Life's Little Procrastinations

Victories at Animania, now on to Supanova!

2010-04-18T02:23:00.003+10:00

Double victory at Animania again. Actually I wouldn't have won twice if I wasn't 'inspired' to draw again by this girl as I had actually resolved to quit after the themed one. Way to go, principals.

Anyway, this year I will try out Supanova, which has always been too difficult for me to win. My entry is the Zombie Rush picture. This took a bloody long time to draw and colour (a lot of scrapped ideas) and with my bloody eye it didn't help. Hope my printer will let me print it.

Anyway a couple of other pictures including the very androgynous (it's the 'IN' thing now in anime) Hideyoshi Kinoshita and a picture of Giant Kitsu (Chiri not Tane, whom I decalre my new waifu). Realised I haven't drawn a cityscape in a long time. Helped me partially for Animania, anyway.

Must stop bleeding

2010-02-19T23:54:00.001+11:00

Ah, tired... who knew that the new year would start so vigorously?

I just can't come up with anything new... but there's a few games and models that interest me along the way.

Anyway, Happy New Year to you all.

Surprise bump!

2009-12-04T22:20:00.000+11:00

Apologies to the one vocal person who still checks this blog, but work and life have kept me incredibly busy.

However, today I found something that could potentially help boost my colouring skills so I had to give it a whirl. What do you think?

Have you been bored at work?

2009-08-13T23:42:00.002+10:00

Have you been bored at work recently?

Well, I took it upon myself to come up with some urban legends so that when I'm fired there'll at least be a nice legacy left behind.

So I came up with some illustrations of the little girl ghost that cries in the corner of the office and the ghost drifting over the nearby necropolis. Ah, too bad Halloween is still far away.

Manifest 09 is coming up soon but I'm just a bit lethargic about it this year. Somehow I just haven't progressed that much further in life.

Anyway... surprise update.

Manifest ending has left me in DESPAIR!!!

2008-10-10T21:33:00.004+11:00

Zetsuboushita!

Yes another Manifest has come and gone. This time I managed to garner the courage to get a costume together of the best male anime character ever: Zetsubou Sensei / Nozomu Itoshiki. Total people who recognised me: 6 (out of 4800), total photos taken by other people: 2 (thahks!). At least it made approaching other cosplayers for photographs a little easier.

While the screenings were rather lackluster (there's a limit to how much live Death Note one can take) and the attendance on Friday was a bit slow... the other events definitely made up for it. There was a brilliant Iron Chef AMV that was dealt the dreaded 'Rickroll' yet managed to drown the theatre with laughter. There were some really talented artists during the Oztaku Iron Artists as well considering the themes were 'prison', 'suicide' and 'restrained (or something like that)'. My particular favourite was the one 'shitting blood' as it were.

It was good to meet my friend there who was a volunteer. Also managed to show off a bit in the drawing rooms (although I had not been practicing my drawing in over a few months). Took part in the Oztaku 4-panel comic competition and I was supposed to have won a hoodie. Got heaps of manga and another wooden sword too.

I'd say I still enjoyed the event thoroughly and would definitely make it a point to go again next year, preferrably with more people.

Anyway, here's a picture dump for you: some random sketches, partially inspired by Force Unleashed, partially inspired by Negima and some best left unmentioned.

Because someone's birthday is coming up, I should extend my warmest regards while I can remember to. It's been a VERY busy week at work (lots and lots of overtime) and I have forgotten a lot of things so... I hope I'll remember to send the gift early.

RIP Baroncrovax

2008-09-21T21:43:00.002+10:00

Ah, it's been so long hasn't it? I can't even remember what I was talking about the last time.

And now it's time for Manifest 08 again... and I'm utterly unprepared. I haven't been drawing anything in the past... 3 months? Something like that.

Why? There's too many things. Work has kept me perpetually busy and depressed. Add to that the fact that my housemate and good friend had to go b ack to his home country and now new stranger(s) have moved in. It's all quite confronting.

But the biggest thing is that I've just not had any inspiration or motivation. I just lost it all.

So I'm doing a cop-out and uploading some old junk that I was going to upload a few months ago. Among which were sketches from Soul Eater (very fond of Rangarok and Chrona) and a picture of Maka and Soul that I wanted to colour but just couldn't find the time. Ghost girl is partially inspired by something I read in Negima.

Well, I'll try to get some new stuff up. Been hooked onto Final Fantasy Tactics A2 and Force Unleashed more recently. Will see if I can get some good ol' Jedi sketches up.

Post-Japan Crunch Madness

2008-06-29T20:29:00.005+10:00

Greetings to the two or three people who still bother to read this blog! Howya doing? Sorry I've been so remiss with my blog or my sketching. I'm rather afraid to say that I still owe 1 person a birthday greeting an another an overdue commission!

However there's fairly good reasons for my absence. Since my last post, I've been attending 3 (non-anime) training sessions (some VERY far away), travelled to Japan, celebrated my birthday, finished a TON of assignments, finished a TON(ner?) of work and generally lost all drive or ability to draw. Oh, and I'm currently hooked on Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness on the PSP as well as hurting from playing Guitar Hero: On Tour on the DS.

Yeah, that's what happens. However, I must at least highlight the fact that I managed to finally set foot in Japan to visit my mother (no, we're NOT Japanese), not to mention drop by to say 'Hi' to me old and forgotten mate VagaryLoc.

Ah the things in Japan. I still have vivid dreams of being so close to it I could just pop over for the weekend. I have to say that there's great seafood to be had there and I managed to fit in (my stomach) nearly everything I've heard or read about. Truly, it was a food extravaganza.

I did manage to buy numerous figurines (including Eureka from Eureka 7.... SQUEAL! I should have gotten Talho and Haruno Sakura too!), Taiko no Tetsujin (a DS game based on an arcade game my friend likes) and several manga including my beloved Zetsubou Sensei! I was presented with a hakama (Arigato Gozaimasu!) which hopefully will help me come September. I have to say that I was truly surprised at the lack of anime ON PUBLIC TV... or at least at my mum's place. She swears that it's her TV's fault, though. Nevertheless I did manage to catch some promotions on the trip to Akihabara.

Ahhh, Akihabara. There's a million and one references to Lucky Star (and Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu) there. There ought to be cosplayers of Konata walking around all day long (we only managed to get there in the late evening). Seriously, that place is kinda like Heaven for me (luckily I missed the crazed stabber, otherwise it WOULD be Heaven for me... literally). I swear that there's just wasn't enough time spent there (although it was great shopping at Hobby Off in Shibata and the food and service in Niigata was exquisite). I should note that I managed to get into the gallery showing the works of Vagabond in Ueno, too. Popped into Animate in Sunshine City.... You know, for a holiday lasting just over a week I have to say I really really enjoyed it. I got a good wakeup on how bad my Japanese was too!

Anyway, today's postings are all just some random sketches. Practice so that I can do better next time. Also, many thanks to XY for sending over that nifty pen. Can you tell which pictures were drawn with it?

Animaniamania!

2008-04-19T00:47:00.003+10:00

Wowzers, I just managed to crawl out of stupor and put something up!

Work is piling up and I have been on the go for the past few days. I'm barely at home as it is, seeing as there's social obligations. Never really got the time to sit down and nut out some sketches. Really don't have time for colouring at present!

Anyway, asides from being swamped, things aren't too bad. Went to see Superhero movie... kinda funny but not award winning material.

Animania's tomorrow! I have to get some sketches out to practice but I was tired out today. Nevertheless, there are some older ones I did involving Zetsubou Sensei (still loving it) characters. I reckon it'll be my goal to finish them all. I reckon that shouldn't be too many provided they don't keep introducing more (well, no complaints really).

Pic (1) is a random drawing of a girl with a wooden sword, based on mine. Pic (2) is heavily influenced by the Caramelldansen craze (even VG Cats got hit with it) and all the Youtube madness. Pictured are the insane Kafuka (I wanted to use her in a more sadistic way.. but Caramelldansen is pretty sadistic) and Maria (wanted to get her out of the way). Pic (3)... Kobushi in her 50-50 semi-nude pose. Thank goodness for Chiri's fan service! I really wanted to colour this in to get the differentiation between bandage and skin. Pic (4) is my trial design for the Animania sketch theme this year: Fire and Water. Hopefully not tired out by tomorrow to think about it.

Alright, need to recuperate. Hopefully can get some coloured stuff out eventually.

Monster Reborn

2008-04-01T22:40:00.002+11:00

Alright, besides the cheap anime reference... I'm back! Yes, on April Fool's day too... what with all of Australia reeling from computers not being able to update themselves to extended Daylight Savings.

But yes... I'm back. With ADSL 2+. Apprently, the downloads are so fast I can finish up my quota in a few days. Shocking. Still, there's much to love about it. Work is pretty good. I've never appreciated the numerous holidays around Easter quite as much as I have this year. However, the lack of internet during a few of them was a bit of a downer. Anyway, had some big pow-wow as well and managed to fit 10 people into the new apartment (yes, that's right... I've moved). Now I just got to manage in a schedule of regular maintenance and so on into my daily schedule.

Events? Just recently visited Supanova. To be honest as an anime fan it was a bit dull because it didn't really cater to us. I did see Greg Horn (really realistic digital artist) and Arthur Suydam (does Marvel Zombies! Fantastic artist!). It was nice to see them go about explaining their work... but generally it wasn't in depth enough. I bought me a nice wooden sword and a few other comics.

Oh, I did buy 'Hollow Fields' by Madeleine Rosca. I was utterly surprised to find out that she won one of the International Manga awards and is recognised among the Japanese mangaka. Even more surprising was the fact that she shares this honour only 3 others and one of them is Malaysia's very own Benny Wong aka Ben who drew Le Gardenie. I was and am seriously infatuated with his work and his bio is interesting to read.

I did try to enter the art competition in Supanova, though. I came up with drawing (2). At first the characters didn't look too ugly and I did refer to '50 Robots to Draw and Paint' by Keith Thompson to get the guns right. Then I added the background. Things went downhill there. I remembered seeing coloured pictures (as in digitally coloured ones) and I thought I'd get mine coloured to stand a chance. I dug out an old set of cheap colour pencils. THAT was my biggest mistake. After a few seconds I realised I had made a horrible mistake but it was too late to go back and at the end of it the picture looked like the most grotesque thing you've ever seen vomitted. Needless to say, I did not win. Nevertheless, I'll try to pick myself up for Animania next on 16th April. The theme is 'Fire and Water' and since it's just pencils I think I'll be able to get a bit of a homeground advantage.

Other drawings: (1) is an early (and very risque... I know) drawing I made trying to see if I could get the 'wet' look to it. (3) is influenced by the robot book I mentioned and watching 'Dukes of Hazzard' (whoo... Daisy Duke). I was thinking how cool if instead of using the General Lee, we had one of those hot pants'd girls in a mecha of some sort. (4) is just anothed random doodle that popped up one of these days.

Anyway that's all I have to say for my return. Will need to bunker down for Animania!

Happy New Year of the Rat

2008-02-08T23:10:00.000+11:00

Gong Xi Fa Chai to you all! Happy and prosperous wishes. Longevity... yeah, you know the drill. It's Chinese New Year again! I only wish I could have spent it with my family back home, but I'll just have to settle for working overtime.

It shouldn't be a surprse to you all that it's not a holiday in Australia. However, this is the first year where I'm actually working (and not bumming) and putting in many many unpaid overtime hours. No time for lion dance hunts. Also busy shifting into the new apartment, or making arrangements to do so.

Anyway it's not all busy. Last week had soem fun playing laser wars with the most dishonourable group of 11-year olds. Incredibly fun (and sweat inducing), though. And this weekend I've got a few sizable dinners and lunches to attend.

In brief: (1) is a drawing of a Liz Lieu, apparently quite an attractive poker player. This was a first draft which I will work on when time is available. (2) is yet another one of my scantily clad warrior girls... somewhat loli in this case. (3) is inspired by one of the fanarts in the recent Naruto Shippuuden ending. The original is 'OVER 9000!!!' times cuter. (4) is darling Ogiue from Genshiken 2 (and the OVA after Genshiken 1). I have waxed about her in my prior post.

Have a great new year, all!

Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

2008-01-20T01:54:00.000+11:00

AAAH! It's back! Zetsubou Sensei 2nd Season!! YEAH!

Now, it just has to compete with the numerous other 2nd season shows I'm watching: Genshiken 2 (Ogiue is my new favourite!), Dokuro chan 2 and hopefully Zero no Tsukaima 2. Oh, man what's a guy to do?

But work HAS been piling up and I am slowly sinking. Not to mention that I intend to move house soon, and haven't found a housemate. Ahhh... it's all overwhelming. At least the recent days have been cold although it has been pretty unbearable prior to that.

So quick descriptions: (1) is my rendition of Jenny from Zombie Hunters, which I recommended last post. (2) is something I picked up recently based on a recent comment made by Belkar in Order of the Stick (Giant in the Playground Games). Trust me... the pose is meant to be like that. (3) is in celebration of ep1 of Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. Love the new opening and ending sequences, love the creepy bits in the first episode (staying in the school after classes are over reminded me of my old days in high school and those star gazing sessions). (4) is something I randomly drew a while back. (5) is an experiment on colouring without lines that I was to give to my poker pal for his use. Need to refine it a bit further. Not too happy with it overall. (6) is something that Genshiken 2 inspired, but it really didn't come out well. I'll never be able to draw ero-doujinshis! (7) Something random I did... a girl playing Warhammer.

Sore back today, so I can't be sitting up very much. Alright, peace out. Need to watch that Zetsubou Sensei episode again.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2007-12-29T00:07:00.000+11:00

Hiya everyone! Sorry it's been more than a month. Things just kept piling up, really. Work rush, Christmas shopping and all the usual things just kept me utterly busy. Plus the PSP is working again so there was some major tinkering there. To be honest, I'm slowly rethinking my previous stance on the PSP vs Nintendo thing... but only to the point of balance. Slowly, though.

Also just came back from Adelaide. Had to pop back midway to get some work done and then head back to meet up with family and grandmother. Very nice, I have to say, seeing as asides from paying for a dinner treat or two, I didn't really have to do anything at all. Reading Dawkin's God Delusion, playing PSP and DS games, watching Foxtel in a surprisingly cold Adelaide climate... bliss. Definitely worth it to meet them all too, as it's been a while since I saw the rest of my family. I collected my ton of anime figurines from mum as well.

Mum's had a little health concern for us, though, what with her internal lump. Just had surgery and we hear it's all clear and benign. Hopefully it remains all clear and recovery is quick.

Anyway, at least one person noted my absence and demanded an update (in return for ONE measely photo?) and I guess I needed to get back on the horse. The first pic is something I was mulling over throughout my trip and finally tried to put to paper. That tree is supposed to be a willow, by the way. I used the airbrush style of painting and let me tell you... that took me at least 4 hours. My fingers were sore from the pressure used to colour some of those bits. I'm not doing that again anytime soon. I have to say it didn't turn out TOO bad.

Speaking of hard to do... the 2nd pic took me hours as well to draw (because I used my tablet) and colour. This was mainly because I wanted it to look like one of the figurines mum sent over. Japanese craftmanship has me in awe, although I wonder if that robe is removable. I've read about some other figurines that have different 'layers'. Thanks, mum. It's a lovely figurine.

The last 2 were sort of warm-up pics. The first is a tribute to Kiwi in Le Gardenie by the Malaysian artist Ben. Brilliant artist, and definitely something to aspire to. The last pic is just something I mucked up to prove that I could draw with just a pen (that means no erasing). Not too good as I was still stretching after a long period of no drawing.

Alright, I've got to see what else needs to be done pre-New Years. Hopefully I'll have time during my break to do more sketches (asides from studying for tests immediately after the break).

Enjoy the heat, Australians. It's going to get worse.

Did you get that thing I sentcha?

2007-11-27T22:32:00.001+11:00

Asides from the sudden update, you would probably be wondering about the title. Well, that's Harvey Birdman for you... a somewhat strange cartoon not as funny as Yugioh the Abridged series (that you MUST see) but is not without its charm. But why the long absence?

Well, things have been busy and slow at the same time. My PSP suffered a fatal crash in my quest to tinker with it and now there is but one slim chance of redeeming it at the risk of my friend's unit. That sort of kept me down for a few weeks. That and preparations for my office's dinner function last week. Not to mention that it's hot, muggy... and I'm irritable from lack of sleep. And vague work objectives.

But I had to get something out, I was sitting on a few drawings. One was a carry-on from the last update, using a similar style (pic 2). Inspired, once again, by the currently-stalled Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. It features my little zashiki warashi (oh, she's REAL hot...) with her little friends. I wonder if I should consider doing another one of Chiri-chan. As if that pic wasn't enough, I just had to do one of the stalker girl, Matoi-chan (pic 1). What does it take to get a chick that hot to stalk you (besides an Enya-kit of sorts)?

