GoldenGrimoire

All right, so in the interest of forcing myself to draw more, I've taken up a bit of a 30-day drawing challenge. The challenge is as follows:

1) Draw a new picture every day
2) Use a different original character or fanart for each one
3) Experiment with something! A different technique, perspective, composition, etc.
4) Try to make each picture look completely distinct from all the others

Here's my effort for day 1:

( WARNING: Spider drawing behind the cut )

Okay, so I kind of disappeared down the black hole that is RP for a while there (which I'll probably elaborate on further in another post,) but I'm still drawing and stuff. I recently picked up Illustrator CS5 for my birthday, and I've been puttering around with that a bit. It's quite a step up from the old version of Illustrator I had (8, which wouldn't install under Vista,) and a lot of the interface has changed so it's going to take me some time to learn all the features. I'm going to be picking up a book for this purpose shortly, but here's the initial fruits of my labor thus far:


Full-size version at DeviantArt.

Obviously, small Sasoris and giant donuts go well together. It's a strange idea that popped out of nowhere so don't ask me to explain it...

Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted anything! I've kind of gotten seriously sucked into kannagara_rpg; I've been having loads of fun playing Sasori over there. A bunch of you are already playing, but if you're not, we're always on the lookout for new players! We'd especially love to see some more non-Naruto characters.

My fic has been languishing a little, but I'm still determined to get out another 30_lemons oneshot and chapter 2 of Shogi in the near future. I've also gotten a few fic ideas percolating away that I'll probably start on once I finish Shogi.

I've been thinking about 30_lemons recently, and while I really want to complete stories for a lot of these prompts, I'm not sure how realistically I can stick to one oneshot a month between the other things I want to devote my time to because I'm still a pretty slow writer; the RP takes up a large amount of time, and I want to work on Shogi, and I also want to really put some serious time into my art. This is the second time that I'm nearing the two month mark without releasing something; although, even if I decide to drop the challenge, I'll still be completing the story ideas I had for the various prompts. I would just be free to release things at my own pace instead of worrying about deadlines; at the same time, having a deadline keeps me motivated to work on things. It's something I'll be thinking about over the next few days.

I've been drawing a bit recently and posted on DA, but I've neglected to post about it here, so I've put together a minor art dump. Of course, since I'm a Sasoritard, two out of three are Sasori-related.

( Art behind the cut )

HELL YEAH, my favorite Reno/Tifa fic, Water Under the Bridge by iknowthewords, got updated! In its honor I had to make a Turks icon, and found this cool pic on pixiv by Katokichi.

This fic has been a WIP since 2003, I hope it won't take me that long to finish up the ones I'm working on. O_O


Speaking of WIPs, I realize that I have way too many, and have been buckling down to get some things finally finished instead of switching between projects as much (this is why I haven't been around much on the FC/reading fic/posting.)

Stories that will be out in the near future:

- Attitude Problem chapter 2: what I've been concentrating on the most, and what I'm determined to get out before the end of the week.

- Regression, the first of the SasoSaku 30_lemons  Akatsuki!Sakura AU fics

- A SasoSaku ficlet written for moderndayportia 's 'the gaps between writing' exercise; this was originally going to be just a gory little drabble, but it has grown and grown and grown into this freaky near-guro ficlet. Currently around the 1800 word mark but I'm not sure how long it will get, or how much freakier. :o

- The Fine Art of Observation, my languishing, mostly complete JiraiyaxSakura/SaixSasuke/SaixSakura(?) PWP


My art projects have been neglected a bit in favor of my fics, but here's the general release plan:

- Original artwork, angel

- Original artwork, sort-of rainy day theme 1

- Original artwork, sort-of rainy day theme 2

- Akatsuki in Wonderland series #1: White Rabbit


I'm also considering making a new LJ layout, and have been looking to thefulcrum  for inspiration as well as trawling through my ancient web page design ideas that I never ended up using for anything. I've no clue when it will be ready though.

Art stuff:

I picked up another anatomy book today, The Book of a Hundred Hands by George Bridgman. It's pretty awesome, I recommend it if hands are a problem area in drawing for you like they are for me.

I haven't done a lot of drawing over the past few days, in lieu of writing, but I did work on my original pic a bit. I've also been doing some costume research for my Akatsuki/Sakura Alice in Wonderland series.


Writing Stuff:

I signed up to write Sasori/Sakura for the 30_lemons challenge community, and have already started working on my first fic for it. The prompts are awesome, and I've got quite a few story ideas already for it; I'm pretty excited about it. :)

Attitude Problem chapter 2 is mostly done; I've been letting it sit for a few days before I go back and take a look at it again for editing. :)

Jiraiya/Sakura hit a little bit of a snag, there's a section I'm not satisfied with that I'm reworking, so that's going a little more slowly than I expected.