FanArt_ink.Pierce

 MTGinktober pokes into Day 6, "Pierce," starring Nin, the Pain Artist and Domri Rade! 

 I had an idea of Nin torturing someone while Ashnod either assists or just enjoys the show, but I had to go with Domri cuz he has a bunch of piercings and tattoos, which would make perfect use of all of Nin's arms, but a trio involving Domri felt like it'd step on the toes of our annual fashion number, which I feel is still live to draw at some point this year.  So we cut Ashnod, but maybe that made for a clearer image.    

 Fun Facts:  This is Domri's seventh MTGinktober appearance, and Nin's debut.  I like drawing Domri, and often merge different elements from different cards, with Tyler Jacobson's original being my anchor, but with a good assist from Domri, Anarch of Bolas (Raita Kazama Version). 

 Easter Eggs:  I included a little piggy tattoo to reference his more recent iteration allying with Boars (though technically Beasts), plus I included my signature as one of his tattoos.  The background comes mainly from Nin's card.
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FanArt_ink.Deer

MTGinktober grazes on Day 5, "Deer," starring Rissa "Blades" Lee and Beza, the Bounding Spring (Hale version)! 

I wasn't sure about this one because I definitely didn't want to do the go-to Oko piece, but what ideas remained were also a little dull.  So this one was just kinda hoping to do a little action piece, as well as add another trophy to the achievements case. 

Fun Facts:  This is all characters' debuts, and as I just mentioned, this accomplishes another "expression of Magic," this time one of the Bounty peripheral cards via Rissa.  Almost drew Sleepy Sovka napping next to a deer, but thought something more action-packed would help with my personal tiredness.  I briefly though about drawing Druid of the Sacred Beaker, the only actual Deer in Magic, but it was too creepy looking.   

Easter Eggs:  The pose comes mainly from Oko, the Ringleader (Lie Setiawan version).  And the beams of light are from the Hale version of Beza, but also, along with the rock formation, a nod to this really cool deer-y art in Approach of the Second Sun (Nagano version). 

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FanArt_ink.Murky

MTGinktober shadows Day 4, "Murky," starring Neva, Stalked by Nightmares; Umbris, Fear Manifest; and Jorubai Murk Lurker!

I had a few ideas for this one, but decided to go with this concept, which would feature all new characters, rather than doing one of the other ideas that involved repeats, since this is looking like our last rodeo.  Plus we get to do a more frightening illustration here.

Fun Facts:  Indeed this is all these characters' debuts.  Sadly Neva's draft archetype didn't really pan out, but I believe I've cast her at least once.  Plus the Murk Lurker is a classic from his set, which was a lovely grindfest, so you could really afford to put him and his cyclemates to use.  No idea about Umbris, though, as I don't play Commander--looks neat though, and it was cool getting to kinda invent more of his design since it's a little vague--or murky as it were.

Easter Eggs: Since we got to get creative with Umbris's accoutrements, I incorporated a special look for his tendrils of smoke or whatever--it's the design from Kuon's Essence, which finally knocks another item off my checklist for drawing all "expressions" of Magic, an OG flipcard from Kamigawa.  Still on the hunt for ways to draw more expressions. 

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FanArt_ink.Crown

MTGinktober checkmates Day 3, "Crown," starring Queen Marchesa! 

I was torn between a fun little episode of Spike and Vorthos, where Vorthos is celebrating Spike's birthday with all kinds of cheesy decorations, including a birthday crown, while Spike is just miserable, but instead went with something a little more substantial.  This year's debut was a statement against Universes Beyond--and Loot, but this one is a criticism of the recent spate of "Hat" sets, with Marchesa literally rejecting her doofy hat in favor of her more in-flavor accessory.  

Fun Facts:  This is Marchesa's second MTGinktober appearance, and I've long wanted to try drawing her again, cuz I felt like that last one was a little rushed and lackluster.

Easter Eggs:  The hat is of course from Marchesa, Dealer of Death.

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FanArt_ink.Weave

 MTGinktober sews up Day 2, "Weave," starring Tymna the Weaver and Goldspan Dragon! 

 All right, I was a little reluctant to go for an obvious "weaver" character, and certainly not drawing another Spider-Man adjacent character, but throwing back to Tymna, which was our very last completed illustration of our failed 2016 run felt fitting for our final run.  But what enchanted me with this character for this prompt was the opportunity to incorporate Kaldheim's wonderful weave-themed designs into Tymna's weaving design, so we went with Goldspan, given the space left to work with. 

