Ro994 🎨

The main reason for my prolongued absence was because the hand and wrist pains that I had been feeling for a few months began to get worse and worse, and became unbearable enough that I had to see a doctor about them.

It turns out I had tendinitis, which, thankfully, wasn't in an awfully serious state, according to my traumatologist. However, and naturally, I did need to rest, and I was also prescribed medication, to wear a wrist+thumb brace for some days, and given some hand exercises I had to do a few times a day for at least two to three weeks. I was also recommended to get a handrest and ergonomic mouse for my computer, which I did.

Since my prolongued use of my computer, cellphone, and tablet contributed greatly to the pain, I decided to take a semi-break from most social media during that time. I know I could've announced this sooner, but I got into a weird mentality that I couldn't say anything to you guys until I had something to show (i.e. a sketch or WIP), otherwise, I felt too embarassed considering how long it had already been since my last post.

It's also worth noting that the pain was taking longer to get better than I would've wished, making me worried that there was something more serious going on. Combined with some personal issues, it all led to my mental and emotional state, as well as motivation, to all be pretty low. I won't lie to you guys, there was a point when I feared that I either would never be able to draw again, or that I would have to quit making illustrations for the fanfic. My mind does tend to go to pessimistic places like that when faced with hardships.

But thank God, while it took longer than expected, the pain did eventually start to diminish more and more, and eventually disappeared. Currently, I still get some mild aches if I'm on my computer or cellphone too long, but now I'm a lot more aware of this and try to do the appropiate rest and stretches when needed, so I think I can now say I'm taking better care of my joints. (Here's your friendly reminder to do the same, guys! 😉😅)

And now what was left to do was... go back to drawing. Which I hadn't done in over a month. And even before the whole wrist crisis happened, I was still battling through a pretty long and difficult artblock. So needless to say, I was (and to some degree, still am) super duper rusty. 😬

Something that really helped me losen up was a fun practice that I hadn't done in a really long time: Just filling out full pages of random doodles/sketches. Not planning anything, just drawing whatever came to mind, and without worrying about it looking perfect. These are two of the ones I did. The first one are just a bunch of Roxanne and Bucky doodles, including some scenes from "A Lasting Bond" Chapter 1. The second one was made with a blue crayon I randomly found in a drawer, haha.

These were done relatively quickly, and most of the anatomy is VERY bad, and I'm not used to sharing art at such a rough stage. And a part of me still feels a bit bad about not having anything more polished to show you all alongside this announcement. But here's my attempt to step out of that perfectionist mentality and not be afraid to show these imperfections as much. 😅

It's also worth noting two things that have greatly helped me find a bit of motivation and inspiration again: One were the entries done by many on this year's Flashlight Week, which I've already talked in more detail on my first proper post since the crisis began on my main account; and the other is, of all things, Steven Universe! A few weeks ago, I started rewatching the franchise, and I had forgotten how GOOD the show was?? I feel like I am now able to understand and appreciate it significantly better than I did back when I first watched it in late high school/early college (which is saying something considering I already loved it back then haha). This rewatch has inspired me so much that I've also been privately making some fan creations related to it, some of which you guys may or may not get glimpses of soon, mainly on my main account, but also over here. That's all I'll say for now. 🙊😉

So, when is ALB coming back?

This month! 😁

I can't give you guys an exact date yet, but I can tell you that I'm starting to work on the long overdue illustrations of that first chapter. You can see the first little attempts in that doodle sheet above, haha. 😅 (Though these aren't necessarily the scenes I'll end up illustrating, just the first that came to mind when doodling)

I'll also let you guys know that Chapter 2 is already written. I'm also going to retake writing (hopefully with Julienne's help whenever she's able) in the upcoming weeks. My idea is for Chapters 2 and 3 to be posted alongside their respective illustrations, and not too far apart from one another, considering those two are kind of one big chapter split into one. So, if all goes well, you should expect those two sometime in mid-to-late August, and new illustrations (both fic and non-fic related) and WIPs this month! 😊

