Been super sleepy last month. I think it's because of the constant cloudy days. The lack of sunlight is really draining, and made it hard to draw at times because all I was thinking of was going to bed for a nap.

It's also getting to the point where I can't sleep at night because I pushed my sleep schedule too far, but when I'm finally able to sleep I just don't want to wake-up because I love the Autumn vibe. It's so nice, and colourful, and the temperature is just right.

Better get to the bigger topics before I fall asleep. As always, read what you like. If it's putting you to sleep there's no shame in skimming around.

I've completed my part for the Badge-mas event! Now the only thing left to do is wait for my group partner to finish their part which will be done in a flash once they get to it next month.

Honestly, it feels weird having October off like this. Usually I'm at my busiest, and have no time to do anything else...I don't know how to handle all this free time.

Maybe I'll participate in this year's Halloween Spooktakular. That might be a fun change of pace. It'll be less stressful compared to the Sketch Collab.

[I really need to get faster at animating]

~~~

Speaking of animating. I've been doing quite a lot of work on my 3DS animation as of late. I've just been finding excuses to go outside and work on it while checking my mail every week. Usually, I do it while eating out. I draw at least one frame before heading back to my apartment.

I don't have enough to show off just yet, but I'd say a good third of my animation is done now.

Not sure why I'm putting way more focus on this animation when I have a few other projects I should be working on, but it's a nice little distraction.

~~~

I've also been trying to juggle a few other projects. Usually I spend one week on Badge-mas, and the next week is for other projects. Although, if I don't reach the goal for the Badge-mas entry before the end of the week, it'll start eating away my time for the next week until I finish it.

It disciplines me to not be lazy all day with these more important projects, and if I waste too much time it punishes me by giving me less time with some side-projects.

So far I haven't quite gotten the hang of things just yet. I'm good at reaching the goals for the Badge-mas stuff on time for the most part, but the week after I tend to struggle working on other projects. Most of the time I just want to sleep and play games.

