Category: Blog

  • The Perfect Shading Method

    The Perfect Shading Method

    (Well, for me, at least. But I’m super excited, so I want to dive into this process that I just tried out today.)

    Hi, everyone! This is another blog post where I talk about my drawing process a little, because I found a new shading method that I love, and I need to talk about it.

    Lighting and shading is one of those digital art things I struggle with fairly often, mainly because there are so many ways to do it. I’ve found in my years of trying new things that I always end up going back to cel shading. I just love how easy it is to do, and how cartoony it looks and it doesn’t make my line art disappear like more detailed shading often does (at least when I do it).

    What made me keep going back to the more blended, soft shading look is that I was having a hard time making my cel shading look interesting. It always looked a little dull, to me, at least. So, yesterday, I sat down, watched a couple YouTube tutorials, and took notes so that future me would remember.

    This morning, I decided to put those techniques I learned to the test. Not long after I got up, I did a sketch in my sketchbook. I scanned it (using the VERY HANDY Google Drive scanner on the Android version of the app. This was my first time using it). And I was ready to start inking it in Clip Studio Paint.

    Here’s the rough sketch, if anyone’s curious. Just a chilling Sonic. Drawn completely left-handed, because that’s how I do my sketches nowadays. Yes. I’m still very excited that I’m learning to draw with both hands.

    Now, let’s get into the shading process.

    The Base Colors

    After I finished inking, I did the base colors, as usual. I always do my base colors on one layer, because I don’t like having a million different layers. And I use the fill tool, so it’s very easy to do it that way.

    Though to fill in areas where there are random blank pixels (because that ALWAYS happens with the fill tool), I use the Adjust Line Width tool (it’s under the vector Control Point tool, if you don’t know), turn the brush size up so it’s huge, and run it over my color layer a few times, until there aren’t any noticeable gaps near the lines. If there’s a lot of open space around the character (like if they sky’s going to be visible, because I put that on a separate layer), I select all that blank space, invert the selection, and then use the Adjust Line Width tool.

    (Not sure how well I explained that, but, hopefully, I got the point across. I just thought I’d bring it up because so many artists struggle with that when it comes to the fill tool).

    I generally try to keep my base colors pretty saturated, because I love very bright and vibrant colors. But, for this part, I don’t make the saturation crazy. I usually stay near the middle of the color picker, leaning more towards the saturated end of the spectrum than gray. Also, obviously, since these are the mid tones, I don’t want them to be too dark or light either. But that mostly applies to black and white, in my opinion. It’s just generally a good idea to make your whites a very light gray and your blacks a very dark gray.

    Shading

    This right here is how I’ve always done my cel shading. Just using a multiple layer clipped to the base layer, and having everything be a dark purple (sometimes pink, if I want it to look warmer). For this step, I use the Lasso Fill tool in Clip Studio. I love it for doing shading, because you literally just select an area, and it automatically fills it. It makes it very easy and quick!

    Shadow Outlines

    This is the new part of my process! It’s based on the idea of sub-surface scattering, where I add a more saturated color along the edges of my shadows. I do this all on an overlay layer, and still using that Lasso Fill tool. I just trace shapes along the edges of each shadow, changing the color depending on what the base color is. Make sure that your outline overlaps the shading a little, because that adds even more variation. It just looks really cool, and adds a lot of saturation and depth!

    Highlights

    I didn’t go too crazy with the highlights. Drawing on a screen layer, I mostly just added them to the shiny surfaces, like his shoes, his eyes, and the water in the background. I used the Lasso Fill tool once again for these. For most of them, I started with just a lighter version of the base color, and then added a tiny bit of pure white on top to make it look really shiny.

    Reflective Light

    This is the one step where I didn’t use the Lasso Fill tool. I just used the same pen brush that I use for my line art for this step. On a hard light layer, I just carefully outlined the areas where I wanted reflective light. Blue highlights are on the edges of the shaded areas, because it’s reflecting the blue from the sky (and probably the water, too). On the opposite side, I added some yellow highlights to show the sunlight. For that tree trunk back there, you can see that I switched to a more aqua blue to show the water reflecting off of it.

    Outro

    And, there you have it! I’ve been wanting to do a post about my coloring process for a long time. Really, ever since I’ve started doing these not-comic-related posts. And I felt like today would be a good time to do it, because I have a feeling this is going to be my main digital coloring process for a long time. I’m sure it will still change occasionally, obviously as I get better at this technique, and whenever I’m in the mood to do something more painterly. Because that’s one of the great things about art. You never need to stick to just one style. You can just do whatever you feel like doing that day.

    I hope you enjoyed this post, and maybe even found it a little helpful. Thanks for reading!

  • Fanart Showcase: An Infinite Number of Infinites

    Fanart Showcase: An Infinite Number of Infinites

    (Well, not really. Especially because my arm’s hurting, and I’m taking it easy. But I just had that title idea stuck in my head all morning and it’s perfect! And, to be fair, it probably would be an infinite number if that were humanly possible.)

    So, I just wanted to show off some more of my art, because I want to do that more often. And I’ve been drawing a lot of Infinites lately (again, whenever my arm feels well enough to draw, that is).

    If you’ve seen any of my other fanart posts, you probably know that I really, really like this character. I played Sonic Forces for the first time over a year ago now, and he’s just really cool and made me super happy.

