Niceville, Chris portrait

Wednesday I went with Jamaal to Niceville, FL. He had to go to Eglin AFB to check in to prove that he didn't go more than half way across the country for his leave. While there, our friend Chris chauffered us around. He wanted to stop at this store that we passed by called the Philippine Market, he being filipino and all. So we went there and picked up various forms of Asian food, mostly snacks. Chris rented a couple of filipino movies. The people there were so nice that when we were about to leave, the offered to let us sit down and have a share in their shrimp dinner. We declined the offer, but Jamaal got some shrimp for the road.

Friday, Jamaal and I went to a store called the Asian Market here in Mobile. We wanted to get some more Pocky, which is this japanese snack consisting of this thin pretzel like stick dipped in chocolate. The didn't have the Pocky, but they did have this stuff called Yan Yan which is pretty similar, but the sticks and the dip are separated, and were in strawberry and vanilla flavor. I also bought an Asian pear. When I was in high school, my 11th grade PACE teacher brought some for the class one day. They're really juicy and to me are like what would happend if a pear and an apple had a baby. I also got these little cake things that tasted like funnel cakes without the powdered sugar, but with sesame seeds on top. I didn't find out what they were called, but I'm definitely going back to get more of those.

Oh, and I also drew a portrait of Chris, but I don't have it w/ me now. So I'll scan it and post it probably before the day is over.

JV love

Almost a week ago I told Jamaal that I had this interesting pic that I took that I wanted to post. He came to town because he got leave for the holidays, and I had still not gotten around to posting the thing. And he's all anxious wondering what could this pic possibly be. When he sees it he's gonna be so through with me it's hilarious.

So anyway, here it is:


I was at the high school where my mom works, waiting for her to get off. My sister and I had gone to the gym to watch the JV basketball team practice. After the practice was over, they all gathered around in this huddle. I was really taken by how everyone had their arms around each other, cuz you often don't see guys showing that type of affection, even if it's not seriously heartfelt. Anyway, I thought it was cute. ^_^

My confession

My name is Sharon. . .



. . .and I'm addicted to Radio Free Roscoe.



Darn those clever Canadians. . .

I OWN!!!

::final grades:

History of Graphic Design.....B
Figure Drawing I..................A
Intro to Graphic Design........A
Typography..........................A
Introdcutory Spanish I.........A

Too bad I'm not taking Spanish next semester. I want to, but I don't have to take a foreign language at all for my major. I just took it this semester to learn the basics. I was going to take it again, but I needed other classes more. Oh well. At least it helped to boost my GPA.

So that's like 70 credit hours down and 58 more to go.

Sleeping in=good

Yay! It's the first Monday in a very long time that I haven't had to get up early and go to class. Last week even though classes were technically over, I still had to get up to go to my Spanish final. So I'm glad all that's over.

If the site looks weird it's because I'm doing stuff to it, so it should be fixed in a little bit. : )

new banners, winter break '03

Well, I'm pretty much better now but the rest of my family has gotten sick in the meantime—and they're all blaming me.

I did a little fixing up of the site. I added a new gallery for my design stuff. I think I may need to reorganize my categories because some things don't really fit. If you browse the galleries you may see a few new thumbnails around, and a lit bit more organization.

I made two new banners:



I think that's all the site stuff. . .

School is finally over and doesn't start back til January 12th. I'm so glad. While I'm not going to get all A's like I could have. I do believe I'll have mostly A's. I know I have an A's in Figure Drawing and Intro to Graphic Gesign. I'm pretty sure I have an A in Typography. . . I might have an A in Spanish, but I kinda slacked off during the end so I'm probably down to a B. I'll probably—hopefully—make a low B in Art History. So, If I make what I think my GPA will finally be above 3.5, which is cool.

Whoohooh! I'm gonna be a junior next semester!

Ugh. . .