I blather on... I should also mention that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has caught my attention even though it won't be out this year... and will only have a very slim chance on being on a console I own (fingers crossed, my darling DS who hasn't ever failed me once unlike my red-headed-stepchild PSP). Jedis are incredibly impressive. Meantime, I have FFXII: Revenant Wings. Now that is a very interesting game, although it could be better.

Alright, I'll leave you to your jibblies now.

Halloween 07's a'comin

2007-10-28T23:45:00.000+11:00

oooOOOOOooooo.... Spookytime's almost here. Sigh. Unfortunately I couldn't complete a decent Beanie Man vs Chainsaw Dave pic in time. I have been a bit distracted by a few things: my new PSP and the awesome anime 'Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei'. Well that and the fact that I just couldn't get a decent thought on paper that had that chilling Halloween feel about it. I even borrowed a heap of Mignola's Hellboy comics to inspire me, but it was just too hard.

Thank god for Zetsubou Sensei (if only I was a woman...). I mean seriously, that guy is totally cool in an emotionally depressed gothic sort of way. Well, as a guy, I can say I love every one of his twisted students, from the stalker, to the recluse to the anal retentive demon. So deliciously flawed and yet so perfect. Anyway, that anime had splices of chilling scenes and one of the ending theme ones really got me inspired to do Pic 2 (rough sketch) to Pic 3 (final version). Oh, that absolute look about her. I only wish I could capture it as it was in the anime. Tell you guys what. Go look it up in Youtube. Worth the watch, especially the 2nd OP (from ep 4 onwards).

Asides from that, I've also been enchanted with some of the ARIA soundtracks. Brings memories of a scene I saw during Minifest this year with the entire Venice-like town flooded, but in a serene way (not like the floods disasters). It was a very pristine and calm scene, that accompanied with the angelic music really heightens the mood. Anyway, I tried to do something similar and work a bit on my shadows. Spent ages on her hair. I do realise the background's a bit weird.

Alright, hope you guys have a safe but spooky Halloween. Especially those of you living alone at the moment. If you want, I can try to come up with some chilling tales to get you into the mood.

The Return

2007-10-15T21:03:00.000+10:00

Alright, settle down, men. Geez, don't get all excited.

Yeah, it's been a while hasn't it? Busy busy busy. I had to go do site visits: a military base. That was pretty damn cool, if I do say so myself. It's a pity I didn't really SEE any shooting going on. Just heard them, although I caught a peek at some mortar training.

Well, at least work's toned down recently. I haven't had to ship off to Sydney yet for my training so I'm a bit happy. I got myself Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, which is a barrel-full of fun if you have a LONG stylus. I wish I had a DS Lite... but then again I also long for the sinful (but oh-so-not-gamer-oriented) PSP. Ah, decisions.

Alright, I've abandoned that colouring style I mentioned last week. I just can't keep up with it and I'm way too messy. I prefer the cell-shaded style anyway. So a week or so back, I popped up pic 1 to compare the difference. That's not to say I haven't learned anything from that other style. I realise that sketching using an airbrush stroke is a lot closer to what I would get using a pencil, which is close to what I'm looking for. Therefore, the method is pretty idea for that purpose which I used to cough out pic 2 and 3. Add some cell-shading and highlighs for pic 2 and there you have it. But I'm still working up to some horror-themed works come Halloween.

Side note: I actually gave a company presentation on my Masters thesis and did some sketches to spice it up. Fortunately it gave the result I wanted: I got a fair amount of laughs on a dreary Friday morning and became a centerpiece of conversation. I'll also note that this isn't the first presentation that has employed my 'handicrafts'.

Oh yes, Ying2. I must insist I receive a mailing address. Otherwise I will be forced to take drastic actions. How drastic? You don't want to know. Happy Birthday, by the way.

New Art Style

2007-09-29T21:42:00.000+10:00

Hello, poppets! How have you been?

Ah, Manifest? It was awesome as always. Definitely like going with friends this time round. You know, on the walk back from Melbourne Uni I like to reflect on Manifests past, and compare what I was then with what I was now... nostalgic.

Anyway, didn't enter the art competitions seeing as there wasn't one (except Iron Artist, which I can't yet). However, some people were very impressed with some of my drawings (but on Sunday the whole room was filled with professional artists! I was totally overwhelmed by the difference in our levels). What I did do was participate in the huge Suzumiya Haruhi Hare-Hare Yukai dance-off (I'm hidden somewhere in the back). No, I didn't do the main competition, but Melbourne's trying to kick Sydney's ass at the size thing. Saw some really funny anime like Lucky Star, Seto no Hanayome and Sumomomo mo momo. Didn't get to see that many good action ones though. Got addicted to wasabi peas and had some nice fish in the nearby restaurants.

Going back to work afterwards was a terrible pain. And then sis came down the next weekend so that kept me totally deadlocked. We had a good time, though (except for that horrible movie Superbad). Ate at many a good restaurant and discovered some great dishes. Fun, but in the end kept me pretty busy (work helped wear me out too).

Now things are slowly settling down and I've taken up the table to try learning that thing I meant to do, which is colouring. I picked it up from http://www.mangarevolution.com/tutorials.php which was pretty helpful. However, my skills are still horrible and I need to either be patient or do things better. Ugh. So the 2nd pic was my first try at the new airbrush and multi-layered shadow that they recommended. The first one was something I tried to do using inks first (they generally recommend colouring before outlining). Both are pretty dang sorry excuses. Still, that's another card done for my pal.

I've got some ideas about drawing my Manifest experiences as a comic but I've been too busy to do that. Also, I've got a presentation coming up for my work so I reckon I could spice that up with some pictures. Heh heh...

Manifest 07 Approaches!

2007-09-13T23:58:00.001+10:00

It's almost here and none too soon! Manifest 07! Excitement. A weekend drenched with anime so intoxicating I can only hope that I forget about the troubles of work and life in general. I'm even taking the afternoon off just so I can attend (don't worry I pulled overtime working late and during weekends the past few weeks). Lots of stuff waiting for me when I get back, but at least for a few days it'll be bliss.

So practice... needed to practice. I needed some ideas but I found that I'm now quite reliant on inking again to get a cleaner look. My sketches are a bit too messy and hard to erase out.

First pic, was something my cousin suggested I try tonight... a high-tech ninja that became like a mutant-ish with some little techie stuff here and there. However, I've got some room to play with this idea as I was thinking if the swords could link up a la double lightsabers and maybe he could pull some flap things from his back with his hands to act as gliders or something.

Second pic, a naughty one based on a girl I happened upon during web searching. Won't state source.

Third is an attempt to practice drawing Haruhi because I expect that she will be a key point in earning me winning points in any art competitions during Manifest. There's a big Hare Hare Yukai dance off going on and I reckon Haruhi and Peppa-chan (the mascot) will have a great time pushing Kyon about.

Either that or a 300-themed sketch... that would be funny too. I shall determine based off my experience at Manifest. Here's to a good one again!

Man, I just want to sleep...

2007-09-10T22:26:00.000+10:00

Ugh... so tired. Now that probation is virtually over I'm feeling the pinch. Deadlines for projects that are impossible to meet, software that decides to commit suicide or to spew out garbage despite carefully scrutinising the inputs. The whole works. Working overtime and popping in during weekends despite being advised not to.

Yeah.

Anyway, at least I have Manifest 07 to look forward to. I really hope I can get Friday off early since I've been working overtime these past few days. It's one of the only things keeping me going. Still, I don't seem to have time to practise my drawings. Not like practice would do me good... I just can't seem to get anything out. And I still haven't decided what to focus on for the festival.

On one hand, Pani Poni Dash was introduced last year and I love the cute yet busty girls plus the strange things they are involved in. To that extent, I am fascinated with some of the expressions involved, including the blank 'Maho' expression on Himeko the ahoge girl to Rebecca's priceless expression in the Bugyo episode.

On the other... we've got that big Hare Hare Yukai dance on this year (I haven't practiced!) that I'm sure will win me points if I can draw the mascot dancing to it. Hmmm... that seems the safer bet and I do like Nagato a lot. Dance is pretty quick and hard to draw though. Would be nice to draw an exasperated Kyon.

Anyway, Chainsaw Dave makes a return. It was supposed to be a build-up towards Halloween, with another grand drawing stashed somewhere that never got completed. Chainsaw Dave now features contrast. Will he ever be coloured? Who knows?

And the last was something whipped up quickly afterwards. Could have done better. Will keep with the B&W sketches and inkings until at least after Manifest. I've found a site that has some good tutorials on how to colour that I might work on later, but definitely not while I'm this busy. Plus, I need to design more cards when the opportunity arises.

Sick Week

2007-09-02T21:14:00.000+10:00

Oh, man... what a week. That flu or cold or whatever sure knows how to get back and forth.

Let's just say it was tremendously busy and leave it at that. A huge pressure to finish things and not enough time to do it. Add to it general misery from getting sick again and that's roughly it. Rubbing your eyes when someone else has touched your stuff = stupidity.

So anyway... I haven't been doing much drawing for the past few weeks. Well, the first two I managed to squeeze out last week, but just barely. There was a youtube clip showing the process used to create a Looking For Group webcomic (http://www.lfgcomic.com/) that I thought I would imitate (in Pic 1) but it turns out I am nowhere near the level of proficiency. Halfway through I realised what I was doing was completely wrong and it got really frustrating so I just fudged it.

Second one was partially something drawn to accentuate action and to use the cool little 'smudge' tool you get on photoshop. Does a very nice impact. I really wanted to increase the violence in the picture but lacked skills. Also should have used speed lines on the leg.

Anyway I'm experiencing a complete lack of skills at the moment. I can't seem to draw anything right and I'm feeling a bit frustrated as Manifest is less than 2 weeks away. I certainly can't compete on a decent level if I'm only at this level, so I tried to do some sketches and they just turned out all wrong.

My poker buddy (http://www.pokerpostings.blogspot.com/) came along and requested I do a set of drawings that could be set on card faces. Now, I'd seen that done on Pani Poni Dash (check the 2nd ending sequence) and was thoroughly impressed, especially the artwork done on the Tarot cards. I really tried to imitate it and get something nice but as you can see... I'm really shit at the moment. Still, nothing wrong with me re-doing the above cards when I get better.

Alright, I've got chores to do and then I'll keep practicing. I bet the competition will be stiffer this year, so I can't let up.

Projects and Seminars

2007-08-15T23:56:00.000+10:00

Man, have I been busy. More so than when I was doing my Masters (which isn't saying much), but definitely busy. Going into the office during weekends and working late nights - busy. Thing is, there's been many things going on.

First thing is that I finally got around to going out with my old postgrad group for our get together to celebrate my new career and basically to congratulate the numerous new doctors among us (and those who will soon become ones). Somehow, drunken karaoke got involved and I seem to recall a butchered Bohemian Rhapsody somewhere. Frightening.

After that I had to push on one of the projects I was working on as I had to attend a Green Building and Design course the past 2 days. As cliche as it is, I have to admit that there were lots of cool engineering stuff and it was interesting to meet new people out of the office. Now I've got to go back to the huge pile of work that's been building up while I was gone.

So anyway, that's what I've been up to and therefore I had some drawings backed up. The first was recently drawn as my attention was turned to a new anime that stars Samuel L. Jackson, Afro Samurai. As was mentioned in Family Guy, Samuel's in EVERYTHING now. Geek films and anime included. First episode was definitely mind blowing in terms of animation, and the story looks promising although a few bad voice coordinations, some very weakly-done characters and definitely some bizarre plot holes.

Second pic was something I was working for over a week. Seeing as it was drawn and coloured entirely on tablet, it was a big undertaking, although I did delay it because a lot of the time I just couldn't dedicate myself to it. Now, it has been mentioned that my drawings tend to depict scantily clad women a lot, and this is no exception. To that, I have to say... I am a single heterosexual male... scantily clad women in suggestive positions are second nature to me. That said, the idea was a 'Desert Rose'-like character of a female sniper with her shirt off due to the desert heat... but the view angle got wrong and then I just felt I needed to put other stuff in to flesh it out. The background was intended to be much better but in the end I became sloppy. I realise now that an area of improvement is definitely my backgrounds.

Third pic was something for my friend's Discount Politics website, that I hadn't been contributing for ages. A funny take on a recent article that the Australian Prime Minister was polled as being 'rattled'.

The final picture was drawn a while ago, and many have asked me questions about it. Now, the thing you need to understand is that a subset of anime deviants like me are quite fond of anthropomised (spelt right?) animals called 'furries'. A subset of 'furries' is 'scalies', referring to the more reptilian of the species. Felicia from Darkstalkers is a prime example of a furry, although catwomen are slowly being accepted outside of the category. Now that I've lambasted you with otakuness, I'll just mention that while surfing Phoenix Wrong videos on Youtube (hilarious stuff!), I came upon a very hypnotic Dragon-Girl (literally... not the Asian metaphorical one) dancing to a Gorillaz song. Really cute, so I wanted to try my hand out. Besides, it's interesting to come up with a green-skinned girl once in a while, with those little marks.

Alright, busy days ahead and I've just made a huge post. Be catchin' ya'll.

Wow... Sakura became hot...

2007-08-02T23:18:00.000+10:00

Man, have you seen the recent Naruto Shippuuden episodes? I mean... what happened to Sakura during that time skip? How did she get so hot? Maybe it's the maturity they've added to the character or perhaps the animators are just better at it... or maybe it's a combination of both. Either way, that fight with Sasori? Niiceeee...

Because of that hotness, I came up with the ditty that is Pic 2. Drawn and inked with fine line pen and then coloured. Took a LOT of time colouring, I don't mind telling you. I rather like the effect because my shadow layer was changed to a 'darkened' type instead of leaving it as 'normal' as I usually do. Seems to turn out somewhat better. I think I got the flesh colour right on that one too. You may recognise that scene from the anime... but my Sakura is slightly deformed (and therefore less hot as compared to the original).

Before I came up with that one, though, I had to do some practice runs as I was rather rusty and tried colouring by 'dissolving' layers. First pic is the result. Somehow it's not that bad a result.

Other than that I've been horrendously busy checking essays, proving equations and getting a pile of work at the office. Not much time to do much sketching and not much time to take note of anything else.

Transformers needs more... Transformers

2007-07-29T02:03:00.000+10:00

Hiyo from the late side. I bring new pics!

First some general activities: I saw Transformers on Wednesday. I have to say while the movie was pretty good, the outing itself was more enjoyable than the movie. Had a nice workout followed by a good dinner and dessert. My sentiments have been voiced by Scott Ramsoomair of VG Cats, but generally Transformers is a decent action movie that is severely lacking as a Transformers movie... the main problem being the triviality of the Transformers in the movie. I liked the many references to 80's cartoons and the original plus the compulsory geek-references, too... but I really was hoping for some really direct ones other than spouting 'More than meets the eye' a few times. Starscream's original voice would be nice. Optimus having his mouth-guard on all the time would be nice too. You could probably call this a G.I. Joe meets Transformers movie that's more the former but the latter got the credit (incidentally there ARE comics out on this premise).

Other than that it's been a fairly decent and 'bleh' worthy week.

I've had some requests come in too. My pal finally sent me one of his pictures which I convereted into Pic 3. Took me HOURS to do and I was experimenting a bit on the shading. Took several sketching iterations too as I was really keen to do this entirely by tablet instead of hand sketching and scanning the drafts. Overall, I quite liked my base sketch which involved a fair amount of shadowing. The flats are nothing spectacular and the shading is slightly off... however, the background and foreground 'smoky' atmosphere with the silhouettes and lights behind is rather nice. The drawing is supposed to reflect his newfound hobby of poker so that he can use it on his own blog or banner or something... I'm not sure yet.

The first pic... the no-nose girl... was a rather rushed experiment on shading using a brush with different flow rates. Not so good so I didn't bother to give her a nose. The second pic, the little raindrops was a request from my mother as she wanted something to add to her presentation that she'll be giving around some countries. I hope they'll serve her well and not get her fired. I tried to cover a range of expressions, assuming she would have some good news and a fair amount of bad news to present. I doubt she'll use many of them, if at all... but mothers are quite the encouraging lot, aren't they?

Anyway gotta sign off. Enjoy 'em

My favourite scene

2007-07-23T23:35:00.000+10:00

So I managed to get something out over the weekend. No drinking session tends to be conducive to that. It allows one to sit down and consider going to see Transformers on your own or trying to clear your anime collection backlog.

