[30 DDC] Day 6 --Favorite Book Character

The complete assignment was "Favorite character from a book that is not a movie"

All my favorite characters are from books that have been turned into a movie. 

What does that say about me?  Do I lack intelligence?

Anyway, I cheated and chose Ender from Ender's Game, even though I know that they're making a movie.  "Making" is the operative.  It's not completed, so it's okay right?

Done in Pen, brush,  and black and white ink.  I finally understood how to properly do the splatter thing with  the brush. I got ink all over my hands.  It was wonderful.

I had a hard time drawing the body...hence, I went "screw you. Black it all out and I will draw big ol' open space" and that is what I did.

Crappy manga-ing and What I draw in class now

So, 30 Day Drawing Challenge.  It was harder than it looked.  Much harder.  Keeping up with it while taking classes, working, and studying for a college entrance exam is not as easy as instant pudding, it's more like easy as making Merengue Dutch chocolate pie from scratch kind of easy. For this week's update I present you shit I drew in the summer!!

I've been kind of frustrated with life so I've been doing a lot of crappy manga-ing. To be completely honest, I don't really have any grief over my manga-style.  I am actually rather fond of it. As of late though, I only draw in this style when I am restless.  It's called "crappy manga-ing" because I do it mindlessly and my only concern is to make it look pretty, thus lacking in storytelling value, which is something I find important.  Also part of the charm of crappy manga-ing is I draw on scratch paper so I won't grow attach to it.  I apologize  if the print going across the images annoy you.

First on the list is:

I name thee...Period Fiction fanart!! 

When the movie Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter came out, I thought wouldn't it be interesting if Felicity and all the other American girls were potential vampire slayers?  And the books are just chronicles of their lives before their rise to the patriotic heroines who protected their beloved country from blood-sucking living deads.  It should be a comic book.

To me August is kind of  a Kenshin month for me.  August is the month of one my friend's birthday and she is also a Kenshin fan, sometimes I wonder if she's a bigger fan than me.  The Live Action movie of Kenshin also came out in August 2012.  One of my favorite online artist, Hakubaiko, used to hold Kenshin fanart contests in August.  I never got to  participate in the contest because she tragically passed away, rather young too.  It's one of the many things I regret. Rest in Peace, Hakubaikou. I drew Kenshin based on the actor who plays him in the live action but...the drawing itself started to scare me, so I stopped to save my soul.

In the summer I watched X-Men: The First Class, a dvd I bought for $3 at a Japanese second hand bookstore. Legit copy. Best Buy ever!! 

As we move along to second:

Oh look how my OC is obnoxiously thinking she can block a Mutant punch.  

Like many, I too was sucked into the awesome that is Charles x Erik Bromance, christianed Cherik.  And I did what any fangirl would do.  Look up fanfiction and emerse thyself in the fandom guilty pleasures.  Sadly, I was disappointed in the fandom.  Mostly because of the portrayal of Cherik and Raven.  Charles was mostly portrayed as helpless, hopeless pretty boy who would not or could not resist the advances of Erik or Shaw, and usually put in a hostage/slave situations.  Erik was ...I don't even want to discuss the issues I had with fanfic Erik.  Most of the time, I just wanted to kill him, which is sad because I like XFC movie Erik.   Then, there's Raven.  She was portrayed as a ignorant cockblock, whiny bitch, bubbly idiot, or  militant lesbian (which I have no idea where this comes from.  I guess the author thought, well everyone in this fic is gay so let's make her gay too!).  This saddened me even further because I liked Jennifer Lawerence's portrayal and her relationship with Charles and Erik.  So I resolved my issues as a mature adult. Retaliated by inserting my original character into these fanfiction.  These doodle sketches were actually kind of fun period for me because I actually referenced James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawerence when I was mangatizing them.

I call this doodle dump Story for Monsieur Beautifully Youthful and Lady FicMessiah (personal joke)

Mon. Beautifully Youthful is my fellow James McAvoy fan and Lady FicMessiah helped me get good Cherik fanfics, thus restoring my faith in fic writers.

Thirdly:

Technically, I didn't draw these in the summer.  In the past I used to do crappy manga-ing during class to stay awake.  Now I draw classmates in class.  I don't know if that means I evolved as an artist or I just lack imagination now in comparison to my past self.

...if you read this far, uhm, thank you? You're a true trooper.

So I leave you with another dump of crappy manga-ing inspired by Resident Evil live action and Zombie Apocalypses and North & South...

Ah,  a little modern John Thornton head stalking modern Margaret Hale as she tries on the lettuce dress. 

[30DDC] Day 5 -- Best Friend

So, yes, it appears that I've fallen behind on the 30 day drawing challenge.  Let's just say that I've been on hiatus.

Anyway, my "best friend" is my Right Hand.

