My time has been occupied by trying to squeeze in as many final edits to the book as I’m able to – which has involved some painting, and made me feel like like doing a small paintover of one of my older Laranthir artworks today. I’m not sure if I’ve ever posted the original before, because I wasn’t happy with how it turned out. Above is the paintover from this morning, and the original version is in the full post below:
Finished my circle cut for Manga Ichiba! These are used as a way for the convention organizers to show who the participating doujin tables are. It’s carried over from Comiket (“comic markets”) in Japan. In JP, doujinshi are much more commonly created and shared – compared to here in NA, where we don’t have an established doujin culture (…yet!).
I spent far too long deliberating on which artwork to use for my circle cut. I tried several, before ending up doing the least efficient option – refining a very messy sketch from this past October. I saved it knowing I’d like to refine it at some point, but hadn’t until now. This isn’t finished – it’s still quite messy in places – but perhaps that is even more appropriate for a circle cut. From my understanding, they are often sketches done for the specific convention (though correct me if I’m mistaken).
I wanted to do something a little more playful, without being misleading about what the doujin is about. This is what I landed on – hopefully it’s a good compromise! :p
Oh! And as you can read from the image, this also shows info about where and when I will be at the convention. The convention is 3 days, but every doujin table will only be tabling 1 of the 3 days (unlike traditional artist alleys). Below’s the summarized info:
Table Number: B16
Tabling Date: Saturday May 23, 2026
Time: Day slot, 10 am – 4 pm (“General Audiences”)
I’ll have with me The Harbinger’s Path, of course!
I saw a very insightful post on Bluesky the other day, linking to resources detailing the history and ethos of how Comikets in Japan were first established. Much is new information to me! I wanted to link it here, both as a reminder to myself to peruse more leisurely when I have a chance, and in case you might also be interested in reading.
Let me also link directly to the sources, in case Bluesky ever vanishes in the future. Posted originally by the user “saba sabaton” (sabato-n.bsky.social):
Comiket slide deck presentation from 2007/2008
“Comic Market’s Ideals and Vision”
May 4, 2026: Slightly updated the the circle cut art!
I was playing around with some brush settings last week. This is one of the color tests (the other is Corveil, of course – I’d like to see if I can make him more presentable at some point).
Quick sketch of my reaper to test some brush settings – I tried to digitally recreate the feel of using my favorite ink in my fountain pen, haha (Pilot Iroshizuku’s “sui-gyoku” – “emerald green”).
In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, I was reminded this year of the time I drew my sylvari reaper playing a tin whistle (which is also known as the “Irish flute”).
The original painting is from 2019, and was part of a collaborative project organized by Angelique van der Mee. Several artists drew our own characters in support of the “#Love4ArenaNet” hastag, which to my memory was a spur-of-the-moment way to show a little support for the devs at the studio who were laid off at the time. It was a rough time for the studio, and a very sweet idea by Angelique and everyone else who was involved with the idea. Angelique then made a lovely composition involving everyone’s contributed artwork.
For this 2026 paintover warmup, after I drew the musical notes (which aren’t in the original), I idly thought perhaps I should have drawn “Fear Not This Night.” But for the holiday, I wanted to draw one of my favorite tunes I enjoy playing on tin whistle, instead. I would be very impressed if anyone can recognize it from the music notes, and I mentioned on socials that if anyone does guess it, I’d do a sketch for the – because it’s such an esoteric bit of knowledge, I would marvel if someone could recognize it!
Tin whistle is my favorite instrument, though sadly I rarely play it now since moving into an apartment. It’s why I moved more into practicing guitar – I’ve always liked guitar, too, but used to play tin whistle more often. Guitar has the benefit of being able to play at quieter volumes, as necessary!
In the original 2019 version, I drew my reaper, though this paintover is only showing a crop of the full-body art. I did add more to the full-body in today’s paintover, but it’s not really presentable. Maybe if I have a chance, I’ll add it to this post at a later time.
2019 version in the full post below because I’m not keen on how it looks when I saw it again today, haha: