Inktober 23 and 24: Whisper's Power

So why does Whisper behave the way he does? Why is he not terrified by a giant snake woman?

Well, frankly, because he's seen things that are MUCH scarier. Whisper has had the ability to see and sense ghosts and supernatural phenomenon since he was a foal. (Go ahead and make your Horse/Ghost whisperer jokes here because I will make none. I do have some restraint)

His power comes in handy a lot since Nikita does not have the ability to sense or communicate with the dead.

Next, we have the non-natural abilities. Nikita is pretty heavy, so Whisper has to wear a magic charm to make him strong and fast enough to carry her. The charm is based on the famous image of Sleipner, Odin's eight-legged horse from Norse Mythology.

Inktober 20-22- Nikita and Whisper Thumbnails

Just a couple of thumbnails with Whisper and Nikkita being cute together. The first image is Nikki trying to ride Whisper for the first time. I think I've mentioned this before, but, being a giant snake creature, most animals tend to freak out near Nikki. Which has resulted in her being nervous around animals herself. Luckily, Whisper is a sweetheart. The bottom one is Nikki using brail to read to Whisper.

Inktober 19- A horse name Whisper

A while back I posted some sketches of the horse Nikita rides in Snakeskin Boots, without going very much into him. Let's change that.

This is Whisper, a quarter horse and Nikita's constant companion through the Wild West. Whisper has two main emotions: deadpan and cynical, a good balance when compared to Nikita's energy and positive attitude. He's unnaturally calm and collected then your average horse and doesn't get spooked easily. Which is a good thing, considering who he travels with. When he does get scared, you know it's time to run.

Due to some tragic events from his life, Whisper has a strong understanding of how this world (and the next) works. When Nikita herself begins to lose hope, Whisper is always there to help her, showing wisdom that the centuries-old gorgon does not have.

Like most characters in the story, Whisper has his own special abilities. But I'll save that for tomorrow ;)

The hardest part about drawing Whisper was to not fall into the trap of the "Disney styled" horses. I wanted Whisper to be drawn like a realistic horse, including the unique pupils horses have. So Whisper mainly communicates through body language. The exaggerated expressions here are just me indulging in some comedic expressions and might not show up in the final story.

Inktober 17- Blind Nikki

I had a lot of fun with this one. Sadly, because of the nature of gel pens on paper, after too much shading, the paper warps. A lot. So here's a photo instead.

Quarter Horse Sketches

So the other day, I had 3 hours to kill between interviews. So I sat down in a Tim Hortons and using my brand new touch screen phone, I started sketching horses. Specifically, American Quarter Horses for one of my comic ideas "Snakeskin Boots"

I will be the first one to admit that I am not the greatest at drawing 4 footed animals. Never had much interest in it as a kid either, other then cats. But like so many other things in "Snakeskin Boots", I'm forcing myself to draw a lot of things that challenge me.

So who is this horse? Well, for now lets just call him "The Horse With No Name" ;)

And the biggest challenge with drawing this horse, is not just the proportions or the movement, but keeping it as far away from most animated movie trends where they make the eyes look human. Horses do show emotion with their eyes, but most animations tend to ignore the coloring and the long thin pupil.

Also, none of the images I referenced belonged to me. Sadly, I forgot to bookmark most of them. But I can say that a few of the last ones came from naturalhorses.deviantart.com

And if you want to support me, you can donate right here: https://ko-fi.com/A141IJA

Nikita and Mantis sketches

Just some quick sketches of my two fav girls.

When you're writing multiple stories at the same time, sometimes they start to overlap in your head. 

Also, Nikita doesn't do well with horses.

Week of Sketches Day 7: Some Of The Most Important Sketches I Have Ever Done.

Here we come to the end of the Week of Sketches. And to end it, I'm going to show you all some very very personal sketches. They're not the greatest. They probably won't make sense without context. But to me, they are some of the most important drawings I've every done. They represent something very, very important to me.

I'm going to give you all a warning right now. I'm about to get into some dark personal stuff. If you don't wish to read it, just skip down to the art.

So... back in my Return to the Internet post, I mentioned that I had been going through some very serious medical issues. The most serious ones being the discover I had depression, and a sudden spike in my anxiety disorder, among other things. And though I'm not completely ready to go into everything, I want to at least share this story with you.

During my medical time off, I literally could not draw. I don't mean that my hand was injured. I mean that I did not have the will power, nor the physical power to HOLD A PENCIL. I had to keep a journal, and just trying to write one sentence was extremely difficult and took all my concentration.

This went on for months. If I drew something, I literally don't remember what, because my memory was part of the issue as well.

