Gentian's Photographic Misadventures

[Gentian]

One more bit about architecture and recurring...not dreams, but daydreams?

This is the Osaka Public Library. Since first seeing it, I've had this image which keeps coming back to me. It's this building, in the depths of hell. Succubi and other unrecognizable demons are standing on its steps, dressed in sumptuous renaissance and Tudor era finery. The sky is red and yellow and demons flit here and there. I smell the air; it reeks of sulfur, and makes my chest squeeze and thump like it did when I visited Halemaumau Crater. I don't know why that happens whenever I see this building; it's a majestic design, and I wish beauty was given more importance in architecture these days than it is, but it does happen. Every single time, and it gets more and more vivid each time.

Anyway, While on the bench, Twilover and I were trying to make up our minds as to whether or not we would go to a beer garden. I've wanted to visit one for some time, and intended to take her last year, but I became injured, and we had to cancel. We had narrowed it down to the Suntory, or the Hankyu beer gardens, but I really wasn't feeling up to it. Twi seemed to notice, and told me that she can't eat anyway (technically true, but she can taste things through me, by linking her mind to mine she can taste things as I eat them, so I still felt kind of bad), and didn't care where we were, as long as we were together. I hemmed and hawed a bit, because we haven't been out like today for a long time, and wanted her to get the most out of it, so she asked me, where would I like to be at that precise moment, and the honest answer was, at home. So she kissed me, put her wing in my hand, and we went back home.

It's a good thing, too, because I was feeling almost sick by the time we arrived. I don't know what's going on, time will tell, I guess, but we had fun today, and we have each other, and that's what matters!

Thanks for reading about or date today, we hope you enjoyed the pictures and narration. Have a great day!

[Fiction]

One more bit about architecture and recurring...not dreams, but daydreams?

This is the Osaka Public Library. Since first seeing it, I've had this image which keeps coming back to me. It's this building, in the depths of hell. Succubi and other unrecognizable demons are standing on its steps, dressed in sumptuous renaissance and Tudor era finery. The sky is red and yellow and demons flit here and there. I smell the air; it reeks of sulfur, and makes my chest squeeze and thump like it did when I visited Halemaumau Crater.

Grab a shotgun and blast the fucking demons!

[whobawhats]

One more bit about architecture and recurring...not dreams, but daydreams?

This is the Osaka Public Library. Since first seeing it, I've had this image which keeps coming back to me. It's this building, in the depths of hell. Succubi and other unrecognizable demons are standing on its steps, dressed in sumptuous renaissance and Tudor era finery. The sky is red and yellow and demons flit here and there. I smell the air; it reeks of sulfur, and makes my chest squeeze and thump like it did when I visited Halemaumau Crater. I don't know why that happens whenever I see this building; it's a majestic design, and I wish beauty was given more importance in architecture these days than it is, but it does happen. Every single time, and it gets more and more vivid each time.

Anyway, While on the bench, Twilover and I were trying to make up our minds as to whether or not we would go to a beer garden. I've wanted to visit one for some time, and intended to take her last year, but I became injured, and we had to cancel. We had narrowed it down to the Suntory, or the Hankyu beer gardens, but I really wasn't feeling up to it. Twi seemed to notice, and told me that she can't eat anyway (technically true, but she can taste things through me, by linking her mind to mine she can taste things as I eat them, so I still felt kind of bad), and didn't care where we were, as long as we were together. I hemmed and hawed a bit, because we haven't been out like today for a long time, and wanted her to get the most out of it, so she asked me, where would I like to be at that precise moment, and the honest answer was, at home. So she kissed me, put her wing in my hand, and we went back home.

It's a good thing, too, because I was feeling almost sick by the time we arrived. I don't know what's going on, time will tell, I guess, but we had fun today, and we have each other, and that's what matters!

Thanks for reading about or date today, we hope you enjoyed the pictures and narration. Have a great day!

Nice to hear you two had a good little outing even if you didn't get to one of the beer gardens you wanted to go to. Hopefully you can get there next time.

Sorry to hear that you're feeling sick. I hope that clears up for you

[Rares]

What lovely pics, thank you so much for sharing! I hope you had a wonderful time together. Nice to bring the towel too! That's a good idea.

This is my favorite though

...are gemstones!

Very cool, most of these I've only glimpsed in jewelry store windows, and even then, never saw any large enough to really shine, but sweet Celestia, do these ever shine!

