all made up with nowhere to go

I almost have a clear side in the front bedroom! \o/

I just need to sort and store some more stuff, and do a run to the tip and then it's more or less sorted! I also need to do a charity shop run, but there's less stuff needs to go there than the tip, so it's that that is the priority.

I am also thinking about getting rid of the one chest of drawers and the bedside cabinet, as there is entirely too much furniture in that room (one of its many problems). I don't have a use for the cabinet, and the chest of drawers got water damaged, so it's not really useable any more.

There is some shelving as well that mum wanted rid of, but it needs the contents going through first. Some of it can and will be stored, since I now have room for that, and the rest can be dealt with accordingly.

There's also a sideboard, and I keep swinging between keeping it or not. I sense probably not, eventually, as I have no use for it, and I don't think it even got properly used as a sideboard ever. But I know it was made in the furniture factory where my dad used to work, so I am sort of sentimental about it, even though I think y'all know how I feel about my dad at this point. But I've got time to think about it, as I need to tackle other stuff around it first.

(I feel like I should have been tagging these posts, so I can look through them all at a later date, but I don't know what to name them, sigh).

But yeah, I'm definitely feeling really positive about this now, even though I've been grossly unhappy with the circumstances that forced it to happen. I may explain about that at some point in the future, or I may not, I don't know (and you probably don't want to hear it anyway).

~

In other news, I have been playing with some paint markers I impulse bought a couple of months ago!

About a year ago, I made a small sketchbook from kraft card after being influenced by an artist I'd discovered who drew in toned sketchbooks. I used it, like, twice, and then forgot about it.

Then it was Back to School sales in late August, and I impulse bought some Sharpie paint pens (Creative Markers; bullet tips), because I was curious about them, and I knew I would be less precious about them than Poscas, even though they cost nearly as much as a set of Poscas. ANYWAY.

I thought they'd look good on the kraft card, and I was right! So I've just been messing about making patterns and stuff, and really enjoying it! Which is nice. It feels like I haven't done a whole lot of drawing this year, and I've missed it. I think, currently, I prefer paint pens over actual paint, but maybe I'll get back into painting once I have more space in which to do it. Or maybe I won't! WHO KNOWS.

Anyway, I have been drawing and feeling good about it, and I am probably going to do some more drawing, and then I might finally upload stuff to my sketchblog after best part of a year. Again, WHO KNOWS? IT MYSTERY.

I have updated my sketchblog with some autoposts for ~a week and a half - that will start from Tuesday. I hadn't updated since September! But that was when I had my last holiday from work, so that sort of makes sense.

But also I seem to have been drawing a lot, but not posting a lot of it. Mainly because it either feels like more of the same (and therefore not imaginative*), or I didn't think it was good enough to post.

I've also updated my Redbubble shop with one (1) new design. I did it yesterday, and I'm really pleased with how it came out, although now I wish I hadn't drawn it on layout paper, but such are the regrets of an artist, I guess.

~

In other news, my tablet arrived on the day it was meant to, and it works like a dream. It is smaller than I thought, but I am bad at imagining screen dimensions at the best of times.

I've watched a few streams on it, and the only times it buffered were because of problems on the streamer's end and not mine! \o/ which is categorically not what used to happen with the old one.

I am looking forward to being able to use it to update - for example - my ko-fi gallery, and possibly even my sketchblog!

~

*this is my brain being an ass, btw.

1. I'm sitting on my hands not to buy new pens/inks, EXCEPT I do technically have £14 of Xmas money left over, so I could if I wanted to!

I mean, I can't afford one of the fountain pens I want, but there's other things I want besides those. Things I have been wanting longer!

2. I am this close to finishing Royal Assassin! I tried to get it done last night, but my brain was just like, nope!, so I didn't. I've got like, forty pages? If that? Having a bit of déjà vu again with the current situation Fitz has found himself in so again, wondered if I had a look while mum was reading it.

Assassin's Quest is EVEN LONGER! *cries*

3. I scanned some stuff I have been doing recently! I have updated my sketchblog, and it will start auto-updating from there for a couple of weeks or so (hopefully by which time I will have done some more stuff!)

