Brian12

Hi there, been a while since the last journal...tbh I haven't felt like updating because honestly who reads these? Judging from the few comments I get on em. Also I tend to go on and on but meh, I felt like doin a new journal with this early spring season.

First things first, I'm doin relatively fine. Right hand still has that CTS pain, but I'll manage, and continue working. Holidays were alright for me too, got a bunch of stuff. I've actually gotten more into collecting Transformers, to an extent. The new Power of the Primes line is really pullin me in with all the beast-formers that can COMBINE. Huntin down the sets I want has proven to be quite a fun experience.

On the other hand, I've gotten some games too. I got Pokemon Ultra Sun around Black Friday weekend, but honestly still stuck on the 2nd island because much of the earlier story events are the same as the ones from Sun & Moon and it's a huge slog. I wanna complete it someday, but it's just really sad that the final main 3DS Pokemon games are like this for me. If only I could skip that lame-ass Battle Royal section..(Kukui being the Masked Royal was cute the 1st time, 2nd time was meh, 3rd is just lame..) So yeah that's on the indefinite backburner. Through the Holidays I got Nier: Automata, the android ass game. It's pretty good, combat is great and the android ass is definitely fat. But some parts are quite obtuse, with no fast travel and being forced to run across vast levels or try and ride on a moose or boar while doing various side quests spread through out because I'm a horrible Completionist, I got a bit burned out by it. But I wanna revisit it again sometime.

Now for my REAL current obsession (in videogames); Monster Hunter: World. I got it like 2 months ago now and I've put in nearly 200 hours already. MHWorld is an amazing game. Though I do have some issues with it, I still love it to the point of dedicating that much time into it. I'm very much in the post-game now, but depending on how much I wanna grind to get weapons/armor, I could keep playin for much longer. Not to mention free content updates..I may be playin it for a long while.

Enough about games, I've finally hit over 200,000 pageviews here. Geez that's a lot, but I have been here for over 10 years..still, I think I should thank my longtime watchers or newer ones who regularly check my page, even if I don't post here as much as I used to. I still very much appreciate the support. I'm not sure if I'll do something for the occasion, but if I do you'll see it. I still need a decent idea to even begin..

Moving along we're actually a month into spring now, so I guess I should be preparing..for con season. I'll be goin to Anime North again this year, as I have for the past 5 years. However to cut costs, I'll only go for 1 day instead of all 3. Also because I get horribly lonely on the Saturday lol..but yeah I'll probably be goin on the Friday, still gotta get my ticket..

Aside from Anime North, I also wanna go to 2 other cons, around July. First of which is TFCon2018. It's said to be in Toronto, but it's actually much closer to me in Mississauga. I've seen some vids on it and with my current collecting obsession with Transformers growing, I think I wanna check it out! See what kinda Transformers I could get and never get because goddamn some of em get stupid expensive lol. Also probably get a chance to see David Kaye; the voice actor for Beast Wars Megatron? That'd be cool. So yeah that's Mid-July.

Aaand the last con I plan to go to; Conbravo. I went last year, wasnt a short drive at all as it's in Hamilton, but it was only for 1 day. I don't remember if I journal'd my first time going, but it was a lot of fun. I met the 3 members of Super Best Friends Play, Brennan Williams, and Starexorcist. Conbravo may be the only place I'd see em all again, so I wanna try and go for it again this year. This would be the last weekend of July.

To put it shortly, I plan to go Anime North, TFCon2018, and Conbravo this year. Only for 1 day each tho, but still. It's not gonna be cheap..so I'm gonna try workin extra hard on commissions to finance all this.

So I guess this leads into my last tidbit for this journal, I opened up a Ko-fi page as you may or may not know. It's an online tip jar of sorts where you throw in a payment or more of a few dollars (Ko-fis) to support creators. Honestly, I don't think I'm all that amazing yet to just receive free donations, so I decided to spice it up with optional sketch requests for those who donate and want em. I opened it late last week and I've already got a lot of em! And have sketched a lot as a result, but it's actually lotsa fun doin it this way. It's like low-key commissions.

