Shazzbaa - Double Z, Double A

(Feel free to continue to weigh in, but I wanted to say, THANKS FOR YOUR HELP YOU GUYS!! <3 I...

Fri, 17 May 2013 01:09:44 -0400

(Feel free to continue to weigh in, but I wanted to say, THANKS FOR YOUR HELP YOU GUYS!! <3 I have weird ulterior motives and this is all a big help. c: )

Informal poll: Have you heard the phrase “cult of personality” used before?

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:44:01 -0400

Informal poll: Have you heard the phrase “cult of personality” used before?

NostalgiaQuest: The Dark Dragon (DragonBoy) Drawing all my...

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:01:16 -0400

NostalgiaQuest: The Dark Dragon (DragonBoy)

Drawing all my characters, from middle school on, in their latest incarnation, from memory.

The Dark Dragon (NICE NAME DUDE, WHERE DID YOU COME UP WITH THAT) was a villain who isn’t complicated but is still hard to draw. I think he had some kinda bargain-thing going on with King Khat because I apparently can NEVER have straightforward villains in my stories, ever. He can’t exist outside of shadow, so after escaping the dragon dimension he just kind of hangs out in King Khat’s shadow and plots, as best I recall.

I don’t remember what his deal was, either.

He also got this exchange at one point, which I was awfully proud of in highschool —

King Khat: Are you threatening me? Ha! I’m not afraid of you. You can’t even leave my shadow. You are bound to it.

Dark Dragon: Funny….. so are you.

—and… no actually, I still think that’s awesome.

NostalgiaQuest: Red Thunder (DragonBoy) Drawing all my...

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:01:11 -0400

NostalgiaQuest: Red Thunder (DragonBoy)

Drawing all my characters, from middle school on, in their latest incarnation, from memory.

The name seemed cool at the time. So did all those scales! Hnnnnnnng.

Red Thunder was Kamaro’s best friend, who lived in the dragon world. For some reason he was keeping Kamaro’s ability to transform into a dragon a secret, though I’m not sure how he expected him not to notice? He was also involved somehow in the circumstances that made Kamaro what he is, though I REALLY DON’T REMEMBER THAT BIT WELL AT ALL and I’m not 100% sure I ever knew what was going on there.

I’m not sure if you guys have noticed, but every non-villain character in this story was based on a colour of the rainbow. There’s no in-story reason for it, but that’s how I initially made them — I was home sick with a fever, and bored, and thought to myself “I’m going to make a bunch of characters, let’s start with the colours of the rainbow!” So, for future reference, if you ever want to make a bunch of REALLY DISPARATE WEIRD CHARACTERS, just let a bunch extremely saturated colours inspire you. c:

why did I bring this into being outside of my brain

Mon, 13 May 2013 20:01:02 -0400

why did I bring this into being outside of my brain

NostalgiaQuest: Zevulka and Cloverpawz (DragonBoy) Drawing all...

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:00:35 -0400

NostalgiaQuest: Zevulka and Cloverpawz (DragonBoy)

Drawing all my characters, from middle school on, in their latest incarnation, from memory.

NOPE THERE’S MORE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY WHY DID YOU THINK WE WERE DONE

Zevulka was a genetic experiment to create a real, live Pokemon-like critter, because apparently people in this town have nothing better to do! He was mostly a success, except that instead of saying his name to communicate, he mostly complains and swears a lot in perfectly comprehensible English.

He is rich off of endorsement deals and a pretty successful stint in marketing, and is now mostly retired, where he spends his wealth indulging in various weird niche hobbies, like y’do. His private collection of Egyptian artefacts occasionally tours museums but mostly stays in his mansion, and if you’ve been paying attention to the other NostalgiaQuest entries for this story you can probably guess that he joins the party (rather, yells at the party until they join him) after he’s robbed by an absurd supervillain.

