Monday, August 29, 2011

Obstacles of being an Artistic Otaku... With no interest in drawing fanart!?

(((Quick disclaimer:  I will not always be talking about anime, so if you are not an anime fan, please don't run away just because that's what this post is about.  ^_^()  Anime related rants should happen rather infrequently...)))

Everyone loves fanart, right?

I will admit to having found a lot of fanart that I enjoy.  I even used to peruse the shelves of ff.net back in the day.  Heck, you can still find some of my YuGiOh fanfic on there from when I was in high school, and I still occasionally get requests for more. (Will link if someone expresses interest in it.)  Yet even people who do not have the time or patience or energy to put into reading/writing fanart still love to see images of their favorite characters doing wild and crazy things-- whether within the realm of the series/fandom or not.

Am I right?

So you'd think, as an artist who happens to fancy herself a bit of an otaku (used here in the basic American terms of being someone who loves anime and not in the more negative original Japanese sense), that I would draw fanart.  At least a little.  Or that I would easily be like "*ping* oh there's an idea for a cute picture involving those characters!"  It should be easy and I should really enjoy it...

Right?

Off the top of my head, I can only think of four pieces of fanart that I have drawn in the past...  Three done in high school, and both of Yami Bakura from YuGiOh.  One was to go along with one of the earlier mentioned fanarts, and one was a slight cross-over kind of thing with whatever Gundam series/movie I saw pieces of.  (Not really a Gundam fan, personally...)  The fourth and final and most recent piece was done only because it was a gift request from a very dear friend of mine-- who can be found over at http://purple-octopus.blogspot.com/.

I can't help but wonder if this makes me weird.  Or maybe I'm just not as much of an otaku as I like to think that I am.  I have been noticing lately that I seem to lack a certain amount of interest in keeping up with the current anime that's coming out in Japan and that I often seem to just stare blankly at people when they start listing series they enjoy.  I've always just chalked that up to there being a lot of it out there and that no one can honestly expect to see every series and movie ever animated.  And I have been known to start talking about series that people I know haven't seen.  For example, I was very surprised recently to find that the anime obsessed man whom I am dating at present has never seen any Ranma 1/2.

The thing is, that I have a tendency to over think just about everything.  Fuel to the fire?  I'm hoping to get into the artist alley at a convention coming up in early November.  Now the thing is, that I won't know until Oct 1st if I made it or not... but by then I would only have a month to get anything done.  So I really want to put in some work now just in case I do get in, because that way I can have more stock and better quality stuff if I'm not having to rush at the last minute.  The combination of these two things has me a little obsessive over my lack of inspiration when it comes to fanart...

I have managed to half form a few ideas that just need some fleshing out, and hopefully won't be too contrite...  And I do love me some gothic lolita style, so doing something Chobits related will probably be both easy and delightful.  So I'm sure I'll be alright in the end.  I just needed to get these concerns and worries about my own otaku-ness and lack of interest in fanart out there so that it wasn't all bottled up inside.

.... So have I accidentally lost all of my non-otaku readers yet?  ^_^()  Gomen nesai! (I'm very sorry!)


((On a random note....  My blog is extremely lacking in fun graphics and things to make my posts more interesting... shall have to remedy this in the future.))

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Hellooooooo Blogspot!

So I have been tossing around the idea of starting a blog for a couple of months now.  I kept worrying about what I would post about and whether or not I would be able to keep up with it and wondering why anyone would want to read my drivel anyway.  I fretted and argued with myself about whether there was any reason for me to have a blog at all.


Fact # 1:  I'm a bit neurotic and over-think just about everything.


And yet here I am, it's one in the morning, I have to be awake by about 8:30 in order to get ready and catch a bus to work and what am I doing?  I'm watching Dr. Who and typing up a blog post that seems to be heading int he direction of "random facts about me."  Well, I suppose there's worse openings for a blog.  No reason not to let you know a bit about me before I start posting.


Fact # 2:  I suffer intense bursts of late night / early morning inspiration and motivation.  This is good for productivity, but not great for my sleep patterns.


Fact # 3:  I <3 Dr. Who.


So really the question is, now that I have started writing with no real plan, where to go from here?  I suppose I could actually give you some idea of what I hope to accomplish with this blog.  Mostly, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure.  There you go, how's that for honesty?  I dabble in this that and the other thing.  From writing to art to various crafting endeavors.  This will be a place for me to keep tabs on my own work and progress.  A place to track how productive-- or, more often, not productive-- I am being, while at the same time hopefully adding a little color and amusement to your lives as well.


Fact # 4:  I do so love to make other people smile.


I feel like this post has gone everywhere and nowhere all at the same time, but hopefully you will bare with me.  I do believe that watching 5 episodes straight of Dr. Who is making my mind race a little more than usual, and it may, in fact, even be affecting my 'speech' patterns.  .... Is it still considered a speech pattern if it's written word?  Writing patterns, I suppose, would be more accurate and yet it doesn't seem to hold the same connotation for me.


That, I think, is proof enough that I am too tired to continue and that I really should get to bed so that I can be even remotely worth while at work tomorrow.  So, to make a long story short ((too late, I realize, and for that I apologize)) this is a place where I will hopefully be posting random bouts of creativity in the future and I hope that you will enjoy what you see and give me honest and constructive feedback.


Fact # 5:  I always appreciate honest criticism-- even when it makes me cry.


Fact # 6:  I am often over-emotional, so don't take it personally if I do start to cry. ;P


Thank you and goodnight!