Wildcard Wednesday #15

This week, we can expect: Intense implied drama between Alice and the Hatter, while I rage over bad fan fiction. (These are all more school sketches which are going to be traced for vector homework)

Alice #2: A dramatic moment between Alice and Hatter. After doing several drawings of my designs for the Alice in Wonderland characters, I really want to come up with some sequel story of my own. But I don't want it to be like Tim Burton's version (which, while visually interesting, is very befuddled in narrative). I'll figure something out the more I explore these concepts.

Rage over Bad Fan Fiction: Me going nuts over a badly written fan fiction (with my Wheatley plushie nearby). Ever since I came across bad fan fics like Legolas by Laura or My Immortal, I keep reading/listening to bad fan fic for my own personal amusement. For me, it's a form of schadenfreude. I like seeing how people in their pursuit to express their passion about the fandoms they love inexplicably flounder along the way. Characters we love for certain traits get changed into character molds that fit all the fangirls' desires and needs. Mary Sues, Gary Stus, and damsels in distress (sometimes a hybrid of these) shove everyone else aside. English, grammar, and spelling don't always survive in the process. And sometimes (especially in the case of My Immortal), the worlds and stories we know get completely altered to make way for whatever concoctions the writer has cooked up.

Of course, I'm not saying all fan fics are like this. But all the best bad ones are.

School Art!

Hi, M³ here! I'm almost done with my accelerated class! Once that's over, my schedule will get less busy and I will be able to post art on a more regular basis.
One of the classes I'm taking is Vector, where we're working with Illustrator. It's my first real dive into digital art, and while it's a difficult at times, it's going to expand my skills and enrich my art even more. But interestingly enough, the teacher still has us keep a journal where we draw physical sketches, which makes me happy. And since I've got a bit of a break in homework, I thought I'd share with you two of the best sketches so far. (Please note: I'm drawing these journal entries keeping in mind that I'll put them in Illustrator later for tracing and coloring, so that's why they're blank)

Alice #1: A while back, I drew some original designs for some of the Alice in Wonderland characters from Lewis Carroll's classic (I'll upload the drawing with a new journal entry next week). And it looks like I'm coming back to these characters again. Lots of my journal entries are going to be full of my Alice explorations.

The Baron: The Baron is your wild, mysterious guide through the world of Saltimbanco. His capricious nature belies a passionately creative soul.

Story time! When I was little, my dad was stationed in Vegas. Not a good place for a family, but we basically had Cirque du Soleil (and casinos) as our backyard. I was always intrigued by the shows, and in my later years, I finally got to see what Cirque du Soleil was all about through a variety of shows on DVD/YouTube (Varekai, Kooza, Ka, Saltimbanco, Solstrom). I love so many of the characters, and my favorite is the Baron. Watching him is mesmerizing and, for me at least, sometimes heart-stopping.

Five Weeks of Uncertainty

Hi, M³ here!
Yikes! Today was the first day back to Metro, and I got the bomb dropped on me big time. I didn't realize that one of my classes was an accelerated course, so now I'm looking at five busy weeks. On top of two other classes.
I think you know what this means.
Until these first five weeks are done, I'm not going to be posting as much art. I certainly won't be able to keep up my usual schedule. I will post any art that I squeeze in between now and the end of the five weeks, but until then, it's going to be a little bit slow while I get through this rough bit of the quarter.
So except for bits of art here and there, see you at the other end of this!

Kill the Goddess!-Nadia

Kill the Goddess!-Nadia: Nadia is a member of the Company. At seventeen years old, she is a trained warrior under the Order of Nirvena, goddess of wisdom (now deceased no thanks to Bianca). Her reason for joining this quest is perhaps the saddest of the Company. Her father was smitten with Bianca, making him push aside both his daughter and his wife. When he refused to kill then seven year-old Nadia as proof of his love for Bianca, he was consumed by the Goddess's wrath. In jealousy, Bianca turned Nadia's mother into a weeping doll and left her all alone. Now that Nadia is stronger and older, she's ready to restore her mother from her curse and get revenge.

