Stream of Chosha-ness!

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

While this is a bit belated, Happy Father's Day! I know the actual day was yesterday, but since I always do my blogs on Mondays, I couldn't say it on the day. Though I did personally get to say it to my own dad, so no worries! I did have something funny happen when getting my present for Father's Day, however. I had been a little unsure what to get him until my mum suggested something he had actually wanted - a power station for his car. Now, I know next to nothing about cars, but I wanted to get something dad actually might want rather than some trinket that he might never use, so off I went to the auto shop in town and found the power station pretty easily. so, I took the box with the power station to the counter to buy and I was told with a very serious expression that "I can't use it and bring it back in a few days."

Now, I'm pretty sure that auto shops are not libraries. I was buying it after all. Makes me wonder if someone's actually done that before or if I just look that much like an idiot or newbee where cars are concerned that they needed to point this out, I had no idea, but I still found it kind of funny anyway, if only by how utterly serious they were saying it.

Joking aside they were awesome people and dad was happy with his present.

Anyways, Along with Father's day, I was a bit on the busy side. As you guys likely know, the world cup has started and as someone who works in a bar, we've been showing the matches in the pub itself, meaning we needed to have staff to cover the matches, including yours truely, hence why today is really more a stream of consciousness rather than ay expression of artistry - though some things you see, hear and do at the pub could make for ab entire book/comic series in and of itself. I mentioned it before but I'm making note of all kind of fun tings I've seen of heard, even stupid stuff I've done as well and will one day make a small series on it for fun. Who knows, it might get a laugh :)

One of the biggest matches at the pub so far, of course, was the England game (for those of you who aren't aware, I'm from the UK, FYI) and they were playing Tunisia today and won - great start for the team :) I'm not a big football fan, honestly, but hey, I should at least show some patriotic support! So well done team! When I've not been busy serving customers I've been checking on some of the other matches too and there've been some good ones so far. Here's hoping that the rest of the world cup goes well too!

But anyways, I hope that my 'blah-ing' hasn't been too off putting, beyond the maybe promise of eventual comic series of various spoofs at my bar job, but now we've all started getting into the rhythm of work alongside football, I should be back to work on my projects once again. Along with the badges, I've got a couple request I've got that I'm going to be working on, and I'm also having a little experiment with different styles as well, especially since one of my requests was asked to be in my take of a specific style. So I should have some interesting stuff for you all soon and hope you look forwards to it.

Until next time!

Tara

Badges In Progress!

Hey Everyone! Welcome back!

Last time I showed you guy the seven badge ideas that I came up with that would be related to Tanra Studios. While I'll probebly end up doing full versions of all of them eventually, if only to use later, I have done some progress on two of them. They're not complete, of course, and a lot of tweaking will be needed, but I thought I'd at least give you an update on how things are going.

So first of all, one of the badges I was looking at was the Oneiros skull idea. I was thinking of doing it in a silhouette/icon-esque manner, though I'll admit I'm a little uncertain on colours at the moment. This one is the  one mist subject to change on design. This first version I went for was a more uniformed, almost symmetrical design, though I did have other ideas for one that utilises the initial sketch a little more, making it look more melted and disjointed, thus less symmetrical. That one is one I'll likely play with next, however. Along with being a bit unsure on its final design, I'm also currently a little unsure on colours, thus this version is very much in progress/ experimental stage. Still, what I have so far, unfinished as it is, is this:

The markings on the badge design are to help me work out what will be where. The smallest circle is the 'safe zone' where any design inside will definitely be on the badge. the middle circle is where the badge might bend over to curl around to the back and the dotted circle is where anything might be cut. While experimenting, I was only messing with colour to the middle circle, though. When finalised, I'd do it to the dotted line. 

While I like some aspects of the design, it currently doesn't stand out much. So if I continued with it, I'd need to make the silhouette pop a bit more, either by giving the design light and shading, or by messing with the background. I have some other thoughts as well for the design, such as slash markings similar to some from the comic, however, as said, this is one that needs a lot more work and experimenting on to get it right.

