(OC by @/okeydokeyboyo.bsky.social)

(Originally posted on 2026-01-04)

it was Boyo's birthday on Halloween! Boyo seems to love pencil drawings ―he's been pencil drawing cakes on pretty much all birthdays celebrated in our mutual Discord server. So I decided to uno reverse card and make one for him as well.

... yeah, I know. I'm posting this more than TWO months late. I'm so sorry 😭 Life has been stressful 💀 and writing these texts sometimes feels daunting. But i handed in the gift in time, so it's all good! (i hope) ¬¬

I'm reaally happy with the pumpkins, which simulate whipped cream. They're not that impressive, but I remember drawing them quite seemlessly. It felt 'intuitive,' and I remember the same couldn't be said about older drawings of mine. It's cool to feel progress apart from just seeing it visually.

Likewise, I feel quite proud of how I'm having more 'creative' ideas on the drawings. Just silly details like having a halloweeny arm replace a boring candle. I've been noticing it in all my recent art, and I'm confirming that creativity is a learned and trained skill.

Everything was going quite well, until a thought popped up in my mind. 'Hmm, yeah! I should blend the tones!' Horrible idea 🥀 The paper texture actually looked quite cool, and that charm was lost after rubbing the tissue over the drawing.

I knew this could happen, but I wanted to try regardless. I had some hope that it would improve the result, but it didn't. So I'm kinda sad I don't have an undo button, to keep the non-blended version as canon. But i guess this bittersweet feeling is part of what traditional art is about.

Please go show my fella some support! :)