Jai Maa Baglamukhi, new painting

 

 

Jai Maa Baglamukhi! It's the eighth day of Navratri, honoring Maa Shakti in the form of Baglamukhi. The inspiration for this painting came to me early this year, I was visualizing a goddess painting with the warm colors of yellows and reds, and learned that goddess Baglamukhi is associated with some of these colors and it felt right and painting this felt very grounding. I started looking at more Indian Rajput style paintings and practicing drawing in that style, and I love all the color in many of those artworks and the way the figures are drawn, it's been very inspiring. The color reminds me of Fauvist paintings, I wonder if Rajput painting had an influence on any of them? This is the first painting in an ongoing series of similar paintings.

Painting is oil on canvas. 

New song out now! Oðinns Söngvi

 

New song out now, Happy Wodensday (Oðinns day)!

 

Listen on Newgrounds

 

Last year I recorded/released my Song to Frigg in honor of Mothers Day, now as a companion piece for Fathers Day, here's Odin's song, Oðinns Söngvi. A misty mountain improv, this is one of those songs that just came to me in the moment. I don't remember if I was thinking of Song to Frigg and creating a masculine companion, but I just titled it Odin Riff after recording. I also hear a bit of a bounce similar to Tail Thyme, and I love that riff at the end that I think came from practicing Indian chromatic scales. 

 

The artwork came to me after drawing a similar picture of Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu (which will pair with a future song), and I was also thinking of both my Oðinn painting that I was working on at the time (you can see my paintings on my blog), and picturing runes as sort of like chakras. The swastika sun symbol for solar plexus, Oðal for heart, Ansuz for throat, and Daguz for third eye/source. 

New song out now, Moomin Minded!

 

 

Listen here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5DzRcV-e0M

 

 Moomin Minded is my second foray into adding drums to my harmonic rock sound, and also continuing with the Moomin theme of the previous song with my drum machine, Rhino on the Piano. This is a song of two parts, the first came to me last year in the moment, just being present. The second part came later in a similar way, and after listening back I realized it was like a faster continuation of the riff I had before, so I put them together into one and worked on a drum beat for it. 

 

 

 

The title Moomin Minded comes from one of Tove Jansson's Moomin comic strips (above), Club Life in Moominvalley. After trying to be a part of several different clubs, Moominmamma starts her own Moomin club, where every club comes together (except one short guy says he won't be Moomin Minded) and at the end even Stinky says "You are at least living every moment of the day", which I took that as being Moomin Minded is being present with yourself and others and wanting connection instead of division. That's what I titled the first riff recording in reference to how the riff came in the moment and how I felt in that creative flow state of being present.

Oðinn Driptych (Huginn & Muninn) - My first painting in probably 15 years!

 

I'm really proud to share what's probably my first painting in 15 years! Oðinn Driptych (Huginn & Muninn)! I've always loved painting, and I created several paintings when I was a child, even more as I started learning art history. However, I started to struggle with self-judgement/criticism and perfectionism in my early teen years and stopped painting for a long time. I felt like I could be more easily precise with pencil, and while I struggled with judgement there too, thankfully I kept drawing. I even took a drawing class when I was 17, and eventually gained more confidence and started copying some paintings/drawings from my favorite artists (like I also did when first getting into art history) for inspiration, and now drawing comics again! For painting though, it wasn't until a couple years ago that I started feeling inspired to try painting again, as I was feeling increasingly confident in my drawing skills and healing judgement wounds and self-doubt.

 

I started the first panel in 2024 (which is the winter/blue side), starting with a pencil drawing on the canvas of the basic outline of what I initially visualized (which was a raven sitting on a tree log that doubled as Oðinn's arm/shoulder). I painted over the penciling with black paint for an outline for the colors, similar to how I've done for inking/coloring my comics, and the way Roy Lichtenstein used distinct thick outlines in his paintings has long inspired my work. As I started painting, more ideas came to me, some for later and some I painted in the moment of flow state (the other birds in both panels and Skaði skiing in the mountains of the background in the winter panel). One of those ideas was to add Geri and Freki, Oðinn's two wolves, which was my first time drawing/painting wolves! I'm amazed at the progress from just one panel to the next. Frigg is in the background of the summer panel, which I had started that panel last year in 2025. I learned a lot painting these, about color mixing, sketching an outline on canvas before painting, trusting intuitive guidance, patience, connecting to my Norse heritage and god/goddess/animals in new ways, and overcoming self-judgement and attachments to outcome among more I'm sure. I also painted directly from nature in a way for the first time, the futurist Morning Dove in the winter panel I painted as I was watching its beautiful motion out my window.

