A few days ago I was up ridiculously late, and I was inspired by the stark, rich visual poetry of barren branches silhouetted against a clear predawn sky.

​I wanted to create something like that in my next symmetrical pattern, and this was the result:

​The original version of this had no stars, but it felt a bit incomplete to me, so I added the stars at the last minute.

You'd think drawing all these snowflakes would be slowing down production of Just Cause, but it's actually sped it up considerably; after only 19 days of work, I'm just two panels away from finishing the next 53-panel page.

Having this bit of variety helps to extend my attention span and keep me from getting bored of drawing the same type of thing all the time, which has increased the amount of time I spend on my art overall.

​Because I'm drawing the snowflakes at such high resolution, it often takes Krita so long to complete each stroke that I have time to work on my comic in Photoshop while I'm waiting for it to load.

All in all, I'm really glad I discovered this new hobby.

​I wanted to try a different look for my latest snowflake – something harsher, harder-edged, and with more straight lines instead of gentle curves. I also planned for it to have a bit more of a synthetic, technological feel.

One of the first things I decided was that I wanted to use the “stained glass” filter in Photoshop for the background, and while it took a bit of tinkering to get the size and shape I wanted for the “glass cells”, I think it complements the snowflake well.

I’d originally wanted the lines of the cells to be whiter, but once I drew the snowflake I concluded that that would’ve been a bit too much white, so I decided not to make that change.

One of my favorite things about this design is how the gradient makes different aspects of the border decorations pop, depending on what shade they’re being contrasted with.

You can see the other symmetrical patterns I've created here.

I swear, this is the snowflakes' fault for being so fun to draw.
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​I wanted to try a different color scheme this time, so I started with yellow on green. It made me think of a forest fire, so I added some brown trunks to go with it, and dappled the green background.

The sparks were my mother's idea, and I think they make a great addition.

I've added it to my Society6 store, and you can see some examples of products adorned with this pattern below:
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It's been a productive week! I drew two new symmetrical patterns, and added them to my Society6 store.

This was my first experiment with using a golden frame to enclose the gem-like shapes my favorite Krita brush makes.

I was originally planning to make it more intricate, but I didn't have a clear mental map of how it was going to look, so I just let it evolve as I drew, and this is how it turned out.

Here are a few items I think this pattern looks especially pretty on:
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Throw pillows
Rectangular pillows
Wall murals
Wall clocks
Duvet covers
iPhone Skins
Shower Curtains
Tote Bags
Can Coolers
Backpacks
Metal Prints
Laptop & iPad Skins

You can see a preview of these items below:

I was watching Frozen, and it made me want to draw a snowflake. A few hours and several repetitions of various versions of Let It Go later, the snowflake is drawn, and I LOVE it; it's probably the most polished-looking pattern I've created so far.

I knew I wanted to have some smaller, blurrier snowflakes in the background, but for the frame, I was torn between snow clouds and an aurora.

I'd recently seen another artist's drawing of a night-themed horse whose mane resembled a midnight snowfall with clouds, and it was mesmerizing, so that was a big temptation. But auroras were a repeating event in Frozen, and I liked the way my experiments with them looked, so I decided to stay on-theme.

This pattern was a departure from my previous ones, in that I decided to try letting the spokes overlap a bit. In my other patterns, I kept the spokes much more separate, so I wanted to try something different this time, and I love the way it turned out.

Here are a few items I think this pattern looks especially cool on:

Framed Mini Art Prints
Throw Pillows
Rectangular Pillows
Wall Murals
Wall Clocks
Duvet Covers
Travel Mugs
Tote Bags
Shower Curtains
​Bar Stools
Fanny Packs
Coffee Mugs

You can see a preview of these items below:

Page 42 of my Undertale fan comic, Just Cause, is finally ready! You can read the comic from the beginning here.
 

Poor kid. Video game logic is confusing and cruel when it suddenly applies in real life.
 
Fun fact: I actually completely rewrote the script for this scene before I started drawing it. The first version felt too much like a cross between filler and an overview, and didn't reveal enough about the world for my taste.
 
I think this version does a better job of introducing Frisk to parts of the world they hadn't previously known about, and revealing bits of their mindset and past.
 
It also introduced me to the dilemma of how to show that a character is holding their breath, haha. *Resorts to spelling it out*

To support me as an artist, and to get exclusive access to the written fanfiction version of page 43 and other cool rewards, please consider becoming a patron on Patreon!

If you want me to draw something specific for you, check out my commissions page.

And if you'd like to get my art on your pillows, mugs, blankets, furniture and more, take a look at my store on Society6!

Page 40 of Just Cause is here! *Party blower noises*
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​Poor Frisk. They're not the most optimistic of emotionally battered little kids, so Toriel's motherly behavior confuses them deeply, and it's all to easy for them to jump to the worst possible conclusions.

When I was first writing this scene, I ran into a bit of a dilemma: if they'd been left to their own devices, Frisk's fear and desire not to upset Toriel would've kept them in that room until she returned, which would have brought the plot to a standstill and prevented some key scenes.

