Inky OCtober 5: I retired these Mains but brought them back for Inktober

      Hello. This should have been posted a long time ago but my last post got complicated so I didn't work on this blog post but I kept drawing:

Ok, so we've got these four characters that I developed and then didn't come up with anything else for them so I retired them after maybe a year or two. First one is Carmen Sanchez, an athletic, tomboy Cuban American girl from Miami. She loses her patience easily and was constantly losing her patience in her story. Second girl I drew in March as a cartoon with a flower crown. She was very much loved on both instagram and tumblr. Her name is Guey and she is a Cuban Taino, having been a teenager just when the Spaniards arrive. She is an ancestor to Carmen and has a very happy personality and is very open to exploring new things. She would be a riot if she were in our times. Ok, now the third drawing happened while I was depressed yet I managed to draw a happy go lucky character with a big smile on her face. I like this drawing actually. This is Carmen's grandma Nancy Alejandra Sanchez (no maiden name at this time so just going by her married name). She became a teenager before the communist takeover in Cuba, my only indicator of age at this current time. Last but not least, Carmen's ancestor from early imperial Spain Isabella. She was an adult by the time of the Spanish conquest of the Americas but I drew her as a teenager. Isabella thinks herself too good for everyone and has no patience for anything. Oh, and Spain is the best according to her. I now know that no one had bangs back in the late 1400s, but I designed this character in manga style. Also, her face looks similar to Hans and my sister pointed out that her bangs looked like Sandra's. *sigh* Well, I have only two days left in inktober, too many to post on here before then. 😩

Inky OCtober 4: In development Mains

      I have forced myself to come back today so hello there. Starting on the 11th (and ending yesterday), I kinda switched gears and drew old OCs that I had retired but, as much as they were all teenage girls, they had more diversity so I dusted them off for this inktober. The five characters below are actually my first manga OCs and I have started redeveloping them so if you don't mind, here they are: 

I got filter heavy with these because I still hadn't figured out that if I went to my camera's settings and hit to manually control them that I could set a it for fluorescent lighting. So these characters had names that I have decided to change and only two have had name changes applied so "" will imply that that was the old name they went by... "Kelly" is a biracial Japanese girl, her mother having been an American model and her father a rich Japanese banker. She used to be blonde and blue eyed but I have redesigned her so that she isn't because it makes no sense if she is half Asian and those are recessive genes not carried by ethnic Asians. I even changed her bangs but I haven't found a replacement name yet, and I have a list of names for her. She is a conceited, spoiled, boisterous girl but deep down inside she has a heart of gold. 24 karat. Next character is Isoke. She was originally named Isis and was basically a biracial girl with some Egyptian ancestry that had been orphaned in Kyoto, Japan (where the story takes place), but along with the name change I made her fully black of Nigerian ancestry. She's still an orphan though because the only orphan characters I know of are Oliver Twist, Batman and Robin, and Superman (who was adopted immediately because he happened to be a baby. How convenient for him) and it is hard for teens and minority children to get adopted in real life so let's represent for once, alright? I just need to figure out her orphan story 😅 Being cynical, sarcastic, and absolutely done with everybody, she surprises everyone with her intelligence because they expect her to not care enough to make an effort. She and "Kelly" have a weird frenemy relationship in that Isoke always gets pissed off by the other girl but they don't actually hate each other. They just happen to be polar opposites. I didn't ink her in completely because I am doing this whole challenge with my two micron pens which have only so much ink and also the last time I inked in a black character, I immediately regretted how it looked. I think my profile photobombed the third picture in the form of a shadow 😆Well, her name is now Tara but she was known only by Tee-Nee for a long time. She is an Aussie girl not blessed with height and her parents are both collegiate professors that have transferred to Kyoto for the time being. She is shy and doesn't have much of a self esteem thanks to having been picked on most of her life. Tara is a smart girl, though, and gets along well with Isoke. The bottom two are twins. They were originally fraternal I think but makes more sense to make them identical with completely opposite personalities. Both have a mother who was a J-Pop sensation back in her day, and "Tari" (buns) have a personality worthy of a pop star with her peppy attitude and cutesy style. "Yari" (braid) is serious, more subdued and rolls her eyes at her sister and her antics. Her fiery twin would say she's as cold as ice. Maybe she's right. Ironically, "Yari" has dyed her hair blonde. I had to redesign "Tari" a bit on the fly because some of my design choices from when I was thirteen don't make much sense anymore, like short little bits of hair sticking up from her crown near her bun. You know you're an adult when you get rid of fun bits of a design because it won't work in realism 😅😭 

Can you believe I started drafting this post a long time ago and when I went to add to it to finally post from my phone, reloading the page got rid of what I added and I got pissed and left alone for later? Well I did so I now I gotta spam you guys with constant posts because I have moved along with Inktober. Be back. 

