I'm far from active when it comes to posting on social media, so I'll likely won't be posting often, if at all (or when I do it may be posted a while after I drawn something) so apologies in advance for the long gaps between posts. (He/Him)
[Dates in blog are organised DD/MM/YY]
[Character Designs as of July 2025] These five are a group of friends who live in a world of different styles and mediums which co-exist as one. They usually get caught up in (or are more often the cause of) multiple shenanigans, usually due to the nature of their world and the people they share it.
I want to begin by first apologising for the amount of time it been since I last shown anything, like with 2024 its been an unexpectedly busy year and I'm not the best at posting or being active. To start afresh, I recently created a new cast drawing for Popty and Co to showcases their current designs as I have been wanting to make one for a while.
Something I realised when making this was that this drawing ending up coinciding with the "unofficial" anniversary of these characters, so because of that fact I wanted to use this post as an opportunity to not only talk more about these characters' history, but also to talk about the future as despite these ideas being around for a long while, I haven't really talked about or shown much about this world.
To prevent post blocking, the rest of this post is underneath "Keep reading"
A Very Brief Popty History Lesson:
Popty, Annie, Cuby and Abby were initially created 3 years ago (on July 17th 2022) during a one-day long school project, where we were tasked to make something which explore differences around the world. For this project, I decided to make a very simple 4-player board game where the aim was to score points by answering trivia questions about 4 different art styles from various places. Due to the game's simplistic nature, I wanted to add a bit more interest to it, which led to me drawing and designing 4 "playable" characters to correspond with each of the art styles. This turned out to be the first drawing of the Popty crew, and along with it arrived the basic ideas of their characters and personalities.
However after I handed the project in, I moved on from the idea resulting in the four being left dormant when it came to projects. This was until January 2023, where after remembering the characters' existence, I realised I could still further develop them which led to me trying to expand on them and their world, albeit in a project much more suited to me.
This resulted in the first major addition, Brickoo, who seems to have came around on the 6th February 2022, while he was initially made as "the unofficial 5th member" of the group and was written as such, he quickly became the actual 5th member and it's oddly bizzare thinking that there was a time he wasn't part of the group, with him also arrived an idea which I'm saving for a potential first animated short. Not only did this led to me further cementing the cast's characterizations, but it also made me figure out what type of work they're best suited for. This was soon followed up by the creation and ideas of other characters and locations which helped to flesh out this new world, which in return brought more ideas for shorts and projects which eventually led to here.
The Future of Popty:
First of all I do want to state that while unfortunately this cannot be promised or guarenteed due to many factors (with a big one being life itself), if I can, I would like to try marking this as the start of me trying to share stuff about Popty in general, even if I cannot do so often, as while I still am reluctant and nervous to do so, knowing that these characters, world and ideas have been around for so long encourages me to start opening up and sharing more of what I've created as it puts into perspective how silent I have been about my current projects.
I'm not entirely sure what the next steps will be as I don't think that I have the time and skills required for a full animated short at the moment, however I do have other ideas for stuff I can make and show regarding these guys, such as showcasing more characters and locations, alongside maybe some standalone artworks (and while this does heavily depend on time and energy, possibly also some comics) although once again please don't hold your breath regarding all of this as these are just hopes at the moment.
Overall while I'm not sure how much I'll share of Popty, let alone how active that will be or if I will even be able post at all (time will tell regarding all of that) but I do hope that if something does get moving, atleast some of you decide to stick around for the ride. I know this been a much longer post than usual, so I do want to say thanks for reading this!
Sorry for not including a development comment or a proper synopsis here. This post is already long enough as is and despite the comment already being written I couldn't think of a way to include the two without causing further clutter.
ADDITIONAL NOTES (Edit):
"Just wanted to quickly state it here for clarification that this post doesn't mean that I will immediately start posting or only be posting stuff about Popty, or that my focus is or will be put fully on it. Infact it's very likely that alot of my posts won't be Popty-related (which does include my next batch of posts) as I do want to share more of my work overall and as of now don't want to be restricted to one thing.
