Day in the Life of an Idiot

It's my birthday. I've turned twice 23. The best thing? Shawn is still buying me basically the same things she bought me half my life ago. She bought me art supplies! Only, because Shawn LOVES me, she bought me, very specifically, manga art pens. These are made in Japan and are sold to tourists artist like me who want the mangaka experience.

First thing I drew? Renji.




And there was cranberry-upside down cake with too many candles. Shawn only put on HALF, but that's still twenty-three.



So far it's been a pretty good birthday. I'm getting to feel old as I struggle to understand the new Mac, but we're going to head out to the bookstore in a little bit and see just how many manga I can buy with the money I got (thanks Mom and Dad!). I'm thinking more than one (fingers crossed.) Then, I may spend the day either cursing the new machine and/or drawing some fan art. Either way, it's bound to be fun.

This is the sort of thing that appears as random art on the bottom of the letters I send to my pen pal, Keri, in Seattle. Several years ago (or maybe just a couple years ago), I decided that I missed the sensual, private pleasure of writing personal letters. So I put out a request on Facebook. Keri, a woman I only kinda-sorta knew at the time said, "Oooh, pick me!" So I did. We've been corresponding for at least a year and a half if not two years now and every time I write to her, I usually embellish the letter with a bit of fan art/art.

Here's what I'm sending her this week:



Pretty nice, huh? I bet you wish you were my pen pal.

Or maybe not. Maybe you'd be pretty sick of all the Renji I send.... Although, tbf, I have actually sent her Ichigo, Kisuke Urahara, Captain Kyouraku, Byakuya, and Gin Ichimaru, so I'm not ENTIRELY one-track fan art-ing her. Though there's a lot of Renji. How do I know? My red colored pencil is little more than a sad little stub.

Last night, Kyell Gold was in town and he invted me and naomikritzer to hang out with the folks at SofaWolf.* I had a tremendous time. Perhaps the tiny bit of hard cider I injested helped me be loud and boisterous, and I remember standing at the threshold when it was clearly time to leave still shouting excitedly about Harry Potter. I'm fairly sure they had to shove me out the door and I was still talking to myself as I walked down the drive to my car....

At any rate, I bring this up because among all the things we talked about I was surprised (and extremely pleased) to be asked, "Why Renji?"



My surprise was that I never expect anyone to be familiar with Bleach. Ever. I know it was on Adult Swim here and plenty of people watched it, but I still always expect blank stares when I try bringing up my fandom. It's too "old" for a lot of the young Anime fans, and it's awfully "boy" for a lot of the folks I know. At any rate, once I got over my shock, I had to try to consider the question seriously.

I don't really know. I mean, my friend Kate always tells me that my personality better matches Shunsui Kyouraku, the boisterous-yet-wise captain of the Eighth (with his hot pink kimono and traveling samurai straw hat). Plus Kyouraku has clearly been in a long-term relationship with Ukitake that rivals that of Shawn and I. So why Renji?

Ultimately, I think I feel a kinship with his indominable spirit. I have always striven to get back up when I'm knocked down, and that's Renji to the core. His backstory is also deeply, deeply compelling to me... and it resonates with some of my personal experience (or at least that of those around me.) I didn't grow up as desperately poor as he did, but the neighborhood I grew up in had a reputation for being "the wrong side of the tracks." Going to college was not necessarily the norm among my neighborhood friends, and when, after redistricting, some of the South Side kids had to go to my high school, I learned all about how people judge each other over class.

Class is something I find endlessly fascinating. The ways in which poverty affects people, too. That's some serious sh*t, as they say.

Plus, I think, as a writer, the other thing that appeals to me about him is the range of his personality as shown in canon--he can be really, really goofy but also very serious. He's personable enough that you could potentially pair him with almost anyone, and all of that that lends itself nicely to a variety of storylines. He's also one of the shinigami that bridges the gap. He's just as comfortable in the Human World as in the Soul Society, so you can put him in either place or let him jump back and forth--which makes him more accessable to a reader, I think, because he can use casual language and modern referrences (and yet can be baffled by certain things for humorous effect). In canon, he's also almost always AT LEAST tangentally involved in all the storylines, so you can pull him from any point in the time-space continuim, depeding on the story you want to explore. Plus, since he's so close to his zanpakuto, he's a great vehicle to explore all the magical sword/soul connections stuff that really gets me going about Bleach.

Anyway, it was great to find someone who would at least nod and smile when I talked about this and they reminded me of the awesome that is Captain Komamura, too. (This one is by Tite Kubo, not me:)



They told me a wonderful story about a cosplayer who surprised Kubo-Sensei by doing a perfect bucket-head costume while ALSO doing the fox-face underneath. And, we spent a lot of time talking about the cool ways in which Bleach can appeal to furry fans, both with Komamura and Yoruichi (and Gin and Renji if you buy my personal head canon.)