    So, obviously, when he came back a couple of weeks ago in the Chaotix Casefiles audio drama, I was freaking out (legend has it that I may still be freaking out slightly). I’ve seen quite a few characters I love disappear, but I’m not used to seeing them actually come back. So, obviously, I’ve been drawing him a lot to process these overwhelming (but definitely positive) emotions. When I get attached to characters, I get really attached, okay? But I feel like, if you know my art, that’s pretty obvious.

    Anyway, with that out of the way, here are the drawings. Most of them are in my sketchbook, but there are a few digital ones, too. And, yeah, most of them are Infinite, but there are a few other Sonic characters sprinkled in there, too.

    I drew this one right here a few days before his return.
    I just wanted to show it because it’s probably my favorite drawing I’ve ever done of him! I love the way the lighting and shading came out and those glitch effects. For the pixelated sections, I just selected random areas and used the mosaic filter in Clip Studio Paint.
    Infinite and Neo Metal Sonic, because they’re my two favorite Sonic villains.
    I drew this while sitting outside with my siblings, and I was laughing about how awkwardly they’re standing there. They look like they’re waiting for something.
    Also, this was the first drawing in my new sketchbook!
    This is the one I drew on the big day, just a few minutes after I listened to episode 7 of Chaotix Casefiles (the episode where Infinite returns).
    After talking about it to my older sister (pretty incoherently, from what I remember, as I was a stuttering, teary-eyed mess), I decided that the best way to celebrate his return would be to draw him.
    I really like how his pose came out! And the shading is very simple, but I often feel like my simpler shading is my best shading, as I tend to focus a lot on my line art when I’m drawing.
    We’ve got some sketchbook doodles. The full-body one was my last drawing before my arm started really bugging me. I had a lot of fun with my glitter markers when I was coloring that one. The sparkles even kinda come through on the photo!
    And I’m very proud of the two smaller ones, because I drew those COMPLETELY LEFT-HANDED. It was just to see if I can do it. And I can!
    So, recently, I’ve been switching hands a lot when I’m drawing, doing some steps with my right hand (my dominant hand), and doing others with my left hand. And it’s been working out really nicely! That’s my tip for any artists out there dealing with arm pain. Practice with your non-dominant hand, so you can switch hands during the process.
    Another page of doodles. This one includes Tangle and Whisper, because they’re two of my favorite characters from the comics, and I was so happy to hear them get voices in Chaotix Casefiles! They were super fun to draw, too!
    And, for the Infinite one, I was obviously playing around with blending my markers, which is always fun. And I tried a new technique for drawing his mask shape, where I draw his actual head and eye shapes underneath to make figuring out the placement easier. It definitely helps a lot!
    And, my last one here is yesterday’s drawing. It’s my first time drawing Infinite as he’s described in the audio drama, with his black powers and the Astroscopic Lenses in his hand (for those of you who don’t know, the lenses were his power source, because he lost the Phantom Ruby after Sonic Forces).
    I’m really happy with this one, but drawing those black magic effects were a pain! I definitely need to practice more. It just looked like a giant dark blob surrounding him, and I didn’t know what to do, so I outlined it in white. I think the outline definitely does help!
    The main reason why it took me so long to draw modern Infinite is because I keep forgetting he doesn’t have the Phantom Ruby anymore, and it’s just become a habit to add it. Also, I feel like he looks kinda naked without it, but I just need to get used to it.

    Anyway, those are all the drawings! Lately, I’ve been in the mood to put my art out there again, but I still have no interest in going back to social media. So, I felt like this would be the best route! Like I said at the start of the post, I definitely want to start putting my fanart on my blog more often, because, after all, it is an art blog.

    I hope you enjoyed the drawings (and that my fangirling wasn’t too much)! Have a great day/night (whenever you’re seeing this)!

  • Summary of Art 2025

    Summary of Art 2025

    The year is coming to an end. You know what that means. It’s time for this year’s Summary of Art!

    2025 has definitely been one of my best drawing years. I was super confident in my art this year, and I drew a lot of stuff that was very me. I feel like I’ve improved a lot this year, but I guess that happens every year.

    In these last couple months, there’s been some struggles (elbow pain is my worst enemy, as an artist), but I still drew some really good drawings!

    Anyway, that’s enough introduction. Let’s get into it!

    January: Chill Hedgehog

    I honestly forgot that this one was from this year. I thought I drew it last year.

    Anyway, even though it’s an older drawing, I still think it’s one of my best drawings of Sonic. I feel like I captured his design and attitude perfectly!

    February: Sonic and Kocos

    This was when I was starting my second Sonic Frontiers playthrough. I was inspired by the giant field of flowers on Kronos Island in the game, and I wanted to draw it. And I decided to add the kocos in, too, because they’re cute!

    I remember that inking that field of flowers took forever. But, in the end, I’m really happy with out it came out!

    March: “JUSTICE!”

    I went over the story of this one in my Sonic Forces Shenanigans post. I’m still really happy with that fire effect.

    April: Infinite

    This is an early drawing of him, but it’s still one of my favorites. I love the lighting on his mask. And his hair turned out really nice, too!

    Although, one thing that I realized later on is that his one hand may or may not be on backwards. I feel like I placed his thumb a little weirdly. But, it’s too late. The drawing’s already done. And, even with that little mistake, I’m still really happy with it!