Yes, I live a sadly lonely and pathetic life.

But if you think about it, my right hand has all the qualities of a best friend:

1. It doesn't judge me
2. It's there for me in both the good and bad times. 
3. It helps me study.
4. It entertains/draws for me.
5. It helps create worlds for me.
6. It listens to me...if I ever, er, want to talk to it.

Makes sense, right?

I found drawings that I did when I was a youngster and they were all mermaids. Lots and lots of mermaids. With Red Hair.  I suspect that I was a fan of Disney's Little Mermaid. So I did kind of a Before and After type drawing to represent my "evolution."

Done in Prismacolor Fine liners (various sizes), Tombow Dual Brush Pens, and a little bit of grey Copic markers.

PS --I went a little overboard with this drawing because I was listening to lab safety rules for a really long time and I got bored.  My imagination just ran with it.

[30DDC] Day 4 - Favorite Place

I like empty campuses.

I'm weird like that and I'm a loner, basically.

But that's not what I drew.

UCLA  is unofficially separated into 2 campuses: North Campus (liberal arts) and South Campus (science).  North Campus is very beautiful, with sculpture gardens and pretty architecture; while South Campus is a confusing cluster of concrete buildings.  Because I was a biology major, I spent most of my time in South Campus, which I nicknamed Concrete City.   In this Concrete City there is a botanical garden that is apparently used for research.  I loved this botanical garden because no one went there and I love the irony of a botanical garden hidden in the middle of a "concrete city."  It reminded me of Secret Garden, a place no one knows.  I spent my lunches and breaks here between classes rather often.  I had some pictures of this garden but I don't have a shot from my favorite spot so I had to do it from memory.

I feel like the quality of my drawings is going down as the days go by for this challenge. Oh well.

[30 DDC] Day Three - Draw Favorite Food

I don't know why they make these challenges so difficult.  WHY DO THEY MAKE ME PICK ONLY ONE ?!

I think my favorite is Katsudon because I order it whenever I enter a Japanese restaurant, but Katsudon is really hard to draw...interestingly. So, I drew alternatives instead

Yes, I like cake.  It's not really my favorite, though. Vons has these Friday $5 sales.  This weekend they had the Boston Cream Cake and it was specially decorated for Labor Day Weekend.  I thought it was cute and it was delicious.

Today when I woke up I smelled camp/barbecue fire and it reminded me of s'mores.  I like s'mores for more sentimental reasons because I used to make s'mores on the last night of band camp at the HUGE campfire while most people attended the dance.  I loved the solace of the camp fire.  Besides, the band moms kept on giving me materials to make s'mores.  I think I ate 10 s'mores in one night once.  Unfortunately, I haven't had camp fire s'mores since high school, which was way too long ago.

I used pen and ink and Tombow Dual Brush Pens again.  I'm really having a blast with the Tombow Dual Brush pens.

[30 DDC] Day Two -- Draw Favorite Animal

30 Day Drawing Challenge Day 2 -- Draw Favorite Animal 

I do not really have a favorite animal but I often reference gorilla, kittens, and chinchilla in my conversations.

I had a little obsession with the great apes since I took physical anthropology. Koko, the talking gorilla, is by far my favorite celebrity gorilla.

How can you not like kittens anyway?!?!

My dad often informs  me "chinchilla ears are the best for ear dissections."  My dad studied sound.  This is a fact I grew up with. And I think their movements are funny and cute.

Done with Pen and Brush.  'CUZ I LIKE THE BOLDY LINES.

[30DDC] Day One -- Draw Yourself

This is my drawing for the 30 Day Drawing Challenge: Day 1 -- Draw Yourself

I christen this self-portrait Portrait of Lies!!!

Why?

Well, because there are more lies in this portrait than truths.

Here are the lies:

1. I'm NOT that skinny.
2. My moles are on the wrong sides.
3. I have yet to actually join a Coffeaholic Anonymous (if it exists).
4. I don't hold a pen/pencil that way.
5. We were given  homework to practice drawing confident lines with different media for the weekend so we won't go out to party, get drunk, and accidently drive over our art instructor.  Hahaha, yes, I have NOT done yet that.
6. I'm not sure if my skin color is accurate.  I might not be that dark because I stopped using references when I started coloring.
7. The DATE.  I didn't finish the drawing on September 1, though I did start it on that day.  I actually finished this on September 2.

Now, here are the truths:

1. I do have that hat.  I made it for my illustration class.  It is highly uncomfortable to wear.
2. I do wear a "SPAM" shirt.  Quite often in fact.
3. I do squint weird.

I wanted to do this challenge so I will continue drawing with so-so quality and not just ending with pencil sketches.  I used Pen and ink, then I colored with Tombow Dual Brush Pens.  Tombow brush pens are so much fun.