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.

Not Perfect is Good

So, I have to amend my last post....Heroman isn't a Studio Bones original. It's written by Stan Lee. And while that's totally freaking awesome, it kinda takes away from the, "Oh they did a good job being accurately American!" factor. Oh well, I still liked it. Second episode of Star Driver was kinda ridiculous, but I'm gonna keep watching it for now. Also, they had another series that I can't believe I forgot about, Darker Than Black...

...which I didn't get to watch when it was first out for some reason, and then couldn't find when it came time for the second series and the OVA. A teacher (yeah....) gave me DVDs of the whole set a couple months ago so I'm finally getting around to it. Only 2 episodes in so I can't say much about it, but it has the typical depressing Bones feel so I think I'm gonna like it...

I didn't get to draw as much this week as I wanted to, but I felt so good about my Alfred from the other week that I drew Arthur without any reference too.

He looks too young & I still can't do much more than his face, but I've decided on a way to work on this stuff so hopefully there will be progress this fall.

I met some otaku in a bar last night who have cosplay/dance/anime song events at a club near where I live every other month. That was kind of crazy. But also, really great. I'll probably go to the next one at the end of this month.

There was something I was thinking about this week (weekend?) that seemed like it was important for writing about, but now....it's gone...I hate when that happens...Halloween's coming soon and I have no plans. That's nothing new of course, but I wonder if I even want to have any? It seems like every year I think I don't care about it & then it gets to be about a day or so away & I wish I had cared sooner. I wanted to do a Halloween themed page for my school's art club magazine too, but the kids said they haven't been putting it out recently. I can't find the inspiration for exactly what to draw anyway so I guess it's a good thing...

Aha! I knew if I waited around long enough I'd remember what I wanted to say! I talked about Bakuman a while ago...

...it's got an anime now! Watching it reminds me of why I had a hard time liking the manga at first. Waaay too many gender role stereotypes. But now, it's almost entirely focused on manga writing so it's a lot better. I love the way that every time they talk about a certain writing or drawing device they actually start using it in the manga itself. It's definitely a cult manga b/c of that though. I'm impressed that it's so popular, but then again, there are a ton of Japanese kids who dream about drawing manga for a living (and adults, and non-Japanese...) so I guess it's not so surprising. I've found that whenever Mashiro-kun is having drawing issues his answers always help me with my own work. I'm guessing I can't be the only person this works for either. When he realized his drawings were too dark I noticed the over-inking in some of my own. Currently he's working on speed. I've been worried about my own speed for a while now so I was really happy to see it in the manga. First b/c it was reassuring that it's not just an amateur who never went to art school (although, neither did he...) who has this problem & second b/c the conclusion he came to (don't put all the details in the pencil sketch) was the same one I did! It was really cool that he got the idea from his assistant (esp. b/c Shun is sooo adorable!) and I was even more reassured by the fact that Saiko realized he couldn't do it quite so bare-bones as Shiratori-kun, and set about finding his own sketching limits.

Kids, and sometimes teachers, ask me a lot of questions about drawing. Not just, "why do you like to draw?" or, "how long have you been drawing?", but serious ones like, "when you draw where do you start from?" or, "how can I get better at drawing?" At first it was hard for me to answer them since I felt like I didn't have any real expertise in the area, so I just talked around the issues or said I didn't really know. Eventually I started explaining the way I do things, but I still always tell them, "That's what works for me. You should try and find the way that works for you." b/c I like to think that there's no "right" way to do it. I'm sure someone out there would say differently, but I've always been big on doing things my own way. And letting other people do things their own way. It works best if you figure it out yourself after all. Just keep drawing and drawing, even if it looks bad at first, if you don't try....well, you know...

Rather than not doing it so that you'll have regrets, it's better to just do it.