There's also a huge chance that my next batch of posts will likely also be months away or be in the next year as I unfortunately haven't had much time for more polished drawings due to various priorities (personal, educational, etc.) I've been tending to, unfortunately meaning that I haven't been able to work much on stuff or draw overall.
However, when I am able to: I did want to use this post to say that Popty is something I do want to still want to make some posts about it even when when I am primarily working on something else, so while the Popty posts may not (and most of the time, won't) be the main focus, I would still like to post about it occasionally on the side amongst the work I'm focusing on (or want to showcase and share) at that time, even if posts as a whole are not frequent."
[Drawing Finished 15/07/2025 | Posted to Tumblr 17/07/2025]
Not much to say this time honestly, but as it been a long while since I last made a rendered piece which wasn't a gift (over a year infact), and also since its been forever since I last drawn him as well, decided to make a new rendered drawing of one of my characters, Scrapdump. I want to try and get more drawings out this year as my output noticeably slowed down last year, but I'll guess only time will tell LOL
- Development Comment
May not have development comments for further rendered pieces unless I have something interesting to say, but for this drawing I wanted to keep in mind alot of the skills I've learnt through 2024 as the only two rendered pieces I made that year were birthday gifts, which due to the time frame they were drawn in my main priority was making sure it was ready for the day, while with this one I could take the time I need. I decided to use this as an opportunity to expriment an angled drawing. Was originally going to add more to the background, however I decided to keep it simple and keep the focus on Scrapdump as it have been a while.
[Drawing Finished 20/01/2025 | Posted to Tumblr 20/01/2025]
Due to me having alot of fun drawing the characters in the prior post, combined with me being unable to get either Shoe or Boiler on that canvas, I thought despite the lack of plans for the characters at the moment (let alone an actual show, I just added the logo as I didn't make a new one and it seemed fun to draw), that instead of making a new canvas similar to the last, it would instead be more enjoyable if I made a full-fledge drawing of Bass Cat and the contestants.
- Development Comment
Always bizzare revisiting old OCs, these guys were all designed back in 2022, and while I'm not the most keen about revisiting most of my older works, I do still have a soft spot for those projects, and it is fun drawing these guys again as a proper group!
Not really much to say about the development of this one other than I initially begun by sketching out the cast, with the majority of the background choices and decisions being made after I finished drawing the characters full, with the textures used for the background this time being drawn by me instead of using my own texture library like with the last post, been a while since I've done a background like that so apologies if it isn't the most polished LOL
- Extra Note:
I feel that that it is in good faith to note that the composition got inspired and influenced from Sonic Battle's and JetSetRadio's artwork, along with this fanart by "Brandokay" linked below (The original artwork seems to be deleted, but here's a link to where I initially found it: https://youtu.be/L-2ufHb06Mc)
[Drawing Finished 16/11/2024 | Posted to Tumblr 17/11/2024]
Hello, I'm back yet again, some of these guys are from projects I have ideas about, some are from projects which are long dead. Just thought it would be fun to draw some of my characters again from various projects I made and thought of throughout the years, choosing to also draw said projects in the art style I last envisioned them in as well as it seemed fun, that's why each section is in its own style LOL.
Been a while since I just sat down and drawn purely for the fun of it and not as a production piece (as that all I've been doing for the last few months), which ended up demotivating me and tampered with my enjoyment with drawing overall. As a result, not only was it really refreshing to just draw for dumb fun, but also helped me regain some passion for art again! Really recommend doing a similar task if you're also finding yourself burnt out and unmotivated when it comes to drawing!
