30 Day Drawing Challenge -- Day 15

Day 15 -- Family Picture

A dragon family, of course! XD No humans for now. I haven't drawn dragons in ages...and I think I miss drawing with pens. Sitting down with a plain Bic pen and whipping out a sketchy drawing is very satisfying (as well as a fun exercise--I have some goofy Bilbo drawings floating around somewhere that were drawn with just a pen).

I'm losing inspiration, methinks. Considering that tomorrow's picture prompt is 'Inspiration', this is a problem. *facepalm* I can't use the excuse 'I just don't have time', though, because spending a couple hours every night cruising on the internet definitely counts for extra time. It's a matter of getting used to working for an average of 7-8 hours a day, and then figuring out where to fit everything else. *feels rather spoiled in regards to work*

Be looking for a nettle-related rant in the future. It's the plant I've decided to become obsessed with for a while. :p

30 Day Drawing Challenge -- Day 14

Day 14 -- Favorite Fairy Tale

I can't hear the phrase 'fairy tale' without thinking of a Disney movie. So this is a slightly obscure tale/fable from Korea called The Tiger's Whisker--it's a short little read, so ya'll can read it here instead of listening to my description of what it's about: http://www.storiestogrowby.com/stories/tiger_wh_korea.html (This is a slightly different version from the one I've read in The Book of Virtues. But who cares. Also, I like drawing tigers more than I like drawing people. XD)

I've noticed that my drawings have been getting sloppier the longer I continue with this challenge. I think taking a 2-week break may have been a slight mistake in that regard...and now I've got a second job plus cleaning houses. I'm very glad for this job, but it's definitely cutting into the time I can spend on 'extra' stuff (riding, art, etc). Which is why it's 11 PM and I'm not in bed yet--that's not terribly unusual, but it's a bad habit I've gotten in the pattern of indulging. >.< 

And on that note, it is bedtime...and my stomach hurts. Forgetting to eat is a bad idea. >.<

30 Day Drawing Challenge -- Day 13

Day 13 -- Comic

I don't do comics. Well...I do. But ones that are strange and only I find them funny (which is why the dialogue between me and Javert about the upcoming Les Mis movie is not the comic for today. XD) Instead, enjoy the mental image of a bird with a french fry.

Since this blog tends to have more background and chit-chat than I can put up on, say, Facebook and its shadow ilk, here's the comic with dialogue between me and Javert. If you don't find it funny, you're not the first. :p

 ...I used to write lots of little comics with me and Javert conversing within the stick-figure medium. Most of them were dumb and didn't make much sense--I see that I haven't lost the knack yet. 

(I was also quite lonely back in those days, hence the imaginary dialogues. I'm not sure if it's sad or enviable to have had an imaginary friend/antagonist like that.)

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On a side note, this song has been going through my head for the past few days:

I have a rather eclectic taste in music, what can I say? 

"And she said I don't hate you, boy
I just want to save you
While there's still something left to save..." 

30 Day Drawing Challenge -- Day 12

Day 12 -- Most Recent Accomplishment

Also known as, 'Taking a Break from the Wacom Tablet'. It isn't totally done yet...but it IS my most recent accomplishment aside from the desk. And bridge-burning. (For the past week I've been staring at the 'Most Recent Accomplishment' prompt and getting totally overwhelmed. Sigh.)

Sorry for the hiatus, folks--hopefully I'll be back on schedule from here on out.

30 Day Drawing Challenge -- Day 11

Ugh. Crappy picture is crappy. Ah well, here goes.

Day 11 -- Turning Point in Life
   

Hopefully this conveys the fact that I got on a pony ride once when I was in the lower single digits of age, and a life-long obsession was born. (I was more blond than brunette as a youngun, hence the weird hair color.) My second choice would probably have been something about realizing that promises/expectations/plans etc hardly ever equal reality...or something equally dismal. XD

When I was about 9 I spent part of a year taking weekly 'riding lessons' (more like glorified pony rides, but I digress), and the regular horses I rode were a retired grey Thoroughbred mare and a little paint Welsh pony. I wonder where they are sometimes.

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Today I was reminded about Script Frenzy, a month-long challenge to write a 100-page script. (It's like National Novel Writing Month, which is a month-long challenge to write a 50,000 word novel, but deals with pages instead of words.) It starts in two days, on April 1st...and I'm really debating if I should do it or not. On the one hand, I have a story in mind that I'd like to make into a graphic novel one day, but it's not even written yet and I love writing scripts. On the other...do I REALLY need one more thing to add to my list? XD 

Maybe I could do it after I'm done with the drawing challenge or something. Hmmmm....*strokes chin* I'd be starting late, but a month is a month, right?

