Guess what, I'm in a bit of a rut again. Since I got my old tablet working again, I've been wondering, do I really need to get a Wacom yet? Don't get me wrong, the old one is a dodgy old thing, but it still works and serves me well. I can remember when I first got it I couldn't draw on it at all! Trust me, you don't wanna see the first pictures I did in them. Ever.
I did a bit more tidying up in my other wardrobe recently and found more sketchbook type paper. There's the thing about me, whenever I'm out shopping, I always buy stuff like sketchbooks, pads and pencils even though I don't really need them, which is why I have so much stuff that could last me well into the next decade or two.
There was quite a few things I needed more than all that stuff, such as a new pair of non-in-ear headphones [I wanted to avoid using the shitty iPod in-ear ones whenever I could because my ears are infected again and they make it worse. That reminds me, I've got to get some new medicine for that], a new microphone and some new ink cartridges.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Artsies!
I've been on such a creative flow since I got the old tab working again, I thought I might have took some time to do some art in it. It gets just a little dodgy at times, but hopefully it'll last me for long enough, considering that it's a 4 year old Aiptek Hyperpen 6000.
Hello back to you Berk.
It's supposed to be Simba of Lion King fame, but gone quite horrible wrong ;D
Fishie! Man, either GIMP's brushes suck or I suck as CGing.
The latter I spent the most time on, since I was trying out the ink tool, which, with the right tweaking, proved to be more effective than using the brush. Thing is though, it's really difficult, and there are times where you have to flip and rotate the picture just to ink with the tab more comfortably. But as they say, practice makes perfect!
Hello back to you Berk.
It's supposed to be Simba of Lion King fame, but gone quite horrible wrong ;D
Fishie! Man, either GIMP's brushes suck or I suck as CGing.
The latter I spent the most time on, since I was trying out the ink tool, which, with the right tweaking, proved to be more effective than using the brush. Thing is though, it's really difficult, and there are times where you have to flip and rotate the picture just to ink with the tab more comfortably. But as they say, practice makes perfect!
Monday, August 06, 2007
Good news everyone
Today I was cleaning out my wardrobe, when I found my old tablet, and I thought, maybe if I tried to install it again it might start working again. So I went looking for the software discs, but for some reason, every time I put both discs in, the computer kept crashing, and I tried to use CD recovery programs to get the setup out. I got very impatient after about 3/4 hours, so I went to see if there was somewhere on the net where I could find a set up, and much to my luck, I did. And even better after a little tweaking and changing of batteries, it works! Even in GIMP, where it previously used to bugger up on the old computer!So there, I'm happy, but I'm still saving up to get a wacom, for when this old tablet dies again. Damn, I'm on a creative flow now, and it's close to my bedtime.
Monday, July 09, 2007
And again
I had yet another bit of palava in the last weekend. On Friday, I was just doing my usual business with my PC, when all of a sudden the screen went black, yet the machine was still on. I thought the CRT monitor had blown again, as it was only going into standby mode. Luckily my dad's mate came over later that evening, and he had a look before telling me that the graphics card had blown.
The next day, my dad took it over to his mate's house for a further look, and sadly, the PC was rendered unusable, so I had to go without it for most of the weekend. Not only that, the folks were away for the weekend too, so I had my sister come to "look after me". She ordered us all some pizza and I just spent the evening up in my room playing Paper Mario on the Gamecube.
Yesterday evening though, I was given this new PC that I'm using right now. It's not as good in terms of physical specs as my old one [lack of SD port, half the hard disk space I had], but overall it's a better PC than I thought it'd be. It's also a good thing I have my external hard drive where I keep most of my files, so all isn't lost... It also came with a flatscreen monitor which has a whole lot of USB ports in.
So what am I doing now? Well, I've got to see if we can get a new line of ink cartridges for my printer which seems to have buggered for some reason.
Oh, and have you heard the new songs by Nightwish yet? Now, although my favourite album by the band is most definitely Oceanborn, I'm really excited for this upcoming album, which is one of many things I'm looking forward to in September. I like the new singer's voice [seriously, I would had absolutely fumed if they had chosen Lady Angelica as once rumoured], and the music is sounding as great as ever, so what's to complain about it?
