To think that all this stuff has happened within a single year. I look back on all these moments and remember what I was thinking when I drew them.

These drawings may not line up with when I uploaded the covers/put them on facebook, but that's because I've drawn a good 10-20 drawings in advanced. I wish I could share some others I'm proud of, but they aren't even publicly available yet!

So, I want to go over each of these drawings. I tried out so many different styles/ideas based off of music covers, styles I saw, or just feelings I had. Take a read if you'd like more info on each of these:

January - Fluffmaster: Dad Bod: Chomby had been a recent addition to my repertoire at this point. He'd been around for half a year, but I never gave him an actual story. I was still on the fence about him as a character. I toyed with the idea of him being Sarge's Jacket. This was one of the final few things I talked about with Creature -- Chomby being a jacket that Sarge turned into. But, I debated if he was just Sarge... or someone else. I found the answer that fit best for me. Chomby was his own person. He could only exist so long as someone donned him. He became very reliant on Sarge to even play with the idea of being himself. One such thing he loved, was singing. He could replicate almost any vocalization anyone produced. If it was a song, he could repeat it. He could even reproduce the sound of different instruments. As such, I fantasized with the idea that he'd be a backup for a lead singer, in case they were sick. And the song that made me think of this was "Lift Me Up" by Five Finger Death Punch. It's one of the heaviest songs I listen to, but it was so cathartic to imagine Chomby singing this song. It also made me realize something - Chomby always frowned. Why was that?

February - Offline: I decided to revamp my streams. I used Chomby as my avatar more often, even though Sarge was, and still is, my main character. I created the concept of the mindscape, a place that Sarge created so he could talk with Chomby, since they couldn't ever do it in real life. So long as Sarge could imagine it, the two would be able to talk. Sarge would often fall asleep while relaxing on Chomby's belly. He grew fond of the soundbyte's loving nature, and this led to the scene here. They're both relaxing from a long, tiring day. Enjoying each other's company, and truly being happy. Though, this was before...

March - Error: With the events of Chomby and Sarge defeating Unit_00, Chomby started to question himself more. He wasn't alive. He couldn't even smile. He wrote a song to convey these feelings, only to be confronted by Sarge, who noticed what the song meant. The two had a heart-to-heart. Chomby felt he was an error. He wasn't supposed to be anything more than someone's jacket, but he wanted to be himself. He wanted to be free. Sarge wanted the same for him, but he was unsure what to do at this point. The two confided their fears with each other and strengthened their relationship. (This drawing was based off the artwork for "Error"... and it's one of my favorite songs.)

April - Otome Dissection: Being honest, I had no idea what a soundbyte skeleton looked like. SO, I drew it. I also just wanted to draw a more dynamic pose for Chomby. So, I picked one of the scenes from the music video "Otome Dissection" and made a drawing based off of that. The posing in it is similar, but the overall layout didn't quite hit up to what I was aiming for. So, I took it a different direction and made it seem like Chomby was floating in a hurricane. Needless to say, I do love this song as well.

May - Donut Hole: This piece was very unassuming, and also posted WAAAAAY later than it was originally planned to be (But I made it back in May). I didn't think much about the song I based it off of, Donut Hole, until I read what the song was about. It was someone either trying to forget or remember someone, and they couldn't, for the life of them, remember it. Oddly enough, this turned into the story concept for the second book involving Sarge and Chomby. As for the art, I tried doing the textured stylings and crosshatch shading that was similar to the artwork for Donut Hole. The pose was my desire to try a different perspective... and to showcase a good belly *cough.

June - Hibana: This drawing is the closest I could get to the cover art for Hibana. I didn't realize it at first, but Chomby is currently staring down the crosshairs of, what is assumedly, a sniper rifle. But this led me to realize one of the flaws between Sarge and Chomby - Chomby doesn't know fully if he can trust Sarge. Sarge is impossibly kind, not just to Chomby, but to most people the two interact with. Does Sarge have ulterior motives? Chomby doesn't know... but even trying to get Sarge to hurt him doesn't work, so he asks that, if Sarge were to threaten him, or be cruel to him, that he'd just go for the knockout... and not just brandish his anger. Sarge reluctantly agreed.