I want to make some prints of some of the things (and some older things), but need to do some tests first. I'm sure my printer can handle it, but it's always good to do a trial run.

4. I am debating making a patreon.

I used to have one, but I never launched it because I felt like I didn't deserve it, so I eventually deleted it. I am a bit leery about it because of how the owners have treated smaller creators in the past, and also because I don't know if anyone will sign up to it. I know people like my work, but do they like it enough to give me money for it? I don't know.

I also don't know what I would do about patreon only stuff.

(I do also have a kofi page but I'm not really sure how that's supposed to work. I know when I picked it, I did because it seemed to be less pressure than a patreon but now I don't know! And also because they don't take anything from the money you receive, where patreon do).

5. I think I have finally figured out an acceptable (to me) way to make a zine! I know I have been going on about this for literal years at this point, and I keep not ending up with an end product (except for the time I did and then didn't put it up for sale because of crushing self-esteem problems). But this time I am determined!

I even figured out a way to do it without having to think about double-sided printing (which I did figure out, but that was months ago now, and I've forgotten what I learnt). So yay! Just got to put it all together and see if it works!

6. Hope you are all okay and looking after yourselves. And if you're not okay, I offer internet hugs, and I hope you feel a bit better soon.

So! In case anyone is as interested in pictures of notebooks as I am (you should see my journal/stationery boards on pinterest), you will be pleased to know that, as of next week, there will be pictures of some of mine on my sketchblog, both used and unused.

And also my birthday stationery haul, which I bought on Wednesday. There was A LOT. And it used up my leftover birthday money, and I feel guilty about buying more notebooks when I already have a ton, but they were cute! I could not resist!

(This is one of those times where I want to join reddit again, just so I can talk to people on relevant communities (there is a journal community and they're not all pretentious so and sos!) but A: usernames are hard* and B: it's reddit)

(I have ALL THE TABS open right now, but I can't look at them as I have Stuff To Do).

I don't have anything else to say - really just wanted to update to say this because I don't know who among you here even follows my sketchblog anyway, but just in case you do: don't worry about the sudden genre change. I'm just trying to indulge my enthusiasm in something while I still feel enthusiastic and like doing something about it. Also there's going to be more stuff than notebooks in the future, like letter writing paper, and pens, and other stuff, but I have to figure out how to photograph it nicely first.

~

*I don't want a username for there related to either of the two I have right now and did I mention picking names is hard?

I keep forgetting to mention it here, but I have been updating my sketch blog with autoposts! And I'm going to be adding some more stuff today!

(Apologies if you already know this because you follow me on twitter).

Most of the posts are multi-image (for convenience), and it's stuff from the past year, and a bit beyond! (One of the things is an embroidered study I did of Van Gogh's Starry Night with Cypress Tree that I finished in 2015. So, yeah. Sometimes I just do things and then forget to upload them anywhere).

Also some hoops I ordered last week arrived today so now I can mount and photograph some of the stuff I've been doing recently \o/

~

I have got loads of Xmas presents for my nephew, and the best part is that all of it came to less than £15!

My sister in law said I don't need to buy presents for her and my brother, but I'm going to at least find them a little thing each. Even if it is something dumb, like a toy car for my brother (he likes cars A LOT) and...IDK what I would get for my sister in law, but I'm sure I could find something.

It's weird not having mum to buy for. I've seen things I would have got her this year, whereas I'd had a lot of trouble in past years. I also have seen quite a few things I would have bought for my dad, were he still around, so I guess it's just going to be like that this year!

~

I have been watching the cutscenes from The Zodiac Age version of FFXII on Youtube, because I own neither it nor a PS4, and I was bitten by the urge to replay, but that would mean dusting off the PS2 (literally), and I just couldn't be bothered, so I resorted to the internet instead!

The best part about this is that the soundtrack got remastered! And I didn't know! And, for the most part, it is a delight to my ears! (Obviously there's some stuff I haven't heard because the video I'm watching is literally just the cutscenes and maybe a boss battle here and there). Compare this to how I feel about the redone version of the Persona 2: Innocent Sin soundtrack (it's horrible and not as good as the original; same for FFIV, actually). I'm glad I like the remastered version, because it's one of my favourite game soundtracks.