Anime won... something about saving money. Anyway, 2 pics to test out some stuff. The first is a girl that's partially inspired by Pani Poni Dash, an anime that takes over an hour to watch for one 1/2-hour episode because of all the notes that explain the otaku references within it. So as not to come of as a pedophile, this combines the pink/blond hair of Rebecca Miyamoto, that little ahoge and the chest size of some of the other students. The colouring I tried to base on this Chugworth Academy book I picked up from the local comic store (trying to go against the Harry Potter crowd). So sad that the main site has been down for a while. Anyway hope the book helps me decide on how to colour web-based pictures.

Second pic is something that came to me over the weekend. I was browsing through the old titles and stumbled upon my Eureka 7 lot and I recall how fond I was of that series. Of particular note is when Renton uses the Nirvash (a giant surfing mecha) to save the free-falling Eureka (who has damaged hair and skin at that time due to contact with the Skurve (or Skab?)... or whatever it was called... thus making her look rather boyish. I reckon I drew her more attractive hairstyle numerous times before). Definitely one of the most enjoyable moments although not as emotionally charged as when Renton snapped and massacared a troop of enemy mechs (and soldiers). Anyway, I tried to capture that moment, although my angle is a bit off and not quite as dynamic. Still, I like the depiction of the earth far below... all of this is done in mid-air. Ahhh... I wish I had time to watch that again.

I'll get to the commission requests in time. Not today. Too tired.

What a week...

2007-07-22T02:04:00.000+10:00

Phew... it's been quite a week with some deadlines to be met and some generally tiring activities. 'Spelunking' within a very interesting mechanical services tunnel within Melbourne, writing reports and helping proofread some documents. Wolfed down some ChocoChurros (www.chocochurro.com.au) and attended some free drink functions and several seminars. I've also kept at my tablet as you can see.

It's a good thing I have this weekend to put my feet up because next weekend I'll be having a huge get-together to attend (and to pay for) a soiree to celebrate my new job and to congratulate some of the newer Doctors among my old postgrad group. Looking forward to it, but generally dreading the financial hit, especially from the alcohol consumption. I still need to see Transformers, though!

Alright, these two I squeezed out this weekend. The second pic is based off my sister from her visit to Japan recently. I hope it's 'realistically coloured' to her liking as she has made that comment recently. I spent ages trying to get the patterns down and messed a bit with that hedge behind. I really need to start drawing more interesting stuff behind my main stuff. I'm pretty happy with the shading on this one as I've reverted to using a darkened copy of the flats, adding a hidden mask and slowly removing bits.

The first pic was done after to put some relief on the sheer number of women I've been drawing recently. A cool one with wings. Tried something newer with the background but I really should have added more of a 'curve' effect to the lines. Hard to do, really... but at least my sword is straighter in this one. Wings a bit messy, but I reckon it looks pretty nice like that.

Alright, it's late and I've listened to my anime OST collection for quite a bit. Got quite a bit to do tomorrow so I'm signing off.

Bleh work and some pics

2007-07-17T22:00:00.000+10:00

When you see a mid-week update you're definitely scratching your head in puzzlement. Nothing to panic, it's just the frenzy of having a new toy to play with, that's all. More stuff to put up as I try as hard as I can to master sketching on the tablet. Hard to get straight consistent lines that seem quite easy via inking. I guess I'll start doing more of that once I get frustrated enough with the tablet clean-sketching.

The second gray-goth-girl was drawn first. I once saw a brilliant Youtube video forwarded by my friend (Who has just arrived in Australia. Welcome!) (www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBIOq4P2Llg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Exanga%2Ecom%2FHlK4Rl%5FM3KURA) detailing a very cool way of sketching via tablet. You'll note I tried to emulate the cloud effect as well. Anyway, this was another attempt as using rough lines to sketch without outlining it to give a 'clean' feel.

The first pic was drawn today. My cousin who is another tablet-buddy was working on his own piece of a girl and her mecha. I couldn't be arsed designing and colouring a mecha so I just settled for some boat-like floaty things. It was at this time I realised how bloody complex those floating ships you see in the Final Fantasy series are to create. Ah well, imagine a cheapo-Protoss sort of design. I'm also still working on skin tone. At present I'm balancing between just a simple 1-shade or doing multiple layers with different tones. It's quite hard to figure out how to apply the tones but the end result is usually very nice. For instance the flesh should have stronger pinkish hues and maybe some white to denote shine.

You may have noticed that I'm slowly departing from my usual set of colours as well. Originally I used the 'web safe' colour set which is pretty limited and gives a pretty dull skin tone. Experiment, experiment, experiment.

Work has been tough. It's a constant roller-coaster ride from being treated as a Wunderkind to being the Dumkopft (how do you spell that?). Quite frustrating. At least I get to watch Simpsons, Futurama and Family Guy at the gym again.

The Third...

2007-07-15T22:25:00.000+10:00

Some better samples of what I can do with the tablet. A Kill Bill-like picture (note how hard it is to draw diagonal lines like the sword on the tablet) and one of my earlier picks coloured.

You'll note that I absolutely LOVE the grass and leaf pattern you can do with your paintbrush. Brilliant stuff!

Another era approaches...

2007-07-15T20:26:00.000+10:00

Well here we are again. Let's see... the first era was actually scanning and then uploadin my sketches onto a blog of sorts. The second was to actually get a little more sense into my scanner settings, i.e. not all just black and white. I guess you could lump in some inking and sketching with coloured pencil prior to inking into that era. The third and most recent one was adding colours into my sketches.

Now... we come to the latest era, that which is now possible thanks to the arrival of several gifts from Japan courtesy of my kind sister, mother and father. Behold, the might of the WACOM Graphics Tablet! (Dun Dah Dun Dah DUN!) Yes, my little poppets, this is probably the firmest step into professionalism I've ever taken. You've heard me complain about not having a tablet for years and years and years (even though I've never really seen one, less use one) and how it's quite a bother without one. Well, now I do and I have to admit it's a brilliant piece of technology and it'll take some getting used to. As you can see, I'm still very very rough at it. At this point of time, if the work is crap I can no longer blame the lack of tools because frankly, I've got everything a pro-artist has (more or less). I just need to get good with them, or to at least figure out how to use them properly. Well... maybe I can still complain about my computer monitor size.

There's a whole torrent of things to learn. Different brush strokes, getting used to the tablet layout and everything else in between. I still can't get my head over how brilliant the gadget is and how it must have taken years to even get to that stage.

So we have some very rough pics, some drawn immediately after I installed the machinery so really rough as guts. So far, I can still say that drawing on paper and scanning produces much cleared and more defined lines so if I want to do a really nice clean piece, I'll stick to pencil and inking. However, if I want to do a rough sketch followed by colouring over that... I'd use the tablet. Colouring will be done entirely on this though... it's SOOOOOOO easy. Absolutely fantastic stuff.

Along with the tablet I've gotten Bleach DS 2nd, some figurines of Kurosaki Ichigo (I'd much prefer Kuchiki Rukia... but Bankai Ichigo is still nice), some utensils and I've still got other things coming along. Gonna have to visit the post office quite frequently.

Anyway, a big thank you to the parties involved in getting me the tablet. I hope my skills can improve now that it's not as constrained as before.

Could YOU work without your voice?

2007-07-15T20:09:00.000+10:00

Man, was I ever sick last week. Coughing, flu-like symptoms and sore throat. Combined that left me voiceless for the entire week. You'll never imagine how hard (and funny) it was to try to do my job as an engineering consultant without my voice. Well, most of the week I managed a very raspy sound so that was the funny bit. I swear, you could do standup solely on the basis of a raspy voice. Anyway, I didn't do any uploading because the week was pretty filled with sickness and I was generally groggy from the lozenges I was choking down. It's amazing how some have anasthetic in them that leaves the mouth a numb. I'll file that bit of knowledge somewhere so I can figure out how it's done later. It could become useful.

Nevertheless, I did have a backlog of pictures that I had done previously or one or two I did while I was sickly. I was waiting for some photos from a friend so I could do his commission but he was a bit slow so I'll just get these up first. There's more, but I'll get to that later.

Not much I want to say about these pics. The first is a tribute to the gorgeous artist who does Dresden Codak (http://dresdencodak.com/). Unbelievable artwork spanning a huge page that seems to delve into philosophical and scientific ideas that just flies right over my head. It's like Cat and Girl (http://catandgirl.com/) with insanely good art... and a little bit more science. The second and third... I probably did out of boredom trying to actually have something worth uploading. The last was something that came to me about trying to put a little bit more humanity to some of my characters. That means having those little spontaneous poses every now and then and really, it's really quite refreshing to see a girl push her hair back. Hard to explain... sort of makes them more real rather than just standing stiff. It's quite hard to do and I definitely need to work on it.

Anyway there's another post coming up. In it I describe the new era that I shall be embarking on with regards to sketching...

Even More 'Shipping

2007-07-01T21:24:00.000+10:00

Ahoy there mateys. I be back. Arrr....

No I haven't seen Pirates or anything similar. It's just the spirit of a dead sea man (heh heh... sea man) inhibiting my shell. Came with the 'shipping' phrase. Yes, more of that. Starring Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke as in pic 1. Pic 2... Originally I wanted to do a better pose than this because the idea came to me while I was watching some anime or other. Then I just copped out and did something relatively simpler. The girl is somewhat based off Harmony from 'Sore Thumbs' but I just didn't get that far. Also part of the original plan was the intent to colour. However, time constraints during this weekend have forced me to reconsider. Doesn't seem worth it for these somewhat crappy versions anyway.

Busy week it has been. Coming up with reports, undergoing training, starting new projects and also a company dinner on Friday. Nice food but I didn't chance too much alcohol. I reckon I should have. Some good news though... some goods coming from Japan for me soon. Possibly a drawing tablet among them. Hopefully I'll be able to put it to good use. I just don't know how these pros are able to get so clear (and not crooked) lines unlike mine. Frustrating!

More 'shipping!

2007-06-25T23:29:00.000+10:00

Alright... so the Naruto one wasn't that great. Let's see what I can do with someone I've always had trouble drawing: Kurosaki Ichigo and my favourite lead lady Kuchiki Rukia. Well, favourite in that almost all the other female characters in the show are complete airheads or have extremely annoying personalities (not that Rukia's much of a prize winner herself). Added some clouds to the back, too.

As an added note, I've realised why I tend to draw heads a bit too lop-sided and big. It's because I draw on (the very limited) horizontal space on my desk and tend to sit (straight up) a bit far back. Using some fairly simple mathematics, you should understand that when I see a circle it's actually more of an elipse!

A little omake

2007-06-25T00:20:00.000+10:00

No don't get off your seat. This will be brief. While skimming some youtube stuff (checking out Pheonix Wrong clips and moving on to Tenacious D vids) I ran into some 'shippers (that's Worshippers... people who are obsessed with pairing up anime characters with each other) art on some clips. One particular artist did a fantastic bit with Naruto and Hinata. Utterly jealous... I tried to emulate as best as I could. Nope... didn't work. Anyway, the colouring was done entirely by mouse (no 'Magic Wanding') so it's quite rough. I'm also beginning to feel my character's heads always tend to be a tad bit large.

I'm not fired... yet

2007-06-24T01:30:00.000+10:00

Isn't that surprising? I mean... surely the dumbest person would have bet that I would be canned by now. Yet here I am, coming home exhausted and hitting the bed immediately. God knows what Letterman has been saying the past few weeks. Hopefully I can keep it up for a few more weeks when my probation will be over.

Work IS piling up though. There were some bits where I was just sitting there looking through manuals and codes (scratching my head in puzzlement for hours)... but there were intense bits where it seems nobody wanted to go home. Good thing the week was capped off with a funny presentation and some blondes (that's beers, you non-Aussies).

Weekend was spent trying to clean the bird feces off my clothes that were sitting on the drying line for a week. That and the usual gamut. Stupid E-bay sellers and their horrible postage times. I was hoping to crack open some 'hot coffee' action between Misty and May (see if you can decipher the gamer lingo there). Took some time to watch Superman Returns (disappointing... Superman movies suck) and work on some backlog sketches. Man, have I lost it.

Second pic is part of the original 2nd request of my Discount Politics friend. Apparently some of my stuff is being used in a math tutorial site too. Wonder how that'll turn out. First pic is something I wanted to do about Frankie from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Hilarious cartoon. However, I saw a very good picture of the Foster's crew done by a talented artist a while back and really wanted to see if I could do well. I can't. Even the porn on the web (it's one of the internet rules, guys) seems to draw better than I do... I don't even have to mention some of the professional art I found. I've also realised that Bloo's expressions are immensely difficult to draw. Huh... you wouldn't have thought that because he's just 2 eyes and a mouth, really.

Oh, well... hope I can get more practice in.

Work is Hard... and Dangerous

2007-06-19T22:22:00.000+10:00

So I've started working. Doing building energy modelling and sunlight stuff. Tough stuff as it's been 1.5 weeks and I've barely got a model running (no analysis yet). I'm getting worried... I don't want to be a lead weight! Hopefully not dragging my partner (currently tutor) down with me.

But there you go... work IS hard... and rather mundane. Getting up early is taking its toll and weekends go by too quickly. Holidays seem too far apart (well, they ARE in Australia). At least I don't have to do weekends. This has left me rather buggered throughout the week so I haven't been able to fulfill the number of requests I left in my 'IN' pile prior to starting work.

Anyway, in order to put up a post, I did try to do ONE request. Girls bashing up a snatch thief. I'm sorry... it just didn't turn out right. I just couldn't feel for it, despite being a victim of said crime before. Besides, it's more of a practice thing. If I have time I'll rework it.

So... terrible incident happened in Melbourne yesterday. Some guy went amok on his girlfriend and her friend right in the city (a few blocks from work) and when some guys went to her aid he shot them all and killed one guy (wounded 2 others). Got away and still isn't caught. We had to be locked up in our offices until the arvo as they scanned the city in search of the gunman. Good thing I was safely in a meeting at that time. Could have been any one of us, really. Real shame about the guy who died though. Terrible stuff. Melbourne IS pretty dangerous.

Anyway, that's my excuse for nothing the past weeks. Oh, that and the guys not inviting me out to drinks (and thereby stirring up my creative juices)!

Work? Me?

2007-06-07T23:11:00.000+10:00

So... work? Me? Yeah... I finally got offered a position and I'm starting coming week. Frightening, huh? The thought of me with responsibilities that is.

Good news is that I'm at least in Melbourne doing something I spent 3 years working on already (ignore my numerous complaints on CFD for those years). My previous offer required me to work in Canberra and to consider citizenship. To be honest... it's not like I wouldn't do that but it's just something I'd prefer to decide on a few years down the line. Still... I'm pretty worried about starting and I really hope I can handle this.

So my updates may become more and more intermittent. Very dependent on time as it is. Anyway today's update was to let you know about my employment status. Because I don't usually do a pictureless update, I've included two things I'm working on. The first is a 'Devil who's like a DJ with turntables' as requested by the family's son. I intend to add colour in the following days if I'm not too busy. The second is another contribution to the website http://www.discountpolitics.com/ that my friend is still building up. Behold his webmaster skills. Much like me learning photoshop from scratch this fellow (the genius that he is) is also learning website creation from below scratch. I might need his assistance one of these days so I think I should keep in good books with him. I haven't added speech bubbles as per his idea, but I guess I can do that later once he's okay'ed the sketch.

Anyway I need to iron a pair of pants and a shirt. I have to meet my boss for a short walk around tomorrow morning and I really don't want to be late.

More requests!

2007-05-29T03:02:00.000+10:00

So my infamy has become somewhat spread around has it? Or perhaps people getting a bit jealous of my Display Pictures on MSN?

Anyway, a good friend has been bugging me to draw him (again) but this time in colour. I challenged him to give me something sketch-and-colour-worthy (seeing as I'd much prefer pretty girls). I got... well... something acceptable and he HAS been raving about this Metal Gear Solid (yes... MGS is Metal Gear Solid, not Methodist Girls' School) game for his PSP (auto-aim is for losers, pal) so I obliged. Makes for a pretty nice DP apparently.

So after I flexed my long unused colouring muscles, I decided to pop out another meganemoe pic for my own benefit. This time I tried to use some pretty sneaky methods like more organised shading, clouds and glass effects. Not to mention that it was originally sketched by pencil and not inked as I usually do for my coloured pictures. Had to play around with contrasts and brightness a lot. Hey, I've got bad fashion (and colour) taste! I also made a mistake in the shading but I won't draw too much attention to that.

As to the previous political sketch I did... well... my friend is colouring it. Hopefully he'll be able to show of HIS colouring skills (it's a real nightmare to colour, I can assure you) and if I like it I'll plonk it here for you to see.

Reading a LOT of fantastic webcomics lately. Jealous of some who make it to having their own stalls at conventions. Then again... I wonder if I can stomach drawing yaoi and yuri pictures all day long and missing out on the screenings. Hmmm... Yuri, maybe... but I'd need to see some action IN PERSON before I can really draw it realistically.