July - Strawberry Avalanche: So, at this point, I had recently watched Jojo's Bizarre Adventures part 5 with Giorno. It's my favorite part, and I loved the title cards. ALSO, I had already come up with a concept for a stand - Strawberry Avalanche. A marionette-style puppet of some sort that attaches strings to things it touches and controls them. Obviously, I had to make my own title card, right?

August - Black Rock Shooter: This is currently the drawing I consider my "Magnum Opus". It's the best I've ever done, and I'm proud of it. Originally, I was just gonna keep the drawing for Black Rock Shooter simple, but I just kept going with it and, eventually, made this. I have a painting of this drawing hanging in my dining room. During the Christmas party this year, my cousins commented on how good it was. It made my smile.

September - Envy Baby: This song was done on a whim. I loved how it sounded, but the drawing was certainly different. So, I had to try out some new tactics and learned a few tricks. I am also so proud of how I made Chomby look in this one. Surprisingly, clown makeup and his black sclera just make him so cute! <3

October - Just This Once: Oh jeez. There's a lot to say about this one. Artie has been such a great friend, and he even drew me a beautiful piece for my birthday. I was so surprised by it, and I absolutely wanted to reciprocate. But I didn't know how. I realized that, no matter how I felt about my art, I could write a compelling story. Maybe it's me being overly confident, but I knew I could write something. A meaningful thing for both Artie and myself. What better thing to draw than Artie being heroic and showing a more serious side of his personality. "Just this once, Chomby, let yourself cry. I’ll smile for the both of us, and I will do whatever it takes to allow you to smile again." This phrase felt so powerful to me, and I feel Artie deserved to be the one to say it. He's been helping me so much since Creature's passing. He's been an inspiration.

November - Torinoko City: From what I could research, "Torinoko City" loosely translates to "Left-Behind City". This is the title of a song that my friend, Daulton, had done a cover of. I loved it a lot. I'd listen to his cover whenever I got the chance, and then I wanted to make the cover for Chomby.... I drew this picture *waaaay* further back than the month of November, but I didn't actually save the picture on my computer until November... so it counts, right? In any case, this was a fun practice in single-color characters. Using white as the negative space, I only colored in that deep, slate blue. This is what the picture and music video's color scheme was like, too, so it was fun to make! Funilly enough, the original picture has the person resting their head on their knees, but chomby's legs are too stubby, and his belly is too big for him to be able to do that. So, he's just sitting down with his hands on his lap. Needless to say, "Left-Behind City" is a good way of summarizing how Chomby feels with Sarge vanishing, and leaving him with all his inner turmoil.

December - Requiem for the Phantasma: Okay, I overdid it with the holiday stuff this year. I drew picture, after picture, after picture, after picture. But, I enjoyed it a lot. I also wanted a picture of Chomby "Smiling". So, I found a song he could cover called, "Requiem for the Phantasma". This was a Christmas song, and it didn't actually have any *real* artwork specifically dedicated to it. So, I made up my own. Chomby running with a candycane in his mouth to make him appear like he's smiling. This song, along with all the drawings and stories I did this month, allowed me to feel like I was celebrating something. At the end of the day, Chomby needed to smile.


Overall, all these pieces were so much fun to do. I'm proud of myself for this year. I took hold of an opportunity and ran with it. I barged through as many doors as I could and picked up new skills on the way. I want to keep moving forward, and this gave me the perfect opportunity to do so. I strive to keep moving forward.

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Art/Design/Sarge/Chomby ©  pikminpedia Me
Artie ©  the-b3ing

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I hope to see you all next year. Let's keep doing our best!