I'll think about it. :p

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In the meantime...school, work, riding, and drawing are the main things on my plate, and all have been accomplished. I'm going to a movie tonight with a friend (it's a toss-up between The Hunger Games and The Lorax) and she's spending the night. Then tomorrow there's an Easter egg hunt hosted by our church that we're helping with...and a house to clean...and my younger brother's band is doing their first concert in the evening...and have I mentioned that I read Catching Fire last night and was up til 1:30 finishing it?

How did weekends suddenly become so cram-packed with activities? O.o

Anyway. Moving on.

30 Day Drawing Challenge -- Day 10

1/3 of the way through this series, people! O.o It's crazy how fast time goes.

Day 10 -- Favorite Candy

I'm not much of a candy person (salty snacky foods are more my weakness), but I do enjoy a good dark chocolate bar. Any brand, really, as long as it's about 75-80% dark. Nom. The best chocolate bar I can remember having (I savored it the most, anyway) was a dark chocolate/bacon/sea salt combination. It was so rich but MAN was it delicious.

Random splatter thingies in the background today...it's time everyone stopped floating on a blank white background. Time for random Photoshop brushes! XD

(I would also like to add that I HAD put a shadow on there...in dark red. So it had the unfortunate look of a chibi sitting in a pool of blood. *facepalm* Thank goodness for photoshop fixes.)

30 Day Drawing Challenge -- Day 9

Day 9 -- Favorite TV Show

Ask me 6 months ago, and I would have said Dr. Who. But for now, Sherlock has usurped the Doctor. What can I say? It's absolutely fantastic. (Jeeves and Wooster would have been another choice, but I can't draw Stephen Fry to save my life. The man has the weirdest face ever.)

Plus, Martin Freeman (Watson) is Bilbo in The Hobbit, and Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) is playing Smaug. What's not to love??

I didn't do the background thingy...I found it online and plastered it behind the guys for context's sake. XD Everything else is drawn from scratch, though (as you can tell from Watson's uneven eyes and Sherlock's face--Benedict Cumberbatch is another dude with a weird face).

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So today I had another riding lesson with a friend of mine...apparently the horse and I really aren't in too bad of shape knowledge-wise, considering that I'm almost completely self-taught. :p But I'm appreciating the chance to have someone who knows what they're doing critique my riding and show me how to do thing properly. Most of the things she's been telling me I've read about, and I know OF them, but (for example) to be posting the trot and applying the inside leg properly while holding the reins correctly and shift the hips at JUST the right moment to cue the horse into the correct lead? That's something that you can't learn from a book, I'm afraid. 

And apparently the riding/lunging the horse every day is paying off, because she is WAY more responsive than when we first started. I mean...she's not too thrilled about it. And she's still going to fuss a bit here and there. But for the most part she's willing to give all she's got when being ridden. (That was rather a large compliment towards Colletta, actually--I mean, she's not the perfect horse by any means, but her willingness to do almost anything covers up a multitude of sins. *glee*)

So all in all...the horse stuff is coming along very well. I'm pleased with her, and after working for a couple more weeks on getting her more receptive to leg pressure (her biggest irritation now--she's ultra-sensitive to leg pressure, and wants to go faster/brace against it) and to accepting bit contact, I'll probably start on the endurance stuff in earnest. But I can't work on that until she's more obedient with the little stuff.

Good grief. All I seem to do on here is post random drawings and talk about the horse. XD 

30 Day Drawing Challenge--Day 8

 

Day 8 -- Favorite Animated Character

Okay, I LOVE Wall-E. It's out there now. :p He's the only robot I know of that makes me go 'AWWW' and want to scoop him up and cuddle him. Plus he's so simple and pure in nature, that it never seems to occur to him to do the wrong thing...such a cute little guy.

This was a blend of pen tool, paintbrush (finally figured out how to take the tablet pressure as opposed to pen pressure, so the lineart is a bit cleaner now), stamp tools, and various opacity plus burn tool. There's a lot of different methods all thrown together here...and I did look at a picture to draw this, but it was all free-hand otherwise. (Looking at pictures for reference is not cheating. I rest my case.)

At first I was really stumped on this one, because the only animated movies I watch are Pixar and Dreamworks-related. And lately I haven't had a 'favorite' character of the animated nature...sure, Gru and Megamind came to mind, but they aren't hardcore favorites. Ya know?

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Otherwise, I rode the horse for about 45 minutes today working on walking, trotting, loping, stopping, and a little turning on the forehand in the pasture. She was rather lazy--she tripped with her back feet once while loping across the pasture (*facepalm*), and didn't seem to have a lot of energy. But then again, I haven't had much energy either. I had to force myself to go out and ride today. >.< In retrospect I'm glad that I did...but at the time the only thing I wanted to do was flop on my bed and go 'urgh'.

