Late Night Posts are the Best

Well, hello there Internet! It's late at night for me, and I want to be in bed, but I felt it was necessary to post something online, since it's been a while. I'm working on a secret project right now, and I can't share it with you lot just yet, but I'll post it on here eventually.
For now, little crow-monsters, be appeased by this concept are for Skeleton Key, a character of mine with a few unusual features. This is a late night post, so it's a rough work. Nothing fancy, but I like the colour scheme, and the clothing, which I've never been able to get right before.
The emblem on her skirt, which may give something away, given her hands, is the symbol for Hades, or Hell.
I've never decided on hair for her before, but the mix of casual and professional that the ponytail offers struck me as the right fit for my fighting girl, who also has a mission that must be completed at all cost.

Here's the introduction, scripted, for the animation I'm doing for her. This is a draft as well:

It is said that somewhere in the Middle Worlds, there lies a clock, and the closer the clock gets to midnight, the closer the world comes to being plunged into chaos. I suppose, by way of introduction, I could say I am defined by when the clock struck twelve. 

That's all for now, see you soon with Sketchbook posts!

Signing off, 

Dancing with the Devil

Well hello there internet! ((Hello Skittles!)) I'm back with an UPDATE, how amazing. Not really, but I do my best to convey some enthusiasm here, don't I?Welcome to a new section based on poetry, shorts, stories and things like that called ART IN WORDS- I have a short piece for you, based on the experience's of someone I know who at the moment is trying to cope with a lot of stress. It's entitled 'Vertigo'
Enjoy, or, well, appreciate? I don't know.

***

She stands in the rain, dark hair plastered against her pale skin, but beyond that, she is completely and utterly forgettable.  She’s a creature of the corner of your eye, the jump-scare lurker that misses your gaze the first time around. However, whilst she has your attention, she commands your fear like a master of the mind. She is wholly without remorse, or pity.
She’ll call out your inner most fear and whisper it so closely in your ear that it sounds like your own mind is telling you how you’ll fail, fall and inevitably die alone and so awfully empty that it will be like a release.
Try as you might to ignore her, the winter days are short, and the darkness comes so fast that she sweeps in with it, a wraith of your most troubled mindset, the being of a thousand horrified what ifs. She is all that you’ll never admit to, embodied in this twisted sick girl who waits for your guard to go down, for the lights to dim, and then strikes with her whispers.
The worst part is when you start to believe her. When you think she may be right, and I swear she gets louder for it. When you think- am I crazy? And she answers ‘of course’. When you fret and toss and turn in the darkness, and she just laughs.
Insanity laughs and the devil gets angry. Karma kicks you in the teeth- everything that can fail will, because hey, this is you, and she’s laughing at you, not with you- because this girl is a sick, sick, sick embodiment of your worst side, your darkness, your insane and depraved maybes.
She’s the spinning, the falling out of your skull, the long pauses where so much happens, the lapses, the tight headaches and the buzzing and the oh-god-please-don’t-be-s.
She’s Vertigo.

***

And that's my depressing little segment for the day. I've got lots of posts in the wings, since I got all my GCSE Art stuff back and can start some regular posting of sketchbook pages and the like, so, yay!

Signing off with all my usual cheer!

Big Bad WolfBat?

Okay, so I'm a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Also, I love Legend of Korra, its sequel series. Enough that I spent my half term on MS Paint making my own little OC, set after the Earth Avatar that follows Korra. She's a firebender, because who wouldn't want to be able to shoot fire out of their hands and feet and mouth and stuff.
And fly, because I've seen firebenders fly.
However, she's not a goody-two-shoes, because (ha-ha!) she's a member of the Agni-Kai gang, and a descendant of Lighting Bolt Zolt, with a mean habit of setting herself on fire. Enough that she's earned the name 'Ni' which means Salamander.
The huge wolfy steed is Tahno, the wolfbat, named after the waterbender from the Whitefall Wolfbats with the epic hairbending abilities. Because, secretly, I wish Tahno were in season 2 (I haven't noticed him yet, shame) since he and his strange pronunciation of avatar - uhvatar?- was simply brilliant.
Such sass!
So that's what I've been up to for the past couple of months. Since September, or something.
School started up, and AS Levels are tough cookies, dang it.
On the bright side, I'll get my GCSE artwork back soon, so expect a post on that in the near future!