 

These are oil on canvas, which even though most of the paintings I made as a kid were acrylic or tempera paints, I always felt drawn to oil paints. There's something about the feel, texture, and look that I really love, especially the thick impasto style. The first painting I ever made on canvas was with oils, and here's a picture of it: 

 

It's Perseus and Medusa under the constellations, I painted this in 2006 I'm pretty sure, which was when I first started getting interested in art history. I always felt drawn to ancient spiritual/mythological stories and subjects as well, be it Ancient Greek/Mediterranean, Hindu, Shinto, Norse, or another culture. I'm really proud of 7-year old me and his awesome painting, I love the layers between the night sky, land, and underground. Feels really good painting again.

 How do you feel about the painting, what are your thoughts? Has there ever been something you've loved since childhood but stopped for a while before reclaiming that part of yourself?

Scandi-Merica #17 - Northern Lights

 

The Northern Lights are both beautiful and mysterious, and Gulr, Ætta, Jarpr, and Brúnn all have their questions about what they could be or represent. 

This comic was partly inspired by the beauty of the Northern Lights themselves and wanting to bring that sight and feeling into a Scandi-Merica comic, and also a way for me to release some frustrations at seeing "experts" online constantly claiming that the Northern Lights play no role in Norse stories. That statement isn't true or false, it's just unknown. There could be, but just haven't been found in ancient text form. It's also possible that it has been, but is described in a way that hasn't been understood by modern audiences. I've read that the native Sami see it as ancestors, and it'd be strange if it wasn't acknowledged by the old Norse in that case. You can't apply modern black-and-white thinking to ancient cultures who saw the spiritual in all of nature, and not everything will translate to a modern English context so easily. Could it be Bifrost? Maybe. Could it be Æsgard? Maybe. Could it be Breiðrbleik? Maybe. Asking questions and being curious and engaging in conversation is part of the fun.

 I don't know how the ancient Norse saw the Northern Lights, but regardless of what it is or what it's called, they are a wonderful example of nature's beauty and has inspired me in a multitude of ways.

All art, writing, penciling, inking, and coloring created by me.

Favorite Albums of 2025: Proof you don't need the music industry to be successful 3

 2025 was a tough year for me personally, but also one of a lot of wins and some of the most beautiful and both emotionally and aurally hard-hitting independent music to help me through it. In the summer of 2025, me and fellow independent musician Evaleigh finally released our thrash metal collaboration song Own the Unknown that had been in the works for two years, as I first wrote it in 2023. I also released Rhino on the Piano, my first song in a more electronic style with adding a drum machine. Alongside that, I also released an EP, an album, and a few other songs. It's been a busy year for many independent artists, as well the first album in a decade from one of my favorite 90's/00's alt metal bands. Like with my 2024 list, I'll list my top 5 albums of the year with short descriptions of each and a link to my favorite song, and then the rest of what I loved!

OTU 

You'll Get Through This

Finnish musician Otu has quickly become one of my favorite musicians recently, resonating with me on several levels. His music is wildly experimental, and while mostly playing metal, genres mean nothing with what he adds to it. From throat singing, to violin, to acapella, played alongside the heaviest sludgiest riffs to grace an album and together with both soaring melodies and fiery screams. The pure healing that I hear on this album is like nothing else, and through it has helped me with my healing as well. I tear up with almost every song, and the song Lost and Found has such a heavy and beautiful riff that sings through the guitar strings as beautifully as his vocals. Lyrics like "Silence wounds the soul, it awakens the violent mind" from Broken Pieces, and "REWIRE THE PROGRAM, HEAD ON! There's a light in the distance, it shines through the darkness, that won't be erased, but with it we exist, that's the key" from Do You Want to Go Back?, the simple yet direct "JUST BE YOURSELF" from Grit, or even "They drop their bombs, while we sing our songs" from They Drop Their Bombs have really stood out to me and hit hard in those tough moments. I've worked through a lot screaming or crying along and headbanging along to this beautifully heavy album, and what a perfect title. You'll Get Through This.

