PKMN: Route 104

Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald were an integral part of my childhood and middle school years, and they still mean a lot to me. Ruby was the first Pokemon game that I could really say I owned (I got my first two Pokemon games from my brother, who occasionally wanted them back on short notice). It was the first game that I was old enough to understand the story progression, and I managed to get through almost all of the game on my own. For me there’s a lot of nostalgia tied to those games; the setting, the characters, even the Pokemon themselves. So when Pokemon announced they’d be rolling out upgraded remakes of Ruby and Sapphire, I couldn’t have been more thrilled.

I was thinking about this track while I drew.

Completed 7.6.14

Self Portrait

I figured it was about time for a new self portrait/re-assessment of how I draw myself, because my previous avatar doesn’t even remotely resemble me anymore (not that she ever did or was intended to). The old one is a design that hasn’t really changed much since its inception in high school, and now that I’m a college graduate I decided it was time for something new.

This time, I tried to really draw something that looked like me. I cut my hair before I went to Japan a year ago and I’ve been trying to keep it short ever since. I never used to draw myself with glasses (even though I wore them all through high school) so I tried to capture those down to the exact structure of the frames.

When I designed the old avatar (and indeed, every avatar I’ve ever drawn for myself before this) it wasn’t supposed to be a self-portrait as much as an idealization; that is, I drew myself how I thought I should look, or how I looked in my head. It was a character that could represent “me” rather than a real portrait. Since I’ve changed my physical appearance so much, I couldn’t look at the old avatar and still see myself. So that’s why I drew this I guess

Completed 5.31.14

PKMN: Bon Travail!

Professor Sycamore has been ruining my life for the past 6+ months yet I think this is the first time I’ve drawn a big piece with him

I graduated college last sunday

completed 5.22.14

stock used in background here by Storms-Stock on dA

A Map to the Future

It’s taken me a bit to post this because in the first version I had used a stock image that required written permission for offsite use; I asked for permission but it’s been two weeks without a peep from the stock’s owner. I decided to make a variation that I could put elsewhere, and the original can be viewed here

in the context of the story this picture is impossible in ways that rend my heart but whatever I draw what I want

completed 5.5.14

A Study in Orange

(He’s saying “Hey Lady”. He says that a lot)

For some reason Uta no Prince-sama fanart makes me want to experiment with coloring. This time I tried mimicking the art from the games, and I’m pretty pleased with the result. I actually really like how the gradients in his hair added to the overall feel of the piece, so I might end up using that technique more in the future. who knows

Oddly, this character has much more of a tan in the game art than in the anime adaptation. I wonder why?

Completed 4.22.14

PKMN: It’s been a while

It’s been a while since the last time I drew N, huh…

I had this song on loop while I colored. You know a character has ruined your life when music associated with them makes you cry

Completed 3.4.14

Theseus

(click each for larger view)

I’ve been designing a great number of characters for a long-term personal project. I wanted to show off these two because I’m… particularly fond of them. I designed the man first, then the woman–they’re the same character (an android) who, over the course of the story, is forced to change from one body to another. Theseus begins the story with a male chassis, is destroyed beyond repair, and then restored in a female chassis.

For both characters I took some design elements from extant androids in the Persona universe (in which the story takes place), but tried to expand in new directions where possible. Male Theseus was interesting to design because all of the extant Persona androids are female.

Male Theseus finished 7.15.13

Female Theseus finished 2.26.14

The tarot card on Female Theseus’ sheet comes from the Megami Tensei wiki; it indicates that in the story she will be a part of the “Social Link” system of interact-able characters

Minotauro

Our final assignment for Greek Mythology class was to creatively interpret a myth, so I decided to draw an existing character of mine (from the Persona project). His character in general was inspired by the song “Minotauro” which I am… pretty sure is comparing an office worker in his cubicle to the Minotaur in the labyrinth. My Spanish is rusty. But that’s what I decided to go with for the illustration.

It might also be important to note that in the project he’s a Japanese “salaryman” office worker who feels all the more trapped in his dead-end job thanks to Japanese social mores, specifically those that favor the group over the individual. He wants to move on from the company, but does that make him selfish…?

Completed 12.15.13

PKMN: Xavier

I’ve drawn quite a bit in November but nothing really portfolio-quality

There would be an explanation for this but… there isn’t, really. It was supposed to just be a doodle/outfit design but it evolved rather quickly into something else

Bokeh brushes here by sentient-zombie on dA

Completed 11.29.13

PKMN: Kyurems

(click each for larger view)

After making human versions of Reshiram and Zekrom, I wanted to try my hand at Black and White Kyurem.

Since the two Kyurems are formed by a “fusion” of Reshiram or Zekrom to the normal Kyurem, I wanted to keep elements from the other two designs while bringing in elements from the Kyurems. Zekrom stayed with the knight theme; I’m not sure where Reshiram was headed…

Black Kyurem finished 10.8.13

White Kyurem finished 11.8.13

EDIT 12.15.13 – changed Black Kyurem’s dress slightly