Sketchtember 2024 - Tumblr Posts
Sketchtember 2024, Day 1 - Tender
[RED]
Ismaire: OHHHHHHH YES IT'S THAT TIME, IT'S SKETCHTEMBER BABY! I… have a tendency to turn it into Speedpaint-ember though, I notice…
That aside, here are Niffre and Claret, aka Baddie and Red Riding Hood, being precious together. A witch and a wolf facing the dark, scary world together make a sweet couple, right?
Sketchtember 2024, Day 1 - Tender
[Sweet Nightmares]
Choi: Go figure that on the first day I'd already run into an obstacle. This was done in 3 hours, but halfway through my entire PC crashed on me right before I could ctrl + s... (lll￢ω￢) anyhoo --
Here's Jaeon (Jeh-uhn, left) and Sedrik to kick off Day 1! We have so many relationships that I can't wait to share with you all, and I'm glad that the next in line would be these two. There's a lot to say about these characters, but for now, just know that Jaeon is a vampyr noble and Sedrik is an immortal burdened with a dark secret. This is a snapshot after Jaeon's rival Vintola, a vampyr who disregards the hierarchy within their nightkin society, beat up Sedrik to send a message to Jaeon. You can barely see it, but Jaeon is actually snarling protectively underneath all that mane :)
While Sedrik protests that he's not made of glass, they're not displeased by the tender affection the towering monster has to share.
Favorite Treat (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 2)
[The Judge]
Ismaire: Day 2, here we go~!
Eden has an absolutely mad sweet tooth, and Bradie loves teasing him about it. The smol friend perched on Eden's head is Matthew, and I'll explain him at some point. He's very much involved in everything they do, and they're grateful that he is.
Favorite (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 2)
[Sweet Nightmares]
Choi: Day 2 featuring MyungJin's uncles Kiatel (left) and Fyra (right), who adopted her and her sister Horros after their home got blown down by a freak storm.
So yeah, have some old man yaoi.
This is actually my first time even drawing these two together, let alone individually. Both the characters originated from Ismaire's two different storylines, but since we've gotten together, these two slowly gravitated towards each other as Kiatel started off as the mysterious alchemist taking in stray magical orphans and Fyra leading a band of young mercenaries.
At some point in the story's development, it just made sense to make them a married couple. They both still have their long-term projects to oversee, but now Kiatel is the headmaster of a school for extraordinary magicians (i.e. school misfits), and Fyra is the head of the Supernatural Investigations & Resources (SIR). Though their lives can get quite busy, thanks to their immortality and wealth, they still make time to be there for each other in their safe havens.
The favorite treat was meant to be Kiatel's tea, but I think the sketch is more showing the couple's favorite treat is actually quality time.
Forgiveness (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 3)
[Sweet Nightmares]
Ismaire: Remember that Sketchtember Day 4 drawing Choi did last year? It's in our gallery (Sweet Nightmares tag) if you want to peek real quick. This is the same woman from that pic, a little expanded as we've developed the story over the last year.
She's involved with Felix the beast-slayer, but how? What does he know about how she got this way? Was he involved? Why try to save a soul most would consider past recovery?
Those answers are for later. What you should know is that Felix wishes - desperately wishes - it hadn't turned out this way.
It should have been him, not her. They all should have had her, not him. Jun should have had a mother, not a ghost and a poor, poor excuse for a stand-in father.
Forgiveness (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 3)
Two sisters come to terms in the afterlife. The lady-in-white cradles her estranged sibling, shedding tears of sadness, remorse, pleading for the other woman to come out of the darkness. They can move on together, says the lady-in-white, because as it turns out, the afterlife isn't as judgmental as she thought it was when she was alive.
Choi: I might have the unpopular opinion that spoilers don't have to be treated like the entire story has been ruined. I can understand if one person feels like they were robbed of the journey, kinda like how my friends got upset when they found out Dumbledore died. Sure, it's shocking, but I never understood people who stopped reading entirely without finding out *why* the death even happened to begin with.
Besides, wouldn't it just give you more context and the thrill of dramatic irony when you can't change the outcome? And maybe, just beyond the death scene, that perhaps there's a more satisfying conclusion to it all? Or maybe I am the weird one.