The next one was the chibi version of Somnus. With that one, his colours mostly match those from his initial design, though I'm still contemplating shirt colours. The main problem is that Somnus, as a character, favours blacks, greys and purples, so again, the background might need a bit of work, either by going for an opposing colour, or maybe doing that glittery design from a print idea. Either way, note that the current background colour is not likely to be in its final version - that will be my main experiment for that one.

For now, though, this is what I've done:

Apologies if the picture is a tad blurred for the blog. As you can see, I was working on this to the edges, as I am supposed to be. lol. As you can tell compared to my initial design, its not full body any longer, but rather a closer image. This is because full version would have made him ridiculously small on the badge. While flats are done, minus making the colour stand out a bit more, you may notice the two white 'balls' - the one hovering over his hand, and the one on the staff. There are currently uncoloured, with the white as placeholders, since these are to have mixed, swirling-like colours and will give off some light of their own. So for now, I just needed to be sure I knew where each part world be when I get around to working on them without disrupting line art or pulling on the original sketch too much. It also helps in arranging the placement of the character, as that might also change slightly if I feel it needs shifting, enlarging, etc.

Still, with what I have so far, what do you guys think? Comment below and let me know! :)

Until next time!

Tara

Budding Badges!

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

So, I've been working on some ideas for badges. At the moment, these are only rough ideas since I'm not entirely sure of what the badge dimensions are just yet - the problems of not having one's own badge maker and needing to outsource. However, for right now, these are all only sketched ideas, with only two of the seven eventually making the final cut. Those two will then go on to having digital versions completed which will match the dimensions for the badges, since by that time I should have an idea of what might work out best.

So if you like, give me your input on what you might think would work best as a badge design. After all, if eough people like a particular design, it'll be one of the two that'll make it to merchandising stage :)

So, what are the ideas? Well, here's photographs of the sketches - I apologise for my, as usual, fairly abysmal photography skills:

For the first design, it was the most simple, yet probebly the most striking - a stylised version of one of the Oneiros' heads. I found that when I did badges for Susanoo, the one that sold the most was the Orochi's eye badge. Essentially something leaning towards 'cool' rather than based on a particular character. Plus, skull designs are pretty popular when it comes to T-shirts and such. With the right combination of colours, the badge could be quite striking, even if the badge itself ends up being relatively small. Plus with these creatures being the main antagonists of the series, it seemed a fairly fitting thing for merchandise of Dreamwalkers.

The second design was less to do with Dreamwalkers itself, and more my personal mascot that, in Dreamwalkers and generally everything I've been doing since starting has the Luphin character somewhere. If you have the first chapter of Dreamwalkers, it's in there somewhere. :) Plus where 'cool' doesn't pick up interest, cute is its next contender. However, as its not technically a character in the series, but more my mascot, it might not be so fitting for a Dreamwalkers badge. But if it doesn't end up a badge, I might still use the design elsewhere. Luphins always seem to show up in my work somewhere. lol

The next here designs are similar in ideas, leaning towards 'cute'. However, these are significantly less fuzzy and more 'chibi' versions of the three main characters currently introduced in the series: Rem, Somnus and Ashling:

Admittedly, out of the three, while Rem seems the most adorable, Somnus and Ashling's poses might work better for the badges since they'd leave less blank space of nothing. However, it would make more sense for Rem and/or Somnus to get badges with them being the main focus from chapter one. Rem being the main protagonist, while Somnus being the deurangonist. Its always possible, depending on how people take to whatever two make the first cut that the chibi other versions could show up later on.

The last two designs were more leaning towards their actual designs and were actually inspired by the Somnus poster idea I got to digital version for my degree show. That is the character holding a glowing ball - the ball itself representing imagination/dream/potential that can be crafted by the Dreamwalkers while in the dreamscape into whatever they might need via will - something explained in more detain in the course of the story. Considering what I mentioned of the two focus characters, for that idea I only did those two so far - If only because they made for cool mirror images:

I personally like the idea of these designs, however, I'm unsure if others would be interested in them as badges, at least for the first lot of merchandise for Dreamwalkers that weren't prints. These two would make a tad more sense to be done together, but could work solo as well. Still, if they dont get much interest as badges I do have ideas to repurpose them to designs for other things, such as perhaps internet 'banners' or 'icons'. 

