The Tree Vortex

There was a story on a chat board I was reading that caught my eye. Apparently, across the poster's street, a tree had fallen and torn up a chunk of sidewalk. A company was hired to dispose of the tree, but for some reason left the stump, as though it would just work itself back into place like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. It didn't.

A few days later Ms.Poster found a pair of boots next to the stump. Her theory was that the boots had fallen from the tree and the neighborhood stray had kicked them into veiw.

A different theory was quickly suggested by another member of the chat: a previously undiscovered vortex hiding under the tree has sucked up an unsuspecting passerby so fast that his/her boots were left behind in this dimension.

I had to draw it.

More info on DevArt.

In other news, SUMMER'S HERE! Well, it has been here. For about six days. I'm pretty sure I'll be very socially active, since I have given my phone number to a group of people who take great delight in gatherings of five to ten friends. These seem to happen approximately twice a week, instead of twice a month like I'm used to, but hey, it's better than fighting hormones that insist that Dad is an enemy to be verbally bashed every five seconds.

Yep. That's about it.

Yet Another One

I like her design, And her yellow came out great! And that's coming from someone who hates yellow. Typically bad BG. More on DevArt.

Erm...

No title for this one, too lazy.


New DevArt ID, if you want the info, go there. Love the eyes and glasses on this one.

Another Elf explosion today. Mom, Elf, Midget, and I went over to a distant cousin's house for a Memorial Day BBQ, Elf exploded after two hours, Mom had to hold him down, I had to call Dad, the usual.

And they wonder why I'd rather stay in my room...

Another Pic

See? Told ya.

OMG, this one took FOREVER! I changed her color scheme four or five times. What a headache. I like how the glows came out, even though they're not perfect.

More info on DeviantArt.

51

I just realized that this is my 51st post. Go me!

CA is having its first heat wave of the summer. It's supposed to get to 104 today. Yesterday it hit 97 while I was doing laps for PE. Not fun. And this unit is Speedball (a game that Mom thinks sounds suspiciously like Rugby) and I have 7th period PE. *sobb*

I've started a new pic collection of fursonas. A fursona is an anthro character. I've been trying to find my main one (who's going to be used like a spokesperson of sorts), and I'm doing five pictures of different anthros to do it. I'm going to need your help voting, I'll put up the poll when I'm done, porobably sometime in June.

Here's #1:
I like her design in general, though (as pointed out by Mom) hre thighs are too long *shakefist*. Her colors definitely need a redo though, they don't flow properly. The background is awful, and it will need to go, even if I love the texture.

Number 2 should be up in a few days.

Update

I've made another pic (two in two days, a new record!), this one for a DeviantArt ID:
All of its info is on DeviantArt, I'm too lazy to repost it. And yes, that is me, though my hair is a LOT brighter than the color shown, we've finished re-dying it and it's almost fluorescent.

I've started on "The Garden of Roiled Chaos", and I've just realized how hard this is going to be. I've spent a good 45 minutes just getting all of the plant reference photos I need. That is, with the photo time, 1 hr 40 mins on the sketch, and I'm not even done yet! Definably one of my biggest efforts for one pic.

Heres I Ams!

Hello again! Sorry for the long wait, I know the *ahem* two people who read this blog are sitting on the edges of their seats. Unfortunately for them, this is just a h00ge update post.

My DeviantArt account has been switched to here. I have done a new pic of a character of mine, Miss Mercy.
I'm pretty happy with her, if I make myself ignore the hideous background.

We're rebleaching my hair today to ensure maximum color for the dying tomorrow. Pics should come.

We have redone our front yard. Five trees (three citrus of varying kinds and two Japanese maples) and pumpkin, small flower, and sunflower sprouts. These are part of a combined effort to A) hide the awfulness of the non-existent lawn and B) to sell pumpkins to irritate the neighbors. Artist's representation of the full grown "Garden of Roiled Chaos" to come.

Oh My.

I had WAYYYY too much fun with this. Doug blogged on this amazing little program, blogwarbot. Gotta love it. This is, bye the way, about what I sound like when I'm in an argument at school.



