in my restless dreams

evening!

as stated in my earlier entry: bumped into a couple of things i hadn't considered this first week back in the routine, so don't have too many sketches to share! nonetheless, they can be found below the cut!

( sketches from jan 05-11 )

SO. i think i've gotten a loose creative plan for the upcoming year. emphasis on LOOSE; since this is the first time i'm gonna try having a more specific 'plan' (instead of something general and hard to measure), i'm gonna make myself start with a simple set of goal posts.

the primary goals:

finish character sheets/profiles for my remaining primary OCs. this would cover nyxram, gwyn, ash and darach. i'm giving myself roughly three months for each; nyxram's will be worked on january through march and completed by the end of march, gwyn's will be worked on april through june and completed by the end of june, and so on with ash and lastly darach.

alongside these, i'd like to return to regular art studies on the weekends in the mornings. i'll try to have a subject matter chosen and assigned to each month in the next few days. IF possible, a final goal would be to spend about two hours of 'cool down' time every day on a simpler/smaller sketch. i'll try to post/share all of these, but, if i'm having a particularly shit day, i give myself permission to not stress about sharing.

these cool down sketches, if shared, will be posted on my tumblr as they're done, and i think for dreamwidth i'll start a 'sketchbook sundays' tag where i'll post them all at once, once a week.

these goals will "go into effect" on january 5th when i return to the office. i'm not gonna start aiming for them hardcore until i'm back in my usual routine; i think trying to start them next week when i'm still on vacation will just throw my brain through more of a loop than i need to. my remaining vacation time will remain a bit loosey-goosey, especially since i'm trying to draw my own lil icons based off the catgirl ones i've been using. just with my likeness. think it'll unify the space a bit more, and also just be kinda fun to have for here and my tumblr space.

i might also take that first third of the year as a 'trial period'. see if how things go with nyxram's profile were smooth or not, if i feel like i can keep the energy up, etc. if i'm feeling good, i'll lock in (bible girl) and proceed with the year's plan... AS planned. if not, i'll readjust.

all this being said, i might take the year off making gifts. --more elaborate ones, at least. i could probably still work birthday presents into my cool down sketch periods. u-u i just think i need to allow myself to be a little 'selfish' this year and focus on art for myself. i've not done that much in the past two years. i'm NOT complaining!! i love drawing for other folks so, so much (otherwise i wouldn't do it), but the handful of times i've been asked to find references for my own OCs i'm just... smacked in the face with how little i draw them despite 'mentally updating' them. so much of my art feels 'out-dated' because of it. i'm such a fake OC haver.

iiiii THINK that might be it (for now). if i think of anything else before the 5th, i'll come back and update this as needed. c:< hope anyone reading this had a lovely holiday (if you were celebrating anything), and that your weekend is chill.

g'morning!

with it being november now, that would mean holiday breaks are on the horizon. i tend to spend those planning, trying to chip away at projects like a mad woman, or attempting to just unwind and decompress in general. something i've been mentally bouncing around--but haven't put to paper--is a new way of blocking out my schedule. ...my creative schedule, anyway, seeing as there's not much i can do to alter my work schedule.

i fell off the wagon in regard to regular art studies, and almost all of my blocked time is dedicated TO art. feel like there should be a few writing blocks in there as well. i think a regular/recurring tag or post type might become "saturday studies" or "sketchbook sundays"--something in that ballpark. i'm still on track to finish my first pass on the leviathan worldbuilding method by the year's end, so i might consider "world wednesdays" as well, though maybe allow that to be a bi-weekly sort of thing.

unsure! but i have: thoughts. and i plan on setting aside some time over one of the upcoming holidays to restructure my time. a bit of change might be good for brain-rut, too.

wip for a current thing under the cut! hope y'all's weekend is well.
( Read more... )

an excruciatingly long ramble about the ‘03 turtles and the enneagram 🐢💜 pt4

this is a 5-part series i shared back in 2023 where i analyzed the 2003 turtles through an enneagram lens. thought i'd cross-post/share them here, too; i'm proud of them, spent well over a year researching/writing them, and wanna ensure they're kept for archiving purposes. i might tidy a thing or two while cross-posting but, for the most part, these will be in the original state i posted them in.

--------------------------------------------
[ intro + disclaimers post ]
[ pt 2 - raph ]
[ pt 3 - leo ]
[ pt 5 - mikey ]

don, 5 with a 4 wing

intro

alright, donnie-bear, it’s your turn in the spotlight. which i know you hate, so i’ll try not to keep you too long.

don doesn’t really get to have like… a season-wide growth or 'arc' of sorts (leo’s is a main focus of season four and raph’s is more of a subtle thing you can notice as the series progresses). what’s interesting is, in some ways, being a 5 could explain that. IF we wanted to be charitable and say never addressing the wild shit don goes through was intentional. but i know that’s more self-indulgence or wanting to gently take the writers by their shoulders and shake them on my end.

please, flying spaghetti monster, get these boys some goddamn therapy.

let’s begin.

bare basics of the 5
( Read more... )

childhood take-aways
( Read more... )

don as a 5
( Read more... )

stress & security numbers
( Read more... )

cardinal sins - 5 and greed
( Read more... )

SaiNW and don straight up disappearing
( Read more... )

brains and brawn? you mean don.
( Read more... )

yet another section about the first half of season 4
( Read more... )

conclusion
( Read more... )

anyway, i’m very excited. mikey’s the last one to go, and--as i had a reason i chose to cover raph first--i have a reason i chose to cover mikey last. the reason might be evident if you’ve been paying attention, too. but i’ll elaborate on that a bit more once we get into the post itself. u-u/!

thank you so, so much for reading yet again, and i hope you enjoy the warm drinks and snacks i set out for you. see you in the next one!

an excruciatingly long ramble about the '03 turtles and the enneagram 🐢❤️ pt2

this is a 5-part series i shared back in 2023 where i analyzed the 2003 turtles through an enneagram lens. thought i'd cross-post/share them here, too; i'm proud of them, spent well over a year researching/writing them, and wanna ensure they're kept for archiving purposes. i might tidy a thing or two while cross-posting but, for the most part, these will be in the original state i posted them in.