However I did get a pure donation or two as well, and that really warms my heart. To think I'd ever be worthy of it..thank you.

I'd appreciate all the support I could get. Of course, commissions are also still open. So if you wanna support me with that the option is still there.

So yeah I'll try and work hard to finance goin to all those cons, of course you don't really have to donate anything to the Ko-fi, I'm sure there are other artists who really need it more than I do. But the option is there if you like my work and wanna get a sketch from yours truly.

Anyway that's all for this journal. I'll try to draw and post more here, because I still appreciate my presence on this site. On top of all this, I'm tryna do more OC stuff, for myself and the long-time watchers. Who still care about em anyway, (hope you enjoyed the newest Konnie pic btw) so look forward to that I suppose.

Til' next time, sayonara pals.

Summer's nearly over, and quite a bit of stuff has happened for me since my last journal entry about Anime North.

Where to start, well in terms of health I'm still dealing with TMD on the left side of my face, but I've more or less gotten used to it so eh I'll live. Unfortunately I seem to have developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome as well, over 2 weeks ago. A combination of bowling right before that weekend, daily gaming and computer use, and ultimately a stream one night where I pushed it too much and it started to feel a bit prickly/numb in my fingers. I had the brilliant idea of continuing to work, thinking it'd be no big deal, but it ended up getting much worse, and even hurting. I ended up sleeping late..and the next day (3 hours later really) I was rudely awakened to do some horribly heavy lifting errands and yeahh I think I got CTS now.

And it really kinda sucks because my right hand feels a bit more numb than my left, and weaker in general. Though I can still operate with it and it doesn't hurt much through the day. As for just laying down/waking up in the morning..it lowkey feels very restless and somewhat sore. I hope to get this checked out a local clinic soon, because I want it to get better/not end up permanently damaging my hand.

As for other things...things were all right. I played a bunch of games. And by a bunch I mean mostly Overwatch because goddamnit that summer event sucked me in..but I really did play/get some other games. Namely Transformers Devastation from a PSN sale, which was a short yet awesome game. I also did get some other old games like Fallout New Vegas and Saints Row 3 for the PS3 since an indie game store had a good sale at the time. Of course these just add more to my never-ending plate of games to beat, oh boy. If only I didn't play so much Overwatch..

I did get the Limited Steelbook edition of Yakuza Kiwami last week, and I already beat it. The main story that is, still tons of side stuff to do..but its a great game. Nice to finally experience the events of the 1st game in a modern way, though I still think Zero is the best Yakuza game, you can't go wrong with this one, especially since it's bein sold at half the price of a typical console release.

Oh I really should mention I also attended Conbravo this summer. Only for 1 day, with the main objectives of meeting the guys of SBFP again, as well as Starexorcist, who had her own table and was selling her own work. Brennan Williams aka GREATBLACKOTAKU was also a guest there. I was lucky enough to meet em all, even getting a bunch of their autographs on a bunch of stuff I brought, and it was a very fun day. Though my feet did end up killin me near the end, but that's what happens with most cons. I didn't get too much stuff there, aside from numerous prints and some other lil things. I'd definitely love to go again next year, if they got most of the same guests again.

Anyway I'm just tryna do what I can now, I can still work (tho I probably shouldn't) and have completed some comms the past few days at a faster rate than normal in spite of my CTS. I really hope I can get it fixed up soon and not have it become a lowkey lifelong disability..

I have done a bunch of sketches over the summer, I suppose I could compile into a summer 2017 sketch dump at some point..

Oh shit, I just noticed I'm fast approaching 200k pageviews here, I'd like to do something big but I'm not sure if I could..but I'll try.

If you're going back to school, then I wish you well in your studies.

til' next time, sayonara pals.

I attended Anime North 2017 for the whole weekend a few days ago, and it was a great time for the most part.

This would make it my 4th year going and like last year, I didn't tag along with anyone and was mainly by myself. I was a bit more used to it this time though, and I did get to meet with some old friends from school and such. I also did finally get to meet up with a fellow TBFP fan and member of a TBFP Facebook fan group in person and we hung out for like an hour during the first day and that was fun.

