Raven Rawne

So I bought a honest to Celestia art sketchbook, and filled the first page with practice ink sketches and... it felt actually okay? For the longest time I was working on copy paper to cut costs but only now I realize that this approach was stalling me from doing anything, and for months. Practice is all about making a mess with quality stuff you will work with on finished pieces, after all...

So I've finished watching both parts of Netflix "Godzilla", and I daresay, their anime adaptations have a peculiar art style but, I liked this stuff. And "Blame!" that I saw previously too. Funny how I declined any anime for years, simply because it wasn't a western animation. I guess scratching off the whole medium because of petty reasons isn't the way to go after all, eh?

I'm thinking... Perhaps it's time to finally give the pony a rest. I was hoping to watch it till it ends but, there is no end in sight. And I just don't feel so interested in the show proper like I used to. Eh, we'll see, I suppose.

In the late hours of last night, I finished the first playthrough of NieR:Automata. And even though the first ending is easily the most optimistic, it still feels so sad... I'm not sure whether I actually want to keep playing to finish the whole game, since it revolves around and, quite frankly, revels in, tragedy.

Risk of auto destructive behavior: 12,5%, and rising. Standard safety measures are insufficient. Safe mode: offline.

This... cannot continue. Outside help may be necessary.

So after staring at YT videos for hours, I tired to make a gouache painting for the first time. Nothing fancy, just black and white, with the possibility f mixing to get shades of grey. Well, maybe Bob Ross was right and anyone can paint, but I think I shouldn't quit my day job anytime soon... The result is unpublishable and the experience not as pleasing as I hoped. However, black and white gouache will make a fine addition to my inks, on large black areas and to accentuate pure whites. So it's not a total dead end.

Confound this Netflix, it drives me to thought provoking documentaries, good films and now Anime, of all things!?

Art block in progress, please stand by.

I came across a YT channel of an artist that I find really interesting. She works with mediums I really want to work with (ink lineart + ink wash, or watercolor + gouache), once I learn the basics (duh), and her style is rather unique too,

Just something I drew last evening. All in all, I am not satisfied wih how it turned out, obviously, but I guess I finally am coming to the inevitable conclusion that you can't make quality stuff when thinking about costs so much - graphite for texture and shading allows to work on copy paper, and is overall cheaper than ink wash, while the results are... equally cheap.

Hmm, apparently, this is the scene when I realise all my roleplays are dead and I may be interested in having a new one. Makes me wish to dust off my favourite crystal pony OC for that purpose.

Someone tried to steal the grill off the hood of my car. Not just the company sign, the whole thing. They failed though and now my rare Lancia has a slightly bent grill. I just don't even try to guess how low my faith in humanity can be found at this point.

Overwatch Anniversary Event is on! Seems like I will playing that game as much as I can to grab all that seasonal loot, heh.

Just finished binge watching Aggretsuki - a funny Japaneese cartoon miniseries about... life in a corporation, I guess. Seeing the archetypes of people who work in ehese places, and in a crooked mirror too, makes for an entertaining, and also sad-but-true picture.

I can't help but notice that my overall interest in the show has waned considerably as of late. Time will tell if I stay around to see Season 9 or not.

I've decided to close my request shop, in order to focus on drawing whatever I wish rather than keep working only on ponies. Drawing characters may not be my favourite thing, after all. Still, the already agreed on requests will be completed and you may reach out on PM for stuff.

[latest episode spoiler]

Sunburst's mom has one hell of a cool character design. And custom facial animations too!

The game was a bit of a dud, but No Man's Sky sure had some pretty cool views. Not to mention all those pretty crysssssstals. I might reinstall, just to see what changed since launch.

Not being able to draw soething, even though I have rerefence right in front of me is so frustrating. Notto mention it starts to make me question what and why in the first place I even want to draw.

Grrr I hate it how my style works in some poses and then completely doesn't in others. It's almost like I wanted to incorporate features which are contradicting or plain bad looking when added up, rather than shown separately. Like the slightly enlongated muzzle I so admire in other people's art, and the overall sleek and lean figure of m ponies. Both suddenly don't work when I stray from beaten poses and still expressions.

Looking at other people's art, especially some really cool stuff like from Yavkolev-Vad, just to name one artist I really like, has a side effect - the blank sheet of paper starts to look really intimidating, you know. Knowing that my stuff will not turn out "good enough" for my heightened sense of whatever that means...

It appears that my request shop has gained 2 new features, namely ink wash shading and... experimental no-refunds anthro drawings, because they will probably suck at first.

I just love to look at other artists sketches, lineart and black&white finished pieces, rather then colored works. Because that way, I can try to figure out how they made certain things work they way they intended, and learn a thing or two for my own inks. Like, recently, I saw a new and intriguing way to draw pony eyes, and I really, really want to try it out sometime.

Judging from my job interviews from today, I think I'm not really cut to be an employee in a worldwide corporation. I know it's good money there but, the atmosphere is just... not really for me. Thankfully I already have a job so I can afford being picky like that.

Uh huh, I'll need to try and actually schedule some time for drawing, since it gets off my to-do lists the moment I find myself with even a little less free time. To think how good would I be if I made it a priority from the start...