    May: Sonic Forces

    I know, I know. I’ve said it a thousand times on this blog. But I’ll say it again. Sonic Forces is my favorite Sonic game, because I’m so cool and different! (No. It’s because I played the game and genuinely loved it. But I am still cool and different, because I’m a creative person).

    Anyway, this drawing is meant to look like the cover for the Sonic Forces album, Vocal Traxx On the Edge. It was really fun playing around with different techniques! And the logo turned out really good, too. I drew it by hand, and I’m really proud of myself for putting in that effort!

    June: Raven vs. Infinite

    My Sonic OC, Raven the Cat, fighting Infinite

    This drawing took forever! I had so many layer folders to keep the characters and the background all nice and organized. But it turned out really good!

    Although, I do think it’s funny that I gave my OC the Hover Wispon. NEVER use the Hover Wispon when you’re fighting Infinite! It literally deals no damage. Use the Lightning one, and just smack him with the lightning whip over and over again. Just a pro gamer tip from Shadez.

    July: Expression Sheet

    Just some Sonic characters doing funny expressions. That’s all.

    August: Sonic Fantasy AU

    This is based on a fanfiction that I started this summer. It’s Sonic characters in a fantasy setting. Sonic is an awesome knight (inspired by Sonic and the Black Knight, obviously). Infinite is the main antagonist. He’s a warlock who’s trying to bring the demons to the mortal world to destroy it.

    I haven’t worked on it in a long time. Writing fanfiction is a little tricky, and I don’t do it as often as I used to. But it still is fun whenever I feel like doing a bit of writing. But, yeah, I would like to pick up this story again someday. I was pretty proud of it!

    September: Brewfest

    Finally! Some Warcraft art!

    If you’ve read my comic, I’m sure you recognize my dwarf warrior, Argrim. The other is his wife, Shaimina, my dwarf rogue. My story that I had in mind when I drew this is that they had their first date at Brewfest.

    I’m really happy with the colors on this one! I was specifically going for a warm, cozy color palette. I think I captured the look I was going for pretty well!

    October: “Want tea?” and “Ow!”

    Some of my best Sonictober drawings! I go into more detail on these drawings in their original post. They’re both based on funny things my younger siblings did. And I’m still really happy with that Mephiles! It was my first time ever drawing him!

    November: Alice and Sal

    I’ve never played Sally Face. But my sister has. So, I decided to draw both of our favorite knife-wielding, traumatized horror protagonists.

    December: Sonic and Shadow

    This one’s inspired by one of the Sonic IDW comic variant covers. I had a lot of fun with the poses, and that dramatic lighting!

    And, that’s my 2025 Summary of Art! I hope you all enjoyed the drawings, and have a happy New Year!

  • Seven Years of Illidan Fanart

    Seven Years of Illidan Fanart

    On December 14th, 2018, I drew my first ever drawing of Illidan Stormrage. For almost six years, he was the main character that I drew. There’s so much that I love about this guy. His design. His story. His personality. His angst. His weapons. His voice. He’s definitely one of the characters who has stuck with me the longest. I remained absolutely obsessed with him for most of my teen years.

    My first Illidan drawing. Forgive the image quality. I screenshotted it from my old Scratch account. That’s right. I posted my art on SCRATCH when I was younger.

    This all started because I was playing through Legion for the first time. I had just gotten to Argus, so I was seeing Illidan a lot. And, while I was playing through Argus, I was also reading through the Illidan novel that was a prequel to Legion. Basically, young Shadez was seeing Illidan so much at that time, and decided that he was the coolest character ever.

    I still ship Illidan and Khadgar. I know that they’re never becoming canon. They’re just really fun to write fanfictions about.

    I drew him probably around at least 500 times all together. I wrote a ton of fanfictions about him—two of which passed the 100,000-word mark (the current one is getting close to 200,000 words). I dressed up as him for Halloween three times, I believe. I read the aforementioned book 20+ times.

    Basically, I was completely obsessed.

    And, seven years later, I still am.

    I love the lighting on this one!

    My Illidan phase took a brief break towards the end of 2024. I’ve mentioned before that I ran into problems on social media that led me to quit. These problems were fandom-related, and, unfortunately, tainted my love for Illidan slightly. I came to associate him with social media and the toxicity of fandom. So, I decided to step away from social media and from Illidan for a little while. I didn’t want my love for this character to be completely ruined.

    In the meantime, I became obsessed with Sonic the Hedgehog. I started playing Sonic Frontiers shortly after I quit social media. I quickly became hooked. In the next few months, I also played Sonic and the Black Knight, Sonic Adventure, and The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog.

    And, then, towards the end of Feburary of 2025, I played Sonic Forces.

    And this is how all this Sonic nonsense relates to Illidan.

    You know Infinite? Yeah, the villain from this game who never showed up again? The one who just so happened to be another edgelord voiced by Liam O’Brien?

    The edgelords!

    Being as obsessed with Illidan as I was, it was only natural that Infinite would remind me of him. Seeing him in action got me really excited. I got attached to Infinite really fast. He was a really cool villain, obviously. But, like I said, he reminded me so much of Illidan. The voice. The edginess. His attitude. Very full of himself and a little overconfident. He has that same dramatic way of speaking.

