piscessheepdog

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The Guardian of the Blade of Ahrah

So this is Fidget, a female nimbat who guards a sentient sword. Yes, it is my first attempt at drawing this character in particular.

Not only that, but I had started to add a signature that is an abbreviation of my username in every recent artwork. So, what do you think about this signature? How about some experiments I have made in this artwork, such as how I colored her eyes?

Fidget > Dust: An Elysian Tail © Humble Hearts (indie game developer studio), Microsoft Studios (publisher) and Dean Dodrill (creator)

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Chikorita!

Finally, I tried to draw this Pokémon and it seems that I succeeded to do this. Even so, it is one of my first attempts to draw a Chikorita. I remember having watched the second trailer of Pokémon Legends Z-A, and I was surprised that the starter Pokémon of this video game are basically Johto's starter Pokémon but Cyndaquil is replaced with Tepig.

If anyone wonders how I came up for inspiration, I based this drawing on a panel seen in the first chapter of the manga Pokémon Gold & Silver: The Golden Boys. Thoughts?

Chikorita > Pokémon © Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures Inc.

[piscessheepdog]

My Peppino Spaghetti Crossplay

The day before yesteday was my birthday and I turned 22 years. Although I haven't made any new drawing yet because I am busy lately, I decided to share some info about my experience in Japan Weekend Madrid 2025 in compensation.

The tickets for this anime and manga convention were one of the gifts I received on Three Kings' Day along with Pizza Tower for Nintendo Switch. These tickets were bought by my adoptive paternal cousin, as she shares in common with me for being interested on popular culture. When we went to Japan Weekend Madrid on 15 February 2025, I cosplayed as Peppino Spaghetti. It was the second time I crossplayed as this Pizza Tower character. In order to dress up as him, not only I needed certain clothing (such as a chef's hat and a white tank top), but I also had to conceal most of my hair (considering Peppino has a bald spot), don a fake moustache… and put a cushion under my chest to simulate his paunch. To get the idea, here's how my Peppino crossplay look like:

As we explored the fair where the convention was set, I also acted in character. What I didn't expect is that I became a Pizza Tower fan magnet due to the costume and the impression. As a result, I was photographed by over seven Pizza Tower fans. They also hummed "It's Pizza Time" and called me "Peppino" when they noticed me. These actions made me feel a rush of gender euphoria.

The following three photos were taken by a professional photographer named Rodrigo Ortiz. I had even asked him if I could taunt.

In addition, there is an extra photo involving a cosplayer of an Antonblast character. I couldn't find anyone dressed up as Anton, but I did find a Dynamite Annie cosplayer. Consequently, she and I were immortalised in this photo.

Many of the photos, which are taken from my new mobile phone, a Nothing Phone (2a) Plus, belong to me. However, these photos are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 The photos having a black background are taken by Rodrigo Ortiz. It is unclear how they are licensed, so I will assume that they are free to use. Peppino Spaghetti > Pizza Tower © Tour de Pizza (indie game developer) and McPig (creator) Dynamite Annie > Anton © Summitsphere

[piscessheepdog]

Not all two-tailed foxes are fully copyrighted

I remember that I learnt that Pepper&Carrot is planned to end on episode 42, so I decided to draw a piece of fan art depicting one of this webcomic's characters.

This one is Yuzu, a two-tailed fox that is a familiar of Shichimi. By the way, fun fact: this fan art, like the rest of what I have posted in this tumblelog, was made with the same program as the webcomic where he debuted.

I, the copyright holder of this fanart, release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Yuzu the Fox, a character from Pepper&Carrot, belongs to David Revoy. However, he and the webcomic he debuted are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

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Nintendo Switch 2 Dog

What? Nintendo Switch is evolving!

Anyways, the day before yesterday I learnt that this console's successor, the Nintendo Switch 2, is announced. The Nintendo Switch 2 is just a large Nintendo Switch with magnets, so I decided to revive the Internet meme that compares its predecessor with dogs. Out of the two depictions about the "Nintendo Switch as a dog", I picked the anthro one.

If the Nintendo Switch Dog is nicknamed "Switchy", then this Nintendo Switch 2-based character is likely to be nicknamed "Switchley", "Swi-Two" or something similar that is a pun of "Switch 2".

Before I could finish writing this, here is an alternative version of the fan art that lacks the solid red background and the Nintendo Switch 2 logo.

The Nintendo Switch 2 Dog, nicknamed Switchley, belongs to me ( @piscesheepdog ). However, she is licensed under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. The Nintendo Switch 2 is developed by Nintendo, just like its predecessor.