That's pretty much all that needs fixing. Although, I feel like come January when all these major projects are done, I might be able to work well in this system with all the fun side-projects that have been laying dormant for some time.

~~~

One last thing I started doing at the very end of the month is gesture drawings:

(Left pic is the gesture drawing, right pic is the final sketch)

[Been trying to draw more dynamic poses lately]

Before I'd be drawing stick figures as my base, and I'd be very picky with my sketch lines. Then I saw this video from an ex-Don Bluth animator showing this technique, and I got intrigued.

Speed was always my biggest issue when it came to drawing. Going from boxes to sticks is one way I got faster in the past, but this looked even faster.

So I gave it a shot with Harold, and it weirdly clicked with me; right away. Drawings that would normally take me a 2-3 hours now take me a single hour to sketch, and I'm still not efficient with it yet.

Although, the one weakness of gesture drawing is you need to have a good idea how to draw your character or character template before using this technique. If you don't your proportions, anatomy, and posing can look a little wonky. Learning tricks or getting used to your character's anatomy is key for gesture drawing.

That's at least my takeaway from all this. Still, this is now my most useful tool in my toolbelt.

Well, it looks like this series ended in a bang...kinda. Turns-out Witch's Cat came out before Rabi Laby 3 which means the series ended on a whimper, but this game was a banger! It's as good if not better than Rabi Laby 1 & 2. The game looks gorgeous, the gameplay is fresh, the story is more substantial (though, it still ends on a cliff-hanger like every game in the series), and I adore the soundtrack.

Really the only issue I have is I kinda got spoiled by Rabi Laby 3 unlockables. This game came before Rabi Laby 3, so it makes sense that it wouldn't have the sound test, and the bonus pictures. Although, it does have a cutscene viewer, so that's nice at least. The one thing that's strange between the two is how the 3D looks good in Witch's Cat, but is a broken mess Rabi Laby 3...which came later...How did they screw that up?

Unlike Rabi Laby, you only play as a single character in Witch's Cat. However, you are decked out with so many moves that it's kind of overwhelming at first.

Not only can you transform between a cat and a catgirl, but as a catgirl you have four elemental spells, each of them cost different amounts of MP (Moon Power), and each stage gives you a different max MP. Doesn't help that the game gives you no proper tutorial for how these things work, and after learning the basics the very next stage requires you to do some pretty advanced moves with the spells.

This game is no joke, and will kick you where it hurts as soon as World 2, and unlike Rabi Laby 3 the game doesn't let you skip any levels if you retry enough times. There's no hint coins either, so you've gotta really grin and bear it.

Pretty much every level I'm just sitting there scanning the entire thing, and finding ways to solve it. A lot of them I had to put down the game and come back to them the next day to beat it. There's just so much to manage in each level...and I find that really fun for some reason.

You do need to play at least one Rabi Laby game beforehand, not because of the story (the story is good enough standalone), but because the Rabi Laby games teach you how to break this engine, and a lot of these little exploits are needed to beat some of these levels in Witch's Cat. For example: one level needs you to put two hats horizontally on your head, so you can get two different ledges to catch your hat. One of them is used to get to a higher ledge, and the other is used to beat the level.

I only have one gripe with the game's controls. Pressing B is what cycles between your four spells. It's doable, but I would have preferred if they used L & R to cycle between them instead. What's weird is the game has the pause menu mapped to pressing L & R at the same time. Pressing Start or Select also pauses the game, but unlike the pause menu it lets you restart or quit the level, so I have no idea what their thought process was when designing this control scheme. It's weird as hell though.

Overall, I think I like this game way more than Rabi Laby 1. Sure, it's way harder, but the moves you can pull off in this game is insane!

If I had to describe each game in the series I'd say:

• Rabi Laby 1 is the most replayable
• Rabi Laby 2 has the best challenges
• Rabi Laby 3 has the best rewards
• Witch's Cat is the best overall package

Like I said before, with the exception of Rabi Laby 3, I highly recommend finding a way to play these little gems. Unfortunately, a modded 3DS/DSi is the only way to play these games in English, and the Japan exclusive remaster is only on PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch with no plans to port this collection to PC.

Been trying hard to lose weight. I'm not all that fat, but I tire of this slight belly I've had for most of my life.

The way I've been doing so is by exercising every day with Wii-Fit (I know, it's silly, but it works for me), and eating way less. Mostly eating eggs and veggies...well, I did for a bit until I realized that humans need fiber to poop properly, so I then made sure to eat a bit of oatmeal, rice, pasta, or potatoes every now and then.

I'd eat bread, but I have a bit of a gluten intolerance. Something about it makes my heart race, and give me a ton of anxiety which can make it really hard to concentrate on my projects. Eating a slice of bread is fine, but eating something bigger like a pizza is gonna give me a bad time. Even if I eat just one slice a day, by day 3 the effects will kick-in. I've practically banned bread from my household with how it screws me up. Although, weirdly pasta doesn't do anything to me, so that's pretty much the exception.

I also got into the habit of eating-out every week because eating almost nothing gets pretty depressing after a while, so treating myself to a nice meal every week both helps keep the morale up, and gives me an excuse to go out more and potentially socialize. Plus I can kinda get away with eating-out more since I'm spending less on groceries. It's a win-win!

But yeah, that's my weight-loss journey so far. My goal is to have a flat belly before Christmas, or at the very least go back to how I weighed 5 years ago...still can't believe how much weight I gained in that time. On Wii-Fit I went from borderline "Normal" to full-on "Obese" after I stopped playing it. Unbelievable! Now I'm slowly crawling my way through the overweight section. It's working though! Just very slowly.

[Weight is measured in Kilograms. I could switch it to pounds, but I'm too lazy to switch my Wii's location from Canada to US]

[Also, it's weird that Wii-Fit uses Kilos for Canada. Everyone here uses pounds like in the US]

~~~

I've mentioned it a bit in the Art Stuff section, but I've started giving myself a little routine every week. Basically, every Sunday is a clean-up day, every Monday I try to catch-up with my Newgrounds feed (or just plain relax), every Tuesday I go out to get my mail and grab something to eat as a treat, and the rest of the week I work on my projects while doing my regular exercise routine.

For a while I'd check my mail on Mondays. It was a nice follow-up after cleaning up the place, but with how so many holidays would fall on Monday (which closes the post office making me unable to grab my mail), and how the few good hangout spots available at this time of year are also closed on Monday, I decided it would be better to go out on Tuesdays instead. Less potential empty-handed trips. Though, it does make Mondays a bit awkward at times.

Funnily enough, Sundays are oddly exciting for me. Like, I get weirdly love going around my house and cleaning-up the place. I can't do everything in a single day, but I do keep mental notes on what I should clean next week. I can't explain it, but I love this sort of change of pace.

So that's what happened last month. It was weirdly productive even though it didn't feel like it most of the time. In fact some days I didn't feel productive enough with how sleepy and lazy I've been.

This month I'm thinking of keeping things flowing just the way it is...just with a better sleep schedule.

First order of business is making a new profile icon for the season!

See you next post!