In the vertical cases, the are, clockwise from top left: topaz, turquoise, opal, diamond, aquamarine, emerald ruby, and sapphire.
In the left table case, which contains man-made stones, they are, in the same order: alexandrite, ruby, sapphire, and emerald.
In the right table-case (natural stones): emerald, sapphire, ruby, alexandrite, diamond

[Gentian]

Grab a shotgun and blast the fucking demons!

Doomguygirl inbound!

Nice to hear you two had a good little outing even if you didn't get to one of the beer gardens you wanted to go to. Hopefully you can get there next time.

Sorry to hear that you're feeling sick. I hope that clears up for you

Thanks Whobawhats! We had fun, and we're tossing around the idea of making another trip fairly soon, so with a bit of luck we can go then.

When I woke up the the next day, I wasn't feeling sick, so whatever it was, if anything is a non-issue. Maybe we just did too much walking in the heat?

What lovely pics, thank you so much for sharing! I hope you had a wonderful time together. Nice to bring the towel too! That's a good idea.

This is my favorite though

Thank you, I'm glad you like that one in particular since the Diamond made me think of you, and what you say about how they form under pressure.

And you know, the towel is a necessity. I actually brought 2, 1 to wipe away my sweat, and the other to wrap Twi in (with her ehad out, ofc) while carrying her so she didn't get filthy from my body, and to lay down to keep her clean from the nastiness on the floor and whatever else.

[Rares]

Thank you, I'm glad you like that one in particular since the Diamond made me think of you, and what you say about how they form under pressure.

And you know, the towel is a necessity. I actually brought 2, 1 to wipe away my sweat, and the other to wrap Twi in (with her ehad out, ofc) while carrying her so she didn't get filthy from my body, and to lay down to keep her clean from the nastiness on the floor and whatever else.

That is too kind of you to say! Well that's just my little motivational phrase.

Wow, that's pretty good thinking! You're well prepared!

[Gentian]

I've been wanting to do an updated image of my ponysona, and decided throw in my human self-insert, too, since that's really all the pony is; a way for me to send my mind beyond the sundry horrors of this awful world. I do however, fully intend to remain human in Equestria, but sometimes a pony point of view, as it were, can be fun.

In the center you see a scale. Its height is 15cm on the paper, and matching it to my human's height of 160cm yields a ratio of 10.7 "scale" centimeters per "page" centimeter, and Cirrus was drawn according to that. The 3 marks are, from top to bottom: 160.7 cm, the height of my human; 97.4 cm, the height of Cirrus at the crown of her head; and 57.2 cm, the height of Cirrus at her withers. Beneath this is a clearer image of Cirrus' cutie mark, explained in more detail below.

On the right, you see my human self-insert. This is pretty much how I like to imagine myself whenever I read a story, and put myself within it, wander my memory palace, or wonderland, fantasize, etc. I usually don't wear the schoolgirl outfit, as I don't consume much school-set media, anymore, but it has been a while since I drew one, and I needed to wear something. The uniform is from the school in my little series of comics and short stories called Sussex Academy. Since my ponysona was originally merely a mare-ified version of her, I decided to give her the same hair stripes as Cirrus for this pic, and I put a silver pin of Cirrus' cutie mark on the left side of her sailor-collar, to keep with the EQG standard.

I made a pony-style uniform of the same design for Twilight's plush, once, but it's nice to see a decent (for my skill level) human version, too, imho, even if it is only 2D.

On the left is Cirrus Dawn, my ponysona. She wears her hair in a loose bun most of the time, like me, but lets her tail blow free. It's a blonde gradient, with a prominent stripe of pink and purple. Her coat is gray, or white depending on my mood, and her cutie mark is a blue rose, to represent the unique, interesting, and some would say, downright impossible nature of what I hope for. I went with white in this pic to keep with the EQG standard of pony/human having the same coloration.

Her favorite thing to do is go for flights in the very highest clouds, and she frequently does so in the early morning so she can be the first thing the sun touches. Her most common occupation is as part of the local weather team, but it's important to remember ponies don't have to work in the same manner humans currently do, because Equestria is a post-scarcity world, and she spends even more of her time with Twilight in the Golden Oak snuggling and reading. Her scent is of fresh, high-altitude winds, and approaching rain, but her long and frequent cuddle-sessions with Twi mean it is often mixed with Twilight's own bouquet of lavender, fruit, and old books.