[piscessheepdog]

André finds an AI-generated mindscrew

In this edited screenshot, André has just found this link that provides mostly inaccurate information about the short film he has debuted. The link claims that André and Wally B. look at each other through rose-coloured glasses (i.e. they have a bed of roses) and the setting is as similar as the one used for the Silly Symphonies short film Flowers and Trees. That's a pack of lies! In fact, André was shown to be hostile towards Wally B. and there are no sentient or anthropomorphic flora in it, not even the forest has magical properties.

It seems that there is lazy use of artificial intelligence, leading to the presence of hallucinations such as this one. And, yes, this is AI slop. AI slop is considered a form of quantity over quality prioritization.

Anyways, the moral is: please do not overrely on generative artificial intelligence or else your creativity will be decreased significantly.

André > The Adventures of André & Wally B. © Pixar (formerly known as Lucasfilm Computer Graphics) and Lucasfilm (both of them currently owned by The Walt Disney Company)

[piscessheepdog]

Ingredi

Meet Ingredi, my second Pizza Tower original character to be created and designed. He was created on 19 May 2024, so his birthday is on 19 May. I created him because I am dog lover and I felt that there should be some kind of a "Super Toppin" that follows (and helps) the player character, just like how Oatchi is likened to a "Super Pikmin". In other languages, this character I created is referred as "Ingredi". The only exception is in French localizations, where he is referred as "Ingrédi". In Japanese localizations, he is referred as Ingredi (Japanese: イングレディ, Hepburn: Inguredi).

Here's some detailed information about this original character:

Name: Ingredi

Age: Unknown (assumed to be a puer aeternus)

Species: Chimeric mammalian child-god with Toppin traits

Gender: Male (unknown if he is either transgender or cisgender)

Personal gender pronoun: He/Him

Alignment: Chaotic good

Likes: The original Toppins, pizza (his favourite food is sushi pizza), pranks, and having fun

Dislikes: People who mistreat Toppins, minus_8 (this applies to the Toppin Gals as well), mold on organic material, and climate change

Description: Ingredi is the fairylike child-god of Toppins, and the half-brother of Schumf (a child-goddess of the Spritelings). His voice sounds like Bart Simpson. Ingredi is described as innocent, justice-seeking and clever, but at the same time he is wisecracking, cautious and mischievous. Due to his association with the Toppins, he resides in the Pizza Tower universe. He can guide any living being displaced from their original dimension to leave his homeworld in exchange of giving them the ability to involuntarily transform into a Pizza Tower-ified version of themself. In addition to this ability as well as levitating himself (both of them being available regardless of his status), Ingredi has the following abilities depending on how strong he is: empathy, clairvoyance (namely the ability to locate nearby Toppins), and teleportation. He loses these three abilities when Ingredi is weakened (which only happens when Toppins are imprisoned). The more Toppins are rescued, the stronger Ingredi becomes as he gradually regains the abilities. Additionally, he is immune to the power-ups and certain enemies that cause a transformation.

Biography: Ingredi was born to the god of platform games and the goddess of independent media. Prior to the events of Pizza Tower, Ingredi witnessed the Toppins being kidnapped and imprisoned by Pizzaface. Although he ran afoul of Pizzaface himself, Ingredi managed to escape for his own safety. After that, he stealthily watched how the Toppins were rescued and, eventually, Ingredi quickly leaved the crumbling tower once he regained his powers.

That's all the information about this Pizza Tower original character. Here's a compilation of model sheets I have made for Ingredi (which I have completed by 25 October 2024), as well as the initial sketches.

Ingredi belongs to myself (@piscesheepdog). However, he is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Aside of the attribution, the only other two conditions are that Ingredi must stay in character and that he shouldn't be included in a work whose subject really squicks me, the character's creator. Pizza Tower (this includes the original Toppins, as depicted in the normal poses sheet, as well) © Tour de Pizza (indie developer) and McPig (creator)

[piscessheepdog]

Beta Pokémon (Generation V) Designs Doodles

On August 2024, Game Freak had a data breach in which nearly a terabyte of data was leaked on 12 October 2024. One one hand, it revealed never before seen cut content. On the other hand, unfortunately, personal information about the employees were leaked. (Yes, I feel bad about what happened to them because I think leaking personal information about the employees is the worst part of an Internet leak.)

Two days later, one of my female friends I have met face-to-face showed me a picture that includes an earlier version of Simisear. This made me to have a itch for curiosity, so I had to look up the Internet without having to visit Twitter (now called X) directly. Luckily, the contributors from The Cutting Room Floor (TCRF) provided information about the leaks. Therefore, I took the sprites that they provided and put them as a reference for the artist's impressions of these prototypical Pokémon designs. In the case of Oshawott, she showed me a poorly drawn concept art of Oshawott, which is apparently the first drawing of that Pokémon ever, and I had to copy and paste the picture by using a flash drive.

