Disc Drawings

[Dubious Disc]

(500 posts let's go!!) As you might know, my current art program of choice is no longer working with my tablet, so at the moment I'm stalled when it comes to making digital art. maybe i'll do more traditional art...who knows? So I figured...since I have nothing new, why not share some of my older Pokémon art? Just to kinda see where I've come from.

Spoiler: 2020 - various trainers

These were all from throughout 2020, February through November I believe. Far left is an OC that I honestly don't remember much about. Her name is Talia and she's a Poison specialist.
Far right is actually an earlier version of the Nate that I redrew earlier this year. I guess I didn't really have the hang of painting yet so I just went back to using the lines lol

Spoiler: april 2020 - mina (unfinished)

Mina! Got some M.C. Escher ahh perspective going on lol. I still wasn't the best at drawing scenes at the time, so I gave up on it. I might consider redrawing this actually, I think it's more within my scope now.

Spoiler: february 2021 - talia

Slight redesign of that Poison-type Trainer from the first drawing. (Looking back, I kinda prefer the original design...) The shading and lighting is a bit awkward, but that's fairly common for a lot of my art around this time. 2020-21 in particular was all about experimenting and figuring out new techniques, not all of which worked lol.

Spoiler: june 2021 - holiday rosa

just a little silly :) Not sure what compelled me to make Christmas art in the middle of summer, but whatever. This was a bit of an experiment and on the whole I think it turned out well. I'm still not particularly suited to drawing stylized chibi stuff like this, though, I couldn't keep it up in the long run.

Spoiler: september 2021 - creation duo outfits (unfinished)

Just some sketches of Palkia- and Dialga-inspired designs. This may or may not have come about because I noticed that Palkia's feet kinda looked like heel shoes. Maybe I'll redo these with some elements of their Origin forms...

Spoiler: september 2021 - silver (unfinished)

Inspired by the Ho-Oh event in Masters. I think it's a neat concept and there are some parts that look good, but ultimately I thought something about it was too wonky to continue working on. I do really like the effect on the wings.

Spoiler: october 2021 - platinum squad

Just a little sketchy thing. I consider it important because this is where I started realizing that it's okay to shade really dark if you need to. I think I was always a little afraid to go too dark with my shadows, so I'd keep them kinda faded out, but I was messing around here and realized that going deeper and heavier with the shading actually gives it more depth.

Spoiler: porygon-z miscellany

time skip noises...this is from December 2022. idk I just liked the colors in this one.

aaand this is from last month! It's me, but as a Porygon-Z

hopefully I'll be back to my usual art soon enough!

 

[Dubious Disc]

here's the last thing I made in GIMP!

Spoiler: we love rocks!!

can you tell I listen to Kairiki Bear lol
It's the Rock-type Rin and Len designs! I was gonna draw Rock Miku with them, but I had just finished the lines and was getting started on the shading when I realized that the pressure sensing wasn't working for some reason. And there the sad story began...
Maybe once I get Krita figured out I'll finish the shading on Miku, I put way too much effort into the lines to abandon it.
Anyway, this was kind of an experiment - for a while I've been meaning to concentrate on making my linework stronger, so I decided to not use color or my usual shading for these so that the focus would be on the lines. And yeah, the shading style was pretty strongly inspired by the artworks in Kairiki Bear's videos, I love how much dimension and value they have while mostly only using black and white.

and some noodling around in MS Paint. I have no idea how long it's had layers, but it's made all the difference.

Spoiler: v flower

While we're on the subject of Vocaloids, this one is my favorite!! flower has such a cool unique voice. Two of my favorite producers use her a lot, so I guess I'm a bit biased.

Spoiler: terry (oc + bonus old art)

I haven't thought about my Pokémon OC's for quite a while, but they've always kinda lived there in the back of my head. This is Terry - he's based on ORAS Brendan, specifically the Omega Ruby storyline. He's Hoenn Champion and is basically just sad and lonely. There's more nuance to it than that, he's got backstory in Johto and stuff that explains why he acts the way he does, but I don't feel like explaining all of it, so just take the art.
Here's a sketch page I found from circa 2021, back when I could actually output whole pages of sketches like this. Mostly just silly doodles of expressions and stuff.

