Baby Panda Drawing Diary (AND HAPPY NEW YEAR)

*Karate kicks the door open*

HEYOOOO- I'M BACK!

Phew, I haven't posted here since last year.

[Beat]

Sorry that was terrible...

Moving on!

I was thinking of doing another drawing/painting process (feat. my random thoughts) blog post and so here we are :D


Disclaimer: I often have moments where I have absolutely no clue what I am doing so please bear with me.

[ahem]

-STEP ONE-

Look up and collect all the references you can find while remaining completely focus- AWW LOOK AT ALL THE BABY PANDAS.

-STEP TWO-

Ahem. After staring at picture references for who knows how long (during which I somehow ended up looking at Star Wars pins), I sketched a very basic idea of what I wanted it to look like.

Very. Basic.... and er, bad.

 Oh well.

-STEP THREE-

I traced over it with another brush and added a balloon (because cuteness that's why) this time being much neater... I think.

I also added a single tooth to give a ferocious/cute look. Why just one tooth you ask?

Observe my dear reader:

Now the panda is just ferocious (and maybe even a little bit crazy looking) with very little cuteness effect.

That is why I only put in one tooth :D

-STEP FOUR-

Next, I re-checked my panda reference pictures and blacked out the necessary areas to make it look as much like a panda as possible. (This is where the reference pictures often come in handy.)

-STEP SIX-

Next I did the eyes and mouth.... and that's about it.

._.

-STEP SEVEN-

Checked my reference pictures again (after lunch) and realised that panda's aren't just completely white and black... Huh.

Looking back, I probably could have just left it at white and just called it a day, but I like to experiment with colours so.... 

-STEP EIGHT-

Yah. I might have gone a bit overboard...

Oh well! :D

Because it looks a bit messy as just random blobs of colour we shall do this!

Change previous brush to this one:

Continue on to next screenshot.

Smooth out the colours... And repeat a thousand times until it looks about right :)

-STEP TEN-

Okay! Smoothing out blobs accomplished, now for the balloon :D

Haha.... Just kidding, we have to smooth out more blobs.

(95% of my colouring technique right there: Place Blobs. Smooth Blobs. Repeat until looks right. Done.)

Last but not least, I added a simple light grey blob for the panda's shadow, add mah butterfly signature and....

All done :D

The Idea Process (A Comic)

 So.... this might become a regular thing. Every few months or so I'll sneak up on you guys and surprise you by whacking a new comic over your head. Sound fun? :D

Anyway, that's it for me this year (I think)... Hope you all have a very merry Christmas! (And a happy new year too I suppose :P)

The Music Tag of....Musical-ness. Yay!

Hi :)

Okay, now that's over and done with, let's get on with the actual post!

Ze Rules

1. Thank the person who tagged you.

2. Answer the questions.

3. Tag others.

4. Add you own question to the tag for your nominees to answer.

5. Include the rules in your post.

Thanks Clare for tagging me!

Do you play any instruments?

Yup! I can play the clarinet, violin (still learning that one though, but it doesn't sound like cats dying anymore thankfully) and sort of piano... Meaning I can only play one song (both parts)... Yah.

(It's 'Ode To Joy' if you were curious.)

What is your favourite music genre?

Uhhhhm... To be honest, I don't really know? I think the music I listen to mostly has a jazzy/pop feel to it. I also like sound tracks and musicals...Especially stuff like 'Les Mis' and 'Phantom of the Opera'.

I can't really pin down an absolute favourite.

Is there a music genre you absolutely cannot stand?  

Rap music. Okay- in some songs I don't mind it, but only because there's just a tiny amount and when it does come on, I just stop singing. No big deal, I know the best part of the song is just around the corner... I can wait.

What is your favourite way to listen to music? (CD, vinyl, MP3, radio, etc)

MP3. Definitely. CD's aren't too bad though I guess... until they get broken.

What/who are your three favourite bands/singers?

Oooh, tough one! All time favourite or just the ones that are my current favourites? 

Also: Do they have to be in a band and/or a singer? 

...In order to be able to answer this question I'll just guess 'no' to the last one.

