#dxdraws

[dxmedstudent]

I'm heartbroken to report that we lost one of our cats, Mila, this weekend. She joins her sister Mia who passed on a couple of years ago. They were inseparable for nearly 10 years, and our beloved companions since kittenhood.

She sailed through cancer surgery over the summer, but unfortunately we recently learned that Milly's mammary cancer had returned. We were lucky enough to be able to give her every treatment that might help her.

I'd like to take the time to remind anyone reading to check their pets for lumps; we caught Mila's early but hers was aggressive with a high chance it would return.

She spent her remaining days comfortable, enjoying the things she loved, and well cared for. She passed on at home in one of her favourite spots, surrounded by the family who loved her. Though I'm heartbroken that we can't be with her any more, I cannot imagine a more fitting end for one of the sweetest, gentlest creatures. She could barely meow, and I'll forever miss her tiny little squeaks and silent meows.

Mila is a Slavic name that translates loosely as someone who is Dear, and she was truly cherished for her entire life. She is only one kitty in a world of many souls. But I want the world to kniw that she existed, she mattered to us, and she was dearly loved.

Thank you for letting us be your humans, Mila. May you rest in peace, cuddled up with your sisteronce more.

[dxdraws]

Who’s this? Everyone’s vavourite purveyor of magical goods; Shaun Gilmore! I kind of wish he was in every single episode of Critical Role. I intended to draw him with a lot more embellishments; this version is a little more... simple than I imagined. But once I got to that stage, it simply looked like he didn’t need more shiny things.  I wanted to draw Vox Machina first, but they’ve been proving more challenging to draw.

[dxmedicalstudent]

New art! You know what this means :D It’s around 3 years since I started posting my comic online (but around 6 years since I started writing it). Somehow, almost 6000 of you follow my comic tumblr @dxmedicalstudent, and over 12,000 follow my everything-else medblr @dxmedstudent. For someone who usually shows their art to perhaps a handful of people in real life, and who has been struggling to balance art with doctorhood, that’s pretty awesome. I honestly didn’t expect many people at all to be interested in my very niche lil comics, or my medical rambles, so every time one of you likes something (or replies, or reblogs!) it genuinely makes my day. Creating is tiring, and it genuinely makes a big difference when people interact with your work. So thank you to each of you, whether you’ve been here from the start, or just clicked by the other day. And I hope that if you’re considering making a medical comic, it’ll inspire you to give it a shot. If a lazy person like me can do it, it’s not impossible! If you want to combine medicine and art, give it a shot! Because it’s awesome. I love the header image I used for my comic page on mobile tumblr, but I’ve been feeling like it needed an update. It’s pretty challenging to come up with an idea that says ‘med school’ and combines a shedload of characters, I hope the final product isn’t too cramped or busy!   And, because I’ve lately become a fan of sun-glow haloes and effects, here’s a second version of the same pic. I’m getting rather fond of messing around with them...

[dxmedstudent]

I might do a proper nice UK Miku or even one from my country of birth...maybe.

But today I was feeling like scribbling a Medblr Miku; a version that transcends national borders. Dressed in overlarge scrubs, having her 3rd burnout crisis of the day as she files her paperwork and her computer crashes, again.

Sadly, I can't find any of my decent art materials, so she's rendered in sharpies and half dead markers, but I think that's part of the fun.

[dxmedstudent]

I haven't drawn for a long while, and it's been really nice to start drawing again.

The best thing about being able to draw is that if you want a cute picture of yourself with your friends or your partner, you can just... draw it.

I can be my own blorbo! My love can be my blorbo! My cat can be my blorbo!

Drawing whatever you want feels so self indulgent.

[dxmedstudent]

#toonme

I’ve been trying to get out of my major art rut lately, so I finally decided to try the #toonme challenge. You draw over part of a picture of yourself (usually a selfie) in your style, or as close as you can without looking like one of Picasso’s women. Reflections on drawing myself for the #toonme challenge:

1. my style may be art nouveau inspired, but as you see, my hair really is that messy.

2. What came first, my penchant for winged eyeliner or large anime eyelashes? (answer: definitely the anime)

3. I went through my teens and 20s having awkward gap teeth (as in, multiple people would tell me I looked like a rabbit) and now that gap teeth are 'cool', I don't have much of a gap any more and I don't know how to process that fact.

4.Yes, I naturally sparkle. All the time.

Now, I can’t post my picture here because it’s half got my real face on it. Buuut, I might complete it so that I’m entirely anime, and therefore safe to post online. Thoughts?

[dxmedstudent]

A silly comic about my week to break my long comic and art hiatus. Guess who got called a “Little Doctor” twice in a couple of days by completely different patients. The first patient was in the middle of a breathing exacerbation, so I was impressed she was in the mood to be making any observations, whether it was my diminutive stature or anything else. I guess she’s right; there are a lot of rather tall (usually male) doctors out there, but still, The second patient called me the “little doctor”, no doubt differentiating me from my reasonably tall FY1, quite forgetting that my consultant happens to be about my height, if even that. My consultant took it in good humor, however I’m starting to wonder if this is now my Thing. Guys, can we pretend I’m a serious grown-up doctor, at least to my face? There’s something oddly... weird about being called ‘little’ by patients. It’s oddly infantilising, even though I don’t take it personally being called short in any other context. It’s just when you’re at work, being serious, it’s kind of weird?  I’m even that short; I have much shorter friends. It ony really bothers me when I can’t get a good purchase on the curtains, or when someone puts the ABG needles in a high drawer out of easy reach. Or lots of other times because the wards are designed for tall people. But the point is that doesn’t matter, because even if I was under 5 foot like one of my friends, I’m still the doctor. Besides, only my mum gets to call me  a‘little doctor’.

[dxmedstudent]

6,20,25 for the artist asks :)

Aw yay, artist asks! 6. What’s your least favorite thing to draw?Hmm, probably detailed backgrounds. No, wait, mechanical details, because there’s nowhere to hide when you’re dealing with straight lines. Since working in medicine, I’ve lost a lot of my stamina and patience for art.so I just don’t have the time or energy for details that I used to.  20. What is the easiest thing for you to draw?My characters and those of my friends. Favourite characters that I’ve drawn so many times before that my hand practically moves by itself.  Self-portraits. Flowers.25. Do you like to draw in silence, or with music?I don’t have time to do only one thing at a time! I draw listening to music,  or podcasts, or a film or series that I can listen along to. Right now, I’m answering asks whilst chilling with my family, having a glass of wine, and watching Poldark; trying to take multitasking to a new level XD