A Chibi A Day...{Part Six}

Yay! Long awaited, and probably not as good as all this time means it should be, here is my final Seeker Within Chibi! *fireworks, party poppers etc* No amulet for this one, simply because I don't know what any of her amulets look like, despite having created them myself. Because, if you remember, this is the first ORIGINAL character, not just gender-bended!
Without giving too much away, her name is Kala M Ravenwood, and her chibi is a cat. Just like Ravenclaw's image is an eagle. Makes no sense, but yep, she is definitely catty. Expect to see her joining in before the send of the season one chapters, and featuring heavily in a plot revamp for season two!
Really, since she's original, that's all I can say without giving the game away, I'm afraid.
Sorry for the delay. I've been doing this thing called the Challenge, where you help your community and basically do a mini DoE.
We're running a campaign called PASSITON in Burnley at the moment, to raise cultural awareness. Try following on Twitter @PASSITON483. I think we even have a Facebook page too!
Back to school this week, too, sixth form now oooh get me! Can you tell I'm pleased with myself? No, well maybe you're deaf then, because my horn will not stop blowing.
And that sounded wrong, so I am going to bed.

Signing off!

A Chibi A Day...{Part Three- Reloaded!}

So, you're probably wondering what Part 3 of my little Chibi Saga is doing up here instead of the long, long, LONG awaited Part 6. Allow me to shed some light on the situation. Recent comments about the Den chibi have been less than positive. His style apparently does not match that of the other chibis- a point I have to concede, having never draw a rat before, it was hard- and the lack of defining features as a Den rat rather than just A rat were picked up on.
This is my whole-hearted, and late night, attempt to remedy that.

There are a few differences between this Den and the original.
Firstly, the eyes in this Den-rat have been adjusted to better resemble the other chibis, with white spaces, a black pupil and varied shades that were missing in the original.
Secondly, the shades of his fur have been adjusted, and darkened, whilst shadows have been added to the fur spikes.
Thirdly, Den's Blood Spiral Mark- which is quite pivotal in the story of Huntik Season 2- has been added, partially, to Den-rat's back.
Fourthly, and finally, an amulet has been tucked under Den-rat's arm. Simply because I am in love with the amulet designs in Huntik. This particular addition is Cursed Archer, who has such a lovely simple amulet, in comparison to say, Caliban and Sabriel.

And that's it, really. Sorry to disappoint any who were looking for the last Chibi of the series, which is still in development. OCs are hard- there's nothing to base your work on, and I have to design an amulet for the chibi to have with it. That's hard work, ladies and gentlemen, believe me.

Signing off 

An Avian Interlude

Ok, so whilst I gather the courage to brave the waters of A Chibi A Day again, here's a little photography to tide you little monsters over for a while.
These were all taken at Hardwick Park, with the help of a group called Going Digital, which take you out there, arrange the birds, and basically guide you through taking some kickass photos.
I'd recently received a new camera, a Canon EOS 500D, and I was nervous, since this was my first time shooting with an SLR, rather than a compact. The differences are amazing.
SLRs beat compacts hands down. No competition.
So, in no specific order, I have a photo for each of the birds we had with us at Hardwick.

Tawny Owl aka Mr Big Eyes

A Barn Owl Close Up

A Harris Hawk, with a 'Whiplash' to its tie. 

A Kestrel with a blacked out background.

A (molting) Buzzard, with wings swept down. 

So, let me know what you think? Are they in focus, are they in shot, are the backgrounds too distracting?

As always, leave a comment, and I'll be sure to read it!

Signing off

A Chibi A Day...{Part Five}

Alrighty! It's finally done! I know it is LONG overdue, but hopefully it will be worth it.
Kitsuni-chan seems to be in hiding at the moment, so let's see if this can't coax her back onto the internet, shall we?
 It was hard work, I am telling you, most due to design changes, and puzzles over scales. I've never done scales before- fur is often hard enough for me to try and capture, and I wasn't sure if I should draw individual scales or just leave it smooth.
At first this was going to be a dragon that was more oriental design, and then it was going to be anthropomorphic (which looked creepy *shudder*) and then it was going to be what I know as 'African Wyvren' which only has two legs, and the arms become the wings, rather like a bat.
Finally, I settled on this dragon style, but four legs and separate wings.
A cute addition is the little amulet- no points for guessing, yes it is a Sabriel. And his expression is adorable. What can I say.
If you haven't already guessed, this day/week/month's chibi is William Casterwill, the aloof noble with family history! He's one of the three original characters in the Seeker Within- well, if gender-bending counts as original, but nevermind- the others being Loki and my next Chibi (who is ORIGINAL original!)
And that's all for now. But I will start on the next one soon, promise promise promise, okay?

Signing off

Apologies, Reasons and Updates...