The next day, my dad took it over to his mate's house for a further look, and sadly, the PC was rendered unusable, so I had to go without it for most of the weekend. Not only that, the folks were away for the weekend too, so I had my sister come to "look after me". She ordered us all some pizza and I just spent the evening up in my room playing Paper Mario on the Gamecube.
Yesterday evening though, I was given this new PC that I'm using right now. It's not as good in terms of physical specs as my old one [lack of SD port, half the hard disk space I had], but overall it's a better PC than I thought it'd be. It's also a good thing I have my external hard drive where I keep most of my files, so all isn't lost... It also came with a flatscreen monitor which has a whole lot of USB ports in.
So what am I doing now? Well, I've got to see if we can get a new line of ink cartridges for my printer which seems to have buggered for some reason.
Oh, and have you heard the new songs by Nightwish yet? Now, although my favourite album by the band is most definitely Oceanborn, I'm really excited for this upcoming album, which is one of many things I'm looking forward to in September. I like the new singer's voice [seriously, I would had absolutely fumed if they had chosen Lady Angelica as once rumoured], and the music is sounding as great as ever, so what's to complain about it?
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Finally did something original...
And by that, I mean not a copyrighted character.
There's loads here that I need to work on in future, but I'm proud of the fact that I can pull such an artwork off. This comes from a number of drawings I've done of anthropomorphic animals which were derived from a book about animals I love to look at everytime I go round my nan's. It's just that the way the animals have been depicted that make me imagine something human about them, like this creature called an olm - makes me think of a jazz musician for some reason - and some bird called an umbrella bird that makes me think of Elvis. If anything though, I just HAVE to make a picture of a cock-of-the-rock, which is basically a bird that looks like it has an orange segment on its head, not to mention how funny its name is.
Wish the weather here would better itself...
There's loads here that I need to work on in future, but I'm proud of the fact that I can pull such an artwork off. This comes from a number of drawings I've done of anthropomorphic animals which were derived from a book about animals I love to look at everytime I go round my nan's. It's just that the way the animals have been depicted that make me imagine something human about them, like this creature called an olm - makes me think of a jazz musician for some reason - and some bird called an umbrella bird that makes me think of Elvis. If anything though, I just HAVE to make a picture of a cock-of-the-rock, which is basically a bird that looks like it has an orange segment on its head, not to mention how funny its name is.Wish the weather here would better itself...
Friday, June 15, 2007
Life I guess...
I can't say that I've had anything truly exciting happen to me in the past couple of months. So I think I'll make a low down:
The job. I work as a retail assistant at a charity shop, the PDSA [People's Dispensary for Sick Animals], where I spend about two hours either changing over clothes - that means taking them off the rails, replacing their tags with a new date on them, and taking them back again - sorting through donation bags having to throw anything that's in poor condition, and steaming, which is like ironing but it's like a hoover with an iron at the end.
The only catch is that I don't get paid for it, as for all voluntary jobs. Luckily it's only down the road and a ten minute walk away, so I don't need to take the bus there and back. The people I work with treat me fairly, we can all get free snacks and drinks, we can even buy stuff we find in the sort before they get put out on sale, so what's to complain about? Well, I can't seem to feel the difference for me yet. Of course I'm getting more exercise by walking, and when I want to I can take a walk in the park, but all in all I still end up sitting here on this PC for hours on end, so I don't know if two hours is enough for me or not. But I guess any time I spend there is experience, which is what I'm aiming for.
Next thing is art. So yeah, I've had another commission and I made a new piece of fanart of The Trap Door that I submitted to DeviantART today, but other than that I don't seem to draw much other than silly little doodles. The other day I tried to do some oil painting, but all I seemed to do was just smudge paint all over the piece of canvas and getting everything dirty at the same time, hands included. Perhaps I need to study more, like the local park for example. I love it there, from the bridge and brook to the view at the top of the hill. Running down it with the dog like I did some time ago was thrilling, oh why can't I be bothered to do that on a regular basis? One day, I need to take my art supplies to the park and actually get recordings of it. Feck only knows how that would help me in terms of both my artistry and my health.