Okay, I'm signing off. I shouldn't be up this late.

First Official (sorta) Commission

2007-05-27T00:57:00.000+10:00

Ha, so since I didn't really put up many pictures in the last few weeks, here's one that my good mate at Uni has requested me to produce for his somewhat political-satire site. Hopefully it's to his liking, because it took a fair amount of research and time to produce it. See if you can spot the major (Australian) political figures (and icon).

I REALLY hope the freedom of speech thing is well and alive because the last thing I would want is some Gestapo organisation breathing down my neck.

Happy Birthday to ME!

2007-05-26T00:51:00.000+10:00

Surgeon General's Warning: Alien symbiotes may cause severe bouts of emo and loss of dancing skills.

Alright, let's start this way: I'm 26 now. Many thanks to those who sent early and timely greetings and presents. I truly feel happy so many people remembered, especially some who were recently down with germs or preoccupied with sales in preparation for long trips.

Good celebration, too. I went out to a good steak dinner last night after a very nice job interview. Apparently my conduct during my Masters years as a tutor has alotted me a fair amount of good karma. I don't think I should go further.

As to the picture... well, I saw Spiderman 3 earlier in the week. Very nice, highly enjoyable although there's some inconsistencies with characters and plots. Still, turn off the mind a bit and you'll have a good laugh or two (I swear Stan Lee's senile!). Apparently Emo = Evil now. Anyway, the pic's supposed to be a birthday present to someone else on this day.

Once again, many thanks to you all.

Jump Ultimate Stars Madness!

2007-05-22T00:49:00.000+10:00

Ohoho, my duckies! It's been a bit long hasn't it?

Well I've got my reasons. Lots of them, really. First of all, a big THANK YOU to the number of people who have facilitated the arrival of Jump Ultimate Stars to my doorstep. You know who you are. Let me say that of all the games I've gotten for my DS, this is probably the MOST fun one I've ever played (despite it being entirely in JAPANESE) and have immersed myself thoroughly for the past week. I mean... Bankai Ichigo versus Kyuubi Naruto? C'mon! I'm so thrilled I wrote thought up a proper comic for it, too! I thought up a few more funny ones but once I started drawing I realised I'm not used to drawing small panels (hard to fit) and just decided to do them individually and ignore the size ratios. Then I kinda didn't want to use inks because I'm severly out of practice so I just used pencils. Then it kinda scanned weird. So I stopped at one. Might reserve the other ideas for later if I write them down.

That alone didn't take ALL my time (it took a lot, though). I've had to do rush job interviews here and there and one involved a very hasty trip to Canberra. Very, very hard interview with very, very hard questions. Scary. Got a few more to do in the coming weeks. Sigh. But the good news is that I got my residency and can now stick around Australia for a bit. Yeeha! Anyway these things took up a fair amount of time and effort, so I'll leave out most of the generalities.

On a side note, turning 26 soon. Thank you very much for the early present, Ying. I like it heaps. That's a hint for other gift givers to take note. Will probably be seeing Spiderman 3 before that comes along though. Hmmm....

Oh well, that's it for this time. Might do some more sketches later in the week.

300 Makes Straight Men GAR!

2007-05-06T00:07:00.000+10:00

No that's not misspelled. It's GAR. I suggest you go look it up on google while cross-referencing it to internet memes or perhaps Fate/Stay Night. It is pretty appropriate in this context. Anyway, yes... I FINALLY managed to see 300 and I've got to say that asides from the sappy bits here and there and some fairly awkward CGI monsters... the movie's pretty much a masterpiece of art and action (and especially masculanity). Seriously... the dramatic and intense fighting scenes with the drawn out action and panned view... absolutely stunning. Choreography is par none. Blows Matrix out in that sense. I'm truly glad I didn't miss this on the big screen.

Yet Spiderman 3 is out! Agh! Gotta find time to go for that too!

Anyway, some good news. I'm off for an intervew for potential work soon. I shan't divulge where and when but I will say it's been something I've been hoping for. If I do get it I'll let you all know of my new position provided I'm not required to keep it classified.

So alright... the sketches. First one, obviously, King Leonidas in 300. I was kind of hardpressed to think of anything to come up with (particularly anything original) so I thought I'd do a tribute to the movie, seeing how much I liked it. The third sketch (and inked) one is based on a class in Guild Wars called the Paragon. It was my contribution to a commission request but obviously I wasn't chosen so I didn't go on to colouring it. The picture was supposed to be derived off the first pic (of 300) putting the Paragon in Leonidas's pose... but I messed around with the pose and weapons.

The second sketch is inspired by this fantastic toy I've seen in the comic shops of Gabranth from Final Fantasy XII. I thought that if I gave a poor sketch of it I could slowly get a better understanding of how to draw and come up with armour parts for any future characters. Seriously, though... it's about the coolest model I've ever seen. A pity the swords are too hard to include.

The fourth is something I was pondering over the past week. It came to me one day that I should do a tribute to megane-moe, i.e. the strange draw of spectacled characters. It's something I came upon while searching for the term 'moe' (pronounced Moe-Eh). I wanted to do a study of different expressions and fashions... so something like summer and winter... sorta. Well, I tried... honest. It just... kinda... fizzled. Lacked a lot of character, severly lacked charm so I gave up and just tried to do a simple winter meganemoe. Sigh...

Finally, the fifth is a study pic on the nature of this young girl's pout. Now... I COULD have included her mother and her disapproving glare to ward off you young punks out there... but I ran out of space. Maybe another time. Still, I would like to thank her for getting me Jump Ultimate Stars, which I am eagerly awaiting to arrive. Oh, man... Hollow Ichigo vs Kyuubi Naruto!

Anyway that's it. I'll leave you punks and punkettes for now as I go back to some preparations.

Needed to get something uploaded

2007-04-27T00:58:00.000+10:00

Nothing new to report. Just wanted to upload something so I can link it somewhere else.

Two sketches: first is a witch vs zombies scene that was heavily influenced by this very simple but very nicely drawn pic of a witch fighting off pumpkins. I really didn't pull this one off and at one point ruined the perspective but I'll leave it here so I can learn from it. Second sketch is taken off my Guild Wars monk character cursing a silly assassin. Head disproportionate, messily coloured and costumes not exactly following original design.

Quid Pro Quo, Tit for Tat

2007-04-25T23:39:00.000+10:00

Questionaire

Layer One: On The Outside
Name: CWY aka BeanieMan aka Baron Crovax
Birth Date: The maximum square root in a year

Current status: Unemployed and Single... sadly
Eye Colour: Brown
Hair Colour: Black enough
Righty or Lefty: Right-handed, unlike those devil-lefties

Layer Two: On The Inside
Your Heritage: Proud Asian Banana
Fears: Things that I cannot achieve due to my overwhelming weaknesses and inabilities
Your Weakness: Low willpower, irresponsibility, physically weak and horrible mentality
Your Perfect Pizza: Meaty... possibly with seafood

Layer Three: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
Your Thoughts First Waking Up: 'I need to get to the bathroom'
Your Bedtime: Late and whenever I like it
Your Most Missed Memory: Probably high school. Good 'fellowship' friends, close family and a very special bit that remains a secret forever.

Layer Four: Your Pick
Pepsi or Coke: Ginger Beer
McDonald's or Burger King: KFC.. coz I hate McD. They have crappy burgers and overcharge
Single or Group Dates: Single dates means less competition from the male offensive but focused pressure from the female offensive. Probably single is still better.
Adidas or Nike: Both are crap
Tea or Nestea: Nestea... sweeter
Chocolate or Vanilla: No particular preference
Cappucino or Coffee: Whichever's sweeter

Layer Five: Do You...
Smoke: Can't... asthma
Curse: All the F**KING time
Take a shower: Sure. I defecate regularly too. Thanks for asking
Have a crush: Probably not
Think you've been in love: Sadly... yes
Go to school: not anymore
Want to get married: Hmmm... succumb to my diseases alone and bitter... I think marriage isn't a bad idea
Believe in yourself: Hell no
Think you're a health freak: Hell no

Layer Six: In The Past Month
Drank alcohol: Copiously? Yes
Gone to the mall: Kinda
Been on stage: No
Eaten sushi: I've had one of those rolls. Don't think it counts as sushi.
Dyed your hair: No

Layer Seven: Have You Ever...
Played A Stripping Game: Nope. I'm grotesque enough not to be asked
Fit In: Not really. Other people have tried to but I always screw up.

Layer Eight:
Age You're Hoping To Be Married: Anytime before I die... preferrably while sex is still important to me.

Layer Nine: In a Girl/Guy
Best Eye Colour: I wouldn't care even if flames shot out of their eyes
Best Hair Colour: I wouldn't care even if it was the colour of vomit
Short Hair or Long Hair: Short hair's cuter... but again I am not going to be fussy because of this

Layer Ten: What Were You Doing
1 Min Ago: Reading webcomics
Hour Ago: Playing Guild Wars
4.5 Hours Ago: Watching Heroes
1 Month Ago: The same as above
1 Year Ago: The same as above but crying over my stupid thesis also

Layer Eleven: Finish The Sentence
I Love: meat, anything related to manga and anime and video games
I Feel: tired
I Hate: my weaknesses
I Hide: my genitalia
I Miss: Foo Chook Kin (it's a food item)
I Need: Money and women.. and superpowers

Okay, I normally don't do these kind of things but because it was personally requested and I can't say no to a lady... I acquiesed. I know how the game is played. Info is paid for by info. So there you go. No pic uploads today, but I might come up with some if I can spare the time to prepare for Animania this weekend. Doodling Contest!

I thought I didn't have to take tests anymore...

2007-04-23T01:09:00.000+10:00

Hola, senors and senoritas. Especially the senoritas. Welcome back to the people who have just returned from a short trip to Japan. I hope your journey was fruitful and that you enjoyed the entire experience.

Man, it's been a busy week. Still actively seeking employment and being evaluated by all these companies. I thought I didn't have to sit for any more tests but here I am, waking up early and dressing smartly to go for these bizzare tests here and there. Some online, too. Well, at least there's free candy, and it's still probably better than actual employment itself. Still, we gotta do what we gotta do.

Anyway there's been fairly little time to come up with any new drawings. However, I did manage to sit down and come up with more Ouran fanart. Man, is this series great! I've dedicated two pictures (Pic 4 and Pic 5) to the Low-Blood-Pressure King Kyouya, specifically taken from Episode 17. Gotta love that glower. Pic 6, oddly enough, also comes from that episode and features Renge in a different attire. Better do your homework, kids! You'll notice that I'm slowly getting better at shading despite terribly shaky mouse hands. This is due to a new technique I've learned using Masks on different layers that allow me gradients of darkness and lightness. I quite like it, really! Still, some are terribly bumpy and jagged because I still haven't mastered the mouse (and mine's not the best quality either). For Renge, I intended to put some lighting in, but I just gave up after colouring the two Kyouyas. Generally the 'Magic Wand' allows me faster flat colouring, but shadowing still takes a lot of time and I still don't quite know where exactly should the shadows apply.

The first pic is something I came up with while at Minifest that I didn't upload previously. Sometime between certain events, if I recall. Pic 2 is Nagato Yuki from the Melancholy of Haruhu Suzumiya (that dancing anime!). Uh... I really wanted to colour this but after doing three pictures I couldn't bring myself to do one more, particularly since the picture itself is a bit off and I wanted to maintain my Ouran fandom. Pic 3 is a rough sketch of Adelle Nahashid from the manga Pilgrim Jager that I'm reading currently. The story is somewhat 'Priest'-ish and the art is fantastic (Mami Itoh, I believe, draws). A tad bit complicated but I love the gore.

Alright I've spent way too much time reporting this. This was meant to be a 'welcome back' in addition to a 'ahhhh... nobody's been nagging me for sketches for a while' note to the readers. Au revoir, mates.

It's Renge's turn!

2007-04-15T01:03:00.000+10:00

Hot on the heels of the previous update.. it's Renge's turn! You know what? I've changed my mind... Haruhi is nice and all but who can beat the manic behaviour (and oh, so Otaku) of Renge-chan! Therefore my new Ouran favourite is the high-powered-motor-queen herself, Renge Houshakuji. Gotta try to capture that bit where she's going 'Moeeeeeeeee......!' Anyway got just the flower for the background from my mum's camera skills.

As for the other two... the first is just something I was experimenting on: pouting. Then I added in a dragonesque fellow to bulk it up. Need some consumate Vs there somewhere. The second is based on a (highly risque lesbian pirate themed) webcomic Boobs Ahoy. Um... not that there's anyone like that here but if you're the objectionable type don't bother.

Hooray for Haruhi!

2007-04-14T20:59:00.000+10:00

Hooray for Haruhi and in more than one case. Haruhi from 'Ouran High School Host Club' and Haruhi from 'The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'. Both excellent in their own way, but Ouran's Haruhi has actually pulled my from my sci-fi fantasty genres into the realm of shoujo stories with reverse harems!

Anyway, feeling a bit adventurous, I've come up with another coloured comic. Good news is I've found an excellent way of colouring the comic that is really easy! See? I've even had time to try double-layered shadowing and putting one of my mum's pretty photos from Japan in the background. Not too shabby but it has it's drawbacks, e.g. demands on cleanliness, which I lack generally. You'll note that the sketch has several flaws too that I only realised when I was inking. Anyway definitely made colouring easier.

If I can think of anything to draw after this I'll try to get them uploaded.

Post-Minifest 07

2007-04-10T00:30:00.000+10:00

Greetings after a long period of nothing. It's just been that kind of time and despite still being unemployed I've been up to my neck with things to do. These include seeking employment, binge drinking (well nothing compared to last time), midnight eating and Minifest.

Well, some birthday greetings to: Kiao, Laura and Dad. Perhaps I shouldn't divulge these names, but if privacy issues are sought I'll just deny everything. The drinking and midnight dinner was because of two of the mentioned birthdays. Ah... I'll need to get back to the gym after all that, which I have after the considerably long but eventful Easter break. Strange that despite how much I hate it, after a few days off I kinda feel a bit lax. The vast chocolate consumption could have something to do with it.

Anyway Minifest on Saturday was a blast despite being the small-scaled version of the main thing. Didn't watch much screenings since I'd seen most of it already so instead I wandered around and watched the many events: AMV screenings, sushi eating contests... stuff like that. Attended two drawing classes to improve on my body and mecha skills... but as you can see that kinda didn't work out too well. The 5th picture was drawn during the mecha class while the guy was explaining the details and giving pointers. It was my attempt to remember Evas. The last pic was drawn during the body drawing class. Totally wrong, but there's a reason why I had an inkling to draw it. I'll get to it. The 4th was a mecha I tried to come up based on some of the advice gained and a composite of stuff I remembered from my cousin's hobby. Turned out ridiculous. Seriously!

So Iron Artist was on again. Look... I tried to get some practice done beforehand but I ended up not doing it so when I was at Minifest I was really lacking practice and during my brief warm-up I knew I was in no shape to compete. So I didn't. Anyway, as always the competition only used pencils and had to comprise a theme of: Peppa-chan (Manifest mascot... a cute girl), gaming and Antonio (Oztaku mascot... an octopus). Competition was insane but the final judgement went to the professional artist they seeded into the competitors. Seriously... you should see his sketch of decided soft-H. I knew I made the right decision to stay out of it, but it did somewhat inspire pic 6.

The rest of the stuff: Pic 1 is of Sakura Kasugano, mostly because I've been reading Street Fighter Legends of late and find the story very amusing! Pic 2 just came to me while I was listening to Billy Joel's 'For the Longest Time' song, which has some special memories. Pic 3 is somewhat inspired by Haruhi from Ouran High School Host Club, although it doesn't really look like her. Episode 10 is the best so far!

Random Scribbles

2007-03-27T22:45:00.000+10:00

Just a quick post to put up some stuff that I've accrued over the past few days.

First is something I just had to draw today... one of Bleach's (told ya the characters were kinda easy to draw) poster boys Kuchiki Byakuya. Flash of inspiration of sorts. The second crappier thing is based on a discussion with a friend about women's eyewear and how I don't quite like the huge sunglasses look. Hides too much of the face. Anyway, it looks terrible but it was meant to illustrate a point is all.

Jealousy!

2007-03-24T03:20:00.000+11:00

Wow... seriously. Have you seen the work of professional artists much? How could you NOT be jealous? This time round it's the artist of No Pink Ponies (http://nopinkponies.com/). You can, no, SHOULD check his deviant work via the link from the comic. Insane isn't it? He's even got the attention of Adam F**KING Warren (professional comic artist... has drawn for many series that I love)! How fantastic is THAT? Geez... what does a guy have to do to get to that level, huh?

Anyway the obvious answer is lotsa training and tallent. Lacking that but wanting to flex and grunt as any male should, I set to work to see just how far behind I am. Yup... pretty damn far. Anyway...

