Eggtober 6th 2023

"Splat" or "Fun with Colors": Raw Egg.

(Clip Studio Paint, Gouache Brush, Pencil brush for details and highlights. 12 colors, I think? 1 Hour.) I actually really liked the rough version I made, so you're gonna get that one at the end as well, for anyone who also likes the rough one better than the smooth one.

But first... I finally discovered a feature of CSP, so now I am unstoppable and I will NEVER AGAIN have to ask myself "How the fuck did I do that?"

Because now I have EVIDENCE. Now curious friends, followers, and my forgetful ass, can watch the full process of how I made a thing. Including what references I used so it's clear how much is iterative and how much I am drawing directly from the visual reference. Today I had to do a lot from imagination because I couldn't find an exaggerated splashy egg, but sometimes I really am just making a study and trying to do a one-to-one recreation of a reference. So now y'all get to know all my filthy little secrets. I was intending to grab footage starting with Eggtober 1, 2023 but OBS needs a version of an NVIDIA driver that will absolutely wreck my computer with BSODs because I own a junker apparently. But it turns out CSP (or at least V2, IDK if it was in V1) has a way to capture a speedpaint natively when you create the file.

Now I am unstoppable, powerful. No more taking a break from art when life gets busy and coming back to pieces I drew 10 years ago and wondering "How the hell did I manage that?" I can just check. It's over for all of you. Once I practice anatomy again and start being able to draw shapes and volumes perfectly from imagination, I will become all-powerful. I will ascend. Hell, maybe someone might even pay me if I learn to draw anything that isn't an egg or a meme. XD Radical self-confidence, baby. I can art now, and I have evidence. My horizons are infinite!

And now, hopefully, any baby artists that are just starting out can get an idea of how I do it from this and future pieces so I can pull you all up with me in a bid of apotheosis. For the EGGsthetic! (Aesthetic.)

I wonder which version of this egg @lady-quen's breadbugs will snap up?

And I wonder which one @quezify will like best? My money's on the sketchy one.

I can't tell which I like better honestly. The smooth one us much more "My aesthetic" because it matches how I render eggs but... The rough pencil-y gouache lines you get with light pressure really remind me of how the classic modern quezify eggs look, and I of course only started doing eggs because of the first Eggtober so, like. On the one hand, smooth and painterly look that goes with all but one of my previous eggs (Eggtober 1, 2023 was a study from memory of quezify's style, after all). But on the other hand... dramatic color changes! Textrure, shine! Colors that aren't in the actual references! EXPRESSIVENESS. Two different moods on the same egg art and I really dig both of them honestly.

The egg is rotten now.

The paint and gold leaf have chipped

And flaked away

From a hundred hours of being held.

The shell

Remains

Uncracked.

I keep the egg wrapped in a sheet

Tucked in a discreet shoebox

Up, on a high shelf

In a crowded closet.

The mystery

Still

Haunts me.

I tell myself again and agian

"There was nothing to save,

There was nothing to lose.

Only yellow yolk floats inside."

Only

Yellow

Yolk.

But I can still remeber

how It sometimes shook and jumped,

Warming at my touch.

Brushing my fingertips over the shell now

The egg is just as still

And cold

As marble.

Last year i wrote a poem for @quezify 's eggtober event, and ive decided that it warrants a sequel now. This is a very personal piece, as was the previous poem. Using abstract imagry and symbols to process my emotions feels much less confrontational, and allows me some distance to analyze how my experiences have shaped me. i hope this poem resonates with someone. happy eggtober! 💛🍳

i can finally participate in @quezify's eggtober!!

tea eggs (茶但) for the first post

Haven't drawn anything in years but felt compelled to do a lil egg for Day 1 of @quezify's Eggtober 2023! :^]

Drawing breadbugs stealing others' art posts: Day 4 of ?

As always @goron-king-darunia X'D I'm having SO much fun with these collabs~ And heyy! The bebbuggs definitely enjoy your cooking ☺️

@quezify eggtober 2023

"What kind of eggs do you want? You can have any kind you like, as long as they're scrambled."

"What if I want poached?"

"Then you can make them yourself."

"Scrambled it is."

While Audrey started working on the eggs, the butterfly glided down from its perch on the balcony. Audrey opened up a pack of powdered grains for the crow-sized insect, who took the pack in one of his hands, then flapped back up to the balcony.

Beamon stretched his arms and got up from the couch. He put some food in the cat's bowl, then walked over to the window and opened the blinds. The cat crawled out from under the couch and began to eat.

Audrey asked, "How many pieces of bacon do you want?"