Out of all 156 Pokémon, which most of them had earlier sprites, I had picked six Pokémon for this dedicated fan art:

Snivy, like its evolved forms, was originally going to be greenish blue. It also had a closer resemblance to its fully evolved form, but its feet is similar to its hands.

Tepig was originally going to have a orange-and-dark-brown palette.

Oshawott is the last Unovan Starter Pokémon to be conceived. However, there are no earlier designs about its evolved forms, as the designers were concerned on what to make it evolve into after watching sea otters in a zoo. Before it was finalized, Oshawott's Japanese name was "Suikko", then "Rakkomaru".

Lillipup was originally going to be a mere small Herdier, possibly due to the fact that Herdier might be one of the first conceived Pokémon to be introduced in said generation. At some point during the development, Lillipup was reworked to be more adorable and furrier, before being given a longer tail and its current palette. Its early Japanese name was "Papii" before settling to its final Japanese name, "Yorterrie".

While early sprites of Simisage and Simipour are similar to the ones used in the final, Simisear was noticeably chunkier. In earlier builds, the Pokédex stated that Simisear likes sweet berries and sleeping. Simisear was redesigned to have a similar physique as the other two of the Monkey Trio, likely either for consistency or for fears of letting players down.

It was once stated that Deinos's evolution line was originally based on military tanks. They were eventually reworked into more organic, furry dragons. This early version of Pokémon in particular is Zweilous, which was originally green in colour.

That's all of the information I have told through my eyes and from memory. Out of all beta versions of Pokémon that were introduced in the Generation V, which one is your favourite?

Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott, Lillipup, Simisear and Zweilous (all of them having earlier designs) > Pokémon © Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures and The Pokémon Company

[piscessheepdog]

The late 2000s called, they want their LPS toys back

Remember the Littlest Pet Shop toys from the years 2007 to 2012? Pepperidge Farm remembers. So here's some brief history: the original toy series was introduced in 1992 by Kenner, but was relaunched in 2005 by Hasbro. The molds as well as the marketing decisions (both of which are made by a certain woman) resulted in the golden age of Littlest Pet Shop. It reached its peak when glossy-eyed toys and the eye symbols were introduced in 2007. However, the fall occurred when the namesake 2012 television series was released and the line was revamped, causing the latter to receive complaints from fans. The next generation had molds that closely resemble the style of said TV series, but contributed to the obscurity of the toy series itself. In 2017, the toys were revamped to resemble the first generation, but were nevertheless short-lived to some extent. Hasbro made a deal with Basic Fun! to relaunch the toys in December 2023, but the latter of the two companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the following year.

This piece of fan art I made depicts an unnamed giant panda that served as the mascot of Littlest Pet Shop between the years 2009 and 2012 meeting the current mascot, Basic Fun!-era pet #1. I based the G2 panda bear's design on its depiction on the logo used in a Littlest Pet Shop picture book about travelling I own.

I initially had mixed views about the generation 7 of Littlest Pet Shop. My thoughts changed when, on 23 January 2024, I found some G7-era (that is to say, Basic Fun!-licensed) Littlest Pet Shop toys in a hypermarket. Basic Fun! actually payed homage to the generation 2, hence the reuse of that artstyle seen in this photo as a proof.

Littlest Pet Shop © Hasbro (and Basic Fun! included in the case of the generation 7)

[piscessheepdog]

Beauty of All Bodies

"Old man yaoi." Any Pizza Tower fan that supports a certain male/male ship involving Peppino Spaghetti.

I decided to fujo out while expressing my genuine love for some slash pairings I support. While I normally support het pairings when neither character is explicitly depicted as a member of the LGBTIAQ+ community (especifically gay, lesbian, bisexual or pansexual), one of my favourite characters, Peppino Spaghetti, is an exception to this rule. When I pair Peppino with a character, I only support two slash pairings that fit the definition of buddyslash. Out of these two, the slash pairing between Dynamite Anton and Peppino himself (also known as Peppiblast, Pizzablast and Pepton) is one of my OTPs.

Originally I was going to post it on Pride Month, but I had to postpone it due to its then unfinished state. At least the good thing is that I managed to draw Peppino more consistently (despite the fact that I looked closely to his torso and I think I should further improve it the next time I draw him), just as I had stated in the third Pizza Tower fan art I have published. In addition, this is my first attempt at drawing Dynamite Anton. Besides, sorry about the ilumination regarding Anton's beard.

