EAH 30 day: day thirty-one

day 31: the day that's unofficial. i had the primary image for this post sitting around on my computer for more than a year, and while i know i thought about doing it sooner, and i might have as an all-in-one post, i couldn't find it when i was archiving my other challenges into master posts, so i figured i'd do it now. possibly for the second time. i remember answering things, but maybe i imagined it?
if i did do it before, it was a long time ago and there are way more webisodes, books, dolls, and characters to choose from so it's very likely my answers have changed. anyway, i hope this was at least marginally interesting.

EAH 30 day: day thirty

day 30: the designs. i'd liked the outfits of Monster High, but i'm not really into horror. then i found out they'd launched a sister series that was fairy tales instead of scary things, and the designs were just as solid, so i looked into it, and i fell hard.

EAH 30 day: day twenty-nine

day 29: Cupid or Ashlynn i think. they've been shown to be solid friends where other characters have lapsed into periodic selfishness.

EAH 30 day: day twenty-eight

day 28: nobody? maybe Darling Charming, but since i identify most with her twin brother that's kinda a little creepy.

EAH 30 day: day twenty-seven

day 27: i'd make the webisodes longer. 3 minutes is okay, but so much more could be done if they were stretched to 5.

EAH 30 day: day twenty-six

day 26: she's already got a doll, but i'm looking forward to Rosabella Beauty being more than a backgrounder, since Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite stories.

let my love be the light that guides you home

song+ the Words -Christina Perri -Head or Heart
book+ nothing?
quest+ prep for Halloween Comic Fest
upper+ Halloween approaches
downer+ insomnia again
attire+ pajamas
drink+ ginger ale

yesterday being my birthday, i feel i should mention it was a good one. time was spent with good people, art things were acquired, progress on a gift project was begun. good food got eaten, better conversation was had. a very happy day all around.

today i'll be continuing to pull together everything i'll need on Saturday, including cutting down a pad of watercolor paper to postcard size. it's likely to take a while, so i'd kinda put it off until now. it's not hard work, just repetitive and time consuming. i guess i should put on something to watch while i do it and just go for it.

i guess the only other notable thing that happened this week was that i finished my first ever custom Monster High doll. her hair is the leftover bamboo yarn from the shawl mom knitted for my birthday a few years ago, her fins were painted a darker blue, i accented her ears the same, and i painted a new face. i'm sure i'll get better as i do more, but for a first, she's pretty great, and i'm satisfied overall.

EAH 30 day: day twenty-five

day 25: i don't remember? here's a new one.

EAH 30 day: day twenty-four

day 24: they're not really something i notice most of the time, but i remember thinking the picnic basket from sig Cerise's was cute.

EAH 30 day: day twenty-three

 

day 23: ah overall i LOVE the SDCC dolls to pieces, though it's likely i may never own them. of the realistically attainable, i think Way Too Wonderland Lizzie.

EAH 30 day: day twenty-two

day 22: the first i received was sig Raven Queen, the first i bought for myself was Hat-Tastic Briar. she's gorgeous.

EAH 30 day: day twenty-one

day 21: Blondie Branches Out. while an episode focused on family trees and fairy tale lineage could have been really cool, it ended up being 3 minutes of Blondie working to maintain her social status through desperate half-truths, which struck me as a poor moral for the intended audience: it's okay to lie if you WANT to believe it. uh, no.

EAH 30 day: day twenty

day 20: Sparrow Hood. i like him okay, but i like everyone else better. he's one of those selfish characters that passes blame to everyone else whenever possible. i know people like that in real life, i don't need more in my fun things. also, his voice is kinda shrill?

EAH 30 day: day nineteen

day 19: personality-wise, probably Dexter. he's anxious and has an inferiority complex since he's perpetually compared to his older brother, but he really is good at what he does, and he's unfailingly kind (which is something i need to work on).

rain came pouring down when i was drowning (that's when i could finally breathe)

song+ Clean -Taylor Swift -1989
book+ nothing?
quest+ more Pokedex Challenge
upper+ Halloween approaches
downer+ insomnia again
attire+ pajamas
drink+ water

so reality managed to sneak up on me, and while i'm still pushing forward with the Pokedex challenge, i'm only working on it a few days a week. no way am i gonna manage to finish the remaining 200 or so in like 3 work days. i consider getting 9 done in one day good progress. xD i can still take what is done along as sample work though, so i'm pretty sure i will be doing that.

some of this last week has actually been spent on other things though, overhauling some of the outdated sidebar stuff on this blog, starting work on my first custom Monster High doll. it's been very stop and go as i've compulsively researched every step multiple times before attempting it, and i've also had to pause more than once due to lacking the right material. it's still moving forward though, and when she's done i'll totally share pictures. i'll probably even manage to share them.

i started sharing the ad for Halloween Comic fest on Facebook this week. i figure two weeks out is a good time to start promo, since last year was the first year it happened and not too many people had heard about it. i don't expect it to match FCBD, but i'm optimistic that turnout this year could beat last year. i'm also cautiously hopeful about tips i may earn, since ideally they'll fund my Christmas shopping this year. i've been preparing, doing everything i can to be ready. the only variable i really can't control is people actually showing up, so promo posts are being made. both Kyu and i have posted about it, and mom did too, so that's at least a little more information out there.

EAH 30 day: day eighteen

day 18: Nevermore, Raven's size-shifting pet dragon. it switches between the size of a kitten and a standard huge fairy tale dragon.

EAH 30 day: day seventeen

day 17: Maddie can do anything at all. she only stops being capable of doing something if she's told directly it's impossible.