What we have here is another attempt at colouring (simplified sketch dramatically) with a new twist in the shadowing. I can't recall what exact method I used but now the shadows aren't all... blackish. I admit this is much more appealing although some regions you just can't see the shadows at all. Anyway, still need to figure out how to blend it in but I think the answer is going to come out as multiple layers of shadowing again. Sigh... still can't do that. I've appended the B&W picture so you can see for yourself what was done to it... roughly. I should start doing backgrounds (as in proper sketches) as well... one day.

The elf girl is just something... I've realised I was losing my ability to draw eyes properly so trying to work around it I came up with a stiff character that I just built the setting around. The last was an attempt at coming up with a comic of sorts. Just thinking how I'd go about drawing a strip showing the horrors of going to the gym (I should start putting in more dialogue as well). Anyway... a bit bland (should have more expression... maybe a heart or something at the girls) and just couldn't convey the horrors of a male locker scenario (for a male... obviously it's not that bad for a female). Why, oh, WHY can't they keep themselves to themselves? Ugh. Side note: panels are totally skewed. I need to use my drawing board to draw proper ones next time.

Poor quality

2007-03-22T00:05:00.000+11:00

Once more I am hit by the need to come up with something new so I just wanted to draw up this new character design. That's the three images of this unnamed person with huge sideburns apparently.

Anyway I was trying deperately to get the pose and stylings of Ulqiorra. The eyes, not so bad... the perpetually sad look is cool but I just couldn't get the style right. The hair just seems wrong and I'm still mixed about those dang sideburns. Anyway... the suit's okay.

Last pic is also a continuation of something I'm experimenting with, i.e. mixing pencils with inks (it didn't work out a while back because I was scanning as Black and White instead of Grayscale) while using a blue pencil to do the preliminary outline. I've also tried using a green highlighter to colour a few parts but I've learned something: poor quality highlighter gives weird looking results.

Further regression

2007-03-16T23:32:00.000+11:00

Frustrated at my sketches, I tried to come up something more in hopes of suddenly striking the thing I was missing. No such luck. I just can't figure it out.

Anyway it's too messy.

Nothing else to add.

Regression

2007-03-16T00:53:00.000+11:00

Man I'm too tired to colour anything so I'm regressing back to pencils as mentioned last post. I'm finding difficulty in even drawing things right with pencils, as you'll notice some pretty weird shaped heads among this bunch.

In order, the pics are (1) Roronoa Zoro from One Piece... probably my favourite character; (2) another 'fairy' with hopefully the right costume. I must note that the costume is actually that of a ballet princess kinda thing, e.g. Princess Tutu. It's not a 'fairy' in any traditional sense; (3) Wolf bandits based on some character design I suddenly recalled from someone's sketch in one of the conventions last year. It wasn't exactly matching, as the real sketch is more Sesshomaru-style but I just wanted to get the wolf thingy on the shoulders; (4) Dr McNinja. Okay at this point I realised I was losing it and promptly stopped.

Nothing exciting but something to put up anyway.

Belated Birthday Greetings

2007-03-10T22:25:00.000+11:00

Happy belated birthday, sis! Sorry the online dedication took so long but colouring your picture while experimenting on 'light' sides turned out to be more than I could reasonably handle. That and it's been a tiring week and I had a huge drinking session yesterday night (3 'shots' of alcohol including Vodka and Tequila). Anyway be happy with your picture dedicated to the untold amounts of wealth you will soon garner and the fact that you're one of the first to be coloured at all. Ignore the crappy shading and lighting because I can't afford anything better than a cheap mouse (See the zig-zags on the shadows? That's an unsteady hand at work).

Aaaanyway, that's probably the last coloured pic I'll be working on in a while. They tend to drain a lot of time and effort from me and generally don't tend to look very nice. Well... maybe I can put a few more out but definitely nothing ambitious.

Well, I've done an okay sketch of a gothic lolita coat+corset combination (Pic 1) that a friend brought to my attention. Tres cute, one would have to say but apparently I've been so out of practice that I kinda screwed it up. I need to find a green marker so I can get better shading (another tip from 'Blue Zombie').

Pics 2,3 and 4 were meant to be coloured but I lost the impetus fairly shortly. Momentous task, I assure you. If I ever get the mood to revisit them I might be tempted to add some colour but I wouldn't hold my breath. Pic 2 is (yet another) pretty girl spotted on the trams last weekend sporting one of those bizzare 'I <3 whateva' shirts. Cute, but hard to appreciate in a crowded tram carrying groceries. Pic 3 is of a character called Rouge from the series "Powerstone" ages ago. Sometime during the week I was reminded of that anime and the charmingly proportioned madamoiselle so I thought... fairly easy to colour... why not try lighting with her? Didn't get that far, obviously. Pic 4 is your (you guessed it) Sakura from the mind-blowing-after-a-year-of-crap-fillers Naruto series (props to my pal who first introduced me to it) in her new regalia and slightly matured form. Mmm.... if it wasn't for her deformed right hand I'd probably try to colour her. Oh, well... maybe I can redo it. Can't believe I haven't drawn Naruto characters before this.

Anyway, the alcohol is still coursing somewhere inside me so I reckon I'll stop here. Remember, kids! Drink responsibly (and not like me or my other drunken buddies).

The new era marches on!

2007-03-01T20:00:00.000+11:00

Man, oh man. Once you're on the path of discovery, you just can't stop. Even though I'm groggy from lack of sleep, I just HAD to keep testing out this new-fangled technique.

So I put to test two things: Inked vs Sketched. Apparently inked (the girl with the tattoo) produces cleaner lines than sketched, which sort of helps in the colouring process a bit. However, because the inked lines aren't quite as thick, it gets very hard to colour 'within the lines' so to speak. Nevertheless, sketched (the guy) does have a sorta 'rough' look and generally doesn't really suffer too much in terms of quality.

So what else have I been playing with? Following some tips here and there I played with multiple layers, whereby I can afford to be sloppy in colouring certain places if I wanted to, because the next layer will just cover it. I found some advice on creating a 'whitening' layer whereby the entire layer is just filled white and the opaqueness is fiddled with to produce a slightly more human-like tone instead of the ghastly pink I'd have to deal with by default. Really cleans up the rough lines too. Oooh... and backgrounds too! Those little circly things that darken outwards. LOVE those, but will maybe experiment with other styles in the future.

One more new thing... SHADOWS. A new layer which I use to liberally smear black paint all over. Another change in opqueness and VOILA! It's freaking fantastic, although I still find my efforts severely lacking the quality I'd imagined. The girl was my first effort in shading, which turned out rather crap. The guy enjoyed a little more even shadows, therefore looks a bit more presentable.

Overall, pleased that I've learned a new skill. However bummed that I have to use a mouse to colour seeing as I'm TERRIBLE at using a mouse! Bummed that there's no shortcut I could find as of yet, too. Still... balance the two and I'm still pretty happy.

Edit: Word balloons! Wow!

Dawn of a new era

2007-03-01T03:14:00.000+11:00

Harken, ye to the dawn of a new era! Yea, let it be known that after many years of mucking around with pencils, coloured pencils, inks and a shonky scanner, I have finally done it. I have taken my first step into colouring.

First of all, the picture may be a little familiar to you all. It is the 'geisha' girl drawn AGES ago. There is a reason why I picked this picture: it was the simplest to colour.

Seriously... I was following the tutorials kindly provided by the artist of the webcomic Blue Zombie (http://entity.comicgen.com/tutorials.html), which, by the way is a good read itself. Yes, so I was following the steps up to the point where I had to create lassos around the regions I wanted coloured. Oh-kaaayyyy... I tried it on a more complex picture and got REALLY frustrated. Then I found this 'Magic Wand' thingy that could select some regions to be coloured. At first I thought that was pretty neat but rapidly realised that it wasn't all that smart and often selected the WRONG region! Here I thought I could bypass all the tedious lassoing around but in the end I had to concede that it was FAR preferable to do that then to tinker with that infernal wand!

So that took hours of frustration. I had to look for a simpler pic and you can't get simpler to colour than this pic. Next, I fumbled my way around the infernal lasso commands and all that layer stuff... WOW! That took at least an hour... but in the end we bear witness to the FIRST ever COLOURED picture on this site.

There you have it. The one and only. And it will stay that way if I have any say in this.

I'm off to sleep. That took WAY too long.

Post-Wastement

2007-02-25T23:03:00.000+11:00

Hiya again everyone. Remember the promise that I'd do SOMETHING to commemorate (right... I'm sure there's a few Ms in that word) the Chinese New Year that I was not in attendance this year? Well here it is. I shall call it 'Pigs Playing Mahjong' after the celebrated 'Dogs Playing Poker' which I believe was originally called 'A Friend in Need' or something like that. Whenever I hear about the FEASTS that everyone else is having in this season, my stomach gets that bit more rumblier. Okay, a LOT more.

I mean seriously... these people don't even EAT that much. Yet me, the one who puts it away is now on a decidedly stricter dieting policy. Where's the justice?

Anyway, it's not all bleak. Yesterday night I had a good time playing poker at a friend's place. Poker and chess... what a combination. No, I didn't win the pot, but it was all in good fun. I got lots of alcohol from it though. More than what I'd usually drink in a year, in fact. While I managed to walk back safely (or so it would seem... perhaps it's a 6th Sense scenario?) I really felt the effects late last night, when I couldn't even lie down for fear of the world spinning around. Thank goodness there were chips and pizza. Nevertheless, I got the compulsory gambling during Chinese New Year thing done anyway.

Okay, some of you must be scratching your heads wondering... why the heck is this dude drawing FAIRIES again? Am I still hung over? Possibly... but a recent conversation has revealed that someone still has a thing for fairies. Just... fairies of the kind I have no idea about. I could be totally going on the wrong path for this. The fairies in question could be those half-naked buffed freaks of nature that pass for ancient lore. I have no idea. Nevertheless, devoid of ideas I just thought... why not? Let's see if I can get closer to the original intent.

Edit: Just added that whimsical picture of the bubbles. Just for the heck of it. Yup. For the HECK of it. Nyah!

Magnum Opus!

2007-02-22T23:45:00.000+11:00

Okay so it may not really BE the best thing you've seen in your life, but it took me hours to come up with the idea and even longer to draw it. HOURS! All at a friend's behest, mind you, but I thought I'd do something to really stretch out my current level of skills.

So there we have it, the culmination of it all. I tried to put into practice everything I've gained from reading countless comics and mangas into a simple page with no dialogue. Slightly better perspectives than my last full page effort. More comic elements although I really had some troubles figuring out how to do action lines and all that (I always took them for granted in the comics). Some seriously sloppy bits here and there. However, the panel placements are pretty dang cool if I do say so myself.

So... Chinese New Year, huh? I haven't done a sketch to commemorate that. Maybe will do one later if I'm not totally exhausted. Well hope it's been a good one for you. Foodwise it's not been tops this year but that's mostly because I'm drafted into that healthy lifestyle thingy. Yes, I'm still whinging about it. Blah to you! Nevertheless I managed to pop into the city to chase away bad spirits with all the clanging of lion dances (but no fireworks because of fire ban). Nevertheless I'm glad I got to meet up with my family and friends in my last visit to Malaysia, which I couldn't do last year.

And what about Heroes, huh? Imagine someone who is so addicted to cartoons and anime watching that... er... mostly shadowy-dark series. Oh... the fantastic non-use of superhuman powers. I won't lie to you, people. I expected a lot more confrontations. Still, Hiro is pretty dang cool and thus the major character in the comic.

Awrite... I'm outta here. Exhausted as heck!

Ah, screw it...

2007-02-15T01:33:00.000+11:00

You know... my last post was such a downer I thought I'd spruce things up a bit.

So, talking to a friend about something on Dilbert's blog brought up thoughts of how men would love the company of robotic women... and so I tried to capture the essence that is prevalent in numerous anime out there.

Okay, now you can get happy.

So it's Valentines again....

2007-02-14T23:36:00.000+11:00

Greetings, my fellows. I am back.

Well, I've actually been back for quite a while already. A week to be exact. However, I've been busy with personal matters and also sick like a warm-nosed puppy for a while. Coughing, fever, flu and all that jazz. Also, I've been abstaining from my usually large amounts of food in favour of a 'healthier' lifestyle which just means more misery...

Anyway, there's probably heaps to discuss about my month away but I shan't get right into that yet. Better to illustrate it in a post dedicated to itself.

Instead, I'll go back to the matter at hand, which is another lonely Valentines day. Geez, how many have I had already? Agh, I really hate this day. The only thing good about it is being able to delve deep into Charlie Brown comics. Yeah, that always cheers me up on this day. I had a lot of trouble coming up with the 'Special' comic to be drawn today after the decidedly more 'romantic' one last year. Well, I scratched and scratched for hours and then decided to screw it all and just crap out something. Ugh... looking at it you wouldn't believe how much time went into designing and drawing it, but I swear it wasn't an easy task.

The perspectice is ALL WRONG. The tyres are just pathetic and really... it's either too messy or too much empty space. Sometimes I'd like to blame my inability to colour these pictures but I know it's just my ineptitude. The only saving grace is the result of using this new coloured pencil lead (yes! I actually found some!) and inks for this.

Anyway you can interpret this as however you wish. I don't suggest putting any brain power into it. Happy Valentines Day to those who have anything to be happy about.

Happy New Year, Ya'll!!!

2007-01-01T00:33:00.000+11:00

Happy '07, Everybody!

Excuse me but I'm a little drunk. Just celebrated the new year with my li'l malty friend here and had all the ceremonial shouts and oaths at the past and new years. So I got thinking that maybe... just maybe... I should upload something.

Well, the first two pics were made via an online request at a site. The nature of the site is VERY risque (so I shan't divulge), but the model was such that I couldn't resist coming up with some sketches, and since I didn't really 'push the boundaries' that much, I thought it safe to include these pictures on my blog for your enjoyment. I'm happy to say that I had a favourable response for at least one.

Anyway... let's forget that and reminisce about the year '06. Ahh, what a year. I completed my Master's thesis which took many years of blood, swear and tears. A big achievement, to some, but personally I didn't think it was that big a deal. Certainly had its fair share of pain and suffering, but generally it has been a good experience and I have met many people and shared that pain and suffering with them. Also had an enjoyable time being a tutor all those years, and I hope the classes I conducted were as fun as they were for me (especially the one where I was drunk).

Of course, '06 had a very bad moment where my passport and bag was stolen, which led me to a strike a while back. Ah, that was pretty bad, but honestly now I consider it just another bump in the life path. Certainly has inconvenienced me to no end, but I don't think it's worth it to bear that grudge forever.

What else can I say about '06? Watched lots of good anime, learned to cook some really fantastic meals, ATE a lot... and drank a lot (man... have I gotten large), made heaps of good friends, said goodbye to a few. Definitely a year to remember (except for the painful bits). I attended a lot of anime festivals (relatively): Minifest in March-ish, Animania in July-ish and Manifest in September-ish. Participated in a few drawing competitions and won most of them (Yay!). Thoroughly ENJOYED the anime conventions though, and I look forward to attending them in '07 (even a job won't stop me, I reckon!). Met lots of interesting people there, including some REALLY talented artists whom I haven't spoken to since... ah, Cest La Vie.

So... what's up for '07? Lots, I'd have to say. I'm travelling home in early January for a month, after which I shall return to Australia with my new passport to complete my Permanent Residency (I hope!). After that, God Willing, I shall take my biggest step into adulthood and look for a job. Well... that's a frightening perspective, but one to face eventually. Well... who knows what the future will bring, right?

To all those who have been keeping up with my blog, Happy '07! Hope this new year brings lots of new opportunities. Thank you for following my progress through life (and not commenting too much about my shortcomings as well as bizzare leanings) and I hope to keep you entertained for a while, yet. My heartiest congratulations to all you have achieved in the past year and may those successes follow you into the new. Okay, now time to sing Auld Lang Syne (or however you spell it).

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, y'all!

2006-12-24T01:05:00.000+11:00

Hey-hey, kids!

First of all, since it's not Christmas yet, I should wish my deepest congratulations to the newly-wed couple. Whoo boy. I'm really sorry I couldn't make it, but I know that the excess of food left in my absence won't go to waste. I eagerly await news on how the wedding went.

Okay back to holiday mischief, after constant prodding for more sketches. Well, I stopped using plain pencils and did some inking again for these bits, so it's much clearer. Takes more time and geez, if there's a mistake I can't be bothered to go through the process of cleaning up. Bleh. I should break out and use my new ink pens, but gotta try to finish off the old ones first.

Anyway, I tried to come up with some Christmassy themes. The first one that came impulsively, was the rambo-santa-esque design (pic 2), oft depicted in South Park. Bleh, I know. It's so much like the other stuff I draw: some protagonist in the front with some baddies looming behind. Rather boring.

