#Redrawing old stuff from that old sketch book

[inkabelledesigns]

February 4th of 2023 marks the thirteen year anniversary of when I started my first sketchbook. So to celebrate, I decided to redraw the first OC that ever went in that original book: Hearts. I’m about to get really sappy under the cut.

I’m really bad at remembering dates, but this one sticks out in my mind. I remember being on my bed doodling this out, excited to finally throw something down on the page. At the time, one of my best friends had drawn Hearts out, but it wasn’t quite as I had envisioned her. I had been frustrated that I couldn’t articulate my vision, so naturally, stubborn 13 year old me decided the only way to get there was to learn to draw for myself. I uh, didn’t quite hit the mark for a long time, but this first sketch was important. Little did I know it was gonna take me on a journey that would last for so long (and is still ongoing)!

Hearts was a Sonic fan character originally. A baby blue hedgehog with pyrokinesis, defender of a world known as Planet Paradise and the leader of a resistance against a tyrannical king. She never met up with Sonic, they didn’t really exist in the same world, the visual style was just the same in my mind, and the stories were reminiscent of things I liked in the Sonic stories. The secret royalty backstory from Sonic Underground, the Werehog phase of Sonic Unleashed, the interstellar wonders of Sonic Colors (whose soundtrack I listened to all throughout drawing this tonight), it was all there. She was my whole world as a middle schooler.

Nowadays, I’ve re-imagined her to fit in what became of my other former Sonic project, Tales of Sunburst City, a world full of elemental heroes rising up against Tumult, leader of the Anti-Sync, to protect their home and the elements of nature. I think Hearts would work well as a fire elemental with hedgehog attributes. She’s sassy, she’s punk, but she’s always there to lend a hand. I can see her getting along with main protagonist Vibrance Echo very well.

I haven’t worked on her story in years. I had someone in middle school who kept stealing my book and inserting their stuff into mine without consent to make their characters the heroes of my stories, and another person who would also steal it and graffiti all over my art. It made me feel the need to keep it under wraps for a long time. I took forever to open up about my stories, and to improve as an artist. I got bullied within my fandom for not being very good at my craft (especially when I asked for help, I was laughed at), and because as someone who was pretty obviously bad at reading social situations/on spectrum, I was an easy target. That would go on from middle school all the way to college online. But I was determined through it all to become the best artist I could be and love my work. I had dreams of working on something for SEGA someday.

Look at where I am now. I’m standing here after 13 years, and finally, I’ve gotten somewhere. For one thing, I finally drew her hair the way I wanted it! X’‘‘D It took forever to figure out, but we did it, I’m so proud of that! But for another, look at where I’ve ended up as a person. I finally feel comfortable sharing my stories with my friends, and not only do they listen, but they’re interested in what I have to say. They encourage me to keep going. They’re there to help me when I get stuck, and I’ve learned so much from them that’s improved my art and writing game, especially in this last year. From nutcrackers to Bendy, I have a place where I’m happy and fulfilled. Thank you to my friends, you light up my life in so many ways, words can’t do it justice. <3 And it doesn’t matter if a hundred people or just a few see my stuff, I’m learning to love it and make it just for me. I’m closer now to creating the things I want than I ever have been before, overcoming the fear to just be myself. I have hope that maybe I can in fact write my books and tell my stories.

And it’s not just one art form where my skills have improved. It’s been noticeable across all my mediums. I have a bunch of new horizons that are being explored. I’ve gotten some cool voice roles that I never would’ve fathomed years ago. I tried cosplaying for the first time (in private, not ready to be public with that). I have improved on my dolls so much. And my digital illustration has been so much better! I’m getting better at using references, and my lip and nose game? Top notch! I even got to use some of my graphic design and illustration skills to help with the very first Bendy Fambassadors project! That still feels like a dream, the fact that I got to work with the voice actors for one of my favorite game series is AMAZING, and the fact that I can call some of them my friends and say I’m getting to know them as people? That’s the coolest thing ever! I’m so much more confident than I used to be, I finally proved to myself that I could do it. I am an artist, I belong here amongst the people whose work I look up to. I am amazing, I am beautiful, I am kind, I am compelling, I am FREE!

To all the artists out there that are insecure and finding their way, I can say with full confidence, it DOES get better. Yeah, I still have days where I crumble and fall apart, where nothing looks right and I’m in agony over my creations. But they aren’t the same as they used to be. You are the master of your own ship. Chart your course and weather the storm, take that high seas adventure! Find yourself somewhere along the way. There is so much treasure waiting for you, and you will find it. I’m a first believer that anyone can be artist. We can be so much more. Don’t be afraid to go out there and reach for the stars. You’ve got this!

#my art #oc art #sonic oc #hearts #some damn good art #art anniversary #illustration #oc #sketchbook #anniversary

[olde-scratch]

needed an art dump for all my (admittedly not very good) sketches for souichi from my saiki k/junji ito crossover so heres his house layout

and no it's not harsh black on white its ao3 dark mode colors (very pleasing to the eye) so u don't need to worry abt eyestrain

heres the whole house and its layout

i dont actually know if they would have a wall around their house, but i assume they would bc that seems like a staple in Japanese properties regardless of price. their yard is smaller than pictured, i just didn't wanna obscure it too much.

the house looks bad but it gives u a good idea of what it looks like so

in case u cant read my writing bc of the stabilizer, next to the tv in the 1st floor is the shrine. next to the stairs is the washer and dryer and then the bathroom.

the 2nd floor notes explain that the hallway is covered in various framed pictures of the tsujii family with a significant jump from right before fuchi's attack to after. (ill probably go more into depth if souichi ever brings anyone over, but souichi is normally smirking or obviously annoyed in most pics pre-fuchi, but just looks miserable or actually in pain in any after)

the attic. i havent decided whats up there, but ive decided that the door is locked and souichi stole the key. i might have mentioned that the house didn't have an attic, and i like that idea, so i think the attic's totally unuseable due to the insulation and stuff. souichi probably would have cleaned it up if he wasn't injured, but yk.

the downstairs is def inspired by the anime "inuyashiki" it's so heartwrenching i watched it twice and cried both times. highly recommend. it's basically if light yagami got turned into a robot alongside an old man and it's only 10 or 11 episodes but GOD im gonna make more references to it at some point.

souichi's bedroom

souichi’s the standing thingy while the other thingy standing against his wardrobe is that weird statue thingy he has which ive decided it a halloween prop he got and decided it was a hone onna he captured and sealed

for reference, souichi's about 5"4, but his hunch (which is probably more dramatic than shown) makes him seem a lot shorter. canonically, he's like 4"9-11 but everyone thought he was 5"4 so i figured i'd make him 5"4.

theres stuff in the bookshelf i just didnt feel like putting anything in there. the emptiness on top of the shelves and the actual shelf is intentional bc souichi cant comfortably reach them!! he also doesn't have that cloth over his light bc once again he can't reach it. that's also why his hone onna is propped between the dresser and the wardrobe rather than hanging, bc he couldn't put it up and no one helped him

i also hope that the proportions are right. souichi wouldn't be able to reach a top shelf within the wardrobe and i think he's a bit too tall in the second pic but u know what i mean

the thingy with the wheels by the door is actually a thingy i have irl! its got three levels of tiny shelves with abt 3 inch walls. i use it to store my sewing stuff and any fabric or yarn i need for current projects. its also a lot taller. (sorry that its blurry and the lines are thicker than the other stuff i had to resize and didn't feel like redrawing)

his wardrobe's got clothes in it, but i think his bookshelf would probably have a few books and then his dolls everywhere else. his kokkuri geisha is top-shelf and constantly berates him when he talks to it about giving it a proper place to sit. souichi can't move her tho bc her box is so heavy and no one wants to touch it anymore. (it was put there temporarily and misako and shuji kept putting off putting her elsewhere)

if anyone wants a closeup of any room just ask!! ive got heights for all the characters planned and i might sketch out some of the pictures on the walls

#saiki k #the disastrous life of saiki k #saiki no psi nan #souichis diary #souichi tsujii #just dont ask me to actually draw the characters #or anything with too much detail #i can sketch the characters enough to get the general idea down #and do more room angles #but dont ask me to do lineart. ever. #originally souichi had a window in his room where the shelf is but i realized his room placement wouldn't work with that #its just. very isolating.

