Fridaayyy! 🏋️‍♀️🚶‍♂️💼📚👨‍🎨😴

Aaaaah, I slept badly, took forever to fall back asleep and woke up really tired today. I still went to the gym, but I didn't run this time... the day dragged on and it took me a while to finish today's sprites.

Spiritual_3, the Wind Spirit 🌪, follows the same logic as the Fire Spirit. I just represented, from left to right, the Battler from the VX version, the Face/Bust and the Character. I left out the Battler VX Ace because it looks similar to the second and third designs. I only made the first design because she's floating and wearing a cloak along with that dark blue silk around her neck.

The supermarket cart thief 🛒, how low have we sunk 🤦‍♂️...

Today, like every Thursday, I went swimming. But this time I skipped the gym because I needed to go to the supermarket earlier to do some shopping. I went through a bizarre situation, after grabbing a shopping cart and putting two items in it, I went to get a third one, I had to crouch down to find the exact product I wanted among several similar ones so I pick one unit. In that brief moment with my back turned to the cart, suddenly, when I turned around, "where's the cart?". I walked a bit further down the aisle and noticed a guy walking quickly with a similar to my empty cart at the end of another aisle. "Could that be him or not?" I don't know. Since I didn't catch the person red-handed, it wasn't worth causing a scene without being sure... bizarre, stealing just for a decent shopping cart. It's disheartening to see how much respect has declined in recent years. Honestly, I felt like confronting the person or slashing their car tires. In my 29 years of life, aside from the classic "cuts the line", I'd never seen something like this before...

Unlike Spiritual_1, with Spiritual_2 I was able to create four different designs. Although the first one, Battler VX Ace, of the Water Spirit 💧, is identical to the fourth, Character VX, except for changes in skin tone, ears and outfit, the hair stayed the same even though I tweaked the palette to a more vibrant blue. The second one, Battler VX, looks like she’s wearing wide boots, but her footwear is actually more like skin-tight boots or something very close-fitting. Unfortunately, I can't represent that very well due to the sprite's height, maybe I'll change it later. I really liked how she turned out in the second version, the shape of the dress combined with the water effect flowing from her waist resembles a mermaid's tail.

While checking my social media and pages, curiosity catch me, it had been a while since I looked at the control panel of my itch.io page and suddenly I got a surprise, the download count was such a exact number "999".

"Don't give up, Victor! Don't stop running now!!!"😤🏃‍♂️💭

I woke up with the transverse part of my trapezius muscle sore on both sides, I think I slept in a bad position. I did a few shoulder rolls backward, which helped relieve the pain. Obviously, I didn't skip the gym, I did my daily workout, but I still feel like I'm not progressing enough to get past 10 reps pull up, I want more! After the gym, I ran back home, 1.91 km in 12 minutes and 6 seconds, at a speed of 9.4 km/h and a pace of 06'19". I almost gave up at two points during the run, I felt a lot of pain at the start and halfway through, but the discomfort slowly faded as I got closer to home. I hope that on Friday I'll be able to run as well as or even better than, today's session. After a good cold shower, I worked and studied until the evening, reviewing the things I've been getting wrong.

Having finished Evil, I'm going to start on Spiritual_1, she's the Fire Spirit 🔥. The Battler VX Ace doesn't show much because of the angle, so I decided not to draw it, only with the VX version of the Battler, where her clothing pieces look like armor and her hair is slightly darker, while the rest seems to be made of fabric... After finishing them, I realized that her hair reaches the ground like an actual flame. However, I think I'll keep that idea only for when she's using her fire powers to float, like in the Battler VX, maybe as an alternate walking sprite.

Am I swimming in hot springs by any chance!? ♨

Today the pool water was warm, but I was actually enjoying it more when it was natural or cold (ノへ￣、) ... Today's training started with 800m for a light warm-up, not pushing too hard and then came the sprint session 😋. The first sprint was 400m and I did it in 6 minutes and 10 seconds. The second was 200m, which I finished in 2 minutes and 50 seconds. The third was actually 2x100m sprints, I managed 1 minute and 15 seconds on the first and 1 minute and 14 seconds on the second. And finally, were 4x50m every 1 minute. Since I was already tired, my times unfortunately increased with each one, 33 seconds, 34 seconds, 36 seconds and 38 seconds. Before wrapping up the swimming, we did 50m of relaxed swimming to ease the body after all that stress.

As usual, after a quick shower I went to the gym and did my workout routine for the day. Every time I go to the gym, I finish by holding myself on the pull up bar with my arms bent and my chin above the bar for as long as I can, slowly lowering myself down. I've been doing that for about two weeks now and I can feel my strength improving, it's helping me increase the number of pull up reps I can do.

Now I'm wondering... is this one my current favorite, Evil_8!?

