Diary will changes 📓📅

Today was a sunny day, slightly cloudy, no rain, great weather for running. To my surprise, I managed to lower my time again over 3 laps of 700m, totaling 2.1km in 10:23. I started a bit stronger on the 1st lap, on the 2nd lap I had to slow the pace a little and on the 3rd lap I had to work on my mindset so I wouldn't give up hahaha. I was feeling my lower back on that last lap because of the hack squat where I loaded 5 plates of 20 kg on each side, 200 kg total on the last set of 3 sets and this was before the run. I always run after going to the gym. To endure that "light" pain, I grabbed my house keychain that was in my pocket and squeezed it with one hand. I believe it helped, because depending on how hard I squeezed, the lower back pain would go away. I didn't feel any pain after I stopped running and went back home, but next time I do the hack squat, I'll ask an instructor to check if I'm doing it correctly 😅.

BigMoster2_1, the Demon, his Battler VX design is quite iconic, his pose is intimidating and his face reminds me of a reptile. I feel that if I were a mage 🧙‍♂️ in an ancient dwarf mine with huge chasms and narrow walkways, I'd be afraid of him appearing at that moment and dragging me down into the depths with that flaming whip 😄.

Due to my lack of time these days, like yesterday/today and it will be like this for the coming weeks, I'm going to change the posting frequency. I would really like to maintain daily consistency, 261 days a year, leaving weekends out so I don't overload myself, but "volume" doesn't always mean quality. I spent some long time to finish this sprite. I know that for smaller designs of humans or anthropomorph, the number of sprites made is higher, but there are other things I need to worry about right now that demand more time and focus. I usually don't talk much about my personal life, I keep Victor SenArt just for pixel art, things related to RPG Maker, game dev and the like. And there are so many things I'd like to do that I ended up leaving on "standby" or on a "to-do list", such as:

Making more pixel art of other things not related to RPG Maker;
Adding more recommendations to the LINK 🔗 page of this blog, so far I haven't added any in the sounds category and there are many URLs in a notepad here to check;
Better organizing the other pages of the blog, as well as creating a decent layout/design with pixel art for the page tabs and gadgets for the mobile version of the blog. For that, I lack the knowledge or the $ to pay someone appropriate to work (code thing) on the PC/mobile themes, not a priority at the moment, just like paying for a custom domain without ".blogspot", which I've set aside for now;
I have old games from the CD with magazine era and some from users from back when the communities were more active. I uploaded a small portion to an appropriate site for games made with Maker engines, RMArchiv. But it takes time to check the authors if there's more than one creator, whether there's another version released currently, the URLs of official pages created by those authors, opening the games to verify they work because of that issue with old/new/Japanese/English RTP versions being different and taking gameplay screenshots;
Interviewing other artists who worked with Tkool/Maker engines/software at some point in their careers. But it takes time to gather content, verify information, images, URLs and craft questions appropriate for the interviewee. Just like it took me a long time to interview MACK, she one of the few people who were involved in several products in the series and some things ended up being left out that I only found later. There's also the need for someone who can translate the questions into Japanese, who unfortunately disappeared from the maker communities and I lost contact;
Recording more games made with the Maker series engines, especially the lesser known ones, the ones I bought and still haven't played yet hehehe... Ah and of course, indie games in general that attract me in some way, like Al and the Underground Labyrinth recently.

For now, I'll remove the COMMISSION 💲 page. I'll use Discord less, as well as other social networks like X (Twitter) and I'm thinking about checking social media only on weekends or twice a week at spaced intervals. Don't worry if you need or want to get in contact, I won't disappear completely, I'll just take a few days to reply. I won't stop recording games on weekends, I need that distraction and playing games is a good way to relax, just like swimming and practicing physical activities, which also take up my time. However, they're essential for future health and for my work.

A busy day 🤔

I didn't have much time and had to deal with some personal issues, so I started sketching the shapes for what would be the VX version of the Demon. I already believe that the VX Ace version won't need that many modifications to work as a walking sprite. I still plan to tweak the VX version, as I feel the shoulder area ended up too thick compared to Battler.

So sleeeepy... 😴

I woke up early to some really heavy rain, got up at 6am, made coffee with scrambled eggs, got ready and went to the gym... "where's the rain?" I did my workout routine and felt more tired than usual, but even so I decided to run and managed to surprise myself by lowering my time from 11:04 (yesterday) to 10:39 (today). The whole time I kept thinking, "don't look at the clock, don't look" and the fact that I slightly changed my body lean and the way I finished each step while running, I believe, helped me beat that time. Ideally now, though, the goal is to maintain it and not let the time go above 11 minutes for 2,1km.

WIP_BigMonster1_4, instead of taking the original Character and modifying it, I took parts like the rattle at the end of the Lamia. I used the template itself and tried to match the same pose, with the difference that in the Battler VX version I tried to make it more curved, while the Battler VX Ace version is more upright. It looks finished, but I'm still unhappy with the colors I used to separate the textures. I think I'll tweak it a bit more.