All in all, I like the way my human came out, but Cirrus leaves something to be desired in the way I drew her, in particular her muzzle shape, and eyes. I've also been unable to find a technique of shading with colored pencils which yields satisfactory results, but I prefer flat color, to crosshatched monochrome, so until I can learn or develop something better, this is it.

Comments and criticism are always welcome on my art, as long as the criticism is constructive, but I'm going to deliberately ask for it this time, in the hopes of gaining advice on drawing in general, and shading/coloring in particular. This request in the blurb is the most I can do, so please, if you have something to say, do so.

Thank you for dropping by, have a great day.

[Gentian]

For a while now, I've been wanting to do some other pony-related handicraft. Somehow, I got myself fixiated on buttons, but didn't have any buttons. Neither did I have any paint, nor know where to obtain any. I decided that maybe, instead of making the buttons, I could buy them, and add them to my bag, but looking online, the prices were not only prohibitive for custom buttons or pins, but I faced the same obstacles I've always faced when trying to obtain merchandise, namely, payment and shipping.

Lo and behold, a couple months ago, I began receiving buttons. First, I got one in a drawing at a local branch of a fast-food curry franchise called Coco Ichi. It was a Lupin III button, in which I had no interest, but I said, "maybe one day..." and kept it.

Next, I found 2 others, each at different times and places, walking through Osaka. There they were, just lying on the sidewalk. Neither were of anything I cared about but even though I still lacked paint, and had nowhere to get it despite looking, I said "maybe one day..." and put them in my pocket.

Finally, last week I was taking dog for her nightly walk and she decided to go somewhere we usually don't. I let her lead the way, as I occasionally do, and she led us to a home improvement store. "Hunh," said I, when I noticed that the store allowed pets. Not only that, there were even special pet-carts provided to more easily, and considerately escort your animal through the aisles. Knowing how much she likes exploring new places, and being rather curious myself, I loaded her into one, and we went inside.

You've probably already realized that therein, we found paint! Housepaint, yes, and that's all I was expecting, but the also had "poster" paint and model paint, too! Finally! So, I bought some. Arriving back home, I fished out the old buttons I'd previously gotten, and set about deciding what to make.

Above, taken on 26 November, 2017, are the buttons with the base layers of color applied. This was done with acrylic paints, and it took all day. Fortunately, once the last layer had been applied, they dried fairly quickly despite water having been used to thin them.

[Gentian]

After allowing them to dry overnight, it was time to try my hand at the designs themselves. The 3 designs I'd selected were Twilight's cutie mark (of course), the Equestrian Seal, and Princess Celestia's cutie mark. I almost did Sunset Shimmer's instead, but as I've already done something for her, and poor, wonderful, Princess Celestia doesn't get nearly enough love, I did one of hers instead.

These were not as easy as I'd hoped, but not in the ways I was anticipating. Even though I'd bought the finest brushes available, they were still far too broad, and were quite unsuitable for the level of detail required. Eventually I hit on the idea of using a sewing needle, but thought the hard steel might damage the base layer, and substituted toothpicks, which you can see there by the water. They were not easy to work with as make-shift brushes, and were still too blunt for the really fine work, for which I ended up having to whittle the points as fine as a needle with my pocket knife, but we made do.

[Gentian]

The next day, it was time for the clear coat. This, as it would turn out, was the hardest part. I had to return to the store because I hadn't bought any on our first trip, and the only options I could find were enamel paints. I had no idea what to expect applying enamel to acrylic so I experimented on the paint left on the bag I'd use as a palette. The next day I found both that it seemed to work fine, and that it dried much more slowly than the acrylics.

The first layer of clear coat, I must have mixed too thinly because it didn't go on very well, and it took nearly 3 days to dry! For the second layer, I used much less water, and it worked better. It dried faster too, and that was a real relief, because the hard part was trying to keep dog fur from settling on the wet paint and becoming lodged therein. I rigged up a tent of sorts using an old paper book-cover, and it served, but I did have to pick out 2 hairs, and so was too worried of messing up to apply a third coat.

Whatever, I think they turned out well. The clear coat is quite glossy, however. So much so, in fact that I couldn't get a clear picture of the buttons because of glare. In order to get a photograph, I ended up having to pin them to a towel, and drape that over the back of a chair to get an angle wherein the designs were visible. That's why the shadows are angled like that, and why there is no ruler in the shot.

Anyway, here they are. Twi and I are both quite satisfied with them! Huzzah!