Lastly, last month I finally got to stay for a night round my sister's flat in Westcliff. Though I felt withdrawn from not having internet, it was brilliant to get away from the humdrum that goes on back at home. So that night, we spent it watching telly mostly, from stuff that's on Virgin TV On Demand or my DVDs that I brought over. The next day my sister took me to the shopping centre in Southend, where I bought a couple of Tria Markers for real cheap in an art store that's just as heavenly as Hobbycraft, and that's before something funny happened. On our way home to her flat, we stopped at a bagel shop where this nutty woman looked at me and said "Have you seen Happy Feet?" She also kept saying to the shop owners things like "What part of Israel have you been too?" and "Do you have desserts here?"...oh gawd, we just wanted to finish our bagels and get the hell out of there. It was a fun day nonetheless, and it's time like that I feel I'm at my happiest.
Before I go to bed, I must tell another funny yet embarrassing story. I was at work on Tuesday where I was tagging clothes, when one of them fell down. Clothes that fall down piss me off, so I bent down to pick it up, and my favourite jeans had ripped a massive hole! God this was so embarrassing, I had to keep my arse covered so that nobody could see it. Since I work in a charity shop, I could easily buy a new pair for just 49p, so that was what I had to do. The thing about jeans is that most of them have legs that are too long for me. I loved those jeans I had, because they fitted me well, though not perfectly since my arse is too big for them now. Something tells me that I have to cut down on the candy.
I'll leave you with a small illustration.
God I love Stoppit & Tidyup.
The job. I work as a retail assistant at a charity shop, the PDSA [People's Dispensary for Sick Animals], where I spend about two hours either changing over clothes - that means taking them off the rails, replacing their tags with a new date on them, and taking them back again - sorting through donation bags having to throw anything that's in poor condition, and steaming, which is like ironing but it's like a hoover with an iron at the end.
The only catch is that I don't get paid for it, as for all voluntary jobs. Luckily it's only down the road and a ten minute walk away, so I don't need to take the bus there and back. The people I work with treat me fairly, we can all get free snacks and drinks, we can even buy stuff we find in the sort before they get put out on sale, so what's to complain about? Well, I can't seem to feel the difference for me yet. Of course I'm getting more exercise by walking, and when I want to I can take a walk in the park, but all in all I still end up sitting here on this PC for hours on end, so I don't know if two hours is enough for me or not. But I guess any time I spend there is experience, which is what I'm aiming for.
Next thing is art. So yeah, I've had another commission and I made a new piece of fanart of The Trap Door that I submitted to DeviantART today, but other than that I don't seem to draw much other than silly little doodles. The other day I tried to do some oil painting, but all I seemed to do was just smudge paint all over the piece of canvas and getting everything dirty at the same time, hands included. Perhaps I need to study more, like the local park for example. I love it there, from the bridge and brook to the view at the top of the hill. Running down it with the dog like I did some time ago was thrilling, oh why can't I be bothered to do that on a regular basis? One day, I need to take my art supplies to the park and actually get recordings of it. Feck only knows how that would help me in terms of both my artistry and my health.
Lastly, last month I finally got to stay for a night round my sister's flat in Westcliff. Though I felt withdrawn from not having internet, it was brilliant to get away from the humdrum that goes on back at home. So that night, we spent it watching telly mostly, from stuff that's on Virgin TV On Demand or my DVDs that I brought over. The next day my sister took me to the shopping centre in Southend, where I bought a couple of Tria Markers for real cheap in an art store that's just as heavenly as Hobbycraft, and that's before something funny happened. On our way home to her flat, we stopped at a bagel shop where this nutty woman looked at me and said "Have you seen Happy Feet?" She also kept saying to the shop owners things like "What part of Israel have you been too?" and "Do you have desserts here?"...oh gawd, we just wanted to finish our bagels and get the hell out of there. It was a fun day nonetheless, and it's time like that I feel I'm at my happiest.
Before I go to bed, I must tell another funny yet embarrassing story. I was at work on Tuesday where I was tagging clothes, when one of them fell down. Clothes that fall down piss me off, so I bent down to pick it up, and my favourite jeans had ripped a massive hole! God this was so embarrassing, I had to keep my arse covered so that nobody could see it. Since I work in a charity shop, I could easily buy a new pair for just 49p, so that was what I had to do. The thing about jeans is that most of them have legs that are too long for me. I loved those jeans I had, because they fitted me well, though not perfectly since my arse is too big for them now. Something tells me that I have to cut down on the candy.