BlogWarBot: I'm BlogWarBot. Didn't we ban you?
Guest: Not that I know of
BlogWarBot: Yeah, well, Hitler said 'NO' too.
Guest: That didn't make much sense, now did it?
BlogWarBot: And I suppose your pet issue is so much more important than ending the war.
Guest: A pet issue? Cool! What is it?
BlogWarBot: What does that have to do with this topic?
Guest: Everything.
BlogWarBot: That's quite interesting. Go on... (zzzzzzz).
Guest: Ok, I will.
BlogWarBot: So if I might get back to the topic, what do you think about the Ohio ballots thing?
Guest: Ohhhh!!! THAT'S our topic!!!
BlogWarBot: Robin Morgan used that in a poem once. But you knew that, you damn plagiarist.
Guest: WTF?
BlogWarBot: Would you move? Someone with something interesting to say may want to use the machine.
Guest: *snort* Interesting by whose standards?
BlogWarBot: Is this some kind of threadjack?
Guest: I have no idea what that means dude.
BlogWarBot: Why don't you go read the FAQ?
Guest: FAQ you!
BlogWarBot: In your dreams, jerk.
Guest: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
BlogWarBot: So if I might get us back on track here, what in your opinion is the crucial issue facing us today?
Guest: Your idiocy, what else would it be?
BlogWarBot: Sure, ask ask ask. Meanwhile, a million species go extinct every second.
Guest: Oh my. SOMEONE hasn't had their coffee today.
BlogWarBot: Typical. An expression of ignorant privilege.
Guest: Oh good lord. You're actually trying to sound smart aren't you.
BlogWarBot: Do you sometimes wish you were actually trying to sound smart aren't BlogWarBot?
Guest: Again: WTF?
BlogWarBot: While I'm thinking of it: Are you registered to vote?
Guest: Are you?
BlogWarBot: What the hell does that matter? We have to enact campaign finance reform!
Guest: You asked, idiot.
BlogWarBot: Stop placing your oppressive expectations on me!
Guest: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! TOO LATE!!!!!!
BlogWarBot: Typical. An expression of privileged ignorance.
Guest: What part of that was privileged ignorance? The part where I laughed at you?
BlogWarBot: I see porn is easier to deal with for feminists today than d ignorance? The part where you laughed at BlogWarBot
Guest: I do not understand your response you imbecile.
BlogWarBot: Dig into the trust fund, pal. Maybe you can pay someone to understand BlogWarBot's response BlogWarBot imbecile.
Guest: Ok. What's your credit card number, I'll start their. I do need some new shoes actually...
BlogWarBot: What, Malkin didn't cover this on Hot Air?
Guest: Not that I know of. Why?
BlogWarBot: Sure, ask ask ask. Meanwhile, a million species go extinct every second.
Guest: You already said that. Running out of ideas?
BlogWarBot: We can talk about me later. Now back to your inferiority to me...
Guest: Oh god. I'm going to have so much fun with this...
BlogWarBot: Do you expect a cookie just because you're going to had so much fun with this?
Guest: You ACTUALLY think you're smart enough to talk to ME?
BlogWarBot: You keep using that word smart enough to talk to you. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Guest: You, the most idiotic person I've ever met?
BlogWarBot: We can talk about me later. Now back to your inferiority to me...
Guest: Again: Running out of ideas much?
BlogWarBot: While I'm thinking of it: Are you registered to vote?
Guest: Asked that too.
BlogWarBot: Robin Morgan used that in a poem once. But you knew that, you damn plagiarist.
Guest: And that.
BlogWarBot: No substance. Lemme guess: you voted for Lieberman.
Guest: Ooh! A new one! What a good boy!
BlogWarBot: Why don't you ask your Mom when she brings you milk and cookies down there in her basement?
Guest: Aww, how cute!
BlogWarBot: Sure, ask ask ask. Meanwhile, a million species go extinct every second.
Guest: I didn't ask a question. Might want to learn some punctuaion.
BlogWarBot: I'm not sure I understand how you managed to log on successfully.
Guest: Not bad! You're getting better! You've evolved from an irritating bactirea to an annoying parasite!
BlogWarBot: Do you sometimes wish you were getting better! BlogWarBot've evolved from an irritating bactirea to an annoying parasite?
Guest: Ok, back to a bacteria.
BlogWarBot: So if I might get back to the topic, what do you think about the Ohio ballots thing?
Guest: Still a bacteria.
BlogWarBot: So if I might get back to the topic, what do you think about the Ohio ballots thing?
Guest: Single celled orginism. Poor dear.
BlogWarBot: Robin Morgan used that in a poem once. But you knew that, you damn plagiarist.
Guest: Ok, now you're a molecule.
BlogWarBot: You keep using that word a molecule. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Guest: What else would it mean?
BlogWarBot: What does that have to do with this topic?
Guest: Now an atom...
BlogWarBot: Yeah, well, Hitler said 'NO' too.
Guest: I can't think of anything smaller than an atom, so bye!
BlogWarBot: Even if you never think of anything smaller than an atom, so bye, you still benefit from the patriarchy.
Guest: See you, nice to meet ya!
BlogWarBot: Stop placing your oppressive expectations on me!
Guest: Byee!
BlogWarBot: O HAI U CAN GRO BRANE? KTHX ^..^
Guest: *waves*
BlogWarBot: No substance. Lemme guess: you voted for Lieberman.
Guest: I'm out.