That being the case, I needed to give them a bit of a push, so... Flowey to the rescue!

(Seriously, Toriel, was it really worth leaving them alone?)

To support me as an artist, and to get exclusive access to the prose version of page 41 and other cool rewards, please consider pledging $1/month or more on Patreon.

As promised, here's the second round of Inktober art!

Today's picture is a stranded starfish trying to make its way home. As with the previous one, this was drawn in pen while my sister and I were driving to a family reunion.
 
It was inspired partly by the ongoing analogy in My Fugitive, whose protagonist based her mindset and values heavily on the story of a man who, upon finding thousands of starfish stranded on the beach, started throwing them into the sea.
 
Another man saw him doing this and commented, "You know, it doesn't matter how many you throw; you'll never be able to save them all."
 
The first man smiled at him, picked up another starfish, and tossed it into the ocean. "It mattered to that one."

Today's Inktober drawing was inspired by the Willow Maid in this gorgeous song, and is brought to you by the HUGE FREAKING KUDOS I give to people who can draw in marker and not end up with a bunch of unwanted lines and colors overlapping in the wrong places.

Sadly, I didn't have time to add a background before I had to run out the door - the whole thing was kind of a rush job - but when/if the mood strikes me, I might make a better version of this, probably digitally. ​

​I was planning to draw something dramatic, complex and touching for today's Inktober theme, but then I got let down twice in just a few hours, so here's this silly piece of TMI-ish vent art instead.

I'll draw my other idea another day, when I have time to do it justice instead of having to rush out the door like I did after drawing this.

​The clock keeps turning backward, and Sans just wants it to stop. But the power to stop it will always be in someone else's hands.

​Today's Inktober is a quickly-drawn ode to my weak time management, the lack of an "undo" button on markers, the fact that I have a steadier hand while drawing digitally than traditionally, and my apparent capacity to forget the presence of collarbones and thus put the neck tendons in the wrong place when I'm distracted by my minor cheekbone disaster. :P

On the upside, drawing traditionally DOES force me to tone down on the nitpicking, adapt to my mistakes instead of simply undoing them (the striped shirt hides the fact that one shoulder's line was in the wrong place), and finish the picture in a more reasonable amount of time than I would if I had an undo button to enable the perfectionism I'm working to overcome.

It also gives me this chance to internally chuckle at the fact that the panel with the difficult perspective turned out better than the one in an easy pose, haha. Granted, I did the latter without a sketch, because I was deliberately trying to get this one done quickly so I'd have time to work on Just Cause.

I'm participating in Inktober this month! Here are my first seven entries:

This is a scene from my novel, Catgirl Roommate, in which Nyla the catgirl was not allowed to steal Sam's mint because she'd already had hers, so she decided to take her mint-acquiring needs into her own hands... by chewing the lid off of Sam's mouthwash.

It did not end well.

For that matter, neither did drawing this picture; it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to. I guess that's what I get for trying to hand-draw something at print resolution.

​Photoshop hardcore SUCKS at drawing long, smooth lines without a pen tool, and I had to zoom in so far just to get a smooth line that I couldn't properly see what it would look like zoomed-out while I was drawing. I used the pen tool for some of the lines, but having to use it for almost ALL the lines really kills the fun, at least for me.

I tried a couple of my other art programs, but they kept on failing at basic tasks until I got heartily sick of working on this picture, haha.

At least day 2 turned out better; I drew that one at a more reasonable size.

Inktober's kind of been holding up the production of the next page of Just Cause, so I decided it was time to kill two birds with one stone and use today's entry to do the lineart for one of the panels.

Today's theme is "spell", so... Undyne's magic energy spears count as a spell, right?

​The monster towers over her, ready to impale her on its icy claws... and Wigfrid is already drooling over the small butcher's shop worth of meat she's about to carve out of this thing.

This piece was very experimental in several ways:

1. Drawing in white on a black background.

2. Using the same color for both the outlines and the highlights, and trying not to give Wigfrid a mustache and beard in the process.

3. Using a 1 pixel brush for most of the picture, as opposed to my usual 2 or 3 pixels. Photoshop doesn't have very good anti-aliasing (the thing that stops lines from looking jagged) for 1 pixel brushes, so the lines were rougher than usual as a result.

4. Foregoing some of my usual artistic crutches, such as the Zoom In tool and the Pen tool. Once again, this resulted in rougher lines, but it was also more fun and hands-on, and it forced me to give myself some leeway not to make all the lines perfectly smooth. I think I'm going to do this more often in my side projects, though I'll stick with smooth lines for Just Cause.

5. Using widely-spaced lines for weaker shading as opposed to low-opacity brushes. This is an area where I definitely have room for improvement, since I have next to no experience with it, but it was interesting to stretch myself that way for this picture.

There are more Inktober entries coming, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, if you want to be the first to see my completed art, and to get exclusive access to works in progress, please consider supporting me on Patreon.
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If you want me to draw something specific for you, visit this page to get the pricing and details for my commissions.

And if you want to get my art on your pillows, mugs, blankets, clothing and more, go here to see my physical merch.