According to her, he's the Evil General, or just General in the Battler folder. Each of them seems like a different character. I played tactical RPGs and the enemy or ally troop leaders usually had titles like 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc... Commander and maybe Captain(?), but I don't recall seeing General, since I imagine they'd all share the same military hierarchy, unlike other patent. Maybe these could represent a General who starts as an ally and later becomes an enemy or perhaps they belong to different kingdoms.

The order of the designs follows the same pattern as the previous Evil ones. So, the second and third generals from left to right give me the impression that they're the generals serving human kings, since both have designs similar to People4_8 and People4_7, respectively, I guess.

If they all came from a single kingdom or empire, I'd rank them from strongest to weakest as 3rd, 1st, 4th and last the 2nd, who looks thinner than the others, even though his design is my favorite one recreate in pixel art.

Whoever can do 10 reps can do 15 and whoever can do 15 can do 20! 💪

I woke up on Saturday before 5:30, right before my alarm went off. I went to the bathroom, sat back on the bed and almost gave up, thinking about going back to sleep. But since I was already up and feeling hungry, I decided to make coffee and omelet and head to swim practice.

I only swam 2,000 meters, my bad luck was that the strap on my goggles snapped. Thankfully, a friend lent me his spare goggle, but since I didn’t adjust the strap, the googgle ended up leaving marks under my eyes. So, I didn't want to extend the training because of the discomfort.

After swimming, I went straight to the gym and did my workout for the day. When I got home, I had lunch and rested a bit before catching up on a few animes. 📺

Boku no Hero, the episode was amazing, super well animated! I'm excited for the rest of the season. 🤩

Gnosia, reminds me of Groundhog Day and other time-loop stories. Usually, this kind of plot bores me quickly because of the repetition, but now it seems like there are changes in the cast and other roles for those involved in the "game", if it can even be called that. That got me both interested and confused by the end of the episode.

AI being the villain is trending in scifi stories lately. Could LeVi be the new villain? 🤔

To Your Eternity, surprises me with every episode. I was like, "What!?" But I think I have an idea of what that new being might be and how it's granting all the girl's wishes. 🕵️‍♂️

Spy x Family, both stories in the episode were great! Was this a step forward for Anya? Maybe her responsibilities will grow a bit now? Old Sherwood? I don't believe that 🤭.

By the way, I really like strong women like her and loved her design, so I made a pixel art of her.

Because of today's episode. 🕵️‍♀️

Sylvia Sherwood#SPYxFamily #pixelart pic.twitter.com/1SQvRvIikP

— Victor SenArt (@Victor_SenArt) October 26, 2025

On Sunday, I woke up early again even though I didn't want to. That's the problem with waking up early every day, your body gets used to it, and it ends up being a pain 😫.

I spent the day resting and looking up replacement straps for my swimming goggles. Unfortunately, the model I wanted is sold out on several retail sites, even the brand's own store.

While checking my social media, I noticed that a lot of people are talking about how X (old Twitter) is changing its algorithm to integrate Grok, their AI system. This will change how user's posts appear to others. According to them, it's meant to give new accounts more exposure, but I'm skeptical. I'm not sure an AI controlling every post with text, photos and/or videos will really do a good job. I guess we'll have to wait and see rather than overthink it.

I don't post on social media as much as I used to back in the old RPG Maker community forum days. Mostly because I don't have as much free time now and pixel art or game dev isn't my main job, unlike many artists who say they'll be affected by X's change.

This update is supposed to roll out in November or December this year. I've already seen some people moving to other platforms. If X's new strategy works and they gain more users, I believe other social media platforms won't want to be left behind. Some users on X are even saying Meta already does the same thing with its platforms.

Since I rested on Sunday, I had a hard time falling asleep last night, I think I finally dozed off around 2:00. I really need to fix my sleep schedule. That didn't stop me from going to the gym though. Surprisingly, I managed to do 11 reps pull up today even though I slept poorly. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but my goal is to hit 20 reps.

After finishing my workout, I decided to run back home, 11:58 minutes over 1.8 km. This time I didn't feel the pain I had after my run in last week. Maybe because it's Monday and I rested Sunday. Once I got home, I worked and did more study exercises until nightfall.

Evil_7, or Evil Priest according to her, or just Priest in Battler folder, his design is very similar across his Character, Face and Battlers versions, just like in Evil_5. So I decided:

1. Based on the Battler from the VX Ace version;

2. A mix between the Face/Bust and the Battler from the VX version;

3. Based on the Character sprite.

 If they were actually different people for each design, I'd obviously pick the Priest with the cape as the leader 🤓.

Dexterity = -1 😪

I had trouble with mosquitoes again, right when I was about to lie down and turn off the lights. I was too tired to kill them. This morning I woke up feeling sleepy, exhaustion of week hit me hard. I went to the gym and ran, but I almost thought about stopping several times along the way. I couldn't wait to rest and lie down 😴. 