Also: I'm very active on GaiaOnline.com right now, so I made a charrie ref of a DND character I'm playing, She's a Dark Elf.

New Pic

It's actually a reference pic for what might become a comic. It took all of about 15 minutes, a speed paint. The black material is jet, the green is jade, and the yellow/white is citrine. I have a piece of tumbled citrine that's a very light yellow on one side (lighter than all of the examples on that page) and is clear with rainbows on the other. It's beautiful, and it's a shame that this kind of quartz isn't well known.

That purple jewels are what makes the Dragon King different than all of the other timaeni - which means dragons, that's my own word, singular is timaehneh.

Artistic Hopes

I was thinking about my opinion on my own art today. What I found was rather distressing. No matter how much praise I get, it seems hollow because I cannot look past the mistakes that I know I made.

I find this really sad. I want to make art just for fun, like I used to. I knew I wasn't very good, but I also knew that I was young, and that I would get better. It was very reassuring, knowing that. When I looked at people's art that was better than mine, I knew that they were usually much older than I was. And no matter what people said, I knew that I would get better.

Now I find that I'm getting so much praise that I can't really say I'll get better. I can only feel that I should be much more talented, because I don't feel like I earned it. And when I get criticism, I feel like someone can see that insecurity and I get worried. I can't seem to find a good balance.

Mom's praise is much more solid. She's stuck with me through all of my bad pictures, and my anatomy research, and helped me find references on at least a dozen subjects. She's bragged, she's sketched, she's explained. So when she says, "That's amazing! Excellent job!" I know that she knows that I once was average, and that I've actually improved, that I'm not a genius. It's a wonderful thing.

Other people, it doesn't really count. They seem to think that I am more talented than I really am. When they ask how I did it, I can't bring myself to tell them that I'm not good, just stubborn enough to get through that period that I was god-awful. That I don't really know what I'm doing, that I am just winging it. Rather scary.

One day though, I hope that I can look past that, that I can take praise for what it really is, something to be proud to get. I hope that one day I will be able to look at everything good about a picture, not only the flaws.

Those are my hopes for my future. Even if I don't get anything else, I hope I get that.

And Mom? Thank you. So very much.

Oriental Genre

Remember Genre, my Peophin? Well, if not, here she is Here and Here.

In one part of her story I mentioned that she had grandparents from Shenkuu, Neopet's China. Also, much of her time is spent as a negotiator of fishing laws, but I had only ever drawn her in her clubbing outfit.

Because of this, and that I thought that Genre looked too Western for her supposed genealogy, I redesigned her. Sooo... Here she is.That's my (very) stylized last name on the side, but it's so styled that I thought it was safe to post.

I tried a different shading style this time, and it came out well. I experimented with more brushes than usual, so that's good. And I really worked on texture.

That's about it, not much more to say. Soo... Yeah.

Edited to add:

Whoops! I forgot the info! Sorry! Here it is:

Time: 5-8 hours
Layers: (eek) 14
Media: Photoshop Elements with a Wacom Tablet
Size: 175kb

The Crystal Drummer

First of all, click on the damn thing, the previews of these things keep getting worse. ANYWAY....