Food for thought... 😗
Secret (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 4)
[The Judge]
Ismaire: The trio sleep soundly in their most recent safe house, charms and wards hung, painted and strewn around to hopefully keep any wandering monsters from taking an interest in their spot.
Eden and Bradie share a handful of secrets by this point in the story, but the most important one is Matthew. When they first met Matt, he was a huge and terrifying monster… that acted like a human. He learned from them, imprinted on them, and even put himself in harm's way to save them - an act of sacrifice they thought had ended him at first.
Matt survived, though he now has to regenerate from the very small piece of himself that was left. He will devote himself to being their big, fierce guardian again someday, but for now they're the ones guarding him, teaching him to be a human, and keeping him a precious secret.
Their world might be ready someday to accept a good-hearted man like Matt who just happens to look like a beast. But for now…
Secret (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 4)
Choi: Vance has a secret, and that's his pent up aggression. As disciplined as he is with his temper around his family, day-to-day microaggressions of being a human-passing spirit can build up a lot of pressure like a geyser inside Vance. So they find catharsis in an underground fight club, where humans and spirits test their might and wit against each other, consequences be damned.
After this sketch, I'm finding I just really like drawing my characters in the middle of a transformation. Likely an influence from flipping through The Animorphs books back and forth lol
This is something that I really want to improve on because there are quite a few spirits that can shapeshift between human/spirit forms, and I'd feel very silly if I didn't continue practicing and studying. Our dear monster boys and girls deserve to shine during their monstrous moments ^_^
Cuddle (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 5)
[The Judge]
When you're the newly-minted queen of Hell and you are supposed to go end a long and bloody war with a godlike weapon of shadows, and pretty much every other plan has been tried and failed, except for…
… Kindness.
Sometimes the most badass thing you can do is be the first to put down your sword.
Lol what does this have to do with The Judge? Everything. It will eventually come together I swear.
Cuddle (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 5)
[Hollow Hearts]
Choi: Surprise, it's not Sweet Nightmares. Here's a pair of star-crossed space cowboys, bonding together after a long day's work on the honey ranch. For this universe's cowboys, though, they're actually referred to as "bumbleboys" because their livestock are giant alien bees 🐝🍯
Featured OCs from left to right are Samak and Cole. I'm still working out the foundation of their relationship, and tbh, parts of their designs too. Samak was originally an RP character I designed for a Tegaki E group back in the day. Meanwhile Cole was originally known as Casey, a backstory character whose death was used as an example for why Samak turned to bounty hunting. I plan to keep some of the tragedy from the original backstory, so I guess we'll see how it all shakes out in the future :)
Target Sighted (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 6)
[RED]
Ismaire: This sketch prompt turned into a 3-panel sketch comic about how dragons in this world go just non-functionally feral around cats. In particular the dragons' young leader-to-be, Celine, loses her composure the first time she travels to a human town where they keep cats to hunt the mice, and… this.
Yep. Celine and I are one and the same in this regard. God I love cats a/sldfjdljafd;k
Target Sighted (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 6)
[Sweet Nightmares]
Choi: Remember Giuliano from awhile back? Yeah, that's him in his shifted bipedal form. Fox spirits in general are large in size (for example, Bidan's fox form measures to 8ft long from nose to hind quarters), so you can only imagine how menacing it must be to be stalked by a towering hulk like Giuliano.
Hopefully Bidan's backup is coming soon...
Happy Birthday (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 7)
[The Judge]
Ismaire:
Darr gets this Day 7 prompt for the second year in a row, whoops. He just has that kind of luck, I guess~ But where last year I showed him saying a happy birthday to someone who really needed it, this time he's wishing he could say it in a situation where it's just better for everyone if he doesn't.
He'll never send that text. He can't. This is supposed to be a one-way communication channel, and it's not worth the risk.
