Happy Valentine's Day and Happy 15th Anniversary of the Yahoo Group!

Syaoran's Birthday Omake #5 by wishluv on DeviantArt

I've always wanted Sakura to wear a statement green evening dress at one point in New Trials, especially after seeing Keira Knightley's green dress from the 2007 film Atonement. I still haven't watched the film, but the shade of that green dress really was alluring. I'd forgotten this thought for a while, however, until I was trying to decide on a dress for Chapter 73.5: The Hong Kong Encounter. Sakura's dress was supposed to be gold in the first draft, but it didn't feel right, and then I remembered I had been "saving up" a statement green dress all this while. Below is a concept art I did of Sakura's green backless dress when I was writing Chapter 73.5.This is an artwork I do plan on coloring eventually. I don't really share WIP frequently, and I wasn't quite sure I was convinced on the dress design, which is why I never finished this up last year.

The fanart I draw for the particular holiday never seems to really match the holiday and I have to scrap it (like the angsty Meilin and Kai artwork I was sketching for Valentine's Day). I doodled a Yue and Touya piece for Christmas last year which I never finished. Yukito's birthday is on Christmas Day, which I rarely remember. I'm never inspired to draw Yukito, for some reason. Yue on the other hand I do enjoy drawing, but his outfits are so hard to put together. I think he might be the hardest character in CCS to draw (besides Cerberus and Spinel Sun). 

I was just looking back and realized how quickly the past year passed by and was a bit taken back. This year marks the 20th anniversary of New Trials. It's all thanks to you guys that New Trials existed for 20 years, growing alongside the marvelous Card Captor Sakura franchise which has also made an awesome comeback. Again, belated Happy Valentine's Day and Happy 15th Anniversary of the Yahoo Group! The Yahoo Group really has been such an important support system, and despite it's somewhat outdated (and unreliable) platform, as a creature of habit, it really is my security blanket in a sense.



Music Spotlight:

I haven't gotten over my "I'm sick of everything on my playlist" ennui since last summer--I don't listen to as much music anymore in general lately because of this (I mean, I still do listen a lot, mainly when writing), but I have been seeking opera and then cycling back to my favorite musicals just to get through. And I supposed Korean drama OSTs because that's most readily available to me. I actually had a few more depressing songs picked out, but I realized this is the first "Music Spotlight" of 2019 (the Year of the Pig), and this is technically a Valentine's Day post, so I decide do share an uplifting song. 

Junggigo (정기고) - "D-Day" 



This song was from the Korean drama "My ID is Gangnam Beauty" and it was my rare groove last summer during my music dry spell. It's a feel-good song that puts you back into that excited campus crush, first love state of mind. Junggigo has a really soothing voice as well.