crumbdinger

camera: nikon coolpix s630 (2009) pixel art is original writing for practice & for fun

[crumbdinger]

liminal outdoor irl nikon coolpix s630 (2009)

[crumbdinger]

Redecorating for Dark Mode, my 1&only

pixel ed is based on a digital painting I did a couple Halloweens ago on Timid Switch —check out all the props I mocked up for the original below…

what’s your fave?

cauldron bucket

flashlight

snappy lil horns n tail

candy corn glow

Voting ended onNov 20, 2025

[crumbdinger]

sunken courtyard with japanese maple nikon coolpix s630 (2009)

teal vs. orange

teal

orange

Voting ended onNov 17, 2025

[crumbdinger]

the Odd Couples

These unlikely comedy duos are set up to explore the nature of life itself! But can they actually make working together...work? together?

The Graveyard Shift

by Yoshimi Sato pairs up the vengeful spirit of an ancient warrior with a born-hot-yesterday android night patrolman who happens to be a celebrated warrior, herself. Hungry for the souls women but unsure of whether this bot qualifies as his meal, he convinces both of them that she has a soul before attempting to attack her once more. Defeated, his last chance is to possess her as though she were a doll. Immediately detected and quarantined by her anti-virus software, he is trapped once more. But this physical evidence of a soul could be the very proof she needs to win rights for her kind.

To Dusk and Twilight

by Robico combines two popular (almost always romance) genres in this quiet-yet-slapstick, gorgeously paneled, dark fantasy. Out of respect for her late "mother," our vampire "girl" hero lost her taste for biting humans–but not her hunger. Reasoning that she could stand to drink from someone who'd wanted to die anyway, she kidnaps a man contemplating suicide. After some expositional banter (and a home invasion), she finds out that he's much more familiar with death than she thought. Could this be the start of a beautiful new mutually-beneficial co-dependency?

[crumbdinger]

view from halfway up the hill nikon coolpix s630 (2009)

[crumbdinger]

exploring identities

I've split my favorite one-shots from Young Magazine into loosely defined categories and first up to bat is…

BOYS RUN THE RIOT -IN TRANSITION-

by Keito Gaku is the time-jumped, aged-up sequel to his breakout, award-winning hit series Boys Run the Riot. Still pursuing fashion, Ryo is out of high school now and is beginning to realize how exhausting it is "having to ask permission to exist" all the time. Can't everyone else look beyond what's on paper and see the young man standing in front of them? Inspired by the euphoria of a simple greeting (and his friends, of course), Ryo makes the decision to medically transition, even if it means leaving his relationship with his mother behind.

Still You

by Kami Nishio is a slice-of-life coming-of-(g)a(y)ge(?) with a very sweet drawing style: balancing thick lines with lots of negative space--hardly any action lines or shojo-style, screentone-ridden inner monologues (no hate, I love that stuff). The panel layouts are likewise very open and bright in a way that reflects our protagonist's own character. After being confronted by his (now ex) girlfriend Momo, Reo decides he may as well confess to the childhood friend he's been crushing on ever since Rui convinced Reo to kiss him "for practice" in his bedroom 3 years ago. Reo wants to pick up where they left off but Rui still needs time to think.

[crumbdinger]

16 (+3) one-shots in 2 days challenge!

Young Magazine is (afaik) the first manga periodical to cater specifically to the North American market. Don't be fooled by the "Young" title, this is a seinen magazine, meant for ages 16+. If you've ever wanted to be part of the reader polls mentioned in your favorite manga's extra pages or margin notes, hurry to read while you can still vote!

A digital version of the 1,000-page newsprint tome can be downloaded here for free.

If you prefer to view the chapters individually, you can access those (and vote) here.

Voting ends November 10th and the top 5 stories will be serialized. You can find the voting FAQ here, including instructions on how to vote via twitter, if you'd prefer to do that.

Curious about what the manga-ka and their editors came up with for the North American market? I'll be discussing some of my favorites in the next few posts here.