    After playing Sonic Forces, my Illidan phase came back. Infinite reminded me of how cool Illidan is. I picked up my Illidan fanfiction again shortly after playing Sonic Forces. For most of 2025, I’ve been obsessed with both WoW and Sonic.

    And, then, in October, Legion Remix started, which definitely helped me get even more obsessed with Illidan again. I was thinking about giving up on my fanfiction again recently (my confidence struggles are really bad, okay?), but then I brought one of my Timerunners to Argus. That inspired me to continue working on my fanfiction again (not on a strict schedule, just whenever I feel like it).

    A funny doodle based on my fanfic.

    So, thanks to Sonic Forces and Legion Remix, my Illidan obsession is back in full swing. While he’s not my primary obsession right now, Illidan will always be one of my favorites.

    My four current favorite characters: Illidan, Alice (Madness Returns), Infinite, and Sonic. Based on a Draw the Squad meme I saw on Pinterest.

  • Sonictober: Days 29-31

    Sonictober: Days 29-31

    For my last Sonictober page, I drew three more of the Halloween skins from Sonic Forces: Speed Battle. This game has some really awesome outfits, okay?

    On the 29th, I drew Mummy Knuckles. I’m really happy with how his crown turned out!

    Yesterday, I drew Witch Rouge. I always enjoy drawing witch/wizard hats!

    And, today, I drew Reaper Metal Sonic. As far as I know, he doesn’t seem to have a scythe in the game, but I decided to give him one on my drawing.

    And that wraps up Sonictober! I had a lot of fun doing these doodles all month! And I didn’t miss a single day!

    Happy Halloween, everyone!

  • Sonictober: Days 27-28

    Sonictober: Days 27-28

    Day 27: Werehog

    This week, I’m doing some Halloween-themed Sonic drawings! Yesterday’s drawing was Werehog from Sonic Unleashed! I’ve never played Sonic Unleashed before, but it seems cool! I know that it was kind of the start of the Boost playstyle (the modern Sonic playstyle that I love). And the fact that Sonic turns into a werewolf is obviously really cool, too!

    Day 28: Vampire Shadow

    Today, I drew Vampire Shadow from the Sonic Forces: Speed Battle mobile game. I think that Shadow looks pretty great in a tophat!

  • Sonictober: Days 25-26

    Sonictober: Days 25-26

    Day 25: Sonic: Madness Returns

    Another game that I’ve been loving lately (and haven’t done enough fanart for yet) is Alice: Madness Returns. I bought it during the Steam Autumn Sale last month because I wanted to try something different and I thought it would be a good time to try out my first horror game. Because it’s almost Halloween, I’ve been playing it fairly often for the past couple weeks (whenever I’m not playing Legion Remix in WoW, of course). I finally finished the first chapter of the game a couple days ago. Yes. It took me around a month. I like to joke that I’m a pro gamer, but I’m really not. I had to set this game to easy mode, and it’s still very difficult. But that makes it even more satisfying when I do get past a part I’m struggling with! Over the past year, I’ve become a very patient gamer, as I tend to struggle with the Sonic games at times, too.

    Anyway, I drew this drawing because I just wanted to draw my two favorite video game protagonists together. Because they’re both so cool!

    Day 26: Therapy Session

    Infinite: “Don’t even get me started on the mushrooms…”
    This is something that happened last night when my siblings and I were hanging out. Let’s be real, Infinite probably could benefit from therapy (he’s got some serious issues he has to work through). But it has nothing to do with mushrooms.

    And, for anyone who’s wondering, the Infinite therapy session went on for around a half hour. I was just rambling, doing my amazing Infinite voice impression, and my brother joked that he was picturing Infinite in therapy the entire time. That’s how this drawing came to be.

  • Sonictober: Days 23-24

    Sonictober: Days 23-24

    Day 23: “HORSES!”

    This one’s another Mario and Sonic at the Olympics one. Sonic and Amy are super excited to ride horses!

    Day 24: The flashlight

    Of course, this one came from one night when my siblings and I were hanging out and goofing around. I was trying to play with our cat with a flashlight, and ended up shining it in my face (Don’t worry. It didn’t hurt my eyes that much, because it was just for a split second). And I was doing a Knuckles impression when it happened, so I put Knuckles on the drawing.

  • Fanart Showcase: Sonic Forces Shenanigans

    Fanart Showcase: Sonic Forces Shenanigans

    Introduction

    Hi, everyone! Welcome to another blog post!

    This post is similar to my Smashtober posts. (If you haven’t read those, please check them out! I’m really proud of them!)

    Anyway, this is the same concept as the Smashtober drawings. Where those drawings are based on funny things my siblings and I said while playing Super Smash together, these ones are based on things I said while playing Sonic Forces. It’s just me this time (with a few exceptions), because Sonic Forces is a single player game, obviously.

    I usually start saying whacky things when I’m having a lot of fun. Super Smash Bros Ultimate is one of my favorite multiplayer games, so of course it gets pretty unhinged. Sonic Forces is pretty much the same, as it’s my favorite Sonic game.

    Anyway, let’s get into it! I hope you enjoy these drawings!

    Cowboy Sonic

    This one is actually the most recent one I’ve drawn. I decided to put it first, because this iconic (infamous?) quote is from the very first level.

    The story is that I was trying to do a Sonic impression, but ended up sounding more like Applejack from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

    Trust me. I’m usually pretty good at doing Sonic impressions, if I do say so myself. You’re gonna have to take my word for it.