No. 1 - Lindsey Stirling,

No. 2 - Mandisa,

And finally,

No. 3 - Britt Nicole.

Some honourable mentions are Pentatonix and Owl City :)

And now for Clare's question! :D

Do you have a funny story to do with playing music or band, if so please share it?

Mawhaha..Yes I do.

So this happened at a town band practice... We had stopped in the middle of a song (I can't remember which one, sadly) because no one was really paying attention to the dynamics of the song.

The band conductor asks if any one could hear the flutes and clarinets, since we had the melody.

And basically...

An elderly man grumbles behind me: I couldn't hear any of them!

Fellow clarinet player whips around in her seat: *jokingly* That's because you're deaf!

Elderly man leans forward slightly: What?

Fellow Clarinet player: Ha!

She then grins and elbows me in triumph.

I thought it was hilarious.

The End.

Oh wait, I still have to tag people? Erm... Okay. *Tries to think of people I can tag* ....Um, nope. No idea. Therefore, I shalt just leave it open for whoever stumbles across my blog and wants to give it a go. Yah, have fun :)

Your Random Musical Question Of Awesomeness: How good are you at sight-reading music?

The Adventures of Pizza Ninja Supreme and Her Trusty Long-Suffering Sidekick! (An Introduction to the Character)

Huh... That's weird. Usually I like to wait till the last few days of the month before panicking and writing up a blog post.

But here I am. Early. Since when does that happen? O-o

..More importantly, how does that happen? o-O

Well, it all started when I randomly mentioned  how I wanted to create my own graphic novel/comic one day on a group chat with my ''Camp Nano'' buddies (we shall never disband! Mawhaha)...

One thing lead to another, and my friend Jane and I ended up with the super amazing concept of Pizza Ninja Supreme (*puffs* bit of a mouthful that is). 

Then came the brainstorming, where we worked out what Pizza Ninja Supreme (from now on wards shall be referred to as Pizza Ninja, 'cause that last word is simply too much for everyday use :P) looked like, how she behaved, and whether she was more Pizza or more Ninja (very important).

Thankfully, figuring out what kinda power she would have was never really an issue, as it was pretty much the first thing decided. (Hint: it's kinda in the name...) 

Jane's a superhero now! :D

Surprise! They have to do with Pizzas. Still not sure how it works exactly... But hey! Imagine having the ability to create gourmet pizza's out of thin air! Who cares about the science-y part, right? :D (Hm..  science/pizza, science/pizza... Sorry Science, but pizza wins every time.)

Of course, her personality would've been a little bit harder to pin down, but Jane nobly offered herself as template to be based off. From there it was a simple matter of figuring out much sense the character (and her world) had to make!

Also featuring, the Sidekick! Whoever she is *shrug* Need to work on that a bit more...

Basically, none at all...

"Oh wait"

All that's left to do is work out a plot, come up with a suitable Villain and hey, presto its-a ready! :D

September Art Dump. Yay!

Okay so. This is kinda like a letter to older-me to show what my artwork was like when I was sixteen... 

Hopefully I won't come back to this post later in life and go 'Woah... okay... THIS SUCKS' but at the same time I kinda hope that I do 'cos that'd mean I actually get much better. If that makes any sense?

No? Okay, moving on to the art!

(P.S Hi, older-me! I hope you've been practising drawing the left eye! Or hands even!)

~~~

Based on this photo I took while in the car:

I love clouds....

Well... As you can see, I didn't get it the exact way I was hoping too, but oh well!

Sadly, I didn't have a photo reference for this one... Probably for the best seeing as it is called 'No-Where'.

Little Girl in a Poncho :D I found a cool looking poncho-reference sheet on Pinterest so this happened!

Just messing around with the colours and brushes in Krita... Turned out okey dokie :) (except for the eye.. I honestly have no idea where I was going with that.)

My first ever sketch of a male character (belonging to one of mah friends) that actually ended up looking pretty okay :D

I drew this one for my little sister (little little sister not my other older little sister) and basically it's her character from the same story as the previous drawing :D 

Now lastly, -cough- but not least...ly? -cough- ...I drew my character, Lillianna Maple from an online game called 'Guild Wars'.

Basically, it's a game that my brother got me into (it's all his fault) that has a steampunk-fantasy-medieval feel to it. (With a bunch of magic, if you couldn't tell from the picture... She's a Mesmer and the butterflies are kinda a trademark thing for the Mesmer class...)

Oh, and she's pretty much the only drawing I did this year that I actually had enough courage to colour in with pencils (-gasp-) and didn't fail completely... Yay!

