doodlebalu

[doodlebalu]

screamsssss this is more than a week late which is honestly on brand for me at this point 😭 I wanted to do something at least a bit more substantial than the last big milestone and. It ended up a lot more involved than I thought it would be LOL.

So yea happy 15th anniversary SteamWorld 🩷

[doodlebalu]

It's that time of year again!! My participation's gonna be limited again due to uni but I'm aiming to at least do more than I managed last year lol -> https://artfight.net/~Lulubalu

[doodlebalu]

It's that time of year again!! My participation's gonna be limited again due to uni but I'm aiming to at least do more than I managed last year lol -> https://artfight.net/~Lulubalu

[doodlebalu]

Fanart for an indie game called SCHiM which is hosting a fanart contest leading up to its release!

[doodlebalu]

Fanart for an indie game called SCHiM which is hosting a fanart contest leading up to its release!

[doodlebalu]

Booooy howdy here's a bit of a doozy. Where do I begin!

Well I chose my old username back in mid 2017 when I was a wee lass writing silly fics on fanfiction.net. I chose it because it was Italian for "You are beautiful", because 1) I'm half Italian and 2) I thought it was sweet and wholesome.

To start: as I said above, I'm half Italian. That's because I'm Italian-American, that side of the family *has* been for quite a few generations now and they absolutely fit ALL the stereotypes you could think of when you hear "Italian-American". Stupidly proud of their heritage, and usage of silly botched up slang all while knowing little to no actual Italian. I know some stuff mainly through osmosis but yea. I definitely can't speak the language and I'll admit I simply do not have the brain power to memorize another language. I tried it with Spanish in high school already and it didn't go very well LOL

So yeah. I was one of "those" people as a teen. Idk why, it's stupid and I'm simply not like that anymore! So that's the biggest reason, but it's also not the only reason.

Number two is simplicity. Seeing that it's a common Italian phrase it's no surprise that "Sei Bellissima" straight up is taken across different sites, leading me to have to make some funky additions so that I can make accounts on there. This can lead to some confusion. Not to mention those additions can make the username long as hell in general and a pain to type out. So I went for a shorter name that will still be easier to remember, even in the cases where additions are necessary.

And uhh regarding the "Sweet and wholesome" thing- I still try to be positive where I can, but I've been through the wringer a *lot* since then and I simply do not have as much happy energy as I did back then. Believe me, it's sad and I really had no idea what was coming for me at the time but- being that overtly positive all the time definitely drained me a lot more than necessary. I guess that's another reason for a change; it all just didn't fit who I am anymore.

So yeah, to put it all simply: it doesn't represent the kind of person I perceive myself to be today, so I decided it was time for a change. As for my decision-making process behind that change?

Lulubalu is pronounced "loo-loo-buh-loo" and is derived from the word "hullabaloo", which is a word used to refer to a commotion or fuss over something. I kinda think it fits how I react to things I really enjoy and hyperfixate on; I just go absolutely nuts. Mostly not publicly but uh. Yeah I'm very enthusiastic sdfjkhsk

The "Lulu" part is just because I like that name and the way it sounds when spoken. It isn't even my real name I just like it a lot lol. Speaking of. When you wanna speak to me now, you can use "Lulu" to address me

ANYWAY. I'm still me; I've certainly changed a lot over the years and the username change is a nice way to reflect that, I think. All of the stuff I've posted over the years is still here so if you've got anything bookmarked you'll want to update that (I will be changing my art tag to [#lulu's doodles] and will be taking the free time I have to update all the posts skdjfhskj). Buuuut otherwise I think that's it. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading and enjoying the stuff I've put out over the years <3

[doodlebalu]

Nothing’s wrong here nope. Totally not the wrong card game or anything!

(If I had a nickel for every time I drew SteamWorld characters playing UNO, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice!)

This is unfortunately the last one I'm going to be doing for now as in addition to a looming feeling of art burnout, some important stuff suddenly came up. I put the deets (including what to expect from me in the near future) under the cut if you're interested.

I'm going to be participating in Febuwhump this year on a side AO3 account I created solely for an unrelated piece of media (iykyk but if you do want the deets feel free to dm me lol) and I'm gonna need the time

Which I will actually have because starting next week, I'm gonna be getting a nice long leave from uni for a bit

I also need to work on some very pressing IRL stuff that I've needed to work on for forever (cough learning how to drive cough) so this break is very much needed for various reasons LMAO

I've actually been wanting to do a username change and I've been slowly chipping away on the logistics for that. I already selected what I have in mind; I just gotta work on the hard stuff for it now like. actually making the change. and doing a writeup I guess lol

[doodlebalu]

(Repost bc I made a mistake) A pair of Heist arts for the next Steamcember batch! I only realized how shippy the first one could be as I was finishing it so uh. Just know it's fully intended to be platonic skjfkjs

[doodlebalu]

I am officially on uni break for about 2 weeks so I'm gonna try to catch up. I'm also probably not gonna do as much as I wanted unfortunately bc I don't wanna wear myself too thin lol

[doodlebalu]

When I heard there was a SteamWorld City Builder in the works I FLIPPED OUT like. I am in love with this genre. The progression, the resource management, the demand for efficiency and proper route designs. The resource management in this game in particular did feel a bit repetitive but everything else??? goddamn ADDICTIVE. Almost a bit easy for me actually lol- I need an extra hard difficulty setting or something. C’mon Thunderful, give me a CHALLENGE

[doodlebalu]

Day 7 and 8 (+ 5)! Kinda just using these as an excuse to experiment with different styles. I used the gouache brush exclusively for the second one; I had no idea what I was doing and I think it kinda shows lol. I tried

[doodlebalu]

My body is rebelling against me (Gotta love shoulder pain and spontaneous headaches amiright) so I’ve resigned myself to not being able to do something for all the days. So uhh here I skipped to day 4! I really enjoy the little storybook illustrations between chapters in Quest :]

[doodlebalu]

I believe that this is the first time I’ve given Rosie a proper piece of fanart?? Which is criminal bc I like her a lot. I should draw her more

Anyway I'm running behind ;-; I'll try to catch up during the week

[doodlebalu]

Oops I'm a bit late. Starting off Steamcember with some cryptic OC art! I am nowhere near ready to being able to tell these OCs’ stories; my outlines are still horribly messy and disconnected and their designs definitely need work but. Someday™! This can count as concept art in the meantime lol

[doodlebalu]

It is my birthday today and I'm celebrating with a new fic in nearly TWO YEARS 🎉🎉🎉 Here is Astrid and Core bonding for 7k words :D

[doodlebalu]

my participation will be limited this year but I am doing artfight again!! I just will not be able to attack for like two weeks lol

you can find me over there under “Sei-Bellissima”

[doodlebalu]

was looking through my art blog for something and found out I never posted these traditional doodles from last year to Tumblr lmao. so uhhh here