Well, I didn't go see Honey because I've gotten sick again all of a sudden. This time I've got a cough and fever and my body aches. Sounds pleasant, right? I took some aspirin to bring my fever down, as a result I was practically freezing. So now I'm sitting in front of my lovely space heater. . .::mmm. . .warm::.

Hopefully I'll get over this soon. : /

Last Day of Classes

But It's not the end of the work. I've still got stuff to do. I've got one design project out of the way. I have to go to the computer lab to finish my typography final, then I've got an exam in that class on top of that. But it shouldn't be that difficult since it's basically going to be a compilation of all of our previous tests.

I still have to write two huge essays for art history. I'm glad that my professor threw in a 10 point bonus question. If I get all of those points and make an A on this final, then I can have an A for the course. But it's probably not going to happen.

I'm supposed to go see Honey with my sister this evening. I'd rather wait til it comes to video and go see The Last Samurai instead, but I promised. I've resigned to try and see only action movies at the theater, because they look the best on the big screen, and i wanted to save the dramas for at home viewing. Oh well, there's always the exception. I thin Honey is going to be at least decent. I know the plot not going to be oscar-worthy or anything, but I'm pretty sure I'll be entertained for an hour and a half at least.

LOTR on the Brain, legal ages

I've never drawn anything quite this ugly—at least on purpose anyway. But I'm glad it turned out pretty good on the first try. I think it helped that I watched a whole documentary on the making of Gollum's character on the appendix DVD. The LOTR movie are so much better w/ the extended scenes. righteous. . . righteous. . .! Sorry, had a Finding Nemo flashback there. . .

Anyway. I had a fun weekend. I broke down and participated a little in the seemingly compulsary end-of-the-year bolster of the U.S. economy. But I got a really hot looking lawyer-esque suit out of the deal. It's cool to have a fiancé who buys things for you because he thinks you look good in it. Actually, the suit is quite conservative, but it's made really well, and I look all professional and mature. It's a nice change of pace, since I turned 21 Sunday.

I don't do birthday celebrations, but these last couple of years have been these stages leading up to legal adulthood:

18 - voting rights, no longer a minor
19 - can buy cigarettes (in Alabama)
20 - no longer a teenager, but not yet legal
21 - officially and adult, can legally drink away my sorrows

No wonder so many young people are depressed. . . I feel so old now.

The end of the semester is winding down. This is the last week. Next week is finals, but I only have to worry about two exams. Then there's two design projects and one last take-home test for art history. ::sigh:: After that's done I've got a month and a half to relax before the Spring Semester. Plus, I'll attempt to get my comic underway, but don't hold your breath on that. :P

Micah Gunnell, wedding date

::New Link: son of daVinci

Featuring the art of Micah Gunnell, this is an awesome site. I first met Micah back in the days of ComixMatrix (a now defunct site similar to deviantART). He has a very awesome and distinctive style, and has the potential to go far in the comic industry. So you guys definitely need to check him out.

Over the weekend Jamaal and I finally set a date for our wedding. So things are going to be moving along in that direction now. We're going to setting up a wedding blog to keep whoever cares informed of what's going on, so look out for that.

I've got two more classes today. But no school tomorrow. ::artgyrl dances a jig::. No Thanksgiving celebration for me, but I may go and check out the sales that are going to be on. The only thing is that so many other people are going to be out also. Wouldn't it make sense to just forgo the holiday shopping and just buy everything after New Years? I think so.

password recovery

Dude. . . I was messing around forever trying to recover the password to my guestbook. I hadn't edited the settings since I first installed it, so the password had left my memory. I emailed my host and everything asking if they knew how I could retrieve it. In the meantime, I was trying all these different username/password combos trying to see if any would work. Then, all of a sudden, the password popped in my head. I typed it in, expecting to get another error message, and—whadaya know—it worked.

