Art for Volume #1: Inside Illustration

Besides telling everyone a Volume was in Progress, I’ve been pretty sneaky about not sharing MUCH of the extra stuff that is going into it. So I thought I would share an illustration as well as some teaser information. If there really is such a thing.

So here’s the “intro page” for GRS Volume #1, with Charlie telling everyone that hello~ you have embarked on reading this first volume, and now you can’t go back. Because look at how cool I am.

See? I am pretty good at this! (not really)

 

For Volume #1 there will be a lot of things I’m reworking, adding, and perfecting for the book:

  • new Chapter Illustrations (because the old ones suck)
  • Extra strip comics (when the afterlife gets too serious)
  • An extra ~written/illustrated~ story: Monarch Party. It’s kind of a Halloween story
  • Some behind the scenes development stuff
  • a few redrawn pages
  • new cover illustration

In light of this shiny brand new thing, I will also be holding a contest for people to win free books.  It’s basically an Art and RP contest… create a character and participate in a few challenges given to you by a character.  Points will be given based on creativity and the top winners will get free signed copies.  Those that don’t win will still get stuff, maybe an Issue of their choice or something.  More specific rules and so on will be announced at another time, when I have more done and ready to go. Here’s a preview for it though:

Skye Colors + Stationary update! ♥

I’ve been developing a new character on and off.  If anyone remembers Skye from way back when,  I’ve been slowly bringing her back.  She is sort of a mascot (along with Miri, the green haired deer girl) for possibly stationary designs, and also just a general character I can draw any interpretation I want, meaning she doesn’t have a solid story or purpose.  Just a random girl who sings.  Well, technically she was meant to be a kind of “doll” who was created to entertain a King (along with 2 others) but she will have many different forms.  I considered making an UTAU for her, but my musical skills are pretty null.

IDK. I DON’T REALLY WANT ANYONE TO KNOW I MIGHT ATTEMPT THIS AUGH.

BUT ANYWAY, sometimes its fun to have a character you can just have fun with.  She’ll be like my mascot/advertiser/no pressure for a story type of character. I love her already~

So that being said, I was playing with hair colors. The above is her natural pink color. Here’s two more:

Hope you enjoyed my crappy doodles~

Also, I got my cute stationary from Yozo Craft in the mail the other day! Everything is so tiny and cute I can hardly stand to write on them~! ♥

 

Back to Work

It feels like I haven’t been working on GRS lately, even though behind the scenes I have been planning out future chapters and contests and BOOKS while Chapter 5 slowly updates on the website.  So, kicking myself back to gear because…the guilt of not producing any new work is overwhelming.

So here’s some cover design ideas for Volume 1. I don’t know if I like them or not.

I don’t think I like it as much as the covers I have for the individual issues.  I need to revisit it.  I think Charlie on a cover is great and all but eh. It’s a bit far from the original idea I had because most times when I have a set thing on my head of what I want something to look like… I wimp out halfway and do the exact opposite from what I intended. Hurray!

Moleskine Pages

proof that, in fact, I am making some artwork… Haha… I just decided to sit down and NOT BE A LAZY BUM CLAIM THAT MOLESKINE FOR MY OWN!  I also bought a set of color sharpies and some scrapbook rub ons we had for sale at work and VOILA~  I’d like to make a stationery line someday… so these are all the little characters that would appear on them. Or at least, ideas for them. Tentative ideas!

Doodles for some stickers I was going to make.  I like drawing characters with weird/cool hats! ♥

Idea for a Grim Reaper School Illustration…

More random character ideas…

And this is Willow, a character I created for the GRS 5th Anniversary Event I’ll be having this fall. I’m hoping to get it moving in the next couple weeks (actually.. ASAP would be good…) but there’s a few things I want to get figured out before I start. People seem excited though (someone already has their character created!) so hopefully it will be a good turnout and a good way to promote the comic.

Some ideas for hats.  You can’t really tell what some of the stuff is but the first one has an octopus pendant, the second, wings, and the third fall leaves and acorns.  I want to be more crafty, and at work we have the COOLEST stuff in the Christmas and Fall sections. We even have some premade felt hats I could put the stuff on. Ahhh ♥ I love mini hats, it’s actually a secret obsession (well, not so secret now I guess lol) but I never have an opportunity to wear them. I also don’t know many people who like them either but I thought maybe they would be fun to make and try to sell to people who may like to wear them for cosplay or just for fun! I don’t know though…

And because I always try to wrap up a doodle or art post with something cool (in my mind…) here is a video from a recent Vocaloid album I recently received.  If you follow me closely, you know I am a Miku Hatsune fan. Unhappy Refrain was a much anticipated album by WOWAKA.  I wish I had been at Anime Expo to get their autograph. ;A; ♥ but anyway, have a song. Enjoy~

Grim Reaper School updated! ~page 67~

And the challenger is…Victoria?!  Check out the new Grim Reaper School comic at http://www.ajahli.com/GRS

A few things… one, there is a contest I am working hard to make happen, and I am hoping to have Issue #3 as well as volume 1 in progress in the next month or so.  I’m not gunna say anything solid yet since I have a bad habit of jinxing my own projects with enthusiasm, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

Anyway, enjoy the new page!