    “Sonic! I hope nothing bad happens to you!”

    Yup. This one’s a two-parter.

    It’s a comedic version of the start of the game, when Sonic is defeated by Infinite. It’s based on the video “Golden Freddy, I hope nothing bad happens to you!”. I’m very close to a Five Nights at Freddy’s fan, so I’m familiar with quite a few of the memes.

    Fun fact: I believe I was drawing this one at 11:00 at night, and trying not to laugh and wake my family up. I do this fairly often, as I’m definitely a bit of a night owl.

    Super Guy!

    This one was brought to you by my little sister. She said this. Not me.

    Anyway, this is shortly after I made my avatar. If you’ve played the game, you know that you don’t start out with very many outfit options. So, I just put something together that turned out looking like a superhero costume.

    Sonic the Fashion Critic

    Another example of me struggling to make my avatar look cool at the start of the game.

    Classic Sonic is not impressed.

    “He rides a bee!”

    This is another one featuring my younger sister. She was acting as Infinite, I was Eggman.

    This one’s referring to the Zavok boss fight, where he’s riding a giant bee robot. As far as I can tell, he never once rode a bee in Sonic Lost World, the game where he appeared. (Though I could be wrong. I never played that one.)

    The joke is that Infinite hasn’t met Zavok, so, when he was creating the illusion Zavok that we fight in Sonic Forces, he messed up and made him like riding bees or something.

    Not prepared

    Now, we’re at my drawings for the first Infinite boss fight. I’ve done three drawings based on this one boss fight, because I replay it too much.

    This one’s from when I was trying to do the timed mission, and I needed to lock in. I wasn’t quite locked in at the moment, so I had to make a “You are not prepared!” joke. I can’t help it! I love Illidan Stormrage, and Infinite is voiced by the same actor!

    This isn’t the only Illidan joke that’s going to show up. There are a few more….

    *Illidan noises*

    …..Like this one!

    I had my volume turned down too low, so I couldn’t quite make out what he was saying without looking at the subtitles. So, I just said that I heard “Illidan noises”.

    Ironically, this one was, and maybe still is, one of my best drawings of Infinite.

    Nobody died

    More of me struggling with that Infinite timed mission. Don’t worry, I got it eventually!

    In this attempt, I think my timing was way off, but Sonic never died once. It was an improvement!

    Justice

    One of my best drawings of my avatar! I still love the lighting on this one!

    This is from once when I was doing the Park Avenue level. Might have been the first time. I can’t remember.

    Why I was shouting “JUSTICE!” is because the music in that level is this banger:

    “Team Bad!”

    This amazing quote is brought to you by World of Warcraft battleground chat! My siblings and I have been repeating it since 2022.

    This is based on the SOS missions. I’m gonna be honest, I fail them more often than I succeed. But I still managed to earn the Steam achievement for them!

    Also, here you get to see my avatar’s final outfit! Isn’t she cute?

    Capital City

    Here’s another one based on a meme. Because this is basically what you’re doing in the Capital City level.

    If this drawing looks familiar, I did post it on social media when I was briefly trying to return earlier this year. (My worst decision of 2025, but I digress.)

    This one isn’t based on something that I did specifically. It just popped into my head one morning, and I had to draw it. It’s a funny Sonic Forces drawing, so I thought it would fit this post.

    Defeated by the power of friendship

    This one’s like the last one, where it’s not something that I specifically said while I was playing. It was just an idea I had one day and had to draw.

    I just thought it would be funny, because for the whole final Infinite boss fight, he’s talking about how friends are worthless and being very edgy about it. And then he gets defeated by the power of friendship.

    And, yeah, that’s another “You are not prepared!” joke. I’m sorry.

    HAHAHA!

    Here we have my only drawing based on the DLC, Episode Shadow.

    I never thought I’d hear Illidan Stormrage laughing so much in such a short amount of time. It was a little bit jarring.

    Seeing how unhinged Infinite was in Episode Shadow honestly made me like him even more. I already liked him after playing the base game, where he was just very serious and sinister. (And edgy. Don’t forget edgy.)

    He’s my favorite Sonic villain by far. I just think he’s a really cool character.

    “🎵 Guess I’m not getting one more last fist bump..🎵. “

    This one (and its sequel, but we’ll get to that) are based on a funny thing my brother did. He sang “sad” versions of the two main Sonic Forces songs.

    This one’s the game’s main theme, Fist Bump. Might as well leave a Spotify link, because I already did that with Justice.

    This actually happened before I played Sonic Forces. I drew it afterwards, because that’s my avatar there.

    “🎵 Everything I’ve known is now gone… 🎵”

    Here’s the sequel. My brother’s sad version of Infinite’s theme. AKA the best song in that wasn’t in the game all that much! It should have been in the last Infinite boss fight, instead of just briefly playing in a cutscene! But, anyway…

    This drawing was another instance of me drawing too late at night, and trying not to laugh. It turned out just how I wanted it to.

    Sweet, creamy, tea

    Another one based on something my little sister said. This was an accidental Infinite impression.

    But it was still hilarious!

    Outro

    Those are all of my funny Sonic Forces drawings! I hope you enjoyed them!

    Thanks for reading!

