Birthday Break!

Hi, M³ here! I've got two little things to let you in on.
So the first one is that me and my sister's birthday is coming up! (Yes, we're twins) A couple weeks after that, she heads off to Doane. This will be the first time we've ever truly been separated, and because of this, I want to make her gift extra special. Unfortunately, I only have a week to do it, so I'm going to put all the time that I have towards making her gift. This, on top of our birthday being on a Saturday, means that there won't be a finished piece of art for next Saturday. There will still be a Wildcard Wednesday though, and any other random sketches I've thrown together will be posted the Friday before my birthday.
The last thing is I'm thinking of giving my Wildcard Wednesdays themes. When I can doodle whatever I want, sometimes I'm at a loss as to what I should draw. This carries into the break room at work. And on the worst days there, sometimes I'm so miserable, I can't even draw anything. So to give myself some focus, I'm going to start introducing themes into the mix. I'll keep next week's theme a surprise.
That's all for now! Have a great weekend!

Work Life #2

Work Life #2: Working in retail has got to be one of the most educational, crappiest experiences of my developing adult life. And even when things are going fine, it is far from fun. At the moment I drew this, I was overworked, tired, missing out on my family, and wanting to bawl at my register. This was pretty much art therapy for one of the worst weekends I've ever had.

Inspiration: So for those of you who saw the initial sketch of this in delayed Wildcard Wednesday #10, you know the story behind this. You know what the IVs stand for. I just decided to ink and color this in. Got most of it finished during yesterday's lunch break refuge to Panera's.

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Prismacolor and Sharpie pens, and Faber-Castell watercolor pencils.

Wildcard Wednesday #11

This week, we can expect: Colin Morgan and Admetus. Kind of no other way to put it.
(Also, the stupid scanner failed on me again, so I had to take pictures with the phone. I will try and get down to the bottom of this.)

Colin Morgan: Two years ago, I completed the BBC life cycle (including Doctor Who and Sherlock) with Merlin. I loved it from the first episode. And Colin Morgan is officially one of my favorite actors out there.

I have some kind of dumb modesty complex in which I can be too respectful of people and things. I always wanted to draw people I admired, but because of this always shied away from doing it. But then I found the picture this drawing's based off of on Pinterest and I just had to draw him. And as I've been growing and advancing in my art, my love for people and things is overcoming my timidity.

Between God and the Devil #14: Some loose conceptual sketches for Admetus in two of his multiple forms.

Hawkmoth's Phantom

Hawkmoth's Phantom: They say the Phantom of the Opera is just a legend from the past. But with Hawkmoth's darkening akuma, that legend could well turn into a reality.

Inspiration: This year I was finally able to scratch an item off my bucket list-to see Phantom of the Opera, one of my favorite musicals, live. I'll never forget it-the moment the overture played and the chandelier began to rise, I was afire with chills and every hair stood on end. The whole production was amazing, and I fell even more in love with the musical.

This also coincided with the time I was really starting to get into Miraculous Ladybug. So I made this crossover piece of fanart.

(Another crazy week plus going with my sister to her orientation at Doane University got away from me, so no new art! Just getting some more of the Miraculous Ladybug art I shared for her blog post on here)

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Prismacolor and Sharpie pens, and Faber-Castell watercolor pencils and markers.

Delayed Wildcard Wednesday #10

This week, we can expect: Mulan about to go off with a bunch of virus-fighting twenty-somethings, while I attempt to revive myself at work.
(The scanner is working again, yes!)

Disney #1: As part of making it through my job (and just to draw inspiration), I'm drawing some favorite characters/scenes from my favorite animated movies. One I haven't seen in a while and need to is Mulan. I rediscovered the scene where she decides to go fight in her father's place and, man! I didn't truly understand what was going on in that scene when I was little, but I do now! The first time I saw it again, it was so powerful a moment I was on the verge of tears. And then I couldn't stop watching it over and over. Everything about that scene is perfect.

Virus #1: Got a new project to work on alongside Between God and the Devil! This is based off of a vague, adventurous dream I had. I worked with a team of young fellow twenty-somethings to secretly provide a city dying by a vicious virus vaccines while looking for the cure and evading some government agency that didn't approve of our doings. Pretty dystopian yet fun, and clearly influenced during the days that I wanted to be a virologist. Don't worry, this story will have more meat on it than it did in the dream, and everything will be fleshed out. I'm even merging material from another dream to flesh out a backstory for two of the characters.

Work Life #2*: Oh, the craptacular weekend I had at work last week-got called in early on the busiest Saturday I've ever worked, making my shift TEN hours instead of nine, then the next day feeling miserable while an ungrateful customer grumbled at me like a jerk, and dealing with some really shady people with declining cards. Overworked and missing out on a fun weekend with my family, I lost all dogged determination to keep making it through. I'm doing much better now, partially due to this drawing I did during a break. All the IVs are the things that keep me fueling. From left to right: drawing, YouTube/movies/music/fandoms, Starbucks, the promise of my return to Metro, my future in animation, and lastly my family and friends.

Delayed Wildcard Wednesday

Hi, M³ here! I'm afraid I'm going to have to postpone today's Wildcard Wednesday to tomorrow. Long story short, I was a first responder and spent three hours in the sweltering heat during my shift. The scanner is still not working with me, and while I can think of one or two ways to troubleshoot it, I'm so exhausted that I honestly can't be bothered right now.
Sorry for the delay, hope you enjoy the art coming tomorrow!