Inspiration: With Nadia's character, as you shall see in future sketches and panels, I tried going against the grain of typical Mary Sue characters. Rather than make her strong and confident as all heck, she's a very reserved, sad young woman who often forgets that despite her circumstances, she is not in this alone. (Her outfit is loosely based off of light ancient Roman armor)

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

Wildcard Wednesday #14

This week, we can expect: developmental art on my new original project Kill the Goddess! (If you haven't seen the first pieces of teaser art yet, check out last week's art!) I'll put up the same disclaimer I did in last week's post: everything is still in development, so these aren't the finished looks/characters.

KTG! #1: This is a piece of developmental art for the big villain of the story, Bianca. She's goddess of the wilderness, fire, and the moon. I can't say much more about backstory and details, as I am still figuring bits and pieces out (and because spoilers!), but her reason for lashing out against the other gods and on the mortals down below will be known soon.

KTG! #2: This was a thumbnail of a scene featuring two of the Company, a set of elf twins. I can't say much yet, but in this scene, the twins have reached manhood. And as Bianca's oracle declared, they are met by Bianca herself, who comes to claim them for her own.

(I have the elf twins faceless here because I'm still trying to figure out their facial designs)

KTG! #3: Another thumbnail scene featuring another character of the Company, a sprite named Kallista. No thanks to Bianca, Kallista is the last of her kind. Her main motivation for coming on this quest is to free her kind from the curse placed upon them. As will be explained in better detail later, she has gloves that allow her to bypass or destroy nearly any hexes, charms, or spells placed by Bianca or her followers (they will provide many challenges for our heroes along the way).

Side note: I've just finished watching Stranger Things, and I love it! There will be fanart of that coming soon!

Kill the Goddess!-Teaser Art

Kill the Goddess!: This is a new concept that I've added to the list of many original projects I'm developing. This is inspired off of my fascination and irritations with the indie horror game Anna by Dreampainters LTD. Here's just the basics for now: when Bianca, a goddess from the League of Gods over [insert land name here], is treated harshly by the mortals in her attempts to win their worship, she lashes out. She kills the other gods and begins to sweep the land under a terrible curse-a curse to give their undying devotion to her. Before their untimely deaths, the gods managed to banish Bianca to a desolate mountaintop, but the growing faith in her is slowly waking her up from her sleep.
Five brave souls are sent to the mountains to find Bianca and put an end to her reign of terror.
So yeah, that's it! I want to turn this into a miniseries, but I want to test it out as a graphic novel/comic series on this blog soon. Here's not one, not two, but three pieces of teaser art (as always, keep in mind that many characters and designs are still in early development).

Nirvena's Temple: The gods may be dead, but that doesn't mean the mortals don't visit their temples anymore. One of the main characters (unnamed at the moment, but code named "Amazon") visits this temple belonging to the goddess of wisdom, Nirvena, in the hope of finding a way to free her mother, who was cursed by Bianca into becoming a doll that weeps every night.

Bianca's Twin Curse: Bianca craves either devoted followers or the souls to help stir her from her sleep. And as part of her reign of terror, she found a way to claim more of the latter. Any male twins who were born during or after the time she killed the gods shall be claimed by her upon reaching manhood. This will affect two main characters in the story. More details on the Twin Curse will be explained with backstory later.

The Company: These are the five people sent to destroy Bianca before she awakens. They each have their reasons for going on such a dangerous quest. For some, it's revenge. For others, it's to defend the mortals in their greatest time of need. And for one, as established in the first piece, it's for family. These characters and their backstories will be further explored in upcoming sketches and pieces.

Coraline vs. Pitch Black V1.0

Coraline vs. Pitch Black V1.0: Coraline managed to escape the clutches of the Other Mother and brave her twisted world. But when she stumbles upon the portal to Pitch Black's dark world, how will she fare against the man behind all the nightmares of the world?

Inspiration: Coraline is one of my favorite animated heroines of all time. I can't stop thinking about the movie ever since I saw it a couple months back. Whilst daydreaming, I thought, "If Coraline did so well against the Other Mother, how would she do against Pitch Black?" So I drew this little sketch.

It's version 1.0 because I want to do a better drawing of it sometime soon.

(Just realized I forgot to upload the would-be Wildcard Wednesday art with today's post! So I guess there will be a Wildcard Wednesday next week, it just won't be new)

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Prismacolor pens, Tombow grayscale markers, and Faber-Castell markers.