I really need to start writing this stuff down.

dA ID2

Thursday night I had done my hair for the Kingdom Hall, and it was looking cuter than it had in a long time. I wanted to capture the moment for posterity, so I took a bunch of pics. A couple came out decent, since it's hard for me to take pictures of myself—for some reason I always look crazy. Then I decided to put my nascent design skills to the test and whip out a new deviant ID.



I think I'm going to have to start a new gallery exclusively for my design work.

birthmonth quiz

I found this quiz while surfing live journal.

Choose your birthmonth, stike through those that don't apply, and bold those that do:

---NOVEMBER:
Has a lot of ideas. Difficult to fathom. Thinks forward. Unique and brilliant. Extraordinary ideas. Sharp thinking. Fine and strong clairvoyance. Can become good doctors. Dynamic in personality. Secretive. Inquisitive. Knows how to dig secrets. Always thinking. Less talkative but amiable. Brave and generous. Patient. Stubborn and hard-hearted. If there is a will, there is a way. Determined. Never give up. Hardly becomes angry unless provoked. Loves to be alone. Thinks differently from others. Sharp-minded. Motivates oneself. Does not appreciate praises. High-spirited. Well-built and tough. Deep love and emotions. Romantic. Uncertain in relationships. Homely. Hardworking. High abilities. Trustworthy. Honest and keeps secrets. Not able to control emotions. Unpredictable.

A pretty interesting waste of time. :P

8000 hits!

That's so awesome. Thanx everyone for all your support once again. I'll try to have a commemorative image up here soon. I'm getting over my cold now, and this definitely makes me feel better. :)

Next order of business. . . My art is now on the oracle website. There's not much there now, but I'm sure the webmistress is still in the process of redesigning everything, so more will be featured there eventually. Thanx so much to Susan.

I did some fan art for another creator over at arson entertainment (gotta share the art love, ya know).. It's my interpretation of Isa's character's Kim and Miana, from his comic EarthGuard.

Is all for now. Have a nice day. =P

sick with "the crud", Oracle meeting

I'm sick. . .pity me. :(

Just kidding, but I really am sick. I've got that whole sore throat, runny nose, head cold thing. I think it's known as "the crud". I was feeling really bad yesterday and had a fever. I was doing way to many things when I should have been resting. I hadn't gotten much sleep that night because, once again, my nose was acting up. I feel a lot better today though. I still can't talk—which got to be a problem since we had critiques today and we're graded by how much we comment—but I don't feel nearly as horrible as yesterday.

I went to the production design meeting yesterday to present my flyer design. Though they didn't chose mine, they really like the illustration, so Susan (the woman in charge of the web site) is going to use if for the site design. So I'm happy about that.

Rose fan art color progress; movies: runaway jury, bend it like beckham, whale rider, finding nemo

My younger sisters are out of school today and tomorrow, but I'm not. I wish I was though; I need a break. I'm getting sick, and right now I've got a sore throat. Last night I kept waking up having to blow my nose, but luckily I had napped earlier that evening, so I didn't lose as much sleep as I normally would have.

In the art sector, I'm currently coloring the fan art piece that I did for Frank.

I haven't been coloring much artwork lately, mostly because it's hard, and I wasn't that good. But I've resigned myself to practice and get at least decent at it. When you add color to a drawing it can change the way the image is interpreted so much from how you originally intended. It can completely alter the mood of the piece. So I have to work on keeping the same feeling from the pencils to the colors.

::Other news:
_latest movie: runaway jury
_latest dvd purchase: bend it like beckham, finding nemo
_slatest dvd rental: whale rider - you must see this movie! The lead actress—the stunning Keisha Castle-Hughes—bears and uncanny resemblance to my little sister.

Late night at the lab for typography

I finally got my project printed that I mentioned in the last entry. I ended up leaving the computer lab at nearly 1 a.m. The last person didn't get done until 2:15. I love Stephen the lab tech for staying there so late when the lab was supposed to close at 11 p.m. The project that caused all this headache: type self portrait. The whole thing is made out of typographical symbols.

