Wilgenkatje.com

Hello! :)

It’s been a while since I last posted.. over a year in fact. A lot has happened.. I won’t bore you with a drawn-out sob story, but I’ll give it a quick summary.

* Things were going pretty good until the summer of 2019.

* Because of problems at work I stared to become somewhat depressed.

* In December I had enough and quit my job.

* Was out of work for two months, using that time to try and get back to the person I was.

* Started a new job in March.

* Two weeks later - Covid-19

Besides drawing and crafts I’m also interested in writing. There are so many stories in my head that I’d love to put to paper.. unfortunately.. It’s a struggle. As a kid I wasn’t very good at language in general and didn’t enjoy reading, in fact, I hated it. For reading class I flat out refused to do book reports, unless perhaps the books had animal protagonist. We weren’t allowed to use books by English authors, but as the libraries selection was limited, the school made an exception for me. In the end I actually read quite a few titles; (Dutch translations) Bambi, My Dog Stupid, Kazan the Wolf Dog, All My Patients are Under the Bed, Tailchaser's Song and Bommel, een heel bijzondere poes. Eventually I’ve come to enjoy books (in English), mostly in the fantasy and science fiction genre.

So now I’m trying to put my own stories down. That way my mind can make room for other things and the stories are in less danger of being lost. My most current one is about my Oblivion OC Sabre which is taking its sweet time, just like their illustrations. I’ve tried to write this story in different ways such as first person, observer and journal… I guess. I’m not really sure what’s best, so I’m trying everything. Sometimes I’ll get a burst of inspiration, while not having the ability to write things down, kicking myself later for forgetting half of it. Sometimes I just start writing and hope some inspiration will seep in from the aether. Usually while I’m writing, I’m just desperately trying to make my story not sound like a summary and to not use repeated conjunctions/adverb. Urgh.. *throws hands up in the air* spelling, grammar and punctuation issues -_-‘ I’ve never been able to catch up on my language difficulties.. reading has helped me to develop a little and although I think I’m getting better at it.. I’m not expecting miracles ;D

If anyone can give me some tips, tricks, suggestions, links or examples I’d be eternally grateful :) I would really like to make my stories more enjoyable to read.

Sunday Scribbles

Just came back from a weekend at my parents. They had a party to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary, It was great! Bbq, friends, family and bagpipes! My family isn’t Scottish but my dad just loves the music, especially bagpipes :D

Well.. because of the party I hadn’t gotten around to preparing anything, so I didn’t think I was going to post this week’s Sunday Scribbles… Then I remembered I had these cute Khajiit chibi that I created a while back but wished to color first before posting. Don’t think anyone will mind if I show the line version first ^_^ They are members of the Khajiit caravan that my OC Sabre traveled with all her life. 

Sunday Scribbles

Perhaps I should start calling these posts ‘Weekly WIP’ instead :D

Hardly picked up a pen or pencil this week but I have been working on my crafting projects. Below is one of these projects. A long time ago I pulled four GoPro cases out of the garbage at work (I was cleaning offices for a living) and thought I could use them for something creative. Created a few designs and picked two I liked; mushrooms and pumpkins. Both elements needed to be hollow and found little Christmas bubbles that were perfect! Cut holes in the bubbles, covering them with clay. Next was a base-paint, soldering wires to LEDs and connected them to the mushrooms/pumpkins using a glue-gun.  The GoPro base holds the batteries. It’s a very simple design; just a plastic tube that will hold up to three flat batteries and doesn’t even have an on/off button (off would be removing the batteries).

It doesn’t look like much right now but I’m very excited to get to the painting and detailing stage. Once the project is complete I’ll share the result :)

Sunday Scribbles

I just love trying new things! :D Not sure where exactly, but I remembered seeing this type of illustration and thought it would be fun to try (and it was). First I created four rough character drawings, then split each up into sections. Unfortunately I didn’t have.. I think it’s called something like ‘peelable glue mask’ on hand, what I did have was masking tape for house painting, so I tried that. I covered the whole page with tape, cut away sections which I painted using watercolors. Once the paper dried, I removed the tape and voila! The next step might be adding detail but I rather liked it the way it is :)

I’m definitely going to try this again on a somewhat grander scale.

Sunday Scribbles

I absolutely love comics and I read some every day, especially manga. You’d think that after seeing so many “examples” I’d pick up a thing or two.. nope! I’m convinced Sabre’s story would be a hundred times more interesting visualized as a comic than as simple illustrations.. But when I try to imagine the story in motion I can’t seem to get further than lose elements. Aaand.. sticking a bunch of lose elements together usually doesn’t make for a good comic page. When I do try to create a complete page I’ll start overthinking frame size and location until I’ll simply lose the plot.

