Blogette Delta Zero - A Thread of Consternation

Closer together, hmm. That could make sense. But the triangle, I think it makes 'em a little too close. It's possible it's the euclidian alignment of the triangle that's causing problems, I dunno.
Is that what you mean by proportions of eyebrows, or is there something wrong with the eyebrows themselves?

And yeah, obscuring the ear was what I did.


I think the full triangle makes things a little too scrunched, but this looks decent. Just need to adjust the actual eyes.

... Now that I think about it. Maybe I could move the eyebrow right (viewer orientation).

 

Humpfh. I'm tired for some inexplicable reason. I think the air conditioning in my house might be messing up. Everytime I go back it's turned itself off.

On the other hand, I've accomplished (?) a lot of things but failed to post them here.

 

The actual body part of The Work is done! I... mostly like it. Turns out getting Snek body 'even' is hard, and the perspective on the bands is... bad. But still! I like it. The fact that Nanoha's outfit is so white made getting good lighting hard. I also found a scale brush to paint it with, which is cool! Not so helpful with the belly bits, I guess.

 

BUT WAIT! There's more!

I've since adjusted the wings to be more downwards. But it's cool!

 

Man, Nanoha came out looking so goddamn cool. You did a really good job with the colouring and enhancing the sense of depth in the picture with it.

 

Thanks! Still have the background to do, then I'll post it to DA and feel confident in getting to work

I guess I can take heart in that at least I can still sort of art!

 

Hey, anyway, I don't think I posted this before, so: More of my ideas.
Fate, you can see the outline. Centaur was a pretty obvious take for her, and honestly what inspired this.

Precia is also a centaur, naturally enough. Probably similar in appearance, jet black body, though a much more... elaborate... outfit. Sort of inspired by super-fancy dressage harness, I think.

Chrono and Lindy are both beetles. Bug People are a thing. They don't actually have exoskeletons, and 'only' have four legs, so there's that (though, given they also have two arms, they're still technically hexapods).
Chrono: Dark blue shell, no (apparent) wings, angular magical wings appear when in flight. Long and thin body, with 'rear' legs about midway through. Wears... half a trenchcoat, with only one 'tail' portion. And spikes. Can't forget the spikes. Bottom of lower body is covered in spiky metal plates, because of course.

Lindy: Some kind of beetle-like form, with an iridiscent emerald shell and diaphonous wings. Small legs near front, relatively long 'abdomen' that trails behind her when in flight. Kind of like a dragonfly-beetle hybrid, conceptually.

A's Edition:
Hayate: Mermaid
Pale grey to blue scales over tail. Outfit... pretty much unchanged, actually. Being a mermaid of course means she can't walk even after dealing with the Book. There's an interesting bit of worldbuilding in here: Mermaids are common enough that most cities in Earth and Mid-Childa are designed for them - canals are nearly as ubiquitous as sidewalks.

Signum: Leotaur. Not entirely clear on coloring or outfit.
Vita: Here I'm torn between, like, a smol tiger, or a rabbit. Rabbit people definitely exist, I may make Yuuno one of them, (because ferret-taurs don't really work, I think).
Shamal: Faun, though technically more of an elk-taur. Very tall, spindly, and 'dignified'.
Reinforce: Like... a book genie. Her lower body is 'emitted' from the Book and is made of paper and light.

StrikerS Edition:
Figuring out how to make non-ridiculous quadruped skates was a chore, but I *think* i've done it. Go more high tech, with spherical wheels almost in emulation of paws. And claws.
Subaru: Panther.
Barrier Jacket upper unchanged. Lower consists of denim cover over back, held in place by straps, with small metal faulds on front legs, larger on back. The denim connects to a much swishier caper of a similar pattern to canon design. Mach (and Blitz) Caliber design fairly sleek and angular, with large bearing in front and two smaller bearings in line. Coat is roughly color of her hair, with vague tabby-striping.

Teana: Lamia.
BJ Design basically unchanged, body is orange and black striped, kinda like a coral snake.

Erio: Lizard? Dunno. Still kinda working on it.
Caro: Is an actual dragon. Which translates to a big, bluish-white bird lizard for a lower body. Outfit details pending, but probably a prioritiy. Y'know, I think I can keep her cape as an actual cape. That'd be cool. Details on how Dragons work pending, but they're one of the places where Things Actually Significantly Change. She'll also be a bit older, just 'cause I can.

Ginga: Panther.
Upper similar, though armor goes down a bit further. Full body suit remains full body suit, with purple trimmings. Paler grey-blue fur, with darker blue splotches.

