Hey everyone, Happy (Chinese) New Year!

...and also Ramadan...and also Mardi Gras(?)

There's a lot of holidays going on today.

This year marks the first time we are officially closer to the year 2030 than we are to 2020! It certainly doesn't feel that way, does it? It feels like the pandemic was literally yesterday. 

I still remember making art like this using Inkscape on my old Windows laptop while pretending to do school work for my online classes, and now you're telling me we're already halfway through the decade? Man, how time flies. 

People say that all the time, but seriously, time moves like it was invented by the Wright Brothers. 

It's almost scary to think about how close "the future" is... and it's only getting closer! Every moment, the clock is ticking, and we're not promised those moments back. So remember, be grateful -- and careful -- of how you use your time. It is the most precious gift you have.

As for me, I like to spend my time drawing funny pictures.

But exactly how or why I do this is a bit of a mystery to me. 

What do I mean by that? Sure, the "how" is not that difficult. (The "why" I'll get to in a second.) To draw, all you have to do is move the pen or pencil or stylus across the paper and put a bunch of lines together, and then you have a picture... Easy, right? 

Yeah, that's true, but that's not the mysterious part. The mysterious-ness of the "how" comes in when I think about the way people come up with ideas. And if you've had an idea before, you'll have an idea of what I'm talking about. lol 

For example, this happened to me literally just yesterday. One day I was just listening to a good song minding my business... When suddenly an idea for a drawing just... showed up, out of nowhere. I wrote it down as soon as I could to "catch it" in time. I did small rough sketches to tie it down so that I wouldn't "lose" it. The drawing got bigger and bigger, and got closer to what I saw in my head... and then all of a sudden, the vision faded away. Just as quickly as it showed up, it was gone. Without a trace except only the drawing I now had in front of me; the only evidence that it ever existed. 

Has that ever happened to you?

It is that kind of mysterious-ness that I'm talking about. I did not willingly come up with that idea. If anything, it feels like the idea came up with me! To crib a metaphor from David Lynch, it really can feel like catching fish. And the more you put them down, the better they get. (If you want more ideas, pick up that pencil!)

It's not like I chose to or tried consciously to create it in my mind. It almost feels like the idea created itself, and then chose to appear in my head. It's not like I stopped to think to myself "Hm, I want to come up with an idea..." and then came up with it. So... how does it work?

Sure, it's all weird brain-stuff, I know. Somehow, somewhere across many different parts of our brain, it is formed unconsciously without us knowing, and then eventually, at a certain point, pop!, we see it. As far as I understand, they're made of a special combination of our thoughts, emotions, associations, and especially memories, which mix together to form a unique thing we've never seen before. 

But for a long time, I've wondered what it would be like to watch the process of how an idea is formed under the hood. Not just a bunch of neurons firing, but the actual image that it creates. For my drawings, I've recently started to almost reverse-engineer this process and find which images or concepts (specifically from my memories) that my mind must be using in order to make the art.

But what if the idea was made the way a drawing is made in real life?

That's the way I like to imagine it. That in the mind, there are tools like pens and pencils to create the drawings just like I do, and that every brush stroke and color and 3D model is really drawn, painted, and sculpted in the mind, the same way they are in real life. 

It feels as if there's a team of tiny artists inside my head, running around like Santa's elves. A production staff working together, with my mind as their studio, all collaborating using all sorts of wacky materials to create the finished product.

When they finish, what they create spontaneously ends up on my front desk. Finally, I see it in my mind's eye. Then my job is to recreate it... though not nearly as fast as they did. 

And this is how I got the idea of my 8-Year Anniversary art for Newgrounds!

Now, I wanted to write a news post explaining the behind the scenes for this art on the same day that it dropped, August 8th. Just like I did for the 6th year anniversary. But I got carried away by a ton of other things going on. But now I finally get to share how this art was made.

Digitally, physically, and mentally...

I'll start with what led to this art. Think of this as a Seisaku Staff post-mortem.

It started near the end of 2024, at the end of my hiatus. That year was the culmination of many stressful events in my personal life from the year prior which led me to needing to take a break. By the year's end, I realized just how much creating art is important to me. It was only after going so long without it that I knew how much it matters to me.

So, as part of my 2025 New Year's resolution, I wanted to get back into art, creating something to return and post on Newgrounds for my 8-year anniversary (5/25/25). Numerologically, it was shaping up to be pretty special, so I wanted to make something special for it.

When 2025 started, I practiced drawing one a day every day, for about 5 weeks straight.

All to get back into shape for my 8th-year return.

Before I came up with the idea, I wanted to make something which was a follow-up to "The Three Talents" by making something which made use of multiple forms of art. Those being vector art, illustration, and 3D modeling. However, instead of them being divided into 3 sections, I wanted to dissolve the walls between them so that they would flow into one another.

The sketches in the picture above were my very first notes, from somewhere around March and April.

As for how I got the idea, I think it had something to do with when I watched the behind-the-scenes for "The Boy and the Heron" earlier that year. If you haven't seen it, go watch it, I highly recommend it. It gives good insight into how that movie was made, and it really inspired me.