"Three," Beamon answered. He opened the refrigerator. He pulled out a can of coffee for himself and a can of tea for Audrey.

"Breakfast is served, you may praise the chef," Audrey said.

"Praise. Pass me the pepper," Beamon said.

She handed him the snail-shaped pepper shaker. "Here you go." She took a sip from her can of tea, which featured a drawing of a cartoon cow giving a thumbs up. "I'm meeting with Pablo today."

"Old Pablo or Young Pablo?"

"Young Pablo."

THUMP!

They both turned their heads.

The butterfly had a string in its hands, and was flying above the cat, teasing her, waiting for her to pounce, then snatching away the string. A pile of books had been knocked over.

Audrey stood up. "Stanley! Whiskers! Stop that!!"

Stanley glared at her and dropped the string. He flapped sulkily down the hall towards the bedrooms.

Whiskers stretched out briefly, licked the black fur on one of her paws, then trotted off after Stanley.

Audrey sat down. "Whose idea was it to give him hands?"

"Mine. But as I recall, you thought it would be cute."

"I do not recall that."

Beamon swallowed a bite of eggs and raised an eyebrow. "As I recall, you're the one who sourced the DNA for me."

"I must have had too many margaritas that weekend."

Eggtober 30th 2023

"Mimicking the Master": Fried Egg on Magenta.

(Clip Studio Paint, Custom 6B Pencil brush. ? Colors. ? Time. A labor of love.)

Made a point of giving @quezify's style a serious try. Eggtober 1st, 2023 was a quick attempt to learn and practice for the most part. This was a combination of directly studying and experimenting. Eggtober 1st was more about "glance at the inspo, notice the vibes, make it your own." This was much more about "pay attention to what these techniques accomplish, try to copy the specific things you like, and then see if you can iterate."

I do still need more practice since I'm not used to this process but for a first, real, non-traced and non-direct study, (as in I wasn't trying to replicate a specific piece one-to-one) this went really well. Not 100% sure what I was going for with some of my choices, but the over-all impact has a lot of what I love about @quezify's style.

3rd Egg I did for the day. Queued for the 30th so I have time to plan the 31st. Not sure what it will be but I'm looking forward to it.

I hope @lady-quen's breadbugs love this stylized eggy!

And even though he's been tagged twice, one more ding for @quezify, inimitable, even while I study that style. The master of eggs. I've loved watching your work all month and I loved taking a crack (pun intended) at actually pegging down what you're doing. You're fucking amazing, Ruben. One last egg for the month! We can do it, bud!

But first, speedpaint.

You can tell I'm really not used to using brushes that are so opaque. I gotta practice doing gradients with opaque brushes like this. Or maybe I need to turn down the opacity on the pencil brush. Or maybe I need to blend my style and Ruben's a bit more?

Whatever it is. I'm somewhere short of where I want to be in terms of a style mimic. Not that I want to steal @quezify's style per se, though it is rad as fuck. More that knowing how it works and what this method of drawing produces is a useful tool to have. After all, half of art is inventing stuff and the other half is aping stuff you like, whether that's real world references or copying from masters. So I might need a little more practice, but the blob-tacular shading and the hatching and the use of shapes as texture are all definitely tools that are going in the tool bag one of these days. XD

Been an honor drawing for everyone. I look forward to next year!

Eggtober 10th 2023

"Wisps": Hot and Sour Soup

(Clip Studio Paint, Gouache brush, Gouache Blender, some pencil brush detailing, circle tool for the bowl. 18 colors. About an hour.)

Cousin of the Egg Drop soup. I think the eggy wisps are properly referred to as "egg flowers" and that's cute as hell.

Anyway, hot and sour soup is that, only "what if we made it spicy and sour and also added more stuff?" One of my family's favorites. And a great way to eat tofu. Borderline vegan and tasty as hell. 10/10, would recommend.

Leaving it pleasantly warm for @lady-quen's breadbugs. Not hot. We don't want to cook the poor creatures. If a breadbug swims in your soup, does it become a dumpling bug? Or a noodle bug? We must explore this for science.

As always, proud to present many eggy dishes to @quezify on this lovely Eggtober. Enjoy!

Edit: Forgot the speedpaint. You can see I was really inspired by the blue of that bowl.

Eggtober 16th 2023

"Say Cheese" A study of texture: Cheesy Baked Cream Eggs

(Clip Studio Paint, Circle tool, Gouache Brush, Dry Gouache Brush, Airbrush Tool for the pepper. 12 colors. 40 minutes.)

For a quick one, I love how this came out. Mom saw a show, I looked at the website, I saw a neat egg, I drew it. I love the parcooked whites on the yolks that are juuuust starting to set and the way I was able to render that burned cheesy look! Definitely one of my faves so far!