I'll leave you with a small illustration.
God I love Stoppit & Tidyup. Saturday, May 19, 2007
Welcome to my crib!
Everyone once in a while, I like to tidy up my bedroom, because well, seeing so much shit all over the place just isn't very nice at all. So without furtherado, I show you my nice [well, almost] clean bedroom!
This is where I spend up to 90% of my waking time. I forgot to tidy up around there, as my desktop usually gets really messy with glasses, wires, discs, candy wrappers and my sister's make up wipes. Oh and there's my new guitar, and my sister's old CD player that she gave me. All too often will you hear songs by Enya and Lesiem playing out loud on this, hehehe!
This is where I keep some of my junk, like DVDs, CDs and SpongeBob products. I've been collecting SpongeBob things for about 4 years now, and it's hard to fund out where to keep it all! Underneath this shelf is my printer, scanner and my games consoles [PS2, Gamecube, Dreamcast and Mega Drive].
Recently I was given this desk where I shove most of my art materials onto now, along with this nice lamp I got for my birthday. It's a bit narrow at the top, but it's big enough to hold an A4 piece of paper I guess. I'll tell you something though, it's better than doing drawings on the floor like I used to. I also stuck all my watercolour paintings on this wall for inspiration and decoration.
And here's a close up of the desk. It's pretty damn nice to keep all your tools, books and that in place, and man does that lamp make such a difference?
This is where I spend up to 90% of my waking time. I forgot to tidy up around there, as my desktop usually gets really messy with glasses, wires, discs, candy wrappers and my sister's make up wipes. Oh and there's my new guitar, and my sister's old CD player that she gave me. All too often will you hear songs by Enya and Lesiem playing out loud on this, hehehe! 
This is where I keep some of my junk, like DVDs, CDs and SpongeBob products. I've been collecting SpongeBob things for about 4 years now, and it's hard to fund out where to keep it all! Underneath this shelf is my printer, scanner and my games consoles [PS2, Gamecube, Dreamcast and Mega Drive].
Recently I was given this desk where I shove most of my art materials onto now, along with this nice lamp I got for my birthday. It's a bit narrow at the top, but it's big enough to hold an A4 piece of paper I guess. I'll tell you something though, it's better than doing drawings on the floor like I used to. I also stuck all my watercolour paintings on this wall for inspiration and decoration.
And here's a close up of the desk. It's pretty damn nice to keep all your tools, books and that in place, and man does that lamp make such a difference?Saturday, April 28, 2007
Cowabunga!
OK, I admit. In recent days I've been rather obsessed with the heroes in a halfshell, the Ninja Turtles. It was the painful neurotic type of obsession, the kind that makes me feel miserable and find it hard to keep my feelings in without spilling it all over the Internet. When I simply can't get the image[s] out of my head. But what was bugging me most was whether or not I should pay nearly £7 to see the new TMNT movie in the cinema.
In the end, I did, just today. And it was such a BRILLIANT movie. I couldn't stop moving around in excitement, the animation was just stunning. And to think that I wasn't that big of a TMNT fan throughout my childhood [personally, I thought that the new version looked awful, I tried to watch it but just couldn't]. As for the old series, well you know what 80's cartoons are like being horribly animated and inconsistant at points, but it was more bearable. What I do find fascinating though is the difference between the original intro and the UK version of it [I live in a country where it was known as HERO turtles at the time] - oh man, the edits! They're hilarious!
Man, feels good to have watched A movie after about 1 and a half years. It's damn expensive though, that's the thing, but it's nice to treat myself to something special every once in a while. I'm gonna be shouting shit like "Cowabunga dude!" for the next week now! Either that or what me and my sister used to sing over the old theme tune - "Heroes in a halfshell, PEEL-A-PEEL!"
In the end, I did, just today. And it was such a BRILLIANT movie. I couldn't stop moving around in excitement, the animation was just stunning. And to think that I wasn't that big of a TMNT fan throughout my childhood [personally, I thought that the new version looked awful, I tried to watch it but just couldn't]. As for the old series, well you know what 80's cartoons are like being horribly animated and inconsistant at points, but it was more bearable. What I do find fascinating though is the difference between the original intro and the UK version of it [I live in a country where it was known as HERO turtles at the time] - oh man, the edits! They're hilarious!