I just made a new Neopet, a Blue Bori. This is her design. If you haven't heard the song 'All Around the World' by ATC (A Touch of Class), listen to it. You know that bell-like sound that plays in the background throughout nearly the entire song? That's Damane's job.

Damane Konata is one of only a few people actively practicing the art of Crystal Drumming, the art hitting pure crystal stalagmites and stalactites in the correct magical pulse to get the 'correct pitch', or the note that formation is supposed to play. This is very difficult, there are thousands of notes and twice that number of pulses. There are certain steps-literally steps- that the Drummer can take to help find the pulse, a while ago they were made mandatory by the Magical Council in the Drumming business (part of the official standards, don't cha know). To help find these steps, every cave that has more than two mature crystal formations had the correct steps for that cave-they are all different- written on the cavern floor. When a Drummer enters the cave these steps light up in a bright color to show where she or he needs to step next.

If a Drummer plays a formation correctly, she or he can call up spirits, heal mortal wounds, raise the dead, or become cursed. Therefore choosing to play a cavern can have huge effects on the player. And once you start a session, you must finish it, or you are doomed to repeat it 200 times before you are allowed to leave. It is hard to determine what outcome a Drumming will have, most Drummers have been cursed repeatedly. A special channeling set (the rods in her hands) can help deflect the worst of these negative spells, since they are so expensive and difficult to make most sets are passed down through generations of Drummers. Wearing silver or pure iron sometimes helps, jewelery of these metals are often worn. Since a Drummer can be of any species, and most all formations now found are in the polar regions of Neopia, spells for warmth are also often seen.

Drummers are classified by where they usually work. The brighter the color, the closer to other people, and the more secretive the Drummer must be. Warm colors (Red, Orange, Yellow, Magenta, Brown, Royal Red) are for people in the northern hemisphere, cool colors (green, blue, purple, Royal Purple, Pine Green, Deep Sea Blue) are for southern hemispheres. Damane is Class-Magenta, she is near other people and in the northern polar circle. There is a huge labyrinth of crystal caverns on Terror Mountain, she works there exclusively. Her area is famous for having horrible curses but amazing rewards, many have prospered and perished there.

Damane realized she was a Drummer when she turned eight, she didn't know the name of it until she turned twelve. When she was sixteen she left for Terror Mountain to see if she could rise to become a Drummer, she was lucky enough to meet only good spells in the next year. At eighteen she was officially assigned the area, she has been dancing to the crystal's tune ever since then. She has a large session about once every ten days, other than that she is pretty much free to go where she pleases. Her favorite haunt is the Happy Valley Petpet Store, she volunteers on Thursdays.

Damane is very social and talkative, but completely confused when it comes to veiled anything. Subtle flirting and small threats go right over her head, making her a frustrating person to talk to sometimes. Other than that, she is a healthy (except for that one curse, she doesn't talk about it much) happy normal person.

Wow, long post. BTW: Time: 8 1/2-10 hours- Media: Three minute sketch on a post-it note, the rest of it done with Photoshop Elements and a Wacom Tablet- Layers- Nine, 1 less than usual- Size- Good Gods this is huge- 378kb.

Update!

I just updated Exploring the Caves. I worked mostly on the shirt and a bit on the face, I was unhappy with where the highlights were.

The Negotiatior's Day Off/ Exploring the Maraquan Caves

Ack, I haven't posted in SOOOOOOO long. I've finished another picture of Genre and haven't even bragged yet! Le gasp! Genre, by the way, is my Peophin on Neopets. Her 'real' name is Genre_de_Mechinae. You can see all of her other quirks and stuff on her Pet Page. Go read it. Now. I command you to do my bidding, insolent mortal!!!
This is Exploring the Maraquan Caves, of Genre doing just that. I need to think of a better name for that one, oh yes I do... Even happier with how this came out. It's to be viewed on a black BG, which is why I put the blockers on the edges. EtMC (what I'm calling this one) is the main piccy on her page currently, so you can see it best there. Something's going wrong with the coding right now, but I should get that fixed pretty quick. Those odd markings are actually my current watermark. It's ugly, but it'll have to do. I luuuuuuuurve how this one looks. I got some texture on there and though the background is still boring as hell, at least it's broken up. I would've stuck more texture on, but she has smooth clothes (as in synthetic, not natural) and no fur. The only thing I ended up spicing up was the bands on her ankles.