Spoiler: luke

You could try your hardest to convince me that Platinum Lucas doesn't have the best drip of any player character, and I would just laugh at you. Peak character design right here. His Diamond and Pearl design is kinda lame, though.

Spoiler: axl sketch because

Yeah, I know I posted this on my profile a while back, but I had to put it here too - it felt wrong to make three consecutive posts without anything Mega Man. (Expect a Zero drawing next time for sure.)
I think I've definitely gotten better at drawing Axl's weird helmet, I finally figured out the proportions and how the pointy white spikes work. Takes practice, I guess.

 

[Dubious Disc]

okay I know I promised a Zero drawing, but I'm holding off on that until next week at least (I really wanted to draw something big for the MMX 30th anniversary coming up, but now I don't really know if I'll have the time...)
anyway, a bit more Vocaloid-related stuff this time, I drew a bunch of Chinozo characters! (in color this time, too!)

Spoiler: being a shut-in is certainly the path of justice

グッバイ宣言 / Goodbye Declaration

I was very, very surprised to find that this of all things was the most-viewed Vocaloid song. I don't dislike Goodbye Sengen, but I don't particularly care for it either. There's nothing about it that stands out to me at all. Like, there's other Chinozo songs with better beats, better lyrics, everything. idk I just can't figure out what this song had that made it so popular. It's good, but to me it's not that good.

Spoiler: i'm a hazardous person, hey i can't help it!

シェーマ / Schema

This was the first Chinozo song I heard (apart from Newton Dance) and it's still one of my favorites. Super catchy.

Spoiler: this is the inferiority festival, laying myself bare

TAMAYA

This is one of my comfort songs. It lives in the same place in my head as Dreams of an Absolution. "Tamaya" is apparently an old Japanese expression that's shouted when watching fireworks, which makes sense since there's a lot of fireworks/festival motifs in the song. The hand is at kinda the wrong angle but I couldn't fix it because you still can't rotate stuff in MS Paint :')

I wasn't happy with how the hair turned out, so I did another sketch. he's holding an uchiwa but I drew this in like five minutes so it's almost unrecognizable lol

Spoiler: dearly, hatefully, troublesome troublesome

ショットガン・ナウル / Shotgun All

This one's my favorite character design. You can never go wrong with layering short sleeves over long sleeves. (I do love the cozy hoodies that a lot of the characters wear though lol) Song is alright, not amazing but still good.

Spoiler: i'm jealous so jealous, it's occupying my imagination

ジェラシス / Jealousies

I wasn't really a fan of Kafu's voice at first, but it's grown on me. I think it's because I didn't really like the first Kafu song I heard (which was by a different producer), so I was kinda biased against her for a while. But she's alright now.

Spoiler: the week goes by too fast

プルーヴェ / Prouvé

Na na na na na na na... This and Cheese are the two songs where I have no idea what they're saying. Like, I get the lyrics and all, but I can't figure out what the overall message of the song is. What does it mean?? Anyway I think this is my second favorite of the designs. The hair is cool.

Spoiler: it's difficult living in a world without a choice

ミィハー / follower of the crowd

Kasane Teto is the one with the swirly hair, right...? (She did the vocals for this one.) I don't like drawing faces from weird angles. I think the title of this song is a kind of clever wordplay in the chorus, but I haven't been able to figure it out yet.

Spoiler: in the end, they're probably laughing at me

チーズ / Cheese

I think the cheese is a symbol for something?? This song makes no sense to me lol. Still gets stuck in my head frequently though, that repetitive chorus just worms into your head and won't go away.

 

[Dubious Disc]

back to my robots!! yeeeeeeah!

Spoiler: happy anniversary!!

Staff Roll - Mega Man X [OST]

Game: Mega Man XMusic: Staff Roll

www.youtube.com

( ^ celebratory tunes)
I still really, really wish I could have drawn something better for this, I ended up rushing it and I'm not happy with the quality. But at least I did something, unlike Capcom—
Originally it was just X, Zero, Sigma, and Vile in the sketch, but I decided to add Alia and Axl, since they're still main characters even though they weren't in X1. I think Axl had his 20th this year too, but I highly doubt anyone is celebrating X7's anniversary lmao.

