#2024 diary

[mysticum-draconis]

Crowley

Good Omens, S2E2: The Clue

"You're not driving my Bentley!"

Miniature portrait of Crowley from Good Omens I drew in the note space of January 28th in my 2024 diary, which is the date I watched this episode for the first time.

Despite having watched it so long ago, I drew the portrait throughout March, and the episode title in June this year, because of burnout and disorganisation. I don't like to draw the things I've watched so long after, but I couldn't not draw something either, especially as I was so fixated on Good Omens early last year. I felt like I needed to represent that with some drawings.

The sketch was surprisingly difficult to nail, especially his nose. The colouring wasn't too bad, although I did struggle on it a bit. It took me a while to decide on the font and colour for the episode title, but in the end I went with yellow because there's a lot of yellow imagery in The Clue, and it felt right to put yellow next to Crowley. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how he came out.

I am aware of the controversy surrounding Good Omens after the disgusting allegations against the creator. However, I decided in the end to go ahead and draw this character anyway, because I had planned to long before the allegations came out (and would have, had I been more organised), and because it doesn't financially benefit the creator by posting non-profit fanart. No harm is meant by posting this art.

Lyra colouring pencils and Faber-Castell Pitt white pen on 80gsm paper.

Process photos and reference below cut.

Please don’t use or repost here or on other websites without credit or permission, thanks 🙏

Apologies for the appalling quality of some of these, I had no photo space on my phone for a while, so I had to take the photos via Instagram stories, then screenshot those photos later.

[theemeraldforesthideout]

Saturday 20th April 2024 [Day 3 of Trip #1] [PR - 75%] Church Door Cove [row 1] King's Quoit, Manorbier [row 2] Bosherston [row 3]

I have a physical page-a-day diary and at the start of the year I decided to give each day a 'positivity rating' - a percentage based on my mood and how much I enjoyed the day. This one I rated 75%. It's no coincidence that the days at the centre of each trip are the highest rated. They're the absolute zenith of feeling secure, of fully being myself and of my creativity too. Sadly, my camera was already showing signs of dying at this point, and soon after returning from this trip, the pressure of the move would ramp up considerably.

Bosherston was a campsite we first discovered in 2022. In those short intervening years, the ultra cheap buffet the farmer laid on in the barn, had become no more. Even so, it was still a cheap stay and it felt like a mini home-coming.

I wanted to write a story about the owner of that bedroom in the final image. I imagined a folktale where sirens called out to a small kid that lived there. I didn't really have a plot as such, but I had lots of imagery in my head: sparkling shades of blue and turquoise. Shimmering seaweed, glistening waves, the silhouettes of faeries dancing around the nearby quoit, all to the backdrop of soft, dappled moonlight. On my last day, as I was leaving Bosherston village, I saw a girl pull up at the house (she had a yellow car) and go inside. Obviously she was older than the kid I imagined in the story. Maybe it was her room? Perhaps my original story was still about her, but set about 10 or so years in the past? Maybe no one has lived there for years and the girl with the yellow car was conducting a paranormal investigation of sorts - looking for evidence of the supernatural. Maybe the residents of the village talk about how the light mysteriously comes on by itself, even though the house isn't connected to the main power any more. Or perhaps it's candle lit? Maybe the girl who lives there is super witchy, with all her candles and incense burning away. She sounds cool. The story could take so many routes. The Priestess of Bosherston ...either way, stood there at the edge of the campsite, looking at the glow of that bedroom light, I felt calm, cosy, and at one with the falling night.

[missamerican-pie]

[plangentia]

january in photos

[mysticum-draconis]

Aziraphale

Good Omens, S2E3: I Know Where I'm Going

Miniature portrait of Aziraphale from Good Omens I drew in the note space of February 3rd in my 2024 diary, which is when I watched this episode for the first time.

Despite having watched it so long ago, I only drew the portrait throughout April, May and June this year and the episode title this month because of burnout, art-block and sheer lack of motivation :)

The sketch went smoother than I expected (it was a difficult angle, so I thought it would be much harder than it actually was), but when it came to the colouring, I seemed to have forgotten everything I had previously taught myself about colour! Which is why it took so ridiculously long to complete. I chose blue for the title colour because of all the blue imagery in this episode, and because I associate blue with Aziraphale. Overall, I am pretty happy with how he came out, despite how long and arduous the process was. I think he ended up looking better than my Crowley portrait.