These are the sketches I drew between April and May. At first, I was going to have the final piece be mostly a digital illustration, just like the rest of my art. However, when I tried to draw it in Krita, some of the characters (particularly Heidi, the goat) were not cooperating. For some reason, they didn't look right.

Eventually, I ended up working past the date of the actual anniversary. The deadline was pushed back to a month after (6/25/25), and then two months after (7/25/25)! However, this wasn't discouraging. This was an opportunity to move it from mostly being a 2D illustration as I had first planned, into being mostly 3D. That required more time, which I now had plenty of.

At first, I was making basic 3D models of my characters to use as drawing reference at multiple angles. But once I missed the deadline, I then transitioned into making them fully 3D models. They already had to be accurate, but now even more so.

I gave each of them new designs in preparation for the banner. I wanted to reimagine each of them in a new way, experimenting with my new ideas about character design. My goal was to keep their same fundamental core ideas; but to try to present them with a new style, with emphasis on bringing out their personality.

Also my attempt at a self-portrait in the top corner.

"Clover" is an old character, going back all the way to the very first post I made to the art portal.

But "Luck" (or Lucky) is brand new. I created him to match with Clover. He's supposed to be the "villain" of Clover's story. Clover is superstitious and finds herself perpetually unlucky, so she's always hunting down lucky items. Luck is a rabbit-like being who always manages to get out of her traps. He has bandages from when Clover tried to chop his feet off (twice!)

As for the other three, they belong to their own stories.

The Seisaku Staff Studio is a junction point between them, outside of their lore.

STAFF CREDITS:

Dante is the Executive Producer. He's the one who ensures the drawings get done on time. He has a "get it done now" attitude, a high sense of self-importance, and believes himself to be practically invincible. Despite that, he's not very responsible. He can even be quite lazy! He's always humbled when he gets too confident for his own good. He thinks he's the one in charge, but really, everyone else is doing the work.

Outside of staff, he's an excellent sharpshooter, and he is very good at predicting the path of a ricochet.

He loves to watch old western movies in his free time. His biggest fear is, of course, being forgotten.

Heidi is Lead Artist. She's the most creative of the staff. With her magic fountain pen, she likes to add a touch of "stardust" to every drawing, which gives them the illusion of life. She does almost everything from the inking, to the coloring, to the backgrounds, the layouts... For staff, all her ideas are created like real life animation cels. Most of them never see the light of day.

Heidi calls herself a "dream catcher". She writes down good dreams to send to people in their sleep. She has a naturally cheerful attitude. She is a good listener (despite having no ears!), her favorite question is "Why?", and she loves to explore the universe. She is a kind-hearted soul who loves to see people happy.

Outside of staff, she's an alien princess who's come to Earth to learn what it means to be human.

She hates nightmares, and has an intense phobia of black holes.

Kiki is the Assistant Artist! When a drawing is finished, she's the one who gives it the "Dupreedraws" hanko stamp. To us it's a tool, but to her it's a toy. In Kiki's eyes, work and play are one in the same. At least, that is what she would say if she could talk. She can speak, but she can only repeat whatever is said around her.

She is the natural enemy of boredom!

Outside staff, she loves to play and has an affinity for collecting shiny objects. This is actually how she discovered the golden belt that's on her waist. One day, she was playing at the beach, and found it inside an abandoned shipwreck. As soon as she put it on, she was infected with "Captain Chameleon's Curse", turning her tail into a spiral forever!

She doesn't really seem to mind, though.

You've already met these two, so I won't make this post any longer than it already is.

(Don't worry, we're almost done)

Clover is the Social Media Manager. She's a rather quiet person. She's the oldest out of all the staff members. Dante insists that he's the actually oldest, which is why he's in charge. He's wrong, but because Clover doesn't like to talk much -- and because she doesn't care -- she doesn't bother correcting him. She cares about capturing Luck.

As it relates to Staff, her job is to catch Luck so that the chances are in their favor. Not just of "the algorithm" but also of the drawing getting done, the weather being just right, the stars aligning, Mercury not being in retrograde... and so on. Inside the studio, it's hard to find her. She likes to be hidden in the dark, waiting for Luck.

However, her traps don't always work, and Luck always finds a way to escape because... well, he's very lucky.

No one really quite knows who he is or where he came from. As for Clover, she believes she is to blame for things which are outside her control.

While Luck isn't technically a part of staff, it is good to have him on your side.

BONUS IMAGES:

...Aaaaaaaand with that, this post is FINALLY over!

Jeez, it took me all day to write this thing.

Thank you for reading this far! You're incredibly patient. I hope it wasn't too long of a read.

Thank you especially for this opportunity to introduce you all to my characters. This won't be the last you see of them! Or any other future characters... I hope to tell more of their stories in the future.

And of course, a very special thank you to Newgrounds for giving me a place to put all this stuff for the past 8 years... about to be 9!! This is an awesome website, and I'm grateful that it exists.

Thank you also to everyone who has shown their support for me along the way. Friends, fans, and familiars. I am grateful for every single one of you, and I look forward to making more art (and possibly other stuff...? 👀) to show you guys.

At the hardest points of my life, especially the last three years, knowing that I have a place where I can show my art, and seeing that people care about my stuff, even just a little bit, has really changed my life. Without that, everything would be different.

So, from the bottom of my heart...

...until next time.