[fuck-kirk]

Okay, remember how I said I was gonna redraw some of the stuff from my OLD sketch books? Well, here’s the first one!

I’ve always loved the idea of Dan meeting Dani and calling her “little phantom” in my head this is more of a post-redemption Dan…or at least a “not as much of an asshole as you could’ve been” Dan…as in. He’s still a asshole, but he has soft spots for certain people, and Dani is definitely one of them.

I think I’ve improved a lot…..I don’t want to talk about Dan’s legs in that first one. Wtf.

#mott txt #Danny phantom #dan phantom #Dani phantom #danny Fenton #I have a really cringe one I wanna redraw but the concept itself is just …. LMFAO #also I learned some basic human anatomy in the last like. 6 years. everyone clap #motts art

[earthbovndmisfit]

also yeah, i'm fully aware i still owe tons of responses to asks! i'd been gone for a while due to depression and other not-cool-at-all stuff from which i'm still working on recovering from. I'll slowly be getting to them over the days, and sorry to keep everyone who has sent in asks that i haven't replied to yet waiting!

all that aside, and bit unrelated but...... during those days I was feeling like utter crap, I was doing some digging around to keep my mind off things, and I think I've accidentally found what could might be Araki's most "recent" drawings of Speedwagon after the last panel Speeb was featured in in BT's manga. The pics I'm talking abt are from 2011, iirc. They are 2 pics too: one of young Spw and one of old Spw. The thing is that I don't know if they are old sketches that were simply re-used/re-purposed and that I didn't know about their existence yet, ORRRR if they are actual redraws, or if they were made by Araki himself, as they were featured in merch (merch sometimes uses different artists other than the author for merch art), however, the pics also emulate the manga style somewhat (the anime hadn't been released yet at the time, so gotta keep that in mind too). I also know some of the other art used for that merch piece (a deck/set of cards, actually) used already existing/released old sketches from the manga for other characters (those that were put in as pin-up pages in the manga books), so maybe these were unreleased sketches and they are actually old? idk

[susboi318116]

-Blog Introduction-

Feel free to call me WSL

Im currently 20 years old and go by he/him pronouns.

This blog has some stuff that shouldnt be seen by children so watch out if you'll be strolling around here

I will Tag anything that could be triggering and if I miss any please tell me

I am a dude who does fanart or art for my stories, I will also sometimes write fic's when I get some idea that actually gives me motivation enough to write all that stuff.

I may do a few grammar mistakes here and there because english isn't my main language

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I draw for fandoms such as- Obey me, Onmyoji, and My big bros(@rtlandcloset) stories, and bungou stray dogs.

There will be other fandoms I'll draw for but they won't be my main like the ones ontop

I also draw stuff for my stories. I will draw some of the scenes of my stories and post it here so check it out if your intrested.

I write for the same fandoms I draw for. Feel free to ask me any questions I dont mind. I also may do commisions or do a art raffle.

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Here are a list of tags I use-

#Wsl art tag (<-for my art)

#wsl anon radio station (<--for any ask I get)

#wsl podcast (<- when talking about my stories and its info)

#wsl finds hater (<- if I get hate lol)

#wsl teacher (<- when I awnser a question on my stories)

#wsl OC (<- when I post one of my characters I created)

#wsl rant (<-when I rant)

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MUTUAL

@anni1600 you get a little space in this post lol cus homies

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ART MASTERLIST

my first rhea fanart! ( rhea is @anni1600 obey me MC)

Fanart for friend!

rhea in pretty outfit part 2

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Obey me fanart-

Lucifer-

goofy luci doodle

lil sunday joke (with my mc senpai)

little luci doodle

luci I drew at 3AM

Idk why I did this...

Mamoney-

slight spoilers for obey me event

Happy birthday mam! (2022)

Levi-

Levichan

food for levi stans I guess

Satan-

*empty*

ASMO-

happy birthday asmo

Beel-

*empty*

Belphie-

*empty*

Dia-

random dancing dia doodle

dia drawing I did!

A prince throwing love at you!

dia for ant

Barb-

happy birthday barb! (2022)

barb (with yokai event outfit)

Simeon-

*empty*

Luke-

for now a luke doodle (with transperant background)

happy birthday luke! (2022)

Luke meme

babysitting (Ft. My oc senpai)

redraw

Solomon-

*empty*

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ONMYOJI FANART-

orochi-

orochi currently

idk why I drew this

Orochi drawing again...

some slight spoilers for millenial guard event

MORE orochi and susanoo(orosusa implied)

Some orosusa art I forgot to post

some random onmyoji thingy (orosusa implied)

orochi doodle

Susanoo-

Orochi drawing again (goofy susan appears in background)

some slight spoilers for millenial guard event

MORE orochi and susanoo(orosusa implied)

Some orosusa art I forgot to post

some random onmyoji thingy (orosusa implied)

onikiri-

*empty*

tama-

*empty*

shiki-

I drew shiki from memory (I failed so hard)

Susabi-

baby susabi

everybody else-

goofy izanagi

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MY STORIES ART-

the jester lazy doodle version

very lazy doodle of my story (lizue book)

the jesters daugther peak

my obey me MC senpai (yes I know what senpai means)

some OC of mine (blood TW)

a little doodle on my characters seras and mabel

bubbles

bubbles vs amongus(couldnt draw actual bad guy so amongus)

senpai and some of his friends

fengy and his ugly chicken pet

shiny bubbles

mabel in mirror realm

wilt

kidney

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FANART FOR MY BIG BRO'S BOOKS!

The red king (gif)

The pale king or TBH?

little sketch I did of yi

pale king and stars

baker moment (ft.peach)

peach and lots of pink

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BUNGOU FRUITY(STRAY) DOGS

Sigma-

first sigma art of mine

(miserable)sigma and flowers

sigma for esmiaras dtiys!

Dazai-

lazy chapter 109 doodle

CHUUYAAAA-

ugly chuuya art

My redemption art

Nikolai-

Bsd s5 episode 11 be like

Fyodor-

Bsd s5 episode 11 be like

#wsl pin post

[biolizardboils]

Crumpled Up Pages: Old Captain Underpants WIPs #1-4

The First Epic Movie turned 5 earlier this month, and I dug through some old folders to write this post about it. In the process, I found some fanfic ideas I’d written down, fleshed out a little, and then forgot about for years. So while hyperfixation still has its grip on me (and while there’s still some extra activity in the tag), I figured I’d finally set these dust bunnies free!

A few ground rules before this deep dive descends:

When I say “fleshed out a little,” I’m putting major emphasis on the “little.” Some of these docs contain detailed notes and snippets of dialogue, but others are just a title and a vague one-sentence summary. I’ll be transparent about what each one contains, and try to fill in the bigger gaps by memory.