- Development Comment:
This canvas originally started as one for me to update R's and Pot's design as I haven't drawn the two in a long while, however while drawing, I found myself having fun rethinking these designs and drawing them with my current experience, and decided to redraw some other characters from different projects, drawing each section and characters in the art styles the projects used (or in BCBS case, a style I was planning but never did use for it back in 2022 / 2023). For the backgrounds of each section, the textures were from photos I took myself.
I was originally gonna add more characters along with other projects to this canvas, such as Shoe as he's a BCBS contestant, along with a few characters from other projects such as OFFTOPIC, MPES and Popty, however due to literal technical limitations I could not (ibispaint kept crashing when I tried to make the canvas larger likely due to file or canvas size), so if I ever feel up for it I may continue this in another canvas as this was alot more fun than I initially expected, here's hoping Tumblr didn't compress the image too much as well LOL
(Also apologies for posting this over a week after I finished it, been busy and forgot 💀)
[Drawing Finished 18/09/2024 | Posted to Tumblr 25/09/2024]
These are updated character designs for a series I had in my mind for quite a while now, revolving around Popty and his group of friends getting up to hijinks in a series which can only barely classify as a "slice of life"
SERIES SYNOPSIS: "Popty The Series is a “slice of life” series taking place in a bizarre world where many different styles and mediums live together as one (for the most part). The series mostly revolves around Popty, a pop art donut, and his group of friends, Abby, Annie, Cuby and (usually) Brickoo just living their lives…. Which normally include multiple hijinks and ending up in countless shenanigans due to the nature of the world and the people within, whether it be finding a one-up for the occasionally deceased Brickoo or trying to keep a beloved celebrity out of the Public Domain."
- Development Comment:
Funnily enough I think this is the first finalised drawing I made this year, the majority of them have been sketches or unfinished drawings, and it really does feel like it been forever since the last, fingers crossed these guys won't have another design update soon LOL
This one took a long while to figure out and make, with there being an unfinsihed earlier version of the cast image which I drew earlier this year but it kept getting stuck in W.I.P limbo due to me not really liking how it was turning out. So I decided to restart the drawing in mid June, which meant fully redrawing Popty and Annie, and from there everything started to click together and it eventually lead to this!
First of all, sorry for not posting for months, alot have happened during that time and there were more important things at hand. Here's a technical MPES update, although I am unsure of the show's condition at this moment, this was done back in March using both Microsoft Paint and Adobe Animate and I only now realised I never did share it here:
Test animation finished March 2024 (Around March 25th if I remember correctly)
For more context of what a MPES even is, click here to view my original post about it
Overall I am very content with how this came out, and while I'm not sure if MPES will even be made, and I'll be straight up honest, I don't think it will (atleast for the time being, due to reasons such as personal stuff and me not being sure if I currently can handle a seralised show like this, so if it is, probably will be a long while from now), I thought I should atleast share some of what I did even if it is quite old now, and hopefully if I do make any more MPES related stuff, I'll try my best to share it here, but remember that never will guarentee that this show will exist LOL
- Development Comment:
Following what I said in the original post, my goal for this new iteration of MPES is to try and make it feel like Microsoft Paint as much as I could, and the most authentic way of doing that in my opinion was trying to animate in the actual Microsoft Paint as much as I reasonbly could, with me optint to compile all the drawn character sprites / finished animation in Adobe Animate afterwards.
This begun with me opening up a new canvas in the Microsoft Paint, and using it to draw and store each character sprite, with an onionskin being achieved through recolouring the outlines and using transparent selection. Once a character sprite was done, I use Paint.net to make the sprite transparent, before compiling the animation in Adobe Animate in a similar vain to traditional sprite animation. The Microsoft Paint UI in the animation was made using edited screenshots of MS Paint, and was added while compiling the animation in Adobe Animate.
While tedious and time consuming, this process was quite some fun, and does leave a sprite-sheet looking canvas in Microsoft Paint itself afterwards which is kind of funny to look at!