Inky OCtober 3: Project:Reclaim Earth Mains

      Hello. I should have done this last week on Friday, but I didn't. I had a long day at work and I just wanted to finish my inktober piece for that day. Should have done this last Saturday, but I didn't. I got depressed and didn't even get to go out and do what I wanted to do on that day. Could have done it on Sunday but Sunday is an awkward day for me and I was depressed on that day too, but I managed to get myself out of the house for my errands. Monday was a long day at work. Wednesday was a long day at work and had a frustrating ending so forget that. Anyway, here are some more completed inktober for you:

Some of these characters I've drawn and posted here before in manga form but it's time for a formal introduction for this crew. Years ago I sort of debuted Kenta and Ryo but for anyone that has discovered me after that: Kenta Hayashi was born to a divorced Japanese woman, which is hard to believe when you see this 6 foot tall, blond and amber eyed guy. His mom tells a story that he finds hard to believe. Ryo Takahashi is his playboy friend, expected by his father to join and eventually inherit the family pest control business... which he is not interested in because he has plans of starting a psychology practice. Emi Kimura is a friend of Kenta's... at least that's what he says. She's a highly optimistic girl even though her life circumstances call for more pessimism. She's not really a main character but she's important enough to the story that I included her in the lineup. And last but not least is this other character (who is isn't really a main character either, but I have to have an equal ratio of male to female characters now so I threw the girls in to even out a male-heavy cast) Janah. She is actually an alien with only two recorded emotions: rage and disgust. Oh, the few times she has smiled have because of Kenta, and Ryo suffering some sort of misfortune. She is not here of her own choosing but is definitely settling in permanently due to mitigating circumstances. I drew the girls sharing a page so Emi's hair is cutting into Janah's picture. Man, this inktober is hectic because it feels a bit like I am biting more than I can chew, what with work and the new format I have adopted this year. I might go back to prompts and my cartoon style next year. Not following the prompts isn't entirely a bad thing. I don't have to think too hard what exactly I am going to draw because I planned which characters I am drawing on which day so I just have to figure out how I want them facing, what expression and how to interpret them. Oh, and I have finally figured out how to take brighter pictures with my phone but that didn't take effect on these pictures. Hopefully I will post tomorrow. Till then. 

Inky OCtober 2: Super Teens Mains

      Hello again. I said I would post days three to six next and here they are: 

Yes, my Super Teens Tamiko, Ariana, Wilhelm, and Aidan. These characters were created like a year or two after Mike and Sandra and it was because of a roleplay? My sister and I were drawing a roleplay comic that breaks pretty much every rule of roleplay but we didn't know this at the time. The first time I drew Tamiko was then and she was Hispanic with dark hair. I don't even remember what prompted me to change her ethnicity and hair color but I made sure to include a Hispanic girl in her posse anyway. For this drawing, I wanted Tamiko to be distinguishable as ethnically Japanese to combat her unnatural hair. Problem is, I don't feel like she looks much like she is Japanese. A follower of mine on Instagram commented that she thought she looked Japanese (I have yet to respond 😱) but I don't know... maybe my style's minimalist approach doesn't convey it the way I want it to without drawing stereotypical slanted Asian eyes. If you haven't noticed, these drawings are bigger because everybody here got a page to themselves. Also, in order to convey dark hair, I am inking in only their eyebrows because I am working with micron pens and I don't want to deplete my ink. I am also trying to ink in dark eyes, which I realize I did not do with Mike, but the dark eyes I am inking in are either black or dark brown. Mike's eyes are like a medium dark brown, might have looked weird if I had done it then. I'm not entirely fond of how Ariana and Wilhelm's bangs came out but it's the price you pay when you draw heavily stylized characters in a less stylized manner. I actually got a comment on my Instagram post of Ariana that my style reminded them of old Archie comics. I feel so honored because I grew up reading old Archie comics and it probably has influenced my style in a subliminal manner. What else can I say here about this art and these characters? Nothing is coming to mind now besides how Aidan went from being the quiet and serious bad boy type to having a boisterous personality and cracking jokes. Well I'll be seeing you next time I post more inktober stuff, which should be soon because I just finished the last of another set of characters today. See you then.

Inky OCtober 1: Bittersweet Mains

      Hello. I should have posted this a lot sooner but last week was busy and hectic and I actually got days off of work this week, hence why I'm posting now. So my third inktober in a row I decided to change things up and, besides being more professional and using a sketchbook bought specifically for inktober and micron pens, I ditched the prompts and cartoon style and am focusing instead on my OCs and stylized realism style. Naturally, I had to start this with the OCs that have stuck with me for the longest continuous length of time:

Mike and Sandra! Actually I started with Sandra because it all started with Sandra. Mike was made as a consequence to creating Sandra. So my sketchbook has only 25 pages and October has 31 days... therefore I calculated how many pages I had to have two characters sharing a page... after starting with Mike and Sandra sharing a page. But their stories are interconnected and merge so it makes sense. Anyway, I am sketching out my characters first then inking (it's easier for me) and I knew I was going to have a long day at work with little chance to draw during the day on the 1st so I sketched out Sandra the day before (Sep. 30) since I had the day off and we had a beach outing on that day so it was just a great time for me to squeeze in a sketch. And squeeze in a sketch I did. Yes, I started my inktober ahead of time. It's called planning. I actually have planned out most of the characters I am drawing this month (I say most because I have a day that I still have no clue who I'll draw then and this is actually day nine of inktober) and I am starting the month with main characters, which Mike and Sandra are. I may have drawn Mike a bit too big for the space I gave him on the page because if you'll notice, a chunk of his head is missing and he doesn't seem to mind. For the most part, I think these drawings are coming out ok, I am proud that I am interpreting these characters in a more realistic manner and inking them. I keep making mistakes, though, which I keep covering up with my white gel pen. But otherwise, they're good drawings considering that I went through art block recently. I'd still be going through it if it weren't that I am pushing myself to do this challenge because I like it and do want to draw because I enjoy drawing and need something to distract my brain from all the bad in the world. I am going to get another post started up so that you can see who I drew for days three to six tomorrow hopefully. See you then.