CUPdate 44: Small Update

I have a pretty small update for this week. May has been super busy in my personal and work life, so I haven't really had time to draw.

For this month's digital sketchbook, I was just playing around with some color palettes and styles for Sagun to figure out the design. I decided to go with the one that's larger on the left.

It was my friend Laura's birthday, so I drew her characters Banana and Belle!

I also went to a baseball game, so I did some quick gesture drawings.

And that's it! I have a pretty busy summer up ahead, so I'm not really expecting any big updates until the fall.

CUPdate 28: Stage 1 of the IGMC Project Wrapping Up

So for this CUPdate, I mostly worked on my game more for the IGMC2022! I've been making a lot of progress on the first stage of the game and tried to get most of that finalized by this CUPdate so I could present as much of it as possible before it's finished (which is the goal for the next CUPdate!).

I started out this CUPdate by finishing some character art. I made digital drawings of all of the character portraits. I started with at least one drawing of each of them, then built off of that to make all of the expressions that I needed.

Then I started to work on the dialogue system. I set some things up in RPG Maker and set up the ink dialogue system. Then I wrote the whole first stage of the game (besides one character path). I made a bunch of branching story paths and wrote it all in Ink! This was my first time writing something this in-depth directly in Ink, so it was fun to fully utilize this powerful plugin. I really love it for longer story-focused games, so this was the perfect time for me to use it and test its full potential. I ended up writing a lot throughout the week (~3000 lines).

The transition from Ink to RPG Maker went fairly smoothly and it was honestly maybe my favorite part. It just felt so good seeing everything come together and working with more simple switches and variables to progress the story. I've been working so much on setting everything up with more complex code that I forgot what it was like to do the more simple parts! Those parts wouldn't have been possible without all of the setup I've been doing though, so it paid off!

Then I started to figure out the UI for all of the stages of the game. I used my initial concepts and added color to them so I could start to figure out what I wanted to do with them.

And then I finalized the UI and imported it into the game. Here's my first official final screenshot:

While working on the UI, I made the menu for the game. I wanted to keep it simple and really only include information that would be needed. Right now it's entirely mouse-based, but one of my wishlist tasks is to see if I can make controller/keyboard support too. Not sure if I'll get there, but maybe!

Then I worked on making some sound effects to replace some of the default ones. I plan to come back and make more, but there's at least something there for the minimums now!

And then I made the transition scenes to the second stage of the game. The writing for that is done and I have basic events working in RPG Maker, I just need to make the art so it all comes together. I'm having some trouble with plugins not working well together, so I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with the text boxes for the second stage of the game, since my original plan isn't working out as intended. I might end up using more manual coding of window positions than a plugin since I couldn't get them to work well together, or might just stick with something a little more simplified.

So for my next CUPdate post, I hope to have this game finished and playable!

Amelia Expression Studies

For October's Improvement Movement, the theme is expressions! I decided to get a headstart on this one and did a few extras. I decided to stick with Amelia, since I don't have a lot of various expression drawings of her yet.

These ones I polished a bit more and ended up being the final group.

This was the first group that I decided to leave pretty rough, just as some additional ideas I had while doodling.

More NADs: Poproy and Handew

Some more NAD drawings that I've had time to do on weekends in the summer!

Poproy is a very well-known hero in Somi who always fends off against attackers. He is very powerful, but is defeated by Ducklin, in order to save his beloved son Piko. He is very close with his wife Siubo and his son Piko, so the family would often train together and grow stronger as a family. Poproy trained under Wes, a well-known legend in PS World, which explains where his immense strength came from. Though, because of Poproy's strength, his village is often in danger of challengers wanting to face him. He's very humble and doesn't like to show off his strength, but when his family and fellow villagers are in danger, he doesn't hesitate to show his true power.

Handew is a polite and studious young boy who always asks questions for clarification. He's not very good with technology and usually runs into technical difficulties whenever using computers. Handew is often a bystander and follows along with the group. He's one of Waga's wings, so he's constantly asking him questions, though he wouldn't dare talk back or talk out of turn when around him. Handew is a very obedient kid and it often weighs down on his self-confidence level due to never standing up for himself.

Clove's Poses

This month's Improvement Movement challenge was to draw a character in a bunch of different poses, so I chose Clove! I also wanted to draw her in costumes that she wears throughout the series.

Here's the final sheet

And then this is the process!

Nays Characters Being Born

It's crazy to think we've finally gotten to years where characters in The Nays are being born. Only another 58 years until the actual story begins!

I drew this on Ginko's birthday!

I doodled the Ragger twins' kid selves during my lunch break on their birthday.

First Nay-A-Day Drawings of 2019!

Wow, I guess it's been a while since I drew any NADs. So here are the first few of the year.

Valentina is Amelia's embarrassing mother who always treats her much younger than she is. She often babies Amelia and calls her "her baby" in public, and will hug Amelia in front of her friends. Valentina is very self-centered and often doesn't care what others think. She is demanding and always wants things done her way. Valentina doesn't like to reason with people. She is very strict and thinks she can decide what Amelia can and can't do, and will order her to follow her demands.

Del is a dedicated young woman who was trained by Daymo when she was younger. Since then, she's broken away from Outlaw Bar and pursued work at Mantra. Del specializes in stealth and often accepts jobs where she can exercise this specialty. She likes to talk a lot and makes friends very easily, which is why she's very well-liked throughout Mantra.

Improvement Movement: Gif Turnaround

Barely finished April's Improvement Movement prompt in time! This one was probably the most difficult so far since it involved a lot of drawings and keeping a character on model. I chose Zandra since she's easy to draw!

So here's the final gif!

