It's the little things.

I keep getting told not to worry about the tiny little details, because no one will ever notice them.  I do sometimes (depending on how long I'm staring at something that I didn't make).  I'm reasonably certain that people might not notice the little details when they're there, but will definitely notice them or at least pick up something "wrong" when they're not.

_{Depending on the style of the artwork of course.}

Or at least that's what I keep telling myself when I'm obsessing about all those little details.

And even if nobody else knows or cares, I know and I care, and in the end I'm doing this thing for me first and if anyone else likes it, that's a bonus for me XD

And this is why, gentle readers, I am zoomed in this freaking close fixing up the wing membranes.

Finally got done with the hands (or at least as done as I can be/am prepared to do).

_{I really hope I don't regret the decision to try and fix some of the more finicky things in the normal map later x_x}

This is actually the right hand.  I usually work on the left side because I manage to get in my own way less on that side.  I am showing off the right hand because I had to hide the right arm so I could start working on the wings.

I wrote July HS Misc pretty late at night and completely forgot I had told @bearone I would do this one (which is "the next one" from my last one XD) with explanations as to how our crazy shenanigans can translate into stuff to soothe the Education Department.  Was going to edit the original post but it got a bit messy and I started rewriting the entire thing so thought it might be somewhat safer to do a "companion" type post.  And I'll be somewhat recycling the photos from that post (though I think I'll just screenie the sets to make my life easier), so watch out for the fake wounds again.

There has been some hilarity with some of my previous progblogs as I've shared the dodgy looking things that usually end up happening whenever I'm building (at least characters, I haven't done much else recently x_x)

The above screenie is not that dodgy, it's just highlighting those irritating bumps.  All I want is a perfectly smooth mesh but pparently there are vertices that just jut out for no apparent reason regardless of what I'm doing with autosmooth and the smooth brush settings.  I have wasted so much time on this that it's well beyond ridiculous.

WARNING: there are fake wounds made of Vaseline, flour and red food colouring about halfway through this post.

Broke the habit!

For now.

My head is still all over the place and and trying to get and keep organised is presenting its usual massive challenge, exacerbated by the fact the children have been staggering being exhausted for no apparent reason lately (a possible reason is growth spurts, because they're lethargic and sleep a lot and suddenly they're bigger, especially the boys).

July was pretty cruisy but as everything is pretty much back to normal (I think we're still meant to be social distancing as the marks in checkout lines and the enlarged aisles in bigger stores are still present but seeing as we've never had community transmission ever more and more and more people seem to be forgetting/ignoring this) we've been doing more.

The garden has been doing fantastic and my little nephew keeps asking to come over so he can raid.

This is a really boring phase where things are super slow going but they need to be done to keep me happy.

Other people obsess about mesh smoothness and stuff in obscure places like the soles of feet right?

_{Yes I'm aware the tail is still a bit of a mess, seems like I'm going to have to edit the normal map for that one -_-}

I'm kind of mostly trying to repair shapes but also seem to create a hell of a lot of dents before it will smooth out.  I don't know why that is.  I guess the autosmooth gets confused sometimes.

Quickie because sculpt fixing is taking forever and I felt like doing something else for a little while. 

As I said in the last progblog, I had been intending on sketching Zara in a hive hoodie as I've drawn her in a steem hoodie previously, and then decided I should use her model instead.  Some fixing was required and that had to be done anyway so it got done, and then I made the hoodie together out of a cube.

WARNING: if you're an ultraprude there's a nude character in here but only the breasts are somewhat detailed, while you can see the crotch area due to lack of clothes there isn't even implied genitalia.

So there I was, just smoothing out Red's feet and toes and fixing toenails that needed fixing

I'm severely out of it.  I'm currently struggling (and mostly failing) to not revert to my owlish ways.

I don't even remember why I didn't post the progblog on Friday.

Oh yes, I had an extra child (11yo had a friend sleeping over for the weekend).

I also hadn't finished the tail at the time and I was sick of posting pictures of the unfinished tail.

Then I stayed up way too late last night because I finally finished it.

To some value of finished.

I think I've inadvertently set that precedent I was trying to avoid x_x I blame covid.

During the period of "self isolation" (we were advised to not go out unless it was for essential purposes such as grocery shopping but full lockdown was never enforced), aside from occasionally trying to push bookwork (which is always destined for failure when everyone hates it so much), we all ended up just doing our own thing. 

For 15yo it was endless gaming and random dives into rabbit holes on various topics which he would then come out to discuss with us (mostly current affairs though we've also had some crazy discussions on philosophy and ethics that I've usually handballed to JJ because he's done a lot more of those things, most recent ones being stem cell research and the morality of the same actions in different contexts).

13yo spent a lot of time writing fanfics, learning video editing, drawing, making cosplay items and engaging in various shenanigans.