Evil_6, described as Evil Mage by her or simply Mage in the Battler folder, both RPG Maker VX versions, follows the same order of designs here. The first one, based on the Battler VX Ace, didn't please me much, I feel it looks confusing for such a small sprite. As for the fourth sprite, based on his Character, I think the robe sleeve turned out too short, I might make it longer.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend 😈🤝😒

I had a hard time waking up today, the bed was just too comfortable ha ha. I went to swim practice, today we did 5x200 meters with 20 seconds of rest between each, for a total of 1000 meters. After that, I did 2x75 meters at full speed with fins while the team was still doing their 5x200. Once I finished the 2x75, I swam another 200 meters until the group completed their 5x200. Then everyone did 6x25 meters and 6x50 meters together. After swim practice, I went to the gym, I felt exhausted and it took a lot of effort to get through my workout routine. I spent the rest of the day feeling drowsy, doing two workouts back to back is tough and since the week is almost over, the fatigue hits even harder.

Evil_5, Oscar the Dark Knight or Swordsman in the Battler folder, he didn't change much and since Battler VX Ace looks a lot like the face/bust version, I made one for both. So, in order, there’s Battler VX, Battler VX Ace + Bust and the Character. His design remember Sephiroth from FFVII, he starts out as a good person, but becomes a villain later on.
This kind of trope reminds me of other characters who tend to have two sides (good and/or evil), like Magus, who starts as an enemy and becomes an ally against a greater evil in Chrono Trigger. Looking at some of the RTP designs where characters could play these "changing sides" roles, possible examples could be:

RMUnite - 009_Actor, 023_Actor, 024_Actor, any Evil, 034_Demihuman;
RMMZ - Actor1_3, Actor2_5, Actor2_8, Actor3_2, Actor3_3, Actor3_5, none Evil;
RMMV - Actor1_3, Actor1_4, Actor1_5, Actor1_7, Actor2_1 Actor2_2, Actor2_5, Actor2_6, Actor2_8, Actor3_1, Actor3_2, none Evil;
RMXP - 004-Fighter04, 018-Thief03, 041-Mage09;
RM2000&2003 - Actor4_4, Monster2_3, People3_7...

I’m blaming the shirt I wore 🤡

Yeah... I couldn't do more than 9 reps pull up today. I think it was because of the shirt I was wearing, it was a long-sleeve one and tight, I feel like it got in the way of my pull up form, I wore that shirt because I ran 2.5 km in 16 minutes and 21 seconds and it was really windy. Even though winter's over, we've had a cold front for the past days and the wind has been strong and chilly. It's not ideal for running, especially since I sweat a lot.

As for Evil_4, 邪教の信徒 (believer in a cult or cultist) in Battler is Fanatic, out of all the Evil, it was the one I liked the least. There wasn’t much variation, I even started wondering if it's really worth doing them all...

I need to buy an electric shaver, the razor with blades is starting to bother me... 🧔

Today I swam 2000 meters, 300m warm-up swim, 700m with a parachute, 200m crawl kick with a kickboard, 300m swimming with a special glove that keeps the hand more open to make it harder and 500m freestyle to finish. After all that, I thought wouldn’t be able to do any pull up, but I managed to do 9 reps, almost made it to 10! I hope tomorrow I can do more than 9 reps once I’m rested, since I only swim on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

This one was my favorite, because each Evil_3 design is different, following the same order as the previously mentioned designs. The Assassin, since each version has a different color, could be placed in different themed environments like ruins, deserts, the dark alleys of the kingdom’s cities...

They shrinkflation my popcorn 🍿🤬!

I woke up early on Saturday, I almost lay down on my bed again, but ended up motivating myself because of the heat and an upcoming swim event in November that I’ll be participating in. After swimming 4,500 meters, I decided to hit the gym, even though I was really tired. I was so tired that I dozed off after my afternoon coffee and woke up at night. I watched The Naked Gun with Liam Neeson, it was good entertainment. Not every joke made me laugh, but I did laugh at some, even the silly or nonsensical ones. While watching the movie, rain finally came to cool off the night.

I took Sunday to rest and watch the ongoing animes season sequels:

To Your Eternity, what an episode ending, I'll anxious by what coming next.

Spy x Family, I liked seeing Loid’s past. Wars are complicated, especially for those on the front lines while the leaders are not. It reminded me of something my father once said, "give each leader a stick and let them fight it out themselves, the people don’t want war, only live ours lives".

Contrary Evil_1, Evil_2 focuses more on the Bandit who rob travelers. The order of the designs follows the same pattern as Evil_1: 1. Art Bomb Inc. ; 2. Miho ; 3. Fumio ; 4. MACK...