it's raining somewhere else

well the somewhere else is here and it's raining. slow day. got nothing accomplished. eventually i figured i'd just draw and listen to music because that's what I do when I'm tired or in a rut creatively. Working on my current stories has been a bit of a drag but I think it's more that I keep falling in and out of them rather than any fault with the books. I think being the key words here- it could be I really do need to spice things up. Long term projects are hard. I've considered starting Deja Vu but I don't think it'll do anything but tighten the noose a little.

Anyhow, today's going to be a nice, slow kind of art day with lots of Chrona monologue and character tidbits. Nice to have all of you along.

Well I lied before we get into the deep stuff we're going to have a warm up. I couldn't think of anything to draw so I tried to imitate the LupisVulpes style. It's a pretty basic doggo and it was a five minute study- hence why I didn't get the proportions right, like the smaller head- and a lot of the charm in LupisVulpes art comes from the colors and details so this is actually really lacking. RIP. Most of you (read: those of you invested in the warriors/doggo animation community on YouTube) know who LupisVulpes is, right? A friend of mine was inspired a lot by her when she was younger and while Lupis has a huge case of same-face syndrome (that she's been working on in her defense) I always really adored her style and some of the ideas behind Audience. I mean, Audience made no goddang sense unless you'd been following her for years, but still. Doggos, man.

For the first character sketch, have an Orcafin (or just Orca, for friends, of which she doesn't have many).

I was trying to find a breed headcanon for her and was going to go with Manx or something but then remembered that a black-and-white snoeshoe is the only thing that would realistically come close to having her markings. Even then she doesn't really have the body type for it (you can't tell because I cut it off at a headshot) and I ended up giving her indulgently wind-blown fur, like the edgy bastard she is. I considered throwing her post-death bowtie in there but restrained myself.

It's hard to do "realistic" Orcafin because her caricature kind of lends itself to being cartoony. I'm sure there's some way I could incorporate the wolfish, smirk-y demeanor without just making her a more generic... carnivore... I guess... hey, I'll get there. 

Similarly, Orcafin as a character demands to be cartoonified because she's one of those characters who without cartoon logic is terrifying and impossible to sympathize with. To go way out on a tangent with a simile- she's kind of like Kirby. You have to be totally okay with how batshit bizarre all the stuff going on in the background is and not focus on them literally eating people. Okay maybe that simile does work.

Honestly it's just hard to work around how dumb her entire concept was from the get-go. She was an Idate reference (Wadanohara- look it up) but her character as a whole contains a special irony- in her time in the DragonClan roleplay, she smote those who broke the rules or made their characters into petty special snowflakes all while being the pettiest, rule-breaking special snowflake there is. She never really got any comeuppance and was adored for most of her lifetime and after that. 

DC was weird as shit man i'm so glad the spoofbook is gone

A little bit more experimental. By that, I mean I mushed a few of the techniques I keep trying with my pieces (silhouettes, hints of color, wording...) and just mushed them all into one picture. I never really made a reference pic for Ivy which I should be getting on with every other reference picture I always swear I'll do but haven't gotten to yet so

yeah

Anyways if anyone listens to the scary jokes (band), that's one of the bands I listen to while writing/drawing Ivy. I do this for all my characters, so most of my kids do have distinct musical identities (some more than others)- feel free to ask about them, I have playlists and everything. Ivy also has a lot of the more trippy Gorillaz songs on her playlist, along with Stepdad and Daughter. Daughter makes up the majority of the Eudica/Gardenkeeper's Daughters sister squad songs. That's either a clever callback to them both being Eudican in ethnicity or just me being lazy, but I can't figure out which.

The lyrics for this song are from catabolic seed (the scary jokes), whose lyrics are also great for Ivy as general overview of her character.

I end up basing a lot of my characters on personal experience or strong emotions, whether they be my own or those of people around me, and I think Ivy is the near-universal feeling amongst teenagers of being up at one in the morning and feeling empty. You know you want someone to talk to, to comfort you, but nothing you hear is really going to make you happy. You say stupid things. You're inconsistent. 

She lives her life there.

'tis an Ashley. I was working with her design a bit, using the "Second Darkest Timeline" pic for reference, but I think I really fucked it over when I colored the hair so you can't see the original linework anymore and it all looks flat instead of airy and frazzled like I wanted it. The nose is also just a tad too wide and all the proportions are off on this one but I don't think it's all that bad, in spite of it.

I wanted to make her less of a self-insert in her design as much as I've been trying to make her less of one in my prose but I don't think I'm quite there yet in either case... getting there, though. Definitely more in the books.

Some quick design details nonetheless:

-That thing slumped in the background is her bag.

-She doesn't replace her jeans nor shoes hence the holes and her aglets are probably blasted to bits by now.

-I like her with pale, kind of watery (hazel-ish, instead of the original brown?) eyes- like she's distracted, but only when she's looking at the camera. They blaze with intensity when she's with her Pokemon and the gold flecks complement the color well.

-The high freckle density is a reference to Rose's speech on the internal sky (where we keep our dead in our hearts). She has so many stars to look out for they spill over onto her skin. 

-No, that line is not a long pencil streak- it's the scar she got from Basil. 

As for the actual quote, it's not from the book but refers to just... a hypothetical conversation about her inability to socialize with humans (which is fortunately no longer a self insert thing, as I've grown more competent thanks to my forced social exposure through crew). For the longest time I couldn't decide if Ashley was an introvert or extrovert because she derives her energy from others- textbook definition of extrovert- but she has a tendency to avoid human interaction when she can, prefers her Pokemon over any people out there, and may or may not have agoraphobia along with the other irrational fears she's accrued over the course of her journey. I still have no clue :/

Seriously, though, no one ever brings up just how psychologically scarring Pokemon journeys would be, especially in Nuzlocke worlds. This is me being generous and taking this world as it is shown- without much crime or other unsavory acts being performed on minors- and still you have isolation, a slew of diseases, climate exposure, and potential exposure to death at a young age. Ashley's had the weight of the world (worlds?) forced upon her and then was shoved into near social isolation when her position in a small-ass town already limited her exposure to others. This kid. 

How is she still alive. 

I don't draw my characters smiling or laughing often unless they're smirking so have a genuinely happy pre-TGD Natrina. Lotus probably said something stupid/hilarious and though Natrina is usually curt towards her she does break down laughing when Lotus scores a real hit. That tail is probably going a mile a minute right now too. 

So I got some great fanart recently and some of my mutuals (people who comment on this book frequently) are working on some new projects and all in all Wattpad is just a very exciting place to be right now. You guys have a way of always making my day better and just know I am so so so so grateful for all of you. I couldn't have a better group of people to share stories with <3

Have Avery fangirling out. The whole excited mom/valley girl thing kind of died out a bit between Double Rainbow and Retold but I want to tool the Mom Friend and also the Very Enthusiastic One back into her personality a bit.

The point being: yes, she totally freaks out like this in canon. Happy Ave. Fluffy Ave.

have a good day. A satur-day, that is. Unless you're not reading this on Saturday.