Otu - Do You Want to Go Back Again? 

Buy the album on Bandcamp (Preferably on Bandcamp Friday where Bandcamp waives their fee so Otu gets all of the sales money)

Bonus: Otu - You're Still There 

Otu released another album in 2025, fittingly titled You're Still There that continues the vast array of sound and raw emotional healing of You'll Get Through This, with heavy releases of anger with jumpdafuckup riffs like The System and the spastic thrash of Hit Song, fuzzy grunge that's both beautifully melodic, empowering, and heavy with Take the Wheel and Hold My Hand, You're Not There, breaking the silence with I Feel Alive, and the amazing closer Thanks for the Tears which could not be a more fitting titled song. Like a 555 frequency, it feels like a return to yourself whole and authentic, and I do thank Otu for the tears of release with this song. The way he produced the song too is like nothing I've ever heard, with gargantuan orchestral breaks fading in and out in parts of the song, chromatic walks up and down each guitar string, and a beautiful compliment between bass and piano. Then there's a song like Full Heart, Cold Heart which mixes a little bit of everything.

 Otu also has his albums on CD or Vinyl here: https://elasticstage.com/otumusic

  

Ursula's Cartridges

Cleanslate! Stalemate! Template!

  Following up with another Finnish musician, Ursula's Cartridges, who has a similar experimental creative spirit but with electronic music. His amazing EP Molten Glass Soup 5000 and album Invitation to the Ice Queen's Prom were among my favorites from 2024, both with completely different sounds, and here his 2025 EP Cleanslate! Stalemate! Template! is also among my favorites and a sound like no other. Adorned with an album cover that looks right out of a Rene Magritte painting, Cleanslate! is Ursula's Cartridges unique take on nu jazz that goes heavy on the breakbeats and the bass. Opening with an almost sludgy Medieval Funq, each song stands out in it's own way. Nitpick in Pit Picnic might be my favorite with an amazing interplay of syncopation between all the layers of instruments and samples. Especially the intro's jittery bass, classic breaks, and what almost sounds like bird songs, keeps playing in my head long after listening. That's followed by a close tie for favorite, as Booboo grooves out of the gate with a funky bop sounding right out of the Funky Board levels in Rayman 3. Funnily enough Agatha Aghast follows in both tracklisting and favorites, with a swaggering stroll like something out of a Pink Panther or Inspector cartoon. Like all of his releases, Ursula's Cartridges takes inspiration from nearly every side of electronic music and makes it his own, with Cleanslate! Stalemate! Template! sounding right at home with either the Y2K Norweigan nu jazz scene, or one of his own albums.

Ursula's Cartridges - Nitpick in Pit Picnic 

 

Manifestor Generator

The Eternal Soil 

After releasing several amazing albums of other band's albums done in another style and his beautiful solo album Honor the Struggle as Planleft back in 2021, Denis Pauna's new band with the awesome name Manifestor Generator; fitting for an independent artist manifesting this creative independence, is here with their debut EP. Similar to his solo material yet blending it all together, The Eternal Soil is an EP where grunge, thrash, goth rock atmospheres, and even a little death metal all meet as The Sky Never Ends. His music and Manifestor Generator as a band really reminds me of that brief period in the early 90's where artists were taking different styles of metal into their own unique directions, and the gatekeepers weren't around to care yet. Grunge, thrash, death metal, and regular heavy metal weren't seen as category blocks like they got treated as later, instead it was all different sounds to find inspiration. The Eternal Soil of grounding with mother earth, brings three songs of self-journeying, growth, healing, breaking illusions/rusty cages, and returning to yourself. Through The Endless Flow of the primordial void, The Sky Never Ends.

 Manifestor Generator - The Sky Never Ends

 

  

Buckethead

When the Wind Blew Through Your Branches 

Every year Buckethead releases so much amazing beautiful music that ranges from the gentle acoustic to the blisteringly heavy, and it's always such a gift. However if picking one album of his as my favorite from last year, it's this melodic guitar beauty. When the Wind Blew Through Your Branches is a beautiful honoring of a Cypress tree that he had a deep connection with that passed. I can feel and hear the healing through each of the three songs, from the bittersweet melancholy of Tree Friend to All Never Will You Be Forgotten to the coming out of grief into a celebration of the tree's life in The Welcoming Tree, this is pure (he)artwork. Each strum, harmonic ring, chromatic run, and backing drum beat, is full of so much feeling. The deep-toned guitar riff that comes in at the end of Tree Friend to All especially stands out to me. Buckethead has helped me heal a lot myself through his healing, as well as being one of my biggest inspirations for my own music.