Hopefully @lady-quen's breadbugs don't fall into the yolks before they set... Or maybe the breadbugs would like that?

Tapdancing my way into @quezify's notifications with this one. I cannot tapdance, but I can dream. XD

I love the yolk at the 4 o clock position there... the way it kind of looks a bit shriveled like it burst somewhere under the surface. Again, very proud of this one for a fast piece.

Eggtober Recap and Masterpost 2023

Untitled Egg Poem Egg Yolk Splattered in a chipped bowl, Limitless potential Broken like the dawn.

Scared of wasted sunrise, Scared of loving white lies, Yearning, Wanting to breathe free.

Prison within a prison, Living without living, I am spinning, toiling, burning, Breaking, sifting, praying, learning, Nothing blooming Nothing growing Tears.

Crackling insanity, A song that boils within me A rhythm Setting me in stone.

And I'll claw in Like dandelions, Vines, like yeast and mold I'll make a mark one day, you'll see.

Rooted, I'll grow my thorns, It's not my fault for being born, Sorry if My laughter is too loud.

I'll make a reverie of mechanical monotony No more apologies Just me. Insects and wriggling larvae, Eggshell like lead paint chips, Star dust doesn't choose its shape.

Pigment from wilted roses, blood spilled by mistake, I refuse to ever break.

Not again.

Eggtober is over. We did it~ The poem doesn't really speak to a current state of mind. Just a pattern of maladaptive thinking I grew up having, being the weird kid. People like the rough edges a lot more when you grow up, I've found. Makes you interesting. Or maybe it's just easier to find your people when you're unapologetically strange online. And I like that Eggtober sort of embraces that. It's not a super serious Inktober challenge. Just a bunch of weird people drawing weird eggs. And I mean that in the best way. People expect there to be a "why" a lot. "Why eggs?" And sometimes there is a why. Sometimes I draw eggs to express something or to symbolize something. But sometimes there is no why. Sometimes it's just because an egg is easy or fun or comfortable. Sometimes an egg just feels right. Sometimes it's just to make something. Doesn't have to be poetic or meaningful. Sometimes you just draw an egg, and that's all it is. And I think a lot of discomfort around art is that everyone expects there to be a why, and if you don't have a why, then your art doesn't deserve to be seen. "Why do you like gorey stuff, kinky stuff, weird stuff? If you can't explain, I'm choosing to believe you're a freak and should be disallowed from creating." And I'm lucky, I think, to not be that popular. I don't get asked these sorts of things. But I see it happen to other people. And sometimes I get it. An answer to the why pacifies. I get uneasy with horror the same as everyone and I pacify it by reading the wiki and learning the secrets and understanding the why. But I think we need to get more comfy making up our own why, or get comfy with the knowledge that sometimes there isn't a why. Sometimes the little brain goblin decides there is no why. They just like the weird little eggs. And that's okay. And I think the reason we make up for other peoples' "why" should maybe stop being "because they're a weird little freak that likes degenerate things." Because yeah, maybe they are. But it's not a bad thing. And the world is a lot more interesting when we accept that we don't always know the why. And the why isn't always as simple as that.

I dunno. I'm rambling a bit. But I'm grateful to everyone that showed up and participated and shared and liked and just... enjoyed existing where the thing happening was lots of eggs and the "why" was just "why not?"

Hoping every one of you has a nice glass of your preferred warm beverage and stays nice and toasty for the rest of the year. (Shout out to the southern hemisphere folks if there are any. May you guys have an iced beverage of your choice and stay nice and cool for the rest of the year.)

Lots of thoughts about Eggtober 2023 and no good way to articulate them, but suffice it to say that having a loose amount of structure like this is very good on my garbage ADHD brain. If anything in the collage catches your fancy, here's the posts in order from the top left to the bottom right. May the rest of 2023 be sweet. I can't wait to see everyone again next year! And don't eat too much Halloween Candy at once, even if it is those yummy gummy fried egg candies.