Also was there as an artist selling her work with her friend in the comic market. She's actually a classmate of mine from the 8th grade, and it's really been like several years since I last saw her in person, so it was nice to catch up. Especially seeing her as a fellow artist talented and lucky enough to win the lottery to sell her stuff at the convention. Also she's an animation student now which is really cool. Ahh I remember wanting to be an animating student...but I digress.

This year to satiate my materialist needs I actually had the most money I probably ever had at this con. And I used it to buy less, but much higher quality figures. Two of whom are Masterpiece Optimus Primal and Masterpiece Grimlock. Those 2 easily took the biggest chunk outta my budget but man I love em, tho Primal may be a lil bit overpriced. Unlike the usual figures I get, they're transformers with satisfying transformations, and are given amazingly detailed show accurate sculpts with lots of accessories, so they're tons of fun to play around with and display.

Of course, I did get some other, cheaper figures, as well as several prints, some pins, and for the first time ever, TWO plushies. I'll go over all of em in detail when I submit a pic of my con haul or something.

Oh, can't forget that I actually bought 2 games. A used cart of Pokemon FireRed, the sticker is very worn but there was already a save game in it that was well into the post-game so I think it'll work fine, been wanting to re-experience Gen1 especially since I lost my LeafGreen in elementary school. Also got a new copy of Valkyrie Drive for the Vita. From the same guys behind Senran Kagura, I was somewhat weary of this at first because I thought "why not make another SK game" but Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus was the only game I ever had physically for the Vita, and I kinda wanted to change that. I saw some clips/reviews for VD and man it actually looks really good, the boobs in particular seem to be modeled even BETTER than those in the SK games, and from what I've played of the tutorial, this game gets way in there with it's mechanics..

All in all, I was very very satisfied with my haul for this year.

Other stuff of note is as usual, I took lots of cosplay pics. Tho not as much as previous years, also I used both my smartphone and digital camera interchangeably so the quality isn't consistent. In order to pass some time during the saturday, which is the longest day, I sat in on a showing of Maidragon at the International Plaza. However, it was the English dub, but it wasn't bad actually. Lucoa in particular has a low-key valley girl voice which is actually kind of sexy, but very different from her original ara-ara tone.

I also had the chance to meet Tomoyo Kurosawa and get her autograph, she is a japanese voice actress/seiyu with a variety of roles. I particularly loved her role as Kumiko Oumae from Kyoani's Hibike! Euphonium. She sounded very cute but gave her a relatably distinct personality with her odd yet realistic verbal tics. I sketched a pic of Kumiko in hopes of having her see and sign it, but alas I missed my chance..ah well I guess I'll post the sketch here later anyway and hope you guys enjoy it.

Now for the part that makes this con only good 'for the most part'. I was having some issues with jaws, which actually started the weekend before the con as a salivary gland infection. I think that eventually seceded, but I still had some bullshit goin on with my jaws, my teeth clenched involuntarily nearly every time I swallowed and such. And they clenched really hard..I still had a small spot near my ear swelling which I assumed was just the leftover of the saliva gland infection, but I was most likely wrong.

I visited the clinic the other day, apparently I might be suffering from TMD/TMJ as well, that's Temporo Mandibular joint Disorder. Which is some super complicated shit to do with the jaw joints and such. Now a month ago I suffered from a really really bad saliva gland infection, it swelled ridiculously and it hurt to even speak and eat, I thought it was TMD at the time, but ye it was just a saliva gland infection that went away after a week of taking prescription antibiotics and I felt like I could eat and talk like normal again. 2 weeks later, I get it again, tho not as bad. It seems as tho my jaws were double teamed by both a salivary gland infection and TMD now orz.