In other video game news, I have finally remembered to download Delta Rune! I don't know if I will be able to get it to run via WINE or not. We will just have to see.

~

Anyway, I've got stuff I need to upload, so I'm going to go and do that!

Just a quick post to say:

1. Here are some angels that I drew (more details on the post itself. Comments/crits/questions welcome!)

(messiah_noire, the bottom one is the one I was on about before).

2. As far as yarnbending goes, I have nearly finished another hat (can't decide whether to make wrist warmers or a scarf to go with it), and I am making a rug for the house with some carpet wool. God only knows where it's going to go, though.

I have nearly finished my picture of Beth! \o/ I was going to post the sketch on my, er, sketch blog, but instead, you get speed sketches of my cat.

(I don't often speed sketch because a) the concept of speed is alien to me and b) they nearly always end up looking like dross. However, unless the cat is asleep (and she wasn't on this occasion*), I have to be quick).

I am also slooooowly working on that picture of Snow and Hope. So it will get finished, eventually. Maybe when I am forty (hopefully not!)

~*~

Three more bosses, and then I finish DDS2! Woop, woop!

~*~

Still not feeling amazing, but a little better.

~*~

*Although that is rare, because I am sure we all know what hard work it is being a cat.

I feel so unproductive today. Just because I spent a lot of it asleep and the rest of it playing Mass Effect (look, it's like crack, OK, and it's having a good effect on my artistry). It's been so hot today though, that I've not really wanted to do anything but lie about (also having a bad-ish bout of PMT, but eh...)

I guess it does not help that I have been reading ME3 spoilers and looking at pics and so on (and Kaidan looks awesome-sauce! Liara looks angry, and Ashley (if that WAS her) looks unrecognisable). And that is all I am going to say about that, because a) you probably don't care and b) if you do care, I'm will try my best not to spoil you (talking of which, my reaction to the only trailer out so far? "Eh, yeah, sure").

~*~

I was going to post an art spam tonight, but my intense laziness overcame me and I decided not to.

Also my sketch blog is a year old! *sings happy birthday* and I just made my one hundredth post! *celebrates*

(Well, actually it was first posted in on the 4th of April 2010, so it's one year and five days old. D'awwww).

messiah_noire requested that I do an art dump after asking last night, so that's what this is :)

Before I start, though, a couple of questions:

1. Should I do this once I've got enough sketches and whatnot backed up on my tumblr? I'd say I'd do it weekly, but I only update tumblr at the weekend (and on holidays), so there's not enough for weekly. What do you think?

2. I need a new art icon, since emo!Cloud is two and a half years old now (although I'm still fond of him). (And Azmodel on eljay is nearly six years old!) Any suggestions from my art? (I could have a look myself, and probably will).

That aside, on with the art! And comments and crits are welcome, as I am always looking to improve :)

( 8 images; may not be suitable for dial-up )

Re: last night's post - obviously my brain is more confident regarding my art skills than I am aware of. Heh.

Also I looked at my archive on tumblr after I made that post, and I totally do not draw like a 12 year old*. I know that. I am actually pretty damn pleased with all the stuff on there (and a whole bunch of stuff you haven't even seen because it is not scanned).

*Although I'm not entirely sure I draw like a thirty year old, either.

~*~

Today I did what I set out to do, which was drawin' stuff! I also got a few backlogged things scanned (one of which I CG'ed (the pic of Cheryl Mason**), and you can see it on my sketchblog. I have been meaning to scan that pic for two freaking months). I also CG'ed another pic, doing just a simple black and white inking job on it (at least, that's what I tell myself to justify rushing it off in 20 minutes/half an hour).

I do like that new tablet, and it is much more comfortable to draw on than any other I've had (and I've had a Wacom one before, but that was as old as the hills). It does and it doesn't feel like drawing on paper - by which I mean there's a nice amount of "give" to the drawing area, like there is with real media, but no paper I've ever drawn on actively squeaks when I'm filling in colour (that could be because it is new? *shrugs*)

More stuff to come on that when I've had it longer than five days, eh?

**Two incarnations down, just Alessa to go! (Trust me to start at the end, eh? ;) ) Although I didn't do it on purpose, it just happened that way.