Spoiler: tango doodles

I can't believe I only recently found out that Tango exists... why is he only in like two games?? The world needs more of this silly spindashing robo-cat!
I like to think he's Proto Man's cat specifically. Proto Man does seem like he'd be a cat person.

Spoiler: silver axl

Felt bored and made a Silver-themed armor. I've heard people say that Axl is the Silver of Mega Man, but Axl actually came first, so technically Silver is the Axl of Sonic. Just saying. (obligatory Dreams of an Absolution mention)

Spoiler: X1 zero appreciation

It's Zero!! The #1 fixture of this art thread is finally back! I don't think I've drawn his X1 design before, so I gave it a shot. Obviously the angular design from X2 onward is more iconic, but I kinda like this more simple design too. it's easier to draw.

Might as well drop this here too:

Spoiler: youtube rewind 2023

may or may not have swiped Oki's template for this... usually I make my own templates when I do recaps but I got lazy this year lol.
Anyway, looking back there's like zero consistency here lol. I did a lot of experimenting and messing around this year, so there's a lot of different stuff going on. I think I've definitely improved in terms of anatomy (thanks, figure drawing ) and rendering, at least.

Fun fact, that Zero from February was actually my first time drawing him. I had so many reference images open and I was struggling so much to get all the details right... and now I can draw him from memory in like two minutes lol. Character development.

I finally installed Krita today. It's gonna take quite a while to get used to, it's certainly daunting learning a whole new program from the ground up. In a way, it's also kinda exciting though, like I'm starting a new adventure.
I'll probably still keep using MS Paint for doodles and stuff, it was supposed to be just a temporary thing but I've gotten rather attached to it now lol. Now that I'm used to the limitations I quite like it, honestly. Since it's not all big and professional, I put a lot less pressure on myself when I'm using it. I guess it's a good thing to have a more casual drawing option around.

 

[Dubious Disc]

new stuff something along the lines of "new frontiers"

Spoiler: a lot of silver, for some reason

and every night i lay awake, and i find no conclusion / and every night it just stays the same, in my dream of an absolution
Made a little drawing of Silver to get familiar with all the new tools. (What you don't see is all the variations of the line art that I did with many different brushes to figure out which ones I liked most lol.)
I had to figure out a whole different way to shade, since as far as I know Krita doesn't come with an equivalent to the blending brush I used in GIMP, so now I have to add color and blend separately. It's still a bit wonky, I haven't quite figured out the best way to work with the blender yet, but at least it doesn't look terrible. I mean, for a first attempt it's fairly alright.

A bunch of extra doodles I did after I found a brush I liked. idk I just like drawing Silver, I guess.

Spoiler: silly cyber squirrel

I discovered recently that Krita has an official mascot, and I found it pretty cool that she doesn't really have an official design, just a few traits (color scheme, and features like the flower-shaped ears and eyes) that people are free to interpret in their own way. So I thought it would be fitting to create my own version!
I took a lot of creative liberties, so she looks very different from the more "official" depictions that appear on the splash screens and stuff - I leaned much more heavily into the cyber aspect of her design, hence the robotic-looking limbs, and I gave her more cartoony Sonic-esque face and body proportions. In general I tried to infuse a lot of traits that reflect myself.

Spoiler: just a wip

working on a thing, it's still mid-render but I liked how the silhouette looked so I'm showing it off.

 

[Dubious Disc]

Happy 2024! I'm tired already.
I wonder if I'll make any effort to expand the scope of my art this year, or if I'll just end up drawing the same things over and over because it's what makes me happy.

Spoiler: axl again (redraw)

Spoiler: original (May 2023)

Thought I'd start the year off strong with a redraw! "actually you started this in the last week of December so it's not really starting the year off" shhhhh
Maybe part of it is that I'm using different tools now, but honestly I think I improved a lot, the shading is a lot cleaner now and everything just looks more natural. ignore the fact that some of the details are off-model...it just comes with familiarity, i guess lol

You know I haven't drawn Zero in Krita yet? I should get around to that. Honestly, I really need to draw X more too, feels wrong that I've been neglecting the main character.