Jamaal surprised me this weekend. It was our 1st anniversary and I didn't expect him to be able to come visit this weekend, but he came anyway and we hung out, went to dinner, went shopping. It was great. ^_^

I've also got two more pieces of art:





Enjoy. :)

Rose fan art & GD history doodles

Hi guys. Got a few new drawings:





Right now I'm unwillinly chillin' in the graphic desing computer lab. We can only print for two printers and there are like fifteen people here wanting to print multiple couples of their projects. My name is near the end of the list. I'm tired, and hungry and want to go home. :( After I get home I've still got to mount my project on some matte board. I could put that off til tomorrow morning though. . .

Graphic Design sucks. :/

I updated the characters, colors, and fan art pages with thumbnails. So if you think you missed anything that I posted in this blog, check out those pages.

AG fa nart by g-darious

It's funny when you stumble upon fan art of your character that you didn't even know existed:

artgyrl by g-darius

delicious surprise

Bend It Like Beckham, type self portrait

I finally got to see "Bend it Like Beckham" about a week ago. I wasn't disappointed at all, and now it's one of my favorite movies.

My last project in Typography class was to design a logo using my initials (SS). The design had to be look good when rendered large and small, and it also had to reflect our personality. Here's what I came up with:

prelim sketch | final design—done in Adobe Illustrator 10

artgyrl fall '03

I did this drawing a couple of weeks ago for a new design I had in my head: artgyrl

To bed I go. Got to wake up early to finish a last-minute project. :p

Femal Figure

::new art: *nudity warning*

figure drawings 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

I'm really proud drawings 3 and 4. I actually really loathe getting ready to go to that class because it's almost three hours long, and it's so monotonous in that we have the same model all the time. I wouldn't mind a little variety, but I understand that people willing to model nude are hard to come by. Still, I'm getting a lot of practice drawing a voluptuous female figure.

figure drawing: fara, jane doe, mohammed

A little over a week ago I turned in my first test in History of Graphic Design. It was a take-home test in which we had to complete four essays discussing what was talked about in lecture and in the first six chapters of the textbook. Of course, I waited til the night before it was due—Sunday—to start on it. I finished it up Monday morning. To my shock and amazement I pulled off an 88. I so thought I was going to be one of the people he asked to rewrite their tests.

Today we didn't have a nude model in figure drawing class. So people took turns posing, and we got to draw clothed figures. Actually, we're supposed to draw about three clothed figures a week outside of class in our sketchbooks, but hardly anyone has been keeping up with that continuing assignment. It was a nice change of pace. I must apologize to Fara for making her look like a man. My excuse is that I had a dull pencil that didn't allow me to execute the delicate feminine features of her face. :P Also, my little sister informed me that if I just add a pointed tail, Mohammed will look like the dashing Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler).

fara | jane doe | mohammed

Briana sketch, Spanish & GD Art History class

::new art: brianna

I did this drawing of Jamaal's cousin a little while ago. She's a very cute little girl, extremely energetic.

I just got back from morning classes—Spanish and History of Graphic Design, respectively. Spanish is ok. But art history is a bit more of a chore. The professor is very interesting, but I don't think he's aware of what time class is supposed to start, because he was like, twenty minutes late today. He's usually about ten minutes late everyday. I don't mind much though. I stay amused by listening to the conversations of the people around me. You tend to find out a lot by just listening.

Art Progress: figure drawing

Art is still making me broke. Word to the wise: Never go get your digital camera pics developed in the machine at Kinkos.

With that said. . .I have a couple of new pieces of artwork. They are some drawings I did in figure drawing. Correction, I have just one drawing to show you from that class. . .the rest are hanging up in the classroom.

::new art: figure 01

Buying art supplies is definitely going to break me.

