Lumino's Influence
I was pretty unhappy with my artwork recently; and by that, I mean for the past several months. This is the smallest my yearly art folder has ever been, hitting only two dozen or so files. I hated my art. I hated my anatomy practice, my perceived lack of skill. I forced myself to just practice more. Then I burned myself out, and could not create anything that I felt proud to present. Dislike turned into a more complex hate, and I started to make nothing at all. At least, nothing I would post. I looked back at the previous art folder from 2022 and asked myself what happened. I couldn’t find an answer.
But, I had success elsewhere. Lumino has been my baby for years now. It started off as a warrior cats clan called BlizzardClan, one that was a roleplay group for quite a while. I always wanted people to interact with the worlds I created: making your own stories! I only give you the blueprint, do something grand and become canon! My biggest dream was to have a large, expansive, interactive world where the roleplayers actions mattered for years to come. I wished for Lumino to have hints of everyone that has ever touched it.
Something about this sparked creativity in me again, after nearly a year of nothing being created. I’ve been down pretty bad for a while now with my silly little tabletop rpg being my only company on the more sleepless nights where I felt productive but had nothing to do. I’ve taught myself how to use sheets for the first time in my life just to make a dynamic character sheet. I’ve made maps and PDFs and lore books. It was really nice, having a long-lasting project like this. It gave me motivation to do everything like make two websites and further my coding skills!
I noticed that my best work ever has come from what Lumino inspired me to do. Now that I’m free from forcing myself to draw things I don’t want to make, my art folder has nearly doubled. Sure, it's all cat or feline adjacent, but I’m not trying to become a world renowned artist, am I? My goal in life isn’t to be the most talented digital artist there ever was. I accepted that this is what makes me happy. I love working on this project. Despite how silly making a TTRPG about feral cats is.
Now I had what I wanted. I have rules for the game, I have PLAYERS! And I’m more excited than ever to share what I have in store. I feel that now my art really is improving, even if it’s just in one area.
The first battle test was fairly insightful about what rules had to be adjusted. There have been several more, followed by full one-shots, and now this coming Sunday there will be the start of a new campaign. I’m very proud, and no words could explain and encompass the level of excitement I feel. Pictured above is a drawing I made of an NPC from the last oneshot, a prince named Robin(ly).
I think I might make the character sheet one to fit for warrior cats as well, as a sort of nod to the series that started this journey for me (as much as I carp and whine about its quality nowadays. Not everything is as good when you’re a full grown adult, or maybe the quality really has dipped?) It’s still very similar to the d20 system, which I think I will keep that way. Participating in D&D was what sparked the idea in the first place after all.
Lumino means a lot to me and will continue to. I’m so happy I get a chance to share it with others. If this caught your interest, the Lumino button to the left will lead you to my secondary website where I store more information. Like this one, it’s still a WIP so excuse the dust!