  • Fel and Blades: Part 1 Recap

    Fel and Blades: Part 1 Recap

    Introduction

    My World of Warcraft fancomic, Fel and Blades, will be returning soon!

    Before we jump into part two, let’s see where we left off in Shadeith’s adventures in part one.

    Prologue

    We’re introduced to Shadeith Nightscar, a sixteen-year-old night elf who lives in a small village in Feralas with his parents and his two sisters. He’s training to be a druid someday.

    However, his whole world is turned upside down when the Burning Legion comes, and destroys his home, killing many people that he cares about——including his parents.

    Shadeith and his older sister, Nadillii, set out to seek vengeance for those that they have lost. Their little sister, Visionora, is too young to join them. But she was taken in by a priestess of Elune. Shadeith and Nadillii go to Outland in search of the Betrayer himself——Illidan Stormrage.

    With Illidan’s training, the two of them become demon hunters. They’re sent out on a mission to Marduum to retrieve the Sargerite Keystone for Illidan’s plans.

    But when they return, Illidan’s dead. And all of the demon hunters are sealed away in the Vault of the Wardens.

    Until the Legion attacks Azeroth again ten years later, and the Illidari is needed more than ever before.

    Battle of Broken Shore

    The scene shifts to the Battle of Broken Shore. If you’ve played Legion, you know that this is the opening scenario of the expansion. The demons are attacking. Varian and Vol’jin die. Everything goes terribly, basically.

    We’re following Visionora—-Shadeith’s younger sister—-as she navigates through the battle. This is her first big fight, so she’s very freaked out. At this point, it’s already almost over, and many soldiers of the Alliance and Horde are dead.

    Tyrandidan—-the priestess who basically adopted Visionora—-and Illilas, Tyrandidan’s boyfriend, find Visionora. They tell her that it’s time to leave, as the Horde has seemingly betrayed them (though that’s not the case. The Horde had to retreat, too. But this is Alliance side, so we don’t know that right now).

    As the three of them climb onto the airship, Illilas is attacked and wounded. Tyrandidan uses her magic to bring him onto the ship, where they meet with the rest of the Alliance troops. But no one knows were King Varian Wrynn is.

    Return to Stormwind

    Our heroes return to Stormwind, and attend the king’s funeral in Stormwind Keep.

    Until they’re met by unexpected visitors: the Illidari.

    Visionora sees Shadeith again, and is shocked to see that her brother is alive. Shadeith is happy to see her again, too, as it’s been over ten years since they’ve seen one another.

    But their reunion is cut short, as Shadeith notices demons lurking within the keep, disguised as Stormwind Guards. A fight breaks out. Shadeith locates the portal that the demons came from, and destroys it.

    After that, he must go to Dalaran, and help the heroes of Azeroth deal with the Legion’s threat.

    The Twinblades of the Deceiver

    Shadeith meets up with Bandenar—-one of his fellow demon hunters—-in Dalaran. In order to stop the Legion, they must obtain these magical weapons—-Artifact Weapons. Shadeith has chosen the Twinblades of the Deceiver.

    They travel to Felsoul Hold in Suramar to find them. They currently belong to Varedis Felsoul—-a demon hunter who betrayed the Illidari and joined the Legion.

    Shadeith fights Varedis, and wins (though he does get a cool new scar on his face in the encounter). He takes the Twinblades of the Deceiver, and returns to Fel Hammer—the demon hunter class order hall—-with Bandenar.

    Val’sharah

    Shadeith is feeling overwhelmed by his duties. He must find the Sargerite Keystone for Illidan’s plan, but he also has to find the Pillars of Creation—-magical artifacts that would seal the Tomb of Sargeras and stop the demons from coming to Azeroth. Nadillii steps in to help him, telling him that he should focus on the Pillars, while the rest of the Illidari worry about the Keystone.

    Shadeith then goes to Dalaran and finds a group of champions relaxing in the Legerdemain Lounge. These heroes are the druid Visiohn Blackbrook, Illilas, and Argrim Stonehand the dwarf warrior. Together, they decide to go to Val’sharah to find the Tears of Elune first.

    In Val’sharah, Xavius—-the Nightmare Lord—- is wreaking havoc and corrupting everything. He even corrupted Ysera—-Aspect of the Green Dragonflight. Our heroes have no choice but to fight her.

    In the battle, Shadeith is in danger, and Visiohn rescues him. As she brings him to safety, she changes form, revealing that she isn’t a mere human, but a worgen.

    In the end, they defeat Ysera, and recover the Tears of Elune. They bring the gem back to Dalaran.

    Visionora’s Request

    After retrieving the Tears of Elune, Shadeith returns to the Illidari for some time. They find the Sargerite Keystone in the Vault of the Wardens, and bring it back to the Fel Hammer.

    A few days later, when he’s in Dalaran, prepared to meet up with the next group of champions, he runs into Visionora.

    She asks him to train her to become a demon hunter. She felt helpless in the Battle for Broken Shore, and feels like, if she were more powerful, she would be more helpful in this war.

    This is Shadeith’s first time hearing that his little sister was at the Broken Shore. He feels extremely sorry for her, hearing that it was her first ever real fight.

    But that’s when the demon inside of his head shows him an image of Visionora dying during her transformation, as many demon hunters do.