So I tried to think deep and I remembered this tale I'd forgotten a long time back. That little match girl. You know... the one that froze to death. Grim, huh? Anyway, I kinda messed up a bit and decided to work beyond that mistake to create a 'gritty' feel with all that 'messy' lines here and there. Kinda gives the 'undefined boundaries' that you get from an incandescent match, I hope.

Finally, a last picture that I invite you to read into on your own.

Anyway. Merry Christmas again. Enjoy the new year!

Australia is on FIRE!

2006-12-14T00:14:00.000+11:00

Heyo everyone!

Man, is it hot! It's so hot Australia is LITERALLY on fire. Huge pieces of it, too. It's as if the whole place underwent spontaneous combustion. The sky looks as if a volcano had erupted, even in a place that is relatively far away from the actual fires. Well, the firemen have their work cut out for them and we all respectfully salute their valiant efforts. Incidentally you should pick up the 'Firefighter! Daigo of Company M' manga if you can. It's brilliant writing and really gives a whole new light to firefighters.

So, what else has been happening? Well, I've been to the ballet performance of Swan Lake. You know... there's a reason why that's the epitomy of ballet. This year I was seated pretty far away, so I couldn't get any close-up views but a more panaromic one of the entire performance. Ah, the talented... Also attended a Christmas party at which vast quantities of alcohol were consumed and friendly poker games were won. Even got a look at that newfangled Wii! Generally things were good, but I'm having lots of difficulties getting home in time for my cousin's wedding. Vexing, indeed.

Anyway, let's briefly run through some of the pictures. I'm really sorry but some are terribly messy and even uncomplete. However, there is quantity. I'm finding that using the mechanical pencil and 2B pencil method of sketching tends to generate fairly messy pics. I'm also not very happy with shading using the 2B pencil, especially when it's scanned... but it does the job I guess. I need to start going back to blue-pencil and inking.

The first three are a continuation after the last post. What can I say? It was a bikko frenzy that has gone now. Still, there's a huge amount of art on her out there, and I was just putting my own style out. The first one's my own fairly original concept of her browsing through some music titles. I must admit that in retrospect that 'peg-leg' I gave her is REALLY ridiculous. I should have drawn a proper crutch, except I don't know how to.

The fourth risque pic is inspired by one of the sequences in the OP of xxxHoLiC. Now, I haven't really seen much of the series yet, and that bizzare style of LONG people seems to put me off... but the music at the start and end are REALLY catchy. Plus there's that risque duo (they're minor characters) really made me stop and really want to draw them out. Of course, if you look around there's probably better art somewhere, but... I tried.

I've also included one I've done on Zero Louise (pic 6), from the anime Zero no Tsukaima. Cute as heck, but too short! It was great fun watching, though. My sketch doesn't do justice to the real anime (none of them ever do! You should know that by now!) so really... go watch it. Anyway, between Bikko, Maru and Moro, and Zero Louise, which do you think would be something I should work on? I get the feeling that if I should ever sneak into an anime festival again, I'd like to leave one (or more) of these characters lying around in the art room.

The fifth and last pic are just some experiments I've tried of different angles. The fifth resurrects some old characters I'd created when I started (more than a year ago) to try a top-view of some action scenes. The last one was supposed to be a bottom-up view... and I did like it enough to want to try adding in more grand backgrounds with giant spaceships, ruins and all... but I got sidetracked and lost interest. There you go... unfinished.

Well that's it. Let's see how things develop. Might think up a story to commit to paper one of these days.

Bikko and more!

2006-11-27T00:46:00.000+11:00

Hello all and congratulations to the multitude of couples being wed this season including my colleague and my cousin. My goodness... what is it about this season?

Perhaps it is a very non-subtle hint with regards to peer pressure. Frightening. Well, being the failure I am, who knows what will happen, eh? No, no... I shan't be bitter about this. After all, it is indeed a joyous occasion full of emotion... well that's what it seems like.

Well, at least there's good food abound. That's always great.

Anyway, this week's (or fortnight's) slew of pics are inspired by a certain injured friend. It seems that crippled women can have an air of danger or liveliness about them, too! Well, the first and foruth pictures feature this girl fondly referred to as Bikko. I'm not quite sure what anime created her, but my browsing around has piqued my interest. A girl crippled horribly in an acccident, losing her right eye and left leg but still going on in life. Major cute-age too.

The second is some character I've drawn for a while. I've just realised her proportions are out, but I wanted to capture the danger one can pose if armed with a cane and a cast with a hidden dagger. Somehow didn't turn out as menacing as I intended. Need to work on that idea.

The last picture was supposed to be inspired by a blind woman wielding a naginata as seen in Samurai Champloo. I hadn't seen that episode in a long time but I recall she really whupped the two protagonists in the show. Now that was a deadly woman. I've failed to capture her calm and I certainly couldn't be bothered to provide the lavish background of that episode (I believe it was an engrossing bridge fight scene).

Mixed in between these is a nice little pic I drew of Raven from Teen Titans. Again, I just like her so I threw her in for fun. No cripple about her. Hmmm... well not any yet.

Okay, that's enough misogynistic content today. Off you go, you who have bore witness to depravity.

Late Halloween Update...

2006-11-13T02:14:00.000+11:00

... but we have a Monster and Ghoul bonanza, ladies and gentlemen. I sincerely apologise for the downtime, if you were looking forward to an update. Nothing much was happening in my life, therefore I didn't feel any need to put a blog post up. I did have a few sketches handy, just lazy to scan.

Due to the lack of anything else, I'll just do brief descriptions of the sketches. The first one I believe is one of my more creative ideas. I was listening to the Christmas music (yes... they're out NOW) and just felt that Frosty really should be zombified! So we have a mix of sinister Halloween and pure snowy goodness (not that it snows here during Christmas).

Next is based off something I read a while back that every graveyard is protected by a head spirit. It usually takes the form of a knight or a small child. Well, I can't draw nasty knights very well, so why not a creepy child? Okay... she's like a goth reject. I'll work on it one day.

Third is a tribute to the webcomic 'Gone with the Blastwave' (http://www.blastwavecomic.com/). I swear... the world is full of talented artists like this and it puts the rest of the amatuers like me into a deep, pathetic shame. No official training either, but truly a master! Argh! Jealous!

Ahhh.... the fourth pic has an interesting story. One night, while sleeping, I dreamt of a girl who committed suicide and haunts this school that looks oddly like a cross between my primary and secondary school. Hauntingly beautiful, yet extremely timid. Now, I couldn't EXACTLY reproduce the girl from my dreams, but somehow I tried to do my best. I also can't remember what really happened in the dream except for some bits... but that's pretty much like all my dreams.

Fifth is some random generic insectoid-like creature that I tried to come up with just to bring some variety to my monsters... nothing special except I was staring at a Daddy-long-legs at that time.

Final pic is to celebrate the coming of heat to Australia and the decreased volume of clothing that brings. It also commemorates a certain friend who has a knack of busting her ankle. Based off the insides of a tram... where I spend a lot of time.

Well, to sign off I guess I should wish the best of luck to those of you whom I know are taking exams. Well... there's really not that many of you, are there? Even less if I consider the ones that actually know of this site. Oh, well... good luck. Don't stress too much on these trivial matters.

Boo-ye Boo-ye

Halloween's a'coming again!

2006-10-19T21:43:00.000+10:00

Whoah! It's been a while, hasn't it? I mean... it really HAS been a while. Good thing nobody bothers to read this blog.

Alright... look I promised to give some shout outs in my last post. No... I haven't prepared myself to do that as of yet. So, be patient if you were expecting anything. If you were expecting some crazy excuse as to why it's been so long... well... again you're going to be disappointed. Perhpas you can chalk it up to laziness. Yeah, laziness works real good!

Anyway, asides from nothing much happening, we do know that Halloween is approaching. Not that it's a big thing, but I thought I'd kick it off with some spoooOOOooooky sketches! Pic 1 marks the return of Chainsaw Dave, the Chainsaw-weilding maniac who's supposed to dispense sick justice. Except the victim... isn't... anyone in particular... yet. Moving on. Pic 2 is an attempt to depart from the overuse of plain pencils and move back into inks. Vampire, bone dragon and a wolf! The damsel in distress is somewhat inspired by Liz Sherman in Hellboy (Again! Why don't I just do Lobster Johnson and be done with it?).

A good pal has just turned 19 and this being her last year as a teen I've advised her to be 'that much more reckless' despite my own opinions. Well she obviously doesn't need much help. Well, at least the booze is good where she is.

The final pic is a tribute to yet another great anime obsession of late: Noein. Okay... there's something about anime that add a dash of science into their plots that really makes me unable to resist, but... it's inexplicable. Well there's a healthy dose of Quantum Physics in this one that had me rushing off to Google and Wiki to read on until my pathetic brain implodes. It has... there's runny stuff coming outta my ears. It didn't even take 1 paragraph to liquify my mental matter. Anyway, asides from the sciency stuff... the plot and art is FANTASTIC. Anyway pic 4 has thought me a few things: shading is hard, drawing nice tombstones (and designing them) is REALLY hard, and finally I should really consider giving up on the 'Hellboy-esque' style of drawing. It just won't fly.

Anyway I'm off to delve more into the deep Noein story. Oh... and Eureka 7's last few episodes as well!

Post Manifest Depression

2006-09-30T02:07:00.000+10:00

Heya folks!

Well Manifest (the big one) has come and gone again for another year. Man was it chaotic, but as last year... it's been awesome. So good in fact, that I'm suffering from withdrawal symptoms. To tell the truth I had to cut into some of the time seeing as my dear sister came to visit as well.

Ah it was a packed weekend. So many things to do and boy did I do as much as I could. Watched oodles of screenings and thus running from theatre to theatre. Ogled the short skirts and low necklines. Chatted with some really talented artists (I'll give a shout out in my next post), watched several competitions (Iron Artist! Whoo!) and just bummed around the Oztaku room sketching. Oh... eating too! To cap it off, I entered the 'On-the-day' sketching competition organised by Oztaku again and won! (Thanks Oztaku!) Okay... to be honest I think there were less than 5 entries.

Overall impression? C'mon! It's like the only anime festival I go to! It's gotta be great. Even waiting in line for over an hour to get my ticket was fun. Even standing in cramped conditions was fun. I just can't get enough, and if I had enough cash I'd tour the convention circuit around Australia.

Anyway brief descriptions of the piccies. First and third pics are about this little girl I came up with which is partly inspired by something I saw in an Oztake issue... I think. The hammer is, at least. 3rd pic is a bit screwed up as I thought I'd do an action angle... and totally ruined it. Will need work as well, as both are rather messy.

2nd pic is what I drew while I was attending a free class during Manifest. They taught people how to draw faces and I think I managed to capture some of it. Definitely learned a lot, so I'm gonna try to incorporate more of that into my sketches from now on.

So you know I'm currently obsessed with Hellboy. However, I just can't seem to draw that hulking figure. I was thinking of replacing him with a slightly more lithe elf-creature. Hmmm.... still thinking. It's a BIT out of place. Anyway, I did put a bit of effort into pic 4, except for the guys in the back. I just drew those as an afterthought.

Finally, pic 5 was a suggestion by a pal. Supposedly this chainsaw weilding guy is supposed to mete bloody justice to all hypocrites and supreme idiots. Couldn't think of anyone to kill but thought I'd do some sinister shading... you'll probably note that I haven't really tried that form before (just couldn't get it), but I rather like the result today. Hmmm... let's see what comes out of this.

Okay that's it blog-keteers. For those on holidays, happy holidays. For those who aren't too bad. I'll be off now.

Oh, Hellboy... you're so....

2006-09-17T01:16:00.000+10:00

2 pictures inspired from another Hellboy comic I've borrowed from the library. Well, the first one is. I haven't seen Mignola do many on Death Knights.

Nothing fantastic this week. Coming weekend is gonna be pretty good though. MANIFEST! Argh! I can't get into the sketching groove! Still, it'll be good to be there. all the anime until my brain rots.

Anyone reading who's going there let me know!

Story not continued. Instead...

2006-09-03T22:21:00.000+10:00

Hey-hey boys and girls! Bwe-hoo-hoo-ha-ha!

No Itchy and Scratch... I mean Midnight Church this update. Sorry. For some reason or other, I couldn't draw nuts for a while and after that I just completely lost the knack. Totally. It's worse than the doodles you randomly create. Oh don't get me wrong... I did try. Last week I went for a walk and ended up near a HUGE cemetary in Melbourne. I even went in and walked around for a bit of inspiration.

Asides from being reprimanded for disturbing the spirits which are supposedly given reprieve from the depths of Hell this season (aka Hungry Ghost Festival), the only thing I got from it was a sense of wonder and perhaps a grasp of mortality. Seriously... you guys need to try it out some time if you haven't. Walk around a cemetary... it's so quiet and peaceful and sobering.

Work's been piling up as well and I am trying my best to complete it. Almost there, so to speak. Still I've been having some fun. Asides from Honey and Clover 2, which I adore (It's a sappy anime... almost. But I LOVE IT!) I've also been watching Season 5 of Teen Titans. Okay... the image of me watching teen superheroes duking it out is a bit disturbing, and being turned into a fanboy because of a certain episode's just pathetic. So sue me! I love cartoons! I saw a few fan-themed things based upon this Jinx-Kid Flash (Episode: Lightspeed) thing that I thought, "Why not contribute a bit?". Thus you have the last 2 pictures. Um... you can stop pitying me now. It's not good for your health. Please stop. Please?

The first three are just practice runs to get back into shape after realising how terrible I was. Manifest 2006 is coming up in a few weeks! If I am to try to enter Iron Artist and not lose so terribly, I must be able to come up with something not so pathetic! Either way, I'll probably be hiding in the drawing room between running from screening to screening. It's not like I'm good at video games or have huge wads of cash to throw at goodies anyway.

Okay, best to sign off now. Laters.

Have you heard the one about....

2006-08-13T22:49:00.000+10:00

Greetings, blogettes. How goes the madness that is now?

Okay... things are stagnating here. I really should report more but I can't. Everything's moving and I'm standing alone watching it all go by. That sort of thing... oh well.

Alrighty... have you guys ever heard of the woman who woke up at midnight, looked out into a cloudy night and thought that it was an early Sunday morning? She dressed and went straight to church. What happens then? Well...

Alright, the story isn't mine. I got inspired when I was reading one of the Hellboy books by Mignola. If you are familiar with Hellboy you probably have an idea what the story's going to be like. Not like you couldn't tell from all the messy sketches in Pic 1. Funny thing is I know at least one person who did something similar once (no not me). Anyway... the story wasn't elaborated by Mignola, but I thought I'd try to expand on it. There's also another story arc that sounds very interesting to me. Pity I can't quite grasp Mignola's style which seems to have lots and lots of shadows. Ugh... guess there's a reason he's so famous.

Second pic was inspired by the webcomic Ever After: http://ea.snafu-comics.com/. Remember the PPG Doujinshi I recommended last time? Well now there's more comics there and Ever After's artist is insanely good (it's a tough battle between PPG and EA!). Bet you all forgot about that site! It's a right shame if you did.

Oh, speaking of insanely good... some might be confused about me mentioning 13thousand a few posts back. Okay... she's an incredibly talented artist I met at Animania a while back. You can see for yourself what a PROFESSIONAL artist is like: http://13thousand.deviantart.com/. I was recommended to get a deviant account, but have not really been working on that. Okay... I STARTED one. Haven't uploaded anything. May already have been deleted due to lack of use. Anyway, I'll get around to doing that soon.... maybe.... uh.....

Alright, people. I'm stopping here. Let's see what else happens.

I shamble back

2006-08-06T20:43:00.000+10:00

Hey, peoples...

I thought I'd try this again after intense pressure from some sources.

Okay, some updates. My passport is still missing but I'm back on the trams and going my way. I'm also quite sure that the perpetrator might eventually stumble here and laugh at all the trouble he's caused me and all I can do is whine about it and be less of a man. Well, fine. Not like that's news anyway. I'm still busy finishing up my other projects seeing as they're all I can do at the moment.

I've also been immersing myself in the virtual world to avoid dealing with reality. Maybe I need to start crawling back, but it will be a slow process.

Anyway, the first three pictures were supposed to be released on the day of the incident. They were to depict some of the costumes on the anime festival I attended. Okay, there was no Hsien-Ko, but I like her of all the Dark Stalkers characters. Dunno why. Anyway I apologise for the messiness.

The last 2 pictures were my personal wishes on my antagonists. Unfortunately they will not be fulfilled. At most it will be a source of amusement for them. Hopefully some Divine Will will see to it that they laugh themselves to death. Sometimes I wish I had a Death Note.