If you were around for the CU Fandom Renaissance of 2017, some of the ideas here might sound familiar, ‘cus I refitted them into fanart and headcanon dumps that actually got posted. I’ll link to those where they’re relevant.

These were all written and abandoned months before a CU show was even announced, so there’s no Epic Tales content or characters in here. Sorry if you were expecting any!

I’m splitting this into two posts cus it was getting and taking too long. This first part will cover the 4 simplest, fluffiest WIPs; the second one will tackle the 6 sadder, more character-heavy ones. And with character-heavy stuff comes spoilers for the movie and books — especially the books. If you haven’t read all 12, you’re probably wondering why anyone would care about Captain Underpants spoilers. First off, your loss; second off, BEWARE!

And finally: if you write fanfiction and feel inspired to use any of these ideas? You have my permission to do so! Seriously, steal anything here and put your own spin on them! I don’t care much for credit, but if these old things help fuel someone else’s creativity, I’d love to know!

That’s enough prep, probably. Plug your nose!

WIP #1: Inspiration

It can come from even the worst of places. ...And people, in this case. [Book!Verse, pre-Book 1.]

This document contains a long script, but no context; I can remember the gist though, so I’ll insert that in-between dialogue. Basically it’s third grade, and George and Harold are in detention again. They cheat to fill up the blackboards like usual, but they’re too bummed out to start a comic afterwards. George sits around stewing in his frustration while Harold angry-scribbles Mr. Krupp yelling.

“...Why does he hate us so much, George?”

“I dunno. Maybe ‘cause he can’t handle our coolness? …Nice drawing, by the way.”

“Thanks. …It’s making me sad just lookin’ at it, though.”

“Yeah, me too. …I wonder what he’d look like if he smiled.”

“...?”

“...I mean, like, a real smile, not an I’ve-got-you-now smile.”

“Oh. Hmmm…”

Harold erases Krupp’s wide yelling mouth and draws a goofy smile in its place.

“Aw, man, now it’s just creepy.”

“Darn.”

The boys keep editing the drawing until it stops being creepy and starts being funny. George erases Krupp’s toupee, remembering the time they stole it and the teachers couldn’t take him seriously without it. Harold draws one of his office curtains around his neck, adding more color and kinetic energy. Soon they’re struggling not to laugh out loud, but they manage to calm down… until George gets an idea that takes the sketch from great to legendary.

“Waitwaitwaitwaitwait. Remember what my pop said about Superman yesterday?”

“That he looks like… DUDE. Duuuuuude.”

Harold redraws Krupp’s entire lower body so he’s only wearing underwear. Then with a flourish, he adds the finishing touch – two dots on his chest – and they both lose it. All their laughter finally prompts the real Krupp to check on them, and predictably, he rips up the drawing. It upsets the boys in the moment, but they’re still in much higher spirits than before, and brainstorm a new comic about their new creation as they skateboard home.

“You think we should make his origin issue first?”

“Naw, let’s get right to the action! His outfit’s already the perfect hook – finally, a superhero who actually does fly around in his underwear!”

“Yeah, and he could fight with Wedgie Power!”

God, rediscovering this gave me the most uncontrollable grin. From the date it was last opened, I think this fic was meant for September 1st, 2017 (Book 1’s 20th anniversary), and I gave up after missing it. For shame, 2017!me. For shame.

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WIP #2: Untitled Boomer One-shot

Harold won’t admit it, but he’d slay a dragon for his little sister. [Book!Verse but only cus this scene was deleted and is thus dubiously canon]

This doc’s nothing but notes, so I’ll paraphrase the plot: Ms. Hutchins takes Heidi and Harold to Boomer the Purple Dragon: Live! Harold was gonna stay with the Beards but they cancelled last minute, and he’s grumpy about it the whole time. When the show ends, kids gather in front of the stage to meet Boomer; Ms. Hutchins suddenly gets an important call, and makes Harold walk Heidi up there. 

But the dragon’s mascot suit is big up close for a 6-year-old, and Heidi gets so scared she starts crying. She’s rooted to the spot and waves her arms in panic, but “Boomer” thinks she wants a hug and waddles closer and closer... until Harold kicks him in the groin. Their mom understandably grounds him for it, but Heidi is grateful and calls him her hero :)

This one was based on the classic “kid hits mascot in the weak spot” genre of AFV, but also on an early memory of mine! My sister and I loved Arthur as babies, so our mom took us to see this thing. The characters suddenly being real (and huge) was so upsetting that we scream-cried until she took us home early. (Speaking of Arthur, it’s a shame Heidi’s never really done anything in canon, I can see her having big DW energy.)

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WIP #3: When Worlds Collide

It was less “love at first sight” and more “love at first squawk.” [Book!Verse, Book 7.]

A quick refresher: George told Harold to take Crackers back to dinosaur times, but he left her in the treehouse with Sulu instead. Later in the book, they’re shown snuggling in their sleep 🥺🥺 Anyway, this fic was about what they got up to in between! It’s actually the most complete of the lot, but only because it’s so short and simple.

It opens with Harold introducing them to each other, leaving out some treats for them (hamster food for Sulu, crackers for Crackers), then telling them to play nice until he comes back. They do not. Crackers pulls a Thunderclap the moment Harold leaves, Sulu karate-chops her throat until she spits him out, and they wreck half the treehouse in the ensuing chase.

Eventually they settle for standing in opposite corners and hissing at each other. Then Sulu… *squints* …records Crackers’ hisses with his bionic ears and plays them back so they can communicate? …Yeah, okay, why not. The outline ends after this sudden development; I’m guessing they talk things out and start to catch feels, before settling in to sleep. Anyway here’s the few sentences I actually wrote out:

Harold opened the door, Sulu got on the floor, and in walked the curious dinosaur.

[…] As predator and prey faced off, a little boy and his mother happened to be walking down Vine Street. “Mommy,” said the little boy, “I can hear a bionic hamster and a pterodactyl fighting in that treehouse!”

“Oh, please,” his mother scoffed. “How do you even know what that would sound like?”

The boy considered pointing out the CHOMPs, SQUEAKs, and SQUAAAWKs emanating from the tree in big blocky letters, but decided it wasn’t quite worth the trouble.

The doc ends with a reminder to not refer to Crackers with any pronouns until the two pets can understand each other. Also I was gonna title this after a Tony Orlando and Dawn song as foreshadowing, but I couldn’t choose one, so instead I went with this Spongebob song lol.

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WIP #4: Untitled Tommy One-shot

The school’s been near bully-free ever since Treehouse Comix Inc. was formed. Tommy reflects on this from the safety of his locker. [Movie!Verse with a hint of Book 9. CW: discussion of bullying.]

A Kid I Never Named knocks on Tommy’s locker and offers to trade Pilkeymon. They have to be sneaky, because it’s the 90′s and they have to slip a Link Cable through the locker vents without being spotted.

As they trade, the other kid asks Tommy why he hides all the time. He explains that it’s a habit from when Kipper Krupp terrorized the halls. But Kipper left four years ago, and the legend of Wedgie Magee has kept other bullies at bay ever since; the other kid points this out and asks why he still hides. This led into “a somber discussion on adverse school experiences and the long-lasting coping mechanisms they cause” (exact words from the doc). Unfortunately 2017!me never wrote any dialogue, and I’m mad at her for that.