~~~

So anyway, I did have a bunch of other drawings I did this month but most of them either failed spectacularly or I just didn't feel like waiting for all of them to load. ;P (plus, these ones were my personal favourites)

Well, that's all for now.... See ya next month!

Baby WHAT NOW?!

It all started when I noticed my darling bunny Myrtle pulling out her fur.

Naturally, this quite an alarming sight for me and thus I quickly went to consult my all-knowing Mummy-dearest who simply replied:

"Look it up on the internet."

What profound advice. Thank-you all-knowing Mummy-dearest.

Every single article or forum post I found at least mentioned that my bunny could well be pregnant and making a nest, or possibly going through what they called a 'false pregnancy' where they just made little nests for no reason other than it must be comfy to sleep in.

I decided it must be the latter option since I was pretty darn sure both my bunny children were girls.

I hope you all know where I'm going with this.

Fast forwarding to today, Mum and I were out at a friend's place having lunch when mum's phone started ringing. Since she was chatting away happily (and because she asked me too) I answered the phone for her.

Conversation as follows:


Me: Huuuullo? (Yes I actually answer like that, don't judge me)

Little Sister #1: Sarah! You will not believe this, but I was outside when I realised I couldn't see the bunnies and so I checked inside the hutch and THERE-IS-SIX-BABIES-IN-THERE!

Me: Er, pardon?

Little sister #1: SIX BABY BUNNIES IN THE HUTCH SARAH.

Me: whaAAAAAAAAAT?!


Basically, My little sister was heaps excited and I was very confused. This went on for a long while, during which I was trying to rely information onto Mum who was just as shocked as I was.

I should probably mention that The One Major Rule for me getting my own bunnies was that they would both be the same gender. So that we could totally avoid situations like these.

'LOL, TOO BAD!' -Minty (The boy bunny, apparently)

Thankfully, Mum and Dad seemed more pleasantly surprised (or they were just in shock, I just wanted to look on the bright side) and were taking it slightly better then I was... Haha, that could have been awkward.

So we got home and I got to meet my little grand-kittens (Fun fact: Baby bunnies are called kittens! D'aww.) and scold their dear bunny parents...Who had clearly not read the terms and conditions of their rent. 

Luckily for them, my attempt to scold them failed terribly because I could never stay cross with them, since they are just so darn cute all the time. (I suspect this must be a survival thing.)

Some Pictures For Your Daily Dose Of Cuteness*:

Such fluffy beds :)

Six wittle babies!

Looks like a baby piggy :D

Not so much of a baby piggy...

Two  little not-piglets

Or, in summary....

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH SIX BABY BUNNIES?!

(*If you don't see these bunnies as cute, fear not, our projected figures show a 330% increase of cuteness later on in their adorable lives.)

The 'Of Rising Author's' Tag and A Random Snippety Bit

AHAHAHAHAHA.. Ha... Ha... *dead*

Yikes. I gotta admit I didn't think I'd get this out with Camp Nanowrimo demanding most of my free time, but here we are! Just in time to kick out this blog post before the month's up it seems...

Ze Rules...
Thank the random who tagged you. 

Do the post.

Answer the questions.

Tag other randoms

Give 'em another 11 questions

Write a short story (hahaha no) or do the 777 challenge thing instead just to break the rules.


*Raises wine glass of apple juice and tips hat* Cheers Jane :P

Ze Questions...

Are you a planner/plotter or a pantser? (if you don't know what that means, google it)

Ooh, I've read about those somewhere! Err, I think I'm a bit of a plotter to be honest... It's nice to have a plan (even if I don't stick to it all the time)... otherwise I just get stuck and uninspired very easily.

Do you write from beginning to end or are you okay with jumping around to wherever you feel inspired to write?

