Kicking things off, we have this drawing of a majestic, colorful fire rooster, made for Chinese New Year. His phoenix-like design was inspired by those of the Pokemon Ho-Oh, and Moegami, the god of fire from Okami. This wasn't my first drawing of 2017, though. Last January, I drew a little sketch on paper of 2 roosters, one big and one small. See for yourself!
We've had some big names pass on last year, but fortunately, it wasn't an epidemic like in 2016. The first death I heard about in 2017 was that of Masaya Nakamura, the founder of Namco. His date of birth and date of death somewhat remind me of those of my maternal grandfather. He was born on Christmas Eve and died in a January, the differences being my granddad was born in 1922 and he lived to be 87 instead of 91. In this emotional piece, made in Nakamura's memory, Pac-Man mourns the loss of his "father", and the 4 ghosts have given up their pursuit of the cherry-chasing dot-muncher to pay their respects. Isn't that sweet? Normally, they're Pac-Man's enemies, but here, they're sharing Pac-Man's sorrow.
Keaton is back! And he's at his desk in his bedroom with some music playing through his headphones. I wonder what he's about to draw... This is the first time Keaton has been viewed from the front (as well as the first time we see him smiling) and there are a few indicators of his Japanophilia in his room, such as the Mount Fuji poster, the open box of Pocky sticks and his "Tetsu no Umi" T-shirt. Maybe he's listening to some J-Pop too! Drawing his hand in that position was very awkward, there was no way I could try to draw it without finding a reference on the Internet.
Remember my Mother's Day art with 4 of the characters from Ups & Downs of Life? Well, here's another one that actually features Julie, Nicole's mother. As the date for Mother's Day differs in the UK and the US, I've once again had the 4th Sunday in Lent in mind.
Up for some cute art? Well, why wouldn't you? Have you ever wanted to meet a significant other through making a wish? That's the premise of this adorable deviation based on the Mahou Shoujo (or "Magical girl") subgenre in fantasy anime and manga. Girls who possess magic powers in Japanese cartoons have a tendency to be cute, and if one has a boyfriend who doesn't use magic, that's even cuter. Male wish-fulfillment at its finest!
A shot at landscape art here, depicting the true beauty our planet can have on offer, specifically at night. This one has greater emphasis on gradient colors than a lot of my other works. Would you be able to tell this was made on MS Paint at first glance? Probably not. There was originally going to be 3 comets in this picture, but it didn't turn out as well as I thought, so I had to make do with just 2.
Now for artwork of some sushi, one of my favorite foods in real life, with enough detail to get your tummy rumbling. I've done some food art before, but it was few and far between. But now, I'll try to make it more common in my gallery, thanks to the meals I've been cooking in my flat and the lunches I've been having at work. The "Oishii desu ne?" that is written on the hosomaki is a phrase I say often while enjoying something tasty. Later on in the year, I started taking Japanese classes at Reading College on Tuesday evenings so I could sharpen my Japanese-speaking abilities.
Ups & Downs of Life Father's Day art here, with Nicole's dad Steve, looking like he's dressed for work. It is similar to the Mother's Day one with Julie, but this one was released a bit late for 2017's Father's Day and a little more rushed as a result. I forgot when it was when that Sunday started.
This is the second time I've drawn something for Leah's birthday, and this time it has a Tanabata theme, with Leah looking so beautiful in that blue yukata with a pink rose pattern. Once again, this incorporates Leah's love of Japan and like last year, it's also the only deviation of Leah I made last year. Whenever July 7 comes around, I get excited for Hyper Japan's summer event in the following weekend. Hyper Japan always becomes a highlight of my year each time I go, it is so fun. Let me tell you a little bit about what Leah did to celebrate her birthday in 2017. She went to a friend's house that evening for a fancy dress garden party, with the yukata, fan and sandals you see here. Leah and her friends stayed up looking at the stars and they had fusion food for dinner. In the afternoon, Leah had her hair styled, put some mascara on and had sparkling dark blue nail varnish painted on her fingers and toes, getting glammed up for the night ahead.
More food porn for you, and it is sweet! What you see is a combination of ice cream and konpeito, and it's called "Kira Kira Ice Cream". The name comes from "kirakira", a Japanese onomatopoeia for sparkling/twinkling. I chose this name because of how konpeito resemble little colorful multi-pointed stars. Drawing the ice cream scoops in a realistic style was so fun, as well as putting the konpeito in their places, but drawing the spoon in that angle was a bit of a pain. Do you think Kira Kira Ice Cream is a good recipe idea? I don't know if it would give you a sugar rush or make you feel sick. What do you think?
The secret to Keaton's muscles and his chick magnet status on the physical side, is working out frequently, like most people of his build would. He goes to the gym and he owns a dumbbell at home, which he uses weekly. Like 2016's artwork of Keaton at the beach, we once again get to see Keaton shirtless, but this time we got more of a full-body shot. I'd say it's a pretty good attempt, it did take a while...
According to many users on the DeviantArt forum, this is my best art of 2017, although it is not my most Favorited deviation on this site. After 8 months of creating an elemental rooster, I have drawn this more mundane rooster cawing at sunrise. Sunrises are wonderful things, it's a shame I don't get to see them much. I do get a glimpse of them on many mornings I go to work, but I don't get enough time to fully embrace the sight. And that's where the idea for this piece came from.
My Halloween deviation released in 2017 came to be when I came across a muroPLZ thread. The thread requested a drawing of either a succubus mermaid or a devil. I went for the former, since I liked that idea the best. This is for mature viewers only, so on this site, you can only view this image if you have an account and are 18 or over. If you want to see it without having to sign up, go to my Newgrounds profile. My succubus mermaid could be interpreted as Ariel's darker counterpart, being interested in the human world and having a fish for a companion, but with an appetite for human essence and a lust for a human prince. Actually, she'd have more akin to a mix of Ariel and Ursula, as the quote in the description will tell you, she uses magic. Being a succubus, she'd take the guise of the ideal woman of her prince of choice to seduce him and cast a spell on him to make him consent to sex with her, which will result in his energy getting extracted from him. By the way, her little anglerfish is female, for only they have the large set of fangs you're familiar with. This is similar to 2 of my works of art released in October 2016 for 2 reasons. It is similar to RyuWata's OC because it is someone else's idea and not mine, and it is similar to Pussy Girl because it was posted just before Halloween and contains fanservice.
In the description for the artwork of the 3 Salarycats, I mentioned their boss, known as Catcho (a play on "cat" and "shacho", which is the Japanese word for "company president"). This is what he looks like and there's a bit of information about him inside the deviation. As you can see, this literal and figurative fat cat pretty much looks like a feline Donald Trump, complete with his ridiculous hairdo being translated into a blonde mane that is partly like a lion's. The mane essentially symbolizes the character's pride, no pun intended. His orange fur is also based on President Trump's spray tan.
Last one from 2017 and the only Christmas deviation from then. It's a simple Christmas card design, with a European robin perched on a snow shovel. This is one is very special because I originally made this specifically for a Japanese girl I went on a date with back in October. I decided to make her a card rather than buy her one as a way of showing her my artistic talent, and I wanted to hand-deliver it to her before she went back to Japan to spend Christmas with her family. But then, the snow got in the way of my plan and I couldn't go and see her. But, it's not the end of the world, she said she won't mind if I give it to her when she comes back to the UK.
And so that's the end of this recap for us! Sorry there hasn't been as much brand new art as usual, I've just been really busy with my personal life. Who knows what I will present to you in 2018? Well, you can watch me and find out! Peace.