Trivia drop! I used the Pilkeymon joke a few times at @treehouseblogsinc, but it’s way older than that, and also not mine: Pilkey.com used to have a coloring game named Pilkeymon’s Paintbox. It even had art of Dav’s old spiky-haired avatar with Pikachu ears! There’s no trace of it on the Internet anymore, but I swear I’m not making this up.

I left a note here to add that Tommy has glow-in-the-dark stickers in his locker, which ended up in this headcanon dump. There’s also a list of last names I came up with for him but never chose between: Chambers, Lakatos (which I shared once here), and Lockenspiel. Right now I’m leaning towards the last one, it rolls nicely off the tongue.

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That’s it for now! Not gonna lie, I’m still nervous about posting the other 6 WIPs. Most of them deal with Book 12, and all the tough subjects that that entails. But hey, I made this bed, and by God am I gonna lie in it. Thanks for reading so far!

#captain underpants the first epic movie #captain underpants: the first epic movie #dav pilkey #mr. krupp #benjamin krupp #benny krupp #ms. hutchins #grace hutchins #boomer the purple dragon #sulu the bionic hamster #crackers the pterodactyl #crackers the quetzalcoatlus #sulu #crackers #robby and ethel hoskins #tommy #long #me talking #crumpled up pages #my writes #george beard #george #harold hutchins #harold #heidi hutchins #heidi #cu books #cu movie #captain underpants #cu

[tittysuckersworld]

just went back through all my old art posts, and just, wow. i have inproved. like yeah, i still fumble and draw some stuff silly or bad. but its all mine. i made that. its less cringe at the bad art and more "wow i did that once." like i used to know where my very first sewing projects were, and whenever i looked at them i would laugh a little cause the stiches were inches long(like 3 cms) and the fabric was horible and the lil details i tryed to add looked like shit. plus the tiny pillows wernt even stuffed right, but it was mine. i made that. i took some fabric i liked from the fabric store and some extra stuff i had on hand and made it. i even worked really hard so no raw edges would be showing. they sucked and were some of the worst things ive ever made, but i made them. it was my start. now gotta gonna hopefully find all my old sketch books and find the drawings i was proud of to wonder at and redraw because gosh darn it i love art sooooo much. creation is just the best

#<3<3<3 #froggo gets got emotional again #what a suproze lieing #but im still just #wow. i did that at one point. #i started and i suckef horibly #but i got better #wish i could pick up sewing and knitting again as hobbies but judt dont have time or energy anymore #may find lil ball and my needles but honestly would probs just do more harm than good #i cant knit anything i need rn and my hands already ache enough from just writing and being put through so much #but still i wish i had the time and energy to just #create again. i miss it. i miss having to not worry about my studies and just focus on my crafts because thats what i was good at #i miss the nice jobs and smiles from being a talented art kid #even if it was in an art most wouldnt appreciate much #i miss when i had more origional ideas #or when i would draft up patterns and make lil clothes for my toys #i miss being able to talk to others #gosh sry dark stuff but i miss when i thought having to yell at teachers was my worst problems #i miss when i was ignorant of the pains of my childhood #i miss not having a dibilitating eating disorder. or sosial anxiety because when i talked i didnt think about if i was doing it wrong #i miss having friends i could talk to in real life the most i think tho #i love all friends online dont get me wrong #but for the past 2 years of highschool its just been sad #only one relationship that ended badly and one sorta friendship i couldnt handle becaude i didnt matter in it. #and thats it for my amazing high school stuffs. all my childhood heard that this is best part of my life. #but i keep hitting all time lows. took a fucking mental health day today and dont feel better. nothing will change. #every year i think it will get better finally and is just worse. im sorry this all too vent and sad #i know it dosent matter much. im fine. i dont even have any harsh expectations put on me. my dad dosent care when i move out and #im not expected to go to collage. much less finnish my high school diploma. i probably dont need to care about fully getting it together #til im like 40. but sont want that i guess. fuck i dont know. i miss when i was expected to go to collage

[rosieuv]

I have just realised that it's new year's eve.

Well, staying up past midnight is easy for me as my sleep scedule's a bit of a wreck. I don't have anything that I'm really thrilled about for 2024 (apart from deltarune chapter 3 and 4 possibly coming out that year) and I'm ending on a really lame year art wise as I still don't have my computer and I don't want to have to reinstall drivers and stuff. At least I have the excuse to make the 2024 drawings folder on my backup USB.

I like having things in chronological order.

Anyway, here's the first and last drawings from each year because why not.

2019:

This one only dates back to the 20th July as this was before I took art seriously as a hobby. I drew this in MS paint for a roblox game I was making.

This dates back to the 25th December and I drew this in ibis paint x on my dad's old phone that me and my brothers shared. To play music in the background, I would have youtube as a window at the top and listen to the same 5 songs on loop. This took a considerable amount of time for some reason.

2020:

This dates back to the 18th January and I drew this on my phone as I just got it at this point (the same phone that I still have currently). I had no idea what I was doing and it shows.

This dates back to the 29th December and it seems like I've discovered undertale. This was when I started using my crappy laptop again and I drew this with the touchscreen it had (it was one of those hybrid laptop-tablet things) with my finger and autodesk sketchbook.

2021:

The first one is technically the first of 2021 as it dates back to the 16th of January, but I've posted that one a lot whenever I redraw it every year so here's the drawing I drew the day after. It was for an animation meme but I saved it into the folder anyway for some reason.

I was trying to model in blender for the first time towards the end of 2021 so the last picture is a boring sketch of anatomy from the 31st December to be used as refrence. The last actual artwork was a day before and at this point I had a little drawing tablet and was posting art on Newgrounds. I also started using medibang paint pro as autodesk sketchbook stopped working.

2022:

The first drawing I have in my 2022 folder was technically from 10:30 PM on the 31st as I got impatient, but I put it here anyway. It's a gif but I made it into a png so I can put it on a tumblr post. Technically the first one was this drawing I made about 12 hours later on the 1st January. On newgrounds it's regarded as being in 2021 as it's in EST and my time zone is a couple hours ahead.

The last drawing I have dates back to the 27th December where I was experimenting with art styles as I had just gotten a new idea for a game (what is now known as Roboska LV).

2023:

Both of these date back to the 1st January however the seccond one was exported 40 minuites later according to the meta data. The first one is another redraw while the seccond one is a character profile and I just realised there's no shading on the hoodie.

This dates back to the 9th December and I haven't been able to draw anything digitally since my computer's botched surgery on the 16th. I have drawn some stuff in my notebook though, so here's the "final" drawings of 2023 (basically anything in my notebook since the 9th). The dates are in the bottom corners. I didn't bother with fixing the lighting.

I drew that picture of Kokichi Oma in the dark with only the light of my phone torch as I drew it while a film was playing in my school sports hall with dominos pizza. The last 2 I drew on the last day of school while completly ignoring everyone partying in the form room.

I got a book on how to draw in a manga art style so this is me trying to figure out how to adapt the tips into my artstyle to make it not suck.

This is technically the last drawing of 2023. I drew it on the 26th. It also featured in the post about my personal best pencil drawings of 2023 too: https://pearlhikara.tumblr.com/post/737810429204643840/best-drawings-of-2023-notebook-12-and-13

Looking back, I don't think my change in art style from 2023 is as stark as the other years. I don't like how my art keeps changing and I want to just keep it at a consistent "very very good" and leave it at that as the little changes annoy me as I like consistency.

