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On a creative inspiration trip apparently since I've made so many Hoyo walls in the last week. Two more now with Aventurine. The first one I used a render of that Japanese fashion magazine spread that did a joke interview with him. (Hoyo's marketing in Japan is kind of awesome. Aventurine in a fashion magazine. Ads for Sunday taken out in the manga magazine Shounen Sunday because jokes. It's brilliant.) The background is just a luxury bed pic I found on a free site and changed the lighting and coloring a bit to make it more Aventurine. I also put a filter on it to try to make it more anime-ish and got it to align with Aventurine's posture so that it looks like he actually woke up there. XD

Second one is just a colored upholstered wall that just seemed like would also fit him. Tbh, I think there's a wall that looks like that in Animal Crossing and I just thought that kind of background would look good with that image as its kind of ritzy to turn your wall into a sofa.

I kind of feel bad that I did so many of Sunday and Aventurine, but I only have one of Dan Heng. I'll probably do more of him soon. Also, Boothill because I love Boothill too because Konishi Katsuyuki's one of the seiyuu where for some reason when I hear their voice I internally melt. I don't know how or when Konishi got there, but I know I have that reaction with Hiyama Nobuyuki's voice. Like he was a villain at the end of Jujutsu Kaisen with a face on his back and my brain was still making me melt inside. Fingers crossed that one day he gets a part in Star Rail too one day. I'm honestly kind of surprised I haven't made one of Jing Yuan because he's OnoDai.

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Basically a big Hoyo wallpaper dump. XD I just felt artistic when I got home today. I honestly wasn't intending on making so many Sunday ones, but honestly people made a bunch of pngs of him that were awesome art so there was just more available for inspiration. Like I would really love to make another Aventurine one, but I didn't have an idea of other motifs to do with the other renders I have. I'm actually even pushing it on creativity with the last Sunday one.

But anyway, new Zhongli one that I think is finally better than the other two I made and like a better motif and scheme than the other two. I mixed a texture in with like his profile plate thing. I used the traditional characters for his name because my Japanese computer doesn't seem to like simplified.

Aventurine's is pretty straightforward, but I played with the colors a bit to try to get both his yellow-gold color along with his green together in a nice blend. The roulette there is a screenshot from his trailer too.

Sunday's one's the first two are basically playing with lights for the most part. I go a generic render of a piano for the 2nd one to try to like emphasize some mad playing skills, and honestly sometimes I forget that he's very musically inclined. He kind of reminds me a little bit of how much I liked Nodame Cantabile back in the day because his boss motif is as a conductor (Chiaki), but like his trailer is all the piano (Nodame). The web event was violin though, which doesn't really fit that reminder other than it being a classical instrument. I guess also a bit of Eternal Sonata because that game is all Chopin. The background of both of the first two does actually have game screenshots though. The first one has the Penacony Grand Theater, but mostly darkened out as I lit it so that it seemed like he had sudden divine inspiration or something. The 2nd one is a screenshot from his trailer where one of himself is playing in the theater. Underneath the big piano him is a tiny version of him also playing the piano on a different layer. The light beam is from that background image so I placed it in such a way so that it'd light the bigger image of him and played around with the lighting to hide most of the rest of the background.

The third Sunday one I think I was getting tired and I don't think I got the lighting exactly right. I'll probably get around to another one like I came back around for this Zhongli one in the future. The background is an actual cathedral picture and I just played with the lighting and colors to try to get something cohesive. Placement and such though I was trying to like make him seem like really holy and like rising up like an actual angel. He's like so biblical motif and very seraph-y. I kind of wish there were renders of him with the six wings, but I think this is okay.

I honestly don't really know why I wanted to do so many Sunday ones, but I just did. Like I said the art was pretty and he's out right now and also escaping my pulls. ;o; I really don't want to spend that much money on him, but also I'm trying to make a secondary team for my Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae because my main team is a break team with Aventurine and Acheron, and I just want a team of my favorite boys. Also, for real all these boys from the walls I've made recently are yellow. Like Dan Heng's the other day because he's Imaginary and had some gold on his outfit, but Zhongli has yellow gold from being Geo and both Aventurine and Sunday are also Imaginary, but have a lot of gold in general in their motifs too. I was actively trying to change the text color in the Sunday wallpapers so that not all of them would be yellow.