[crumbdinger]

Don't mind if I doooOOOoOooohhh!

at the vegan goth cafe indulging in some BL with my +1

[crumbdinger]

07.inktober

starfish

Tsukushi Makino from Hana Yori Dango / Boys Over Flowers by Yoko Kamio

ink study on index card

I was hoping to decode this dress. Borrowed from Tsukasa's sister, it is completely filled in with what must be a nautical screentone, covered in shells, rope, and nets. As such, it obscures the lines of the dress.

Without looking at other reference images, I tried to make sense of the dress lines. Here is what I know:

There is a diamond shaped cutout on the upper back, the bottom point terminating in a zipper which runs down the rest of the bodice at least. There is at least one skirt overlay and at least one overskirt.

I am not sure if the pull lines on the skirt are a result of intentional gathering because they may just be created by the forceful determination with which Makino does everything, including turning around.

[crumbdinger]

06.inktober

pierce

Shin-ah, [Piercing Eyes] Blue Dragon from Yona of the Dawn by Mizuho Kusanagi

ink study on index card

Jaeha, the Green Dragon, experiences the piercing gazes of both Shin-ah, the White Dragon, and Ao.

Yona of the Dawn is one of the many excellent shojo series whose anime never got renewed so I recommend you read it! I plan to draw a couple other panels from the series so I'll save the story for then.

Shin-ah is probably filled in with screentone in the original. I can't jump into that quite yet so I used a liquid [latex] mask with my nib and filled in the silhouette with black ink ("I got some!") before rubbing the mask away with a rubber cement eraser (clean or gloved fingies work too).

Maybe one day I'll add the sound effects. Or I could be done. Probably that one.

[crumbdinger]

post-migraine-inktober-roundup

week 1!

ink on index cards

top three inked in a Deep Blue calligraphy ink

lower three inked with a combination of fine liners, fude/sign pens, and brush marker

Thought I'd use this post to discuss the drawing process I've been using

Blocking

light blue erasable mechanical pencil leads

use simple shapes and lines to plan where subjects are in space

Sketching

red erasable mechanical pencil leads

refine line work

mark out important areas of shade or light

Final Pencil

0.3mm mechanical pencil

finalize important line work, erasing under-drawing to reduce ambiguity

Inking

before inking, TEST ALL materials you intend to use together, including your eraser, to ensure that they will not disturb the ink

lay down any prominent, thick, or foundational lines

draw finer lines and refine line weight where necessary

use a light hand to draw hatching and/or action lines

Finishing

erase all pencil lines

do any lettering at this stage, following the same process

use any additional colors/materials now

[crumbdinger]

05.inktober

deer

Saichi "The Immortal" Sugimoto from Golden Kamuy by Satorou Noda

ink study on index card

Sugimoto's deer-flavored identity crisis.

I went slightly overboard with the action lines! But it seems to work, stylistically. I noticed there is some white hatching on Sugimoto's rifle, so I may try to find a bottle of white deleter ink soon.

Noda's panels are so detailed and the lines have a somewhat loose, rough quality--I tried to honor this by being a bit more fast and loose with my linework. I lost some accuracy (& got a bit carried away) in the process but I am still really satisfied with my first action lines!!!

[crumbdinger]

04.inktober

murky

Hikaru Indo from The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumokuren

ink & alcohol marker study on index card

The Summer Hikaru Died is an ongoing manga and anime series that is a captivating horror story following two boys from the countryside as they discover both themselves, and their generational involvement with the "thing" that's always haunted the mountains above their village...Because it may not be on the mountain anymore...

And the "Hikaru" seeing Yoshiki through these eyes is not the same Hikaru who was lost in the forest last winter--but this one seems to return Yoshiki's affections...why? and just how dangerous is he?

I love how the lighting puts one of Hikaru's eyes completely in shadow, echoed by Yoshiki's signature don't-look-at-me-bangs in the following panel. The diagonal composition of the panel also lends to the tenuous (calculated?) sense of balance in the moment.