Then, last year, in the summer, my family and I went to Europe. We had been planning this trip for years and everyone hoped it would help me. I brought my sketch book with me, and a bunch of pens... but I still couldn't draw. We started in Rome, then Florence and then Venice... Oh Venice. All the museums where fun but in Venice, I got to meet modern craftsmen. Making books, blowing glass, painting masks. And one little paper shop, where I bought a little handmade sketchbook.

After Venice was done, we were exhausted, Paris was our next stop. To get there, we planned to go on a train that would take us through the Swiss Alps.

On that quite, smooth driving, air conditioned train, we settled in.

I pulled out my new Sketchbook. Turned my music on random. And started to draw.

I don't know if it was my family's support, my meds, the trip to Italy, or the book, or the train, or just good timing, but after months and months, I finally jumped a hurdle that was keeping me from doing something I love. And I kept drawing. The whole trip. And after.

There's also... another reason they are so personal. I have family in England. And I was able over come some of my anxiety and showed all my relatives what I had been drawing in that book, unsure if I would ever see them again. And after my return the Canada... two of them passed away. One not long after the trip... and one this past Friday. Canada Day.

These are those first initial drawings. And with each one, is a song that inspired them. Please Enjoy.

 The guy to the right is actually a character created by notllorstel from her Gravity Falls "10 years later" AU. Same with the fishy below, though I came up with that little idea.

As you can tell, there's a lot of Steven Universe and Gravity falls, as well as my own original characters. And Beast Wars. Always Beast Wars. That's because SU and GF were two shows that actually helped me through my medical leave.

Thats it for now. It'll be some time before I'll be posting again. Talking about this took a lot out of me emotionally. See you all later!

Bu-Bye
Tegan aka The SlugLady

Snake Skin Boots: Nikita Bust

Ah, the third picture from my "Medusa in the Wild West" idea (well fourth if you count her cameo in the last comic). Now with it's own title: Snake Skin Boots. And Nikita, our "Medusa" for the storyline.

I've developed the idea a lot since then. This here was an experiment in color as I finallized the color scheme, and textures, which were the most troubling things while working on her design. I went through a lot of texture designs and colors before deciding the "keep it simple, stupid" approach would be best.

That's all I can get into for now. Spoilers ;)

WE ARE OPEN!

So here we are. After being away for ages, I have returned. Hopefully for a long time.

As I said above, I won't go into why I've been away. Not yet. I'll be using it as examples when I talk about important issues in the future.

Now on to the important stuff! Links! Here are the links to all my new various pages and social media sites

SlugLady's Sketch-Log, Tumblr, DeviantArt, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter.

More links will appear as I polish up the sites and finalize some updates. But until then,

LETS DO THIS!

Tegan Dumpleton aka The SlugLady

(ps. It's good to be back)

edit: Oh, and as I introduce unknown characters, I will be adding they're corresponding tags

Art Month Challenge Day 25: Gunslinging Serpent

Thought I'd show my progress on something. A while back, I posted a picture for a "medusa in the wild west" idea. I've been working on the story this month, and her costume design. This isn't the final design. I'm still doing research on the era and gathering reference material, such as clothes and weapons (and more snake pictures). I'm going to be putting details and designs on the buckles, guns and clothing when I'm done.

Seeya
 Tegan Dumpleton aka SlugLady28

Art Month Challenge Day 10: Snakes on a Page

Snakes.... Ssssss....

Just practicing the shape of the body. The Crying Slug-Snake is because I was watching a sad movie tonight ;_;

Seeya,
 Tegan Dumpleton aka SlugLady28

The Snake with No Name

Alternate Title: Fist Full of Serpents.

Medusa as a gunslinger in the Wild West. What the hell was I smoking during the con?

So a while back, I made up a Medusa character for a series that is so undeveloped at this point, I’m not even going to go into it right now. But then I came up with this little idea and thought: Huh, that would make a good short story.

So, why would Medusa need guns? Cause she's a good guy now... sort of?

Look, I honestly can't say much without revealing spoilers. Of course the setting is the wild west, and she is the medusa. She is lot less evil and looking for a little redemption due to the things she's done. (There was alot more to the myths then we know). Hence the blindfold. I noticed Medusa is depicted with a bow and arrow, and I pictured her with other long range weapons, like a crossbow and a shot gun. Then I was thinking about her in different eras and, well, this happened.

Plus, I love westerns.

And i know I said not to worry about anatomy issues, expecially on initial first sketches like this... but holy crud, It has been too long since I drew a gun. Time for some de-rusting.

Seeya

 Tegan Dumpleton aka SlugLady28

(Sorry this weeks post is cutting it so close. Lots of stuff going on this week for mothers day. The newest sketch-log article will be up soon)