Nicole Oyama

Digital Drawing

I had tried digital drawing years ago but I never stuck with it. I tried again recently and am committing to drawing again in general and drawing on a tablet again!

The last time I drew anime was a while ago and I wanted to get back into drawing anime style again. I followed this tutorial for coloring like vintage anime. I think I messed up on a step but it’s okay! I have to keep practicing and then start drawing everything on my own again. I have the concept of coloring down but specific things I’m looking up now. I’m also wanting to learn a few different coloring techniques that I never did before in my history with drawing/painting. But now digitally!

Dreamlight Valley

Dreamlight Valley has been a recent obsession of mine! I never played any Kingdom Hearts games like this before so this is an interesting experience. I do love farming games, played Animal Crossing since Wild World days and Stardew Valley more recently. I do like how they already give you the watering can that can water a few crops at a time. Since that was a bummer for me when starting Stardew Valley and having to work up to sprinklers.

I like Disney movies and found it fun that the music makes you feel like you’re in the park. I feel like when the music stops that’s an error for the pre-release but we’ll see when the full game comes out next year.

I would love it if Baymax came to the game! I think that’s what lead me to this game too, I watched the Baymax shorts they released back in June and I went down the Disney rabbit hole again.

Thor: Love and Thunder and SDCC 2022

I thought Thor: Love and Thunder was okay movie! Thor: Ragnarok was probably more fun and bright since that was the first exposure to Taika Waititi. Kind of wild looking back at me walking by the Thor: The Dark World signing at the San Diego Comic Con 2013!!!

Speaking of Comic Con, it was supposed to happen in 2020. But we all know what happened then! It got postponed until this year. This post will probably go up after I went. I’m in awe of remembering I had gone to Comic Con since 2009, bought my ticket for the first few years and then did Volunteering for a few of them.

The last year I did Volunteering, I felt like it was too much. But it was interesting being a line counter for a small panel, and getting to understand how that worked. If everything had gone to plan and I went in 2018 and 2019 then it would have been 10 years consecutively instead of overall 10 years! Crazy! A lot has changed since then, and they give you a Volunteering assignment ahead of time. The first time I went to Comic Con, the badges were paper ones and it showed your location for some reason? So it would say “Yuta Nakamoto, Japan” on it.

I found an old freebie from the Avengers cartoon booth dated “Watch the new show Fall 2010!” How crazy is that??? Things have drastically changed over the years. Maybe in the future I’d try an off-site activation but we’ll see what happens.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

I remember trying to watch Iron Man 2 in 2010, however it was sold out for that particular time. Instead I had gone to see How to Train Your Dragon in 3D (closed captioned theater). A CGI movie in 3D for the entire hour of the movie with subtitles floating around was rough. Since then, no more 3D movies and some Marvel movies in theaters since then.

Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness’ original premise was “horror” and it was interesting back at SDCC 2019 announcement. I was surprised to read some people didn’t like the movie. But I base things on how much my own attention span is toward the movie and I thought it was great.

I’m still hoping for the better Fantastic Four movie and the future X-Men and giving my favorite X-Men Jubilee a proper big screen portrayal.

Animal Crossing Two Years

Coming up in March 2022, it would be the two year anniversary of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Sometimes I forget and it feels like time just flew by but also didn’t at the same time! I have a layout I finally like and my goal for this year is to have a complete island by the time March rolls around. Almost got it!!!

I know there were a lot of criticism for this game. There was a lot missing in comparison to older games. But at the same time, I appreciated that you got all the tools right away and didn’t have to wait for it to pop up in the store. You can craft a lot of things. The big one for me was that you could move villager houses and your own house wherever you please. Even if it’s also a “with great power comes great responsibility” at the same time.

I saved old screencaps of my first island and a few iterations in between. It’s fun to look at the differences in my ideas at the time and skills in making it cohesive!

Cowboy Bebop: Netflix

I know there’s a split response among fans on how this Netflix adaption came out. I didn’t mind the Live Action Faye Valentine? If there’s a second season as show runners are saying they are planning for one. There’s only ten episodes versus the twenty something of the actual anime. Hopefully they will listen to the criticism to an extent! I think if you go in this with low expectations or that it’s going to be different then… yeah.

I knew this was going to be different, and some things wouldn’t be translated to the show due to time constraints or budget constraints (Cowboy Andy! But do we really need to see that guy?) I think people forget they were filming this during pandemic time too and that probably botched some things. John Cho also got injured and that pushed filming back until they finished in March of this year.

I didn’t mind Faye’s outfit either since it’s more like what a normal human being would wear. Yeah, a woman could pick a crop top still but maybe she doesn’t feel like wearing the crop top that is two inches in length! Also, I could cosplay this version too since the only alarming color is still her top part. I did cosplay Faye Valentine a whopping ten years ago at SDCC in 2011! Wow, how time flies!!!

We needed more Ein. Always more Corgi butt!

Update: Whoops! Netflix cancelled Cowboy Bebop. There are some fans who want that decision reversed. Only time will tell.