KrisCynical

Like Real People Do

Named after the Hozier song. I don't think they would ever get bored with the mundane things that normal people would have, without any magic, life or death stakes, divine intervention, bloodshed, or trauma. They'd live for moments that "real people" have every day, and living in itself would be novel.

Also? Rings because I can.

I made a speed paint video for this piece, too:

Oh my God.

Witchcraft

I've been told my coloring process from flat to finished is "witchcraft" by people who are privy to my progress shots as I work, so I decided to make a gif showing all of the layers that go into how I color/shade flesh and hair. Hopefully it's kinda neat-o.

From "Foolish, Foolish Girl" (obviously).

Foolish, Foolish Girl

From "Calm Waters Run Deep" chapter 8 by @themarydragon on Ao3:

I reached up with my left hand and took a handful of his tunic, grounding myself with his faith. I pressed my face into his chest and took a moment to praise everything, past or present, that had existed to bring this man into my life. “What would I do without you?” “With some luck, you’ll never have to know. My life is yours, Princess.” I felt the last thin thread of resist snap, and the fight went out of me. I loved him. Damn it, damn me, damn him, damn everything to the cold oblivion from which Ganon sprang, I loved him. It was the single most foolish, ignorant, inconvenient thing I could have done, but there it was. I loved him. I loved him. Shit, shit, shit.

Zelda scolds herself as a "fool/foolish girl" several times throughout Trouble the Water when it comes to her feelings for Link, and this was the most foolish thing of all.

Yes, although back in 2007 when my dinosaur ass graduated it was still Ringling SCHOOL of Art and Design. I was actually a part of the last class to graduate from Ringling School, from the illustration department.

I was talking about my Illustration prof, Mike Hodges. I'm assuming he's still alive and well since the only information I could find about an artist who had passed was a Michael Hodges who was black ("my" Mike is white and only ever went by Mike, not Michael).

Hodges has never had much of an internet presence to speak of since he worked through an agent and was established enough by the time I was studying under him to not even need an agent anymore; he just had all of the contacts himself. I found a facebook post from 2020 that was a portrait of Hodges where Dunnick mentioned he had retired in 2019 in the comments, but other than that I can't find anything current about him.

I receive Contxt every time Ringling publishes an issue for alumni, and I can't imagine they wouldn't have at least had an article or announcement on their website or SOMETHING if one of their well respected profs had passed away.

Either way, Hodges had a profound impact on my work and I always respected the hell out of him, so I was very upset when I thought he had passed so long ago and I hadn't known.

She did it, y'all.

Right after Christmas this past year Mom of the Wild decided to start over on BotW after 5+ years away from it, DETERMINED to do everything by herself with zero controller input help from me. In her previous playthrough I was helping her with difficult things like the blights, but this time she wanted to do it all herself so she could SAY that she did it all herself.

And she just did.

Her final count was 295 hours... and she only got stepped on by Dark Beast Ganon once.

I did not know you could be stepped on by Dark Beast Ganon. lol

She has some loose ends to tie up in postgame still, ofc, like the last 25 or so koroks that are around the castle proper (yes, she's only a handful of seeds away from joining me in the 900 club!), getting the monster medals from Kilton, buying a hand full of pictures that she can no longer get for the compendium on her own because she didn't start filling it in until WAY late in the game, and finishing up a couple side quests... but otherwise? She beat the game. Dark Beast is dusted and the credits rolled with all memories and all 120 shrines completed. And the only help I gave her for any of it was verbal.

I'm so proud.

She has a Switch 2 sitting on the coffee table right now (a stupidly early Christmas gift that she wanted before prices possibly go up) that I'll set up for her as soon as she's done with her 100% file and ready to start over (which will be immediately after she finishes her 100%), at which time she'll use the second save slot function on the Switch 2 edition of BotW along with learning how to use Zelda Notes. She's very excited about the item box and what all she'll be able to import from her current playthrough into her next.

She's not going to 100% it again but she wants to play through it a couple more times before moving on to TotK. She already had me find the soft cover Piggyback guidebooks for both Breath and Tears because she wanted copies for herself instead of borrowing mine.

And she wants a custom Switch 2 pro controller from Colorware engraved with Mom of the Wild with the remainder of her Christmas money when Christmas actually gets here.

I think she is officially a gamer now. She sure as hell is officially a Zelda player!

Catch up on the saga:

Mom of the Wild: Part I & II

Mom of the Wild: Part III

A Mom of the Wild Moment

Mom of the Wild: Part IV

Mom of the Wild: Part V

Mom of the Wild: Part VI

Mom of the Wild: Part VII

Mom of the Wild: Part VIII

As if I didn't already despise AI enough, the AI results Google shoves in your face just made me believe one of my favorite professors from Ringling died when I tried looking him up randomly after a story involving him came up at the dinner table tonight. He was one of two teachers I had in college who meant the world to me.

He doesn't have that unusual of a name so I think the AI pulled from ANOTHER artist/illustrator by the same name who passed away in 2021 and mashed it together with the information I KNOW is true about my prof. He retired in 2019 but I'm certain that Ringling would have made some sort of announcement if one of their highly regarded professors of nearly 30 years passed away.

It is shocking how instantaneously I was DEVASTATED for a solid 20 minutes until I couldn't find outside confirmation and figured out wtf was going on with the AI result.

Fuck you, Google AI. You legitimately made me cry and now I'm exhausted.

In the last 5 weeks I've posted four new pieces, three of them fully finished color. And I have ideas for more. I hesitantly want to say I'm back on my bullshit and I don't know how to explain how fucking huge that is for me.

I'm also exercising 5-6 times a week for 45 minutes going hard enough to get a good sweat going with my heart rate up, and I've severely cut back on caffeine to the point that I go days without having any at all. I used to have it every single day. I've been militant about taking my anxiety meds and I've been completely off of my antidepressants for almost a year.

Comfortable and Drowsy

From "Calm Waters Run Deep" chapter 7 by @themarydragon on Ao3:

I stayed there for Goddess-knows-how-long, breathing in the wild scent of him and watching the horses’ ears flick as they browsed on the lush greens. The realization slowly dawned on me that Link’s hand had gone limp against my shoulder, his breathing slow and deep. He was asleep. Flat on his back, my head on his shoulder, his arm draped over me, the sunshine bright on his face, he was asleep. What was it he had said, when I had asked him where he slept? Wherever he feels comfortable and drowsy, it was. He was comfortable. Here, in this moment, with me. He was comfortable. I carefully lifted the Sheikah slate, turning it on as I moved, and held it one-handed in the air over us. I could see his eyes shifting beneath his gently closed lids; he was dreaming. His face seemed simultaneously much younger and far too old; the cares were gone, but the lines and scars were much easier to see, this close. And, oh, we were so close. I twisted the Slate a bit so we were both framed in the image and then hit the button to capture it.