But the pixel art frequency dropped 📉

I still haven't improved my sleep, I ended up going to bed late from yesterday to today and woke up very early at 5:45 a.m. I couldn't swim today, but I went to the gym later and even managed to run 3 laps of 700m in 11:04 without feeling any pain.

Since the day was hectic and I didn't have time to open the software I use to make pixel art, I didn't get to work on the next one, which would be the Lamia. So, to avoid leaving the post without any pixel art, sprite or character frame, I'll leave these 3 below, which are designs from Loose Leaf (for RM2000/2003 version), from the artist MACK’s homepage.

Staying consistent with the posting frequency 📜

A new month, one less month until next year. It feels far away, but January went by for me as if it only lasted two weeks... I finally managed to play Sea of Stars. I'm playing it in my native language and this game has caught my attention ever since I played its demo in a port city, but only now have I been able to play the full version, so much so that I'm unlocking achievements as I play through Steam. The pixel art in this game is very beautiful, the story seems interesting so far and I like the battle system. The fact that you can deal extra damage reminds me of Super Mario RPG on the Super Nintendo and a bit of The Legend of Dragoon on the PS1, oh how I wish this game had a prequel... D: I was so entertained that I didn't notice the time,  only on the second to last save did I realize it was already almost Sunday dawn.

Golden Kamuy, "Kadokura! Kadokura! Kadokura!" ha ha ha this anime is very good. The protagonists were separated again, so sad.

Shibou Yuugi, I didn't really understand why they decided to vote for Chie, I thought they would vote for the girl with short white hair or the blonde one, since she was a "complicated" leader.

Sentenced to Be a Hero, now they've gone on another mission, a snowy location. I liked the setting and the fortress. It seems the group's con artist had bad luck by being sentenced to be a hero.

Jujutsu Kaisen, another reference, no one talks about fight club. What a shame, I wanted to know how the principal ended up that way, but they didn't show it, I imagine the manga doesn't either.

Sousou no Frieren, there can never be a lack of a hot spring in an anime, never... Good episode. Memories of difficult moments aren't always the worst to remember if you were well accompanied, someday they'll become topics in conversations with friends, reminiscing about the past and laughing a lot, personal experience, trust me. I found it very funny to see Frieren crying and throwing a tantrum like a little child and I'm interested to see how this meeting between Fern and Stark will turn out.

To Your Eternity, what a bizarre birthday party, could it be that Fushi is starting to understand his friend's dreams and that each person must follow their own mortal path?

Gnosia, so this is the truth of the anime hmm... I was expecting more, like an explanation of the connection between the powers and the Gnosia infection as well. Maybe they'll explain it later, since there are 21 episodes in total.

Trigun, Vash actually defeated his brother, but it's Knive's henchmen who are rebuilding him... Now his hair is like in the manga, black and blond. I was a bit confused after this episode's ending, are the concept arts by the manga author or did another artist create them for the anime? By the way, Vash's had a different style, top. I would definitely use it as an avatar if it were back in the days of RPG Maker communities, with my old nickname Vash.

Today I woke up at dawn startled by very heavy rain. It’s nice when it rains while you’re sleeping at night, but since I woke up, it took me a long time to fall back asleep. So it was another sleepy day, and today I want to go to bed early.

BigMonster1_3, the Kerberos, only exists in the VX Ace version. In its original Character, it has dark blue fur, so I decided to modify the original Character to give it a pose for a walking cycle on an map. What I didn't like was making the three tails point downward, I personally found it strange. However, if it's standing still on an open map, it would also be strange to see the three tails in an upward swaying position. I didn't have much trouble making this one, since I had done it before and used the original as a reference. I made some slight modifications and changed its color palette.

Unsatisfactory result... 😥

I did my workout at the gym and when I was about to run, it started raining. I don't like running on the treadmill, but this time I had to. I couldn't run for very long, I felt pain in both calves. I used a hot water bottle to help. The morning stayed rainy and the weather even changed. I slept poorly last night, so I felt sleepy all day... x.x

BigMonster1_2, the Evilking, I finished the edit following the Battler VX Ace details, thinking it would look good, but honestly, I didn't like the result :/.

Not much time to pixelate today ⌚👨‍🎨

Today we swam with fins. If I'm not mistaken, it was 1000m to start, 500m of kicking with a kickboard and 500m with fins and paddles. In total it was 2km, if I'm not forgetting anything else he he. 2km is very little compared to what I'm used to, but when you use fins, the workout gets tougher and the fact that I did 500m of kicking without the fins already left me tired. After that I went to the gym and followed my workout plan. I managed to increase the weights on all the machines and exercises, so I was satisfied, but I still haven't been able to get back to doing 11~12 reps on the pull up bar :/.

