ticktockTokumei

I began the first semester of my Senior year of college just two weeks back or so. Boy, has it been a wild ride!

I wish I had mor time to give you guys a thorough explanation, but for now, I AM ALIVE and ever drawing!

    So "life" is generally good for me right now. I'm taking the sequential art class and am actually LEGITIMATELY working on a graphic novel finally. Two professors are looking over me as I work on it giving me tips and pointing me in the right direction. I'll probably upload progress on it, sketches and such as I get it done. I'm still figuring out how I'm going to write Wanderlust. And I'm sorry it's taken forever.
    
    I keep saying I'm going to do it.......... but if you guys could have known me last year, it'd have been pretty clear why it wasn't getting done. Depression and other psych-y things have gotten in my way. Not to mention a HUGE wall of under confidence after years of professors and art teachers dissing my style simply because it was reflective of Japanese manga. Ironically, a lot of my very favorite artists are not even Japanese, much less manga artists. Japanese artists like Makoto Tsuchibayashi and Yoshitaka Amano have inspired me and several western artists. I love really obscure manga too, but I think I'll show that art another day. Today I want to focus on the non-anime artists who really inspired me (that aren't Michelangelo and Leonardo Da'Vince!) haha.  

Here are a few artists who have inspired me over the years. 


Makoto Tsuchibayashi, a Japanese concept artist. His loose digital paintings inspired a lot of my watercolors. He taught me to color outside of the lines. His art style has blessed franchises like Devil May Cry and Sengoku Basara. You should definitely check him out! 


Yoshitaka Amano is a more recent discovery of mine. But has inspired a lot of my traditional style lately and falls in line with my goals. If you really study his art, a lot of them reflect old Japanese brush paintings. Evidently a lot more detailed, but the figures very much represent that ancient flowing style. He's still teaching me how to better balance pattern and color and honestly my entire compositions. His stuff is wacky and imaginative so I highly recommend you check it out. He used to do concept art for Final Fantasy before it got.... artistically bland (my opinion).  


Martin Deschambault, a concept artist employed often by Ubisoft, does INCREDIBLE digital paintings. I hope someday to achieve that form of elegance with oil paint. His ability to capture life and light and detail through implications and brush strokes is absolutely astonishing. I know him best from the Assassin's Creed franchise. 


Jim Fitzpatrick has inspired me immensely! His depictions of Irish folklore and legendary characters have always captivated me. He's taught me how to imply pattern without worrying about the folds of cloth. He's taught me not to be ashamed of the detail in my artwork. He's shown me to balance my compositions, much like Yoshitaka Amano, in such a way that it does not overwhelm the onlooker. I have his calendar. And I've emailed him a few times. His a very kind man! He also does political posters. You should check out his website sometime. 



And, of course, my favorite professor, Peter Pohle, has masterful talent. I wish I could show you his sketchbook. His skill extends to all parts of the spectrum and his a more than capable teacher. He's the one working with me on the graphic novel this semester. And later I'll be going on a trip with him and his wife and a few other students to Berlin, Germany (his home town). He's still a little uncertain about my graphic novel style, but I think as we work together he'll maybe come to at least tolerate my Eastern influence. 

I hope you guys enjoyed this art and I hope you gain as much inspiration as I have from them. Wish me luck this semester. And if you have anything to chat about with me I'd be more than happy to chat with you.

It's gonna be a good year, I think. 

Sorry I've been gone so long guys! I've been overwhelmed with classes and friends and stuff..... 

Social life sucks, that's for sure. 

So a lot has happened in the months I've been gone. I did a cosplay of Skullkid- hopefully I can get some pics up soon. Happy (late) Halloween by the way! 

My Illustration class has pretty much consumed my free time (including my free drawing time). I'm not sure I even remember the plans I had originally made for Wanderlust and the Past of the Masked Knight novels before school started. So I'm really sorry if I let anyone down. Hopefully, I can get back on track soon. I'm not sure what I'll pick up first, but I know a lot of people are sick of the cliff hanger in the Life of a Star Warrior. I'm very sorry about that. I'll see if over Thanksgiving Break, if I can get a chapter uploaded. 

Wanderlust has been taking some curious twists and turns lately. For the most part, I'll be honest here, the franchise has lost its luster. I don't feel driven to write or draw for it anymore, but I'm trying really hard to recharge myself. Next semester, I'm taking a Sequential Art Course ( Graphic Noveling ) where I'll learn how to professionally craft a right proper GN. To boot, my favorite art professor, Pohle (Who's freaking awesome and German- I wish I could adopt him as my grandpa. He's AMAZING) is teaching the class. After seeing my portfolio, we got to chatting and he told me he used to teach a class on graphic noveling. Then the next class period he announced that he was going to do it again- lol giving me a very particular look that said- you better take this chance and run with it kid. 