Eggtober 2023 Posts in Order: (Unfortunately I didn't learn about the speedpaint feature until day 6 😢)

Eggtober 1st: Fried Egg on Green Eggtober 2nd: Lemon Fried Egg (Both Versions) Eggtober 3rd: Fried Egg Cake

Eggtober 4th: Poached Eggs and Asparagus Hollandaise Eggtober 5th: Sheet Pan Fried Eggs Eggtober 6th: Raw Egg (Both Versions)

Eggtober 7th: Painted Egg Eggtober 8th: Rice Crispy Eggs Eggtober 9th: Chocolate Souffle Eggtober 10th: Hot and Sour Soup

Eggtober 11th: Flan Eggtober 12th: Fried Eggs and Bacon Eggtober 13th: Ramen Eggs Eggtober 14th: Tiger Skin Egg

Eggtober 15th: Fried Egg with Berries Eggtober 16th: Cheesy Baked Cream Eggs Eggtober 17th: Mushroom Quiche Eggtober 18th: Cipriani Cake

Eggtober 19th: Pavlova with Strawberry Jam Eggtober 20th: Deviled Egg Eggtober 21st: Hard-boiled Egg and Mayo Eggtober 22nd: Scrambled Eggs with Cheese

Eggtober 23rd: Omurice Eggtober 24th: Shrimp Fried Rice Eggtober 25th: Uovo in Raviolo Eggtober 26th: Image of Fried Egg on Jack-o-lantern.

Eggtober 27th: Tea Egg Eggtober Eggtober 28th: Monster Eggs Eggtober 29th: Korean Egg Bread Eggtober 30th: Fried Egg on Magenta in the Stlye of @quezify

Eggtober 31st: Fried Egg on Burger Eggtober 31st Bonus: Egg Creature from SNOBBISM

Special thanks to my bae, @actualaster for the love and support, @hannikka for the encouraging words, @lady-quen for the ongoing collab, and @quezify for being the best host. Love you all! I am putting the King Sized Reese's and KitKat candy bars in your metaphorical Halloween bags.

Eggtober 1st, 2023

Ode to @quezify: Fried Egg on Green Background

(Clip Studio Paint, Pencil tool, 11 colors, roughly 1 hour) Gonna make this my thing for every eggtober to start with a fried egg on green. Blood for the blood gods, egg for the egg gods, all that. This is my first time using the pencil tool and you can tell I'm learning with it. There's not a specific 6B pencil tool in CSP, but there are creator-made analogs. This is just the default pencil tool though. Made it a little yellow and very shiny so hopefully that conveys well that it's in the process of frying! Not sure if I'm going to do all my eggs with the pencil tool this year like I did with the gouache brush last year, but we'll see! A good first attempt, I think! Now as is good a time as any to remind everyone that my ask box is open so if anyone wants to see a specific egg, I'm open to requests! A little late out of the gate but still on time! WEEEE! I love Eggtober!

Eggtober 20th 2023

"Looking for my Angel" Deviled Egg. (Clip Studio Paint, Gouache Brush, air brush tool for the paprika, 8 colors, 30 minutes.) My hand was a bit bothered today for some reason so I drew a quick eggy. The Deviled Eggs I drew last year are one of my most popular posts, so I'm giving people what they want. Eggy. I haven't eaten deviled eggs in years. Maybe I should make some for a Halloween treat?

@lady-quen's breadbugs better be careful or they'll get seasoned and spiced!

Slapping this egg in @quezify's notifs, as customary for Eggtober.

SPEEDPAINT!

You can see I was gonna do a little goofy decal design of devil horns and a tail but none of the brushes conveyed what I wanted. Maybe I'll hand-render what I had in mind later when my hand feels less oof.

Eggtober 11th 2023

"Wiggly": Flan with Berries

(Clip Studio Paint, Gouache Brush, Dry Gouache Brush, some Pencil brush for detail, and the Circle tool and perspective tool for the plate. 30 colors. Around 1 hour and 30 minutes.)

Speedpaint at the end of the post.

I really should do some one to one studies one of these days. The shine on top was insanely fun to draw and fiddle with as was the shine on the berries, but the shine on the plate syrup is a little funky to me. Need more practice for sure but still happy with how it turned out. There's more here that I like and had fun with than I struggled with.

Hopefully the syrup isn't too sticky for @lady-quen's Breadbugs.

Technically an eggy pudding more than an overt egg, but I think it counts for @quezify's Eggtober. Am I playing a little loose with the rules? Absolutely. But it's either studies of various eggy foods or I'm gonna become bootleg quezify and only draw fried eggs every day. Like, yes, I'm basically the egg understudy because for two years I have drawn an egg a day for an entire month because of Ruben, but, like. I'm not here to stand in a fabulous shadow or step on any fabulous toes. I am here to draw edible egg. That has been my shtick since the first Eggtober. I am of course TRYING to stick to dishes that are well known for eggs being a major ingredient or dishes where the egg element is overtly visible, obviously. So you're probably not going to see a cheesecake here for example. Not for Eggtober, anyway. Cheesecake is much more well known for the cream cheese and the crushed cookie crust.