Creeping Limit

It's almost October. Somehow when I wasn't listening the nighttime sound of cicadas has been replaced by crickets. The sun suddenly seems to be down more than it's up. In the space of a week I went from not wanting to open my balcony door due to the heat, to wanting to keep it closed for fear of getting cold. It would seem that fall has come to Shizuoka....damn, and here I was hoping it could be summer forever...

Beth came and went. Three wonderful days of that familiar fighting and not making up b/c we don't need to. It was.....[insert meaningful adjective here].....to think about the ways in which we've both changed in the last year since she went to Australia, 2 years since we saw each other, 3 years since I came to Japan, over 10 years since we graduated high school, nearly 15 years since we met....they all blur together...

In some ways we were becoming (have become?) each other, possibly to the point that we've traded certain parts of our personalities. It's weird to think, "Oh, I used to think that way. I wonder when I stopped and she started? I wonder which way is better?"

I finally went to see the modified Gundam (since it's been in Shiz for nearly 2 months now...I'm such a bad fan...) and didn't really stay as long as I would've liked. There was just something weird about doing it in the place where I live...

Oddly, I feel almost no stress at the start of the new school term. Suddenly my anticipated busy fall schedule seems to have a lot of free days in it. All the things I thought would take a lot out of me back in the spring seem like nothing. Not "nothing" in the way that I'm super confident and just know they'll go well. Nothing...in the way that I barely even think about the fact they're going to happen anymore. It's not as though they've become unimportant, I'm sure I'll still sweat a bit when the time comes, but I've lost the feeling that I constantly need to try hard to make things go well.

It's the first sign of boredom. Beth said she thought she could understand why I wanted to live here after being in Australia, but she also said that after thinking about it she'd still be terrified to move to a non-English speaking country. And then she said that was the difference between us, "Katy needs a challenge." Funny. My mom always put it, "You can't be happy unless you have something to fight against."

huh....

I have some fanarts I need to post, but I'm being...lazy? nah, I'm being sneaky is all, waiting to post three at once for the popularity boost. Yeah, I'll admit it. I was drawing at an incredible rate in the end of August/beginning of Septemember, but then I caught a cold, and Beth came to visit, and....yeah, I got lazy for real. Time to get back on track. It's alright though, fall's good for that kind of thing. It makes me want to decide big things.

Don't be focused on what's at your feet, look above you...

Dumdum Dummy Dumbstruck

Recently I've lost the ability to say no to my students. Really it's a wonder I held out as long as I have (nearly 3 years) without cracking. (I'm weak against kids...) So, long story short, I have something like 93 requests waiting to be drawn. (Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.) Of course, I like drawing so it's not that bad, and random requests help me get better at drawing lots of different characters and styles, but.....I wanna draw Al!!!

Yeah...my Hetalia obsession has kinda gone through the roof....good thing 夏コミ is in just over a month.

Anyway, I was kinda freaking about the 93 requests a few weeks ago, but then I realized that nearly all of the ones with pre-summer break deadlines were finished. Finally starting to see the light at the end of that metaphorical tunnel. Just two more to go and then....Alfred, you are going to be drawn so amazingly hot....

I might do him together with Arthur if I'm feeling ambitious. (Oh, who am I kidding? I'm always ambitious.) I love Artie when he's being all "tsuntsun"...I guess he's my "similar personality" character in this series, but for some reason I'm not dying to draw him. That's a first. Well, second. I've never felt confident that I could draw Asuka well, and never really been too anxious to try, but it's a first for guy characters.

The girls from my old school's art club said they're gonnna try and put out their magazine one more time before break so it's the perfect time for me to draw something really awesome. (I kinda raised the bar over my own head when I was in their May issue...) I'm sure they would appreciate a little Hetalia. Maybe I can even manage a few other characters in chibi form or something...hmmm....

Strangely, I've also developed a fondness for these two this week. Gilbert the insane, and Elizaveta - badass fujoshi living in her own BL manga (really? how could her life get any better?)

I think that pretty much says it all.