(She/her, 💖💜💙)
Portfolio for illustration/personal projects, SCA works (primarily 2023 - 2025), other art projects, and any associated documentation (gallery visits, studies, art inspo, etc.)
Banner is my sculptural work "Light Materialisation: Neurology" (2022)
(Here's take 2 of my pinned intro post with more coherent writing as well as details (e.g. tag navigation) that are more reflective of my current blog. I made the old version in early 2023 and, now that I'm becoming more active on Tumblr, I felt it desperately needed an overhaul. Important boundaries and other things are under the cut due to post length.)
LINKS TO OTHER PORTFOLIOS/SOCIALS: https://linktr.ee/minamiproductionz14
BIO:
I go by Minami or Alex - either is cool!
I'm basically a ✨multidisciplinary nerd✨, so you'll get a bit of everything from art (both original projects and fanart) to ramblings/notes on anything I'm interested in.
The fanart I create/post is multi-fandom so fandom/media interests may also vary.
Here are a couple of my primary ones currently (in no specific order): Portal, Doctor Who, Lupin III, Welcome Home, Monkey Wrench and Knights of Guinevere.
Other interests include biology (especially botany, anatomy, zoology and marine biology), art history and artmaking, museums, animation, and a whole heap of others I cannot remember off the top of my head.
BLOG NAVIGATION:
I have divided my posts into a few main tags to make it easier to navigate the posts on my blog, which I will list below (no specific order):
#minami’s art = divided into #personal projects, #sca projects and #other art projects (art WIPS, process documentation and notes will be under #wip)
#minami rambles = any of my writings/text posts
#reblog = self-explanatory
#inspo and #thingstonoteforfutureprojects = for bookmarking ideas/inspo for future art projects
#non art projects = projects that aren't necessarily art-related but still fun (YTPs, edits, sound art, etc.)
#silly nonsense = for all the goofy stuff if you're curious
Note that this list may change slightly as time goes on.
I also have a bunch of content warnings for certain subject matter tagged accordingly so you can block said tags (cw tag masterlist to be linked later as a separate post).
IMPORTANT BOUNDARIES/DNI:
I doubt this needs to be said, but predatory individuals and the like are NOT welcome in my audience.
Racist, queerphobic (biphobic, homophobic, transphobic, aphobic, panphobic, etc.), ableist and other discriminatory language will NOT be tolerated.
Such comments on any of my posts will be deleted and I won’t hesitate to block if needed.
Scammers and spam/bot accounts will be blocked and reported on-sight.
Blogs posting and/or supporting generative AI imagery, videos, speech, etc. will also be blocked.
Please DO NOT use my artwork/characters/stories for anything related to generative AI (c.AI, AI image generation, etc.), especially not without consent.
OTHER BOUNDARIES TO BARE IN MIND:
SFW fanart of my characters and stories/AUs is 100% encouraged and appreciated!
2. While I’m personally not comfortable with the idea of NSFW fanart being made of my characters, most of them (unless stated otherwise) are consenting adults. If you’re desperate to make NSFW stuff, PLEASE:
Ask for my consent/approval first - ignoring this rule will result in getting blocked
Make sure the scenarios are consensual (i.e. no immoral/illegal stuff)
Keep it to yourself (i.e. please don’t send it to me without warning for lord’s sake) OR post it on a private, age-gated (18+) platform where those under the age of 18 AND those uncomfortable with NSFW art cannot see/interact with it
Respect the confirmed sexualities (non-het and/or non-allo) and other identities (e.g. gender) of some of my characters - it’s just human decency
If unsure or have any questions about fanart of my characters in general, please feel free to ask
3. You can absolutely reblog my posts on here to your heart’s content - it’s also greatly appreciated!
4. That said, please do not repost my artwork on other platforms (e.g. Insta) OR in posts on your own blog (i.e. not in reblogs) AND especially NOT without credit (i.e. implying you made it yourself) - if you do both, I’ll assume that you’re an art thief so don’t be surprised if I block and/or report you.
If you are confused or have any questions on this section, please do not hesitate to ask.
Project Hail Mary: lineless drawing studies of Petrova Line and Eridian OC (July 2026)
Guess who caved in and finally made some (very impromptu) PHM stuff?
The first one is a more abstract redraw of the Petrova Line, inspired by the animations and paintings of Oskar Fischinger (who is super-fascinating to read about if you're into animation/art history). ❤️✨🩷🌌
The second one features an Eridian fan OC called Magnolia (with a cameo of @dragon-lunatic's Eridian OC Blackpink). 💜🌸🤍🪨
Now that I paid my PHM tax, I shall scamper back into the combined "Doctor Who-and-Lupin III-pit™️" I'm up to my neck in currently. /j
Timelapse for the Petrova Line scene is under the cut - as well as a tiny infodump on Magnolia (content warning for mild flashing images/colours in the timelapse):
So a bit about Magnolia (mild content warning for mentions of the topic of death):
Her specialisation is in anatomy and physiology, often dealing with life, illness, and death as the Eridian equivalent of both a medic and an undertaker.
Unlike Rocky and most other Eridians (who are explicitly terrified of death), Magnolia separates the concept of death from the emotional aspects out of necessity since her roles do involve witnessing and confronting death (she's partially an undertaker after all).
As such, she often hides her own emotions regarding death out of the belief that it's "a necessary evil" (however, that does NOT mean she desensitised to it in any way NOR does it mean her empathy gets suppressed) - preferring to be vulnerable with these emotions (either grief, fear and/or sorrow) in private.