Sunday makes me think of a bunch of things though because I didn't really like him so much at first because he was kind of a dick to Aventurine. But then like after his fall and events with his sister, it seemed like he probably was actually okay and just misled by his adoptive parent, but is also very genuine in wanting to help people. Just misled on the how and the helicopter parenting kind of POV. But like he seems like he genuinely wants to learn and does seem to have regret for his mistakes. Like he genuinely seems like a very sweet boy that really just wanted to try his best and got it wrong. I hope he learns a lot on his travels. But like also, I was raised by a Catholic mother who took me to church sometimes. My English name is a biblical name too, and I don't really care so much and I don't really believe in organized religion because I feel like a lot of churches are corrupt or like really hypocritical in how they interpret scripture or even like...just dumb. Like I don't really think they follow the spirit of things and like hold on so tightly to words that were written, chosen, and translated by fallible human men who had their own agendas they were pushing. Like Sunday's story route is like a child who was raised in the church only to meet the outside world and realize that the religion he was taught was full of hypocrisies and hate that he wasn't aware of, which is how I felt growing up where there was what scripture and churches "said", but then I also didn't want to be a mean jerk to other people? So yeah, Sunday kind of just hits a spot for me.

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So I recently got into Honkai: Star Rail in the last year. I like it way better than Genshin Impact as I have terrible dexterity and can't play that game well. It took me a month to just do the flying quest properly because I couldn't do the controls well on my phone when I was starting out. HSR in comparison is turn based. The turn around for the banners is a lot shorter, but I love the story more too. There's also a lot of really pretty guys. XD

Dan Heng is one of them and this is his Imbibitor Lunae form, that I just love. I think it's a bit similar to my interests recently in The Untamed/Mo Dao Zushi where it reminds me of my Dad's kung fu movies he used to watch with me when I was small and like long-haired Chinese men. Also dragons. Because I have a dragon obsession because of Hiei. But Dan Heng is just a cool character on his own and I love his backstory and his abilities. Also, Vidyadhara lore is like all Wufang Shangdi related and I'm just like, "Wait, I know those things!"

Apparently a lot of the player base at least in the West didn't like the Xianzhou Luofu part? I don't understand because I loved that part? I want to know more lore? I'm Chinese though so maybe that's why.

But anyway, I made this wall with a bunch of different layering effects. There is a bit of scenery of Scalegorge Waterscape in the back that you can maybe *barely* make out, but that's on purpose because it's in his past. Dan Heng wants to basically keep moving forward and while his past is there and all just like the scenery in this image, it's not really noticeable just like it doesn't have a major impact on his current life and what he now wants. I played a lot with a bunch of lighting though to try to get him to stand out in a specific way. Like I wanted the colors from the original image to pop a bit, but I also wanted the major color to be darker because of the darkness of space travel. Text gold coloring because he's Imaginary elemental, but also it goes along with the gold details of his outfit and basically the gold markers of him being a former leader of the Luofu Vidyadhara as imperial yellow and such is also a special color.

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Wanted to make something this weekend because I got some new merch, but I didn't have time to scan anything because I was so tired from a 6 day work week. Found a nice render from Grand Summoners though when they had their collab.

The way I got the textures to align, it looks like Hiei popped out of a portal to attack. The texture effects on his name look like they have battle damage even. XD

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A couple of Zhongli from Genshin Impact wallpapers. I like the one on the top better. I probably could make an even better one, but I was feeling a little lazy and just wanted to make one during the time I was trying to summon him into my party. No success there, but oh well. I wasn't about to drop a ton of money on it. The smaller version on the bottom was a render I got off the wiki. I'm kind of thinking maybe it would have been better with just the background one, but I also thought it felt more empty. The top one I think could use some adjustments for sizing in the composition, but otherwise I just like it better because I liked the original renders better.