By the way, I originally considered getting Antonblast for my Nintendo Switch as I was desperately looking for a way to obtain a copy of Pizza Tower while dealing with an unrecognized fan rule of "if you want to play that game, you must convince your familiars to purchase it via a Steam account". Against all odds, on 27 August 2024 at 18:50, I was informed that a (licensed) Nintendo Switch version of Pizza Tower has been released and a physical edition will be published in 2025. Feeling like I was living a dream, I started up my Nintendo Switch and the corresponding Nintendo Direct presentation proved this port to be real, complete with localizations. Starting at this day, I have added the Nintendo Switch port of Pizza Tower to my wishlist.

Peppino Spaghetti > Pizza Tower © Tour de Pizza (indie developer) and McPig (creator) Dynamite Anton (AKA Anton Ball) > Anton © Summitsphere

[piscessheepdog]

40th Anniversary of André & Wally B.

I'm back from the break from fan arts of unpopular media!

Finally, I could celebrate the anniversary of this computer-animated short film on the day it is expected to, well, turn four decades. I know that there is ten years left to make this short film turn half-century. That is probably the enough amount of years to deem this animated short film a classic film. Anyway, I think The Adventures of André & Wally B. is a oldie but goodie despite the retrospective reviews some critics have done. However, it won't enter the US public domain until 1 January 2080.

In this fan art, André (the humanoid) and Wally B. (the bumblebee) are seen standing between the first Apple Macintosh computer (later given the retronym Macintosh 128k to distinguish from its subsequent sucessors). Initially, I had doubts whether I choose this computer or the Pixar Image Computer. In the end, I chose the former just for making this anniversary art more historically accurate.

In conclusion, happy André & Wally B. day!

André and Wally B. > The Adventures of André & Wally B. © Pixar (formerly Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Project) and Lucasfilm (both owned by The Walt Disney Company)

[piscessheepdog]

The Nap

Another Digimon fan art… This time is a piece of fan art that pays homage to the third season of Digimon, also known as Digimon Tamers. If someone wonders who the three are, these are, from left to right, Gigimon, Viximon and Gummymon. They are the In-Training forms of Guilmon, Renamon and Terriermon, respectively.

I remember that, when this fan art was near completion, I didn't know what to put in the background. Running out of ideas, I chose a baby blue background to reflect how infantlike In-Training Digimon are. Well, I have nothing more to say, but it proved to be an effortful attempt to complete this fan art.

Gigimon, Viximon and Gummymon > Digimon © Bandai, Toei and Akiyoshi Hongo

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Running Lillipup

I have drawn my second favourite Pokémon, a Normal-type Pokémon named Lillipup. Namewise, it is based on a Yorkshire Terrier (hence its Japanese name, which is Yorterrie). In some Pokémon video games, Lillipup can be found in farms. It makes sense, as the dog it is based on is bred to be a ratter. This one in particular looks serious, as its stare reminds me of the Internet meme Luigi's death stare. Perphaps this piece of art might be nicknamed as "A Wild Lillipup's Death Stare" or something like that. Of course, one of Lillipup's abilities is Vital Spirit, which keeps it from falling asleep.

I remember that I had doubts regarding the background. When this piece of fan art was betaed, my cousin provided feedback as she suggested replacing a placeholder background with something more natural, so I picked the grasslands. Yes, it may pay homage to a certain illustration of any of Lillipup's evolutionary line that was used in Pokémon Trading Cards. Thoughts on this fan art?

Lillipup > Pokémon © Nintendo, Game Freak and The Pokémon Company

[piscessheepdog]

Deciduous Forest

Testing the Pizza Tower style… I mean, the pure Pizza Tower artstyle, complete with an intentionally cheap-looking art reminiscent of Microsoft Paint art and 1990's Nicktoons. Although this piece of art was made neither in Microsoft Paint nor Aseprite, this one is a fan art that evokes the "Special Guest" meme. The Internet meme in question originates from the title card of the level "Fun Farm", which features Mort the Chicken, the titular character of a little-known 2000 PlayStation game that received generally unfavourable reviews.

I have seen some "Special Guest" memes that feature characters from more popular media, especially indie games. But I have the following questions: What if an animation production company or anyone who worked for such company allowed McPig (or anyone who worked for Tour de Pizza) the use of a underrated cartoon character in an indie game without copyright issues? What if this animation production turns out to be a subsidiary of one of the "Big five"? I chose André from the animated short film The Adventures of André & Wally B. for my version of the "Special Guest" meme. In fact, this short film was produced by a Lucasfilm division that later became Pixar, and André has two fathers: Alvy Ray Smith and John Lasseter.

