A: A LOT.

Yesterday I took the day off running to repot my lilies. I should have done it last year, but never found the time until it was too late. I'm glad I did this year, because wow. What started as a single bulb in 2010 turned into a root mass 6 inches in diameter, and I'm not exaggerating! O.O

In the end, I used the new tall pot I bought, all of both long troughs, and the half-sized trough. Lily bulbs everywhere! I don't know where the all-white or the pink-tinged ones ended up. It will be interesting to find out, come June. ^^ The crop will likely be still bigger next year, unless plant disaster strikes. Anyone want dibs on some lily bulbs??

In work news, script for Clay 23 has arrived!! This volume has more talking than fighting, something which I am always happy to see in Clay. :D I finished Natsume 14's first pass, and now only await corrections. The BL title will be done in about a week. Oho, and come to find out it isn't a oneshot like I thought, there's a sequel! I'm signed on to letter that one, too, again with my beloved Clay Editor #3. :3

Also it's been two days, and I'm holding true to my promise to draw something for myself every day. Yay! Last night in particular was incredibly fun. I want to finish it and post it sometime, for you all to see. It's my OTP from one of my fave webcomics, the fun and surprisingly epic DMFA. Safe for work, unless someone objects to scantily clad characters of both sexes. *laughs*

And don't forget: if you want to remain on my friend's list and haven't spoken to me in a few months, leave a comment here or on this post before March 1st!! Hope to hear from you soon. ^^V

This is my contribution for next year's Bros calendar, as before being modded by ensuing. As with my Het Big Bang '12 pic, I decided to draw popular characters in a huge fandom. Entirely for shameless self-promotion. :3

And so, I give you Kyle, Stan, Kenny, and Cartman from South Park.





Click for larger size, of course!

The original sketch was done in pencil on paper at the first of my bday celebrations on September 21st, but it was a thumbnail rough with no detail. I even didn't bother scanning or tracing, but simply re-drew it in Photoshop. After the basic idea sketch, everything was 100% digital. This is also the fastest I have ever turned out a digital pic, and that it has four characters, half a background, and is in full-color is really something! Not having any lettering work to occupy my time is part of it, yes, but I am definitely growing faster. Such joy! XD After learning my lesson with the HP pic, this image's full size is 600 dpi, 9.5" x 7". I like working at the higher resolution. It makes things easier!

The important thing about this pic is that I painted it in a new style, one that emulates a Copic Marker painting. I really like how it turned out, and that transparent style is intuitive for me. I think it's the 6 years of public education art classes--watercolor is the cheapest painting medium, after all. (Ha!) I only used a fancy textured brush once in this painting, on the sidewalk. Everything else is from brush strokes.

The shoes are another step in my quest to include more detail in my art. I spent two days just on those shoes! I can draw one hell of a set of shoelaces now, let me tell you. *laughs* I gave each boy a recognizable brand of shoe, except Kenny, who gets stuck with generic sneakers. (The poor kid.) Their clothes are my own take on their usual canon coats and hats.

The pic will be available in the calendar once Ensuing has everything ready to go, and I will link it here, and hopefully remember to mention it in a new post. ^^

My fave part of the pic are the shoes and Kyle's hair. :3 I rather like Cartman's expression, too.

I know with this pic, I am inviting wank because I didn't draw the boys in canon-style art or all-out realism. I wanted to draw them in my own sort-of-Disney-sort-of-manga style, so I did. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead! Haters gonna hate. *waves hand* If the image is used for wank, that's just more linkage to me then, isn't it. *slightly evil grin*

Everyone, I hope you like my first South Park pic. I am very pleased with it. ^^ And yes, Cartman really does always deserve it!