Hopefully, this summer will be just as splendid. Pohle has offered a trip to his hometown, Berlin (only the, you know, capital of Germany) and very badly wants me to come so that I can extend my knowledge of graphic noveling beyond Manga. He is still wanting to push me forward, but does not despise my style, which is nice lol. But he also doesn't necessarily adore it's anime influences. However, my art is also rooted elsewhere. For instance, my favorite Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick, has influenced my direction quite a lot. Recently, I was given a high compliment online on Our Art Corner when someone commented that my style reminded me of the artist Yoshitaka Amano, who previously did art for the older Final Fantasy games (such as my all time favorite, Final Fantasy 2 on the SNES. Pretty sure you can still download it for free on the kindle fire). At first I was like, eh.... great. I've been pegged as an anime solo artist. Nope. Yoshitaka was actually very closely similar and I'd like to learn more by studying his art. It's very beautiful. It reminds me of lace. I think it will help me with design and understanding where to put my details without distracting from the important features of  the subject.

I've learned a lot guys. lol I knew I needed to learn more about art, but Professor Pohle is the first I've had who's actually pushed and molded me and given me the hard criticism I needed to hear in a gentle way- then he gives me mini lectures that help me understand fully what he wants of me. I can't wait to show you guys the art I've done in his class. It's not much, but it was a LOT of work. A lot more than I've ever put into my own work. I think I've finally found my master to apprentice myself too. Which is awesome and I'm so thankful to God that I pushed through the last two miserable years to get to this point. 

Also, by the way, Pohle's drawings are the most AMAZING tastiest art sketches you'll ever witness. When he gets his website up and running, I'll send you all a link. I still sometimes have a hard time believing that I get to learn from someone so masterful. He's around his sixties, German, and his favorite fun thing to draw is Steampunk. lol HELL YEAH. If that doesn't tell you how awesome he is, I don't know what would. 

I'm also taking a Printmaking class. lol I'm.... getting there in it. It's kind of more than time consuming. But it's a wonderful new realm of art that I'm really enjoying. 

However... that all to say, my two core classes are kicking my butt. Xc Which is the opposite of fun. I only have a few weeks to get my grades up or its bye bye college. Ugh. The pressure's on. But hey, I'm sure I'd figure something out. I've never failed a class before in my life. All I need from those two are a couple of ripe C's. I'm an art major. I need A's in my major! lol 

Hmm.... anything else to mention? Social life is insane.... as always. I've had a really hard time with friends, especially this year and the last. My depression has been kept under my thumb, thankfully. 

OH YEAH! I'm also creating an 8-bit RPG! Of course, the Wanderlust cast is in it! And OF COURSE, I'll make it available to you guys. It's a small game and my first run using the program. So it's likely to be less than fantastic! But if anything, it'll be a fun experience. ^^ 

Anyways, sometime this week- hopefully- I'll get the chance to post some artwork up here! ;D Love you guys. Miss you all dearly! 

    So, I haven't told anyone here yet why I was gone from dA for so long. It's pretty personal, but I'm all good with sharing some of the basic elements of my situation. 

    I had that kidney stone back in October, which took a week for me to pass, and I still continued to go to classes. But I fell behind and became super stressed out. During Christmas break, I spent my days catching up in my Photography class and got my wisdom teeth out, which took a week to recover from. Upon returning to university I was already stressed out and didn't want to be there. I had to deal with a guy who wanted to marry me (but didn't believe in birth control and wanted me to homeschool the extensive number of children we were going to apparently have- which I wasn't about to do) and my grandmother manipulated my relationship with him, clearly desiring us to marry. I didn't, obviously. Well, my almost boyfriend of last year came back out of no where and was more psychopathic than before, sending me disturbing texts about me painting with my blood and whining how he had a dream that I wouldn't do weed with him, when in reality I wouldn't do weed in real life either. I really care about him, but he really scared me.

    Anyway, more stuff happened. I was in pain from my hand and I was falling behind in school so I got really depressed. I thought I would get out of it on my own like I had in the past. But it got worse. I wasn't going to classes, I didn't want to socialize. My social anxiety skyrocketed, to the point I wouldn't go outside. I was a complete wreck. Two of my professors sent out alerts to the Student Support Center, including a professor I was very close to. They were afraid for my psychological well being and all that. I wasn't drawing. I mostly played Skyrim 10 or more hours a day. I learned a lot about modding, but that aside, I was doing really horribly in being alive. Several of my friends abandoned me at this time, some of them attacked me. My friend Emma stuck with me and took care of me. A few of my friends got this crazy, bizarre idea that she was controlling and manipulating me. So they told me it was either her or them. I chose her. They hadn't done a thing for me since I had gone into my horrible state of depression and had attacked me over stupid misunderstandings. So my friends of two years ditched me and gossiped and hated me. 