Magnolia takes great confidence in her knowledge, but she does occasionally need to be humbled by the fact that there is more to learn beyond what's simply on Erid.
She's an ambivert, enjoying both socialising and being alone.
While incredibly appreciative of Grace helping out with sorting out the Astrophage problem in Erid, Magnolia was a bit wary of him at first.
The first reason for her initial wariness is because she had a theory that, if Eridians are considered the apex predators of Erid, there is a not-impossible chance a "much-bigger predator" exists on another planet that could eat Eridians - long story short, upon meeting Grace, she mistook him for the "much-bigger predator" in question (cue Rocky trying to explain to a very-frantic Magnolia that Grace is not capable of eating Eridians 🤣).
The second reason is because the mere sight of Grace's human anatomy completely upended her entire understanding of anatomy that day.
Grace gave her the name "Magnolia" because he noticed her forelimbs resembled the petals of magnolia flowers, which I like to think reminded him of the ones that grew on the campus of the middle school he taught in.
Magnolia eventually gains a fascination for botany - especially botanical medicine - after stumbling upon the human knowledge aboard the Hail Mary.
Since then, she's become attached to both the name and the human who gave it to her.
None of the Eridians know how she managed to have a relatively smooth/"polished" exoskeleton (sans the ridges on her thorax).
GUESS WHO FINISHED ALL EXAMS FOR THIS PERIOD🗣️🗣️ Art fight bout to get real now.
but also. GUESS WHO FINALLY DID IT!!
ERIDIAN OC🗣️🗣️🗣️
I made it last night while brainstorming about. something that isn't plants. I was sick of plants. /lh
Inspired by my own memory issues, I realised I still haven't referenced this in any of my ocs... and who better to do it with than a creature who isn't capable of forgetting
Blackpink is the result of this idea🙂↕️ in the past (likely before the astrophage issue), they had an accident that resulted in significant damage to their carapace (which left that enormous scar), but more importantly, damage to their brain. They were lucky enough to get mild damage to the brain, but this didn't go without causing any issues.
Blackpink's gained faulty memory thanks to this damage. It's forgotten some parts of its past and find it more challenging to remember new things, creating issues with learning new things. Compared to humans, Blackpink can still remember an insane amount of data with ease and hold onto it for what feels like forever, but they're more prone to forgetting things and needing reminders.
Thankfully, it's found a way to cope with its new condition. Being a neuroscientist, Blackpink approached their problem with curiosity rather than frustration (of course, there's some of that as well...) and used this as a learning opportunity. It's treating their issue as a subject to research and has learned plenty about the very things it's already specialized for.
While they (more or less) successfully maintained their status at work and remained a competent researcher, Blackpink's memory issues have caused problems outside of work too. Having many friends, it was inevitable that their memory issues would make them forget some of them. Blackpink feels awful for not recognizing those who were supposedly close to them. They try their best, however - but not everyone was understanding enough to give them another chance.
Blackpink is a friendly and outgoing Eridian, and loves the unknown. Was among the first to meet Grace. It was thrilled to learn about human's unreliable memory and began working on a new research with a focus on the human nervous system (and the general development of the nervous system on Earth).
Alright that's enough poking my brains with a stick, time to put it to rest. i'm gonna go melt now✌️ thanks for reading this far if you did and as always. cookie for you my dear reader🍪 and now I shall. die/j adios🫡
This show is an accurate portrayal of how artists are hopeless dumbasses and we need a producer type to bring us back to earth to get anything meaningful done and I’m here for it
A while ago, I pondered what it would be like if Susumu Hirasawa did his own take on the Doctor Who theme (even if the chances of it happening were slim to none).
Months later, I now present a similar vision for the Lupin III fandom: Lupin III and Caravan Palace.
Whether it's a standalone music video, an album/music video series, or a song for a series/movie is up to you.
I've always wanted to make a Monkey Wrench fan OC for a good while now, but it was only late last month that I finally started to put my vision to paper. 🌼🌿
I enjoyed designing Wattaleia's model sheet and expression sheet, and I hope you enjoy the lovely, curious little wattle-sunbird alien too! :D
Now for a couple of fun facts about designing her:
Among other things, Wattaleia's design was inspired by wattles, sunbirds, hummingbirds and Vibri (from the game Vib-Ribbon).
Originally I envisioned her to be a lot different - which included having a humanoid face (and just a humanoid design in general), two longer "ponytails", and thicker leaf-like/stem-like limbs. However, I wasn't happy with how it looked in my initial (now-scrapped/abandoned) attempts so I opted for a simpler design.
As an extra treat to make up for my absence in the creative department lately, timelapse for the model sheet is under the cut (content warning for mild flashing images/colours):
gotta be a term that isn't the dunning Krueger effect but is a kind of similar idea where the more deep scientists get into their topic and the more exhausted they get, the more likely they are to find stupid ways to describe things
I finally watched Project Hail Mary (yes, I am once again late to the party).
I revisited the song "Learning to Communicate" for the first time since May, and have being playing it on loop for the past 20-30 minutes.
@aether-mae / @angels-changeling and @dragon-lunatic, you both win this time in the hypothetical game of recommending movies that I end up getting attached to!
Jokes aside, I enjoyed this movie - very cool and had such a sweet message! 🪐✨🪨🌈
When I'm at my stand-up desk (or just standing in general), I sometimes bend my leg up like a flamingo. 🦩
I believe seeing this funky flamingo while watching the Pixar short film Knick Knack (1989) when I was little may explain why I do that.