Did I meantion I had a blast? I did. What awesome folks! You should all go and check out SofaWolf's website and follow them on Twitter!

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* I will remind anyone just now tuning in that you are no longer ever allowed to snicker into your sleeves about furries or furry fandom in my presence. Look, I get it. I used to feel the same way before I met furry folks and realized just how much furry writing I actually enjoy. But, I have never met nicer people then the ones I shared Gaylaxicon with, so just forget it!

It's been a long time since I've posted my fan art here, so I'm afraid there's a bit of a backlog. First off, I have some "random Renji":



Then, I have several that go along with a piece of collaborative fan fic which I wrote with fellow Bleach aficionado and writer empty_mirrors. Our story picks up shortly after Aizen's betrayal and Ichigo's return to Karakara Town, and Renji has been assigned to the human world under the "care" of Urahara and his fellow outlaws at the shoten. Things go awry, as they say.. You can read what we've posted so far, here: http://archiveofourown.org/series/29688



And, then things get even "worse" for our boy Renji:



Then I had fun imagining newly Vizard!Renji in a moment, I'd like to call, "Surprise, Taicho!"



There are actually a few more, but this is enough for now. Enjoy!

Today, I'll post my most recent fan art.  Tomorrow, I'm planning on updating you all about my exciting trip to LaCrosse to visit the folks and relive my memories of Oktoberfest. 

Here's Renji, and in a twist, his hair is down and his clothes are ON.  I know, weird, right?

I have a penpal who lives in Seatle, WA.  Sometime ago, I decided that she needed not just my scintilating words, but also my art.  So, when you see the picture I'm about to post, imagine the top blank section filled with words of greeting, well wishes, tales of my life, tribulations, etc.

Don't you wish YOU were my penpal?



Although, you wouldn't right now.  I just sent this lovely picture of Renji to my penpal filled with tales of woe, mostly.  I've been contemplating what I might have to do if a book contract doesn't pan out soon.  Today, I'm working parttime over the High Holidays to help out a friend with her dog walking business.  It's not going to pull the "big bucks," but, well, a year without income has kind of sucked for me.  Turns out that starving artist gig really only works best if you don't have a family or a kid.  :-)

But, like Renji, I'm not beaten yet.  I've got a really cool idea for the proposal (the one I went Kelly Barnhill on) and I think with a bit more work, it will be ready for the big league.  Fingers crossed my editor agrees with me.

So, the problem with art, like writing, is that sometimes the good one gets away.  There are some characters I CAN NOT DRAW no matter how many times I try.  I struggle with Byakuya.  His cold beauty eludes me.  However, I wrote a scene in which a couple of images of him kept sticking in my brain, so I gave it a go.

I'm not happy with these, thus they remain sketches.  Also, I have to apologize for the quality of the photo.  The camera I usually use is off for "First Day of Fourth Grade" pictures, so I had to try us the iPad's camera feature to somewhat dubious affect. 


Here is Byakuya and Yachiru as they sit on the bridge at the Kuchiki estate discussing the fact that Byakuya's life has been rather friendless and sad. I kind of like Byakuya here, and his expression.  Yachiru looks too old, alas.  She's surprisingly difficult to draw, though I think I got her hair.  (She's wearing kitty ears, and doesn't come with them.  This is a reference to a Bleach omake in which she is clearly stealing the carp from the Kuchiki estate dressed in a kitty costume.)

Below is a later moment when she talks him into trying to go to a party.



I'd really wanted to include Byakuya's muddy feet, because that figures so strongly into the story (which, btw, you can read at: http://archiveofourown.org/works/501531.)  But, apparently I suck at getting the whole body onto the page.  Ah well. I think sometimes it's good to share our failures as well.  I hope you enjoy seeing these attempts.

Okay, apparently, I had about three more pictures of Renji-as-grrl in me.  So here they are.  If you are super-senstive about things that are Not Safe For Work, I will warn you now that there is a minty-fresh kiss at the very end of this set.  Don't look if it will get you in trouble, but it's very PG-13.

Here's Renji-grrl bankai:


Now, this one I wan't entirely pleased with, but I will post it because there are things I still like about it.  For one, I wanted to show the difference in the height between Renji and her lover-captain, Byakuya.



Okay, so close your eyes if you're not up for this...

I don't have much, but since I am writing to my pen pal again, I attempted a new picture of Renji.  Not entirely happy with the results, though:

I have a bit of fan art to share today. When we got home from LaCrosse, we were all so wiped out that all Mason and I wanted to do was watch Bleach. But, Netflix pooped out on us after episode 112 or something, like that, so we've been forced over to Hulu. Which means "limited commerical interruption." Thus, during the commericals I've been inking and coloring old pieces.

Here's a surprised looking Byakuya Kuchiki:


My boy Renji Abarai:


Renji with Zabimaru:


Hollow Ichigo: