Muscle Memory and Knitting (#2)

I have picked up a project from last Summer, that is based on one of my favorite books, A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher. I highly recommend if you like a quick fantasy read or baking!

The first character I'm working on is the protagonist's magical familiar. This sentient sourdough starter, aka Bob, was created after a botched-bake and kind of just lives in the store's cellar while providing excellent bread starter in exchange for flour. He only appears a couple times in the book, but he made such an impression that I wanted to take a stab. Plus, designing a character that is essentially a blob in a bucket seemed way less intimidating than jumping back to work on the main protagonist, Mona.

I took inspiration from characters like Bob (funnily enough) from Monsters vs Aliens, and Morphe from Treasure Planet. I also referenced many pictures of sourdough starter and slime (while being careful not to fall into the spiral of slime videos). From his few cameos in the novel, I interpreted Bob as more of a baby or pet; he only ate flour, and attacked an antagonist while in his bucket.

Critique Notes:

After review, a popular choice for bucket seemed to be option 1, and a likeness for the ridges of bucket 3. For the Ultimate version (aka angry Bob), the fermentation pores will be done in a mix of both lineart and soft shading. For next draft, the pores will need to conform to the stretched shape more, like the pores on the bottom. This way, it can look less like a tropophobia monstrosity. In addition, a couple more poses can be explored, like a cat sitting in a jar, and size comp should be included for next time--perhaps with a rough of Mona (laughs nervously).

Getting back into a process has been steady. I often find myself second guessing choices like which brush or the pose. However, there are several other projects I want to get to so I've gotta get cracking! The muscle memory is there, I just need to commit more to the marks I make.

Knitting

Speaking of muscle memory, I started knitting again. I only know how to knit a few things so I made a pair of easy hand warmers. A wonderful accident was how the yarn used alternated colors between the two mitts, so they look delightfully asymmetrical. And now, I feel like I'm on a roll (starts knitting a large rainbow scarf)!

Botched Bake

I recently made blue bread (Using a Pandesal recipe) for fun, since my D&D character recently discovered a way to make it. And then I lost track of the oven time and burned both loaves. Unlike Mona, my mistake didn't create a sentient familiar. But it at least gave me an ok snack for a good while (spreads a heap of butter on a slice).

Happy Baking! (puts out fire)