Wednesday I went to Alabama Art Supply to buy a compass for my Intro to Graphic Design class. The cheapest one with an adapter for my $30 rapidograph pen was $12.95, so I bought it. I get to my class on Thursday and start using the thing, and it's really crappy. So I decide to return it and get a more expensive/better one. I get to the art store and realized that I have the receipt, but that I've left the compass at home. So I have to drive all the way back in lunch-hour traffic, and then go back to the art store. I ended up getting a different compass that was about $8 more expensive—but it works. Plus, it came with some extra parts. So, I'm broke, but I have a compass that better last a lifetime.

::new art: stevie nicks commission | nicole sketch

Y'all may remember when I posted a pics of the Stevie Nicks piece in progress. Well I finished it about a month ago, so now you guys can see how it turned out. The other sketch I did of my younger sister at the Wafflehouse. I think it turned out rather well considering I was shading with a mechanical pencil. :P

Enjoy.

Sorry for the lack of updates you guys. I've been busy w/ school. Two days a week I've got three studio classes that are 2 hrs 45 min. a piece. That's lots of fun, lemme tell you. Actually, the classes aren't that difficult. They're just long. But the good thing is that it's a pretty laid back atmosphere. For example, in figure drawing, we get a break every 20 min. when the model needs a break. I'll try to get some of those drawings up. There's too big for the scanner so I'll have to go w/ the digital camera once more.

The season is about to change, so a redesign should be up sometime soon. . . .sometime. . .

Fall Semester 2003: art supplies is raping my funds, figure drawing initiation

It's three days into the first week of school and everything is going pretty well. Monday started off horribly, because of complications from Sunday night that spilled over into the wee hours of the next morning. But all is remedied now.

On the other hand, school supplies is killer. I feel for the people that have to work and pay their own way through college. Just yesterday I spent almost $300 on textbooks, and today bought $80 worth of supplies from the art store (I got a 25% discount though.) I can't believe the most expensive thing on the list was a friggin' technical pen--$25. So I'd better get my money's worth out of this stuff.

I'm also taking figure drawing this semester, which means that tomorrow I get to draw a nude female for the first time. That should be fun. :p

slumber party inks

::new new art: slumber party inks

Who knows, maybe I'll even have slumber party colors in the near future. ^_^

slumber party & 7000 hits

::new art: slumber party

I think it's a fun way to celebrate 7000 hits. Thanx for all your support. =)

Niceville & Eglin AFB

Hi guys. I'm writing from a computer in the lobby of the Holiday Inn Express in Niceville, FL. I thought I'd get some drawing done while I was here, but it looks like that's not going to happen. . .other than working on my commission. But it's really nice here. The family, Jamaal, and I went to the beach and chilled. Before that Jamaal took me on a little tour of the flight line at Eglin Air Force Base. Some of the fun was taken away by some ignorant Air Force guys wondering if we had a permit for the camera we used, even though they announced over the radio that Jamaal would be escorting me around there, before we went over there. "We didn't hear anything about it," says this big black guy w/ freckles. I must point out that a radio was no where in his vicinity. No duh, you didn't hear it.

But I took pictures of them just standing around pretending to work. I'll have some post the pics when I get back home. ;)

movie experience: Bend It Like Beckham & Tomb Raider II

Last weekend, Jamaal and I had the most interesting experience at the movies. For the longest time I had been wanting to see Bend it Like Beckham but I never got around to going to see it. Eventually it was out of theaters. But then Pirates of the Carribbean came out, and the girl starring in it--Keira Knightley--was also in Bend it Like Beckham. So they rereleased the movie, I think to make more money, cuz it got good reviews and all that.

So, we're having a good time watching the movie. It's funny, and the story is just starting to go somewhere, when at a serious plot development point, the movie shuts off. So. . .long story short, after about 40 min of the incompetent teens working at the movie theater messing around w/ the projector, they can't get the movie to come back on. However, the manager gave us all a rain check to see another movie free w/in the next 30 days. But we also got to see whatever movie was playing at the time for free. We ended up seeing Tomb Raider 2. It was ok. . .much better than the first one at least. I think there were way too many close-ups on Angelina Jolie's lips.

