black cat theory

a red divider made up of threads in a curtain-like fashion. at the end of each thread is a red bead

2023 art summary

posted december 17th, 2023

boy howdy. it's been a while, hasn't it HAHA

so as i've mentioned, i went back to school for a career change and this semester has been CRAZY. fortunately, a good crazy -- but unfortunately, it didn't leave me a lot of spare time to work on my creative projects ;w; on the bright side, i was able to finish at least one artsy piece per month, so i'm still able to do my yearly art summary! check it out!

My 2023 art summary. January: An illustration of the boy with the gaming console seen between the boy with the bat and the man in the suit in Sound Horizon's 'Ema ni Negai wo!' (Full Edition) cover. He is holding a Nintendo Switch (the left joy-con is purple and has a decal of the moon from Roman around its stick; the right is blue and has the sun from Roman around its stick; and overall, it has yellow accents). The screen features a 'Game Over' stylized in the same font as the cover. The Laurant Shrine, on fire, is in between 'Game' and 'Over.' Himeko lays dead in front of the shrine (her back is turned to the audience). The graphics are pixelized. In the screen's reflection, you see the boy smirking; his glasses glinting. February: An illustration of Yumeno Gentaro and Izanami Hifumi from Hypnosis Mic. It is a dark scene, strife with tension. Hifumi, with the fangs and claws of a wolf, smirks at Gentaro -- who him muzzled and collared with his cord. Hifumi lifts Gentaro up, as if to toy with him. Gentaro, on the other hand, looks down at him unamused. He is pulling down on Hifumi's hair, and pulling his cord as if to tame Hifumi. From Hifumi's chest pocket, his yellow rose has broken and its petals fll to the ground. March: An illustration of Dimitri Blaiddyd from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. It is a recreation of the scene where Byleth finds him post-time skip. The colors are dark and harsh, save for the trickle of light streaming on him. April: An illustration of Yumeno Gentaro from Hypnosis Mic and his twin brother. It is a scene -- or perhaps a dream -- of their youth, the two of them lying on a futon. They hold each other in their arms as they sleep, their hands clasped in each other's and smiles on their faces. The colors here are light and bright, with a sort of hazy touch to the illustration. Then, it fades into the next image... Another illustration of Yumeno Gentaro and his brother, unfortunately grounded in the reality they live in. The scene is set in the hospital Gentaro's brother sleeps in, with Gentaro's brother lying in the hospital bed and Gentaro hunched. His hand is clasped around his brother's, his hand connected to an IV. Gentaro wears a sorrowful expression, fitful even, as he lays asleep at his brother side. An unfortunate reality, indeed. May: An illustration of Izanami Hifumi (left) and Yumeno Gentaro (right) (both from Hypnosis Mic). They're hunched together, forming a heart with their hands. In the middle of the heart is a yellow rose. Hifumi is SO happy about this, a wide grin on his face and his other arm slung around Gentaro's shoulders. Gentaro, on the other hand, is more miffed about this -- however, his cheeks and ears are red from embarrasment. The background is comprised of yellow roses in a lighter shade. July: An illustration of Amateru Mika from Sound Horizon's Ema ni Negai wo! (Full Edition). She holds a book -- the Black Chronicle -- in her hands, and looks down at it with impartial interest. Around her head is a golden halo with 7 stars, and the background is black with a starry pattern overlaid. Light shines from behind her, bathing her in gold. Medetashi, medetashi... August: An illustration of Yumeno Gentaro (Hypnosis Mic) done in pointillism, inspired by his solo 'Yumeno no Kanata.' He stands, looking somewhere far off with his hands outstretched as papers fly out of his hands. The background resembles a night sky, or perhaps the reflection of rain puddles. Behind Gentaro are a bunch of overlapping circles and lines that shine brightly, illuminating him in their light. September: A comic featuring Izanami Hifumi/Yumeno Gentaro (Hypnosis Mic). Page 1. Panel 1: Fades from black into Hifumi's hand laying on the empty side of his bed. Panel 2: Hifumi lifts himself up from the bed, groggily going 'Huh...?' Panel 3: A focus on the empty side of his bed; the speech bubble overlays it, Hifumi saying, 'Gentarocchi?'. Panel 4: Pan out to the full scene of Hifumi sitting in bed and staring at the empty side of his bed. Panel 5: A chibi of Hifumi confused as he continues to stare at the empty side of his bed -- the place where Gentaro should've been, his figure outlined. October: An illustration featuring Kannonzaka Doppo (Hypnosis Mic), which Jinguji Jakurai's presence felt throughout the piece. It's a bust shot of Doppo, his hands clasped in prayer and wrapped around by his lanyard. He wears a solemn expression, his eyes closed -- or rather, his eyes covered by Jakurai's hands. Though Jakurai's face isn't seen, he holds Matenrou's cross in front of Doppo, the chain forming the outline of a muzzle around Doppo's mouth. Behind Doppo is what appears to be Jakurai's hair cascading around him. Light shines from the bottom, casting dark shadows throughout. November: Half of a pair of mirrored illustrations featuring Sakuya Himeko (Sound Horizon). This left side is a close up of Sakuya Himeko's right eye, a somber expression on her face. Her eye is blue, reflecting Iwanaga Himeko attempting to hang herself. Her side is tinted purple. Half of a pair of mirrored illustrations featuring Iwanaga Himeko (Sound Horizon). This right side is a close up of Iwanaga Himeko's left eye, a look of recognition on her face. Her eye is purple, reflecting Sakuya Himeko entering the sea in an attempt to drown herself. December: An illustration featuring Yumeno Gentaro (Hypnosis Mic). He lays on a bed of roses, looking up with hooded eyes and a smirk. However, his attire has been ripped open -- as well as his chest. Inside, his heart is missing. His eyes have no life. His neck is bruised and scratched. He grasps onto a golden rose in his right hand; two broken necklaces in his left. Hovering over him is the shadow of Izanami Hifumi, holding Gentaro's heart in his hand. This hand overlaps Gentaro's hand that's holding Hifumi's rose.The colors are a bold yellow and violet.