I've been prescribed a different type of antibiotics this time, but I'm not quite sure if it'll help the TMD as much as it did the saliva gland infection..man all this shit made it kind of hard to enjoy the con and even speak to people properly at times. I really hope this isn't too serious, I like being able to eat food and talk painlessly. This all might have something to do with my erupting wisdom teeth, particularly on the bottom left side, where most of this pain originates from. For once I feel lucky that I've got a dentist appointment coming up in a week, hopefully they can help me, if these antibiotics don't. As of now, I still have a small bump where my jaw joint should be on the left side, and it doesn't hurt but it's uncomfortable to eat and talk at times.

Anyway enough about my complicated health issues, I did have a generally good at the convention even if it could've been better, I hope I can have an even better one next year, with someone I could maybe tag along with, maybe for a bit longer, and not have awfully vague health issues that impact my enjoyment of it. Maybe I might get good enough to have a table at the artist alley someday, but then I wouldn't be able to enjoy the con itself, hmm..

Speaking of the comic market/artist alley real quick that place has a lot of amazingly detailed and well done work, but there's just not enough ecchi around, or just like, big anime boobs in particular. I mean there were a variety of Lucoa prints but they all seemed to tone down her thiccness and busty-ness, which is BULLSHIT she's supposed to the dragon ex-goddess of thicc. This is partially why I want a table there someday, get some good ol' big anime tiddies in there, maybe someday. But I am still satisfied with the prints I got.

Thanks to everyone who commissioned me the last 2 months and such, I got a LOT of work done and all those funds helped me have a much better time at the con.

Welp it's gonna be summer soon, and when it's summer it gets hot as fuck in my room which makes it hard to just relax, let alone concentrate on my work. Though I did renovate it a bit again to help me focus on work easier. You might see it when I do another 'where the magic happens' series of pics.

With the con over I think I can finally work on some of my own stuff, though I'll still be taking commissions, because I always want something ehehe..

Oh yeah, I also hope this jaw bullshit gets better soon, as it is a huge bother to not only work but my daily life, but I'll try to soldier on. Wish me luck, because I think I'll need it.

Til' next time, sayonara pals.

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It's been a week but ye I turned 22 on the 11th. Time really seems to fly..

But as usual, I'd like to thank everyone who gave me birthday wishes and even did some giftarts, I really appreciate em

As for the birthday itself, it was definitely better than last year's haha. Not as much family bullshit I've been dealing with these days, but I'm still a bit cautious..

I had a big ice cream cheesecake, which I shared with my big brother cuz his birthday is literally right after mine, had LOTS of foodies, and just a generally good time.

Aside from the aforementioned giftarts and birthday wishes, I didn't really get any gifts. But only because I asked the fam to just give me some money for the upcoming Anime North 2017 convention. Yes, I am definitely going again this year, it will be my 4th year going.

So to that end I am once again working extra hard on commissions to get as much done as soon as possible to get funds for the trip. Hopefully I'll have more than I did last year.  I was considering a sale again, but I'm getting lots of offers already.

I just finished 2 comms 2 days ago, but I only submitted 1 here because the other is too hot for dA. As usual you can see all the stuff you don't see here on my tumblr, or my twitter, if you can find em.

If you've got any ideas for a commission from me, I'd love to hear em now. In fact I'll even increase the amount of slots I've got to 5. Though I will be taking my time with em. Don't wanna overwork myself again. But I will try to finish all comms I can get before the big con

On my own end, I have been thinking of bringing back my OCs, if you've seen the latest sketch dump. I got some cool stuff planned for my boys; Brendan and Brandon, whenever I can get around to em ehehe..

On my off time (which is most of the time..) Overwatch keeps pullin me back, especially with this new Uprising event. So I've been trying to level up at least once a day for that. And I'm just doin a lot of postgame side stuff for Yakuza 0. Got Dark Souls 2 last month, and I've ended up nearly ignoring Nioh to play lots of it. Oh and I've been playin a bit of Senran Kagura Estival Versus again after I bought a bunch of the DLC on a PSN sale.

Anyway that's it for this lil update. Once again if you've got an idea for a possible commission for me then I'd like to hear it. Help me work towards a more fun Anime North. It'd be kind of a nice roundabout birthday present for me too eh.

Til' next time, sayonara pals.

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