Yume Tsukai

I've actually watched the Yume Tsukai anime first. Because I enjoyed it, I took a look at the manga version which is quite different.

The anime has a different "case" nearly each episode (although there's a plot ongoing in the background throughout and climaxes during the last two episodes). It's still surreal and stuff, but the manga has a higher "weirdness level" to me (and one case could last over a volume). The really detailed backgrounds, mechanical beings and other weird creatures contrast so much with the simple style the humans themselves were drawn in. I also found the stories in the manga more "strange" than the ones in the anime, but I won't go into that.

I guess I'm actually quite attracted to some forms of surrealism, even if they're mainly those in anime or manga (since I'm frankly not interested in art in general).

There's this mysterious quality to them that's hard to put in words. That's the beauty of art, I suppose.

Tales of Xillia artbook

I bought the Tales of Xillia Collector's Edition which came with a figure of the heroine, as well as a 100 pages artbook. I enjoy looking at some of these artbook things, which usually includes concept art of the characters and the environments (in this case, of the game). The cover itself looked pretty; simple and clean design with just the title and a flower-like magic symbol.

Some concept art of Milla Maxwell, the heroine of the game. The in-game portraits were also included in this book, but I was more interested in these kinds of designs since I don't get to see them in the game. It makes getting the artbook more worth it. Besides having all the main characters, the side characters (even some minor ones) were also included and that's wonderful! I find it disappointing if they only have a few select characters. There are some minor characters that I like as well.

Besides the character designs, there are a bunch of environment concept art. Environment concept art usually amazes me. All that depth and detail...it's really amazing. Xillia's a fantasy game, that has some areas and cities that are more similar to the real and modern world (reminds me of some European cities). I like those kinds, so it's nice to see these environment art included.

And there's also some drafts, along with the fully rendered illustrations.

There's also these two pages which have a bunch of magic symbols, such as the magic circles that appear when a spell is being cast. I think that it's pretty neat. (and magic circles are awesome)

The main selling point of this limited Collector's Edition is supposedly the Milla figure. I think that it's sculpted pretty well, capturing her immense hair volume quite nicely as well as her body line. It has been modelled based on one of her official art.

A beautiful addition to my desk.

I hope to be able to one day create proper concept art for my own characters and maybe even do environment illustrations (I loathe drawing backgrounds so this will be a horrible challenge). But what I want even more is to be able to make figures of said characters. Being able to hold the character in real life is an amazing feeling.

Takoyaki box

This was done around last month. After I'm done eating the takoyaki it contained, I drew on the box by poking holes with the stick used to eat the takoyaki.

 

It's possible to draw on nearly anything! But I still prefer paper (or doing it digitally).

Dancing cheese and chips

From a Pringles can. Just found it quite amusing, with the disco ball too. Sometimes being a bit absurd is good for humor and stuff, but sometimes it gets annoying and stupid instead. So when would be a good time to use ordinary images of potatoes lying and when to have silly dancing things?

Well, Pringles give off a fun vibe so I think that it suits it fine.

!National Day!

A drawing I did from 2009. Apparently I was really "patriotic" before.

Besides this horrible piece of work, I doubt that I have any other recent National Day-related drawings. Just wanted to have a post to celebrate this special date!

Contrasts

 Puella Magi Madoka Magica, a highly popular anime that I ended up watching as well. The sketchy lines used with drawing the characters (especially the eyes)...they're quite unlike the usual "clean" look present in other anime. I like that raw feeling more than really clean lines, so I also tend to do the same when I do my own drawings. A certain degree of sketchiness versus clean lines (such as those needed in 2D fundamentals eeewww)

But the best and most defining part of Madoka Magica, in my opinion, are whenever the characters enter those labyrinths created by Witches. The style then changes (sometimes drastically) and each labyrinth has a different look. The clashing of the simple and cutesy characters against surreal backgrounds make the realms of "fantasy" and "reality" more dramatic and mysterious.

These images are from only one encounter, but because it's the first one, it's definitely one of the most memorable. Those puffy things with moustaches are really cute, although once they bring out the scissors and have visible eyes it might be nightmare fuel for some...

Brainstorming styles

Today's Creative Thinking lesson is about brainstorming. One thing that caught my attention wasn't the sometimes ridiculous ideas people thought of, but the different styles presented. Be it the various levels of neatness or the number of pictures used...

Even people doing the exact same problem end up with really different outcomes. And that was what I found most interesting~