But, as with last year, you will be getting more than just "Here's a fried Egg." @quezify has that covered for sure. But you will definitely see loads of fried eggs. I still have 2 very nice fried egg ideas in my queue of things to draw, after all. But sometimes you just gotta play around. "Yes, flan is not egg. But it's known for including lots of eggies to get that custard nice and smooth and spongy and bouncy. Cheating every once in a while with a souffle or a flan is allowed because I say so. There's egg in there as a main ingredient. Fight me. XD

In all seriousness, what counts and what doesn't is wibbly anyway. Because, like, mayo is very much an eggy thing. The eggs stabilize the emulsion. Without them the mayo would just be separated oil and acid like vinegar or lemon juice. Hollandaise is also egg for the same reason. But if you add the mayo to a bunch of tuna, well, that gets wibbly right? It's the basis of tuna salad and definitely has egg in it, but the tuna ratio makes it much more tuna than mayo and therefore much more tuna than egg.

Unless you're a purist that think egg must be overt and independent in the dish, in which case fried egg, boiled egg, poached egg, and scrambled egg are about all you can get away with here, with various sauces. Which would be a fun challenge, I guess. But I am much more a form and constitution neutral participant. If it looks like an egg or if it contains significant egg, I am counting that. That's how we do it here on my blog. Categories are just wibbly boxes and I am playing fast and loose with them. Because it's fun. (This isn't really directed at anyone by the way. I'm just an anxious bean and I like to preempt arguments rather than have them.) But yeah, Egg King Ruben said I can draw whatever I want forever, so there. 😝

(Edit, forgot the gosh darn speedpaint again!)

Eggtober 5th 2023

"Endless Eggs": Sheet Pan Fried Eggs

(Clip Studio Paint: Gouache Brush, Pencil brush for highlights, and Airbrush tool for the pepper. 6 colors, 45 minutes.) Coming in right under the wire for this one! I learned a new skill about how to tile a piece. It should tile perfectly, but if anyone finds seams, let me know. Sheet pan eggs are a great way to cook a lot of eggs and a great way to paint a piece when you're low on time. @lady-quen's Breadbug army may have a rough time getting this one back to the burrow, but they're welcome to snack on as much as they can! And as always, big thanks to @quezify for organizing and inspiring this event. Eggs are just fun as hell to draw.

Eggtober 3rd 2023

"And Yet a Bit of the True Self Remains in the False Self" or German Fried Egg Cake (Spiegeleierkuchen) (Clip Studio Paint, Gouache brush and Pencil brush for highlights, 11 colors, ~40 minutes give or take. It felt longer but that's what my timer said and I did take a 10 minute break because my wrist was bothered) So yeah, apparently my anti-artistblock strategy this time is to just scroll the image results for fried egg until I find something I want to draw? Last year I had lots of ideas and this year I'm just "please send requests, I don't wanna draw the same 12 egg dishes that I like best from last year! I wanna practice with new stuff!" So yeah, technically it has egg in it because cake, and technically it looks like egg because of the pudding and apricot topping, but it's not technically an egg. But it's edible and egg themed and I really like how humans have decided that eggs are a pleasant thing to emulate. We have Easter egg-shaped candies and indeed many people serve this cake on Easter due to this association. Egg-shaped gummies. Eggy puddings. And the Fabergé egg. Humans just be liking fried dough, onions, and eggs.

I saw one sprinkled with poppy seed on top to look like pepper and I saw one with a cute teal-turqoise table cloth so I combined those ideas and several references for this. It may be sweet and not savory, but I hope you all enjoy! Haven't tried the recipe, but if any egg lovers love the look of this cake and want to try it next Easter, this is the one I found while looking for references.

As always, gotta tag and give props to @quezify for organizing Eggtober. Since this is cake, can we call it birthday cake for him?

Eggtober 31st 2023

"A Treat for Me?" Fried Egg on Burger.

(Clip Studio Paint, Gouache Brush, Gouache Blender. 23 colors. 1 hour.) Happy Halloween, everyone! And Happy Eggtober End! We did it! Got a spook and a treat today. Will post the recap tomorrow, like last year. The treat is this burger, of course. Nothing quite as decadent to me as a burger with a big fat fried egg. I saw @quezify draw one early on and went "Yeah, I gotta draw one of those at some point." Also yes, that's two kinds of cheese and some bacon hiding in there. I'm an animal.

Hopefully this isn't too much for @lady-quen's Breadbugs.

Speedpaint time!

Can you tell I was inspired by that little dent in the bun on the top left reference? Also shhh, the sauces are under the lettuce and between the layers so they're not all drippy. I totally didn't forget to draw in the sauces.