    I don't really remember everything that happened, just that I was half alive. I almost dropped out of college and gave up on my career as an artist. I most certainly was the furthest thing from happy. 

    Anyways, there's more, but I'm not sharing that publicly yet. But the counselors are all really intrigued by my case because of some deeper details. I'm doing better now. I'm on an anti-depressant, a kidney pill (to fight stones), a medication for anxiety, and apparently I have slight Asperger's Syndrome. So if it doesn't seem I care enough, I really do care, and I'd defend you to my death. But don't expect me to seem like I'm completely enthralled with you, because I'm not capable of it. Hence why I only have like five friends in RL right now. lol which is fine. Life goes on. I'm okay, it's just weird that I have so much wrong with me all of the sudden. Depression, anxiety, insomnia, super slight OCD (apparently), super slight Asperger's, kidney stones, Cubital Tunnel, and ADHD. All this before my 20th birthday. Geez. Gotta love to be me. I have two counselors right now. And on Wednesday I'll have like five talking to me (because apparently my case is really unique due to some particular psychological details I didn't mention). 

    Also, just recently, all my community fish, (except my two bettas and the four baby zebra danios) have a freaky parasite that's almost impossible to get rid of. So I have to put them ALL down. My blue gourami, Cordella, my five black neon tetras that I just bought ($15) in February, my three zebra danios, my frog Merrylegs, my ghost shrimp Casper, my four (remaining) guppies, and my three brand new hillstream loaches. That's at least $50 in fish. Gosh.... it's the pits. That's for certain. 

But, hopefully this summer I'll be able to regain my footing and officially be on the upside of this monster. 

    


As some of you know, back in 2oo9-2o12 I wrote a novel based off of Hoshi no Kaabi's many suggestions from which theories have been made- such as MK being Kirby's father or not being his father. You know? The juicy stuff.

Well, The Past of the Masked Knight,after its completion was followed by a novel called The Life of a Star Warrior in 2o12-13. This one panned out from more than just Meta Knight, but to other characters- OC's and characters such as Yamikage and the origin of Blade and Sword. The point of the story is to provide some sort of clarified satisfaction of what it might have been like being a Star Warrior and how the war with Nightmare went. Well....I lost the notebook containing the chapter outline and character maps and concepts and all that for the Life of a Star Warrior. ---However! I now officially have four pages of notes from the first five chapters of the Life of a Star Warrior, where I am rewriting and renewing my memory of my original plans for the story, in order to finish it. I feel horrible about cutting it off like I did, especially after receiving many reviews and emails and notes of people disappointed with it never being completed. I can't say the story will be completed to the original potential I had planned for. But, I am interested enough in it that I AM picking it up again. My goal is to end it in at least three to five chapters since Wanderlust is my main priority- considering I've got long term goals surrounding it and a team waiting for direction. There were only a few major points that had to be accredited and wrapped up- but I think you will be pleased with the results.

    So, to celebrate the return of this story and the Kirby community, I'm going to recruit one OC per new chapter (currently planned: 5) from whoever is interested in their character's having an appearance. You may only submit one character of yours (unless they have a familiar or something such as Link from the Legend of Zelda and his fairy. The fairy is considered a familiar)

To submit an OC of the Kirby franchise to this story, you must provide:

1) Information on the Character-
    -Tell me their personality, tell me their back story, abilities, etc. The more the BETTER! I want some kind of understanding of their family relationships and so forth. It would be EVEN BETTER if they were already married- that sort of thing. 
2) Conceptual drawing of the Character
     -This can range from a good drawing that clearly shows the costume and weapon/abilities of the character to actual concept art. This may be tweaked by myself in the final drawings for the novels, but not to the point it is no longer recognizable. 
    -I must be able to clearly see the character through either the art (preferably) and/or the writing. It's best if you can manage with both. But I'll work with you. 
3) It must be YOUR original character and they must not have any attribute a-h under "I will not accept". The character will automatically be ruled out if it has any unacceptable feature.
4) Send me the information in a note to submit.
    -Write the information/bio on the character in the note and place thumbnails of the artwork (if you don't know how to do thumbnails- ask!) Then I would like you to tell me briefly what the Kirby franchise has done for you in your life/ how you've benefited from it and how long you've been a fan.
    -You can enter multiple submissions, however, only one of your characters will be chosen.  

