Welcome to my first Art post of 2025 – a recap of art from 2024! We’ll keep the intro quick so I can blab about these works:
- Too Hot / Too Cool
- Headlock Redraw
- Pride Art
- Tea with Az
- Crafts: A Hobby Horse!
- Glaze, Nightshade, and Ko-fi Exclusives
Too Hot / Too Cool
One of the (many) reasons for the lack of updates last year was because I hurt my back in early spring, and couldn’t sit at my desk for weeks (free advice: don’t lift toddlers badly). I started this piece well before February thinking that I might finish it for Valentine’s Day and make a dumb card out of it, but it took me two months to finish:
I can always nitpick but I achieved a lot here that I don’t normally even try:
- Background: it exists! The planet (Hera) took me a couple of tries, but I dig it. I’m also really pleased with the glass, reflection and general lighting of the immediate background.
- Shoes: they’re not terrible?? Drawing heels at this angle should be a magic trick; drawing sneakers is generally not something I take on. Leaned hard on Sketchfab for the sneakers and honestly I think I learned something (keep scrolling).
- Composition & pose: drawing one person in a pose that doesn’t look stiff is tough; drawing two is worse. I did a lot of sketches before coming up with this pose, and I won’t say I achieved 100% what I was going for, but it’s funny and it’s pretty good.
Headlock Redraw Meme
Following the above piece, I really just wanted to relax. I saw this headlock selfie redraw meme going around, and thought that was perfect for Gideon.
Pride 2024
I’ve never before got a piece of Pride art finished before Pride month was over, so I consider this tah-dah worthy.
See how the shoes aren’t awful? I think something clicked.
Happy (super belated, but applicable-all-year) Pride to everyone who celebrates or supports! My parents said that drawing elves was “just a phase”, too! 💗💛💙
Tea with Az
Bluesky user @shanicetjn.bsky.social invited other artists to draw their characters with hers character, Azrael (left). She gave us the couch and I gave her… Gideon :) This one took forever but it was fun – I love Gideon’s clothing design and I had a great time creating his accessories (his earrings are lockpicks, teehee!).
If the texture looks weird on this one, it’s because I started experimenting with Glaze and Nightshade – more on that at the end of the entry.
Crafts: A Hobby Horse!
As a person with toddler, I go to a lot of toddler birthday parties. Prior to this project, I had pretty much failed to provide any of those toddlers with a nice gift. And to be honest I have no idea if the toddler in question even likes this horse – but I like this horse:
I bought most of my materials and a pattern from Kullaloo to make this. Despite having a pattern and very good instructions, this project humbled me and I’m super proud of the result. It’s really handsome in person and I’m planning to make more for the toddler parties coming up…
Glaze, Nightshade, and Ko-fi Exclusives
Like most artists, writers and other creative types, I am not at all interested in generative AI. So, I’ve started to use Glaze and Nightshade to alter my art before putting it online. Both Glaze and Nightshade alter images from a “machine” perspective while maintaining (most) of the image’s integrity from a human perspective – however, there are visual artifacts and, depending on the piece, these can be more or less obvious to human viewers.
For most of my “finished” pieces going forward, I’ll be applying Glaze and/or Nightshade; however, I’ll upload clean copies to my ko-fi.
Thanks for reading! Here’s to a creative and successful 2025! 🥂🍻🎉🎨