Still, I would love to know what you guys think! Any input would be great. After all, not only does it help me to know what you guys like, but it also helps me give you guys things you might want. So let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

Until next time!

Tara

Nine Tails Sketch

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

So I've been practicing sketching supernatural creatures and, keeping in line with the 'fox lord' sketch I did a few weeks ago, the first thing I decided to sketch - admittedly in the notebook I was also writing my ideas and such down in - was a nine tailed fox. The other reason I decided to focus on this was because of the character Huxian in the TanraStudios blog, who is one of these supernatural foxes himself

It wouldn't shock me if this is a supernatural creature you've heard about before. Foxes with supernatural gifts, not just nine tailed ones, are pretty common in media like anime, Manga and games, as well as appearing within Japanese, Chinese and Korean mythology, to name a few, though foxes have shown up in other mythology as well.

Notable examples in media are:

For anime, the ninetailed fox that was sealed into the title character in the anime/manga Naruto, the character Kurama from YuYu Hakushou, Shippo from Inuyasha, Tomoe from Kamisama kiss, Renamon and her various digivolutions in Digimon, to name just a few.

In games, Pokemon such as the Vulpix, Zorua and Fennikin lines are all based on foxes - even their pokedex entries seem to reflect some of the myths. Also, Tails from Sonic, Keaton in Legend of Zelda, the boss 'Ninetails' in Okami, Ahri from League of Legends and even the Hermit Social link in Persona 4 are all foxes that seem to have some inspiration from the mythologies. Once again, to name but a few.

As for the mythologies themselves, mainly if you heard of them through games and such, it's likely that the name 'Kitsune' has cropped up, which is the Japanese name for foxes, whether supernatural or otherwise, though this is not the only term they're known by. 'Nogitsune' and 'Yako' are usually what more trickster types are known by, who are more often than not mischievous at best and malicious at worst, whereas a 'Zenko' is a fox usually associated with the god 'Inari', and seen as said god's messengers and thus more benevolent. 'Tenko' are foxes that are considered celestial, having  gained nine tails after living for 1000 years and ascended to the heavens. These are the highest ranked kitsune.

In Chinese Mythology, supernatural foxes are referred to as 'Huli Jing' - fox spirits - and their nine tailed versions are called 'Jiuweihu'. Like their Japanese counterparts, Huli Jing can be good or bad spirits. Foxes also seem to be linked to divine beings as well, with forms of Huxian (Fox Immortal/ fox gods) that either are equivalent to Inari, or have an animal form of a nine tailed fox, though this can refer to several different beings, either individually or as a collective trio of fox god(desses).

(Ironically, when I created the character Huxian for Pandora, I actually had't known about the actual versions in the mythology, though when I found out, I saw no reason to change it. Hell, it even fits, given his storyline...)

Korea's version of supernatural foxes are referred to as 'Kumiho', litterally meaning 'nine tailed fox'. Unlike both Japanese and Chinese equivalents, which ca lean to any spectrum of a moral compass, Kumiho are almost unanimously malevolent and would feast on human flesh, specifically the heart of liver, depending on the tale.

Though these are some differences in mythologies, such as Kumiho having a bead containing knowledge that could be absorbed from others or, if swallowed by a human could give them gifts; Kitsune able to use fire or possess humans etc, there are many similarities to the mythologies where abilities are concerned. They are generally shape shifters that can take on human forms, mostly that of beautiful women, though sometimes older men. In Japanese and Chinese mythologies especially, they seem to even gain some magical power, especially as nine tails, and able to perform other feats such as divination or sorcery.