In order to create an elaborate title card of a fictitious Pizza Tower level, I had to look up in the Miraheze incarnation of Pizza Tower Wiki (@pizzatowerwiki). While I didn't come up with a better name for a fictitious level set in a deciduous forest other than just "Deciduous Forest", I realized that each title card featured a different font. I chose the Britannic Bold font for the text that displays the fictional level's name. I carefully traced the "Special Guest:" text while I used the same font as the one that was used for the logo of The Adventures of André & Wally B. for the text "André the Android".

Once again, I attempted to draw Peppino Spaghetti. Luckily, I managed to find (and save) a visual tutorial of how to draw him that comes from Reddit by chance. That is to say, this would help me to draw this Pizza Tower character properly. Maybe the next time I will post another fan art featuring Peppino Spaghetti, he will be drawn consistently.

Well, I may hibernate the posting of fan labor of little-known media (such as The Adventures of André & Wally B.) due to having little to no success when it is neither done by word of mouth nor being a crossover art with a more well-known one. Yes, I acknowledge that fan labor of popular media, especially independent media, are more likely to draw attention compared to fanworks of obscure media.

André > The Adventures of André & Wally B. © Pixar (formerly Lucasfilm Computer Graphics) and Lucasfilm (both owned by The Walt Disney Company) Peppino Spaghetti > Pizza Tower © Tour de Pizza (indie developer) and McPig (creator)

[piscessheepdog]

This Prototype Digimon Looks Like a Pet

Just another fan art of a well-known Japanese multimedia franchise, this time a Digimon fan art. This Digimon in particular is Salamon (also known as Plottmon in Japanese), the Rookie form of Gatomon (also known as Tailmon in Japanese). She is my favourite Digimon, as she is cute and appears to have a simple design. The most surprising part is that Salamon is actually a Prototype Digimon designed to resemble real-life pets.

Owing to the Digimon lore, I have drawn Salamon interacting with a ball. We know that dogs are supposed to play and/or train dog fetching. However, Salamon is simply staring at the ball in this piece of art. She is contemplating what to do with it.

I have to admit that it wasn't easy to get convincing results when I drew this. Maybe I am unhappy with how her left foreleg is drawn, so the next time I should draw this limb as chubbier as the rest of her legs. Paraphrasing Francisco de Goya in his last sketches, I am still learning.

Salamon > Digimon © Bandai Namco (namely Bandai), Toei Animation and Akiyoshi Hongo

[piscessheepdog]

Freedom to Roam

I have decided to post another Pokémon fan art. This one is about one of the Hoenn's Fire-type starter Pokémon, Torchic. It is my favourite Pokémon because chickens are my favourite bird. I actually like Torchic's crest and it is so cute that I don't let any of my Torchic evolve.

While the Pokédex states that Torchic, like its evolved forms, live in grasslands, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero (namely "The Indigo Disk" DLC) depicts Torchic inhabiting in polar areas. I was inspired to do this fan art that focuses on Torchic, as this piece of art's working title was "Let's Explore This Snowy Place!".

Furthermore, I originally intended to draw its feet as realistic as possible, but the result didn't convince me. Consequently, I compensated this by redrawing the feet by using a screenshot of Pokémon Journeys as a reference.

That is all I wanted to express about this fan art of Pokémon I have made. Where is this Torchic going to in the middle of the polar area?

Torchic > Pokémon © Nintendo, Game Freak and The Pokémon Company

[piscessheepdog]

Everybody's Favourite Pizza Tower Boss

My second Pizza Tower fan art, this time one that is Noise-centric. No, The Noise is not in my list of my favourite Pizza Tower characters. The reason why I made this piece of fan art was because I was inspired by an official patch for Pizza Tower that is called "The Noise Update". I know that there is a section of the Pizza Tower fandom that have this character as their favourite. This explains that The Noise is popular enough to warrant an update to make him a player character (i.e. to allow players to play as him in a New Game Plus mode). As a result, this piece of fan art's alternative titles are "Everybody Loves The Noise" and "Everybody's Favourite PT Boss".

For those who are unfamiliar to the indie game and, more specifically, the character in question, The Noise is the third boss of Pizza Tower that is based on The Noid, the mascot of Domino's Pizza. True to his inspiration, The Noise despises pizza and works as an actor, in which he pretends to have a smiling expression and a childish behaviour. His favourite food is candy and he is often seen riding a skateboard.

While it is my first time to draw him in digital art, I actually drew The Noise for the first time on paper, namely on an informative comic. Can you imagine what The Noise is pointing at?

The Noise > Pizza Tower © Tour de Pizza (indie developer) and McPig (creator)