In terms of actual new year stuff, I'll probably just rewatch "who framed roger rabbit?" and go downstairs when it's near midnight to watch the fireworks on TV.

#art #digital art #digital drawing #artwork #drawing #digital artwork #illustration #traditional drawing #traditional illustration #traditional art #sketch #digital illustration #new years eve #new year #new year 2024 #happy new year 2024 #happy new year

[abluethingphantom]

Hello! Hello! Time for the deadzone late night thoughts for tonight.

Tonight's theme I guess is ten things about lil old me.

Well, one can be a intro I guess. I'm AJ! My age is 26, and I'll be 27 on the 28th of September. I'm a afab nonbinary person, and I use they/them pronouns. I'm also bisexual.

Okay for two how about some media stuff! I love books! Real books, art books, comics, and graphic novels/manga I own all sorts of books. Some favorite books varied by the types I own: The Outsiders (Real book), the art book for Angel Sanctuary, The Sandman (Comic), Low (Graphic novel), and Naruto (manga ) [Some of these picks are either books I really like, or some I have multiple books of. I have some other favorites on the shelf too, but I can't name them all.]

How about music for three! I love rock, metal, and alternative music! But I'm not super picky though I'll listen to anything as long as it's good. But Rock, metal, and alternative are my favorites though. One of my favorite bands is "The Beat Crusaders."

Let's go to movies next. My favorite genre is horror, and my second favorite is comedy, or adventure. Favorite horror movies first!: Hellraiser(the original), The Ring, The Void, and Saw. Now for a misc. favorite movies: Bill, and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Ghost in the Shell (The original), Blood the Last Vampire (The original as well), and The Matrix.

Now for some videogames! I love visual novels, strategy, rpg, and farm games. Some favorites are: Stardew Valley, Pokémon, Yume Nikki, Fire Emblem. Visual novel wise here are those: Twisted Wonderland, Obey Me!, BTD/TPOF, (I have more, but I just haven’t played them yet, or I just feel super strong about them as these.) Also DoL is going on me too, but that's a text based adventure.

Art wise I know how to do digital, traditional drawing/painting, sewing, and hand embroider. My art programs are version 1 of clip studio, and a xp-pen artist 13 monitor tablet.

I've kept most of my artwork from when I was a little kid to now. It's always humbling to see where I came from. I love redrawing them occasionally seeing how my wild ideas change over time.

Let's go to food! I love savory foods my faves are fish and pizza. I'm lactose intolerant and allergic to coconut. I don't really like chocolate, red velvet cake, baked beans, and lima beans.

My favorite colors are fall colors , and some Halloween colors, and silver.

Why I made this blog. I needed somewhere to just chill and make fun stuff. Mostly to practice certain types of art (leaning towards nsfw), and to throw sketches to the void since I'm proud of the process of my art and I just like showing how things are coming along.

Alright, that makes ten! If you read this then thank you so much! I would give you a hug if I could! Here's a virtual one! 🫂 😊

#dead zone void thoughts #dead zone thoughts 3 to 5 am

[ifievertoldyou]

the long awaited wip graveyard post

i thought the title was fitting for halloween :p

this post is an assorted collection of all my old thaw wips that i deemed not good enough to post, but didn't want to just rot away in my folder, so now they're here.

enjoy !

-

the Eye post

fun fact: i used the same seven colored pencils for both the thes eye and the tommy one, i just made the grayer shades more emphasized for the latter. thought that was a neat little detail.

q's eye here makes his skin look a lil more purple

i impulsively gave quackity an eyebrow when i didn't sketch it before, and the way it turned out bothered me >:((

not a wip because i absolutely would never give this abomination its own post, but this is basically what my scratch paper sheet looks like when i want to test out how different colors look with each other, and also get a really, Really rough idea of what the final product will look like. this is the process i go through Every time i draw something serious. 😭

peep all 7 colors of the chaosduo's eyes under the thes eye practice

LMAO AND THE THES FACE 8 SECOND SKETCH LOOKS LIKE HE'S ON DRUGS IT'S SO SILLY

can you see me struggling to figure out how to wrap the rune around q's pupil? and also how to make the rune not just Completely disappear bc of how dark his eye is? yeah. traditional art is a pain is the ass sometimes, but i'm still wayy better at it.

also shoutout to @alexanderwesker for giving me an idea of what the rune on q's eye looks like, because i like being as accurate as i can when i draw stuff, so that was very much appreciated!

the part 2 to the hero's journey comic

i went fucking Ham during the hero's journey assignment, so much so that i literally planned like 19 more panels than what you saw in the original post (27 panels planned in total). but then i realized that i had like Four Whole Days to do that assignment, and would definitely not be able to do that many, especially not without burning out.

so i instead settled for the very first 8 panels that i planned (though even then, i had to abridge a lot of it, and also cut slime entirely from it, bc otherwise those 8 would have been 14 whole panels, and i think i would actually die-), since that was just enough to show two different steps of the hero's journey (crossing the threshold and meeting the mentor btw. i could probably do a whole analysis on how wesker's stories fit into the hero's journey if i wanted to, but i'm lazy rn and this post is already pretty long), and that was the big grading requirement. (i got 100% on that assignment btw 💪and my english teacher still has no clue that he graded minecraft fanfiction fanart LMAO) but this one is what i would have included if i had more time on the project, and could include more of the story, but as it stands, i made this one in my own leisure, because comics are fun to do.

anyways, with that little rant aside, i tried my best to make q look younger than quackity, and really accentuate the difference between them. idk how i feel about how q turned out though.

i'm really proud of the paneling, and i'm also kinda proud of the first frame with quackity's face in particular bc i thought it looked cool, like an actual comic book or something. but i couldn't figure out the card physics or perspective and that's what ultimately made me choose to abandon it 💔 maybe i'll try attempting this page again when i'm feeling more daring (as well as the other panels that i still haven't even drawn yet), but this wip has been collecting dust for a couple of months now so i figured i'd share it here anyway.

Palido

i drew palido a bit ago, but bro got somehow managed to get crinkled in my bag, even while literally being Inside of my sketchbook 🤨

it's not Too awfully noticeable though, especially bc the fold isn't On the drawing itself, so i might be able to salvage him and post a finished version someday... but i kinda halted progress on him for the time being bc of it, so here he is. </3

"Am I Still Even Me?"

i 1000% want to redraw this someday, just because i think the idea behind it is so fucking neat.

honestly, this one wasn't too bad at all, especially since i did all of it (besides the bones bc i think my health professions teacher would be disappointed if i got them wrong, and also the rune bc i care way too much about accuracy) without any reference, which is a pretty impressive feat for me and my aphantasia. but yeahh i think it could definitely be better, and really, this drawing was ultimately something that i just drew in class to keep myself busy for a bit bc i had way too much freetime that day. it wasn't intended to be post-worthy or anything.

but i think that the idea behind it is definitely post-worthy. maybe i'll even add a thes and/or youngerbur addition once i get more information about them and just how they've changed yk.

i had no clue how to draw the bones in that position, i probably could've done more research but. yeah no i don't have an excuse, i just couldn't be bothered that day lmao.

i was also gonna bloody q's hands a bit if i ever got to the coloring stage. like a little nod to when he lost himself to Madness. is the blood actually there? who knows, we're seeing it from his eyes, so for all we know, the rune isn't even lit up either, and he's just remembering it being so. remembering the moment he acted so unlike how he used to be.

the bones are definitely there for charlie though, poor guy...

also can y'all tell that i drew the rune in like. 5 seconds. bc yeah.

i had way more wips to share but i have literally no clue where they went, and also the tumblr picture limit is getitng close so ig that's all for now </3

like for a part 2 (whenever i accumulate enough wips to warrant a post, that is)

#i reserve the right to resurrect these wips at any time #so don't be surprised if one day you see a finished/redrawn version of any of these #thaw #the house always wins #fanart for a fanfic #my art #thaw fanart #wips #the house always wins fic #thaw!charlie #thaw!quackity #thaw!q #traditional art

[emile-hides]

How to cheer up your demon wraith boyfriend. -Redraw.

