Here’s an illustration I drew for Scurry & Cover’s holiday break!

It had been a while since I worked on any illustrations with backgrounds and/or lots of characters, so I’m pretty happy with how this turned out. And as far as I’m aware, there haven’t been any colour illustrations of Nozomi’s family before (even her grandfather) so it was a pleasure to draw them!!

This is actually the cropped version, you can see the full version here.
And of course, read the webcomic here for free.

My first upload of 2018!! Worked on this in between other projects and being sick, to try and cheer myself up and start the year with some bright and positive art.
The text says “zettai daijobu yo”, which translates as “everything will surely be alright.”
Which as cheesy as it is, the saying has helped me get through some rough days.

I’m excited to see what the new year brings, and also what I can bring to the new year, I suppose.
I want to make it a good year, with lots of new art and projects!

…I’m also very excited for Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card anime!!
I’ve watched the first episode and read the first volume and I love it so much already.
It’s refreshing but nostalgic at the same time. The next episode can’t come fast enough!!

Thanks for looking and I hope you all have a good new year too!

I felt inspired by several gingerbread cookie photographs to draw my own cookie illustration. ^^
It’s a little late for the holidays since I’ve been fighting several flu bugs over the past month (and still am) but I thought it’d make a nice end-of-the-year post too.

There’s some things I wish I had spent more time on, but overall it turned out cute? The crochet lace on her dress was drawn and designed entirely by me, I just used brushes for the background and texture overlay.

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I have some good news to share with everyone:
I’ve placed second in the 2018 Ai-kon mascot contest and will have an artist table next year!
It’s about 6 months until Ai-kon and I’m so excited that I’m already starting to plan my table!

Now for a little info about the theme and the entry:

This years theme was “kami and matsuri”.
For those not familiar with those Japanese words, “kami” is a Shinto God/Goddess/Deity.
The Japanese people hold matsuri – or festivals – to please the kami. They’re usually run by shrines or temples, but not always. They occur all over Japan throughout the year, and tend to include carnival games, food stalls, elaborate floats, etc. Commonly the people who attend these matsuri dress in casual clothes or kimono/yukata, depending on the individual’s preference and the time of year. Matsuri are commonly shown in anime and manga, too.

I’ll admit I simply wasn’t keen on designing Aiko as a kami. I didn’t know enough about the subject to portray her accurately and respectfully, and I didn’t have enough time to research it as I’d like. Not only that but I also genuinely liked the idea of portraying her as a normal, human teenage girl. With the themes in the past year, she’s been a princess, a warrior, a magical girl, a science-fiction heroine, you name it! But it’s been a while since she was just normal, so I jumped at the opportunity to give her a break (lol). And I won’t lie, I also just really love drawing kimono and yukata.

Overall, I’m pretty proud of my entry and the choices I made with it. I purposefully chose an uncommon colour scheme of red, pink and orange as it matched the colours seen in matsuri lighting, and is also (supposedly) traditional kimono colours worn in July (when Ai-kon takes place).
The cat motif came in somewhere after experimenting with lucky cat masks.

Anyways, I would like to thank the Ai-kon Committee for selecting my entry as a runner-up,
and also to my friends and family for all their support over the years. ♥ ♥ ♥
I would also like to congratulate the mascot winner, the other runner-up, and all the other participants on a job well done!!

And thank YOU for looking and reading!

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Some more stickers I drew to sell at Ai-kon last summer! Yuri on Ice this time. ^^
I think I had the hardest time drawing Viktor, but in general I’m proud of how these turned out. They’re my favourite sticker set out of all the ones I’ve drawn.

I won’t forget this precious memory, between you and me.

I finally finished colouring this Inktober line art of mine! I didn’t intend to colour it so soon, but I ended up needing a break and it seemed like a suitable option.

