's kinda fallen by the wayside in recent years. Digital Circus Derpy is quite a bit different from Old Canon Derpy, at least personality-wise. design-wise, not much has changed so far.
my original concept was a character that knows a lot about how video games function, and decides to closely observe the circus and try to guess what's going on under the hood, as they say. not necessarily to find an exit, just out of curiosity. then i made that character forty-two years old and stuck him in an avatar even smaller than Pomni. most of the canon cast are on the younger side, so i thought it might be interesting to think about how someone who's lived much more than them might respond to the whole circus thing. he has a lot more to miss, that's for sure. one thing i decided pretty quick is that he doesn't get along with Jax at all (that's who he's talking to in the rightmost drawing). for the most part he's jovial and friendly, but he has no patience for any mean-spirited nonsense. he's certainly not happy about losing the life he had in the real world, but he gets to study a very intruiging piece of programming from a unique angle, and being a cute little critter isn't the worst of fates. at least, that's what he tells himself.
i also drew 1 (one) Pomni before i got distracted drawing my own characters. she turned out better than i expected.
what i'd like to do is practice drawing the canon cast so i can draw some interactions between them and Wyvern and Derpy. i don't draw fanart very often, so it's a bit of an intimidating task, but it'd be very fun. i also like The Amazing Digital Circus a lot, so i reckon i'm overdue to draw my favorite weird jester woman. also overdue to revamp my ramble page about it. i'll get to it at some point.