Many years ago when I was still in school, one of the things the design/art instructors tried to teach us was “kill your darlings” meaning; don’t get stuck on your first idea, put it aside, try again and you might think up something even better. That’s good advice when you have all the time in the world but when time is/feels very limited, the pressure to have something on paper is overwhelming.

I’m going to keep trying :)

MQ-Prologue

There she was!!! I’d almost nodded off when I saw the female Khajiit casually walking in the direction of the front gate. Of course.. I, I couldn’t be certain; having been given nothing but a basic description. However I didn’t give myself two seconds to think, I went for it! Overcome by blind panic, I jumped down and sprinted after her. Although I ran faster than a startled deer, the Khajiit I very much hoped was S’Krivva had gone beyond the square. If I followed the guards would be sure to notice me, but I didn’t care anymore, so I didn’t slow down one bit! My heart was practically beating out of my chest as I came upon the corner where she’d turned right. Throughout the pursuit I was desperately trying to think of what to say; all I could come up with was “help me” which.. I guess sums it up pretty well. As I rounded the corner, a moment of dread, S’Krivva wasn’t in sight; coincidentally I saw a door closing and quickly leaped inside. The room was very dim, I gave my eyes no time to adjust and franticly looked in every possible direction, yet nothing! How could this be!?! I must have been right behind her! Suddenly two bright yellow eyes lit up in front of me. I would have jumped backward if my back wasn’t already against the door. Before I could utter more than a surprised yelp I felt something hard hit the left side of my temple. The world turned sideways, my vision went dark. Last thing I remembered before losing consciousness were those yellow eyes like twin suns hovering above me.

Sabre woke up dizzy, confused and with a splitting headache. As her vision returned she found herself lying in the middle of a room on an old threadbare carpet “ooh my head... Where am I?” S’Krivva glanced at her over the edge of a bounty poster “best not move too much. You’re a lucky young Redguard. This one only knocked you out, this one could have swiped your head off.” Through the pain and dizziness, Sabre was able to sit herself up on her knees “I’m very sorry.” She tried to stand but quickly thought better of it. Putting the poster down the Khajiit looked at her puzzled “Redguard is sorry? Forrr?” Rubbing the side of her head, Sabre was shocked at the swelling she felt, but was relieved there was no actual wound “for barging in like that.. I, wasn’t thinking clearly. Wait.. S'KRIVVA!?! Are you S'Krivva?” The Khajiit smiled a large toothy smile “yes child, this one is S'Krivva. You’ve been looking for the Thieves guild yes? You’ve been looking because of this?” turning around Sabre’s bounty poster. Sabre was trying to curb her excitement but couldn’t hold it in any longer. Through tear-filled eyes she nodded “can you help me? Can you remove the bounty? I, I can’t pay you.. not right now.. but I will! I promise!” S’Krivva held up a hand to quell Sabre’s frantic pleading, her expression turned frighteningly serious “S’Krivva is sorry, she can not help” the Khajiit carefully folded up the poster and handed it back “this one can only assist those of the Thieves guild.” With her head hung in defeat Sabre folded the poster a few more times and stuffed it down her shirt. “Do not lose hope, all is not lost, S’Krivva has idea, young Redguard should join the Thieves guild yes?” and the large toothy smile returned.

As you can imagine I was very disappointed that S’Krivva could not help me right then and there. But promised she would once I join the guild! She generously offered me lodging for the night and to help me out of the city in the morning.

Notes...

Perhaps it wasn’t just bad luck that Sabre didn’t manage to spot S’Krivva for such a long time. S’Krivva was actually avoiding the place as she had received word from the Skooma Den that someone was looking for her. With the tension between the Thieves guild and the Imperial Legion she figured this person might be a spy. This is also the reason why Roxanne became increasingly hostile towards Sabre. Roxanne had no love of the Imperial Legion and their negative views on Skooma. Having to sneak around became a great annoyance to S’Krivva and eventually she decided to set up a trap using herself as bait.

When bursting into S’Krivva’s home, Sabre was very surprised she didn’t bump straight into the Khajiit. S’Krivva knowing Sabre was two steps behind her used stealth to hide in plain sight.

S’Krivva could have killed Sabre as she stepped in the door but decided to only knock her out for several reasons. Sabre’s eyes were filled with desperate panic, not the expression she was expecting from a spy or assassin. Sabre held no weapon(s) and looked like a Redguard, a race that doesn’t generally utilizes magic. S’Krivva also figured it would be prudent to get information out of her first, after searching her unconscious body and finding the bounty poster she understood the situation.