So, we got two free movies out of the deal, but I still don't know what happened at the end of Bend it Like Beckham.

Crimson fan art

::new art: crimson - a character from an online rpg.

I wanted a change of pace so I decided to draw someone elses character. It looks ok, I guess, except for the fact that it looks like she's floating in the air. She's not.

summer class finale & yard work

Well, I'm done with my summer classes. I had my last exam in public speaking yesterday. The prof let us grade our own tests, so by my calculations I made about an 83 (he goes back and adjusts the score up or down). Not as good a grade as I wanted, but it's pretty good considering how I bluffed my way through some of the answered. Honestly, who reads the textbook anyway?

For anyone who's interested, I made an A- on my final project in 3D design. Hopefully I'll make an A in that class, and raise my GPA a bit. It's not really low in the first place, but I like to stay in range of the Dean's List.

I had to work with my dad today, and it was absolutely exhausting. He does lawn maintenance and cuts down trees. After the first yard we did, I was ready to be through. See, he makes me edge around the yards, that where you used this machine--an edger, go figure--and you go and around where the grass meets the sidewalk and it trims it up all nice and pretty. However, it's better if you have a lot of upper body strength, which I don't. So I'm all achy and stuff, and my dad wants me to go back out working tomorrow. :/

self portrait, Artgyrl history

I've drawn another self-portrait, but the concensus is that it doesn't really look like me. It seems that when I actually try to draw someone that looks like me, it doesn't, but when I draw, say, artgyrl, she looks more like me than my supposed self-portrait. . . hmm. . .

So, therein lies the dilemma. See, Artgyrl started as my online personality/avatar. Then she developed into a character of her own, with only a few of my character traits, such as artistic ability, intelligence. . . and hot looks (j/k). But you get the picture. Anyways, she's not me, as a lot of people have come to believe. She's her own person.

But anyway. . .here's the pic. You be the judge of the actual resemblance. I'll slap some colors on when pretty soon, so hopefully it'll look more like myself after that. :/

movie experience: POTC

Yesterday afternoon I went to see "Pirates of the Caribbean" with my older sister. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. Johnny Depp is great in practically any role, and Orlando Bloom was his usual hot self. Now that I think about it, the movie reminds me a bit of "The Three Musketeers." You know, the one starring Keifer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Oliver Platt and Chris O'Donnell. . .? Well, Orlando Bloom's character reminded me of Chris O'Donnell as he portrayed the young D'Artagnan. I guess it was the whole head-strong-young-lad-trying-to-prove-himself-andcome-into-his-own-while-at-the-same-time-trying-to-live-up-to-his-father's-example thing.

Well kiddies, only one more week of school left. (woohooh!) Then I get a little break before school starts back in the fall. :( Oh well, you can't have all fun. But I'll finally be taking some major specific courses, such as Intro to Graphic Design and Typography.

Tomorrow I've got my final speech in public speaking. It's supposed to be an entertaining "after dinner" speech, and I'll be bringing my younger sisters in as visual aids. ; ) I'm just going to talk about the annoying and insane things that people say about us. For example, they think that my and my little sis, who is six years my junior is my twin. So that means I look like I'm 14, sixteen at the most. Yeah. It gets on my nerves just a bit.

Art Progress: 3D models, Stevie Nicks, Chloe

I thought I'd clue you guys in on what I've been working on as of late.

First off, I've got my final project for 3D design. We have to make a self portrait up to 18'' tall. So we've been working on miniature models of what we want to do.



I'm also working on a commission portrait of Stevie Nicks. Here's what I've got so far:



Oh, and here's a drawing I did of my baby cousin for my aunt as a gift to my uncle. He was quite pleases with it. However, the photograph doesn't to justice to the original piece.