Regarding the horse, she's getting easier to work with. (Or today may have just been a good day. XD) Laziness aside she is pretty willing and doesn't fuss as much as she used to...oh, the battles we used to have. But no more! 

Anyway. Enough rambling...time to continue posting shtuff on FB etc. *toddles off*

30 Day Drawing Challenge -- Day 7

I've been at this a week, folks! It's been a while since I stuck with anything that long....anyway.

Day 7 -- Favorite Word

'indubitably', adv.: without doubt, certainly

Or rather, what I say when I want to sound smart. XD Just a stick figure today, but he's awfully proud of himself and his monocle'd knowledge.

30 Day Drawing Challenge -- Day 6

Day 6 --Favorite Book Character

For the uninitiated...I am an enormous fan of Les Miserables. (Or at least WAS an enormous fan--the fervor has cooled somewhat in the past year or so after I saw it onstage.) And my absolute favorite character in the book/musical is Inspector Javert. 

My interest--or dare I saw, obsession--with this guy got to the point where I would write down 'conversations' between him and myself, and he starred in several old fanfics. To make a long story short, he's a snarky old cop with some issues when it comes to 'the law' and making his life have meaning and I loved poking fun at the guy.

(Actually, he kinda acted as a buffer for ideas--when I was feeling overly emotional or irritated I'd toss the current botheration at him, and having a no-nonsense comeback usually kept me fairly grounded. And I swear I'm not crazy. O.o If it makes you feel better, he was something like an inner editor.)

So method...I tried to use the pen tool and stroke for the outline, but I couldn't figure out how to change the stroke pattern until much later. So the outline is drawn normally, with the pen tool used for quick coloring and shading. (Well...I SAY quick... *coughs*) The shading is just simple cell shading...and it took me a ridiculous amount of time but it IS finally done. I haven't drawn Javert or full-body pictures in forever.

30 Day Drawing Challenge -- Day 5

Day 5 -- Best Friend

At least, he thinks he's my best friend. XD I never draw dogs, and I am thoroughly convinced that they have the weirdest faces.

Oh, a HUMAN best friend? Oh. Sorry...mine left 6 weeks ago and I haven't found a replacement yet. *is very lonely tonight*

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30 Day Drawing Challenge -- Day 3

Day tres of zee drawink challenge...it is here! And I got done a little quicker than I thought I would today.

Day 3 -- Favorite Food

I can't help it...BACON! I've been having it every morning with (for?) breakfast for weeks along with an egg covered with nutritional yeast. Ees amazing.

So for the painting here I just slapped down the base color with a brush, then with a variety of splatter brushes at different sizes and opacity went at the actual bacon. Hence, it got a little impressionistic...and instead of working on several layers for coloring, the entire drawing was done on one layer. It was fun to try something a bit different--and from a distance it looks ever so slightly real. At least to my eye. ;)

Have a lovely Thursday, folks! See you tomorrow with the next drawing...

30 Day Drawing Challenge--Days 1 & 2

Yesterday I started a 30-day drawing challenge, because I haven't been drawing consistently for ages (or I'd start a drawing, doodle/sketch for a while, get bored, and stop working on it). So, for the next 30 days, I will be drawing (and coloring!) 1 picture a day.

It's a general list, for the most part.

The only twist for me personally is that I'm restricting my drawing abilities to the Wacom tablet (I have a Bamboo Fun that doesn't get near the use it should, hence I'm not very good at it. XD). No starting from a pencil sketch or photograph--it all has to start and end from scratch on the tablet. 

So with this being day 2, I've got the first two drawings finished...

 Day 1: Yourself

This was started last night around 8, hence it's a bit of a rush job. The style is reminiscent of a graphic novel I was writing/drawing a couple of years ago...the story fizzled out, but the art remained.

The coloring was done by using the pen tool and brushes at various opacity...nothing super special.

Day 2: Favorite Animal

Yeah, yeah, I know...everyone knows I can draw horses and that I stinking love them. XD I used to have an Arab filly this color, with the rose-grey dapples (she started out as a bay, and progressively got lighter. I never cut her mane and tail either, so both were incredibly long and thick and black/dark dark brown with reddish highlights.) 

 I colored in all the base colors by using the pen tool, and then used the dodge/burn tools for the shading. 

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On a side note, am I the only one who is totally psyched for The Hunger Games? 8D I've been listening to fan-written music for the movie, and dang. I'm getting excited for this, folks. I couldn't put down the book when I got my grubby little mitts on it, and read the entire thing in one sitting. It was that good.

And because I can, here's a link to the music I've been listening to all day. It's the 'unofficial score', fan-made and such, but it's really, REALLY good.

http://hungergamesmusic.weebly.com/the-music.html