The lines still have their own charm, and it was really well-received, but I really love how these colours turned out too. I hope everyone else agrees. ♥

I’ve actually been enjoying using this watercolour style a lot recently, so I’ve now created a Digital Watercolours category under Digital. I also changed my Manga Studio category to Clip Studio Paint to match the official brand name change.

A sticker set I sold at Ai-kon last summer. ^^ They’re a little more detailed from my previous sticker designs but I loved how they turned out!

So, this week I have a doodle inspired by one of my favourite outfit combinations in Animal Crossing New Leaf (with some liberties taken :P). Sometimes I customize it to include black jeans and a black cap as well. I meant to include some glasses but I forgot to.

Still hyped about Pocket Camp, it has me playing ACNL until it comes out!! @_@

Thanks for looking!

Hey everyone!! Inktober ended a couple days ago, and I’ve finally finished collecting my thoughts about the past month, too! I’m writing this not only to remember it for myself, but also with the hope that maybe it’ll help other artists.

This was the first year I EVER participated in Inktober, or any project of this scale. Although I’ve had interest in it past years, I’ve either been busy with deadlines, unprepared to take on the challenge, or worse – sick.

I wasn’t exactly prepared for the challenge this year, either. After Ai-kon in July, I hadn’t been drawing very much. I was doodling here and there, but it was nothing compared to drawing and completing a traditional illustration every single day of the month. It had been a long time since I touched my copics or did much in pen. But in late September I was mulling over the idea of participating and decided that honestly there wasn’t much I COULD do to mentally prepare. Plus, I knew I’d benefit from the attempt because I needed to start drawing again somehow.

So I finally decided to participate – and I’m REALLY happy with that decision and its results!!

Despite whatever odds, I managed to produce 31 illustrations in 31 days. I usually planned my drawings the day of (with some exceptions), and I pretty much met all my deadlines (though I uploaded some late). And aside from a couple simple illustrations, the majority of my drawings were fairly detailed, with backgrounds, multiple characters, etc. Every day, I surprised myself with the fact that I was keeping up.

What I learned from the challenge was less about art techniques and more about work ethic – learning about myself, what I’m capable of, what my limits and weaknesses are. It’s given me a sense of pride that wasn’t given to me through compliments or anything like that, but earned from hard work. I’ll admit I’m pretty worn out after the month, but I proved something to myself: that I CAN accomplish something like this. I now have an idea on how to move forward, how to work harder and smarter, and that I need to keep working at myself, so that I can reach my goals.

I’ve thought a bit about some different things I’d like to try for the next time I participate in the Inktober; I might change my mind later, but here they are for now:

Also, I would definitely recommend the Inktober challenge to whoever is interested in it, artist or not. It’s easy to switch the challenge to a different medium, any topic you like, and cater to your own learning needs. It’s also a good way to get exposure for your art and to learn about yourself. And also, it’s just fun drawing!

Phew. This post turned out longer than I intended, but I think that summarizes my month…!!

I’d like to thank all my friends, family, followers and random passerby’s for being so supportive of my art during this long but creative month!! I went from inactive to posting at least once a day. I can’t imagine what your feeds/inboxes were like, haha… But I appreciated every comment, like, favourite, and even feature. THANKS!!

Though I won’t be posting every day, I’m planning on being much more active online with my art, so please look forward to it! :D
I hope everyone had a good October, and that your Novembers are just as good or better!!

~Sloan

P.S.: I’ve created a subcategory on my blog for this year’s Inktobers! You can view it here. I’ve also made a folder on dA.

Well, here’s my final inktober drawing for the year!

I decided to go all out and completely colour my final Inktober… despite that it was Halloween and I had stuff to do… haha. So I finished late last night, posted a photo on Facebook and figured I could just post it today. I have mixed feelings about the results – I mainly feel that I should’ve stuck to my purple colour scheme a bit better, but I’m still happy with it. My favourite part is definitely the owl~!

Sometime this week I’m hoping to post a sort of recap blog for inktober, but I’m not sure.

I hope everyone had a happy halloween, and thank you all for the support this past month! ♥