Photos: wedding, itsy, china garden sign

I've taken alot of pics over the past couple of weeks. . .

Sunday night I got all dressed up for a wedding.


actual size
This spider made a home right above the door to my 3D design class


Is this not the most ghetto name for a restaurant? They have really good food, though. :p

Hello kiddies. . .

Well, I bombed on the speech I mentioned in the last entry, making a C. But today I had another speech. We had to give a special occasion speech (i.e. eulogy, acceptance, presentation), and I did a lot better on this one. I chose to do a eulogy, and little did I know that a eulogy isn't just for funerals. It's the general name for a speech given to praise or blame someone.

Right now I'm working on a commission for one of Jamaal's co-workers. It's a portrait of Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mack(sp?).

As for the comic. . . it's coming along slowly, but surely. =)

booo. . .it's 2:00 a.m., and I've got a speech today that once again I've ill-prepared for. It's dealing w/ affirmative action. . .such a controversial topic, so much I could say, but I've only got 5 minutes. And it's not good to rethink your speech plan at the last minute. I'll just stick to my original idea, and if it goes to terribly, I have an opportunity to redo the speech Wednesday.

Madelyn's litter

Almost two and a half weeks ago, my dog, Madelyn, gave birth to eight healthy puppies (hooray!). Sadly, Madelyn developed mastitis. Consequently, we have to ween the puppies early. Madelyn has to be separated from the puppies completely, so see will stop lactating and the infection will go away. They were supposed to nurse for at least another week, but the vet gave us formula to feed them, and we started them on puppy chow. I was surprised at how quickly the puppies took to the new food, but they can't get enough of it. However, it's a big responsibility having to feed them every four hours. . . but they're so darn cute that it doesn't really matter.



The puppies are super muts. Their dad is part rottweiler and some kind of husky/wolf dog; he's got white-blue eyes, but looks mostly like a german shepard. We don't know what the heck Madelyn is. She's a pound puppy. But we love them all. =)

madelyn


max

gymnastic girl sketches

I had a great week spending time with my sweetheart. But fear not, I actually managed to sketch some things while I was with him. Last Thursday we went to a cheerleading gym where Jamaal's best friend, John works. I saw the girl walking around, stretching, and fixing their hair after doing a tumbling passed, and I did a few sketches from that.

gym gyrls | lil gym gyrl

The comic is coming along slowly but surely. I need a lot of references to work from since I have mostly experience drawing people and nothing else. But this will be great practice for me. I'd give y'all a sneak peek, but then I'd be giving away a lot. ;)

Character designs

::new artwork: character designs - tuan | dhani | carmen & rita

I can't believe it's already been two weeks of school. Time is sure flying. Everything is going pretty well. I had my first speech. It had to be informtive/teaching, so I did my speech on how to draw using a grid. It was ok, I guess, but I had trouble with the visual aids. Oh well. Still I liked the handout I did, so I think I'll post it here when I get a chance.

Drawing a comic is hard. : /

Fine art update and Public Speaking

Lots of new artwork in the fine art gallery. My mom was cleaning up and found one of my portfolios containing a lot of the art I had done for my AP Studio Art class in high school. My bristol pad was also in there, so I was glad to have that again. I took the time to add descriptions of all of the artwork in the fine art gallery, so you can get a bit of insight into the art process. I hope you take the time to read it cuz it took a long time for me to make all those pages. . .

Today is the first day of summer classes at USA. My fist class was Public Speaking at 8:00 a.m. I actually loathe public speaking, but I've learned to get used to it, since it is a required course. ::sigh:: There are only ten people in the class, but there are some interesting characters, and my instructor, Mike (he says even his grandkids call him that), literally wrote the book on public speaking, so it should be fun.

I'll have some more character sketches a little later.

Laura's art

Breakdancer - a drawing my youngest sister (14) did for her school project I showed her how to use the grid system to draw it as accurate as possible. She's been buggin' me for the longest to put this on my site. I think it's pretty good for her first try.