EAH 30 day: day sixteen

day 16: Lizzie Hearts (because i love her), Darling Charming (pictured), and Rosabella Beauty.

EAH 30 day: day fifteen

day 15: i love both. the books focus more on characters the webisodes gloss over; like parents of other students, and characters that don't have dolls yet, but the webisodes are good too, and are way more accessible in general.

EAH 30 day: day fourteen

day 14: the Legacy day outfits. in particular, the men, none of whom got doll releases. even the ladies that we saw didn't all get dolls, which is really unfortunate, because they all looked amazing. (of the six shown here, two got dolls)

EAH 30 day: day thirteen

day 13: we've only met a few, i love the irony of Professor Pied Piper teaching music, and Coach Gingerbreadman focusing on running (as fast as you can), but the ones that are the most realized as characters are Baba Yaga and Mr Badwolf, and he's more appreciated as a parent than a teacher, so probably Baba Yaga since she's actually been seen teaching more than once.

EAH 30 day: day twelve

day 12: the puns that are barely altered. unhexpected. hexcellent. fableous. wonderlandiful! that one's more obvious i guess.

how do i breathe with all this pressure on me?

song+ Easy Breezy -Hikaru Utada -Exodus
book+ nothing?
quest+ more Pokedex Challenge
upper+ progress
downer+ back cramps
attire+ pajamas
drink+ water

i started pushing myself to work on the Pokedex challenge again a few weeks ago, and i managed 12 at knit night a few weeks ago, and another 10 last week, then yesterday at home i buckled down and did 27 more, putting me (finally) into gen 4 with the drawings, which means i'm definitely more than half done. generations one, three, and five have the highest count on new Pokemon (each with something like 150), with one and three also having the most mega evolutions, so being past all that means much more than it sounds like to someone who doesn't really know Pokemon. my plan is to push myself on it weekends and Tuesday nights, ideally if i do i can take the finished notebook for reference when i draw at Halloween Comic Fest and say to people "i can do you a drawing like one of these, but bigger" and they'll be like "oh, yeah, that sounds great" and my 3DS battery won't get drained by people who can't think of a Pokemon to have drawn.

anyhow, my issue today is trying to maintain that momentum with the productivity, but not pushing myself so hard i lose interest. maybe eating something eventually.

EAH 30 day: day eleven

day 11: Lilly Bo Peep. she's adorable, and i'm among the group hoping she eventually gets a doll release. and maybe some spoken lines.

EAH 30 day: day ten

day 10: the Village of Book End. i love all the shops that have been mentioned and that the students have a local place to decompress so they're not always stuck in the school.

EAH 30 day: day nine

day 09: overall, i love the few parent/child relationships we've seen. that'd be Maddie Hatter/her dad, Kitty Cheshire/her mom, Lizzie Hearts/her mom and Cerise Hood/Red (Riding) Hood/Mr Badwolf. Cerise is actually the only character where we've met both parents, though i don't think Red got any dialog in that episode.

EAH 30 day: day eight

day 08: Ashlynn and Briar, or the Wonderlanders. i love the ones where both support the other selflessly, and those are the only examples really.

EAH 30 day: day seven

day 07: Dexter and Raven finally having their first date, in spite of mutual nerves and an inability to get any usable advice to calm said nerves from their friends.

EAH 30 day: day six

day 06: Cedar Wood (cursed to always tell the truth) getting through a lesson requiring her to tell a tall tale by telling a true story with her mouth full of food. if nobody could tell what she was saying they couldn't believe the story.

EAH 30 day: day five

day 05: less a quote and more a lesson plan. Mrs Her Majesty the White Queen (of Wonderland) mentioning that an upcoming Damsel in Distressing lesson would be on tiara size and related neck injuries.

generic uplifiting heroic noises

song+ the DQ9 theme
book+ nothing?
quest+ arty watercolor things
upper+ yummy food
downer+ allergies, it's like spring up in here
attire+ leggings, denim skirt, nerdy tee
drink+ Arizona strawberry kiwi juice

i have my phone back, after leaving it in mom's car Tuesday after knit night. it was weird being without it so long, i don't realize how often i text Kyu until i'm in a situation where i can't.

yesterday we started the new year of blocks for the block of the month club i do with mom and Jenni. this year we picked the green and navy, because i really like it. xD today involved a trip to Chipotle for lunch, but other than that i have no real plans. my goal was to work on self-teaching watercolor today. i've gotten pretty comfortable with watercolor pencils, but i've never really done anything with actual paint watercolor, so that's the goal, figuring it out.

i've watched several YouTube tutorials for various techniques over the last week and a half, i just need to get to actually trying them out, especially since i want to use watercolor for the sketching i'm doing on Halloween. i have my pencils, but i want to have options.

EAH 30 day: day four

day 04: rebel, though since the concept as a whole is being phased out it doesn't really matter anymore.

EAH 30 day: day three

day 03: hmm, i think Lizzie Shuffles the Deck. it shows her friendships, and how she struggles missing her home and her mother. she's flawed, but not wholly unlikable.

EAH 30 day: day two

day 02: Dexter Charming. i like the nerdy socially awkward thing, it's relatable, i know exactly what it feels like when nerves make you act like a different person entirely.

EAH 30 day: day one

day 01: Lizzie Hearts. while it took a while for her to have any dialog beyond "off with her head" all her dolls have been gorgeous and her character is now being developed in an interesting direction.

EAH 30 day challenge: masterpost

one day at a time: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one