First off – yes, I cheated on the grass. Srsly, my attempts were looking pretty sad. Also – yes, the mountains look kind of bare.
BUT.
I like the smudgy tree things, and Ceniro himself didn’t turn out too badly.
It is based off this pencil sketch. I did the background all in the computer.
I’ve been putting up recordings on YouTube! Organ recordings! They’re not as good as the actual performance but that was because I kept falling off the organ bench! : P
Like I said before, she’s age 20 here.
Well, another Photoshop experiment. Not my most brilliant work, pretty sloppy, really, but it’s something new. Greyscale with a smudgy brush of this picture. Painted while listening to Love Over Gold by Dire Straits, which is after all Rana’s theme song.
You like? (I may use this technique again, hint hint.)
Sorry, no art today! I have been so busy the last 8 days (except Sunday, which was a rest day for me) it’s ridiculous. You may ridicule if you like.
Everybody loves Niel. He’s super-enthusiastic, and he knows tons of things. Of course, I was hanging out with John (Nick’s student) all day and he knows tons of things too, even though he doesn’t have much opportunity to actually practice like he would like to. (I was a volunteer at the event; I looked after some kids while Niel and Nick taught some other kids) But everybody loves Niel, and I wish he’d been around for longer than Sat-Mon. Oh well, he remembered me! Continue reading
IT’S DONE WHOOOO
Oooh, a big coloured picture. I did one. Took me multiple days, but it’s better than the other ones that I was doing a while ago. I really tried to make the lighting look right. It was hard and is still lacking (though good for a beginner). But I discovered how to do the sparkly tool and also I used a filter on the background.
Sorry for taking so long. I know I said I was working on it but then I got busy. Busier.
Apologies for everyone who has been taking my raving about the Tour. I’ll shut up now, I’ll really try. I just love it so much, and not many people around here will let me fill their ears with my opinions. 🙁
Them’s bedroom eyes, Eros…
Ooh, possible upcoming project for winter! A webcomic retelling of the tale of Eros and Psyche, which is probably my favourite Greco-Roman myth. Psyche is the worried looking girl and Eros is the sparkly semi-transparent god peeking at her behind her back.
We discussed this legend today in Greek and Latin Roots of English, and I abruptly got the idea for a webcomic, so I went home and drew this right away.
This is only a preview of the cover; the finished cover will be much more sparkly and colourful and pretty. This is just a quick sketch to get my ideas down. The comic itself will probably be in b/w so as to save time. There will be chibis! Despite Venus being the goddess of physical interpersonal relations and Eros her son being the god of pretty much the same thing, it will be a family friendly webcomic. Also people will more or less be wearing clothes and the worst language you will get will probably be “Aw, crud”.
And now I am going to go watch Andy – I mean, le Tour, and see if Tyler wins a sprint today yay!
This is Andy. Also me. (drew this today as my new social borg site picture for the duration of le Tour) (I’m not sure where the picture is from because I saved it randomly off the internet a year ago)
Regarding the Tour de France:
The Tour headed through the region of Savoy, which, as Cedric is proud to point out, his family used to rule several centuries ago.
Cadel was riding with a broken arm; he fell off the leaders rather early on the last climb of the day, the terrifying Col de la Madeleine. I still think he can win, or at least come in third, but it will take some grit. Fortunately, he’s an Australian ex-mountain biker, so he is not lacking in that. I bet he’s in pain though, and I hope that he gets a chance to heal and recover through the next few stages that are a bit flatter. His team was really super today, though I was also surprised to see George Hincapie going backwards even sooner than Cadel. However, he’s not called Big George for nothing; the big guys find mountains hard. The climbers – Cadel, Andy, Contador – they’re all between 140 and 155 lbs. Continue reading
As I write this it is skin-meltingly hot out… but Flairé was unusually talkative today and gave me the outline of the history of the kalmaeirin currency system(s), so I thought I should get it down before I forgot it or it got garbled by something. <_< >_>
This does not include a discussion of the credit system they used, or the age jewel gifting traditions that existed in some parts of the kingdoms, or of the economic system itself. This is only a summary of how they started using currency.
As soon as the kalmaei were ‘civilized’ enough to start producing ‘goods’, they needed a way to exchange them. At first this was done by barter (“I’ll give you baked goods for three weeks if you give me those boots…”). This was pretty obviously impractical; they made do for a while with extremely complicated agreements (“I want some of your fish, but you don’t need my fishhooks, but that guy over there does, and he’ll give you a couple of oars, which you do want…” etc.) but in the end they decided something had to change. Continue reading
Chapter 8: Landing at Taizel Chapter 10: Father and Son
Chapter 9: Fluorspar’s Oath
We marched east along the road quickly all that day. Myrrh could fly, but she was small and could not go fast. I hoped we would catch up to her soon. The horse-mounted scouts were busy; everyone was on edge all that day. We were surrounded by the land of Grado and enemy soldiers could be over every hill.
We came to the wide region of Hanarka, where rivers spiralled and corkscrewed their way down from the northeastern mountains into the western lakes, which fed more rivers leading to the southern sea… There, we found enemies. A whole army of Grado, with more on the horizon, was lining up between the riverbanks.
I discussed tactics with Syrene, riding alongside me.
“The general is distant, but it appears to be Selena Fluorspar,” she said.
I nodded. I had met Selena once or twice. She had not yet been a general when I met her, only a commander. She was kind, if reserved.
Rachel pushed up beside us. “I’ve heard of her. It’s said in Rausten she is feared by bandits for her use of Bolting, the lightening spell that strikes from afar without mercy.”
“Thank you, Rachel. I will use caution against such magic… Anything else, Syrene?” I asked.
“Vanessa reports there may be bandits in the southeastern mountains, and there are some strange people to the east who do not wear Grado’s uniform…”
“How strange?”
“One is a woman, dressed in a short skirt more suited for Jehanna; the others are all big strong men. Perhaps a noblewoman is travelling.”
“Then we needn’t worry about them just yet. Deussel!”
“Yes, Lord Ephraim?”
“Your company will sweep south along the eastern side of the rivers. Remind your men to look out for the travellers and not to hurt them.”
“Understood.” Deussel waved his axe and a number of knights, including Gilliam, and also Rachel, headed off with a rumble.
“As for the rest of you, follow me!” I cried, waving my own lance and running down to the west side of the rivers. Continue reading
It’s… a HAND!!!
Hi! Preview of the painting I’ve been working on. Internet cookies to those who figure out what it’s of!
Things to be finished on this painting: weapon, background, and ambiance. Whoo!
I found out that painting shiny gold is easier than I thought it would be… maybe it doesn’t look like the pros, but it turned out better than I thought it would. You’ll have to wait to see that, though.