Character drawings: Dyanna, Neera (redraw), Carmen

::new artwork: dyanna star colored

Wow. . . I'm on a role. ^__^

Well, I've decided to redraw some of the character sketches I did. Neera and Dyanna look really good, and the rest are drawn in kinda different styles, especially Carmen and Rita—probably because of the references I used. Anyway, I really want to get this comic going, but it's going to take a lot of work on my part. I'm going to have to start drawing. . . ::gasp:: . . .backgrounds.

It's not that I can't draw them. I just get lazy after I've drawn the figure. Plus, I hate doint perspective and having to use a straight edge. I like doing, soft, curvy lines. However, if I'm a real artist, it shouldn't be that bad. We'll see. : /

6000 hits!

I almsot forgot to mention it. . .

Thanx to all you who keep coming back to see my site--even though I probably contributed about a thousand hits myself. : P I think I've really come a long was as far as design and all that, and I'm glad that I get a positive response to what I'm doing.

new art: carmen & rita profiles

I went on a drawing spree last night after I took a break from a commission I was working on. I cranked out two more character profiles. I would have done one more, but it was already two o'clock in the morning. I think they turned out ok.

carmen | rita

I also updated the color and fan art galleries. Enjoy. =)

Ground Zero initiation

I went to a new/different comic book store today. I'd never been there before, and I'd heard it advertised on the radio for while, so I decided to check it out. It was a lot more spacious than the other comic store that I'd been going to. Inside, there was this guy at a table sorting comics (turned out to be the manager, Scottie) and this goy sitting at one of the tables playing a hand-held game. The manager turned out to be very helpful. It took him quite a while to find the new Gen13, but I applaud his efforts.

I ended up buying four titles: Gen 13 #9, X-treme X-Men #21, Sojourn #22 and #23, and Peter Parker: Spiderman (Khary Randolph did the pencils). With each book being about $3 a piece, my total was only $8 and some odd cents. I'm definitely shopping there from now on. =)

::New link:: Eddie Holly—an excellent artist. I absolutely envy his line quality an the little details he puts into his drawings...it constantly reminds me that I should draw waaaaaaaay more than I do.

::New art:: AG summer colored—not exactly new—but here's a larger version.

aced Brit Lit

Ok, you may have noticed the new color scheme. It looks really plain right now, but I'm not done yet. I'm still working out how I want this thing to look.

Oh yeah. . . I got my report card today. I made the dean's list again. whoohoo! ::does a little dance:: I managed to pull an A in brit lit. I don't know how that was possible, but I guess my writing on the final exam and paper was pretty darn good.

Is all. =)

movie experience: matrix reloaded

I saw The Matrix: Reloaded yesterday afternoon. It was so awesome. I could have done without the first third of the movie. It was really slow. However, after that, some very intriguing characters were introduced, such as Seraph, the Gatekeeper, Merovingian, and Persephone. I can't really say anything else w/out spoiling the movie. Plus, there's a lot I can say, and I don't want to get into it.

I'll have more art up soon, hopefully, so stay tuned. =)

I'm so happy I finally got my blog to work.

Last night I had my first talk at the Kingdom Hall about why the doctrine of predestination is unreasonable. I was so incredibly nervous, but luckily, I didn't stumble over my words and I got through it ok. Now I don't have to worry about my next talk for a looong time.

I don't have any new artwork just yet. I'm working on coloring this drawing of artgyrl. It's for the new summer layout that I'm gonna put up. So if you come here one day and the site looks really messed up, it won't be like that for long--hopefully. ^_^

::New link:: adi granov
This guy's character designs are so amazing. You have to look at them right now.

I'm still working on the new site design. I finally got my blog to work on here. It was very frustrating trying to figure that ftp thing out. It's probably not that hard to most people, I'm just really slow or something. But I'm glad that it works now.