Lutecia: Beetle. A fairly big/wide sort. Actually a summoner, sort of - Garyuu is her actual familiar now, though.

Uno: Mermaid.
Due: ???. Seriously, though, she can genuinely shapeshift, and no one but the doctor and (probably) herself know how she was born.
Tre: ... Dunno.
Quattro: Centaur. Chestnut fur, similar to her hair.
Cinque: Lamia. Silver scales with black 'scrawlings'.
Sein: Mermaid. Pale silvery scales with narrow V-Tail.
Sette: Centaur
Otto: Faun/Elk
Nove: Panther
Her skates are a bit wider than S/Gs, with longer, actually sharp claws that can expand in combat. Base of the skate has 3 bearings in a triangle formation.
Reddish fur (somewhat lighter than hair) with darker spots in a vaguely cheetah like pattern.
Dieci: Rabbit
Wendi: Faun
Dido: Beetle

 

At long last, I have finally gotten my head together enough to finish the (first) work! I was pretty much just stuck on the lighting for the background, which is... annoying.

 

looks sweet as hell

 

Thanks! I have decided to go back and 'restart' the Fate pic, I didn't like the... posing? Anatomy? Something about it.

It doesn't help that I don't know how to draw animals at all.

 

So, restarting Fate pic! Hinquarters doesn't quite seem right... it's just an outline, but still.

 

*puts hand up* I spotted something. There's no space between the hind legs that would leave room for the hip bone on that end, so it looks like she's twisted sideways. The leg left behind the body should be further forward. It may help if you picture what her posture looks like from above.

 

Thanks. That's correct, now that I look at it. I... well, I'm not actually good at 3d art, but my ambition is to eventually do it, because, well, perspective hates me.

 

The best way to learn perspective is to keep drawing things that are "above" your skill level :D visualization is something that can absolutely be acquired as a skill.

 

Well, this is going to be a vent, but I'm in a bad mood.

Actually. I'm mostly just in a bad mood. I have... a lot of projects. A lot. I don't work on them as much as I should, perhaps. That's pretty common, I guess, but...
When I do finish something, it never seems to get any attention. At all. You've been very kind, HonestlyVan, but... well, you're an exception. I suppose I don't reciprocate all that well, but... I try.
Sometimes I feel like I'm shadowbanned from the Internet, and that it's all completely pointless. Just... nothing I do seems to work. It's... well, it's honestly part of a complex of other things.

Also, I just came back from a vacation/college search, which... wasn't as pleasant as I hoped. Well, it was pretty pleasant, honestly. A lot of lovely people. A little too...
Well, it's kind of awkward to talk about, and only tangentially related.

 

VENT OVER.
Well. For now.

 

Aaanyways. I have an announcement to make.
Screen_Shot_0029-06-10_at_20.25.42.png (1134×1702) (discordapp.com)

InnocentS Nove is adorable. I want to make her a pokemon.
... no I don't know why.

Maaaybe, some kind of plot with this new VR card game, starts out normal enough, except there's weird stuff, maybe the cards allow you to use powers in the real world, and it turns out the designers may have included some Even Weirder Stuff. Turns out it's Black Magic. Or something like that.

Fuuuck.


So, there's like... every player has an 'Avatar' and various abilities they can equip/play. It starts out as a cool AR simulation that's just a fun game, but then Nanoha obtains a *JEWEL CARD*. It offers a new, higher level of play, and is very important somehow. There's... maybe a monster (though possibly more a... virus monster?), maybe he's 'in person', but Yuuno challenges her to a Jewel Card Duel. Thinking this is part of the game, she uploads her Avatar to the Jewel Card and goes into a super intense VR battle... and wins, pretty easily. And she now has a Ally Jewel Card with Yuuno on it? Which is weird.

Things continue to happen. Her friends aren't qualified to Duel her anymore because they don't have Jewel Cards. She calls the company that makes Brave Duel. They have no idea what's going on. She... finds a few more (blank?/minor?) Jewel Cards. She meets Fate, and duels over CAT. Fate warns her that if they meet again, she'll have to capture her. Yuuno is also... acting with more independence than a playing card should have. That's also weird. Nanoha isn't stupid.

She continues to investigate, but it doesn't work. Finally, on vacation, while Trying Things, she discovers she can play cards in real life. Technically, the game told her about this a long time ago, that having a Jewel Card Avatar allowed her to 'Play Cards Into Her Field At Any Time' but that made no sense.

So that's. That's a thing.

