[fanart] October 2024 bullet journal monthly layout

Already October already! This post is a bit late, it was actually finished some days ago, I was waiting for more stickers/washi tape but it’s coming from Europe, so I gave up. Of course this month’s theme was something from author MXTX, all 3 of their novels having a lot of spooky elements and I have stationary for each.  However, I didn’t want to do a theme for Jiang Cheng from Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation since I already did a PC setup based on him 2 years ago, and although there’s nothing stopping me from repeating themes, I decided it was time to showcase Qi Rong from Heaven Official’s Blessing. And yes, I did cosplay him the last few days of September as mentioned in my Lantern Festival Artist Alley post, so this qualifies… barely… lol.

The lefthand side features some HoB washi tape from the planner project made by fans, although Qi Rong is not featured just Hua Cheng and Xie Lian, figured I might as well use that tape on this layout. The red tiger washi tape is from Daiso, used mostly because of the greenish lanterns, which signify Qi Rong’s alternate title, and the tigers are tangentially related to Lang Qianqiu’s manga design, which has him riding a tiger in the Heavenly Courts for unknowable reasons. Lang Qianqiu’s relation to Qi Rong is full of spoilers lol, but they are often grouped into a unit of side characters along with the child Guzi because of well, spoilers. So the LQQ/QR pairing sticker from Soursoppi exists because of that, and the cute matching daruma doll stickers are based on Xie Lian’s ability to turn various people into dolls. I also added bone stickers from Ohmonah’s Take Care of Yourself recipe series because Qi Rong is not only a cannibal but also a chef. The sticker of the tiger running with the steak is from Koyamori, because of LQQ’s tiger and QR’s cannibalism lol. The green flame skull sticker is from the One Piece planner sticker set, and the final gorgeous standalone Qi Rong sticker is part of patreon pin club from Butchinelle (I am not their patreon but very convinced to become one now…) All other stickers are regular planner stickers from Michaels and Joann’s.

The righthand side my own fanart of Qi Rong in his donghua design which is extremely elaborate as I found out while trying to make this cosplay, as well as little Guzi, so cute. I attempted to draw some green lanterns but obviously gave up completing the background, I felt uninspired halfway through, also I didn’t have the right colors, they were either too light or too dark or not the right shade at all. The Chinese calligraphy rabbit and fox washi tape comes from Kiriska, although they are temporary as I wait for the washi tape from Europe to arrive. Still, it sort of matches the theme!

Anyway, maybe not my best drawing, but when have they ever been? But at least it’s my own art, not AI, not plagiarized, just my own mediocre skills and traditional media. I felt like if I had the matching green washi tape and finished coloring the artwork for a more cohesive color story, this layout would be immensely improved, but as it is, it’s only kind of all right. Anyway, I have a lot of stuff to do this month, even on my week off, so wish me luck!  I did upload some recent fanart to my portfolio site, and will be uploading more soon, plus I am selling some fanmerch (made by other artists, on clearance) on Mercari with my usual clothing sales. Make sure you are subscribed to my website’s blog feed, or follow me on Ko-Fi for monthly summary posts if you don’t have an RSS feed so you don’t miss out on any updates!