Hmm.. I could go into more detail on what characters were thinking and why they were acting the way they did.. but.. I’m wondering if perhaps it’s best to leave the story slightly vague so the reader can speculate on the details. If you are reading this and would like to know more you only need to ask ;)

The three panels I drew are probably the most boring part of the whole story.. When I first started my OC, I didn’t plan to put a lot of work into the pre-main-quest part. I figured I’d create a short story of how Sabre got to where the game starts. But it’s just grows wild! I’ll take an event like the one above, create a few lines of dialogue in my head, draw the pictures to go with them and after a few days/weeks I’ll get around to typing out the story. Given enough time to think about it, the story usually ends up more interesting than the illustration :P I’m sure I’ll be able to add the more exciting scenes as flashbacks at a later time. Ideally I’d love to create an action packed comic strip.. and it frustrates me that even though I can see the pictures in my head I haven’t been able to translate them onto paper.. I’m trying but it might take some time for me to work out how. I have a few (very) rough drafts already which I’ll post one in today’s Sunday Scribbles.

Sunday Scribbles

Had this picture in my mind and tried to create it. Got pretty far when I screwed up by knocking against an open bottle of ink. As I figuring my picture was pretty much ruined anyway, I started experimenting.

Indian ink and fineliners do not really mix well even though they are both black.

Cold-pressed paper is a little too rough for crown-pens, frequently had to remove fibers.

Should have kept the portal center just one color.

The loose lines around the edges were nice but I went a little overboard in some locations.

Wasn’t quite sure where to add shadow on the character…

Should not leaving the background white...

Morrowind ~ Still playing and still loving it! Although… by the Three! Cliff Racers, those %#!&@ Cliff Racers! Of course I remembered those flappy bastards being annoying, but ughh! They are the worse >.< Went as far as to enchant an amulet with constant effect invisibility, just so I could walk around unmolested, because that’s what it feels like when you have them on your heels every two minutes.

Anyway… My character is only level 24 and practically a.. demigod, due to my obsessive need to power-level. Sure, an opponent wielding a two-handed weapon will still swat me like a fly but give me a change to cast a spell and I’ll have them crying for their mommy *insert evil laughter*. So for the first time in any of the games I’ve ever played, I’ve started to up the difficulty level :3

Sunday Scribbles

A while back I had bought myself a tablet and today I finally found the courage to take it out of the box. The painting program I decided to use is called MediBang Paint Pro; it was free and looked easy enough. I’ve never used a tablet before, neither have I worked with the MediBang software. Looked up a few tutorials on YouTube and ‘tried’ to follow along. Most of these tutorials speed up at the good parts and they practically had me going frame by frame to see which brush settings they were using to do what. Gave up after a few hours trying to get the colours right :P

This is just a test, is only half done, obviously not that great, but for a first time, it’s not that bad either. Rest easy, I’m not planning to give up my pencils and paper just yet, but when I see how easy it is to get a fairly good result I’m definitely going to keep trying! Having Ctrl+Z is pretty awesome as well. Many of these online tutorials focus on portraits so that’s probably a better choice for next time.

MQ-Prologue

The atmosphere inside the Skooma Den has become.. too uncomfortable. So now I’m spending most of my time outside on the balcony. Once a day I’ll quickly pop in to grab some food; after all I still need to eat. Likely I’m just being paranoid, I’m sure sneaking around isn’t necessary. Even so.. I can’t shrug off the feeling it’s best they don’t see me taking their food. Having lived in there for a few weeks I’ve come to know their routines pretty well and thus far they haven’t blamed me for a missing apple or loaf. Luckily it’s still Sun's Height so the weather is fairly good. There have been a few rainy nights which I reluctantly spend inside, not using one of their beds though. On the first whole day outside I was deadly afraid that the guards would spot me but it seems I had little to fear from them. They don’t look up, they don’t even patrol the square. In a rotten little town like this I guess the guards don’t really care about anything except maybe keeping things quiet. S'Krivva still hasn’t shown herself and I’m starting to plan my way out of the city. I’ve recently met two new visitors to the Skooma Den, Gelephor and Trenus. They said I would be better off trying to find the Thieves guild within the Imperial City. I’m not so sure.. but I can’t wait here forever.

It’s been very lonesome up here.. No one sees me or talks to me. I miss my family so much.. I miss Mamun’s gentle voice as he coaches a few more coins from a customer. I miss helping Vidya with her alchemy and her scolding me for eating the strawberries instead of adding them. I even miss Sukhbir’s terrible singing. I’m not entirely alone though, it seems this town has another forlorn soul. Every night there is a Bosmer standing in front of the statue. Every night he just stands there for hours and it makes me wonder. Obviously I can’t jump down and ask him, all I can do is sit here and I imagine what his story might be. The statue is of an old woman surrounded by children. Perhaps he lost his mother, wife or daughter and somehow finds comfort in this stone sculpture. Sigh.. I’ve made myself sad again..

Notes

Twice a day S'Krivva walks right past the Skooma Den. There is no good reason for Sabre not to have seen her other than pure misfortune. It’s possible she did see S'Krivva at a distance but mistook her for one of the Argonian residence.