[Animation finished in March 2024 | Blog posted to Tumblr 03/07/2024]
Decided to bring this idea back! (hopefully... no promises-)
For context, Ms. Paint's Epic Show (MPES) is an object show idea / concept I had a while ago, and despite me being a fan, it was kind of placed dormant by other projects and life, however it's (hopefully) back now, and way more ambitious and high effort than it was before LOL
The show is a light-hearted, comedy focused competition based show, with the animation being done in Microsoft Paint itself outside of a few exceptions (such as Tweeny and Cursory, the former being animated with tweens and the latter being canonically a mouse cursor)
As stated before, the characters are both drawn and animated in MS Paint (with transparency being added with Paint.net) with Adobe Animate mostly being used as the compiling tool for it outside of certain characters and situations (such as ever slight rotations).
While a project which will need a lot of time, effort and attention (and once again no promises that it'll even release LOL), I feel like I should share some progress here as there are some stuff I do want to show what I've been working on for this silly series, been working on a very short test animation and hope to share it here soon LMAO.
SERIES SYNOPSIS: "Long time teacher, Ms. Paint is planning on hosting an object show, and not just any old show, one which apparently people can deem "epic" (oblivious to what others think of the word). Hosting it in Untitled.png in the Paint window, she gathers up 8 contestants, such as a mouse cursor and an alien, to battle for a glorious prize, with chaos shortly following in tow"
[Posted to Tumblr 23/03/2024, don't recall when the cast roll image was finished]
A Character Card / Sheet I made for Annie May, very unsure if there'll be a Cuby one but hey I didn't expect to make it past Popty's LMAO
CHARACTER BIO: "Annie is a human woman drawn in an anime art style (although what specifically the anime art-style she is can vary between shorts). Annie shares many traits with Popty, such as being extroverted, however unlike him, she can be a bit snarky, normally tries and thinks things through, can be quite bold thinking along with being a bit nosey of others when she thinks is justified. Annie is more of a thrill seeker than a “fun seeker”, which at times does lead into situations not even Popty is willing to take straight away, along with this, it's also not difficult for her to become competitive either, which can escalate things even more. Despite this, she cares just as much as Popty for her friends, and normally shows it a bit more as well… even if she can be a bit of a show off and a daredevil at times."
[Finished 07/02/2024 | Posted to Tumblr 22/03/2024]
A Character Card / Sheet I made for Popty Arthur himself, nothing else to really add LOL
CHARACTER BIO: "Popty is a donut drawn in a pop art style. He is (if not almost) always the main lead of each instalment in the series, whether it be a short or comic. He lives in Diveram along with his friends. Popty is an extroverted, impulsive, loud thinking and confident person, who while his actions may not be the best, his heart is almost always in the right place (if not, it’s then typically for fun). Popty is normally someone who seeks fun, occasionally even going after it despite seeming dangerous or isn’t the brightest thing to do to a point. Just like his close friends, he does care very much about them, even if he has a hard time showing it at times, and even when put into a very unwilling situation, will force himself to go through with it if one of his friends is in immense danger."
[Finished 06/12/2023 | Posted to Tumblr 22/03/2024]
A sheet where Popty, Annie, Cuby, Abby and Brickoo were finalised to their current designs! These are designs for a series idea I had for a while now, which revolves around Popty and his group of friends getting up to hijinks in a "slice of life" which really does not feel one LOL.
SERIES SYNOPSIS: "Popty The Series is a “slice of life” series taking place in a bizarre world where many different styles and mediums live together as one (for the most part). The series mostly revolves around Popty, a pop art donut, and his group of friends, Abby, Annie, Cuby and (usually) Brickoo just living their lives…. Which normally include multiple hijinks and ending up in countless shenanigans due to the nature of the world and the people within, whether it be finding a one-up for the occasionally deceased Brickoo or trying to keep a beloved celebrity out of the Public Domain."
[Finished 08/10/2023 | Posted to Tumblr 18/03/2024]
