Coochie coochie coo!

Little Tab'rin likes the tickles:

More blue collar fun.

We may see a return to a regular Don't Call Me Candy schedule. I'm thinking about it.

Minecraft!

Yup. It got to me, too. The FRENZYYY.

I am building a city. All the structures are arranged more or less how I think a city might end up planned and lived in, socioeconomically/commercially. Because I am a huge nerd.

Rich people houses!

Main Street, Anytown, USA.

Along with what you see above, I have also built:

• An art gallery
• A courthouse
• A pub
• A food cart
• A butcher shop
• A church
• A corporate headquarters
• A public rail (minecart) system

Again, because I am a huge nerd. It is so SOOTHING, though. Ermagerd.

Spurt!

It's not easy being a working girl.

Katamari prince.

A body pillow case is hard to find, and I couldn't help but notice that the dimensions were pretty perfect for a homemade case anyway. My body pillow is now extra snuggly!

Look out, kitty! You're gonna get rolled up!

Terra.

Another friend wanted a Terra. While the FF4 field sprites fit a standard frame perfectly, the FF6 sprites are just those couple pixels taller, which poses a problem. I solved this by using Terra's crouching sprite. Fits in a 2.5x3.5" frame again! My friend and I discussed our love for struggling, emotionally charged green-haired heroines so it seemed an even more appropriate pose.

Poor Terra!

Hear ye, hear ye.

I have been on a little bitty bit of a cross-stitching kick lately. I did a Final Fantasy 4 "Rydia" for myself, and then Dark Cecil and Paladin Cecil for a friend of mine. Observe!

These take a godawful long time but compared to the stuff on Sprite Stitch, I consider myself a lightweight.

And then, on Friday, I thought it would be a cool idea of create a coat-of-arms for my family unit. I changed my last name in my early twenties, and my husband took said name, so we really are a totally new unit. I figured it would be a good time to solidify our values and identity in a way that would be both bad-ass and a helpful reminder for the goals we want to strive for (before we get too cranky and old).

I spent some time in the SCA as a kid, so heraldic stuff is not entirely new to me. I think I took to it rather like a fish to water! The hours of research were quite fun and it's really amazing I didn't try to shove more symbols in. There are so many to choose from! I originally meant to put a cool crown/collar and chains on the ox but totally forgot about it when it came time to ink. Oh, well.

The Latin translates (if Google is to be believed) to "wealth (within) skill and knowledge lies". I wanted a real "working class" badge, with a hammer and star representing the quest for perfection through arts/crafts. The star also corresponds to the symbol for a third son, which is what my husband is. The 'X' pattern is a Scottish designation for the first generation of a coat. Shafts of wheat (in place of, traditionally, garish ribbons) and the wheel (in lieu of a helm designating rank) for progress, forward movement, and fruition. The ox represents fortitude/labor and the lion valor/achievement. The owl, of course, for wisdom and learning. Apparently there is a big difference between eared owls and earless owls, so I gave him ears. I will say that the one owl I saw in the wild was earless and pretty damned freaky. Every other culture of the world but the west is into them as harbringers of death.

Jerry says that orange and blue is the best color combination EVER, so what choice did I have there?

What can I say? I love symbolism.

On and off.

Little bit here, little bit there.

Here's me and my siblings as kids.

Parallels.

Something I ponder a lot about these days is character design and how much cartooning-down I want to do in general.

We love big, inviting eyes and people that are something like 6 heads tall - because let's be real, when you look in a mirror and realize how tiny your head ACTUALLY is in comparison to the rest of your body, it's actually kind of unsettling - and all sorts of shortcuts that make storytelling potent and hyperhuman. We also like to look at characters with either far fewer details, so we can inject ourselves into them and find them more relatable... or far more details, because then they deeply enrich the world they inhabit and become the opposing forces we pit ourselves against.

Long story short.

I was sketching and did 3 different Mae'houns, sort of as a test of how detailed and non-detailed I could get, with my usual style there in the middle.

Also, you know, to prove this point to anyone who's interested.