Good evening, or technically good morning for me, since it’s just before midday on the 9th of October, 2025. I wanted to pop in with a quick update before I dive into a piece of work.
Out of Office (Sort Of)
I’ve been away in Sydney doing the usual sightseeing things. I took a week off for a wedding down near Wauchope and made a proper holiday of it. I stayed with some friends I’ve played League of Legends with for about a year and a half now, and we went out for my birthday- had a good dinner, watched some movies, played some games. It was a really fun time. I also did the full Sydney tourist circuit: Bondi, the Opera House, and driving over the Harbour Bridge about 50,000 times. The tolls are daylight robbery and I hated every second of it. But it was a good break. And now I’m back.
On the Game Front
No big updates yet, unfortunately. I’ve been chatting with a few new people I met recently- one of them might be a programmer who could lend a hand, which would be huge. I still haven’t dived into Godot properly yet either, but I think I’ll tackle that over the Christmas break when I’ve got more uninterrupted time. I can’t stand learning in little bursts; I’d rather just sit down for hours and grind through it. The game’s still alive, though. It’s been living quietly in the back of my head, waiting for its next big moment. I might start sketching some new NPCs later this week or next.
Spirit Blossom Springs Sett
What I have been working on is art- specifically a new piece of Sett from League of Legends, using his Spirit Blossom Springs skin. It’s not my favourite skin, but it’s definitely fan service- and, let’s be real, it’s hot- so I decided to go for it. I’d drawn his Radiant Serpent skin before, but not this one, and it felt like a good excuse to test a new shading method. If you’re going to experiment, might as well do it with something that involves a lot of exposed skin.
I pictured him lounging in a hot spring- comfortable, smug, maybe even inviting you to join him. It’s an autumn scene: orange leaves, steam curling in the background. Fancy, but not over the top. Halfway through, I realised I’d drawn the wrong hair- Radiant Serpent style instead of Spirit Blossom- so I had to fix that quickly. A solid reminder to check references before committing.
The background and shading nearly killed me. I hate doing backgrounds, so I forced myself to do it first. No fun until the boring part’s done. But, weirdly, I actually enjoyed it once I got going. It’s pretty close to the splash art, and I even added a little birdhouse in the corner because I thought it’d be funny if Teemo lived there. Tiny rat, tiny house.
The real focus was the shading. I used the charcoal brush for most of it, then blended with my usual painterly blender to build up semi-realistic tones. The skin came out a bit too yellow at first, so I cooled it down with blue light reflections from the water. I wanted that natural bounce lighting effect. The tattoos were the next nightmare- no good references, so I had to guess their placement from 3D models. I used the blend tool for those. Not sure if they’re meant to be tattoos or glowing markings, but either way, they look cool.
And yes, I added body hair. Tastefully. He’s half-beast, after all- it just makes sense. Then came the water, which I loathe. I spent an hour trying to hand-draw reflections before finding a Clip Studio brush that did exactly what I wanted. Lesson learned. Sometimes tools exist for a reason.
Right before bed, I realised I’d forgotten the scar on his nose. I added it the next day, then went further- layering bruises and scratches to make him look like he was actually sore and soaking to recover. I’d never drawn bruises before, but layering purple, red, and yellow at low opacity surprisingly worked. It made the whole thing feel more alive, like there’s a story behind why he’s there.
Reflection and Growth
I’m proud of this piece. It’s a big step forward from my first coloured Sett drawing about ten months ago, and I love seeing the difference side by side. Even when the game takes a back seat, projects like this remind me I’m still creating, still improving. The game’s paused, not forgotten- it’s just waiting for me to come back to it with new skills and energy.
For reference- my first coloured Sett piece from January 2025
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