A long time. A long time.

 Well, hello there!

It's been a long time since Don't Call Me Candy, and as usual, I have picked up, put down, and put off multiple projects since. candicenorcross.net is no longer up, but Cam is alive and well. I still continue to do pixel art and worldbuilding for that far-off "sometime" of a finished work. And sometimes, I manage to put my perfectionism and ambitiousness on a shelf and just make things for me.

My latest project with tangible results is Brain BREAK!. This is a comic/blog I created after taking an anatomy and physiology class to meet a biology requirement, realizing I loved health sciences, changing my major, and tutoring biology for a year and a half. I found that my art skills and love of white boards was massively helpful to students who needed visual elements to complement confusing science concepts. It seemed like a good idea to make it more accessible.

Currently I'm working and dreaming of a degree in medical lab science. How things change!

Validate me!

Let's try this again!

Hey, you can love babies all you want. I just don't personally get the connection. Some ideas as to why.

Coping.

Heather Died: the temple!

In my second video game (you can play the first here), you will visit the Miao Fa Buddhist Temple in Portland, Oregon. I had a friend go there to take reference photos for me, then set about re-creating as much of the temple as seemed reasonable for the art style. The real thing is gorgeous, with far more detail to look at, but... for the sake of time and sanity, I am watering it down a little. Still, I'm proud of the results.

In one segment, you will gaze into the eyes of Guanyin, the goddess of mercy. This was my favorite statue at the temple, so it was important that I recreate it. This one I did by whipping up an ink drawing, scanning it in, resizing, then resizing again to capture the pixely look. I draw the line at 500 pixels for my usual one-at-a-time method.

I also created a Soundcloud where you can hear the music in development for this game as well. Check it out. Another fond discovery was a folk song/chant for Guanyin, which I was easily able to cover. Players might think it's just some Chinese-sounding thing I wrote, but damn it, I'm doing my research!

Buddha statues.

A dvarapala, a Laughing Buddha, and a Kwan Yin.

Bracelet time!

Seed beads: they are incredibly versatile and fun.

Tetris bracelet.

And another that reads "CHIRP CHIRP!!!". (It's a long story.)

More enemies.

Jerry (a "summon"), and some more kitchen baddies.

Main menu.

Fear the spatula.

Kitchen pixels.

Playing around with some concept art for an extremely short RPG. (Read: something that might actually get done.) The story? Culinary-themed. The major brainstorm that set me off was a boss that starts as the cute Grease Fire and becomes the Grease Elemental. Cue the dramatic music! (Preferably something from Final Fantasy 4.)

I have been busy roller derby training, then recovering from a roller derby injury. Suddenly I felt like making art again, so there you go!