    Shadeith realizes that he doesn’t know how to create new demon hunters, and that would only increase the risk. And he would never forgive himself if he accidentally killed his younger sister. This ultimately leads him to say no, which upsets Visionora.

    The Netherlight Temple

    In the Netherlight Temple, Tyrandidan is practicing shadow magic. Another priest, Ravari, walks in on her, and asks what she’s doing. Tyrandidan tells her that she’s learning this power so that she could fight the demons better and preven another defeat like Broken Shore.

    Highmountain

    Shadeith is waiting in the Legerdemain Lounge for the next group. He meets up with Lyndy—-a cheerful gnome warlock. The next one to arrive is Valarae—-a night elven rogue who Shadeith had met once when he was a child. The last one is Tyrandidan, who was a little late due to her studies.

    Once the team is assembled, they travel to Highmountain to recover the next Pillar of Creation—-The Hammer of Khaz’goroth. They manage to unite the tribes to find it.

    At one point, when they’re preparing to venture into Neltharion’s Lair at Snowblind Mesa, Shadeith is reflecting on his argument with Visionora before he left. Tyrandidan confronts him, as she has heard that he’s Visionora’s brother. He feels like he failed his sister. Tyrandidan thinks that they should talk about it. And, luckily, she knows that Visionora isn’t far.

    So, the two of them venture to Trueshot Lodge to talk to Visionora. They’re greeted by Illilas, and Shadeith quickly learns that the hunter and Tyrandidan are in love. Illilas tells Shadeith that Visionora is in the stable, so Shadeith quickly leaves.

    In the stable, Shadeith finds Visionora taking care of Illilas’s pet wolf—Hati. Visionora is happy to see Shadeith again. He apologizes to her, as he wishes that he could help, but he doesn’t know how. He also tells her that the Illidari are working to resurrect Illidan, so there’s still a chance for her to join. Visionora is very happy to hear this.

    On this positive note, Visionora sends Shadeith on his way, as Azeroth needs him.

    The heroes fight their way through Neltharion’s Lair. They battle Dargruul the Underking, who has stolen the Hammer of Khaz’goroth. Shadeith is injured in the encounter, which leads Tyrandidan to lash out with her shadow magic, alarming her teammates. They get the Hammer, and head back to Dalaran.

    Azsuna

    Before setting out on his next adventure, Shadeith goes to Visiohn, so she can help heal his wounds from the previous battle. She tells him about her past, as she works. Her family fled Gilneas when the worgen curse broke out, and traveled to the Broken Isles like other Gilneans to live in Bradensbrook. However, on the way out, her entire family was bitten. Thankfully, when they finally reached Val’sharah, the night elven druids were able to cure them, allowing them to only transform when they chose to.

    Shadeith and Visiohn find that they can relate to one another, as they both have a monster living inside of their heads. But they have also both accepted that monster to be a part of themselves.

    Before Shadeith leaves, Visiohn brings up that her younger sister—-Illidrana—-is going to Azsuna with him. She asks him to keep Illidrana safe. Shadeith agrees, before he goes on his way.

    Shadeith joins up with the next group of adventurers. As Visiohn said, Illidrana is there. She’s a mage of the Kirin Tor. There’s also Shallina Autumns, the human paladin. Their final party member is Xaerys, a draenei who was once an exarch, but decided to become a monk later in life.

    These heroes all joined Archmage Khadgar in Azsuna, where they met up with the Illidari and fought demons. They later joined up with the Blue Dragonflight, and helped them fend off the Nightfallen, who were trying to drain them of their mana. Xaerys even befriended one of the blue dragons—-Magigos.

    Now, our heroes are in Nar’thalas Academy, a magic school full of ghostly elves. They’re here, because the next Pillar of Creation—-the Tidestone of Golganeth—-is supposedly in the headmistress’s office.

    When Shadeith meets the headmistress, he learns that she’s a banshee. She’s enraged that he wants to go into her office, and attacks him. He manages to win, and steal the key to her office.

    However, when they go in there to claim the Tidestone, the naga find them and capture them.

    Meanwhile, Magigos is flying around Azsuna. As he flies over the city of Nar’thalas, he sees Xaerys being dragged away by the naga. He flies in to save his new friends. But, by the time he reaches the cave where they’re being held, he finds that Prince Farondis—-the ruler of Nar’thalas—has already rescued them.

    They come up with a plan to figure out where the naga took the Tidestone. Illidrana reveals that she’s a master of intimidation—-sometimes intentional, but more often than not, accidental. She uses her abilities to scare the naga into telling her that the Tidestone is in the Eye of Azshara—-a strange island located off the coast of Azsuna. There’s a portal to it within the city.

    On their way to the portal, they encounter Anthissa, the leader of this group of naga and the one who had imprisoned them earlier. They fight her, and ultimately defeat her. Then they rush through the portal, towards the Eye of Azshara.

    They fight their way through the Eye of Azshara, killing the naga and all of their minions. The last opponent who stands in their way is the Wrath of Azshara, a fearsome water elemental. They defeat him, and recover the Tidestone.

    That leaves only one more Pillar of Creation to find: the Aegis of Aggramar in Stormheim.

    Light’s Heart

    One day in Dalaran, Bandenar approaches Shadeith. He tells Shadeith to come back to the Fel Hammer, because the Illidari has found a mysterious Lightbound object.