There are tons of stories about supernatural foxes, whether they have nine tails or not, all of them pretty interesting to read and these is a ton more information about foxes in mythology.

Honestly speaking, Foxes are my favourite (real) animal, with them being my second favourite supernatural one - that honour goes to dragons (I used to be really obsessed with those as a kid and still love them now). Still, I hope you liked the bits of info. I really would suggest looking them up for more in-depth stuff though, cause there are some really good bits of info on them and folk lore that I really couldn't get into without this blog ending up taking a week or so to read. Still, if you're interested, there are tons of places online to find out more :)

Until next time!

Tara

The Meaning of Nightmares

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

So I mentioned that I was working on a bit more research last time, though admittedly part of that research was mythology in general. However, I have also been doing some more looking into dreams, nightmares, meanings and the likes, since that is a central part of Dreamwalkers.

For those who may not remember, or those just joining, Dreamwalkers is somewhat episodic in nature, at least somewhat. Despite an overarching plot, the main purpose of the SOS team is about saving people from monster controlled nightmares praying on the sleeper's subconscious desires, fears etc. As such, a lot of character to the side characters and even a bit on some of the main characters themselves is told through the types of things they dream about and an interpretation of them - its not everything about the characters, of course, but just additional titbits about them. As such, looking up nightmares and meanings will certainly help to improve on character development, especially for episodic characters you only have short times to get to know.

While researching, I came across a video on YouTube that popped up on my suggestions feed that was only uploaded a week or so ago which covers ten common nightmares and meaning, and thought it was pretty interesting, not to mention very relevant, and thought I'd share it with you guys.

All credit for the video, of course, goes to Alltime 10s. Give them a like on YouTube if you enjoyed what you saw here and, if you like what they do, subscribe to their channel, too. If nothing else, I found it really interesting! :) Who knows, you might find a nightmare you've had and now know the meaning, or maybe one of these nightmares may show up in Dreamwalkers.

Until net time!

Tara

I Have A Plan!!!

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

So, I've been thinking of a little project to do on the side, mostly in relation to the blogs, mainly because my wrists have been a little on the sore side and I'm being careful in hopes I dont end up with Tendonitis again. As you may remember, a while ago, when I was last suffering pretty badly from tendonitis and unable to really draw, I explored different myths and legends about dreams, with a touch of dream interpretation. While I would never class myself as an anthropologist (though that sounds like an amazing job, not gonna lie. Respect to those training in or working in that field) I've always been interested in mythology and how people interpreted various things that created the myths in the first place. Without things like that, we might not have so many diverse beliefs in the past and such rich mythologies in different countries.

Essentially, I was considering doing something similar to what I did with the dream based myths, but with my drawing, sketches or interpretations of different myths, with a bit of information about them. The reason I was thinking this is because of the other comic I'm joint working on with my partner in crime in TanraStudios is heavily based in mythologies, being at its core about a supernatural detective agency. Since I'm doing the research anyway, it would be killing two birds with one stone. I know that we've touched on them in the script based side stories that are posted on the TanraStudios blog. So, I'm thinking that, in-between my usual blogs, I might do some info and sketches about some of the myths and legends I look up. It could be a ton of fun, to be honest, especially when there are myths that cross over different countries and have somewhat different takes to them. Who knows, some of these creatures may even end up popping into Dreamwakers, because hey, in dreams, anything is possible.

In the meantime, I'll admit that I've not been particually busy on the drawing front, as I mentioned (fingers crossed on the wrist thing) but I did a little doodle here and there just to keep my hand in.

Is anyone ever inspired to doodle just because they happen to have a pet? I certainly know while I was at university, one of my comic ideas (which I didn't get to do in the end) was going to be about the antics of my, at the time, new puppy and the cat I had. They used to sleep together and get up to mischief. My cat even taught my dog how to beg. Pretty funny thing to see.

I do still want to do a comic about those two, even though my cat passed away before I finished uni. Their antics should be remembered!

But anyway, once again, with just pen, I decided to do a sketch inspired by my dog!