I will not accept: 

a) Mary Sue/Gary Drew (or whatever the male version is) 
b) Overly powerful/invincible
c) Outside the Kirby Franchise- these are Kirby OC's I'm talking about. 
d) Related to any canon characters
e) Related to any of my characters (unless I approve of it) 
f) A design based too closely to Meta Knight or any canon character
g) Unoriginal- that's loose, but if you have to convince me your character is as unique as you believe it to be, you probably need to work on them. 
h) Cannot be human. They must be a race from the story. 

    I suggest you read the story (at least the Life of a Star Warrior www.fanfiction.net/s/6680889/5…) in order to understand the time period and the like. And you must base it off of the racial concepts I have provided within the story. If you're confused about that (quite frankly it's embarrassing to me how unclear I can be) then shoot me a note. They're all legitimate races from the Kirby franchise based off of reoccuring character designs. Here's a little list of canon franchise characters matched with race names to help you configure what race your OC is. I did this system in order to avoid using terms like "kirbies" or "puffballs". There are exceptions for accents, but for the most part, the race and accent go hand in hand.

Cathican- (Latin/Spanish Accent)- Meta Knight- Traditional Kirby design.
 
Satisan- (English Accent)- Prince Fluff -concerning the non-traditional eye shape. Many Satisans have the ability to shape-shift, signified by their right eye glowing a warm color. 

Ironcladdian- (Scottish Accent)- Knuckle Joe. Their society is sectioned off into clans with jarls ruling over them.
 
Okanese- (Japanese Accent)- Prince Fluff- concerning the non-traditional eye shape. Okanese are often mistaken for Satisans because their right eyes also glow. The Okanese right eye glows a cool color rather than warm. Many are shadow-shades, able to manipulate and be one with shadows naturally, without much dedication to training in magic.

Ivoian- (Anglo-Saxon Accent)- Fumu/Silica- Ivoians have a natural aptitude for magic. 

Elibanian- (Russian Accent)- Fumu/Silica- They have little natural ability in magic. Instead, they are well trained mercenaries. Ivo and Eliban are rivaling planets. 

Those are the basic races. 

    Lastly, understand that after that, I have the right to use the character (with your permission) within the story and if I need to make minor changes, I will slide them by you as the original author, as well as give you credit through a link to your profile here on dA in the chapter that your character appears in, in the chapter's ending Author Note.  
What do you get out of this? You get free promotion for your character/character designing skills. Not only that, once the beta readers help me sort it all out to the final product, I will do a character cluster of every character that ever appeared in the two novels- including yours. So this is a chance for you to get your characters out there. 

    But, this is to gain support for Wanderlust. It might surprise you- if you haven't been around long- that most all of my original characters in Wanderlust (all the main ones particularly) were created through my stories written on the Kirby franchise. So in exchange for writing your character into this novel and doing a free piece of art for you. You must do two things for me. 

Since there will probably be more entries than available slots, this will be the entry "fee" so to speak: 

1) Join the group Wanderlust-fans and promote Wanderlust in a journal entry. 
2) Give me a WATCH. Don't worry, I'll pay you right back and WATCH you too!
2) Draw a picture (can be chibi if you don't feel confident doing a human figure) of one of my characters: Anonymous, Stranger, Daisuke, Rioku, etc. You can do them as a Kirby character (since most all of them originated that way). There are plenty of references in my gallery for you to choose from. If you don't feel at all capable (say you're a writer) then send me a note and we'll work something out. 

    Cool huh? And easy? Since there are only five chapters (most likely only five) there will only be five slots available for original characters to make an appearance. You guys got plenty of time. I'd say at least three months, maybe more. But get started now and communicate with me now for better results! 

Current Participants: 

sailor-snowcone5 ( sailor-snowcone5.deviantart.co… )

A note for the future: 

    Once the novel is completed, it will be sent to beta readers for reconstruction (particularly concerning the first novel- thanks to my Mary Sue Athenya lol thank you 8th grade...). Upon it's completion, the two novels will be combined into one entire novel and posted on a new fanfiction account- hopefully under the username Yavanni. If not, I will likely post it on my previous account under the username, Sweey. In addition to this- the story, as it is completed, will be updated on my account Sweey as it had been before. So keep an eye out for updates! ;D 

    If you have any ideas concerning the story, let me know. I'd love to hear any suggestions you guys have to make! 

    Lastly, considering I'm in college, I can't say how frequently the story will be updated, but it will be. I imagine once I get started and it begins to run more smoothly, it will be updated more regularly. The last chapters will be long ones in order to shorten the story. So I'll basically pound in one chapter what I intended to do in three.  

    If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me! ;D Thanks guys! 

Here's what Anglo-Saxon (old English) sounds like! It's very cool!