Buckethead - The Welcoming Tree

 

 

Scythelord

 Masters of the Scythe

 Scythelord (of whom Vargskelethor Joel is half the band) returns with a new EP of intense thrash, four covers of lesser-known classic metal bands and one original that is one of the most roaring releases of anger in the form of screaming thrash I've heard in a long time. It's awesome to hear them cover a Tank song, a classic heavy metal band that never really gets the appreciation/respect they deserve, and Joel's clean vocals have strengthened a lot over the years and his vocal style really goes well with Algy Ward's unique gruff yet melodic vocals of the original. The Razor cover is great, and I might have to check out Leeway now. I've long known of them, but hearing Scythelord's intense cover of their song Enforcer has me curious about the originals. The Scythelord original Another Day though is on another level. A fiery expression of the effects phone/screen/internet/media addiction can have on people that hits hard in many ways. Be it drama, "news", scrolling, viral videos, or anything for that quick dopamine, it really screams about how people can lose themselves in it and how draining of our energies it really is ("Plug me in, recharge the drain" is a really powerful lyric). The shredding riffs and the robotic vocal effects Joel adds as accents to some of his growls feels so heavy, and the swirling guitar solo is amazing and picks up where their last album Earth Boiling Dystopia left off. Looking forward to hearing where they pick up from after Another Day.

 Scythelord - Another Day 

Bonus: 

Finger Eleven

Last Night on Earth

The only non-independently released album in this list here (with one other in the other favorites), but after a decade, Finger Eleven's new album is finally here after being in the works since at least 2019. They've been one of my favorite 90's/Y2K metal bands for a long time now, and as I loved 2015's Five Crooked Lines I've been looking forward to this album since seeing a live video of them playing Perfect Effigy in 2019. It was worth the wait, as from the Tip-esque aforementioned Perfect Effigy with that classic 90's alt metal sound to the more Pink Floyd-esque Body and Mind reminding me of Them vs You vs Me's title track, it's got a little bit of everything from their previous albums. The song The Mountain (which feels more like a title track for the album, between the cover and just the overall feel of the album) stands out with a grandiose heaviness that the some of the songs from Five Crooked Lines had, and along with some other songs like Blue Sky Mystery and Laughing at the Storm have an esoteric curiosity to them.

 Finger Eleven - The Mountain

Other favorites:

Buckethead - Whispering Meadow

Buckethead - Hilltop Sanctuary

Buckethead - The Tears That Become Teachers 

Buckethead - Cloaked in Wonder

Buckethead - Dreams are Never Lost 

Otu - Apocalypse 

The Halo Effect - March of the Unheard 

Superfluous Motor - Prequalified for Collapse 

Myles Oliver - The Tesseract 

Buckethead - Dance in Waterfalls 

Falsegiver - Спираль

 and a few awesome singles:

                     Elyse G. Rogers & Deen Divine - Rhythms Moving Me

 A high energy house groove that is impossible to not move and dance to, with beautiful vocals and lyrics too: https://open.spotify.com/track/1NShMQTApg0qyecbZdBHle

 

i9incher - Floor It (Woo)

A short but sweet drum and bass banger that brings to mind classic racing game soundtracks, and would make a perfect addition to any custom racing soundtrack: https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/1429070

                                             Trailer - Worm and Bug

 Beautiful melancholy grunge song with amazing bass harmonics, with a very deep warm production that reminds me of the Y2K alt rock band Pinback: https://trailerband.bandcamp.com/track/worm-and-bug

                                           Evaleigh - The Dark Hour

One of Evaleigh's solo songs from last year, beautiful melodic death metal with great cleans and growls that brings to mind In Flames, Killswitch Engage, and Shadows Fall with some nice thrash riffs: https://open.spotify.com/album/2w0jxeUvjw7NBHxKwaIxWp

 

Here's to another year prosperous for beautiful creative independence for 2026! More music and comics coming soon!