If you guys have been here for a while, you'll know that this isn't the first and may not be the last time an unexpected pause in posting and fanfic updates have happened. But I still wanted to let you guys know what's been going on with me, and let you guys know that I'm doing much better and I'm feeling ready to make a return! 😉

Y'all know what I'll always say: this is a project that I plan to finish and see through, no matter how long it ends takes me or how many obstacles I face, and regardless of how many or few people are along for the ride. And if you're one of the people who are still here: INFINITE THANK YOUS and abundant virtual hugs for being a real one and for taking interest in my work. I love and appreciate you truly. 🫶💖

I think that's pretty much all I have to say for now. Extra thank you if you've read the whole thing, and if you didn't, thank you anyway for the interest in ALB. You'll see more soon.

I wasn't originally planning on participating on the week this year, since I fully gave hosting rights to a friend and decided to no longer be directly involved in the event. However, I found myself very inspired by the amazing entries made by some friends of mine, and I decided to make one entry, which also served as practice and to post here once again after such a long time. Out of all this year's prompts, "Genderswap" was the one that I most wanted to draw, since I don't think I've drawn genderbent SciFlash since... probably high school? Definitely long before I took anatomy classes. 😅 I redesigned my versions of Dusk Shine and Flare Warden, and I'm quite happy with how these new designs turned out. I was heavily aided by a reference pic from Pinterest for the pose and guitar, and I decided to leave the lines more sketchy than most of my posts, but I hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless. I'll try to go back to posting a bit more often. Hope everyone has a great rest of your week! 💖😊

Textless + closeup versions:

I mean yes, it was definitely way sillier than "The Wild Robot" and had a lot of unhinged and comedic moments as the marketing promised, but I honestly wasn't expecting it to have as much heart and emotion as it did, or that I'd end up loving it so much. 🥲🤎 I fully walked in expecting a "turn your brain off with this whacky adventure" kind of movie and ended up TEARING UP in at least 3 separate times. 😭

Could it at least partially be because the whole "socially awkward girl with no siblings but with a special and close relationship with her grandmother whom she takes care of in old age" thing hit VERY close to home to me?

Maybe. Maybe. 🥲

I don't even fully relate to Mabel TBH but I did see WAY more of myself in her than I expected, and even regardless of that, she was an AMAZINGLY written character, I think she's one of my fav Pixar protagonists and characters now.

And the characters I thought were going to be super annoying like King George, Tom Lizard, Loaf, Ellen, etc. were actually great. Heck, even the antagonist mayor ended up being more fun to watch than I initially thought xD The "final boss" villain though (I won't spoil who it is, but if you've seen the film you'll know who I'm talking about) was actually TERRIFYING, but in a good way. And yes, my theater DID gasp at THAT scene, his "villain origin moment" if you will. Like, WOW. It was funny and shocking at the same time. 😅

Also, I may not have that much knowledge of the "We Bare Bears" franchise, since the most I've seen are a couple isolated episodes here and there and then random clips online, but even with that, I thought this had Daniel Chong's seal all over it, from the character designs to the tone and humor and settings. And that's coming from a VERY casual viewer. In fact, this film kinda made me want to check out a bit more of WBB, I might have been missing out on something x)

Lastly I just want to say that I LOVE the way the film handled its themes and messages, particularly the one about trust and second chances. I feel like nowadays, most animated shows and movies either go the "Everyone is actually good and nice inside and can be redeemed if you just talk to them!" or "If this person has a different point of view than yours they're PURE EVIL and don't even deserve a chance to be reasoned with!" (even my favorite animated show of all time, TOH, fell into the latter). I thought this film reached a VERY good middle ground about it that's actually a lot more applicable to real life. That's all I'm going to say because I don't want to give any big spoilers, it's much better when you see it in the film yourself xD

Overall, this movie was very refreshing and a super pleasant surprise to me. I love how invested I felt and how well the characters and themes were handled. It was also funny without being treating its audience like idiots most of the time (still looking at you, Minions 🙄)

Pics used as reference for this artwork: