Happy Christmas and a merry new year.

Hey, everyone.

Before we go anywhere, I just want to say--yes, I failed my own drawing challenge. No, I don't actually feel a lot of shame about that.

I'm weird like that. I'll get all anxious about doing the thing in the midst of it, and then when it's done I'm just so relieved that I don't even need to think about doing it that I feel no shame for failing.

My character Pitch and my friend's character Amelia. We totally ship them.

 I could say this was my day 27 challenge (draw a couple), except I drew it on Christmas day. Eh heh heh oops.

BUT SPEAKING OF CHRISTMAS. I got a laptop.

A LAPTOP.

You probably are all going, "Er, Dee, you have a laptop. Remember? Because it wasn't working, and then it was..."

Actually, that was my mum's. But I used it so much that I considered it mine. XD BUT NOW I HAVE MY OWN AND IT'S MINE MY PRECIOUS BABY.

And SketchBook works on it. IT WORKS. I haven't ever been able to use SketchBook with my pen tablet, and NOW I CAN.

I'm just so excited guys.

Remember her? Decided to color it.

 Don't really like how it turned out, but eh. She's still cute.

Okay. Okay okay okay guys isn't he adorable?

So this is the result of the first picture I posted. We planned out Pitch and Amelia's life, like, completely. They have two kids, a daughter named Artemis, and their son is named Sage. I do have a picture of Artie, but it's not saved on my laptop. I'll get it up eventually.

But Sage is so cute guys. Even though he looks like he goes to Hogwarts and I messed up his scarf in that picture. (It should be striped.)

Don't like how she turned out at all, except for her hair.

I really, really like how her hair turned out. The rest is ehh. So just zoom up on her head and check out her hair. Okay.

I'm just now realizing how much I use the word "eh." *adds that to my list of overused words*

I JUST WANT TO DRAW SOMETHING.

So lately I've been kind of depressed about my art skills.

Which is weird, because recently I've been realizing how far I've come, drawing-wise. I think I'm also realizing how far I have to go, as well.

I have several friends who are artists as well, and I have a tendency to hoard their artwork. Literally. I have folders on my iPod and save far too many of their drawings in them. (If you draw and are reading this, chances are, I have a folder for you as well.)

AND IT'S DEPRESSING CAUSE YOU GUYS ARE JUST SO STINKING GOOD.

*flops*

But seriously. My digital art programs are driving me insane today. I just want to draw something, but they keep acting up. Manga Studio 5--which I just recently started using--keeps crashing and deleting my drawings. SketchBook will not load, no matter how much I coax it. And I am so fed up with ArtRage's brushes it's not even funny.

(I'll spare you the PhotoShop rant.)

I mean, I could just go grab my sketchbook and my new case of pencils Mum got me as an early Christmas gift. BUT I WANT TO DRAW SOMETHING DIGITAL. Why can't the programs just work the way they're supposed to???

Okay, this is becoming a major rant, so I'll just stop and show you some of my (traditional) artwork of late.

(Guess what? They're all Lissie.)

Day... whatever it was challenge. It's an animal, okay?

So I decided against drawing one of my siblings* and drew feline Lissie instead. Because she's totally kitten-like.

And also still obsessed with coffee.

Lissie, on her way home from the library.

 This... isn't actually a drawing challenge result. I just doodled it one day, kind of randomly. I like how it turned out, though.

(I was going to color it digitally this morning, but obviously, that didn't happen.)

Chibi Lissie.

She's just too adorable, guys.

I actually did color this one with my one drawing program. Except that drawing program happened to be Manga Studio, which decided that colored chibi pictures make great drawing program food.

Seriously, what is it with my various electronic devices and programs and eating my stuff? My iPod ate several of my contacts the other day. (As in, people contacts. Not contact lenses. I don't think it could pull off eating contact lenses, even if it tried really hard.) It's been randomly doing that all year, and it's starting to annoy me.

Also, merry Christmas guys. I know I've been ranting and grumping around all post, but I'm actually kind of happy today. It's this weird sort of complainingly happy Christmas joy. (If that made sense, you've officially graduated the class on Understanding Dee. With honors.) You guys should know by now that if I complain about something, it's probably because I'm a) happy b) giving someone a hard time or c) actually kind of annoyed so would SketchBook please just start working again.

Today is pretty much a combination of all three options.

And my feet hurt.

*To any random sibling of mine who decided to read my blog: I hope you don't think I was talking about you. There are other nasty Brannigans, you know.

Liesel Meminger is also a time thief.

*comes up gasping for air*

And you all thought I was going to post every day during December.

Okay, so I have actually been (mostly) keeping up with the drawing challenge. I've just gotten extremely lazy in scanning the resulting drawings. So I actually don't have any pictures to post right now. I will get to it.
Eventually.

I also read The Book Thief.

*gratefully accepts gifts of tissue boxes and hugs from fellow sufferers*

Seriously, though. If you haven't read it yet, GO DO IT NOW. It's really, really good.

BUT IT'S SO SAD I CANNOT EVEN.

The worst part about is that you know the whole way through how it's going to end. The narrator tells you time and time again. So you spend the book preparing yourself for the ending.

There is just no preparation, though.