She uses this ability to summon Yuuno. And basically asks "Hey This Is Fucking Weird, right?"
Yuuno responds that he is a first generation Jewel Construct, that the Jewel Card Duels are real, and work by making her become her Jewel Card Avatar. He was assigned to retrieve the missing Jewel Cards but they were damaged, and he became infected, but by defeating him he was captured by Nanoha. Because that's what happens when you defeat someone in a JCD. He thanks her, however, for restoring his functionality.

Wat 5/5.

Nonsense continues to happen. Which I will summarize... in following posts.

 

So, I was going to post vacation pictures, but I have no idea how to do that, so instead you get this:

Recently (?), Clip Studio Paint added the ability to AI colorize your works, and after some effort (installing a new version), I had to test it out. On some of the artwork posted above, why not.


The version without instruction on color, just letting it rip on the lineart. It's not what I was going for, but I've gotta admit... it's really nice. I like the color scheme. In fact, it's kind of embarassing that it's this good.


And this is what happens with a (fairly significant) amount of color hints. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but it seems to work based on partially painting the colors in a seperate layer? It doesn't seem to understand the idea of blue and there's a lot of areas that are lacking, but it is... pretty.


With a bit of tweaking on color ramps and blur settings. This is what revealed that it has no idea what blue is - I definitely had some in there, but it seems to have totally disappeared.


This is what happened when I ran the basic 'colorize all' command with the actual (flat) colors selected. It's... weird, but pretty.

 

RANDOMLY I APPEAR AND POST A RANDOM ASS IDEA

SO: A story about a secret alien invasion, with aliens sending infiltrators to replace people and learn Earth's secrets etc, except it's from the perspective of one of the infiltrators.
(She knows she's a 'fake', she doesn't know *why* they're supposed to be doing any of this. What's the actual plot? Fuck if I know.)

 

So, lately I've been on a writing boom. It's... almost scary, the amount of work I've gotten done. Normally, I struggle to write anything, but lately it just... works? I don't know how, honestly.

The problem is... everything else. I've not been able to make any progress, I feel, on things that I consider important - like learning 3d modeling or programming. It just... doesn't work. Part of that is that writing is... a matter of putting words on page, and that's intuitive, once I figure out what I want.

3d art, it just... doesn't click for me. Topology is a nightmare and I'm never satisfied with how things 'flow', and tutorials... I don't know, I can barely tolerate them. If they were *text* perhaps, it'd be a little easier - I like to have music on when I work, on account of the ADHD and all. Coding... I can learn things, but I can't seem to retain them.

I do have a 3d art project I've been working on that I don't absolutely hate, partially because I'm blatantly cheating with the whole topology thing by building a robot with ball joints and whatnot. I should post that when I get the chance.


That said... the writing projects I'm doing are going well.
The main thing I'm working on is a Quest on QQ about fighting demons as a magic ninja... except you're not actually so much doing the fighting as trying to bring a modicum of sense to a doctrine best defined by Ninja Bullshit and just, so much corruption. (Metaphysical and political). Also, everyone's futanari, because I can.

The original plan for Miracle of Science, a Very Long Timeskip to an in-media-res opening, was... a bad idea, I don't know if I feel it. So I'm going to write the part where things actually change, and that's another bit of what I'm doing. I'd like to do some art inserts for it, but... see above. I'm starting to feel up to posting to SV, if not AO3.

I'm also working on a little side project. I have... many Nanoha AU ideas. Too many, one might say. So I've done the only logical thing and stuck them in a pile. HAVE ALL THE ALTERNATE UNIVERSES MEET. There's like. Bad Guys, but it's mostly just a clusterfuck of weird.


... also I might work on something else? Ar Tonelico was pretty cool. Except for like, half of it, but it was a really cool premise, I'd love to Do Something With it. Had a Good Idea for a comic once upon a time, and a part of me still wants to make a fan-game. (Also, yes, I do have a seed - more the abstract desire - for a Nanoha AU based almost entirely on MGLN having the 'lyrical' artifact in the title, but I can't think what I'd actually do with it, so... shrug.)

... if I lowered my ambition on graphics, I just might be able to make that fangame. But I'm worse at game-type 2d art (positioning? facing? profiles!? Plz no) than 3d, and that means someone else would need to do it, which means money would need to change hands, which further increases the chances of being IP nuked from orbit. It would be an SRPG with a bit more of a 'low powered' feel, about going around exploring and eventually fighting a cult that wants to destroy the world for abandoning the ancient gods, not a super deep story, but honestly I was planning to go more into mechanics. Also the final battle takes place inside Sol Elemia's reactor chamber.