I originally intended to draw so much more for Good Omens last year, about two or three portraits each for Aziraphale and Crowley (Angel Crowley, Detective Aziraphale and both characters in the end scene were the ones I had in mind), but because of my burnout this year, I had to settle for drawing them both just once.

I am aware of the controversy surrounding Good Omens after the disgusting allegations against the creator. However, I decided in the end to go ahead and draw this character anyway, because I had planned to long before the allegations came out (and would have, had I been more organised), and because it doesn't financially benefit the creator by posting non-profit fanart. No harm is meant by posting this art.

Lyra colouring pencils and Faber-Castell Pitt white pen on 80gsm paper.

Process photos and reference below cut.

Please don’t use or repost here or on other websites without credit or permission, thanks 🙏

[mysticum-draconis]

𝕶𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕲𝖍𝖔𝖘𝖙 𝕿𝖗𝖆𝖎𝖓

𝓙𝓐𝓒𝓚 𝓐𝓝𝓓 𝓣𝓗𝓔 𝓒𝓤𝓒𝓚𝓞𝓞-𝓒𝓛𝓞𝓒𝓚 𝓗𝓔𝓐𝓡𝓣

Drawing of Jack from the ghost train scene in Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart I drew in the note space of March 30th in my 2024 diary, which is when I watched it for the second time. The day I watched it for the first time was only a few days before, but that day was rather hellish, so I decided to draw it for the first re-watch instead (more context below cut).

I thought I'd whip through this portrait quickly, considering it's a cartoon character, however, because I've trained myself in realism for so long, I found the outline surprisingly difficult. The colouring went reasonably well, but still took longer than intended. The title was based off of the movie poster and went surprisingly smoothly. I didn't need to rearrange any of it at all, or adjust bits too much. Overall quite happy with the result.

Drawn with Lyra colouring pencils and HB and B mechanical and graphite pencils.

Process photos, reference and more caption below cut.

Please don’t use or post on other websites without credit or permission, thanks 🙏

The only reason I know about this film's existence, is because my boss' kids whom I happened to be babysitting at the time, decided to put it on. I had absolutely zero expectation for it (being eight and five, they didn't exactly have good taste in cinema), but perhaps that's why I enjoyed it so much. This film is the one good thing that came out of that day (the kids were hell-bent on making my life as difficult as possible :D).

It's one I hesitate to recommend, because I think it's an acquired taste. While it's an absolute fever-dream of a movie with an absolute fever-dream of a soundtrack, I can't help but love it. It spoke to the artist and writer in me, and inspired me greatly. It's one of those films I generally watched a few times in a row each time I give it a re-watch, so I've seen it a lot since March ‘24. I'd really love to now see it in its original French, but unfortunately I can't seem to find it anywhere outside of ordering it from France. I’m almost finished reading the book though; both the French and English versions. I’ll be posting a full movie review on Letterboxd soon, so look out for that if you’re interested (link in my bio).

[mysticum-draconis]

Montgomery Scott

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Miniature portrait of Scotty I drew in the note space of January 14th in my 2024 diary, which is the day I watched this movie for the first time. It's taken me this long to actually get him drawn!

When I started illustrating my diaries later than originally intended, I decided that I wasn't going to draw anything a year or more later after watching whichever media I wanted to draw something from. That was when I thought I'd never leave it that long, but here we are! I don't know why it took me so long to draw this one, even after I started it. I didn't encounter many difficulties in drawing his outline or shading him in. I don't think I ever truly got my art-block from October, sadly.

This is the first miniature portrait I've drawn in my 2024 diary! My goal is to have finished illustrating 2024 before the end of this year...

This is probably my second favourite Star Trek movie of all time, it's just wonderful! I decided to draw Scotty because he's wonderful in the scenes he's in, and after drawing Kirk, Spock and McCoy for the first three movies, it just felt right to follow up with Scotty. I wish I could've finished this in time for James Doohan's birthday! I drew the title based off of one of the original movie posters.

Drawn with Lyra colouring pencils and B and HB graphite and mechanical pencils.

Process photos and reference below cut.

Previous Star Trek movie art:

Star Trek: TMP | Star Trek II | Star Trek III

Please don’t use or repost here or on other websites without credit or permission, thanks 🙏

[lilybombi]

Oh man oh man we messed up Mon man oh man.

Oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man.

Mannnnn.