Bonus:

#Emile's Arts #Redrawing old stuff from that old sketch book #This was the one i was most excited about so here it is first! #Chzo Mythos #AKA #Theodore DaCabe kills me instantly and I thank him #Hello Chzo Mythos tag how are you #How are the exactly 3 other people who are active in this tag specifically? #Hope you're all swell #Dang drawing Theo after drawing so much Among us is really... easy #They have the same face #Dang #I like this comic I like the cracks and the sinking darkness #It makes me happy #In another three years I'll draw it again don't worry #This is a reminder 2023 Emile #If society hasn't collapsed do this comic again and make it better #I don't know what my Self Insert in Chzo Mythos is #I like building around the world but like #I think in this one I just learned to universe/time hop #And use it to follow Theo around #I fully believe Theo has some human mind left in him #I mean Cabadath did #Theo just like... can't speak #Or really do much of anything #Anyway I'd still kiss The New Prince and he could kill me on the spot over it that's fine

[welcometogrouchland]

Do Gerry and Jon have a dynamic?

[Image ID: digital drawing of Jon and Gerry from the Magnus archives in a superhero au. Gerry is a white man with long hair dyed black, except for the roots. He has a little bit of stubble and wears a fishnet shirt under a button up, tie and trenchcoat. He's holding a book and saying to Jon "suppose poorly controlled telepathy and insatiable curiosity is an interesting combination to have?". Jon is a Sri Lankan with dark, greying hair and stubble. His costume is a black spandex suit with an eye logo in the centre, a belt and a hooded cape. Jon is folding his arms and saying "yes well, I'm afraid it's all your old companion and my predecessor left me with". End ID]

Aha, so remember when I said I wasn't drawing tonight? Yeah turns out some of the asks I got sent I already had stuff sketched out for so I cleaned this up really quick. When I thought up Gerry as a Constantine equivalent in this au I immediately thought. Jongerry as Constantine/zatanna. Even though I don't think that's their actual dynamic (it's closer to. Gerry is a guiding hand for Jon and one of the few people who knew Gertrude but doesn't resent Jon for taking up her mantle. Plus they just get along!) So I did a redraw of this panel with them (not sure which issue it's from). Bone apple teeth

#the magnus archives #tma #jonathan sims #gerry keay #superhero au #ramblings of a lunatic #asks #i have one more drawing to do!! it's a comic so it's taking a while but also. I'm being sloppy w/ it so not that long hsbdnf #working on being able to post art that isn't perfect #uhh yeah those other asks are coming!!! don't worry #ladel's art

[little-lynx]

BAD OLD STUFF

So, I promised to show my drawings from 2012. I can't look at them without laughing. Although I did draw occasionally until 2012, it was the Hunger Games that prompted me to draw a lot. Yes, I drew terribly, but I did it all the time. Most of these sketches were drawn during my University classes. That's probably why they look so bad, haha 😂. Even then, in 2012, I planned to draw all my favorite scenes from books. But now I'm glad I didn't, because I'd rather draw them now when I draw a little better. I decided to add some notes to the drawings, although in fact there is only one comment *facepalm*. I hope that I will redraw most of these scenes sometime ❤️

#the hunger games #everlark #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark #thg fanart #katniss x peeta #katniss and peeta #lynx hunger games #VERY OLD STUFF #TERRIBLE #BUT SOMEHOW SWEET #I’M SORRY FOR THAT

[blueeyedrichie]

okay as a ~*~*distraction*~*~ what part time job do you think each loser would work in the 00’s au? (or any timeline you want)

oop piggybacking off my last ask to add that I personally love Richie working at a movie theater/video rental/store like Newbury Comics (idk if that’s a national chain or not)

okay i’m not joking when i say that i read the first ask and was like “RICHIE VIDEO RENTAL STORE” and then saw your second ask and i fully screamed bc of course we would have the same brain once again :’) soooooo

richie: i’m fully thinking that like he would work at some local place when they are still living in derry, and when they move away for college he would work at blockbuster and think it’s literally the coolest thing ever. like he’s FINALLY gotten to the highest tier of video rental stores. and the other losers are like “dude you do realize that like rental stores are a dying business right” but richie works there til the bitter end, a big part of that being that all the kids that come in think his voices are super funny, like whatever movie they rent richie will talk to them in the voice of the main character or something and it’s just really fun for him. also free candy, helloooo? and the losers are all v supportive and come rent movies from him specifically. and he also tries to get eddie to go into the 18+ room, and eddie’s like “dude we literally are 20 years old, it’s not like we have to sneak in” but richie just thinks it’s funny and so sometimes they’ll run in there together only to run back out giggling like little kids because it’s fun and they can (pls ignore that my timeline here is probably way off from the actual 00′s au i’m just ~doin what i want~) and i think toward the end of working here is when he’d really start to focus more on like his rtvf degree bc i love that for him and he’d get his first dj job while he’s still in school

eddie: mechanic shop!!!!!! let that boy enjoy his love of cars!!!!!! again, he’d work at a local place until they move and tbh probably have a hard time finding a solid job because he just has the little bit of experience from derry. but with the support of his friends and his determination he finally lands a job at a pretty reputable mechanic shop in new york (i’m just going with new york but i mean they could be anywhere) and he quickly becomes one of their top mechanics. he also is taking automotive technology classes and i imagine him getting an internship or something and getting to work on really fancy cars and stuff, though he truly prefers working on like old cars and helping his friends out. he fully teaches richie how to change the oil in his truck at some point bc he gets sick of richie always taking it in for something so simple and paying for it with his ~blockbuster savings~ and he also shows everyone how to change their tires :’)

stanley: i think stan would volunteer at like zoos and animal adoption places. at first he’s mainly just like a janitor and cleans up the walking paths and runs concessions and stuff, which he’s honestly okay with because he gets to spend a lot of time just bird watching and admiring the animals and practicing his bird calls. and i think once they all move, he’d get a position at a big zoo as like a guide and he would teach lessons on how to tell different birds apart and how to do bird calls. i think even when he does get the job, he’d probably still volunteer at animal shelters on the side and he’d be the person in the room with the people who will potentially be adopting to see how the animals respond and he gets to decide if they get to adopt or not

mike: i really love the idea of mike working in antique shops. i can see him falling in love with some little shop in derry that is probably on its last legs and asking for a job, and they probably tell him they don’t need the help but he is persistent and basically ends up just working there and while they can’t afford to pay much, they let him take random things he finds home. of course, along with all the trinkets there would be tons of old literature there and he’d spend a lot of his time reading. in new york, he’d probably be in search of similar shops that he can fix up and find more cool items, and he always gifts each of the losers cool things he finds that makes him think of them. i can also definitely see him working in the university library sometimes, but i think he’d love finding old photos and books and knick knacks and learning about where they all came from