Spoiler: air shoes

This is what that silhouette ended up being. I find it kinda difficult to draw Shadow actually, feels like I always mess up the shape of his quills. In this one it doesn't really matter, but still. I'll need to get more practice in, if I figured out Axl's weirdly shaped helmet I can figure out Shadow's weirdly shaped quills too.

Spoiler: an invisible person

This is GUMI's design from Invisible by kemu. Without going into excessive details, this is easily one of my theme songs - I resonated with it from the first time I heard it. (Also there's a lyric in the chorus that says "can you see me?" with the same line in the next chorus being "do you remember me?" and that just makes me think of I Am... All of Me lol.)
Anyway idk GUMI is cool. That's all.

Design of this one belongs to @coordinator lissi

Spoiler: villain arc

I actually drew this a few weeks ago but kinda forgot about it, whoops. idk I just really wanted to draw the hair because it looked cool Moral of the story: if you post character designs with cool hair, I may randomly want to draw them. My art worms are unpredictable.

 

[mastermind lissi]

Design of this one belongs to @coordinator lissi

Spoiler: villain arc

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Omgomgomgomg I LOVE THIS SO MUCH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH I LOVE THIS DUBIOUS I
DISK THANK YOU SGUAUSGSYUSHSGSGHSHS

 

[Dubious Disc]

lol I still haven't drawn Zero yet. not outside of MS Paint, at least.

Spoiler: [undertale yellow spoilers, all endings] red / gray / blue

Undertale Yellow was PEAK. 7 years of waiting was totally worth it. I haven't played through any of the routes apart from Pacifist, and I doubt I'll do the others soon, the final boss fights look too difficult and I can't bring myself to hurt anyone :') I have watched the other endings, though.
Love how both Ceroba and Martlet just get excessive long hair in their final forms lol.

Ceroba's fight was hard. Flowey's looks actually terrifying?? Martlet's looks borderline impossible. (also MEGA MAN X3 OVERDRIVE GUITARS in her phase 1 battle theme??!)

Spoiler: rose of the rust

I might use a Rusty Rose avatar sometime, maybe when season 3 comes out.

^ This was from November. Season 3 of Sonic Prime came out in January and, just as foretold, I used a Rusty Rose avi. For like a week, anyway.
Season 3 somehow managed to feel rushed and slow at the same time. Oh well.

Spoiler: back to the inferiority festival

Drew the guy from TAMAYA (my biggest comfort song) to test out my wonky watercolor brushes. I have no idea how these brushes work lol, their pressure sensing is all weird
I really like the art style in Chinozo's music videos, Arusechika's style has this soft cozy feel that matches the Chinozo vibe really well. I sometimes wish I was better at drawing softer things, I feel like my style is more geared toward strong lines and heavy use of color so I'm not used to keeping things lighter.

Spoiler: sketches of robots that i don't draw enough

Look I drew X!! I feel like I treat X the way the rest of the fanbase treats Axl, I just constantly ignore his existence in favor of the other two main characters lol. Sorry X, you're cool too i promise

I drew a lot of Bass too! Edgelord robots rise again! I wanted to go ahead and fully line and color this one, but I was kinda afraid that would ruin it lol. So I just kept the sketch the way it was.

I just realized that I'm more comfortable drawing Bass than Mega Man or Proto Man because he's got a more Reploid-like design. His design conventions are more familiar to me, so they just come more naturally to me than Rock and Blues' simpler builds. Interesting.

 

[Dubious Disc]

:P nothing particularly large-scale today. doodles and stuff from between larger pieces (i.e. ones with backgrounds)

Spoiler: bug bug bugging out

(from Bug, very iconic Kairiki Bear song. eye strain warning if you decide to check it out)
I found the screentone brush :) I'll probably be using it a lot until I figure out what it's good for.

Spoiler: MMZ artstyle shenanigans

Made an attempt at drawing in the Mega Man Zero art style, featuring some OC's. Out of all the Mega Man series' artstyles, this one is probably my favorite, apart from the big empty eyes and occasional awkward proportions. (e.g. Leviathan's official artwork where her arms are waaaaaay too long)

(I had to alter their designs to fit the Zero series' aesthetic, so here's their original X series designs in my own style, just for comparison.)