He’s sort of snarky and doesn’t really want to save the world; he just wants his stuff back. I’m sure he warms up to everyone eventually. Kind of.

Cloverpawz, meanwhile, is a flying green guinea pig for no adequately explained reason. It is Zevulka’s “exotic pet” (seriously, that’s all the explanation that exists anywhere) and just follows the party around, being adorable but silly and useless ~~like guinea pigs usually are~~.

It would be so great if you would do a livestream sometime. I remember going to a few of yours and they were so cool. :)

Sun, 12 May 2013 20:34:36 -0400

Ahhhhhh gosh thank you!! — I miss doing them too! ;u; My dumb and slow internet doesn’t allow me to livestream right now (I actually struggle to even load gifsets on tumblr sometimes hnnng) but I’m hoping to switch services soon so that I can stream again!

Yo, would you consider doing some kinda tutorial (or suggesting an existing one, I suppose!) for the way you draw buildings and environments? It's really cool seeing your process (I love RW's detailed backgrounds!) but I always wonder how all the crazy perspective works; I'm having so much trouble figuring out this stuff on my own x) Though I realize tutorials take ages and all, so even some quick tips would be cool.

Wed, 08 May 2013 17:02:00 -0400

OH MAN I actually really want to do a perspective tutorial at some point — I used to hate it and have somehow gotten to the point of kind of loving it? So I really do want to make a thing to see if I can help other people get it to click the way it finally clicked for me!

I just gotta get the time to sit down and do it, but I’ll try really hard to actually get one made as soon as I can! *u*

Your D&D characters are all really unique and interesting! Where do you get the ideas for them from?

Wed, 08 May 2013 16:57:00 -0400

Oh gosh, thank you! I don’t really know that my, like, PROCESS for D&D characters is any different from the way I come up with ideas normally, except my D&D characters are slightly more allowed to be huge sparkling special-snowflake Mary Sues. xD I’ll just read about something and think “that would be fun to play” and then start building a character idea out of that — what circumstances would make that happen, what kind of class would be good for this character, etc. etc.

Usually I end up starting with a problem to give the character, because that’s my favourite part. A lot of times I’m inspired by existing characters — as an example, 24-52, my golem, was actually inspired by the AutoResponder from Homestuck. There’s a part early on where Jake repeatedly asks him “Tell me about the AutoResponder” to force him to give his pre-programmed response to that question and reveal that he’s not a real person. I thought “wow, that would be a fun character — a robot who’s trying to pass as a human but has this programming he has to try to play off or work around” AND THUS TWEN WAS CREATED. Everything else about him just arose as I tried to figure out how to make that idea work and where that character would belong in the world. I’m fortunate to play under a DM with a really developed world, so there’s often a lot to draw from in that area, too!

Sometimes I start with a class, or a weapon, or a particular mechanic (Snaketongue’s Wild Magic or Nephregol’s connection to the Tsochari, and I really like the idea of intelligent items that argue with the carrier but have yet to try this out) but most times I just have this vague personality idea, problem, or circumstance that I think could be fun to play out, but isn’t a whole story in and of itself.

THIS MIGHT SEEM LIKE A STRANGE QUESTION? I just found your tumblr though, and I was scrolling through, and I can't tell, but based on a few comments, are you anosmic? As an anosmic, I can't not ask.

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:24:00 -0400

Ahhhh gosh I CAN SEE WHERE YOU MIGHT GET THAT IDEA but alas, I am not technically anosmic! I make comments about my inability to smell, which I’m kinda well-known for among my friends, but it’s more born of a perpetually stuffed up nose than anything. Even when I can breathe through my nose just fine I don’t smell well, but I occasionally can identify scents or, more frequently, can tell that there is a smell but can’t tell if it’s good or bad.