Bravil does have other Thieves guild agents but as the occupants of the Skooma Den only know of S'Krivva she’s focused on finding her.

The clothing Sabre’s received from Roxanne are a pair of light brown linens (pants) and coarse linen shirt. This is the same outfit Dro'shanji wears, the gardener at Castle Bravil. Normally the light brown linens turn into a skirt when worn by a female character.. In my opinion it’s a strange game mechanic.

First panel; the sky, mountain and trees in the background are pretty damn awful. I used hot-pressed paper and there are only so many times you can mess with it before it becomes damaged.

First panel; normally when drawing a picture the main character is the center of attention. I’ve purposely chosen not to do that here. It’s symbolic for her situation.

Second panel; I’m happier with how this one came out. The contrast of light and the cool colors of night make it a little more interesting.

Sunday Scribbles

Just a warmup. Something I’ll do when I want to draw but I’m feeling.. performance anxiety. This will usually calm me down, clear my head and give me a little confidence boost.

Sunday Scribbles

Every game character I create will eventually develop a backstory. It’s another reasons I love The Elder Scrolls games so much, they leave who/what your character was/is/becomes totally up to you. I’ve decided to focus my Morrowind characters story on her last name, though.. most of it is about the family that adopted her. At first it wasn’t meant to be more than a few lines but it has already snowballed into what is probably a couple of pages. Haven’t taken the time to write it all down yet but I should be able to in about a week from now.

Admittedly.. Sihira Hlervu isn’t a very likable character -_-‘ She’s obsessed with obtaining influence through magic. At first her motivation is restoring her family name within the Dunmer (wizard) community and to win back the approval of her father, later it’s to satisfy her growing lust for power. In game she is already Arch-mage and steadily climbing the ranks of House Telvanni. Sihira is quite arrogant, manipulative and willing to do anything to get what she wants. If she can help someone in need she absolutely will, even if she has to go out of her way, but she also isn’t shy about killing those that get in her way. She kinda reminds me of Azshara.

I’ve acquired a tablet to try some of that sweet digital art :D This might be a nice sketch to try a couple of tutorials on (also in a week or so).

...

At first this art blog was supposed to be about my Oblivion OC only.. but I love so many different things that it is hard to stay on subject :P

Sunday Scribbles

Sadly this week hasn’t produced anything noteworthy. I have made some doodles but nothing I wanted people to see :P

I do like these weekly ‘Sunday Scribbles’ so I thought it might be fun to post something from my past again. These are some reeeaaally early drawings, probably made when I was somewhere between 9 or 12 years old. They are a colorful mess :D and funny enough I can still remember some of the stories behind them.

I’m loving my return to Morrowind! :) Even though 80% of my time seems to be spend walking around looking for people and places. Also, I’m not dying so much anymore, which is good. Currently I’m using the Ralen Hlaalo residence in Balmora as my base of operations. I’m a real pack-rat and this house has a corner with a large number of storage containers. Because of weight restrictions much of the weapons/armor I’m dragging back are ending up on the floor. I do miss the infinite although unrealistic storage from Oblivion and Skyrim :( Of course I could use Ralen Hlaalo’s corpse… but stuffing him full of weapons and armor is just…

My general gameplay goes something like this: Checks Journal again “Ok.. so walk NE from Gnisis till I reach the mountains, I’ll see a Daedric yada-yada, ok np!” Walking along the road, checking my map for the fifth time, trying to avoid unnecessary contact with critters, when I see a Redguard in the distance. Could it be a bandit? No wait, this is Morrowind, not Oblivion *rolls eyes*. Let’s go see what he wants. OH NO! His wife was abducted by cultists and they took her somewhere west! Of course I’ll go save her! Wandering west, getting attacked by.. Ashlanders?  *Level up* “Guess I’ll recall home to rest and unload my burdens, but I’ll come back right away!” *A few days and three quests later* “Emm.. ok.. so NE from Gnisis. Crap, the guy’s wife!” After walking in circles for a good amount of time looking for this huge structure that should be impossible to miss.. and shacking my head when I find it. *Casting levitate so I don’t have to navigate the glitchy ruin on foot* Five minutes into fighting my way through the inner sanctum.. “Carrying too much again? Guess I’ll teleport to the temple in Gnisis and dump all this gear I’ll never get full price for *sad face*.” Finally saves Redguards wife after a few trips back and forth. “It’s ok! Just jump down! No seriously, I can’t walk you through the ruin! You’ll just get stuck and I’ll have to use console commands again!” Finally manage to walk her back “Here is your wife, sorry I couldn’t get her back sooner *wipes brow nervously*.” Watch as they have a loving reunion of barely acknowledging each others existence. “Why was I going this way again?”

Jena at it again...