So, the inevitable has happened- my concentration lapsed and my chibi project lost steam in a big way. Sorry! But not to worry, I have started up again. The chibi in question was a hard one to begin with, having gone through several design changes that will be explained in deeper depths in its post, and then I went through a couple of issues with my computer and saving. The tall and short of it is I had to redo several sections of shading I'd already completed and for a while it was put on hiatus due to a rager's quit.
Yeah, sorry about that
Then, also running along side this miniature explosion of frustration I had the last of my exams, the presentation of my GCSE work- which will feature after I get my results in August, in case there are rules again internet sharing of GCSE work before then, or something stupid.
Straight off the bat from my presentation I headed off to London to see a show, and then on again to Portsmouth to see the Mary Rose and the Victory ( "Kiss me, Hardy" ) after a visit to the RAF Museum in Hendon, since my dad used to live at the RAF base that is now sadly closed. All very fun, but since my laptop isnt really portable at the moment, it meant the hiatus was extended.
Then as soon as I got back from London it was off to Athens of all places. Very exciting, as you can imagine, but since I finish school early due to exams it's the perfect time to go on holiday- before the prices rise for the school summer holidays. Athens is an amazing place, I recommend it for everyone- just look out for pickpockets, which are famous for zipping by on mopeds and stealing bags, which luckily didn't happen to me, and for Anarchist rallies.
We happened to be sat eating lunch in a square when one took place. Eep is an understatement- they started chasing this one guy, and beating him with chairs in the cafe next to us. And then throwing the chairs. So yeah, we left early.
The strangest thing for me was the lack of police there. A huge gathering of people like that in, say, London, would have supervision from the police in case something like that happened.
It was more or that reason that the crowd's aggression that we left.
Still, exciting stuff, right?

Anyway, there are my excuses for not posting the next chibi, but rest assured it is now on the top of my list, and I will get to it!

Signing off

A Chibi A Day...{Part Four}

Firstly, apologies that this chibi is late, but when you see it, I think you will see why. I got back from visiting family on Monday and have been working steadfast since Tuesday to complete this one.
I fear the other two chibis will take just as long, since the complexity has increased since Loki and Zhalia, and Den. I mean, take this one, for example- each section had four shades- that's light, medium, dark and shadow- whereas on Loki there were only two for each section- colour and shadow.
You see how that adds up, right? Since this chibi had seven sections-eyes, head, mane, tail, bangles, tawny and pale-not including the whole other colour scheme for the Caliban amulet dangling from the tail bangles!
So, yes, alot of work, but also, extremely gratifying to see it completed.
And so, without further ado, here is your chibi for the day- Dante Vale.
In the Seeker Within, Dante is often compared to a lion, just like Loki is to a fox, and Zhalia to a wolf. So here he is, in lion form. Another hard eye colour one. He is golden eyed, but in actual fact his eyes are brown with a spot of gold that gives the impression of golden eyes. I had to change that around for the effect to work on large lion eyes.

And that's it, so, signing off (sorry again it was late)

A Chibi A Day...{Part Three}

And so the saga continues! I have to say, I am surprising myself with my dedication here. Sat at my computer with my little chibis, wondering if I'll ever make my self-imposed deadline. It's a labor of love, I'm telling you.
So, today's chibi is Den Fears, a character of The Seeker Within who hasn't actually appeared in the fiction yet- he's a Season Two character, after all, and the story has yet to reach the conclusion of the second season.
Still, for reasons that will become apparent in time, Den is a rat.
He was actually quite a challenge. I wasn't sure what to do with him- his colour scheme is entirely brown, thanks to brown hair and brown eye, and yet it worked well on the chosen animal.
Sadly my run of chibis might come to a halt for a few days, as, like i previously explained, I'm going to my sisters, and can't take my laptop with me, because of the screen linked up to the TV like it is.
Excuses, excuses, I am aware I promised you six chibis, and six you will have!

Signing off

 

A Chibi A Day...{Part Two}

Yay for me! This plan is going well so far- and by that I mean I have actually stuck to it! Only four more chibis left, hmm? Let's hope my willpower lasts that long, and my attention span along with it.
Anyway, now that all my self congratulating is over and done with we can get down to the chibi itself. Today's chibi is Zhalia Moon, the blue haired loner of the Huntik group- thus a wolf, yes? Her eyes were actually quite difficult to pin down in the series, because she always has her hair flopping about everywhere, and then they will randomly change colour from amber to brown and back again. Grrr. Hey, Huntik- why you no have consistency? Still, here it is, enjoy.
And that's it, really- On to the next Chibi! Who will it be? Will, Dante...or someone else?
Signing off!