I do suffer some of the downsides - my friends think it makes me a picky eater, and I’ve definitely set things on fire without noticing the smell of burning until the smoke alarm went off - but not as intensely as a true anosmic. STILL. LET US SHARE A NOSE-TROUBLES HIGH FIVE! :”D

Haha, Nostalgia Quest is really great, I need to try something similar myself :D D'you tend to keep all of your old stuff, or is this all by memory?

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:14:00 -0400

Aw, thanks! Like it says in the little opening description, NostalgiaQuest is all from memory! :”D I do keep all my old artwork, but uh, this is mostly a restriction I’ve placed on myself to keep me from digging up old art to GET IT JUST RIGHT — I don’t really want to ANGUISH over making these sketches PERFECT.

(More NostalgiaQuest is coming pretty soon, btw! I wasn’t finished with DragonBoy characters — I just need to colour the next set. x3 )

Hi ummm. Gosh, this feels awkward but... I just wanna say thank you for TNH. Y'see, I'm autistic, so a lot of things that make sense to normal people don't make sense to me. Such as college, work and generally functioning as a fully grown person. I found TNH a few years ago, just as I was leaving required education, and it helped me a lot to figure out things like what I wanted to do, and how to do it, and that some unpleasant things didn't have to happen. Sooo... Thanks for that, Shazzbaa.

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:10:38 -0400

Oh my gosh, Anon, this is so cool! ;u; I’m really thrilled my silly comic about life was such a big help to you! Thanks for sharing this with me, it really means a lot. :”)

runewriters: RUNEWRITERS - FILLER Had some family stuff come up...

Mon, 06 May 2013 19:07:35 -0400

Initial layout sketches. Used these as the blue undersketch for more detailed studies

Perspective's a little whack but I'm finally happy with the look of the whole thing!

Interior: altar and stained glass windows will go up here

Interior, looking back at the entrance. Need to add some lighting in here still.

runewriters:

RUNEWRITERS - FILLER

Had some family stuff come up at the last minute and couldn’t finish a page this week — so I thought I’d show you some of the concept studies I’ve been doing to tide you guys over!

They don’t have a cruciform church floorplan because their religion doesn’t really have cross symbology - they have diamonds all over everything instead. If you look at the gravestones in Jonan’s cemetery in earlier pages, the “crosses” there are actually basically diamonds on sticks. c:

Comic returns next week!

Read the comic at RUNEWRITERS.COM! ~ Vote for an extra doodle! ~ RW on Deviantart ~ RW on Facebook ~

Hi I just want to show off my ability to occasionally work with perspective and try to design things ahead of time

Buildings are hard

For the possum's name how about Hambone?

Thu, 02 May 2013 22:11:08 -0400

Okay that’s PRETTY ADORABLE

Sometimes I just randomly get an idea that I have to spew onto...

Thu, 02 May 2013 20:00:54 -0400

Don't ask about the symbol on the book IT SEEMED GENERICALLY MAGIC-Y OKAY DON'T JUDGE

Yup that's febreeze

Sometimes I just randomly get an idea that I have to spew onto paper for a couple days even though I’m not 100% sure what it even is.

The cat zombie’s name is Travesty and the bird’s name is Edgar. The jawless possum is my favourite but I haven’t come up with a name for it yet.

I wanted to make sure Altalamatox got to see this before I put...

Thu, 02 May 2013 10:00:46 -0400

I wanted to make sure Altalamatox got to see this before I put it up here. C: Fanart of two of her characters, Morgan and Magda. Morgan is a master shapeshifter who enjoys e v e r y t h i n g more than he should with something that probably usually looks like evil glee but is more like the joy of a giant puppy who can turn into a dragon whenever it wants, and Magda is his best friend who is more polite to most people than she really wants to be and also more powerful than she looks and also keeps Morgan grounded. Somehow.

I tried to sum up their relationship in a picture.