--------------------------------------------
[ intro + disclaimers post ]
[ pt 3 - leo ]
[ pt 4 - don ]
[ pt 5 - mikey ]

raph, 8 with a 7 wing

intro + why raph

welcome to the first of these giant posts. i’m. not kidding, you’re gonna click ‘read more’ and see why this series is titled “an excruciatingly long ramble”. i’ve done my best to section it off so you might have an easier time finding your place again if you need or want to take breaks. there’s no way i’m going to cover everything there is to talk about, so i might write and link ‘addendums’ to these posts later on as i think of things.

since raph is the first one, his might be a bit longer than the other three because there are a few enneagram terms that i’ll define as we go. you can then take those with you to the upcoming three posts. so please bear with me, grab a snack, a drink, some nice background music, and WE RIDE.

• . • . •
i wanted to start this project with raph because i feel like we start the series at his lowest/unhealthiest point.

only four episodes into the show (meet casey jones, s1ep4) we see him lose control of his temper in a serious way: he attacks mikey. throughout the rest of the episode he's forced to ‘face himself’ in casey and start monitoring his anger.

while we see him continue to grapple with his anger throughout the series, this is his worst moment. he has nowhere to go but up. in contrast, we see leo in probably his healthiest state of mind at the beginning of the series only to be at his worst in the first half of season 4. but back to raph; we'll have time for leo later.

as the series continues, we see glimpses of this temper rear its head again, with some examples being at the end of their encounter with karai in city at war (s2ep16) or during his fight with traximus in the battle nexus (s2ep24). in these instances, we get a close-up shot of his eyes narrowing and, with traximus, the area around them darkening. this was something that was specifically focused on during s1ep4 whenever he began to lose control. the loss of control is still THERE, it’s just less frequent now. he’s growing.

i think it’s also important to highlight that mikey ribs on him during the battle nexus (s2ep25) not unlike how he does in s1ep4, too. sure, they might be in an environment that shields them from danger of serious injuries, but i think it says a LOT that mikey’s comfortable provoking raph to the degree he does. raph’s acted on his apology, has done work, and mikey knows this. he's watched him do it. it's time already to be The Worst™ again.

but enough about why i chose raph to go first; let's cover the basics of an 8.

bare basics of the 8
( Read more... )

childhood take-aways
( Read more... )

raph as an 8
( Read more... )

stress & security numbers
( Read more... )

cardinal sins - 8 and lust
( Read more... )

city at war
( Read more... )

darkness within
( Read more... )

the first half of season four and leo’s… gestures vaguely
( Read more... )

conclusion
( Read more... )

for now, we're going to stay in the instinct triad and move over to leo. and from leo, we'll go to don because they both have a foot in the feeling/heart triad.

see you in the next one and, if you read all this, here's a platter of warm cookies of your favorite choice. and your favorite drink to wash it down. you're the realest.

here's an intro-meme i filled out from the newcomers community! thought i'd share it over here, too. for the lads.

about section will be out of a cut, but i'll put the other sections in cuts! original template can be found in this entry!

ABOUT YOU:
username: redstringraven
your other online venues: tumblr and ao3
your approximate location: USA (lurking in silent hill)
any other important personal details you want to share:
i am in the USA but obviously not silent hill; placing myself there is more for privacy and also keeping a general aesthetic/theme for my online spaces.

YOUR INTERESTS AND ACTIVITIES
( what languages do you speak? )

ABOUT YOUR BLOG
( what is your dreamwidth blog like? )

YOUR BLOG-READING HABITS
( how often do you check your friends feed? )

CURRENTLY...
( reading... )

g'morning, lads!

i'm not sure what the 'expected' method is around these parts for sharing artwork, but consider this a test-run as i share a few of my favorite pieces from may, july and august of this year. might also share one of my shorter fics later today to test-run how that'll look in this space as well. i have a fic i wrote for the tmnt zine: leader in blue that i'll be allowed to post publicly on the 19th, and i'm very excited to finally get to share that on a wider scale!!

[edit, 10.10.25]: art can be found in the cuts! i've been told there're some clever ways to format/stack images neatly, but i've yet to look into those. will try to have those possibilities explored at least a little before i post several larger pieces at a time!

( MAY 2025 Screenshot Redraws )

( JULY 2025 - Who Has Time for Tears? )

( AUGUST 2025 ~ Neglected Space )

think that's it for now! curious to use this as further testing grounds for how journal tags work and other bits of organization, that sort of thing. hopefully after adding the cut, the images will remain formatted like i have them here. in the preview they keep defaulting to left justify. >->;; 

godspeed, lads. hope your weekend's treated you well.