Listen to my 2025 EP Swans of Urð and album Phases of Waves.

Scandi-Merica #16 - Jöl

 

Gulr surprises Ætta with the Christmas/Jöl trees.

Merry Christmas and Merry Jöl! Also, Happy 1/11! I was initially hoping for this to be finished by Christmas, but it took me longer than that, especially with facing a lot of indecision with what colors to use for Gulr and Ætta's clothes, as the green Gulr usually wears would clash with the evergreens and I was going back and forth between the royal blue I've been using for Ætta lately and the lime green that was her original main standard color. I finally trusted my initial intuition on using the blues for the both of them, and I really love how it turned out! Thankfully the Scandinavian Jöl is often in January and lasts several days (it's possible the "12 days of Christmas" has its origins in the length of ancient Jöl celebrations)

This story actually came to me pretty recently, late November or maybe even early December, and I started work on it shortly after that. This whole comic idea really came to me in a very natural flow, and definitely the most romantic thing I've ever written. Winter and the Christmas season is so beautiful, and I feel I captured that beauty well here.

All art, writing, penciling, inking, and coloring created by me.

View on Newgrounds 

Seeing Constellations is Every Nautical Captain's Ecstasy

 

"Imagine your brain as a canister filled with ink, now think of your body as the pen where the ink resides. Fuse the two, KAPOW! What are you now? You're the human magic marker, won't you please surprise my eyes? It's in your nature you can paint whatever picture you like, no matter what Ted Koppel says on Channel 4 tonight, so modify this third rock from the sun by painting a myriad of pictures using the colors of the one" - Incubus - Redefine

I noticed a nu metal art collab pop up in the events on Newgrounds, and then felt inspired to create a drawing based on one of my all time favorite albums, and one that has inspired me in many ways from my music, to emotional release, to healing, to growth, and more. Incubus's S.C.I.E.N.C.E. (Sailing Catamarans Is Every Nautical Captain's Ecstasy). I've always loved this band and album, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I really noticed how beautiful and inspiring Brandon Boyd's lyrics are, and deeply spiritual/esoteric. Every time I listen to any of their albums/songs, I'm still noticing new things musically and lyrically.

 The title is obviously a riff on the original full title of the album, but with my own personal touch with Seeing Constellations Is Every Nautical Captain's Ecstasy, as I've always been fascinated by the constellations and also a connection with the sea and ships. Among the stars is a Nebula, in reference to the song and this picture being like a wandering into my inner nebula as an artist, and I wanted to use similar colors as the album cover as well as a Northern Lights/Aurora Borealis. This was also my first time combining pencils with inks, and I really love how penciling the sky turned out with the inks, makes for a nice contrast.


All penciling, inking, and coloring by me.

Scand-Merica #15 - Boing

 

The fisherman gets an unsuspected surprise when trying to get into the village waters to fish.

This is the sixth strip and conclusion in the first Scandi-Merica story arc that stretches across several comics, read the previous here

Here's the beautifully cartoony conclusion to this first Scandi-Merica story arc! This was the first thing I visualized when the idea for this story came to me, just the concept of someone going to extreme lengths like parachuting out of a plane just for a legal exploit to water access I just knew I had to incorporate it into a comic/cartoon. I was originally thinking of using it for a different story for a different comic series, but I realized it'd be perfect for Scandi-Merica and both writing and drawing/inking this story arc just flowed nicely. The third frame is inspired by the classic first episode of Lupin the 3rd Part II, which I felt was fitting to the cartoon goofiness, and the fourth frame features a reference to a classic MST3K short which was a more recent spark of inspiration as I was drawing it.

All art, writing, penciling, inking, and coloring created by me.

View on Newgrounds 

Scandi-Merica #14 - Loki Net

 

The residents of Scandimerica meet at the Alþing to discuss what action to take regarding the intruding fisherman.

This is the fifth strip in the first Scandi-Merica story arc that stretches across several comics, read the previous here

Read the next one here 

I loved the process of creating this comic, between the writing, drawing, and inking/coloring. The first frame is one of my favorites, and probably my favorite background frame I've drawn. I really captured what I was visualizing, and between the perspectives, details, I feel like the energy of an ancient Alþing (meeting place in medieval Icelandic law/governance) comes through. I love how the artworks that adorn the walls inside look, and they came out in a few different styles. Also this is the first Scand-Merica where I directly reference events in one of the stories from The Prose Edda, where Loki shapeshifts into a Salmon to try and escape punishment, but the gods/goddesses catch him with a net, and what an appropriate synchronicity.

