I usually post these recaps on the first Sunday of each month, but I wanted to get this one out sooner. I was able to finish a few art projects this month, and made a bit of progress on HazMat and Antarctica along with some additions to the website. I also finished reading the original Edlund run of The Tick (I highly recommend it) and started playing Everhood. As with every month, below be projects.
The Hydromecha Monthly (Newsletter)
I now have a newsletter! If you sign up you'll get these recap posts sent straight to your inbox every month. Check it out here: https://news.hydromecha.website/
Website Updates & Guestbook
The general website UI got slightly changed and there are now two new navigation buttons (see screenshots below for comparison). The bright versions of the buttons also got changed slightly. One of those new buttons goes to the aforementioned Newsletter while the other goes to the brand new Guestbook! If you really want to see any of my longer-term projects get finished sooner, let me know there! Before now I didn't really have a good way for the website's visitors to leave feedback/comments. With the advent of this amazing new technology, such a thing is now possible.
Website UI V4
Website UI V4.1
Idol of Sorcery (Dominions 5)
I'm pretty torn on this model. It's a secret santa present for a friend, and it's also my first foray into sculpting a model entirely from scratch. It was definitely a good learning experience, but I feel like I definitely could have done a better job on it, especially with the paintjob. I ended up rushing it out because I was getting frustrated with how much I was messing up the paintjob, and I also wanted to get a couple of other things finished. The Idol of Sorcery is from a game called Dominions 5 (I don't play it but that friend is a big fan of it) and it's supposed to be made of wood. I didn't really capture that well here. I might want to try redoing the paintjob at some point before I actually hand this off to my friend.
Magma Wyrm
The funny worm monster I posted last month is done now! Like I mentioned then, I recorded my progress making this and want to turn that into a video later down the line. I'll have to get some other stuff done first since I also want to include animation in that video. The NG post includes a whole buncha worldbuilding I wrote for the monster. Looking back on it now, I feel like I could've added some more to the terrain to make it look more like magma, but I'm decently happy with how this turned out overall.
Asbestos Drawing
Like I mentioned in last month's recap, this was a nice way to get back into digital drawing and figure drawing. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out, especially in the shading department. I've always liked how harsh/stylized shading looks and wanted to give it a swing. I definitely want to practice with it some more, so expect some more drawings like this in the future. I'm going to be drawing Coal Dust next to round out the HazMat duo.
Hazardous Materials (Comic) Progress
I got a little bit of progress done on the chapter 2 script this month and also made a few changes to the previous chapters. Most of my HazMat-related focus this past December went towards the drawing you just saw above. I might change Asbestos's hairstyle back to having it cover one of her eyes after getting some feedback from a couple of friends. I keep saying I want to get more of the script done in these posts. I should put my money where my mouth is and actually do that this month.
ANTARCTICA MUST FALL (Doom Mod) Progress
I just barely got started mapping this month. I might try blocking everything out using scifista42's Blank-TX textures before detailing things with proper textures and whatnot. I also finally gave the Snowdemon its own ice gib sprites and its own fireball (I just recolored something from the Doom2 IWAD). I'd like to have some proper monster showcase videos out by next month, but we'll see. I do still need to give the Surprise Elemental a death animation (gonna make it explode into confetti) and make one more monster. I also still need to make Antarctica its own page on the site. Lots of things to do.
Closing Thoughts
I probably won't be starting any new scratchbuilds until I actually finish that Toxitron custom I showed off all the way back in the September '23 Wrapup. If I can get that done decently quickly maybe I'll try to finish another TF custom. Unless I get a massive influx of comments asking me to work on it, Antarctica might take a seat on the backburner this month while I focus more on HazMat and painting plastic robots.
Last year I made a 3D printed Tankman action figure for Pico Day. I talked about making a V2 in that Newgrounds post, and I intend to make that a reality this year. The one I made in 2023 was kinda rushed and clunky. It really wasn't optimized for printing and the joints are all really loose now. I wanna try to get started on the new version earlier, so expect to see progress on that in the coming months. I'm going to try using TPU for ball sockets/hinge clips to hopefully prevent the joints from getting loose in the long term.