A note on the bands: they are the same ones from TNDO (piccy #1). Genre needs to bind her webbed feet to walk on land, if she doesn't they get torn and scratched. Since she's not rich and why waste 'em, she slips them up when she's in the water. Also, having an extra set of fins is handy for steering since her hands can't do much in that sense.

Time: Around 10-15 hours?
Media: It's my fist all computer piccy!! Go me, wh00t!
Program: Photoshop Elements and Wacom tablet(God that thing is handy) Layers:10 again
Size: It's even bigger, the Godzilla of pictures, 210 kb.

I'm finally getting a therapist! Yayyyyy!!!!

If you haven't figured it out yet, I came home! I'm back!! AND I discovered a new Manga (spell check didn't like that word, it thought it was 'mango' XD ) at my cousin's house, Black Cat. I got four of them back in NYC, 1,7-9. I would've gotten 1-3,8+9, but I didn't remember if I had read 7 yet and they didn't have 2. Odd. Anyway, this is a ridiculously long post, so I will go now. COMMENT PLEASE! I am alone...... so alone...

New Piccy... Again

Wow, that took a while. Another eight to ten hours. Goody. I'm actually very pleased with this one, it's my Electric Peophin Genre de Mechinae. I'm really happy with how it turned out except for the fact that it has no texture. I want some different feels for the different materials.

BTW, right after I posted that last rant about Elf -aka Saul- (Elf is much more fun to type than Saul :D) I burst into tears and had to have my Aunt Steph calm me down. Crying. For two hours. Not my idea of fun.

We're going out to get jeans now (we couldn't find anything that fit in NYC's Macys, the biggest department store in the US at least. Lots of hope for this adventure), gotta go. Just thought I'd update while I was on. :)

Updated Piccy

I've been fiddling with the sketchy one, but it's still not done; I think it looks blotchy now. ;__; . I suppose that's better though. :)

Yep, another one. I got the concept at like three in the morning and had to run into the bathroom to sketch. It took me about two hours to do. It was really fun, It was like when you layer down colored crayon beneath a layer of black and start scratching, only I 'scratched' the black first. :)

Art camp is more fun now that we actually are taking pictures and we have live models. Is it possible to have a fear of models? Because if they look at me for too long without smiling I get nervous. .__.

Also I found a friend in a group, so now I'm kinda part of the group by default. Huh.

Photoshop's DA BOMB!!!!

I got Photoshop Elements and a tablet (a penpad that connects to the computer) about a month ago, but only now can I show the picture I've been working on. That's it up there, if you haven't already figured it out. No I did not trace or copy ANYTHING!!!! I don't know why people always think that. Why am I not allowed to just be a talented 12 year old? Is that so hard? That's my pose, my coloring, my backgrounds, my outlining, my 6-8 hours of work.

School ended (thank god), and now I have the rather daunting task of breaching the subject of home schooling (again, already discussed and on haitus in fall of past 9 1/2 monthes of hell called 6th grade). I know Mom can teach me more than the Ms. Dodini's of Middle School. (Not that Ms. Dodini hated me of course. I was one of the class favorites, and therefore the enemy of every sixth grader on campus as she kept on giving them summer school as she gave me 'A+'s on everything whether I did it or not.

Being asked by complete strangers if I liked Ms. Dodini, usually by kids originally from a different school (as all five 5th grade populations from the five different elementary schools attended the same Middle *cough*HELL*cough* School) or by 7th or 8th graders that had siblings in 6th grade and came to bug me about the fact that not only was I bored in English-Dodini, but I was bored and I was getting A's in English-Dodini.

I really don't like being bullied by people of the opposite gender, wearing faux leather with faux silver spikes and a neon green mohawk, I really don't. I don't like being teased because I don't need or even WANT to about the latest slang. I want to learn about the Chinese Han Dynasty, damn it, and that's IT.

I still like the picture though. :)