Before October \r\n\t\t\t\t\t
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This has been a very interesting exercise for me. I don't regularly do daily sketches, usually just working on whatever I've been working on, and I feel like my sketching speed and accuracy has really improved through doing this. I also ended up liking quite a few of my drawings, so I wanted to share the set. My favorites are days 7, 14, 19, 24, 29, and 31.
I kept track of how long each piece took to complete, as well as some notes about how I felt about each day, which are found below. Each image is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
Day 1 - Plant Growth
Hours: 1.5
I knew exactly what I wanted to make for this day. The idea was a plant that grew inside you, eventually bursting forth, setting its roots and spreading its spores to new victims. Kinda like what that one fungus does to ants.
The victim ended up being a bit more haunting, ghostly figure, but I like how it turned out.
Day 2 - Hanahaki Disease
Hours: 1.0
I looked up what hanahaki disease is right after finishing day 1 and was a bit annoyed with how what I drew fit quite well with day 2's topic. But then, that forced some creativity to draw something different, so we get an xray view of the more subtle consequences.
Day 3 - Pastel Gore
Hours: 1.5
The only thing I could think of in association with pastel was unicorns. Never drawn a horse head before, but it turned out pretty well, especially for trying to merge parts of a couple reference images to get the pose right.
Day 4 - Stabbed
Hours: 0.5
For those of you who have never experienced bad RSI, it feels like being stabbed through the wrist/forearm. If you spend all day at the pen or computer, please please please make it a habit to shake and stretch out your wrists and hands regularly.
Day 5 - Bleeding Out
Hours: 0.5
...
Day 6 - Any Phobia
Hours: 1.25
Aquaphobia and Claustrophobia are the two I relate to most. I really don't like swimming in deep, dark water, and very much dislike caves.
Not entirely fond of how this one turned out. Kinaj suggested it might work better if I extended their arms and snout visibly into the water a bit, and I'm inclined to agree; it would give a better feeling of this being a full person instead of just some appendages.
Day 7 - Ritual Sacrifice
Hours: 1.25
The most powerful sacrifice is always personal.
Day 8 - Possession
Hours: 2
Wanted to go a different direction with possession and used a less expected meaning of the word (at least in this context). I was originally going to put them huddled inside one of those locking trunks, but ultimately it just didn't portray well, so went with the chain instead. Wasted a lot of time on the trunk and almost ran out of drawing time on this day, so the end result feels a bit rushed.
Day 9 - Stitches
Hours: 1
This one was inspired by my memories of a Junji Ito manga. This was supposed to be creepy, but when I look at it it feels oddly comforting. Our bonds sometimes pull and cause pain, but they keep our partners close when we need them.
If you're curious, the Ito manga is Army of One. It portrays the horror much better than I do.
Day 10 - Wings
Hours: 0.75
I left my signature and the day's theme out of this one because I think they really detract from the impact of the piece.
We had our ideas independently, but I think this one has a lot more weight if you view it as a follow-up to Kinaj's piece from the same day.
Day 11 - Shot
Hours: 0.25
The graphic Kinaj set me with the themes used a slightly ambiguous font and I thought it said "snot" instead of "shot". I think this is more horrifying than anything I'd have done with the "shot" theme, though.
Day 12 - Guts Spilled
Hours: 1.25
At this point I started feeling like I'd been subverting the overall idea of Goretober a bit too much, so back to basics.
Day 13 - Bloody Tears
Hours: 1.0
I wanted to focus a bit more on the aftereffects of bloody tears rather than the cause. I don't know if mosquitoes will actually drink pooling blood from the surface (I doubt they would), but the imagery works regardless.
Day 14 - Hanged
Hours: 1.5
I quite like this pose, probably going to do a full illustration of it next October. If you don't want to wait that long tchaikovsky2 has a beautiful piece that I'm sure played a part in inspiring this.
Day 15 - Cracked
Hours: 0.25
One of my persistent fears is that I'm going to slip and catch myself wrong, and the fingers I used just crack and ...
I still find this one hard to look at.
Day 16 - Impalement
Hours: 0.5
As a kid I remember playing with my dad at one of the playgrounds by our house. There were a lot of other kids and parents there that day, along with one dad who was running around barefoot. I don't remember how it happened, but I can still see that nail impaled straight through the middle of his foot. I still enjoy walking around barefoot, but only in places I know there aren't sharp things laying in wait.
Day 17 - Live Dissection
Hours: 1.25
Is that a heart? A stomach? Intestines? I don't even know!
Seriously, it was supposed to be heart as seen from the top angle (which means it kinda just looks like a blob) which ended up a bit on the large side.
Day 18 - Self Amputation
Hours: 1.0
The imagery works alright, but I'm really unhappy with this one. I think the problem is that it's missing any context as to why, but doesn't really have elements of mystery either.
Day 19 - Mass Murder
Hours: 1.5
...
...
...
Either you find this image suitably scary or you're a politician!
*buh-dum tish* I'll see myself out.
Day 20 - Keeping A Trophy
Hours: 0.5
I didn't really have any plans for this, and was thinking about the kind of trophies people might keep. Ended up making a string of baculum.
Day 21 - Disease/Poison
Hours: 0.5
Was originally going to draw a full plant with one wilted/diseased portion, but really couldn't be bothered to draw that many leaves. This reminds me of my habanero pepper plant that got way too much water when I left it outside and sadly didn't survive the ordeal.
Day 22 - Teeth Pulled
Hours: 1
Kinda loose with the word "pulled", but I think it works.
Day 23 - Decapitation
Hours: 0.5
If you're going to get decapitated, hope your executioner is good at their job. Or maybe they're intentionally dragging it out...
Day 24 - Torture
Hours: 1.25
I'm ok. On another day this might have been vent art, but today it's just memories and a load of empathy.
Day 25 - Creepy Smile
Hours: 0.5
I remember seeing a bunch of photoshopped images of horses with dog mouths, and seemed appropriate to draw it the other way around.
Day 26 - Suicide
Hours: 1.5
About half way through this I was really worried it wouldn't work because portraying depth in a silhouette is difficult, but I quite like how it turned out.
Day 27 - Animal Wounds
Hours: 0.5
A little followup to
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Day 28 - Pins And Needles
Hours: 0.25
Phoned it in hard today, didn't have any good ideas and wanted to work on other things.
Day 29 - Undead
Hours: ???
I spent way too much time on this, and truth be told, I didn't actually finish it until the 31st. That said, I'm really happy with how it turned out. Skeletons have so many bones though! SO MANY!!! I actually flaked out drawing their entire lower half because of it which is where the hole came from, and I actually think it works out better this way.
Day 30 - Combine 2
Hours: 1.5
I combined Impalement and Claustrophobia. This is an image I've had in my head since the first time I really thought about how horrifying those spiked ceiling trap rooms you see in video games and movies are. Such a slow, terrifying death.
Day 31 - All Patched Up
Hours: 1.5
We all go through difficult times, and I can't tell you that it'll all work out, but sometimes you need to sit down and just believe everything will be ok for a little while. When the moment is over, pick yourself up and keep on moving.
And now you're at the end! If looked at all my sketches and maybe even read through my thoughts about them: thank you, it means a lot that you took the time. <3