All art, writing, penciling, inking, and coloring created by me.

View on Newgrounds 

Scandi-Merica #13 - Flying Machine

 

After Sven stops giving lake access, the fisherman finds a new way to get to the water.

This is the fourth strip in the first Scandi-Merica story arc that stretches across several comics, read the previous here.

Read the next one here 

With this part of the story getting into cartoon absurdity, I had a lot of fun drawing the beginning of the Lupin-esque lengths that this fisherman will go to for his legal exploit for lake access. I also did a lot of experimenting with different perspectives for the helicopter/boat frame as it was something new that I haven't drawn before, and I'm really happy with how it turned out after several studies. As a reference for the helicopter I took inspiration from one of the Moomin comics. I love the layering of background/foreground in the first frame too.

All art, writing, penciling, inking, and coloring created by me.

View on Newgrounds 

Happy 11/11, new album Phases of Waves!

 

 

Happy 11/11! With it comes a new release, this time a little bit longer than my EP's where I feel confident in calling it an album, therefore being my first. I released one song as a single at the beginning of this year, Phasing, which is also the first song I recorded out of all of these. 

Listen to the album on Youtube and the song Omr Þors Reið on Newgrounds (Other songs to be uploaded in the coming weeks)

The songs and this album have been in the works since last year, 2024, with getting my phaser pedal. It's an experiment with a range of different waves and aquatic sounds, there's some harmonic rock, grungy songs. and even playing around with some borderline surf thrash. Omr Þors Reið, Ægirs Feast, and Waterfjalls were all improv'd, the latter being my first guitar recording release. I kept going back and forth between keeping it as it is to adding additional instruments, but eventually I went with keeping it as it is as I first intended. I just like how it sounds, and maybe in the future I'll develop it into a more layered song with additional instruments as I would like to do that. Accoutrement Croissant (I just realized I spelled Accoutrement wrong on the back cover), Phasing, Snow Thrills, and No Comma were all recorded in 2024, and Omr Þors Reið, Aqua Frolics, Ægirs Feast, Swans of Urð (Phasing Mix), and Waterfjalls were recorded this year, 2025. 

Accoutrement Croissant is honestly one of my favorite songs of mine that I've released so far, it's the least phaser sounding song on the album that's centered around that sound, but the way the melody grows throughout the song and the emotion expressed, it just sounds so joyous! Aqua Frolics too, which is in DADA tuning, builds in such a cool way and appropriate for the title I sample some quotes from Rifftrax's Aqua Frolics short to segue into different sections. Snow Thrills additionally has an MST3K sample. Swans of Urð (Phasing Mix) I recorded around the same time as my EP of the same song, but I felt it appropriate to put the phaser pedal version on here instead of the EP. 

 The album cover is a drawing by me of Lord Shiva coming out of one side of the waves, and Oðinn, the other. This duality is connected to my belief of Shiva and Oðinn being very similar deities in their search for wisdom and creating to learn more about themselves. In both Hindu and Norse stories I feel a connection, the languages share some common words and meanings, and the ancient lord of the animals believed to be Pashupati (Shiva) relief from the Harappan dynasty in India reminds me of Oðinn's ancient origins being associated with many animals along with his two ravens and two wolves. The trident is also a symbol to both Shiva and Oðinn in Icelandic depictions in manuscripts of the Prose Edda. Interestingly the drawing started as the crescent moon over the waves, but then the inspiration came to me to draw Shiva and then after drawing the trident I thought of Oðinn.  

Played on a 5-string bass, except for track 9, played on 6-string guitar. Recorded and mixed in Audacity/OcenAudio All music and cover art created by me.

Scandi-Merica #12 - Lake

 

Sven thought the fisherman needed lake access for food.

This is the third strip in the first Scandi-Merica story arc that stretches across several comics, read the previous here

Read the next one here

While story wise this is kind of an in-between strip, I really enjoyed drawing Sven's expressions here as well as the contrasts between the colors in the inks. The purples, magenta, orange/red, and turquoise really compliment each other well. The colors also kind of remind me of artwork of Þor and Hymir fishing for Jörmungandr, the Midgarð Serpent, from an 18th century manuscript of the Prose Edda.

