The Chaotic Life of Adrien Melody

Since I felt inspired to draw Konata in pencil , I’ve been drawing a lot more lately. My results at freehand drawing have been pretty satisfying, and two days ago I decided to tackle another character. For no reason in particular, I chose Shantae, a popular video game character . I did a Google search to find some reference images to use, and came across one with Shantae wearing a bikini and lying on a beach. Although naturally eye-catching, I felt it would be too challenging to attempt. I usually only draw the top halves of people—full-body anatomy is waaaayy  beyond my level, or so I thought. Even my full-body drawing of Konata was far from perfect—although it isn’t obvious, the proportions were a bit  off . I really didn’t think it would pay off to try drawing a character in such an elaborate pose as this one. But I decided to give it my best shot, and over the course of the morning I laid out a rough sketch. The legs were the most challenging part, and I left them mostly ...

I decided I want to get into video gaming. Well, truthfully, I’ve always wanted to. I’ve been entranced by the art, lore, and music from series like  The Legend of Zelda  and  Bravely Default  since practically forever. But my actual gaming experience has been limited to trying out  Ocarina of Time  on my brother’s 3DS when we were younger, and exploring  Minecraft  on my old roommate’s console before I moved out. I never invested in a console or computer of my own—I didn’t think I had enough time or money to justify spending either on games.   But recently, my perspective on life has changed a lot. I realized my perfectionistic tendencies  were causing me to postpone anything fun or meaningful—anything not completely necessary to get by and reach my goals—and it was sapping the life out of me. More specifically, I was holding myself to such an impossibly high standard, in my work and life, that I was constantly stressed out because noth...