Spoiler: pokemon art??

"Aim To Be A Drift Master" (context)

1 · 2 · 3 is a pretty nostalgic song for me now. I listened to it all the time when Journeys was just starting out, I knew all the lyrics and everything. ...aaaand now I've just fallen off anything anipoke-related lol. Although I'm still very proud that my favorite producer made the first OP for Horizons ^__^ (although ngl, as much as I like Dokimeki Diary, I feel like Chinozo's style doesn't really work for a Pokémon theme? It's a good song on its own, but it doesn't have that high energy that I'd expect from a Pokémon anime OP. Might just be me though, it's not like I've listened to much anipoke music. Anyway Chinozo music is very good and I will not shut up about it)

 

[Dubious Disc]

Chinozo Chinozo Chinozo Chinozo Chinozo Chinozo Ch--
まだ新曲待ってる!! (cries) making art to pass the time...

Spoiler: i'll protect you, that's a promise

i'll protect you!
if the sun rots away and the world loses its blue
i'll protect you!
no matter how troublesome your pain may be,
i'll carry it all on my back for you!
chinozo - meteora
I love this song

In a world where Vocaloid songs can get quite dark and depressing, it's nice to come across one where the vibes are genuinely sweet and positive. Both of these characters appeared previously in their own music videos, so I like the idea of them becoming friends and supporting each other ^__^
Tried a different brush to shade this one, not sure there's any visible difference in the end result but it makes the process easier at least.

Spoiler: burnout bomb!

ペタペタ / PetaPeta
Can't believe I missed this one when I was drawing all the other characters! This is such an underrated song

Spoiler: some pixel art, as a treat

I'm not usually a pixel-art person, hence why the designs are pretty simplified. I made this in GIMP since its pixel brush is easier to deal with, and I was genuinely surprised by how difficult it was to work with the different shortcuts and interface lol

oh yeah have some robots too i guess

Spoiler: various stuff from my digital sketchbook

Look I finally stopped using blinding white canvases! (MS Paint kicked the habit out of me and it's taken a while to readjust lol)
The Falcon Armor (top right) is my second favorite X armor design, after the X4 Ultimate Armor. I should rank all the armor designs, I've seen it done but never done it myself. (Mostly I just want to complain about how much I hate all the X8 armors lol)

I personally don't ship X and Zero, I see them more as brothers. But I do think they're emotionally close and will portray them as such.

Spoiler: zero sketch that will actually become something

I'm doing an actual finished drawing of Zero! It's mid-render and rather messy at the moment so you only get the sketch layer. Enjoy c:

 

[Dubious Disc]

I've only had this tablet for like two months and I've already had to replace the stylus nib, it got worn down to a scratchy stump that I had to finagle out with tweezers cause it was too short for the built-in nib remover to get it out I guess I use a lot more pressure than I realize lol

Spoiler: oh look it's zero finally

surprise, it is in fact Black Zero! (which is just Zero in a different-colored armor :P) I wish they had gone all the way with giving him Bass's color scheme, just make the eyes red and the crystals purple and it'd be perfect

I'm in robot burnout again so you might not see a lot of Mega Man-related art for a while .__.

Spoiler: some pokemiku-adjacent stuff of my own

I like that Project Voltage is also making type designs for other Vocaloids, but since they're limited to the Crypton crew I have to use my own creative freedom to give my favorites what they deserve c:

the only Miku/flower duet I've heard is Newton Dance so naturally I had to do this lol

Spoiler: mikoto sketch

(another vocaloid)

Spoiler: illuminate the future and the sky

(inspo: Sparkbug by Sou and Kairiki Bear)
Testing a new brush.

 

[Dubious Disc]

joke's on you, this art post is actually just an excuse for me to talk about the music I like :)

Spoiler: please like me, even though i'm not quite right

フリソデ / Furisode
The newest Chinozo character! Furisode was so so good, after Taxy's slightly darker feel (which I did still like) it was nice to return to the classic upbeat vibe that's so comforting to listen to. Now I have to sit and hope for a self cover, this song would sound so nice with Chinozo's voice ^__^

Excited for the new album too, even if I obviously won't be able to buy it or anything lol.