 Fun Facts: Hang on, it looks like this is actually Tymna's third MTGinktober appearance.  Goldspan debuts. 

 Easter Eggs: The bottom of the weaving in progress is inspired by Fate Unraveler's frayed tapestry design, which I've always loved since I first saw it, and that imagery has stuck with me.   

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FanArt_ink.Mustache

MTGinktober faces a hair-raising Day 1, "Mustache," starring starring Fleem, Goben’s Creation and Goben, Gene-Splice Savant. I like my sugar with coffee and Fleem!

Well, we're back for one last round of MTGinktober. I believe this'll be our last run, since, as I've explained elsewhere,  it takes a ton out of me and it just doesn't feel like I'm getting anywhere with these, and on top of that, it feels like it's only getting harder to even be seen any more. Even now, I'm writing this in a Word document while I figure out what's going on with Blogspot, as the site seems to be down or something. But other platforms are also just like running uphill, too, so I dunno. It just feels like I could or should be doing something else with my efforts.

Fun Facts: It's funny, while I'm no Loot fan, and I'd certainly take Fleem over Loot, I've long been an advocate of “promoting from within” for Magic's weirdo mascot, and I've long wanted it to be Matt Cavotta's mascot guy seen in Inspiration  and Flash Counter. But on top of that, I'm also not a fan of Universes Beyond, so that makes it even more desirable to have a completely Magic-based character be our kooky mascot, rather than anything that can even kinda be from something external.

Easter Eggs: In reference to the Loot vs. Fleem debate, I decisively place our support with Fleem, and have his pose reference Eggnogger's 'Stache.

With that, let's have a good run, and hope for the best.

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Fun_InktestV25

 Preparing for Inktober with a quick inktest, featuring V, of course. 

 I'm just trying to get used to the old workflow, which I always have to relearn every year, as well as do a materials test, to see if I need to swap out to a new nib, mainly, but also checking that all my aged equipment still works. 

 I literally have a document full of meticulous advice to myself of how I've honed the process over these past ten years, but I still have to work it out every time cuz for some reason it just fades from memory--muscle and otherwise--despite my best efforts. 

 So this is just me trying to go though every step of the process not only to get used to it again, but also to see if anything has changed on the platforms, and indeed they have--I notice Blogspot posts a little differently.  Gonna try the other platforms, too, but hopefully those are minimally different, if at all.  Getting the hang of it, though.  Kinda.  
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Design_BannerSky

I haven't added a button to my navigation sidebar in almost ten years, but here's a new one, for my Bluesky page, using the character design from that old project I worked on with my classmate. And then I feel it's about time to retire my deviantART banner, But here it is for posterity: 
 It was a fine site back in the day, but the pivot of this art-based site to embracing plagiarism technology, plus the generally unruly nature of the site make it hard to continue on with it. 
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FanArt_MaxPillow

Trying to get back into practice of posting in preparation for Inktober, which is coming up any minute now.  This was a character I originally designed for a project I worked on with my classmate, for his short film, about a girl who realizes her pillow, which in this world is an actual guy with a pillow for his head, is no longer cutting it and she needs to get a new one.  The character was so cool, I felt inspired to make fan art of it.  Which is like fan art of my own design?  I don't know how the math works out there. Not normal, 

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FanArt_BiggieLilz

 I've been chugging away at Clip Studio Paint, having moved on from Photoshop, and we're finally getting comfortable enough to start churning out some full illustrations, so here's Liliana, Heretical Healer.

   I wanted to test out たなかもげたろう's SAZANAMI watercolor brush set, which I got thanks to the annual Clippy giveaway event.  This was pretty pricey, at 200 Clippy, which is a chunk of change, but the event earns you 740 Clippy, so you should be able to swing it if you plot out the brushes you'll be purchasing--plus the expansion "EX Pack" set is free.  Most brushes are 10 Clippy, so it's super helpful to know which big buys you're budgeting for, and this was our pick for our major purchase this time around.  At left is the final illustration minus any blurring, since I wanted to see what a full, exclusively watercolor illustration might look like, and too much post-production felt like it could interfere with the spirit of doing a watercolor illustration, though perhaps that tension is just invented, and all that matters is making a compelling final illustration, however you paint it. But in any case, most of the colors visible in this version at left is made entirely with the brushes in the set, with just a few gradients and color dodge layers to juice some of the softer effects, but even the fog was made with the set.  