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Yet another Hiei wall, but this one is using the base image for the Hiei in the Langrisser mobile collab from a few months ago. I admit to throwing money at the game in order to get Hiei. It was a must.

Background is basically just a mix of different textures as a kind of city-ish place or like an abandoned warehouse or something with limited light. The text is Shikkoku no Kiseki, which is text from the previous YYH card app I played that ended service like a year or two ago. It means “a trace of jet black”, which is kind of just what Hiei is because he is fast and sneaky and you see only but a trace of him unless he wants to be seen.

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Another Hiei wallpaper. It’s the latest image from the new Hiei in Maji Battle that wraps up the Makai arc in game and is the last fightable main character element. I have an entire party of 5 star Hieis now because of the art and I just like being able to Kokuryuuha everything to get through the game. The in-game text for this one’s ability is like Jyao Ensatsu Kokuryuuha Flash, which is different but I suppose explains the white lights. Imperfect selection from the image, but I think it works with the rest of the wall and how I blended the textures.

As an aside, it’s actually been rather wonderful for there to be new art of Hiei and especially the Kokuryuuha because they’ve been able to draw it properly. My sister and I used to call it shield-y face because its face was like super flat in the anime if you looked at it straight on. From the side they drew it properly as a dragon, but like the front views in games and in the anime just looked like a flat shield with a dragon face on it coming to slam you. I kind of just like this one because it has a proper face.

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Sword and Shield Starters Picture Cards

I’m not really sure why Grookey’s light green looks yellow after scanning, but whatever. I chose the right crayon, y’all. Sakura Coupy pencils apparently react different to digital.

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Lunala Picture Card

Scanned version’s contrast is up so high....

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Picture cards for the Sun/Moon starters that I use for lessons.

I really need to learn the new starters. I have the game but haven’t had time to really play it and this week a student asked me during a lesson to draw Messon, which is the Japanese name for Sobble, but I couldn’t remember that in that moment until like 10 mins later and I was like, “Oh, shit. I knew that one.” I still wouldn’t have known how to draw it from memory free hand, but yeah I need to get on it.

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Another Pokemon picture card I made for work. The kids really enjoy it and say I’m pretty good at drawing and also even ask me to give them the cards. I made some new ones once to remake some old ones and I offered them to one student and they weren’t great, but she wanted them anyway. It makes me happy that my students want drawings that I made.

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I really debated a lot whether or not to make this, but in the end I decided to. I don’t think I’ve ever been so impacted by a game or even a villain until playing the end game portion of Shadowbringers. I just felt like I needed to make a wallpaper of him and I really wanted one for my computer, so I made one.

I was not expecting to love Emet-Selch so much, and truthfully up until we got to Amaurot I arguably still hated him and was ultra suspicious. I was shocked and appalled that he apparently set up a residency for me there in his makeshift town of shadows, and slowly as things unraveled I began to feel sorry for him. I had doubts lingering still through Hythlodaeus’ discussion with us, but then as soon as I unlocked the Amaurot dungeon I was internally just ruined and moved. I legit just felt sorry for him and wished we could have found another way. I know ultimately we couldn’t because our positions are fundamentally opposed and one can’t exist with the other, so I was just sad and in the end I loved him as a character and have been thinking and re-watching the ending cut scenes repeatedly for weeks. I was curious and trying to find just more about him, and his home, and just everything. Ultimately, I don’t think the path he chose was right, but there’s a huge question of how much of those decisions were his own will. What is certain is his pain and depression, that resonated so strongly with me. On my personal normal tumblr I have a bunch of long rants and thoughts thinking about the whole thing and examining grief and bereavement and the symptoms and even remembering how I was when I was mourning my Dad. I just don’t have the words to describe it succinctly, but such an amazing story with this expansion.