Happy Birthday (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 7)
[Sweet Nightmares]
Choi: When the main storyline starts, we have it set around June/July of 2018. MyungJin's birthday is on August 15th, so we planned to have some birthday shenanigans for our witch's 25th birthday :)
On a sidenote, MyungJin's not opposed to wearing lingerie. They just never really had people who were interested in it as much as their current boyfriends, so she can't help feeling bashful about wearing lacey intimates in front of people she just only started getting committed to. Plus when all MyungJin's ever worn were comfortable lounge clothes, flannels and denim, and one little black dress, expensive underwear doesn't even come into consideration.
At the same time, she isn't wrong for calling out Bidan's kink for lingerie. However self-serving it may seem, Bidan knows what he likes and takes great joy in giving his lovers all the finest garments he can buy for them 💖
Morning Routine (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 8)
[V E S S E L S]
Choi: Obviously you can't see it, but Victor has worse sharpie graffiti on his front. Fortunately none made it on his face, which he made absolutely clear to anyone with the marker that he'd "bite their dick off."
... Yeah, Victor's a hot mess, but we love our high-functioning trash baby. Who says you can't party and run a high-profile company at the same time? All you need is a smart mirror and a daily planner 👍🏻
And for clarity's sake, he's brushing his teeth.
Morning Routine (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 8)
[Hollow Hearts]
Ismaire:
This is Samak and Cole again, although you'll notice that just in the few days since the last HH post, Casting Director Choi has changed their designs a bit, lol.
Being a honey rancher is not an easy job by any means, and this alien desert doesn't provide any easy conditions. But sometimes there are cool moments, like when you get to pet the giant fluffy bees and wake them up for the morning. (Getting covered in their scent puts the rest of the bees at ease so you can go harvest the produce. Also, it's fun~)
Guilty Pleasure (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 9)
[The Judge]
Ismaire: I guess it's about time I dragged Darr and Ashe into a sweet prompt together, huh?
Let this be proof that, at least much later in the story, Darr finally lets his death grip off the gas a little and learns to relax… sometimes. Almost exclusively with Ashe, and still not as much as he should, but he's learning. He still tends to feel like anything done for personal pleasure is a 'guilty' pleasure, but the two of them just love jamming together so much.
I mean, he painted those lilies on Ashe's guitar for him, for hell's sake. He's so dumb sometimes. Still, progress~
Guilty Pleasure (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 9)
[Sweet Nightmares]
Choi: When he's not out hunting monsters with the Hunter's Guild, MyungJun is a voracious reader. He'll read fiction and nonfiction, but his real guilty pleasure is reading manhwa. Despite his serious exterior and discipline, MyungJun likes to kick back with a bit of fantasy and romance to recharge his batteries.
Movie Night (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 10)
[Rara Avis]
Ismaire:
Goldstone and Sandstone, the two oldest children of fai royalty, have abandoned their seats to sit as close as possible to the stage on "theater night." A specially requested performance group has come from across the kingdom to put on a play about the founding of the fai kingdom as it is known today, when their ancestor made a pact with the primal of the earth element and secured protection and prosperity for their people that has lasted tens of generations.
The two close siblings whisper and giggle to each other as they enjoy the colorful performers' prancing in elaborate, symbolic costumes. It's the most fun they've had since winter came and it got too chilly to play outside for long.
---
We haven't settled on the final designs of characters in this story and are still experimenting, so they are likely to change quite a bit as we nail it down, but we at least know these two cuties will be "fai" - a basically faerie-like race in the world of Rara Avis. More about them to come once they're grown-up~
Movie Night (Sketchtember 2024 - Day 10)
[Sweet Nightmares]
Choi: The trio decided to watch The Nun for their movie night at Bidan's apartment. You would think that living a life of fighting monsters and exorcising ghosts would numb them to the horror genre, but it really doesn't. At least in their line of work, they have control of their actions and choices. It's different when you're watching helplessly as the audience...
The specific scene they're reacting to is when Sister Irene gets blindsided by one of the possessed nuns. Vance has an appropriate reaction to the jumpscare (his maek ears pop out when he's distressed). Poor MyungJin actually hates dealing with ghosts, and as far as she's concerned, demons are just god-modding ghosts. Bidan's gauge on being terrified by horror movies has yet to be determined, but he's not unhappy that he's in the middle of a cuddle sandwich; he's just critical of the human's stupid decisions for going without any firepower.