Weeeeeeell, I used to be like 'NO, I MUST DO EVERYTHING IN ORDER' and I'd just keep everything in my head until I got to that part and managed to write it down, or I had completely forgotten about it.

But now, since Camp Nanowrimo, (yeah, I'm like a veteran now) I'm more like, 'Hahahaha, where'd this come from? (As I stare at a scene most likely from the middle of my story when I haven't even written the beginning) Oh well, I'll leave it in anyway.'

...I figure I can just use the magical line-breaks to separate random story parts from each other.

Do you like writing cliffhangers?

Um.. The thing is, I don't think I really have done enough cliffhangers (I've probably only ever written two and both were completely accidental) to actually be able to distinguish if I like them or not...

So... Maybe?

Are plot twists spontaneous for you, or do the require much deep thought?

Spontaneous.. Yup, definitely spontaneous.

For some weird reason, they always seem to happen when I'm in the car or five or ten seconds away from falling asleep... Basically anywhere I don't have a notebook handy.


Must the first draft be perfect and reread a thousand times, or do you just skim through it?

I wouldn't know... I've never completed a first draft. (Yet!)

How many words is a good writing day for you?

Well, two days ago I somehow managed about 1,037 words... But that was mostly because I was stressing about reaching my goal in time... So... I guess that doesn't really count.

Hmm, I'd say 400-500 words (of non-editing other parts of the story) would have to be what I consider to be a good day... Any higher than that would be a great day xD

When and where do new story ideas come upon you most frequently?

Most frequently? Pinterest, probably... Or I dunno, when I'm about to fall asleep. It depends :D

D'you prefer writing with epic soundtracks/music or without? 

Definitely with soundtracks!  

Is there a specific person who helps you brainstorm ideas?

Yesh :D Three specific persons actually... And no, I won't say who unless I am given chocolate :P

Do you have someone to tell all the spoilers to before they make you explode with excitement?

Yesh again :D (What? The question never asked me who exactly...)

What is your favourite part of the writing process? 

Oooooh, tough one! Um.... Probably the planning? I dunno, story-boarding (on pinterest) is also really quite fun :D

A'right, a'right... Time for the part I've been dreading... Because I'm too lazy to write a short story I'm just going to break the rules and do the 777 thing-o (like Jane suggested) with my WIP 'Guardian Angel'.

Yeah... Hopefully we won't end up on something utterly stupid.

*Ahem*

~A Random Snippety Bit Start~

'Yeah… Nice try kid, but I don't think so,' the big guy smirked. 'You aren't getting out of this one alive.'

Haha. He jinxed it. I felt a sudden surge of confidence rush through me out of nowhere, and I stepped forward into the dim lighting of the alleyway before I even had a chance to get a proper plan together.

'Hey, you lot!' Dammit. Too late to turn back now.

All three turned to face me, and it was obvious by the look on their faces, they had never expected a young teenage girl in hoodie to rock up to their little party, carrying a baseball bat over her shoulder.

I glared at them, doing my best to look at least somewhat frightening. 'Just what do you think you're doing?'

~A Random Snippety Bit Finish~

*Cringes* Well, there you have it folks. That's that done. (Sorry if the story snippet made no sense :P)

Hmm... *scrolls up to check rules* Well, I can't think of any other Author-people that haven't done this tag already so...Therefore I shall tag whoever stumbles across this post and wants to try it!

Your 11 questions, should you choose to accept this mission, are:

What type of music do you like to listen to while brainstorming ideas? (If you do listen to music while writing, that is.)

What's your favourite genre to write with? 

How do you survive writer's block?

Do you set a specific time for writing? Or do you just write whenever you get inspired?

Do you sometimes watch movies and TV shows for the character and plot development research alone? (Books count too)

Tell me something interesting about your OCs? (Original Characters)

If you lost all ability to read and write for the day, what would you do?

Do you like story-boarding?

Who/what is your greatest writing influence?

Notebooks or Computer?

What's your favourite writing food/incentive?

Phew. That's done... Hope ye have fun :D

Well... It seems the time has come for me to bid ye all a fond farewell.

So... Bye!