 

A Chibi A Day...{Part One}

Hello Internet, and my apologies for my prolonged absence from my blog! I have excuses, and they are many, ranging from exams to procrastination. I'm a very good procrastinator. Brilliant at it, in fact. Look, for instance now, by telling you how great I am at procrastining, I have procrastinated from the main point of this post!
Basically, I get bored easily, and so it takes interesting work to keep my on a project like the blog. It's why I've been away for so long. With no requests flooding in from all you people, I've had nothing to do, and my imagination has been limited to supply my own creations.
Never fear, though!
I have devised a scheme to keep my blogging- and it's called A Chibi A Day.
Now, dependent on difficulty, this is pretty simple. I will attempt to post a chibi a day, in a series of six, for a new project 'The Seeker Within'. I realize now due to computer issues (to put it short, my screen is cracked and I am currently hooked up to my TV to use my laptop) that if I am not at home- and I plan to go see my sisters this weekend- my Chibi schedule may be put on hold until I return.
In the past I have never been brilliant at keeping to schedules, but I will Endeavor (Morse) to succeed!
Finally, onto the main reason for this post, the chibi itself- this is Loki, the protagonist for The Seeker Within, and, to avoid spoilers, that's all I will say.

Signing off- until tomorrow?

In the Meantime...

Well, as much as I love filling out requests and do art for the sake of art, I also have certain requirements to fulfill  thanks to my art GCSE. More specifically, I'm going to post a few of my media studies up here. The topic I'm exploring is 'Art and Words', and the sub category I've chosen is 'Lyrics'.

Keep Holding On- Avril Lavigne. 

It was a simple choice for me. I've always felt such resonance with some phrases in songs, that I just HAD to express it in art- share it with people who would appreciate. Believe me, trying to explain it to some people who hate music is like bashing my head against a brick wall. You guys understand though, right?
SO- all these studies I'm going to post are based on songs, or specific lyrics! Yay for my extra insight of synesthesia! Makes this project so much easier. I'd love to share my actual finished piece with you guys, but I don't think I'm allowed, since it hasn't been marked yet- but media studies should be fine.

Eye of the Tiger- Survivor

The first two are just relevant sketches. The tiger was a pain in the butt to try and draw, so I kinda gave up on it's front chest. You may be starting to realise that laziness is a common trait with me.
Still looks good though, and my dad always used to say 'Better is the Enemy of Good'.
In other words: It's not broke. Don't fix it.

Set Fire to the Rain- Adele

Now, the Adele one take a bit more insight. It's a perception thread, or 'song string'. The center is the start of the song, and the tip is the end. I coiled it, because the contrast between blue and red is more visible then, but often I just leave them as a linear thread.
Later I may go into more depth about links between colours and instruments, but for now, just understand that the reds are the chorus, and the blues are the verses. I wasn't allowed to listen to the song when I was making this thread- it was in a lesson- so its not as accurate a depiction as it usually would be, but it's close enough that I don't mind sharing it.

The Coldplay is another interesting one. It's netting with beads, shells and threads interwoven into it. You can't tell from the photo, because it's not a very good one, but there's a whole weave of stuff in there.

Charlie Brown- Coldplay

And each thing represents a certain aspect of the song- for instance the yellow thread is the voice of Chris Martin. The red is from the incredible guitar riff, naturally (well, let me put it this way, guitars are red to me, so the fact that the red's in there is no mistake) along with shells for the xylophone, and a few others.

In the end though, they all hopefully combine to show my understanding of lyrics and songs, without being strange enough that no one gets it. I don't know. I'll have to wait and see what mark I get for my sketchbook skills- the one thing I'm trying to improve!

Signing off!

To Begin With, Let Me Apologise...

This is NOT the best drawn anime person in the world, but for some reason I only draw late at night, when things go terribly wrong with my art! Anyway, it doesn't matter, because this is just a concept art for 'MYRLEN' which is (hopefully) the bright start to a wonderful project that will not go horribly wrong and make me want to just tear everything up!!! ^_^
All in all, for a rough work, it's not that bad, but the shoulders are too rounded, the hair isn't well done, and the neck...something is wrong. I LOVE the eyes- got some inspiration online for them, because my usual anime eyes just didnt seem to work with the face. Surprisingly, I also like the nose. Just looks nice. Don't ask me why, I dont know.
I don't quite know the full story behind this, but she's aparently some kind of elf...it's athurian legend based, whatever it is, so expect medieval junk from here on in with this project!
SO...enjoy, rate, review, comment, request, anything you want!

Signing off!

Foxy Lady

Alrighty then! For my first request- not including the extensive one she posted on my projects page- Kitsune-chan asked me to make her a Kitsune chibi, since she was so impressed with Kirin-cchi on the logo! Since this was a quicky, and not really an extensive labour of love (not that finding the right colour scheme for a fox isnt hard enough as it is) I've not done a documentary for this one, and will simply post it as it is! So ta da!

Kitsune is being cute, as per- when she isn't being a whip-lashing slave driver about the manga, and yes, it's late, so I was too lazy to have her eyes open. Still, it's I think the tail is a little too thin as well, but as I said, I'm lazy about quick ones, and Kitsune will forgive me for being tired at a late hour! kawaii, so enjoy Kitsune, wherever you are!
Let me know what you think, or request your own chibi in the comments section below!

 Signing off!