Well, I finally got it done. This is the character badge I just finished for  Immortal_Vanguard , who won the contest from this post http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25250485 . Hope you like it.

It has been a long time since I drew anything. In fact, my last art submission was like a year and a half ago. I been trying to get back into the groove but something seems to always pop up before I can get started or those few times I did manage an attempt, it failed horribly before it got far. I got into a terrible rut indeed.

Finally winning that Halloween costume contest at work put me in a better mood along with attending my first furry con. So I thought maybe a "simple" badge contest will kickstart my arting back into gear. Still took me a few weeks though. But here it is in all its glory or something.

Overall, I think it actually turned out good. I do like how the fur effects turned out, which took forever as I tried several drawing programs like Krita, FireAlpaca, and even this one called MediBang. None of them could do the fur effects that I envisioned despite toying around with them for hours. I am sure there are ways of doing it but I just couldn't get what I wanted. I probably have to download special brushes or something. So I went back to the ol' standby, GIMP.

GIMP might not be the best drawing software out there, but it does one thing that I can get the others to do right, and that is the smudge tool. I use that heavily in making my fur. I find that I make that "layered" look with it quite easily. All the other programs so called smudge brushes mostly blend or blur colors, not actually smear them. Well, not when I messed with the settings. Again, there is probably a way but I couldn't find how and I already spent too much time on it.

So why not use keep using GIMP in the first place? Well, it has a few issues of its own like a bit laggy on the smudge tool. It doesn't skip around like some of the other programs, just slow to catch up. However, it is not so bad to be a show-stopper. Another thing is the support for my tablet is not all that great. The lastest version actually breaks the strokes, making my tablet totally useless. Luckily an older version at least worked good enough to get something. As for the other software, they all worked great with my tablet right off the bat for the most part. Too bad the poor smudge too and other nagging issues drove me back to GIMP despite its own problem. Oh well, it'll have to do until something comes along that works everywhere.

Along with the fur, I am pleased with the lettering. I do wish I did more with it especially the borders but it looks fine as it sits. The shield, however, looks all funky and messed up. I wanted smoother lines but I had so many issues that I ended up spatting out that thing. Gods, it looks terrible. Maybe on day I'll redo that part but I am so tired of working on it.

If anyone wants to learn on how I did that fur, let me know. I might make a tutorial on it if people have an interest. Also, if anybody know a program other than GIMP that have a proper smudge brush or how to set up the other programs I tried, let me know.

Who actually read all that? I have a felling nobody waded though that epic saga. I don't write often but tend to go a tad overboard when I do. Anyway, here's to the new year, may it be better than the last. Hopefully I can get back into doing art projects again. We'll see... we'll see.