WIP_BigMonster1_2, I finished the adjustments to the Battler VX design and started working on the original Character related to VX Ace, but I didn't have much time today to finish it. Maybe I'll be able to finish it tomorrow. So I decided to show two human characters I made some time ago based on the CharSet designs of a famous artist in the RPG Maker scene. Do you recognize them?

Where is the unit's pilot? 🤖👦

Once again I only managed to run 2 laps of 700 meters, I need to improve. I'm not managing to make much progress on pull ups, so I need to take other measures to increase the number of repetitions.

WIP_BigMonster1_2, the Evilking, as I had already written, the larger the character, the longer it takes. Some adjustments are still needed, and I couldn't make a version that's as faithful to the Battler VX Ace, even though the original Character is already faithful in its details. So for now I still haven't finished the Battler VX version, which in my opinion feels more like a final boss than the VX Ace version. The VX version reminds me of something alien+technology, the first thing that came to mind were the EVAs from Evangelion. I did the same as the battler, covering the knee... so if it had the full body, I believe it would be the biggest sprite I've ever made, once again feeling like a final boss from some game.

1min 11s 63ms in 100m with 100% effort 🏊‍♂️🥵

Today I managed to go swimming, but since I needed to buy a few things at the supermarket, I ended up not going to the gym... and yeah, prices keep going up with each passing month :/.

BigMonster1_1, the Chimera, are both different, even because they are a Chimera. The first design refers to the Battler VX and the second to the Battler VX Ace. For both sprites, I followed the idea of the original Character.

MSG:Blocked passage / EV:GATE Switch OFF ⚡ щ(゜ロ゜щ)

The rain stopped on Saturday, Sunday was sunny, but it wasn't that hot. This weekend I was busy, so I couldn't play another game. I'm thinking about playing Sea of Stars, which I bought along with The Messenger a long time ago. I only played for a few minutes, it would probably be better to restart from scratch since I don't remember what happens at the beginning and apparently there's already a new free DLC.

So many animes, oh my @ . @ ...
Golden Kamuy, I don't know which one is more bizarre, Jack or Tokishige. Also, so many deaths. Even in the serious moments of this anime, they still manage to make me laugh with comedic parts.
Shibou Yuugi, this Yuki is pretty scary, apparently.
Jujutsu Kaisen, a very well animated episode. So many things happened that I couldn't miss a single second of it. Also, I noticed the reference to Kill Bill, I just don't remember if the famous Kill Bill scene was inspired by another work of entertainment.
Sentenced to Be a Hero, as I imagined, the goddess appeared to save them, but it was good to see the other two heroes getting some spotlight in this episode.
Sousou no Frieren, the character design in this work is very good. Even for a hero who appears in only one episode, her journey and the flashbacks so far only make me want to discover what her first journey with the group of heroes was like, even knowing that this isn’t the focus of the story.
Gnosia, it was interesting. First time putting an fanatic to vary the repetitions and having a Gnosia sacrifice another Gnosia. I liked the anime and each cycle, but I imagine there isn't much more to get out of this theme. I was left without answers from that princess(?) about the truth of Gnosia.
To Your Eternity, Mizuha is bizarre aaaah DD: You can't hold people forever, they have their own paths to walk alone, on their own two legs.
Trigun, good episode. The group finally comes together, Vash's abilities are exceptional. The good thing about this animation style is that it allows creating these moments. Even so, I saw some fans questioning a few frames in the previous episode. I prefer having a well animated season that adapts the rest of the story that was never adapted than a poorly animated adaptation like Berserk 2018(?) and more recently, One Punch Man, which I didn't have the courage to watch past episode 2. D:

A new week starting, but I couldn't work out at the gym or go running today :/. I woke up early with heavy rain, it eased up and I decided to go out, but right after I opened the gate, it didn't want to close and the power had gone out because 2 of the gate remotes weren't working. I can't leave the house with the gate open. I tried using the manual to close it and couldn't, I heard a noise as if a part inside the motor fell into the motor box. So I spent a lot of time and effort figuring out the correct order to fit the 3 small pieces. After that, the power came back and I managed to close the gate with remote, but when I finished, it was already too late for me to go train...

I don't know if I'll be able to keep posting daily during the week. The bigger the character design, the longer it takes to make and after Monster3, it would be BigMonster1... 2 and then the Coffin? By the way, I don't recall seeing a game made in RM using that sprite. But to make the Coffin, ideally I should make the Vampire first, so I can size it according to their height.
Monster3_8, Spider. The original Character design closely follows the Battler VX Ace, I only adapted the palette. I'm thinking about making the spider bigger, like the Scorpion, I'm undecided... The first frame I tried to do according to the Battler VX. I don't know if I represented it well, since the Battler's position is sideways and I tried to add more light to the middle part, simulating that this part of the spider is more prominent and forward in the image, while closer to the head it would go inward or into the background at this angle.