And then this is a process gif to show a bit of the process. I ended up just erasing lines on the original sketch layer to clean it up so I don't have quite the whole process documented, but still fun to look at!

New Characters

Because I don't have enough already.

I don't know who she is, but this design just came to mind so I sketched her. I'll find a place for her someday.

Here's a quick doodle of what Xiyu might look like! She's Zev's mother and Kai's aunt who lives on the Rapturous Continent.

Bram & Muyo

I recently rewrote an old Eventure and decided to re-design Bram and Muyo for when they come back as World Officials of New Lady World.

This is what Bram looks like when she comes back as a World Official in the War on Mr Dude World Eventure.

And then this is what Muyo looks like as a World Official of New Lady World!

Re-Designing The Nays

I've been doing some character re-designs.

I decided to re-design Eather today since I didn't really like how her old design looked. I'm going with something like the top left one.

Thinking about demon skin tones and trying to figure out one that works best. I'm still kind of leaning towards the original one, honestly (the far right). The orangish one and gray ones are also top contenders though.

Val Character Re-Design

So Val is a character I made up a long time ago, but never actually did anything with or really had a design for her. She was just a character in Clove's past and didn't have a whole lot of personality or backstory. So I went ahead and created an Eventure about her and developed her much more!

For her design, I created a character in DB Xenoverse 2 and based it from there.

Here's the original concept based on her design in DB Xenoverse 2.

A typical day with Clove, Jibu, and Val during their childhood. This is a scene from the Clove Retrieval Eventure.

New Clothes for The Nays

I was thinking about what clothes demons would wear other than their uniforms.

I made some new clothing designs for Akuma!

These clothes are pretty similar to Snull's old clothes, but she also doesn't seem like she'd want to change it up very often. I'm thinking this could be how she looks after the Death Finale Eventure.

Clothes Variation Sketches

Some quick sketches I did during lunch breaks or before work.

I was thinking of some new clothes ideas for Jibu and came up with this one.

It's been very cold in the Midwest. This is how I've been dressing indoors.

Beginning of the Improvement Movement: Age Progression

So I'm doing a throwback to an old project from Summer 2012 called the Improvement Movement. Some friends are joining me in doing monthly prompts so we can keep working on concepts and developing our personal stories.

This is an age progress for Zandra! 

The story points include:

• Age 1: Her grandfather Oleg loses her while he's babysitting, so she begins living with her other grandfather Rocko.
• Age 5: Rocko starts to teach her how to fight, while under his care.
• Age 10: She returns to live with her parents Jaboo and Cassie, and first enters The Worlds. This is how she looks at the very beginning of The Nays.
• Age 18: Her current day-self as of right now. This is during the World Leader Exam times when she's becoming close friends with Yaguzi.
• Age 25: When The Nays travel to the future, they see this Zandra: her future self from Clove's timeline.
• Age 35 - Age 80: I haven't actually made any of these in the story itself, but they're ideas of how she might end up looking!

You can find the website for our Improvement Movement project here, but for now, this is the only entry I've done (since it's still the first month)!

Here's a process gif for this one!

Sketchbook Eventure Planning

I planned out some places, costumes, and characters before writing recent Eventures.

These were concepts for a new character named Fabiana. The bottom right image on the second sheet is what I decided her final look will be based on.

Some initial concept sketches to plan out what Rasake and Matoko's wedding area looks like. Also their wedding clothes.

First 2019 Sketches

This is my first post (besides the first drawing) that has drawings I've done this year!

This is my first time digitally drawing Fabiana! I drew her once in my sketchbook, but I tried to recreate that drawing digitally so I could practice drawing her and figure out a color scheme.

I decided to design some new clothes for what Trekkon could've been wearing when he first joined Death, but before he's officially initiated into the Death Association.

Character Development

Some character design work that I've done recently!

I'm implementing a character creator into a side game that I've been working on for fun. I've been meaning to try this out for awhile now.

I was thinking about what Arctic would look like back when he was a bird-in-training, and his younger years.

Themed NADs

I don't do the Nay-A-Day project nearly as much as I used to, but these two were done specifically for events of May! Aquina was for Mermay and Roxy was for Mother's Day.

Roxy is Matoko's enthusiastic mother who is wanted for high-profile crimes in Sil. Once her husband died of a hereditary illness, she snapped and left her son in the care of her sister-in-law and ran off on her own. She's been on the run for awhile and is a wanted criminal throughout the entire World. Roxy cares deeply for Matoko, but because of her mental state, she wasn't able to raise him on her own. In fact, she's barely even kept in touch with him. Roxy feels that she doesn't deserve to be Matoko's mother after all that she's done, so she intentionally distances herself, thinking it's for the best. She's not emotionally stable, and even though she is very lonely, she doesn't want to hurt him.

Aquina is a very talkative mermaid who can leave the water if she holds onto her Aqua Pearl. If she lets go of it, she shrivels up within minutes, so she tries not to wander off too far away from water. Aquina hates violence and is always trying to make peace. She is sometimes too needy, so Zandra slowly distances herself from her, thought they were once close friends. Aquina loves to swim in the ocean, and is very open to teaching her friends how to swim alongside her.

Amelia's Fancy Clothes

There are some points in my story that I have planned where Amelia dresses up, so I wanted to take some time to design what her clothes might look like when she does this. 

At first, I was thinking she might just wear the same clothes for both occasions, but I liked how both of these designs came out, so she's gonna switch it up! I did this kind of in a similar style to The Nays Clothes Project, but only with these two. I'm sure she gets tons of other outfits throughout the series, but I just wanted to focus on these two for now.

I also did some other concepts at first (not finished coloring), but I decided not to go with these ones.