I did this one with fine liners and used a 30% cool grey alcohol marker in lieu of screentone. The intersecting hatched patches were fun and forgiving, even if I was a bit heavy handed.

[crumbdinger]

03.inktober

crown

Rokujushi Miyo from Jujutsu Kaisen by Gege Akutami

ink study on index card

Since this is the upcoming arc in the anime of Jujutsu Kaisen, I won't say very much about the situation or character--all you need to know is: his design is based on a Kappa and the resulting hairstyle is reminiscent enough of a crown for our purposes.

I used a crowquill nib on this one for those fine, fine lines and because I read that it is widely used in shonen manga specifically.

I really enjoyed working in Gege's sketchy, quick-hatched style; Dimension is implied by the slightest of curves despite the overall style being extremely angular and heavy-handed (non-derogatory).

Gege's art is striking, exciting, and emotional. I look forward to doing another panel study soon from an earlier arc!

[crumbdinger]

02.inktober

weave

Lt. Tsurumi from Golden Kamuy by Satoru Noda

ink study on index card

Golden Kamuy is not for the faint of heart. Taking place between the Russo-Japanese War and WWI, we follow two groups of disaffected men as they vie for gruesome clues to finding a legendary cache of Ainu gold--enough wealth to achieve their respective political goals.

Our heroes are Saichi "the immortal" Sugimoto, a legend himself, and Asirpa, a young Ainu girl who uses traditional hunting and trapping techniques to help the group survive their travels and evade the two rival crews. She might be the key to unlocking the location of the Ainu gold--but what does her late father have to do with it??

Golden Kamuy balances the horrors of humanity with educational content, goofs, gaffs, and the complex (romantic?) relationships between the charismatic manipulator Tsurumi and his company.

Lieutenant Tsurumi, formerly an intelligence officer, strategically weaves himself into the lives of his men. To represent this, I have chosen a panel from his chance(?) rescue(?) of an adolescent Otonashin Koito, the last surviving son of a Naval Admiral. Otonashin, prepared to die at the hands of his kidnappers(?), is absolutely dazzled by his rescuer(?) and joins the Imperial Army to be closer to him.

This series is one I cannot recommend enough, especially for military history nerds. Likewise, we are welcomed into villages of the many disappearing ethnic minorities of Japan and Russia--how does all this unrest and conflict effect them? Will their cultures be able to survive this new era?

[crumbdinger]

01.inktober

mustache

Chobi "Mustache" Chobihige from Natsume's Book of Friends by Yuki Midorikawa

ink study on index card

I decided to combine my drawing drills and adoration of manga for my first year participating in inktober.

Blocking out drawings has always been a weak point of mine and I've been wanting to challenge my stylistic tendencies--the perfect time for me to learn from the masters through the art of imitation! Each index card features one panel from a manga series, inked in the style of the manga-ka (or as close as I can get to it while working at scale), and probably some thoughts on the drawing style, series, character, and/or some such thing. So here's that bit This is Chobi's magical girl transformation and you can't change my mind. Within every "girl" there is a sparkly dragon with RBF waiting to gracefully molt by thrashing around in the sky. Chobi's humanoid form is both awkward and elegant, much like that dragon.

Natsume's Book of Friends started off intending to be a "monster of the week" type story (which helped prevent third-arc-drag) but has since developed a comforting cast of recurring characters. The story follows Natsume, a high-school aged orphan who can see and interact physically with yokai, as he navigates a world that fears and ostracizes him. We are with Natsume as he navigates experiencing familial acceptance and friendship for the first time. Will the yokai he can't ignore help him in his mission to get to know his late Grandmother, a fellow family outcast, famed and feared among yokai? Probably only through the power of friendship, amirite guys!??!? This series is a great casual read with the perfect amount of silliness and occasional horror aesthetics. Natsume's relationships continue to deepen and change in both delightful and uncomfortable ways.

but the anime colors don't match my head-cannon palette so idk