 Of these eight total brushes, I find the best of bunch are SAZANAMI_Paint(R) [120] (the [#] is just a note to myself on what the default brush size is, so I can tinker away and still retain a frame of reference for what the "factory" settings are) for most colors, with SAZANAMI_Blur+ [120] for blending out any stray or sharp parts and SAZANAMI_Repair [200] for mending any parts that get too smoothed out from the blur brush.   I did use some of the other brushes, but by the end, it was mainly these three that could handle everything that came up just fine. You do have to watch out that the Repair brush doesn't color-burn your repaired areas too intensely, but it's generally not a problem if you just take it easy and are mindful as you brush. I also studied along with these Adilson Farias walkthrough videos to study the watercolor-specific process, since I've mainly ever just done the KNKL method of digital painting.  This was helpful just to get a feel for how a digital artist approaches watercolor, since I've only had limited experience with actual watercolors myself, and pleasantly it felt like a similar experience, at least. 

 The lines were also quite experimental.  I have been slowly working my way through the backlog of brushes I've wanted to test out--I literally have a Quick Access list for all my new acquisitions from the Asset Shop so I can be sure to give each a good try before I categorize them into my main Quick Access lists.  I love how CSP enables a comprehensive list system via the Quick Access feature, since we can't organize brushes by folders. So anyway, yes, the quite unusual lines are Rickety Line [15] ガタガタ線 (the first brush) from ×ェ×'s Freehand Style Brush Set (フリーハンド風ブラシセット) brush set.  I gather this whole brush set is more for translating preset background lines to feel more human and hand-drawn, but they also are cool to draw with from the get-go.  However, they are all quite unwieldy, so I wouldn't recommend using them willy-nilly or on anything you really want to have a tight grasp on.    

 I find they're best specifically for low-stakes sketching, just pure doodling, where you aren't super concerned with the neatness of your lines, or even the presentability of the finished image. This is actually quite contrary to how I like to draw--I want fine, meticulous lines, which is why drawing takes me forever--to my detriment, even, as I lose steam on an image and the self-doubt overpowers my ambitions to wrap a drawing.   So I tried this brush set out specifically to help me get less precious with this drawing.  I also wanted to try out this watercolor brush for similar reasons--to help me churn out an illustration faster and less noodley, so that I would be discouraged from just tinkering away for too long and allowing for doubt to accumulate.  So this whole illustration was an experiment on top of an experiment--wacky lines and loosey-goosey colors, and I'd say it worked out pretty okay.  

  

I really enjoyed this whole experience and felt I learned a good amount, though, after doing some even smaller drawings with all the "Rickety" brushes, I believe the absolute-best of the set is what I call Rough Rickety [15] ざら線, which is the last brush of the set.   I love how they all discourage noodling, and just forcefully loosen you up, but that said, I do like tight line control, so I'm not sure I'll be lining up for most of these later on. But if you just want to sit back and scratch out some drawings, these are pretty nice and only ones I wouldn't recommend, and that are just more trouble than they're worth are Zigzag Rickety [15] ざかざか線 (the third brush) and Drained Rickety [15] へろへろ線 (the second brush).  But a close runner-up for favorite brush is Trickling Rickety [15] へろ線 (the penultimate of the set, the sixth brush).  By the way, my method for naming brushes is "My Nickname (Recommended Brush Size [Default Brush Size]) Default Name," plus I copy this name into the brush's display in my materials tab, as well as tag the artist, so I can always look up the brush page later in case they have a guide specific to those brushes since I also bookmark the brush's page so I can refer to it later and also know at a glance if I've downloaded it already or am planning to, etc., which also helps plan for the annual Clippy event, too .   

 And indeed, these were the original lines, complete with the minimal tones via the rough Shigepen 2020 (Copic) [44] しげペン改[2020] brush, I believe from rokushigeru's Pen breaks (しげペン改) collection.  When I knew I wanted to explore the watercolor set, I looked for old, simple drawings to plop the colors on.  So it all felt thankfully lower pressure, just trusting the process to guide us to the final, which is a pleasant relief, that you can take on new stuff using trusty methods that translate well to a new situation.  A bit of a morale boost, really. Not normal,  

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FanArt_ink.Landmark

MTGinktober achieves Day 31, "Landmark," starring Kamahl, Fist of Krosa; Pollen-Shield Hare; Stinging Barrier; and Vine Trellis!

To mark this landmark, historical occasion, I wanted to see if I could shoehorn a Kamala Harris pun into our run, having already celebrated Joe this year, so we wound up with "Kamahl-Hare is a remarkable combo with tim Walls."  And indeed, if you ever land Kamahl with an active tim Wall, forget about multiples, you're gonna be able to attack with vigilance thanks to the Bun's Adventure, and then start wrecking your opponent's lands.