Admittedly, it's without the particular markings in his fur, so it kinda looks more like the dog from the film Up. But for a drawing that took only a minute or so, it came out pretty good. Maybe I'll do a full body one and do shading too. Or try to do dogs in lots of different styles. I suppose it would all depend on if I'm trying to take it easy with my wrists, or if I'm focused on one of my projects again :)

Either way, if all goes well, I'll see about doing some blog posts based on the mythology thing with images, if not I might just talk about them, or I'll be doing my usual thing. Its all the change things up a little bit and make it fun for all of us, especially you guys who read my rambles each week. Thank you!!! You're all awesome!

Until next time!

Tara

Fair Days Faire

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

I don't know about anyone else, but where I live, we've been having some really nice weather, which is kinda weird around the May Bank Holiday. The last few years at least have been pretty gloomy weather wise, which is kinda ironic, considering every May Bank Holiday, my town has a faire that shows up with rides, live music, game stands, food stalls and a market. Its nothing huge - my town isn't particually a large one - but its still nice to see since it only really shows up once or twice a year. It also really livens things up a bit too, though bad weather sometimes screws up the turnout.

This past week and today, though, has had pretty great weather! Blue skies as far as the eye could see. Aaaaand, of course, that meant I was working inside a pub most of the time since, where there is a large turn out of people for a local faire, it also means that pubs get busy too. Still, I did have a bit of a look around when I could. I even took a few pictures, though it didn't really get the full scale of everything. Beware my horrible phone photo taking skills! lol.

So firstly was the market - took the photo from a bit of a distance - but there was some pretty fun stuff going on. There were some people dressed up as Stormtroopers and were probebly boiling, but they were taking photos with people. There were lots of stands selling various things from food to toys to hand made items. Beyond the stalls were some of the rides, such as the waltzers - you can see the back of that on the picture - the maroon coloured thing on the right - though there were more rides and stalls just beyond the town hall - the building on the left.

One thing I did find funny was there was that really small gazebo that you can see on the left. I found out that was a paddling pool for dogs so they didn't overheat. That was nice of them! I know while I was working a fair number of people brought their dogs with them, so at least they had ways to stay cool when not getting bowls of water when they're brought into the pub.

Along with Waltzers, bumper cars, and what looked to be some kind of haunted house (didn't get close enough to know for sure on that last one), intermingled with food stalls, there were some of these rides, like the spinning one at the top where they strap you in and you spin around while it tilts you at different angles. There was a kid's Ferris Wheel and a fun house, or 'Crazy Cottage' as it was called. There was game stands sort of like the Ducks one, where you had to hook a duck to get a prize.

It wasn't just games, rides and food stalls, but there was a car show going on, showing pretty old styled cars to newer kinds. I'm not a big car person, but I'll admit it was pretty cool to see the older styled cars. I don't know about anyone else, but I think they have lots of character :)

Though there was no photos of this (mostly as nothing was playing at the time I wasn't working) there was also a stage that would play live bands, make announcements etc, and would play music in the middle of these times for entertainment.

There's one thing I was sad not to get photo's of, though, and that was that they made a huge sand pit for people to build sandcastles and stuff as if on a beach, and to make it that much more authentic (in a purely British holiday feel), they even brought donkey's for donkey rides. If nothing else, I would have loved to see the donkeys. Donkey's are cute.

Its a shame it doesn't stay for too long. By the time I was finished at work today they had started to pack up to move on to....wherever they go when not in my town - as you can tell, I know little about fairs. lol. But still, it was fun while it lasted. I just hope the next time it rolls into town, the weather will hold up just as well.

Though it'd be nice if it was advertised a bit more, next time. If I didn't work in a pub in town, and thus passed the signs on the sides of the road, I might not have known it was going to be there at all. Usually there's a bit more advertisement. Though since we have it every May Holiday, maybe they assumed we'd guess it was there? I dunno. Either way, should be fun when it comes again. Hopefully bringing the great weather too!

Until Next Time!

Tara