All art, writing, penciling, inking, and coloring created by me.

View on Newgrounds 

Scandi-Merica #11 - Fish

 

Turns out the speed lines were coming from a fisherman, but why is he in the village waters?

This is the second strip in the first Scandi-Merica story arc that stretches across several comics, read the previous here.

Read the next one here 

I'm really enjoying how the colors look when I do them simultaneously with the inks, and it helps me with using thicker more distinct lines, I feel it makes the colors and characters 'pop' out of the frames more. Also, similar to Scandi-Merica #8, I played with the frames a bit, with some text and characters popping out of the frame borders.

All art, writing, penciling, inking, and coloring created by me.

View on Newgrounds

Scandi-Merica #10 - Dynamism of a Boat on the Lake

 

 

Ætta, Jarpr, Brúnn, and Gulr are enjoying a nice boating picnic on their longship, but where are those speed lines coming from?

This is the first of a series of Scandi-Merica strips that will read as a whole story, and is actually the first idea I had for a story when I first created Scandi-Merica. However, as it was more involved, I put it on hold and started with shorter comics that were contained in one strip to start it off. With classic newspaper comics being an inspiration to me, I love both, but many of my favorites have always been and continue to be the ones that do tell a longer story over a series of strips (Be it something as long as a Moomin story, or as relatively short as the paper bag arc in 80's Garfield). Now for the 10th comic I felt ready to get this started, and the following strips will be posted in the following weeks. I'll link to the next one in this description when it's posted. View here

With how much I love and enjoyed working on the album cover for my song Own the Unknown with Evaleigh (view here), I decided to experiment with inking and coloring simultaneously for my comics as well. I really like how it turned out, and especially with the futurist style for the last frame. Which speaking of, the comic's title goes beyond my usual one word titles, as I wanted to reference a common titling theme of classic Itallian futurist paintings and sculptures. (One of my favorites being Giacomo Balla's Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash, which I made a post about).

All art, writing, penciling, inking, and coloring created by me.

 View on Newgrounds

New song! Rhino on the Piano

 

 

New song! Rhino on the Piano! This is my first song in my harmonic rock style experimenting with adding some drums and layering of tracks. I've done some experimenting with industrial stuff before (which I continue to work on, and I'll release a song I have completed in that style sometime here), but this is the first time I've played around with mixing my harmonics with my drum machine. I actually started with a drum beat, and I was really liking how the cymbals sounded, and after that I thought a simple harmonic melody would sound nice and I improv'd something close to the drum rhythms. The bass track isn't edited, but the drum recording was much longer, so I took a few different sections and synced them up to the bass track.

The song idea came to me while reading some of the Moomin comics, hence the cover art being my drawing/rendition of a frame from Moominvalley Turns Jungle, as where they say the rhino is hiding in the piano it reminded me of the song Dog in the Piano by the Y2K breakbeat musician Indian Ropeman. So I wanted to try something a little electronic.

Also came out to 2:22, though rounded up by Newgrounds and Youtube.

Listen on Newgrounds or Youtube. 

New song! A collaboration with fellow independent musician Evaleigh, Own the Unknown!

 

 

 

Listen on Youtube, Newgrounds, Spotify, Apple Music

I'm proud to release an ultimate thrashterpiece of a song that's been in the works for about two years now! Even before releasing my first solo harmonic rock song, I've been writing a wide variety of different music, and one was this thrash song. I had this full song written on bass in 2023, but I was hearing it in my head with full metal band instrumentation, not only bass but guitar, vocals, drums. I reached out to one of my favorite fellow independent artists, guitarist/vocalist Evaleigh, for a collaboration and thankfully he was up to it and I'm really proud of both of us for how well it turned out. It was a real step out of my comfort zone reaching out to another artist, and my first time collaborating on a song with someone like this (outside sending my friend Windsock some bass samples to use here and there). I'm so glad I did and had a lot of fun working together, suggesting different things to add, sending recordings back and forth, and here's to the new independent creative renaissance that's been awakening these past few years!

