Snow has melted, temperatures rising, May 2022 report.

As always, thanks to all patrons, old and new!

April 2022: Challenge Complete!

During the last monthly report, I have stated that I would have 23 more pieces of fanart to share. Behold! I have exactly this.

First, the ones which I have already shared last time!

Amy Rose (Sonic the Hedgehog)
Commentary: Beginning the month with a full-color piece! To me, Amy Rose had always been emblematic of things that are sweet and magic. Probably because the first game I played featuring her was Sonic Advance 3. Anyways, I wanted to depict her having a bit of a magical girl experience!

Gardevoir (Pokémon)
Commentary: Gardevoir's been one of my favorite Pokémon since Gen III. They're super super duper graceful!

Fernet (100% Orange Juice / Flying Red Barrel)
Commentary: Out of all the characters in 100% Orange Juice, Fernet's the one I played the most of. She's a reliably tanky character (6 HP, -1 ATK, +2 DEF, -2 EVA) but with the worst Hyper cards in the whole game! Or at least, that's how it was when I last played it years ago. 

Now for the rest!

Secret Agent Yae (Ganbare Goemon)
Commentary: Ganbare Goemon / Legend of the Mystical Ninja isn't a series you hear much about. It's very wacky and full of comedic nonsense. Secret Agent Yae is occasionally a playable character within the series.

Marc (100% Juice / Flying Red Barrel)
Commentary: While Fernet was my most played OJ character, Marc is my favorite. She's one of the starting characters in the game, we have the same first name, and there's something just funny about how she just has a happy grin and such a peaceful theme song while she goes about blasting other players with comedically large missile rockets.

Kirby (Kirby)
Commentary: It's Kirby. What else is there to be said? This was a bit of a contingency piece; things I were trying to do that day just didn't really work out, so I scoped down to something simpler. A bit inspired by Forgotten Lands, as you can see building-like shapes in the background.

Hector (Fire Emblem)
Commentary: This lord guy is a bit infamous for being a one-man army. Aside from mages, his weakness is dealing too many killing blows during retaliation on enemy turns, and allowing more enemies to attack him. His sheer badassry, both in terms of gameplay and narrative, is just incredibly inspiring to me.

Goombella (Paper Mario)
Commentary: When she tattles a Paragoomba, she quickly comments about being jealous of the fact that they have wings. Relatable!

Tangy (Animal Crossing)
Commentary: My favorite Villager in Animal Crossing. She's a cat, but she's also a tangerine and/or an orange! And orange + bubbles = orange Fanta. Sorry, I don't make the rules.

Sherry (100% Orange Juice / Flying Red Barrel)
Commentary: This is one of the (many... too many...) DLC characters in 100% Orange Juice. Sherry's a serious Ace Pilot, with incredible stats (5 HP, +1 ATK, +1 DEF, +1 EVA), but something about her demeanor, the name of her Hyper Card (Whimsical Windmill), and the fact that she always goes second in battle suggests that she has a laid-back attitude. Maybe she's got her heads in the clouds? Who knows.

Draco Centauros (Puyo Puyo)
Commentary: Gaooooo!!! 

Seagull (100% Orange Juice / Flying Red Barrel)
Commentary: Oh look, another character from 100% Orange Juice AND a Flying Red Barrel one at that. Can you tell I spent a lot of time playing that game? Anyways, sometimes you may encounter this dangerous Seagull when landing on an Enemy panel. Despite its low stats (3 HP, +1 ATK, -1 DEF, -1 EVA) it has a tendency to show up at a critical moment of the game (read: as you're almost about to win), survive your attack, and return fire with a deadly 7 Attack roll. These sorts of moments is what inspired this piece. Note: The seven dots on the dice is not accurate to the game, but hey.

Waddle Dee (Kirby)
Commentary: This is another contingency piece. You can probably tell this one was more freehanded than any of the other ones. I really needed to take it easy on that specific day. But hey, Waddle Dee is fun and cute. 

Taiga Aisaka (Toradora)
Commentary: Fun fact! Toradora is one of the first anime I've ever really watched to the end. That was back in late 2017 (I'm late to the scene, I know). It really stuck with me as a beautiful drama story with lots of powerful comedy. This here is the Palm-Top Tiger herself, Taiga Aisaka. Despite her petite stature, her uppercuts pack a wallop.

Ryuji Takasu (Toradora)
Commentary: And here's the other main character of Toradora, the very kind homemaker (despite being still in high school), Ryuji Takasu. 

QP (100% Orange Juice / QP Shooting
Commentary: Nothing gets between QP and her pudding. You better watch out!

Marisa Kirisame (Touhou)
Commentary: Wanted to go for something a little more floaty on this one. Touhou characters have such intricate design, compared to what I'm used to drawing. 

Princess Peach (Super Mario)
Commentary: By this point in the month it was getting difficult to come up with ideas for characters to draw. I said, I'm a big fan of Mario games, so why not draw Princess Peach?

Jigglypuff (Pokémon)
Commentary: Another contingency piece. Jigglypuff is my absolute favorite Pokémon, and I consider 'em more or less a friend that helped me survive during childhood. Here, the idea was of Jigglypuff having a plan against insomnia. 

Violet Evergarden (Violet Evergarden)
Commentary: Violet Evergarden is another anime I watched back in 2017. This one was especially beautiful. I think I cried during nearly each and every episode.

Princess Rosalina (Super Mario)
Commentary: The sole bubblegum piece of this whole month. I think it turned out very cute!

Bombette (Paper Mario)
Commentary: The final contingency piece. Bombette is a powerful partner during the first game. But what made me pick her was reminding myself of this line from Book of Mario: "Bowler's my name. Office of Management and Budget. Pleasure to meet you!" which just affixed itself into my mind as "hi, I'm Bombette from accounting!"

Tana (Fire Emblem)
Commentary: An art piece for the Tana fans out there ~

Soleil (Fire Emblem)
Commentary: An art piece for the Soleil fans out there ~

Aru (100% Orange Juice / Xmas Shooting)
Commentary: Iiiiit's Santa Claus! Here to deliver presents to all good boys and girls. Aru can actually fly by herself, but I wanted to go on the idea of using balloons as her delivery assistants.

Marc (100% Orange Juice / Flying Red Barrel)
Commentary: And to end things off, here's Marc again. She's my favorite character out of all of them. I wanted to draw her just being very happy and having a good time!

Thoughts in hindsight

Boy this challenge was difficult. Near the end it was getting super tough to get myself to draw at all. I hope this sheer amount of practice helped me improve my skills a little! And I hope everyone enjoyed it.

One Last Thing About April

It was my friend, Hovan's birthday. To celebrate the occasion, I drew something for him.

Miriam

May 2022 Plans

Definitely going to take things easy for a while. I think I'll shift my focus towards writing and programming this month, once I've had the chance to unwind. Next update, on May 30th, may be light on contents. Never the less, I hope you all have a fantastic month, and thank you ever so much for your support!!