I don't cry during books. Movies, oh yeah. I don't really know why, but movies will make me sob where books will have me completely dry-eyed. It's not that I don't feel emotion during books. It's just... a different sort of emotion. If that makes sense. It probably doesn't. But I tried.

All that to say, I bawled my heart out during that book.

My mom was talking to me about something while I was in the midst of the ending, which was simultaneously really nice and really awful. Like, "Mom, I'm in the middle of a ridiculously emotional book ending at the moment. Can we have this conversation in a few minutes?" and "Yes, keep distracting me. I don't want to cry."

I cried anyway, of course.



In other news, our family is pretty much in charge of the entire Christmas pageant at our church this year. We haven't had one in years, so this year my mom, myself, and my next-in-line sister decided that it wouldn't be too hard at all to put one together. I mean, it's just a bunch of kids in costumes singing a few Christmas carols. How hard can it be?

Ha.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Two weeks later, and I've barely sat down at all since then. MY FEET HURT SO BAD. I mean, I have bad feet to begin with. At the end of the day, they usually hurt like I've walked the great wall of China. So these last few weeks--and especially last few days--have been pure misery.

In between the last paragraph and this one, I stopped to try on the innkeeper's costume for my mom. I'm the closest in our family to the size of said innkeeper.

(Okay, random funny story. This actor is so obsessed with making money, it's absolutely hilarious. Over the summer, he kept digging up the hosta plants we have all over our property--literally, all over. I counted them last summer, and I gave up at 200--so that he could sell them at his "roadside stand." I don't think he even made anything, but it was so funny seeing him sweat digging them up all summer. Except for when he dragged me into helping him. Then it was less funny.

The real funny story I wanted to tell you, though, is that at our last rehearsal, he asked my mom, "So if Jesus was born at my inn, do you think I could charge more for the rooms? And how much do you think I could get for them sleeping out in the stable?"

We were all dying of laughter. It was the funniest thing ever.)

So yeah. I should probably sign off and go practice my piano. I get to play for the entire service on Sunday, yip-dee-dee. Plus a whole bunch on Christmas Eve.

(I know it sounds like I'm complaining, and I sort of am. But I'm not happy unless I'm complaining. I love playing piano.)

December Drawing Challenge, day 5: Ghost Town

Day Five Challenge: Draw a few backgrounds in one, two, and three point perspective.

Ghost town. Plus random person.

 Confession time: I didn't exactly do this challenge the way it was supposed to be done. Why? Because I absolutely loathe drawing in two and three point perspective.

IT JUST TAKES FOREVER.

Okay, okay. I know. The point of the challenge is to stretch me as an artist yada-yada-ya. Sometimes past me can be very annoying.

I will try to draw a few more backgrounds before the day's over. But I doubt that I'll post them, because the only two point perspective I've ever done failed miserably, and I'm not holding my breath for the three point.

Bookworm prince.

Isn't he cute?

So. That thing I was going to post about yesterday and then completely forgot.

I still haven't remembered it.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/34199278395539671/

The cat looks so grumpy. XD

Now, before you think, "Wow, Dee, you really do like that laptop of yours... Next day after it's working again and you're back to using paper..." FIRST OF ALL that second picture I posted is actually digital art. I just used the pencil setting on a white background and it looks like paper. SECONDLY I really just like using pencil and paper for rough sketches.

See, I think I can draw better with pencil and paper. But I like the finished look of digital art. Compromise: Sketch it on paper, scan it into art program, and color it on there.

Yay.

*end extremely random post by Dee*

MY LAPTOP HATH BEEN RETURNED TO ME.

Day Four Challenge: Draw a self-portrait in any style you like.

This is probably the roughest drawing I've ever called a completed picture. I didn't even erase the guidelines.

'Nuff said.

Okay, but seriously. It feels more like I've gone for an eternity without it, rather than just three days. I might be just a little too dependent on this thing...

I really like the color of her skirt. Isn't it pretty?

Colored Liesl. As my darling sister pointed out so lovingly, her hair looks blue. It was supposed to be black.

I had something I wanted to blog about, but I can't think of it now. I guess I'll try to remember and post it tomorrow.

December Drawing Challenge, day 3: Random girl and Bree

Day Three challenge: Use a reference picture. Post both your copy and the original!

Sadie-and-Nico friend actually sent me that second picture along with a few others to see which one I thought she should use for the challenge today. I, uh, kinda fell in love with that one and had to draw it myself.

This one I did in literally five minutes. It's extremely rough, but I still like how it turned out. Every time I see the reference picture, it makes me think of my one character Bree, so I decided to just draw her today.

December Drawing Challenge, day 2: Chibi Liesl

Day Two Challenge: Learn to draw chibi! If you already know how, try drawing them in a different style.

Rather different than my usual chibi style, don't you think? But I still like it, anyway.

And my laptop's still not working. *sigh* I've never realized how much I use the thing until now...

December Drawing Challenge, Day 1: Liesl

Day One challenge: Design a new original character!

Meet Liesl, everyone.

I don't know much about her, besides that she's seventeen, an orphan, and if she wasn't in a government-run boarding school, she'd be on the streets.

The setting is some sort of medieval-ish fantasy.

Also, my laptop's not working, so you guys will just have to put up with pencil sketches until it works again.