beverly: honestly i think bev would work at a movie theatre, but spend almost all of her time flipping through magazines and drawing up sketches of clothing and listening to music. she starts at concessions and moves up to box office, and she definitely sneaks the other losers in to watch movies for free. she and richie argue about whose job is better and who has the better candy (it’s literally all the same, eddie will tell them) and she also gets to bring home movie posters and distributes them amongst the losers. she definitely gets caught letting them all in for free movies and has to stay late to mop the theatre floors, but little does her boss know that the losers will continue to sneak in anyway and help her clean up. i think she’d keep working there until she gets an internship with a designer. all the losers keep the movie posters that she’d given them over the years

bill: bill works in used bookstores and libraries, and also prefers to accept his pay in the form of taking as many books home as he can. he’s usually there on his own, and he always brings notebooks (this dude can’t afford a laptop yet okay) with him so that he can write his own stories when he isn’t reading. i also can fully see one of the gifts that mike gives is a typewriter to bill that he finds in one of the antique shops :’)) the shops in derry aren’t very busy, so he gets to spend most of his time there reading not only novels, but also books on being a writer and this is where he learns a lot about becoming an author. in ny, i can definitely see him being a library aide and i just have a very vivid image of bill on one of those slidy ladder things looking through the books on the top shelf and being mesmerized by just how much there is to read. even when he isn’t actually working, he’s in a corner of the library working on his original works and just enjoying the atmosphere

ben: ben works at a comic shop, but most of his time is spent sketching buildings and rearranging the store shelves so that it’s neater and makes more sense in the aspect of ~architecture~ and his boss is like in true shock every time he comes into the store in the morning and finds not a single comic out of place like he always did with the people that worked there previously. he draws inspo for big, fancy buildings from things he sees in the comics and likes to redraw them to a realistic scale and imagine what they would look like in real life. the losers of course love to visit him here as well, and they help him choose his best sketches to create a portfolio before they go off to college where he presents it to his professor who would honestly be pretty impressed by it all (and i’m thinking would prob be like “is this the building from ~insert comic here~ and ben would be like YES) and that’s how he gets an internship in architecture

AHHHHH this got so fucking long omg thank you for sending <33333 

#rchtzr #meg ily this was rly fun #the losers club #00s losers au #yeah I’ll tag that LOL #I’m having so many thoughts omfg

[sophiatheautisticwallflower]

2018 part 2

I april 2018 I had my first autism aceptence art, wear it red with my trusty stabilo markies

I made the red version of the cat, I want to make a redraw of this kitty, autism aceptence ever since I followed big autistic folk on twitter and ever since I joined twitter since 2017 has been important to me. I always will reblog or retweet stuff that fight for the rights of autistic folks, I will share m stories of it so people have a wider understandment of autism.

remember that still life sketc, this is the painting.

My fourth painting, it was made for my moms birthday.

I loved painting still lifes, I love still lifes, the old ones that you see in musuems, the ones that look like photos. I love 17th century art, it has something special on it

I made other sketches, with stabilo markers and colouring pencils

it was also the first time that I drew a hourglas. It was my thing. I also made sketches for fantasy paintings as well

and heres the paintings. My mom loved the paintings. it was quiet fun to work on

My favorite one of that year. I nailed the hourglass and the candles

I mainly used black for the backround to make everything pop, I was so invested in the still life art

and the fantasy pieces

this is a all pastel version of it.

this is a old photo from januari 2018. its my very first painting on canvas, its a sunset

this is my first experiment piece with water colour pencils

I used youtube videos to see how I should created the pieces

This large master piece has a storie, its a abstract version of a view over the skyline. On my old blog, I believe keyoftime 4, I saw a amazing digitale art of a person viewing the skyline at night. I was inspired, I drew a sketch in my sketch book first, then I drew with watercolour pencils on the big canvas, then coloured everything in with acrylic paint, my dears it was a big project. It took me hours to finish this big boy.

heres a smaller version.

smaller version

this was the smallest canvas I painted on. one of the paintings is problably hanging on the walls of my old school friends home

this smoll piece was made in 30 of august 2018.

it wasnt easy painting on a small canvas

In september I made a few abstract pastel works. some cute pieces

back to my abstract roots again

#art #sophiatheautisticwallflower #actually autistic #old art #2018

[picturebookmakers]

Axel Scheffler

In this post, Axel takes us on a journey through his art studio and career. As well as sharing wonderful development work from some of his much-loved picturebooks, he shows us unseen sketchbook pages, early illustration commissions, etchings he made as a student, and his recent work to educate children about the coronavirus.

Visit Axel Scheffler’s website

Axel: I’m not really sure how many books I’ve illustrated in the 30+ years that I’ve been working. Over 150. I mostly work for the UK market, but occasionally I do books with German publishers. Not picturebooks though, so nothing that collides with the co-edition market.

Each of the boxes you see here contains one of my books: the sketches, illustrations, dummies, alternate versions of covers, everything.

I organised these boxes with Liz, my assistant, to have all the main books there so we can find things for exhibitions. There’s still lots of drawings in these boxes which aren’t sorted yet. Liz is such a great help, but it’s very difficult for me to keep on top of everything. I think I would probably need two Lizes, or perhaps three.

So yes, I don’t really know where to begin... I’ve got endless sketchbooks and little drawings on paper. I’ve got some really old sketchbooks I could show you.

Shall we start with The Gruffalo?

My early sketches of the Gruffalo were thought by my editor to be too scary for small children. So I had to make him a bit rounder and more ‘cuddly’. Initially, I‘d also thought that all the animals would be wearing clothes, as they often do in picturebooks. But Julia had different ideas, and to be honest I was relieved. How would I have dressed the snake?

Here’s some spreads from the dummy...

I tried a lot of alternate covers for this book; I think there were twelve in total. There’s some where the Gruffalo doesn’t even feature on the cover.

My latest book with Julia is called ‘The Smeds and The Smoos’. It was quite nice to work on because it’s so different from the other books we’ve done together. The text is a bit like a mixture between Dr Seuss and Lewis Carol; it has this nonsense element. But it’s basically Romeo and Juliet in outer space.

It’s an alien story, so I didn’t have to draw any rabbits or squirrels for a change, and I could invent more. I had more freedom. But like always, I got bored with drawing the same characters over and over again. But that’s picturebooks.

There was quite a lot of development work in the case of this book. But when it’s a story about a fox or a squirrel, I don’t do this kind of stuff. Over the years, it’s become much quicker and easier working on my books. I do far less research than I used to. Now I generally just do a quick pencil sketch then go straight to artwork.

Sometimes I have to start again because things go wrong though. This was a finished piece that was abandoned. I think I suddenly thought that the rocket was far too big or something. I do that; I work on something for ages, and then I suddenly look at it from a distance and realise that something needs redoing.

Did you spot the little Gruffalo in this picture? Since ‘The Snail and the Whale’, I’ve hidden a Gruffalo in each of my books with Julia (not ‘The Ugly Five’ though).

For almost all of the books Julia and I have done together, our editor has been Alison Green. We’re an old established team. And I’ve always worked with the publisher Kate Wilson; I followed her from Macmillan to Scholastic, and then to Nosy Crow. Julia moved from Macmillan to Scholastic, and decided to stay there. So Julia and I have some of our joint titles with Macmillan and some with Scholastic. Julia does books with other illustrators for Macmillan, and I illustrate other books for Nosy Crow.

People often ask me which of the books I’ve done with Julia is my favourite. It’s quite hard to choose, but I enjoyed working on ‘The Smartest Giant in Town’. I liked the way I could do a crazy world with animals, giants, fairytale characters, everything mixed together without anyone caring or questioning it. I’ll show you a few things from the box...