Imp Advice

Between God and the Devil-Imp Advice: A common tradition for imps is to live by a piece of advice given to them that they must follow if they wish to have a happy life. Now as Angelica is nearing the end of her training for Superiority, Bucksnip reads her past life to see what wisdom he should impart with her.

Inspiration: As I've been figuring out scenes and how to weave certain characters in and out of the story, I thought up this moment between Angelica and Bucksnip. When my sister was working Shakespeare on the Green last year, actors and crew members would do tarot readings or even "candle" readings for fun. This inspired the imp advice.

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Prismacolor and Sharpie pens, and Faber-Castell watercolor pencils.

Wildcard Wednesday #9

This week, we can expect: which mode of survival to choose for We Happy Few, while the Left 4 Dead 2 survivors scope out some Gothic/Renaissance studies, and Valentyne bargains with Angelica.
(Note: the new scanner is being a dipwad to me, so I had to use my mom's phone. Hopefully the scanner should be behaving in time for Saturday's piece.)

Left 4 Dead 2 #1: Got a hankering for the Left 4 Dead series again. There'll be more drawings of the characters coming soon (including some personal favorites, Zoey and Ellis).

We Happy Few #4: Some pre-planning for the next We Happy Few entry, which focuses on the three modes of survival.

Studies #1: Yesterday, I went with my mom to the Joslyn Art Museum here in Omaha to replenish my artistic soul and get away from work. I did some quick gestural sketches of some Gothic/Renaissance paintings as reference and inspiration for my Between God and the Devil project.

Between God and the Devil #13: I'm working on developing several scenes and secondary characters for Between God and the Devil. One of the scenes I'm still figuring out is the first meeting between Angelica and Valentyne when she's sent in to the demons' side of Blasphemous Behemoth to bargain for stolen souls. When I've fleshed it out, I'll make an animatic.

iMiraculous

iMiraculous: By day, these two are just an ordinary girl and a famous model in school. But by night-well, actually still by day-these two become crime-fighting heroes, defending Paris from the darkening influence of Hawkmoth/Le Papillion.

Inspiration: Growing up, I always loved the iTunes ads with the dancing silhouettes against colored backdrops. It still remains one of the most visually fun and pleasing things I've ever seen. And when I was too lazy to draw Ladybug and Chat Noir in full detail and left them as silhouettes, I knew just how to finish it up.

(Also, this has been a crazy, exhausting week that by the time Saturday came up on me, I had many good ideas but no new finished pieces. And since my sister shared some of my Miraculous Ladybug art on her latest blog post (check it out here: The Night Owl Review), I figured I'd start rolling some of them out while I get some new pieces and even an animatic out in the future.)

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Prismacolor and Sharpie pens, and Faber-Castell watercolor pencils.

Wildcard Wednesday #8

This week, we can expect: GLaDOS gets mad, while Nightcrawler and Storm get it on, all the while I'm lamenting my job and Bucksnip enjoys the company of his pet.

Portal #2: Ah, I love GLaDOS! Sarcastic and funny yet sadistic and psychotic, she is easily one of the greatest villains of all time. (My take on human GLaDOS, by the way)

X-Men #1: I'm a casual fan of comics. I'm also a very casual fan of Marvel. They're not one of the biggest things I nerd out over. But X-Men is one of the things that's perked my interest, and as I've already established, I love Nightcrawler. So I got Amazing X-Men: Quest for Nightcrawler because it looked fun and the art style was good. And by God, it was one of the most exciting things I've ever read/seen from Marvel! I would love to see this story on screen. I might even create some "fanimatics"/pose-to-pose animations from the comic.

(This is based off the drawing in the book by Ed McGuinness)

Work Life #1: I've been working my seasonal job for about two months now (two more to go!). And I've been learning a lot about people and getting through the day. Being a creative soul who's used to experiencing only the nicest of humanity, I've often felt trapped and not unlike a bug being continuously squashed. This month it's really hit me hard, and I'm making my way through workplace depression. There have been times that I've felt so distressed inside that I've been at a loss of what to draw. I've set up a plan for myself to help me feel better though, and it's already beginning to work.

You'll certainly see plenty of these kinds of sketches throughout the coming weeks. But I'll throw in a couple of nice happier ones too. Not every moment at work is misery. And not every customer is a monster come to rip my head off.

Between God and the Devil #12: My family owned an African Gray Timneh named DJ for seven years. Today she had to be put down due to a series of seizures that had been plaguing her for the first few months of this year. So in memory of her, I'm immortalizing her as Bucksnip's pet bird. She is his eyes and wings throughout Blasphemous Behemoth, aiding him in his revenge against Admetus.

We Happy Few-The Third Downer

We Happy Few-The Third Downer: The only Downer who doesn't have a name-yet. Who is she, and how does her story interweave with the other Downers?

Inspiration: Since this entry for Miss Thigh Highs was one of the first entry ideas I got, I just decided to go for it this week. I love the nickname "Twiggy with Hypodermic".

Tools: The Fine Touch graphite pencils, Prismacolor and Sharpie pens, Faber-Castell watercolor pencils, and construction paper.

Delayed Finished Piece

Hi, M³ here! I'm afraid today's finished piece of art is getting postponed to tomorrow. I had work and a concert pop up on me. If I can squeeze in the finished art later today, then I'll do so, but count on it more tomorrow.
In the meantime, I'll add some finishing touches during breaks. I can't wait to show it to you! It's the Miss Thigh Highs themed entry for my We Happy Few journal. Feels like I'm in concept development class all over again.