The image of him is official art from the official Twitter by Yusuke Mogi. Screenshot of Amaurot is one of the many screenshots around because it’s kind of a pain in the butt for me to capture and transfer from my PS4 at the moment, so I just used an online one and did some light filtering. I kind of like how the official art he looks a tad crazy, and well he kind of is in his grief. He recreated his home expansively and with excessive detail with shades of people he remembered. He even put a functioning aetheryte and *stores*. Who are these stores selling to? The shades aren’t really buying it, but you as a player can. That’s some kind of obsession right there to recreate your long lost home, fill it with shades of the dead, and make functioning facilities that no one except you and coincidental passerbys will ever use. That is some level of dedication and madness. But everything seems to go together for me.

I think I might want to find more or better script fonts because I feel like I couldn’t find the one I wanted exactly, but the one I went with is close enough. He’s kind of a fancy, dandy man, so something really classy script-y seemed fitting for him. I also thought he’d probably sign more from his office title as well, so it worked. I think if I find a good pic or shot of him in his Ascian attire I’ll make a Hades one, but dang I really needed to make something to try to funnel the thoughts spinning my head out.

I’m working into getting back into drawing. I was okay at it as a kid, but abandoned it because I thought I wasn’t that good and now as an adult my co-workers comment that actually I can draw. But now it’s like I don’t really have a lot of training or practice, so I have to slowly try to get into practicing along with the million other things I want to do with my life. Maybe one day I’ll be able to draw my own too so I can make the perfect pose and such, but that day is not today.

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And now a wall with the aforementioned Maji Battle picture. I love it so much. I’m so glad I was able to get him so easily in the app. Unlike the blue Hiei that they released a few weeks prior. I threw a little bit of money at the app to get him, but the Halloween Hiei was no problem thank God. He’s a support too because basically Yukina wants to go trick-or-treating, so he’s going too. Hence the text, although it’s technically part of the chorus for HALLOWEEN JUNKY ORCHESTRA’S “HALLOWEEN PARTY” song (Halloween special unit group that Hyde of L’arc~en~Ciel and VAMPS made) and for some reason I just have the song stuck in my head. Hiei’s outfit though seems to work with it though because he’s really J-rock-ish with that outfit. When I was describing him to my sister I told her I thought he looked like a J-rock zombie because of the fashion style and the fact that he’s apparently sitting on a dug up coffin? But yeah, it just all works.

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Quick interlude between Halloween walls. I thought I could do better with that Kokuryuuha art, so I tried to make one that looked more powerful and awesome. I think this works. Lots of playing with textures and lighting and just finding a combination that worked well and blended.

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I really wanted to whip up a Halloween wall with Hiei and this is the first one I have planned. Another with the Maji Battle outfit coming soon too. This one is last year’s Halloween festivities image of Hiei as a mummy that was at a pop up shop (I forget which one atm). Background is a desert that I messed with to make it a bit more like Makai because mummies are from a desert and Makai is also partly desert. It was actually shocking how easy it was to turn a desert into a demonic hellscape, but okay. I did a lighting effect as well on the Happy Halloween text and tried to blend it a bit in with the background, but still be visible cuz Hiei is here wishing you that technically, but obviously he wouldn’t actually say it in so many words. We can pretend it got ninjaed in by Kurama doing some plant manipulation and then they took a photo unbeknownst to Hiei.

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I just whipped this one up now because it’s my favorite image from the Maji Battle app and I finally got this Hiei in the game from the anniversary draw where him and Botan and other 5 stars had higher percentages and so my party consists of all of the 5 star Hieis now. Plus Yusuke and Touya at the moment because they’re my highest level other 5 stars. Jin and Kuwabara and Youko Kurama aren’t far behind either as well as all of my lower level Hieis.

This one I was trying out some more dark lighting and Hiei is more obscured because I wanted it to be like a scene where the viewer is the opponent or something and you’re observing him about to summon the Kokuryuuha and so it’s like simulating what it must be like to be surrounded by the mounting atmosphere of dark flames.

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I actually started on this wall a little while ago, but just finished it now because it was so late I wanted to sleep when I started on it. This one I was mostly experimenting with the theme and different kinds of effects I could do on the background and lighting in order to highlight a subject.

Image is from the Mayoi Inu app as since he’s my favorite character, I collect Akutagawa cards.