Alright. I'm back. I'll do my best to stay back regularly. Until then, you're free to laugh and make fun of me as usual. Cyaz.

I've just been robbed

2006-07-11T01:57:00.000+10:00

I've just been robbed.

Some teens grabbed my bag while I was relaxing on the tram and ran out into a dark alley. I was too slow to grab them.

Nobody on the tram did anything. Nobody said anything. The tram driver DID have a wonderful opinion that I should run after those teens into the alleyway. Brilliant. Asides from that he did nothing. Kept insisting I get off his tram instead of delaying him, though. Fantastic.

Called the police. Assured me that they'd be there shortly and told me to stay at the area to report to them. I waited in the Melbourne winter practically in the middle of nowhere. If you're wondering... it's cold. Below 10 C. Waited 1/2 an hour, called back and made another request. Same assurances. Waited 1 hour. Nothing. After a while, a nice officer called. Said they were tied up someplace else. Asked if it wasn't a bother for me to magic myself to a nearby (not by MY definition) station to report it. After 1.5 hours... with no transport except trams... at approximately 10.30pm on a cold... Monday... night (and I hadn't eaten dinner, too). It wasn't going to happen.

Finally came home, tired, miserable and sick of humanity. Called the nearby police station and lodged a report. At least this officer was nice. However, there's nothing they can do for me.

Tomorrow I'm going to search the (far from home) place to see if I can find my bag containing my passports, educational certificates, study-related documents and forms and most importantly my USB containing files pertaining to my project. Alone. I've already resigned to the fact that I'm going to lose all my personal electronics.

Way to go, humanity. May you all rot in Hell. Go Fuck Yourself.

P.S. There will be no more updates until I feel better.

Failed challenge and Animania

2006-07-09T00:43:00.000+10:00

Sup, dudes. Chill.

Okay, let's report. Last week I attended Animania. Had a BLAST (as I always do at anime conventions) and met some very... very... very... talented artists. I saw some eye-popping cosplayers (Jo from Burst Angels and Morrigan from Vampire Saviour) and enjoyed the anime screenings (pity they were rather limited). If I feel like it, I may take it upon myself to try to sketch said characters. I indulged in some purchases, tried to push through the crowd and felt extremely old (I was quite possibly the 10th oldest person there).

Anyway, there was a doodling competition. There were two categories: General and Fantasy. I entered both, and while I was pretty proud of my fantasy one (which I shan't reproduce) it didn't quite make it. Fortunately, despite the intense competition, I won 2nd place by a fluke. I only used a blunt pencil, a small piece of paper (the size given was A5) and cluttered it with all sorts of nonsense. The result is very poorly reproduced in Pic 2, embellished with inks and added hatchings. First time I've won anything, therefore pretty happy about it.

The first pic was issued as a challenge. Unfortunately, the challengee knows that I dislike drawing men (unless they're crazed lunatics or muscle-bound mutants), therefore I hope I will be forgiven for the apparent lack of care put into this sketch. It is quite possibly among my worst efforts. I had such a good vision of it, too.

It's been a busy week so I'm cooling down this weekend. That's about it.

P.S. 13thousand, if you're reading this: I like your work.

Another load of....

2006-06-23T00:30:00.000+10:00

Here's another batch of stuff to keep you people happy. Included are some cut-outs that you can pose on your desk or use to roleplay or something. I'll draw a better (and cleaner... oh, God, cleaner) version one day.

Also some stuff showing the winter version of Beanie Man (much cooler than the real personae) in all his growling anger. Cold makes me miserable. On the flipside, some people are enjoying summer and flaunting all their assets. Unfair? You bet. God has a cruel streak.

An anime festival is coming up. Animania, I believe. I think I shall be attending if I can scrounge up the cash and the time. If not there's always Manifest in September.

Can't be bothered...

2006-06-21T22:46:00.000+10:00

Seriously can't be bothered to write much. First pic is inspired by the anime "Honey and Clover". Second is a tribute to the greatness of "Bleach" that has been long lost in the blandness of the recent episodes. Sad. Final pic is a request. Guess who!

Challenge accepted!

2006-06-08T22:24:00.001+10:00

Yet another pretty girl for you fellas. Be careful, though. If you want to get to know this girl, you're not only going to have to be of high standing... you'll have to deal with my fist as well.

Turned 25... Did that just happen?

2006-05-28T21:46:00.000+10:00

Attention ladies and gentlemen. On the 25th of this month, the fifth of the year, I, the pathetic excuse of a human being turned 25. Write a code about THAT, Mr Da Vinci!

Oh woe and suffering! How much has gone on the past year? So much pain and sorrow (Okay, it really doesn't compare with other people's... but it's still pain and sorrow)! What will the future bring? I think that everything I've been complaining about won't even compare to what's about to hit. I'm confident that as time goes by it's just going to get worse and worse. Hence we have pic 1. Can you believe that at one time people called me an optimist?

Asides from the depression, why haven't I been posting? Well, to be honest I lost all semblance of skill in my recent works. Line after line of ugly, ugly things. Terrible. Life was also catching up. It was commented on many an occasion that I should stop pandering to these whimsical pieces and focus more on reality, and I agreed. I wasn't going anywhere and there were many things that were being neglected!

Then, inspiration struck. Behold, Pic 2! VOILA (okay... there's some mistakes here and there... proportion and messiness...)! I bet that if I told you guys that this girl is single, you'd come storming down my front door and pistol-whipping me for her location. That aside, what do you think? Nice?

Experiments in Gothic Lolita

2006-05-16T02:13:00.000+10:00

It's been such a long time, I thought I'd try to put up a little update. Things have been busy of late, and I guess I've left a big gap since my last post. Well, it's much too late to elaborate. Safe to say that life just keeps going on and there's nothing I can do to stop it.

I will say that I have been caught up by the artwork of this French artist: http://petitcarreau.free.fr/main.htm. On the weekend, I was also interested in a "How to draw manga" book that presented some pretty good gothic lolita pics. I couldn't afford it, but it still got me thinking about the style (it's similar to the Powerpuff Girl doujinshi I recommended quite a while back!). Several minutes of intense staring and I thought I'd give it a try... unsuccessfully. Well... I can't get the fashion right in pic 1. In pic 2, I abandoned all fashion and tried for the small girl, big weapon thing. Didn't work. Pic 3... well... she's kinda cute but that's about it. Sigh...

Well, what did I expect for not doing anything for so long? Ah, well....

Post Adelaide... sigh, reality comes knocking

2006-04-23T21:34:00.000+10:00

Hello again peoples! I return from Minifest and Adelaide with not much done and a distaste for reality. So much work to do and so much time wasted, even after I came back. I honestly need to get back into gear!

Minifest was fantastic although on a small scale. I enjoyed a number of anime screenings and did a few sketches, including another version of SF vs Y. Unfortunately it's hard to mingle with everyone else and nobody was really impressed with what I did. To be honest, there were way too many fantstic artists around for me to even show my face. I didn't manage to register for the 'Iron Artist' competition, although I was quite fond of the topic: incorporating happiness, fighting and clockwork (?) as well as crayons into a picture. The competition was stiff and the girls there were insanely gifted! I wouldn't have stood a chance.

Adelaide itself was pretty good. Did some sight-seeing and walked around. Tried to do some work and some cooking. Overall very quiet, especially over Easter. Tried to stand all the reality-tv that my sister likes and surviving. Survived without anime and manga except for some Street Fighter and Darkstalker comics. It slowly ate at my mind and I just had to do some sketching. Some are highly risque, particularly one that I posted (but we're all adults here!). Most are really crap, though. What can I say, but that I was out of practice?

Anyway I thought I'd post up some of the ones that I favour. I might put up the rest of the lesser quality ones (yes... they do get worse!) if I feel like it. Meantime, it's something to see until I arrange my affairs to the point where I'm happy to resume with the 'prologue' of Uninvited - The Story, and maybe a new story arc? Who knows... I'm willing to accept some ideas!

Meantime I've just got the first Deathnote manga. This is brilliant writing and fantastic art at a decent price! I've also been swooning over Ken Akamatsu's work in Love Hina, borrowed from my local library. God, this guy draws women well and dresses them as angels. I've also had dreams of Eureka 7. Talk about obsessed, right? Frightening....

Take care and until next time, adieu...

Some small test sketches

2006-04-07T19:34:00.000+10:00

Tomorrow I shall be off to Minifest, i.e. mini-Manifest. This is the anime convention held annually at Melbourne University and quite simply the happiest days of the year, despite the fact that I usually go alone and come home alone. Anyway, they've just started this Minifest last year (I missed it! Casual swearing!) and it just might satiate my horrible appetite for the next few months while I wait for the real Manifest.

Anyway, I hope to sneak into the drawing room and do a few sketches. Ought as well practice a bit to see if I can get some people impressed (and maybe convince them to come see my blog!). It's something to do while I recover from the last stages of flu, anyway.

That should be quite enough, really... All in all I've done the posing shot, some action shots, some with background and covered men, women and giant robots. I should be ready.
P. S. Just thought I'd adda bit more...

Uninvited - The Story Pt 10 (Almost over)

2006-04-05T22:00:00.000+10:00

BM: So I made the call. It felt like a torrent of water rushing past, leaving me dripping wet and cold. The chilling sense of intrusion was rapidly replacing the pressure and I could almost taste the annoyance from the other end.

BM: This was exactly like every other impulsive thing I had done in my life and I instantly regretted it. My mind froze up and I didn't know what to say, therefore throwing me into a state of panic in which I yammered all sorts of idiotic notions that popped into my head.
BM: She played along for a while, but her patience wore thin. Have you ever reached that point in the conversation where you've got nothing to say but curt replies in a dragging, never-ending cycle? It really threw me off when out of the blue she asked if I knew the chords to 'Uninvited' by Alanis Morisette.
BM: Ahh.... Uninvited. That cold, hollow song that more or less says it all in the title. The desolate ending song to a pathetic movie. It was like she stabbed me in the back and I didn't even know I was bleeding. There was some instinct in me, though, that alerted me to the presence of cold steel; pierced through my pride. The primal fear came forth and I realised I could not even hope to be considered worthy of her. It was best that I withdraw and lick my wounds, salvaging what little pride I had left. This was the last time I spoke to her...

(Essentially that's the end. Next week... prologue!)

Uninvited - The Story Pt 9

2006-03-29T22:44:00.000+11:00

BM: Despite everything else going on, there was this nagging feeling of restlessness and loneliness. I had decided to quit cold turkey and stop calling her. Instead, I chose to admire her from within my memories and for a while things seemed to be a little better.

BM: I had hoped that by turning my back on her, I could grow stronger and finally have the strength to admit that I should leave her alone. I had hoped that I could eventually forget her completely... but...

BM: .. the pull was too strong. Everytime I denounced my emotions they came surging back. Doubt and disbelief can sometimes give a man hope, and hope will often bring on the biggest fall.

BM: And so I succumbed. How could I not? Her voice in my tortured memories was like some Siren's call. I was compelled to plunge heedlessly forward eyes closed. The buildup of hope was such a huge pressure that I could no longer resist...

(To be continued...)

Uninvited - The Story Pt 8

2006-03-20T23:02:00.000+11:00

Okay, 2nd try...
BM: Well, I managed to call her a few times in the end. I really wasn't much of an interesting guy, but I tried my best. It always started out with some light topics and then it would quickly reach a point where nobody had anything to say.

BM: It's just that everytime I called it felt like I was intruding into her personal time. Every word I uttered felt like the dull thud of clumps of dirt thrown on my coffin. I felt like I was making her angrier with every call.

BM: Anyway, things weren't going anywhere. Our phone conversations were distancing us more than anything and she persistently refused to see me in person.

BM: Not that I blame her, though. I was truly my mother's boy and wouldn't last 10 seconds on my own. Curfews and restriction on mobility really limited my own ability to seek her out. Not that life at that point made things any easier... major exams were coming closer and extensive preperations had to be taken care of to ensure a brighter future (or so my parents told me).

(To be continued...)

Uninvited - The Story Pt 7

2006-03-14T02:11:00.000+11:00

So, you may wonder... what does a guy do when he has the phone number of a beautiful girl?

(To be continued...)

Uninvited - The Story Pt 6

2006-02-23T00:28:00.000+11:00

BM: Throughout the early performances I was consistently impressed by her many talents. Music, literature and science... she was clearly in a league for beyond mine but that didn't stop me from trying. It's strange though... I can't quite recall any of the performances that day.

BM: After the performances the elocution contest began and my turn came up quickly. Panic set in as I was confronted by unfamiliar grounds and a hallful of talent. I lost control of my arms and they were flailing all over the place in a pathetic attempt to add emphasis to my words. I looked like a bloody windmill. It was only a small blessing that I still managed to deliver my speech properly.

BM: She, however, was as professional as she was on our first meeting. I could have sworn she was even better than she had ever been and the crowd must have thought the same. Once more she flawlessly played the audience like a musical isntrument and it was obvious the competition was hers.
BM: I felt hesitant to approach her after. I hadn't done very well, although my English teacher felt that given the amount of time I had been given it was indeed a valiant effort. Realising that this would be truly my last chance, I steeled myself and congratulated her and bade her farewell. For my efforts, I was rewarded with her phone number and acknowledgement. Things definitely looked better, this time...

(To be continued...)

Valentines '06 Special

2006-02-15T00:54:00.000+11:00

Hey, you all! Happy Valentine's Day. It's a late update, I know, but I thought I'd do something bold this particular day. I've been ruminating on what exactly to draw, taking into consideration my lack of style and experience. Well, I've decided to go onto something rather sad as this has been my experience with Valentine's days all my life. Unrequited, forgotten and despised...

I beg that you forgive the roughness of the work. I didn't spend enough time on it and rushed through the last bits while complaining about the materials I had and their limitations. I really need to learn how to clean things up and stop taking the easy way out sometime.

Anyway, I guess it's back to ol' Charlie Brown to keep me company on this day. Every year, he's been there to comfort me.

Uninvited - The Story Pt 5

2006-02-10T00:39:00.000+11:00

BM: The competition was held at a different school, one far bigger and more impressive than mine. I was gawking like a slack-jawed yokel while inside I was fighting to suppress the nervousness that threatened to come up.

BM: The hall where the competition was being held was large and intimidating. It was buzzing with the participants, judges and students forced into providing entertainment prior to, and after, the main event. Everybody was getting prepared and the prospects didn't look very good for me. I was sweating as I gazed at the talent all around me when...

BM: ... all of a sudden I spotted her within the crowd. I can't remember exactly how I felt at that moment but I imagine all that pent-up nervousness just decided to mutate and explode right at that moment into a mixture of fear, confusion and perhaps a tint of longing and gratitude.

BM: This was beyond a coincidence, and if it was indeed divine providence then I would be a greater fool to ignore it. Making my way towards her I fumbled a greeting and hoped that I wasn't nailing my coffin shut. With a nervous grin I stood there for a few seconds while she tried to recall who I was... and was instantly relieved when she at last recalled our last meeting, if not my name. I had a leg to stand on, at least, and it was far from the worst scenario I imagined.

(To be continued...)

Uninvited - The Story Pt 4

2006-02-02T01:41:00.000+11:00

BM: There was to be a 2-man elocution contest at another school. My seniors were supposed to participate, but one couldn't make it. This forced the English teacher to turn to the debate team for help. The others were hesitant, but being the attention-hog I am I accepted.

BM: It was a pretty last-minute thing so I didn't have much time to prepare. I hastily wrote a short essay on some trivial topic I found in the news and taking themes from previous presentations I had done. It wasn't very well researched and I was hoping that my delivery would be sufficient to pull me through, so I knew I had to work on that.
BM: I didn't have any coaching on how to handle elocution contests, and I had not done anything of the sort outside of my school. I really did not know what to expect, although I really didn't have much time to worry about this. I had to make do with the little time I had as well as the audience I had to put up with...

(To be continued...)

Happy Chinese New Year!

2006-01-28T22:50:00.000+11:00

Xi Nien Quai Ler! Gong Xi Fa Chai!

In short, Happy Chinese New Year to you all, my loyal (and begrudging) supporters! No, this isn't a continuation of the story, but rather a short break to wish you all good fortune and good health in the upcoming Year of the Dog. Now that my year (Rooster) has gone, it's about time I started thinking more seriously about life and taking more responsibility.

Either way, make sure you don't break any of the new year taboos and follow the recommended fortune-bringing steps. Doesn't matter anyway because I'm rather hopeful that this year will bring good fortune to us all. Enjoy the company of your family and friends and don't forget the good food.

I'll be back with the story (or some other filler material) shortly, but one of the taboos is not to use sharp objects during CNY. Cut off fortune, you know! AHA! You all take care then!