Fun Facts:  This is everyone's debut, but there's also an Ozymandius-like toppled tyrant's statue as one of the notable things on the horizon, but our little party here has decided to head to the Washington Monu--I mean Spires of Orazca.  I was thrilled I finally got to draw Vine Trellis on-theme (a Wall!) no less, as that's been one of my favorite illustrations from the early days and is emblematic of sorta "pre-historical" Magic for me--the time before I actually started (7th Edition). 

Easter Eggs:  The birds hanging out above the reef are from Barry's Land, which felt like a nice nod to Obama.  Also apparently Matt Tabak drew it, pretty neat, I wonder how much fan art he gets.

Well, that's it for this year--I'm always blown away how October screams by and apart from the exhaustion, I feel like I've been able to weather the marathon pretty well physically, no injuries and no serious smears, errors, or mishaps.  I believe next year will be my tenth and final MTGinktober run.  I've loved doing MTGinktober, particularly studying all these incredible Magic illustrations and other references and coming up with different combos and scenarios for them, but I recognize it consumes so much time, for almost no benefit aside from slightly improving at art (I guess?) and entertaining hardly any people (I'm beyond grateful that people do tune in, and even recognize some long-standing and/or consistent viewers, which is pretty cool).  But more crucially, MTGinktober sidelines everything for a month--I put absolutely everything on hold for it cuz I draw so slowly and thus have no time for anything else.  So it might be for the best to call it a day there.  In the meantime, I'm happy to take a couple requests if I didn't get to your favorite character, though the archive has over 200 MTGinktobers by now, and it might be a wait while I spend every day until the election volunteering.

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FanArt_ink.Violin

MTGinktober sustains to Day 30, "Violin," starring Olivia, Crimson Bride (Xiaobotong showcase version) and Raucous Entertainer!

There aren't a lot of musical instruments in actual Magic (MTGinktober doesn't use Universes Beyond), let alone stringed ones, but I was enchanted by the idea of a virtuoso Raucous Entertainer playing two instruments at once, thanks to his many arms, one of which could easily be a violin, and where better than at Olivia's party?  And I've always wanted to do a dance invitation pose, so everything lined up.

Fun Facts:  This is Olivia's second MTGinktober appearance and so far every appearance has been as a different card. Everyone else debuts, including Invisible Stalker making an immediate move for cake.  This was also the closest call before deadline, so it was a pretty rough, one-chance scan--it's good enough, but ideally, I'd like to take a little more time on it.

Easter Eggs:  Olivia's pose is from Join the Dance and Raucous Entertainer's from Geist-Honored Monk, which I've always wanted to study.  He's playing Quatre's violin with a Wooden Stake powered by Geistflame, and a Starnheim & Sons piano.  He only plays staccato notes because that sounds cactus-like.  The cake is from Marchesa's Surprise Party and Invisible Stalker is about to slice into it with, of course, Butcher's Cleaver, the classic Innistrad Limited combo.    

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FanArt_ink.Navigator

MTGinktober plans a trip for Day 29, "Navigator," starring Hanna, Ship's Navigator; Timestream Navigator; and Thermal Navigator!

This had to be the toughest one physically to draw this year--it ate up a lot of time just getting these poses down, especially cuz I had to coordinate them so closely with each other, including Thermal jumping off Timestream's hand, forget about the highly detailed costumes for those two.  Anyway, we managed to get it reasonably polished in the last burst of inking time.  I thought it might be neat to see two navigators hanging out and since one's a Pirate, she might be trying to rip off Hanna by selling her some junk as crucial navigator's tools.  

Fun Facts:  This is Hanna's third MTGinktober appearance.  I wanted to feature her as a nod to my old campaign boss as we're winding down and I'm about to continue campaign volunteering in these final pre-election days--and Hanna herself inspired the whole navigator-swindler scenario we ran with.  Timestream's long been a captivating card I've wanted to draw, so I was happy to debut her here.  Thankfully her complicated costume was balanced timewise with Hanna's quite simple (and weird) outfit, though Thermal's debut also meant more complicated details.

Easter Eggs:  The background is based on the Chris Rallis Hanna art, with its ropes and vessel hints, and then the more jungly background comes Serra Sphinx, after I realized one of the final "normal" Expressions of Magic cards I had yet to draw was a Planar Chaos timeshifted frame.  I don't know if this counts, as it's just a background rather than a discernible figure, but I'm sure we'll have another chance for a full Colorshifted star.  Also I based Hanna mostly on DiTerlizzi's incredible Hanna's Custody.

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