My cover art for this song is also a huge milestone, it was the first time I've done inking and coloring simultaneously after my penciling (and first time I've used inks and color at all in an album cover for that matter!). I've been wondering for a while now how to retain the sketched quality and textures that I get from pencils into inks, and I learned that this is one way to do it! I really like how it turned out, especially the stark contrasts between lines and fire/water element. I was going for a German Expressionist style, but with the added colors it reminds me a bit of Japanese Ukiyo-e prints and the Icelandic illustrations of the Prose Edda. I've been really resonating with the fire and water elements lately, especially those beautiful teal blues like I used here. The balance between igniting the flame of your heart and riding the waves of your emotions and intuition and reaching into the unknown. To quote one of my original lyrics for the song "Like a viking sailing across the Northern seas, exploring lands unknown. A journey within, the seas of my soul".

Check out Evaleigh's music here or here, and Evaleigh's lyric video for the song here 

Happy First Year Anniversary to the Release of My First EP, Flags & Arrowways!

 

Yesterday, June 19th, was the first anniversary of the release of my first EP, Flags & Arrowways. A huge step in my musical journey, and I'm still really proud and happy with each of those songs (cover of Underworld's Yeah Plan only available on Youtube/Odysee):

Youtube

Newgrounds

Odysee

In honor, I've just released two new versions of the songs Arrow on the Narrow and Stereo Compass (new version Stereo Quadrant). New riff variations, different tuning (AEGDF), and new cover art based on the MST3K short Assignment: Venezuela!

Arrow on the Narrow (Bag-O-in-Car-O Mix):

Newgrounds

Youtube

Stereo Quadrant:

Newgrounds

Youtube

What's your favorite song from the original EP, what's your favorite of the new recordings?

Scandi-Merica #9 - Coily

 

In Old Norse culture, the years were split between Summer and Winter, but a certain cartoon sprite doesn't like that.

Like Scandi-Merica #7, this is another comic where you'll probably need to be a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 to get the main joke, as Coily the Spring Sprite is a reference to the short A Case of Spring Fever. The idea came to me as a good pairing joke with the seasons in viking age-Scandinavia being just separated into Summer and Winter. Svartalfheim is the land of the dark elves in the Eddas.

I was facing some indecision regarding the coloring of this comic, and you can see some of it through the dark/light purple color on Jarpr's shirt. For the most part I've kept a consistent color palette for each character, but I felt like mixing it up a bit. I initially visualized the royal blue for Ætta's dress, but in the first frame had went with a teal before trying the blue in the last frame and loving how it looked and went back to what I initially visualized. With Jarpr's shirt, I was going back and forth between the dark and light purple. I really like both, but ended up going with the light purple, but kept the darker purple as it could work as a shadow effect from the sun and I honestly love having both colors there.

All art, writing, inking, and coloring by me. 

View on Newgrounds

New single, Song to Frigg!

New single, Song to Frigg! Listen on Youtube/Newgrounds

This is a song I've been working on since Mothers Day last year, and continued work the last couple months for this year's Mothers Day. The melody for this song came to me last year, which the 2024 version will come soon (as well as a song for Fathers Day). This new version from this year retains a similar progression, but different tuning and variation. This song is dedicated to my mom, the divine feminine, and the divine mother (be it Frigg/Freyja, Shakti/Parvati, Mary, Earth/Jorð or whatever goddess resonates) 

Frigg is the wife of the god Oðinn and mother of the god Baldr, and she's associated with motherhood, family, and homemaking. The key is a sacred symbol of her, as during the viking age, the wife was the keeper of all keys in a household. While its been long debated, I personally believe Frigg and the more well known Freyja to be two forms of the same goddess, similar to Parvati/Durga in Hinduism, with Freyja being the Durga to Frigg's Parvati. In the Eddas, both Frigg and Freyja are said to have a necklace that allows them to take form of a hawk/falcon. Freyja is married to the god Oð, who I believe to be another name for Oðinn (he has several names listed in the Eddas), as well as claiming half of Valhalla while Oðinn claims the other. 

The cover art is my drawing of Frigg on her throne, with a falcon/hawk on her shoulder, key necklace, cats by her feet (Freyja has two cats that pull her chariot), and holding the Odal (ᛟ) rune, which is both the letter "o" in the Elder Futhark alphabet (pre-viking age) and it means ancestral home.