Spoiler: suki de suki de

Mega Mawile Miku This drawing was a hassle and I'm glad it's done lol
I was pretty excited to see how Kairiki Bear would make a Pokémon song, especially since they usually work with darker themes, and ultimately it didn't disappoint! I like the slightly unhinged feel it has (now that I think about it, a lot of their recent electronic songs have had a slightly unhinged feel, is this the new Kairiki Bear style??)

I still miss the guitars,, ngl a part of me keeps wondering how Kairiki Bear's Project Voltage song would have sounded in their older rock style, instead of what they're doing now. I just want to hear the guitars again

Spoiler: melt your identity!

(Nanawo Akari feat. Chogakusei - メルティックヘル / Meltic Hell) (It's a song about the shallowness of social media.)
I was so incredibly hyped when I saw that Nanawo was collabing with Chogakusei! This song goes so hard and I've been wanting to draw the characters for months.
The amogus-looking thing on her jacket is a stylized Japanese letter, just felt the need to clarify lol

Have some bonus brainrot, because why not. I've been looking for an excuse to draw this claw thing that Chogakusei wears in his most recent cover, because it's so freaking cool.

if you listen to any vocaloid at all, i cannot recommend Chogakusei's covers enough. his voice is crazy good

Spoiler: guy who likes birds

Mid-effort Falkner to make myself feel better about posting a lot of non-Pokémon art in a Pokémon space. Frankly I'm not in a Pokémon phase right now, I'm here more for the community, but I do feel obligated to engage just a little bit with Pokémon stuff anyway.
Falkner is pretty cool. One of my favorite Gym Leader designs.

 

[Dubious Disc]

joke's on you, this art post is actually just an excuse for me to talk about the music I like :)

Spoiler: frenemies!

[Meddmia - 絶対敵対メチャキライヤー / Unfriendly Hater]

Without a doubt this is one of my favorite Vocaloid songs. Easily top 5, possibly top 3. It's just so fun to listen to, it's full of personality and charm. Plus it helps that the MV was illustrated by two of my favorite artists.
I love the dynamic these two characters have. They hate each other (they're best friends). I feel like I haven't gotten a lot of practice drawing people actually interacting, so the proportions might be messy, but whatever. At least I made it work lol

The text is just some lyrics from the chorus. Roughly translated (left to right, top to bottom): "I hate you so much!" / "I'm totally better than you!" / "We're never gonna get along!" The stick figure thing says "No running in the halls!"

Spoiler: i'm living the best i can

[Hiiragi Kirai - ヴィータ / Vita]

The awkward way I had to twist my hands around to reference them...
idk this wasn't meant to be anything big. I noticed that this character's reference art had a step-by-step guide to drawing the different layers of her hair, so I thought "sure, let's see if I can do it." So I did. That's all. Kinda disappointed that her cool earrings aren't visible, though.

I don't really have anything to say about Vita. It was a collab with Gero, and his version is pretty good too.

Spoiler: the guide in my head is a little strange

More Hiiragi Kirai stuff.

[Hiiragi Kirai - オートファジー / Autophagy]

Autophagy is my second favorite song, after TAMAYA. It's weird, because I like them for completely different reasons. TAMAYA is comforting, while Autophagy is...I guess cathartic would be a good way of putting it. Although it does have some backstory behind it, it can be interpreted as a song about fighting against your own negative thoughts, and it brings me a sense of release when I'm struggling with something that I can't get out of my head.
ANYWAY,, since I have a blog now where I can talk about music at length, I don't need to write a whole essay here. This is just a drawing of the guy from the MV. This hand was also difficult to reference. I had fun with the hair though c:

Spoiler: flyer! (oc)

Got double ninja'd in Sketch the Above, but I liked the sketch too much to give it up so I kept working on it on my own time.
Anyway, this is Elliot! Since his partner Pokémon is a Togetic I thought it'd be fitting to have him cosplay as a Togekiss c: He's from Johto and mostly helps out at his family's Day Care.

(alt version with the hood up)