For this book, the cover was changed at the last minute. The original design had the title written on a poster stuck on a brick wall, but the sales people said they wanted a landscape, so I did another one. Years later, they used the original design for a new paperback edition, so it wasn’t completely wasted in the end.

I mentioned my endless sketchbooks earlier. I’ll show you a few of them. This was mainly me playing around without thinking about what I was doing; it wasn’t a conscious thing.

I haven’t looked at these sketchbooks for ages. It was such a long time ago. I don’t work in sketchbooks like this anymore, and I no longer doodle. But for fun, I make illustrated envelopes for friends.

I often think about doing a book with just pictures, but I’m always too busy doing other things. Posthumously, perhaps there will be time to do this. I’d also love to experiment and be more spontaneous; it’s been my dream for decades to do something completely different. But when I receive a book project, I always feel under pressure to finish it, and I’m always late with everything, so I end up doing it the way I’ve always done it.

This is my drawing table, which is and always has been too small and too messy. I think I have to accept it will always be this way.

I use Saunders Waterford paper for my illustrations. It’s funny how we all have our special paper. My rough sketches are often quite small, so I have them blown up to the correct size. Then I trace the sketches on a lightbox onto my watercolour paper. After that, I draw the outlines in black ink with a dip pen. I colour everything with Ecoline inks using brushes, and then coloured pencils on top of it (I use Faber Polychromos and Prismacolour crayons). I might then need to redraw some of the black lines, or use some white gouache for highlights.

I studied History of Art in Hamburg, but left before graduating. I realised this wasn’t what I was good at; I’m not an academic.

Then I had to do my alternative service as conscientious objector. Sixteen months. There was still conscription then; that’s how old I am. I worked with mentally ill people in their homes. It was during this time that I had a friend studying ceramics at Bath Academy of Art in England. I went to visit her. I really didn’t know what else to do, so I thought maybe I could move to Bath and go to the art school. So this is what I did. The course was Visual Communications, so it was design, printmaking, photography, all that stuff. But I realised I only wanted to do illustration.

I’d gone to art college hoping to learn something. I don’t think that necessarily happened, but drawing intensively for three years was, I think, what I had needed to do. I don’t remember actually finishing any projects though.

Here’s some drawings from my student sketchbooks. I did lots of observational drawing back then, which I don’t anymore. I did it then because they told us to. I’m an obedient person!

While I was a student, I did an exchange in New York: Cooper Union Art College for three months. These drawings are of Jewish immigrants, meeting for coffee. It was 1984, so many of them were still alive; refugees from Germany or Austria. I heard them speaking German, so that’s how I knew.

Sketchbooks are such a good way of memorising things. Nobody really knows about these sketchbooks; I used to take them to interviews, but they’ve been hidden away for years.

After I graduated, I moved to London and took my portfolio around. My art teacher had suggested I should do this to get work, so that’s what I did. In those days, you had to ring them and ask to come around. I got two commissions straight away, and it’s been busy ever since, really. I’ve always had something to do.

Here’s some of my early commissions. Starting from 1985, I guess. Very pointy noses...

I did so much of this kind of work. It was a good way of earning money quickly. Occasionally, I still do editorial. I did some Brexit drawings for the remain campaign. Sadly, it didn’t help. Maybe I wrecked everything!

I’ll say a few words about the KIND book... 38 wonderful artists donated a picture to illustrate some of the many ways children can be kind. Such as sharing their toys or helping people from other countries to feel welcome.

One pound from each book sold goes to the Three Peas charity, which supports refugees from war-torn countries. It’s been a big success so far, and Three Peas has received a lot of money from sales in the UK and co-editions.

I’d quite like to do the UNKIND book next! I think illustrators would probably enjoy that, but I don’t imagine it would sell very well.

And now for something completely different! Some etchings I made when I was a student.

People often ask me which illustrators I’m inspired by. I don’t seek any direct influence on my work, but I’ve always said that Tomi Ungerer had the greatest influence on my approach to illustration. Although his style is quite different to mine, this humour and wackiness is something that has always appealed to me. And the details.

William Steig is someone I got into later, when I was already illustrating. And Edward Gorey of course. And Saul Steinberg. I think the Czech artist Jiří Šalamoun is wonderful. And I like Eva Lindström from Sweden a lot. She’s so great.

Okay, to finish with I’ll talk about the coronavirus work I’ve been doing...

I asked myself what I could do as a children’s illustrator to inform, as well as entertain, my readers here and abroad about the coronavirus. So I was glad when Nosy Crow asked me to illustrate a book on the subject. I think it’s extremely important for children and families to have access to reliable information in this unprecedented crisis.

You can download the free digital book in English here, and in over 60 other languages here.

I also wanted to do something light-hearted to cheer people up, and I thought, “What if I imagine some of our characters in corona situations?” Julia liked the idea and wrote rhymes for the new scenes. This was really more about entertainment than serious information.

Artwork and verse © Axel Scheffler and Julia Donaldson 2020. Based on characters from ‘The Gruffalo’s Child’ (2004), ‘Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book’ (2005), ‘The Smartest Giant in Town’ (2002), and ‘The Gruffalo’ (1999) — © Macmillan Children’s Books.

And here’s one more thing: my ‘letter from lockdown’. On The Children’s Bookshow website, you’ll find lockdown letters from lots of other wonderful authors and illustrators.

Illustrations © Axel Scheffler. Post edited by dPICTUS.

Buy this picturebook

The Gruffalo

Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

Macmillan Children’s Books, UK, 1999

‘A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood. A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good.’

Walk further into the deep dark wood, and discover what happens when a quick-witted mouse comes face to face with an owl, a snake... and a hungry Gruffalo!

‘The Gruffalo’ has become a bestselling phenomenon across the world. This award-winning rhyming story of a mouse and a monster is now a modern classic, and will enchant children for years to come.

PUBLISHED IN THE FOLLOWING LANGUAGES & DIALECTS

Afrikaans

Albanian

Arabic

Australian

Azerbaijani

Basque

Belarusian

Bengali

Breton

Bulgaria

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Chinese (Simplified)

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Indonesian

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Lithuanian

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The Smeds and The Smoos

Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

Alison Green Books, UK, 2019

The Smeds (who are red) never mix with the Smoos (who are blue). So when a young Smed and Smoo fall in love, their families disapprove.

But peace is restored and love conquers all in this happiest of love stories. There’s even a gorgeous purple baby to celebrate!

PUBLISHED IN THE FOLLOWING LANGUAGES

Afrikaans

Catalan

Croatian

Dutch

English

Finnish

French

German

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Korean

Luxenbourghish

Polish

Russian

Slovenian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Ukrainian

Buy this picturebook

Kind

Alison Green, Axel Scheffler & 38 illustrators

Alison Green Books, UK, 2019

Imagine a world where everyone is kind; how can we make that come true? With gorgeous pictures by a host of top illustrators, KIND is a timely, inspiring picturebook about the many ways children can be kind, from sharing their toys and games, to helping those from other countries feel welcome.

One pound from the sale of each printed copy will go to the Three Peas charity, which gives vital help to refugees from war-torn countries.

PUBLISHED IN THE FOLLOWING LANGUAGES

Bulgarian

Catalan

Chinese (Simplified)

Chinese (Traditional)

English

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Italian

Korean

Netherlands

Portuguese (Brazil)

Romanian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Vietnamese

#Germany / UK