Altalamatox draws lots of awesome things and delightful characters over here on her DeviantArt page and I really love her work a lot. If you poke around in her gallery you might see some familiar faces because she was awesome and decided to get me back for the gift art. >u>

So a friend sent me this link because my friends now just send...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:00:59 -0400

So a friend sent me this link because my friends now just send me anything that has Frollo or a lisp in it as a matter of principle, AND WHILE IT’S NEAT wow I couldn’t stop being irked by the way everything interesting got removed from these characters. Everyone is the same body type, and the same age, and THEY ALL LOST THEIR INTERESTING NOSES. :C

In between work stuff I wanted to see if I could do a different take on this idea — make the character as conventionally attractive as possible while changing as little as possible.

Frollo basically looks like Jonan’s father, oops. The Queen of Hearts is my favourite! Facilier was really hard because he’s already the sexiest character Disney’s ever created? Hades was really hard because he is one exaggeratedly ugly-ass caricature of a human. I don’t think I pushed Jafar far enough but he was fun! Ursula was A CHALLENGE because I have never drawn someone that looks like her before.

Tempted to give some of them another try, but for now THIS IS THE BEST I COULD DO. c:

NostalgiaQuest: Dr. Khat / King Khat (DragonBoy) Drawing all my...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:00:39 -0400

NostalgiaQuest: Dr. Khat / King Khat (DragonBoy)

Drawing all my characters, from middle school on, in their latest incarnation, from memory.

In the grand tradition of Brainy Guy Who Is Too A Little Too Interested In Weird Artefact Probably Becomes A Villain, King Khat was originally a geeky researcher of Egyptian relics and artefacts who kiiiind of ended up stealing something from someone’s collection and then got really excited that this could make him an actual godlike pharaoh. I don’t remember…what he wanted? Like…… was he taking over the world, or…?

I’m really really pleased with this picture of him, but it’s technically inaccurate because I legitimately didn’t acknowledge that guys have nipples until sometime in my college career.

I wanted to thank you for your d&d advice. Found a board and started playing a solo adventure with one of the DMs. Also, I think I may have nabbed a few ideas for a project I'm working on from Runewriters ... I hope you don't mind?

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 23:27:30 -0400

Aw, sweet! I HOPE IT IS LOADS OF FUN! :”D

But naw, if you get ideas and get inspired I don’t feel like I have any right to stand in your way! As long as you’re not SWIPING THE SETTING WHOLESALE — I mean, heck, I was pretty heavily inspired by a friend’s homebrew tabletop setting when creating Runewriters in the first place. My philosophy is that you can’t help being inspired, but you gotta do your own thing with the ideas that you get. :”) So do that, and go with my blessing!

NostalgiaQuest: Roxanne Vulpina and Mirondak (DragonBoy) Drawing...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:00:44 -0400

NostalgiaQuest: Roxanne Vulpina and Mirondak (DragonBoy)

Drawing all my characters, from middle school on, in their latest incarnation, from memory.

Oh man time for me to ramble about old characters that I’m inexplicably still excited about!!

Roxanne and Mirondak are aliens and partners! THEY FIGHT CRIME no actually they are part of an interdimensional organisation called the Anti-Antichrist Organisation which is dedicated to preventing absurdly overpowered entities from taking over worlds in all dimensions.

Mirondak’s species can’t lie for some reason. Because lying is completely foreign to them it STANDS OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB when other creatures do it, so he is basically a living lie detector. Sarcasm confuses him because it is obviously untrue but doesn’t ping as a lie.

Roxanne is sarcastic and sassy and exactly as Jessica Rabbit Sexy as she looks. She basically operates on deceit and feminine wiles and handles all the more sensitive parts of the job where Mirondak’s inability to do anything but tell the whole truth would make a mess. She can also turn into a tiny fox for some reason???

They’re on earth and investigating Kamaro because their radar says that SOME kind of absurdly powerful being is messing around in this world and maybe it’s the random blue kid with a door to the dragon dimension in his basement?

This sounds exactly like a highschooler invented it and I still can’t hate this story because it just kind of keeps on being absurd and I sort of love that.