template from @sami_0523 on twitter

feel free to check out the full pieces on my art page!

honestly, i'm sad i didn't have much time to work on anything creative this year... but despite that, i think i kinda like what i managed to do? there's still a lot of room for improvement, but i finished a comic (one of my goals this year!) in september and completed some concepts i've had in my head for such a long time (april, october, and december)! and by "long time," we're talking up to 3+ years LMAO. june's piece was also a remake of an old piece from 2020, so i'm blown away by my improvement!! i even got more experimental, like in august when i did the pointilism piece, and did some original stuff (this can be seen in my art page, one of my september pieces lol). while i definitely wish i did more, i think i can pat myself on the back for what i did manage to do lol

on the flip side... i barely did any writing this year TwT well, i managed to finish and share a ficlet, which i'm happy about! but the latter half of "to turn hatred into flowers" has been stuck in editing hell because i couldn't dedicate a lot of time to it... plus i have some other ficlets i really wanted to do also!! i didn't even get to do OTPtober this year, man!!! so i can't really comment of how i feel about my writing WKDFJKDH but. i think because i couldn't work on my writing everyday, it actually helped how i view my writing?? because every time i went back to it, it was with fresh eyes. so of course there were plenty of things i wanted to revise and rewrite, but i also was like... "huh, this isn't as bad as i thought" or "damn, i was cooking" FJKSDJKFSK so it actually made editing more smoother. i'm hoping to get something up by the end of the year (or as i like to call it, my birthday fic to myself hehe), so let's see how that goes!

in the meantime, i do have some goals for next year. well, not necessarily goals, but things that would be nice to accomplish lol here they are!

My 2024 creative goals, set up as a bingo card. The first row: HifuGen doujin. Second part of Nein!Noël AU. More complex backgrounds (landscapes and cityscapes). Mini zine of old HifuGen doodles and ficlets. Art of non-HypMic faves lol. The second row: Book bind a long fic ("Rumor Has It" or "The Fine Line Between Me and You"). Art with varied color palletes. Vocal cover (probably Tadoritsuku Uta). HifuGen memory loss AU. Multi-media piece (traditional). The third row: Revamp personal site (site skins). Finish some ficlets sitting in my wips lmao. This one series of fics of HifuGen from everyone else's POVs. Cosplay (???). (Redo) Covers for fics (for PDFs/binding). The fourth row: Personal pieces ("Memories I've Never Had"). Get back to playing piano and guitar (and learn how to play my lyre finally lol). OC art. Revamp PNGtuber and layout (get back to streaming lol). Set up Laurant Shrine (website). The fifth row: Finish HifuGen manifesto. More dynamic poses/compositions. Translate more SanHora songs (plus set up translation page on site). This one OzFau composition that's been sitting in my brain. Start writing original concepts

template from @AlmaKRowan on twitter

as you can see, it's not all art, but that's just because i don't have THAT many art goals KFJSJKF so i decided to see what other creative stuff i wanted to do. again, these aren't hard goals -- especially since many of them are things i've wanted to do for a long time now -- but it'd be nice if i could get them done next year! realistically speaking, summer is my best bet to get most of these done ehe;; but we'll see what happens! i'm REALLY hoping to get more writing done next year though, and i've been daydreaming of revamping this site to include site skins instead of having a different theme per page LOL so hopefully i can get to those

anyhow, my goal is always, always, always self-improvement, so regardless of what i actually manage to share, i just hope i will be able to see my growth! that, for me, would be my utmost happiness -- alongside with people enjoying my art and writing. so thank you all for following me and my art! i hope you'll continue to enjoy in the year (and years, plural!) to come! see y'all soon!!