Projects and Seminars

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...

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

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

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...

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

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...

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...

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?

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

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!

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

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

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

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?

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!

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

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!

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!

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!

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.