    When they go to the Fel Hammer, Shadeith examines the object. No one has any idea what it is. When he touches it, he loses consciousness.

    He finds himself floating through space. He sees a naaru. She tells him to find the Child of Light and Shadow.

    The one named Illidan Stormrage.

    Shadeith wakes up in the hospital in Dalaran. Nadillii and Bandenar are both there, waiting for him. They’re both worried. Shadeith tells them about the vision that he saw. It seems that the naaru wants them to bring Illidan back. No one knows what’s going on. But they always planned on bringing Illidan back somehow, and they feel like this might be a good way to do it.

    Before they could continue, a human mage named Illari comes in. She tells Shadeith that his next group is waiting for him. Shadeith realizes that he has to put this Light’s Heart stuff off for now. He hurries off to find his next party.

    Stormheim

    Shadeith goes to Legerdemain’s Lounge once more to meet up with the final group of champions.

    The first one he meets is Visionella, a draenei shaman. She’s very happy to see him, and explains that her uncle—-Xaerys—-told her about him.

    Then their final companion—-a pandaren death knight—-enters the lounge. Visionella becomes very sad at the sight of her. When Shadeith asks her about it, Visionella explains that the death knight is Illesha. She was Xaerys’ monk teacher, who died at Broken Shore. But Xaerys doesn’t know that she’s undead. Illesha is afraid to let Xaerys know what she’s become, because she doesn’t want to upset him. Shadeith once again feels bad that he wasn’t there to help at Broken Shore.

    That’s when Illesha addresses them, startling them both. She realizes that Shadeith has never seen a death knight before. Before he could get a word in, Illesha then pulls out a letter from Stormwind, telling them to board the Skyfire.

    When they get on the Skyfire, they’re attacked by the Forsaken. Sylvanas Windrunner—-warchief of the Horde—seems to be up to something. King Genn Greymane of Gilneas wants to figure out what it is. Shadeith is irritated that the Horde and Alliance are still fighting each other in a time like this. He thinks that they have much bigger problems that they should be focusing on.

    The Forsaken drop blight bombs on the Skyfire. The champions scramble to get rid of them quickly before they poison everyone on board.

    Shadeith realizes that the ship’s going down. He’s pretty sure they’re about to crash. But when he tries to tell the others, Genn is fighting Sylvanas’s champion, Nathanos Blightcaller. The heroes rush over to help the worgen king.

    After they deal with Nathanos, the ship is going down fast. Visionella and Illesha realize what’s going on. They’re crashing into the mountains of Stormheim.

    Luckily, the native vrykul decide to help them find the Aegis of Aggramar. To do so, they need to complete the Trial of Valor, a series of challenges to prove their worth.

    Along the way, they meet many friends, such as a talking tree and storm drakes. They also end up in Helheim at one point, where they learn that Sylvanas came to make some deal with Helya.

    When they reach the Gates of Valor—-where their final trial stands—-the Legion attacks, so they fight back.

    After a series of trials, they reach the final room. The one that holds the Aegis of Aggramar.

    Until God-King Skovald—-a vrykul who allied himself with the Burning Legion— comes in, claiming that he had completed the trials and has a claim to the Aegis. Odyn argued that Shadeith and his party made it first. A fight breaks out between the champions and Skovald. The champions defeat him.

    And, now, our heroes can face their final trial: Odyn himself.

    They duel Odyn, and eventually win. Odyn lets them take the Aegis and return to Dalaran.

    Now, they have collected all four Pillars of Creation.

    The Hunt for Illidan Stormrage

    With all four Pillars of Creation in place, Shadeith has one more thing that he must do before he continues fighting against the Legion. He returns to the Fel Hammer, and takes Light’s Heart with him, letting the naaru tell him where to go.

    He travels across the world, learning about Illidan’s past. He learns things that even he didn’t know. This tells him that he doesn’t know Illidan as well as he had once thought, as the master demon hunter never went into much detail about his past.

    Shadeith’s journey leads him to the moment of Illidan’s death atop the Black Temple. Shadeith promises Illidan that he will save him, before he continues his journey.

    Eventually, he learns that Illidan’s soul is in Helheim, captured by Helya. Shadeith assembles the Illidari and travels to Helheim to rescue Illidan, so that they can return his soul to his body.

    Shadeith and the demon hunters have to fight Helya, because she refuses to surrender Illidan’s soul. When his friends are about to be overrun, Shadeith channels the power of his inner demon, transforming into a demonic form. He uses this power to kill Helya, freeing Illidan.

    Illidan declares Shadeith the Slayer—-the new leader of the Illidari. He also tells Shadeith that his body is in Suramar, atop the Nighthold. Shadeith knows his next move. He stores Illidan’s soul in the Illidari Soul Prism, and they return to the Fel Hammer.

    Epilogue

    When they return to the Fel Hammer, Illidan’s soul is absorbed by Light’s heart, keeping it safe until his body is found.

    Shadeith decides his next move. He’s going to Suramar to search for Illidan. The demon hunters are ready to follow his lead.

    Shadeith is going to bring Illidan back, and then he plans on finishing his master’s plan, bringing the war to the Legion’s homeworld.

    For Azeroth!

    Outro

    That’s where we are now in Fel and Blades! I hope you enjoyed reading this, and that you’re excited about Fel and Blades Part 2! Come back next Friday to read the prologue!

    Thanks for reading!