Process Log ✧₊⁺

feeling very weak from my cold but hit an exciting milestone with the first sprite being completed today! So cool to see it in the room in playtesting, it's starting to feel like a real game.

switched over to finish the base paint coats for the orb shop bc I caught a cold and didnt feel like drawin today (* ´ ﹃｀*) It was relaxin to turn my brain off a little, and satisfying to see it all pink now hehe.

ughhhh colds make me feel so beat up, probs gonna spend the rest of the day laying down and blowing my nose lol.

Finished coloring the background and I'm so pleeeaaseeedd!! Took a lot of time on it, and really wanted to eminate a little of the shading style from the Lucky Star backgrounds while blending it with my own. I think I'm going to bring this style into the rest of the bgs for Winter Arc. ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

my soul left my body for this bg i need to lay down

After completing some backgrounds for the game today took a break by exploring the net to find references. And OMG finding furniture catalogs from 2008 is fricken HARD XD but after digging I found one!! It's a PDF, so amazing but I will keep on the hunt i still need livingroom stuff.

Yattaaaaaa! Completed Ayumi's full turnaround!! Really locked in for this one to do it properly without cutting corners. Since it's a dating sim the character art really needs to shine since the players have to see a ton of it lol. And trying to get better at consistent design not straying too far from the original concept. It also helps me reference what kind of methods i used to color certain parts because I'm still solidifying what my go to techniques are. I think I'll come back to this later to add some expressions for her on the empty right side.

her story is coming along nicely, I can't wait for everyone to get to know her! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

Anywayssss really happy with her design I think it came out great!

Sidenote it's actually been rainy, thank GOD I've been craving my fall cozy weather!!

Ayumi's turnaround is coming out nicely! Braids are harrrrddddd lol i learned a lot. For the hands i had to take a ref pic of my own, they're eh I'm ok with it.

also WHY IS IT 100+ DEGREES EVERYDAY FOR THE PAST WEEK ITS FRICKEN OCTOBER

Switching things up today, working on the character sheet for Ayumi from our Winter Arc project. There's 5 girls total, so decided to work on the one whose design I was most clear and drawn to so far. She's a Librarian, who is shy, quirky, and earnest. Oh yeah also decided her full name today, Ayumi Hoshikawa, with the kanji being 歩 (to walk, journey to) & 星川 (starry river).

The fix for the wheel area was actually super easy, just a thin peice of chipboard to hide the innards. Sealed whole thing with matte modge podge to get ready for paint. Excited! ◝(ᵔᵕᵔ)◜ The paint stage always makes it hit home the object I'm working on that was once is digital is becoming real.

Finished color matching the wallpapered walls as well, it too a few layers of copics + colored pencil to get the shades just right. Flooring isn't visible in the game so using wood because the little shelf selling ledge thing is wood. For the windows using this holographic vinyl, it works just perfectly in my opinion to stay in the color range with some whimsical pink/gold tints! Hard to pick up on camera.

Next stage is mixing the paint for that shade of pink and asembling some of the hard to reach areas. Having a blast honestly lol (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶) ‹𝟹

The structure is coming along! Using craft foam is working really well to take the diveting and scoring for the lines. And it has that chunky look I was hoping for. Using wood inside to keep it sturdy. The tires took a couple tries, I wanted to keep the low poly look instead of making them perfectly round. to get the smoother cuts I had to glue the two layers before cutting and nip marks in the sides for the traction texture.

Pretty happy with them! I have to figure out now if they will play nice with the inner flooring or if a workaround has to be made heheh we'll see ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

New project! Making a miniature model of the orb shop from Mario Party 7. I want to make a couple of the other orb shops too (especially the windmill map one) but started with this one because it's my faaaaave ✮ I've made it my mission to make minatures of some of my favorite in game items and structures, it's shocking to me how little of some of these are archived online! Like for the reference photos for this orb shop there was like a single photo lol. I had to search for playthrough vids and pause them. I can't wait to have it on my shelf immortalized as a tribute!

Here's a pic of the beginning drafting and cutting the structure. WInging it as usual with as little math as possible lmao.

I can't shake this innate feeling that I've reconnected to something within me so so important to the core of my being. somewhere amongst the ever muddying waters of the internet changing as I grew up, it seemed to separate me from this core of light that refreshes my soul.  i remember now, how vital it is to my existence to directly connect to what i make with my hands and my mind. to express myself with reckless abandon. to see what the inside of my inner world looks like when it's brought into reality. to share these small pieces of me with people I love. to show them to strangers and top revel when it resonates with something similar within them too.

how scary that i didn't notice the gradual separation from this part of being human. but how exhilarating to find it again. i want to hold it close and make sure i cherish it. i want to explore it to it's deepest and fullest. i don't want to get distracted with the idea of desperately trying to get others to do the same. what sounds so real to me is to just be my true, unbridled, authentic self in my creations. and if that reminds someone they can do the same that is more than enough for me.♡

Deleted insta off my phone. I feel freeeeeee!! ✮ It feels much better to check it on my computer to see what memes my friends have sent me. I'm feeling more creative again. It's making me ponder if I can keep it this way...and be ok with sharing my art on here and to people in person. idk feeling hopeful and wistful at the same time. ┐(´ー｀)┌

Working on Halo's datasheet art first because she and Gen are my current faves. ✮

Omg I'm so excited to start this log!! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡ It'll be so nice to get organized and document making each of the CAPTCHAgirl pieces! I really put my soul into them, but get it gets chaotic and messy lol.

I don't really know where to start since I've already designed 5 models so far, so maybe it's best to just start with the first one I made a few months ago. This is Cyne! As of today I'm still coding her database page, where you'll be able to read all about her details and personality. c: But in this post I'll just cover what I did to create her travel photocard. Here's some pics:

I'll get into some of the salvaged bits she's made of!

✦ Pupils made from gold microchip pins

✦ Labels from various parts inside old HP laptop

✦ Screws held laptop together

✦ Mesh divider from inbetween computer layers

✦ Keychain dangle made from keyboard innards

✦ Art materials used: colored pencil, alcohol markers, gold paint pen, sakura liner pens

Cyne's art card is very special to me because she's what inspired me to make my busted highschool laptop into something new that could live on, instead of just dumping it at the E-waste center. She was adopted last month at one of my events, and it made me to happy to know she and a piece of my childhood is out there on a new adventure! (╥ ω ╥)♡

After making her, I was addicted to how fun it was. Then woopssss now I'm totally absorbed with this project making as many new models as I can lol. Anyways if you got this far thank you for readin' about a lil part of my soul. Can't wait to make more updates!♫