Writing introductions is a bit tedious so....just take a look at my first post if you want to know more....

....and if you get curious about the name of this World or my posts, check out the second one.

Countdown to the End: 1 (Only Mercifully)

I thought I had nothing to say & then I realized...wait, no, I actually have nothing to say. I just haven't posted any of my Gilbert sketches and since he's the next character I'm working on...yeah....here they are...

...front view...the shape of his face is all wrong, but I was drawing it in a meeting (which I had decided to NOT do w/these b/c I KNOW it lowers the quality) so I guess it's excusable?

...side or 3/4 view...I was trying to draw him in a hoodie b/c he always seems to wear one in doujinshi, but....yeah, not quite right....

I almost fell down the well again last week...but we had a 4 day weekend for me to get my head straightened out again. That was lucky. All 2 day nightmares should be followed by a mandatory 4 day weekend. It's my new rule. In reality, the yearly torture was not as bad as it has been in the past. I got up extra early (& stayed extra late) both days so I wouldn't be stuck on a tiny train w/a bunch of people I hate, took my DS and some Starbucks along, and somehow the time went by faster than I expected it to. When it started feeling slow I just worked on these to keep my mind off it...

...Gilbert, practically the same as the hoodie pic, but w/out the hoodie...I swear I didn't notice till I got home...

...a bit older looking Arthur, didn't have time to finish him since it was the end of the day, and I don't really like that style of eyes...

...pouty Alfred...I'm trying to make him more innocent looking & Arthur more worldly b/c I don't really like the popular fan perception of Arthur as a girly tsundere who cries over everything. Yes, he does get upset sometimes, but...that somehow leads people to draw him looking really effeminate and make Al all suave and predatory which is totally wrong. Hmm...there's a lot more I want to say about that subject, but....I think I should leave it alone for now. If I get started I'll end up talking about things I don't want to just yet.

So, last for today...I got more fanart!

This great drawing of Marco from One Piece is by animesick, please go give hugs here! I seriously don't know why people give me stuff...I don't think I do anything worth getting presents, but I appreciate them all the same!

I am me no matter what others say. This is the proof of my strength.

The Fearless Child

I should really just put all my posts in the Hetalia category, huh?

...but before I get obsessive again...

...my girls (who also love Hetalia of course!)

...and my Hachi (who made me super happy by requesting this Kakashi fanart.

So, anyway....I got to draw Al again This was a request from a 6th grade girl, who watches (and reads?) Hetalia with her mom. And so I must wish a whole lot of awesome on this, the third pair of mother-daughter fujoshi I've met in Shiz. Well, I say "met" but I haven't met the moms, just heard about them. But let's face it, they're awesome. I ran out of pages in my sketchbook and had a few hours of work left today so I started doodling on the back of some unimportant ones...

...and these are the results (now you see why they're not worthy of fanart posting, people? there's marker all over the back that's showing through!) Neither of these is that great (nor is the posted one, it looks like he has a lazy eye...) but I'm still pretty proud of them. I know I don't talk about it much (b/c it's kinda embarrassing) but most of the stuff I draw usually has one or two references that I'm looking at or combining. I always say it's b/c I'm doing requests and I don't want them to come out crappy, but maybe it's just a crutch. (I'm sure Al wouldn't do it if he was an artist...). I've only ever tried drawing from my head with Kakashi before & was only marginally happy with the results, but this....this is something I can build on.

Sure, there's a lot wrong (particularly the shape of his head I'm now noticing...) but it seems I'm destined to be in love with the idiotic personification of the USA for a while, of course, he's not my number one, Arthur will always be number one b/c he's me, but Al, well, he's the hero after all, you can't help but love him. So I guess I'll be getting a lot more practice at drawing him.

If you're an enemy I have to defeat, I will. That's all.

Heroes Can Save You

My apologies to anyone who reads this blog simply because they're my friend but have no connection to theOtaku whatsoever.....I've gone into obsessive mode and this may bore you quite a bit.

First: here's the final version of this fanart I posted yesterday. It's for the pre-summer issue of my old school's art club magazine, and ranks my 6 favorite characters. Somehow Arthur came out being the hot one while Al is just cute. I guess that solves my, "I can't draw the one who's like me," complex. Not really satisfying when I wanted to make Alfred look sexy, but....oh well, his personality is cute so I guess it just came through in his looks.

Second: I can't stop watching this amv...

Third: Here is what I've learned from Hetalia, I should have paid attention in History class more when I was a kid. But, just like everything else I've ever hated (or loved for that matter) once I'd decided that was it. I was going to hate it forever. I have a vague memory of being interested in the Phonecians in World History when I was in 9th grade. I wanted to research something about them being the first people to have ships. I can't remember what I thought was cool about it at the time, I'm not all that interested in ships or sailing. I skipped out of European History in 10th grade much to my mother's displeasure, but I was much too interested in music and math at that point to care. Turns out it's kinda interesting. Of course I know that Hetalia isn't an exact historical account, but then, depending on who you ask, neither are most history books.

Friends have sometimes questioned why I don't like History since I love stories so much. After all, it's just a big bunch of stories about people who used to be alive, right? And Hetalia has finally managed to get that point across to me. I think it's because the storytelling is romantic. Not cheesy Disney movie romantic or angsty high school vampire novel romantic, but real romanticism. Like the stuff I studied all those years ago in England, Byron and Shelley and Blake, they had a way of making things seem amazing, no matter how they made you feel....kinda like this...

the fall of Prussia

what's in a National bird...

EDIT: After skimming over recent entries I realize I may have been boring people for quite some time now....oops....