Kristen Maslanka's Fantastic Realities

In the post-apocalyptic world I'm designing for "Skip to my Loo" those that live within boundaries live in an anarchist society. Everything from antique stores and military surplus stores to expensive brand stores have been abandoned and thus are free for pillaging. During gameplay, this is an element that will distinguish what type of allegiances and priorities npc's, enemies, and more will have.  Those with the protection of larger groups are more likely to prefer image and fashion overdressing for survival etc. The player character gets to wear anything they find. Will you go for protection, or will you go for showmanship?

I'm always excited when the Olympics come along. It's a great chance to watch people from all over the world defy odds, come together and make history. As an added bonus, it's great to study and draw from. Anyhow, I wanted to feature some of my favorite overwatch characters in different Olympic sports. It's been a lot of fun trying to study each of the costumes for the sports and each of the props they use. 

Recently, I purchased " The Whole Seed Catalog from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds 2018." Every page is filled with colorful and detailed photographs of fruits and vegetables galore. I decided to challenge myself and create a creature a day inspired by one photograph a page. I started a little timidly, with more loose sketches, then honed  into creating one creature each challenge. This has been an inspiring challege, and something I intend to continue and learn from. (( As an added bonus I'm learning more about Botanics!))

Honestly, there's nothing like sitting back with your sketchbook and just playing around with doodles and fun designs. It's a great opportunity to work on aspects I can improve *coughhandscough* and on new materials or methods! 

Inktober 23- Juicy. Remember plucking those juicy peaches right off the tree and trying not to drip everywhere? Inktober 28-- The Fall 

October 20th was Jackal and October 21'st was Demigod, which I thought quite apropos! Firstly, I adore jackals, and secondly, I adore the jackal-headed god Anubis. When I was younger a friend of mine had a birthday at Universal Studios where they had just put in a Mummy walkthrough haunted-house type thing. My friends and I decided to dare to tackle going through it by playing our roleplay characters and making a game of it.  W e were young and thus very easily scared. The 'spookers' jumped out at us and chased us down the hall, lights flickered and screams from people we'd never met echoed down the halls.  However, we had an obsession with dogs and mythology and frequently brought her pups as characters in our roleplaying. Because of that we looked to the Anubis statues to "guide us" we larped our way out of that haunted house, following Anubis as our guide. What would have been a maze, fortunately, wasn't for us because the Anubis statues appare...

I've had so much fun exploring new inking techniques. I've been digging out my Joseph Clement Coll and Bernie Wrightson books and setting them beside my Heinrich Kley books, pouring over their work. It's marvelous the power of line work. I recall visiting an exhibit at the Getty-- Gustav Klimt and the Magic of Line. Throughout the exhibit they demonstrated examples of his fluid line and I was smitten. What we can do with line is remarkable, so I'd like to bring that to my work as well.