Oh hello, have a site map

My navigation is pretty self explanatory but this is a filler post I can link to, just to help people out. Since I tend to be unclear a lot of the time about where to find what.  So! For the navigationally challenged…

  • Blog: the home page, my blog where I update news, sketches, and other ramblings.
  • About: About me~ this page may be added to in the future to provide character profiles, an FAQ and stuff. But for now if you would like my bio, resume, this is the spot.
  • Portfolio: my “art” stuffs.  Contains all of my comic illustration work from the past couple years, as well as various handmade and book projects I did.
  • Comics: Select comics from my MCAD years that I want to showcase. It may also be added to as I complete other short comics.
  • Forum:  Mostly created for events and for shop uses when I get RKP up and running again.  This way customers can get in contact with me, and people participating in events will have a place to RP or swap hello’s.
  • Events: the page for recent events going on, such as giveaways, GRS challenges, or anything shop related.
  • The Shop: places you can buy my work.  Will also be the main portal for RKP (my handmade items shop) when I get it set up again.
  • Links:  Offsite links to friends, favorite artists, and other spots.  I am always open to link trades!

that’s it for now~ More interesting post to come later.

Uniform Blue


Trying my hand at drawing digitally. Lately, drawing on paper has been really stressful for me. I get physically worn out trying to get things down on paper. Before I didn’t think I was too great at drawing digitally, but since I re-installed my laptop system, the new driver I installed is working really well with my old graphire. But I wanted to see if I could get creative this way, if I just took my time and put real effort into it, instead of scribbling down something and getting all emotastic because I can’t do it.

So anyway, this schoolgirl has been sitting in my head for a while and I needed to get her out. I saw a doodle of a girl with an eyepatch and uniform in my sketchbook and since then she’s been rolling around like “Hey, draw me.” She’s like…Saya meets Gogo… and I don’t think she got the crap beat out of her. I choose to say she was in a battle with some nasty Yakuza’s, and being a total badass, she beat the crap out of them.

Because that’s how I roll, baby.

May sell prints of this. IDK. I’m trying to make a transition to drawing digitally, not that I’ll give up traditional stuff but, we’ll see. This is probably a total fluke and the next thing I do will suck. Badly.

Derp derp.

Paper Doll: Miri


While I work on stuff, took a break to try my hand at a paper doll. She’s a new character, Miri, but after browsing etsy I’ve been toying with the idea of making (an updated version) her an available project when I set up shop again.

It was nice to break out the pencils and markers again, but there are still some supplies I need, and they would probably turn out better digitally colored and so on.

Some closeups:


And lastly, a doggie shot:


Heavily inspired by the super amazing Amy Earles, who has easily become one of my new favorite artists, and Cart Before the Horse, whose dolls (both paper and clay) have inspired me for a while now.

Also managed to upload these to my website.

doodle dump #2: Cowry Catchers, Matryoshkas and lemur things


I have become a Vocaloid fangirl. And to show my annoying over-appreciation (a less than creepy way of saying “fangirl”) I draw silly pictures of my characters dressed up like they are from the PV’s. Ajahli first.


Then Rakka, obviously. More characters to come! And if you’re wondering what the hell I’m talking about:

Somewhat of a spoiler, but Silveo is a foxling character from Guild of the Cowry Catchers, an EPIC Podiobook by Abigail Hilton. I really suck at giving reviews without having random bouts and spasms of how totally awesome I think things are, so to save myself from sounding like a rambling idiot… Just go and check it out for yourself. And don’t let my silly fanart dictate your opinion of it. I am not a big fan of podcasts, but this one I fell in love with almost instantly. It has beautiful illustrations, a complex world and memorable characters. It will make you laugh, cry, and jump up and down rooting for the good guys… or.. should I say the bad? *grin* Anyway. Check it out. RIGHT NOW. GO.


lastly, a doodle of a little lemur character I adopted from my good buddy Chess, over on FA. I haven’t decided on a story or a place for her yet. The first adoptable I had became an extra character for GRS, the second is still pending. She and Nadie (I have named her) will probably become cute deer and lemur Mori Girls.

That’s it for now! I’m off to England on Monday, so hopefully I will have a cohesive blogpost when I get back, or some amusing ones during my time over there. I also intend to get back into crafting when I get back, just not sure how. A giveaway will happen again in April hopefully. GRS will also continue. Still shooting to have a complete book by the summer.

Bye all!