Uninvited - The Story Pt 3

2006-01-25T23:09:00.000+11:00

BM: Funny thing, though... If you just stop and think for a while all that resentment eventually dissipates and what fills the void is a sense of admiration. We were well and truly beaten by the best, and they weren't poor winners either. Shaking hands, we bid each other farewell.

BM: If you let that admiration stay with you, though, it can sometimes become something stronger. Although the competition was long over, there was this nagging little thought in my mind that I just couldn't get rid of. My little encounter with her had left a permanent impression.

BM: Of course as time passed I began to accept that I would never see her again. Our schools were far apart and the only thing I had of her was a memory. Man, I sure was pathetic and I regret that. Anyway, it's not like I didn't have other things to think of at the time. Exams were drawing near and preparations had to be done. Panic partially dulled the emptiness.

BM: Strange thing about my life, though: God has always given me second chances. Always. I don't know what I did to deserve them, but this was one of those times...

(To be continued...)

P.S. Additional notes in Comments.

Uninvited - The Story Pt 2

2006-01-21T00:49:00.000+11:00

BM: Yeah, life was pretty good for a while... or as good as high school life could be. I was with a team that consisted of some of the best the school could offer and we held our positions firmly.

BM: That was before we faced THEM in a debate. School vs school and we had the homeground advantage. Man, I can't even remember the topic anymore much less wether we were for it or against it. It didn't make much difference anyway. All our advantages did us little good.

BM: They blew us out of the water. She alone could have taken us down. She... who at that time seemed like a terrifying warrior with her words. Every trick in the book was thrown at us and the judges loved it. She was relentless and almost demonic in her abilities. We were way out of their league.

BM: Defeat was bitter. There was the standard line-up of emotions. Fear of what we were up against. Disbelief and denial at our loss. A short burst of indignation, but mostly a seething resentment at our shattered pride.

(To be continued...)

Uninvited - The Story Pt 1

2006-01-20T01:03:00.000+11:00

BM: You know what? Love really stinks.

D: Yeah? What do you know about it? Is there some dark tormenting secret that I haven't heard of before?

BM: Hmph...

BM: You ever hear the song 'Uninvited'?

D: That Alanis Morisette song?

BM: Yeah that's the one.
BM: I tell you, there's not another song that stabs me as much as that. That song always brings on the memories...

D: Surely you're exaggerating. It really can't be as bad as that.

BM: Well, there's a story that explains why, but it's long...

D: Call me curious... what happened?

BM: Well.. when I was in high school, I was an avid debater and elocutionist. Even represented the school a few times...

(To be continued)

I've got an angel on my shoulder.... la la la

2006-01-13T00:02:00.000+11:00

My apologies for having a rather mediocre (and fairly uninspired) post. That 'story' I promised in my last one is still under works. I was working on the story line and then deciding how to make it work out. I'm WAY too lazy to make it in a proper comic format and the story needs to be told in proper words anyway, so I'm still deciding. I'll probably cop-out and do a cheapass version, so be prepared. Don't expect anything too remarkable too soon either way.

On towards the pic introductions. Like I said, for most of the week I wasn't very much in the mood for sketching. Call it 'uninspired' if you will, because I certainly wasn't. Not until fairly recently anyway, but I digress.

At some point, the depression thing struck again. Not too work-related but it was of the rather personal-sort. The 'I-am-not-worthy' kind and lo-and-behold out pops another depressed chap. This one doesn't seem to match the creepiness of the last one, so I apologise for that. Can't you see he's already in enough pain?

Second one started out as a hamster-rat-like creature. After that I stared at the empty space and said something like 'Gee, that's lame. I wonder what else can I do to make it even more so?' End result? A giant hand coming to grab it. Wow. I just had to have a flashback to when my family had a pet hamster.

Now the LAST one was when things picked up. By now I SHOULD have impressed the fact into you that I am ONE helluva slacker. You really must be asking yourself, what makes me keep doing this? Well, partly I'm one vain S.O.B. and I crave attention. But even more than that is the numerous support I get from many parties. One solid supporter is very much like Seraphim is to Piro (Megatokyo, as discussed below: http://www.megatokyo.com/). Constantly bribing me with things to keep putting stuff up (even if they're half-arsed). Naturally, she isn't the only one seeing as even my sis has made passing comments (and that's high praise, if you knew what siblinghood was like!). All in all, the supporters are the big push this blob of laziness needed to keep this up, so thank you.

Okay, mushy... must mush now. MUSH!

Hey wait.... who's that girl?!?

2006-01-06T01:30:00.000+11:00

And a late evening to you peeps! I'm fairly on time this week! Woohoo for you! Nevertheless, I had some leftover sketches from the last update and one recently finished one! The heat has gone and work has resumed but sleep has been fitful. Oh, well...

Picture 1 was supposed to be a tribute to this FFXI online representation of one of the characters on MacHall (http://www.machall.com/) but ended up looking just queer. I know, the pose is a bit stiff and the sketch is rough, but it was a second thought addition. Now, while this isn't topping the charts of my favourite webcomics, I'll have to say they can be very insightful (painfully so, often) and rather funny at times. It's interesting to note that they show a notable progression of art to something similar to Applegeeks (see below). All-in-all a very good comic to check out.

Picture 2 is a tribute to Sin City. No, not the original comics. They are pretty gritty and gruesome, but you should know by now that my preferences tend towards manga and anime. Still, the movie was awesome and the storyline fits my sadistic mind. Everyone loves Marv and his nasty, nasty ways in the movie. Well, no matter what criticism I have against Frank Miller, I just can't emulate his work. Therefore I present to you a really bad version of Marv. If you haven't seen the movie, go see it NOW.

Oooh... who's that girl in picture 3? Who's this enigmatic little Geisha? Those captivating eyes and the sensual pose? Perhaps you're wondering if she was taken out of my twisted mind. HAH! Well, if you don't know who she is then you're better off not knowing. To you who do know, well... I can only hope I captured the right... elements.

And picture 4, another passing fancy. See, I got this book with crazy Japanese fashions seen on Shibuya and Harajuku for my birthday (a long while back). I have terrible sense of fashion and thus all my previous sketches are so drab looking. Well, I decided to open up the book and choose some fashions to sketch here and there for ideas. Well, here's one. I'll work on some others later.

Just another note that my friend and I have been discussing putting up some past memories into comics but there are several issues I would not like to reveal at present. Nevertheless, it was good to reminisce of the old days. I shall put into consideration this option for the future. Stay tuned. Until then, take care and enjoy the new year. Hope it's been good. Oh, did I wish you all a Merry Christmas? Well too late for that. Enjoy anyway.

Holiday Heatwave

2005-12-31T00:38:00.000+11:00

Ah, it's so hot here. It's practically stifling. Can't even work much due to the flies and blazing temperatures. It's Christmas and all, but it's BOILING. To commemorate the blazing heat, I've done picture 4 depicting me, in all my sweaty glory, trying to do something but generally settling into a pool of unproductivity. Ladies, calm down. I'm still single :P.

So, Christmas came and went. I hope you all got presents that you liked, or barring that, had a good religious experience or somewhat. Certainly there were a number of movies just released so I'm guessing you all had a good enough time watching those. Well, for Christmas present I got Nintendogs for my DS (which already has MarioKart, both excellent games). Certainly no person cannot warm up to the li'l puppiiieeees. Sis, if you're reading this, the puppies I got are in picture 3. Cute aren't they? They can do AAALLLLLL kinds of tricks, too! Too bad, they're MINE! MUAHAHA. Ah, to make you not-so-envious, I've done that fairy picture you 'requested'. Flowers and all. That's picture 2.

It may be swetlering hot, but there's good out of it. Ladies dressed up in refreshing summer-wear. Picture 1 depicted one particular bit of fashion I saw while on the tram (that goes to the beach, but I wasn't heading there). Unfortunately, I didn't take much effort in memorising and sketching her out (the shirt is all wrong. It wasn't a netting, it was more like a very porous floral-shirt). Single guys like me enjoy the sights but we know that that's about all we're gonna get. Summer can be so sad.

In case you haven't gotten the message, it's bloody hot so typing this is sapping my energy rapidly. I'll leave you now to go melt some more. Toodles.

Feverish... and late

2005-12-19T01:04:00.000+11:00

Ah, my apologies to all, so sorry! I was going to post sometime last week, but got really carried away with work and life. Depression was really gripping me tight as I struggled to complete whatever I'm writing and problems kept propping up. But the above more or less summarises what's been happening.

First of all, I attended a ballet performance of my housemate. Now, before you nay-sayers taunt me to death, I'll say this: although these guys are young, they are GOOD. Seriously, if you appreciate classical music, it's worth seeing at least one ballet performance in your life. These kids embodied the music itself. Props have to be given to the choreographer. It's a very serious business. Unfortunately, my poor memory and chronic lateness allow me only to put up a very general idea picture but the last acy, Don Quixote, had fantastic costumes and brilliant dancing. How I envy these people.

The first picture was this cute little girl I saw while shopping today. Well, she's actually cuter (and much smaller) in real life but I was impressed with the 'gothic' style she had so I just couldn't resist. I just couldn't do justice, though, which is a pity. Ah, well... gothic really looks good for those who can pull it off.

And finally, another 'I like this and that' honorable mention: Megatokyo, which can be found at: http://www.megatokyo.com . I've only recently been delving into this webartist's work but he's really impressive. Sort of favours a bishoujo style of art, but can get edgy when he wants to. Loves bishoujo, though, and really excels in beautiful artwork. Try to find his art site somewhere within that page as well. It's well worth it.

Anywayz, I got to get back to rest... er I mean work. I swear, though, that my scanner is really the pits. It has horrible contrast and my work tends to get 'smudgy' after the scan. Paint is also a crappy program to edit the pictures (mostly just resizing them... can't even begin to clean the images up). Ah, well... when you spend your money unwisely, this is what you get. Anyway, you all take care.

More things I like...

2005-12-08T01:58:00.000+11:00

Hey hey again. Just a quick addition to my previous post. I couldn't contain my love for these things so I have to just spell it out for you guys.

First things first. The first pic you see should be the beautiful mecha shown in the anime Eureka 7. I only wish my skills could match the true beauty of the anime. You... must... watch... this... series. The animation is tops although if there's one thing I have to complain about is that the fight sequences aren't as long as I'd like them to be. They are beautifully graceful nonetheless. The story, although slow to some people, is relatively well paced and shows the development of the protagonist well. You can't go wrong with the music as well... it's pulsating and can be tender at times. All in all, it definitely builds the atmosphere. I... love... this... series. Go watch it.

I mentioned previously that I was also very keen on webcomics and webmanga. Well, among my searching around I found this brilliant doujinshi (kinda like fan comics based on a popular anime series or manga) written by an anonymous artist that once again, I... really... love. Well, those who know me know I'm a Cartoon Network fan. This dude (I think) used a lot of CN characters (and others as well) and weaved them into a deep and dark story which tickles my fancy to no end. Please check it out: http://bleedman.snafu-comics.com/ . You won't regret it. Thank you, bleedman, whoever you are. Your art stylings and mecha put me to shame.

Macabre stylings of a madman

2005-12-07T23:40:00.000+11:00

Hello there boys and girls. We return once again to the macbre stylings of a madman. I apologise for the sombre post last week and the fact that asides from that I haven't added anything much. Well, there's a drawing bonanza as I flex my pencil and throw out a few more pictures. I'm sad to say that at this rate I can only be churning out pics like these. I doubt I'll be ready to do a comic anytime soon. Anyway hope these and my commentary will keep you entertained.

The first few sketches are inspired by the webcomic Applegeeks. These guys are freaking brilliant artists and you should honestly (if you haven't already) check them out: http://applegeeks.com/ . They do very good work and I'm so far out of their league I'm ashamed to admit it. Thing is, one of the guys has this character that's rather like Beanie Man, my alter ego! So much difference!

There are a few more other webcomics but I'd rather post them out one by one noting which I really love and what I love about them (mostly I'll just rave about their art styles and so on) but let Applegeeks be the first. Makes me wish I could do whatever they do. Anyway, to end I shall pop off 2 more pieces. One is a pic that struck me while I was walking home in the rain. I wondered with the current medium I'm using (whooo... sounds like a real artist, eh?) wether or not I'm able to do a 'rain' scene. Not that fantastic but it'll do. Might try to figure out a better way later. The second one is an idea I had: hobo girl! (Not Dr. Hobo of VG Cats!) I was just curious wether I could create a rather pretty but scruffy looking girl. There you go.

A sombre post for a sombre day

2005-12-02T16:19:00.000+11:00

Hello peoples. It's a somber day in Australia following the death penalty being meted out on one of her Citizens. You don't have to be an Australian to feel their pain though. Even coming from a country that enforces this punishment (and thus relatively desensatised to it), it still tears me up to see a mother weep so for her lost child. In that spirit today's post will be introspective and toned down.

Certainly one cannot blame the guy for carrying the drugs. It's easy to believe that he intended well and just made a really bad decision. A lot of people can relate to that as young people are naturally stupid (and a number of old people as well). Yet at the same time we cannot hold the decision by the Singapore government as a bad one because that's the law. The law was clearly known by all parties, and the consequences understood. We should instead ponder why he made this decision knowing the risks. Why were circumstances set so that someone would be pushed into this situation?

Perhaps we need to wonder if God is as benevolent as we make Him out to be.

Seminar today! What a faker!

2005-11-23T00:46:00.000+11:00

Hello once again peoples. 3 updates in a week? What's going on? Procrastination is what... didn't the title of this blog clue you in? I'm so sorry if it didnt. Let me make it up to you by telling you what happened today.

Today I had to attend a seminar for the company that produces the software I'm using for my research. Usual stuff, really... go in and see what new products they have, provide some user feedback and get some free food. If this sounds familiar to you then you're probably thinking of the 'Timeshare' stories you see on telly. Aaaanyway, part of the deal was that users are encouraged to provide some feedback on their usage of the software. Since I did, my supervisor advised me to give one. The result is shown above. God, it's frightening to present in front of so many people with a cannibalised version of a crappy presentation. Thing is, it's even scarier when those researchers hound YOU with difficult questions. Very spooky.

The second is a design I have for an axe. It's decidedly bat-themed and very strucutrally unsound. In other words... it'll break. However, Guild Wars (I play that game) has currently announced a competition for weapon designs and I thought that mine was rather original and unique. Bat-axe! I vill zuck yor blud! BLEH! Feedback is appreciated as I might work more on the design prior to submission.

Double Post! OMG! WTF?!

2005-11-21T00:50:00.000+11:00

Heh, a quick addition to the previous one... Like I said, I just had to get something up. The first is an attempt at my battle-scarred hero. Beaten up by some nasty! Who could it be? Curious!

And then we move to what I promised... my teppanyaki experience. Let me give you a recommendation: seafood teppanyaki is DELICIOUS! If you can blow some cash, go do it. In fact, go do it now. NOW! Seriously though... I just heart it literally translates to 'Hot plate - fried'. They cook it in front of you and usually the cook engages in conversation with you. It just happens that ours was probably the master-chef (No, not Master Chief, you Halo-philes!) and he did serve us a good treat. Thank you, Yamane-sama! Okay that's enough for now. Double posting! OMG, WTF?!

Some funnies...

2005-11-20T23:58:00.000+11:00

Hello all again! Just a quick update with some non-pretty pictures (just couldn't decide on what this week). Besides, it's been a not-pretty week and I'm feeling I'm more and more behind on my work. I've had 2 birthdays over the past week for the people I'm living with. Happy birthdays to them! May the coming year be happier and bring more joy and all that kinda jazz. On another positive note, I had teppanyaki sometimes this week too. I had an illustration but it's not inked yet. Will follow shortly.

The first as promised is something that hit me about Charlie Brown (a character that I relate to almost soulfully... except when he gets popular). The following sketches, well... the old grumpy man was an experiment. Everytime it's pretty people and whatnots. Just thought I'd try old and frumpy for once. Also included is an old-cliche'd comic. The dangers of nature. To all of you who haven't been in Australia in the summer, I warn you: BEWARE THE FLIES! and that's no joke. That's it for now... signing off for a short while.

Calming scenes...

2005-11-13T01:31:00.000+11:00

Ahh, my apologies for this long wait. You should be used to it by now I suppose. I am, as the name suggests a terrible procrastinator. Also, my scanner went on a slight fritz! Frighetning...
Anyway, good friends, the theme for this week's sketchings seem to be more relaxed. I'll admit the pier-girl seems a bit skewed and off, but I realised I made mistakes too late and had an unsteady board. Therefore, I beg your forgiveness.

The next two are things that I really wanted to sketch. Sadly, my versions are no where near the images I've had in mind... but I try my best. A couple under a tree, hair blowing gently in the wind... ah, it's springtime (going on summertime) in Australia.

Anyway, that should do it for this week. Thank you and good luck for those still stuck in exams and the such. We are all bound by the chains of fate.