Man, feels good to have watched A movie after about 1 and a half years. It's damn expensive though, that's the thing, but it's nice to treat myself to something special every once in a while. I'm gonna be shouting shit like "Cowabunga dude!" for the next week now! Either that or what me and my sister used to sing over the old theme tune - "Heroes in a halfshell, PEEL-A-PEEL!"
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Art dump numero uno
Man I haven't posted any art, drawings or whatever in like, forever since my last commission. So yesterday, I suddenly had a boom of ideas and tried to draw some of them down... some of them however... these two I've done of my "fish-sona" have got to be the scariest things I've ever drawn.
Summary of my new job. I hope no-one in the library saw this one.
Um...OK...what?
Well, here's a less scary, un-inked picture of the Robo meditating while listening to Lesiem albums..."Wherever I go, wherever you are, the peace that you bring has lifted me so far and now I see, its a miracle..."
"WILL YOU START THE FANS PLEASE?" I can watch the Crystal Maze in the kitchen now that we've got a Virgin Media box in there ;)
Straight after drawing Richard O'Brian and his crystals, I looked at a few jars that were next to the telly. Guess which one's which.
Summary of my new job. I hope no-one in the library saw this one.
Um...OK...what?
Well, here's a less scary, un-inked picture of the Robo meditating while listening to Lesiem albums..."Wherever I go, wherever you are, the peace that you bring has lifted me so far and now I see, its a miracle..." 
"WILL YOU START THE FANS PLEASE?" I can watch the Crystal Maze in the kitchen now that we've got a Virgin Media box in there ;)
Straight after drawing Richard O'Brian and his crystals, I looked at a few jars that were next to the telly. Guess which one's which.Also drawn were a few new Rayman and James Pond fanarts which I might post next time. Or colour them. Whatever I feel like doing. God it feels so good to be drawing again.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
One week without my internets
Man what a palava that last week was. I've been without home Internet for an entire week and I had to pay £1 a pop on one of those computers in McDonalds. They're awful - they have no mouse so you have to literally poke the touchscreen just to get it to scroll, and the metal "keyboard" is a surefire way to break one's fingers. You can't even cut and paste or print, save or basically do anything apart from going on the Internet.
Thankfully, I got my broken modem plug replaced today thanks to someone from Virgin Media who came round and put a new digibox into the kitchen. Oh I missed real internet so much!
Anyway, while I was away I did loads of different things. I finally got to see my sister's flat after a trip to Ikea, I've had an interview at a PDSA charity shop and got a trial to start, and I turned to the golden age of 20. I had a lovely birthday on Wednesday...
Me, mum, my sisters and Carla's boyfriend all went to London for shopping and stuff. I wanted to look in Forbidden Planet first, which took us about an hour just to find and I didn't even buy anything from there. Then we took a bus over to Harrods to meet Dean the boyfriend's sister, and that's where I bought a Mr Krabs plush in the toy department, along with pissing about with display toys.
Lastly I had a good look in Virgin Megastores and HMV for a bunch of CDs I wanted, but only came out with two - Lesiem's Auracle and Enya's Day Without Rain, which made good use of the gift voucher Danielle got me. I also opened up to a new SpongeBob bag and socks, a Once Upon the Forest DVD [used to love that film as a kid], and a nice new 160GB external harddrive. Cool eh?
As for art, well at first I didn't do much, felt rather uninspired. But yesterday I bought some new dip pens and nibs and an A6 sketchbook [for whenever I go out]. I wasn't too happy with the former at first and I ended up breaking the feeder on one of them, but I soon got used to one of them. So far the one I like best is slightly better than my 4-year-old calligraphy one.
I also finished a commission while I was away, which will be on DeviantART shortly.
Thankfully, I got my broken modem plug replaced today thanks to someone from Virgin Media who came round and put a new digibox into the kitchen. Oh I missed real internet so much!
Anyway, while I was away I did loads of different things. I finally got to see my sister's flat after a trip to Ikea, I've had an interview at a PDSA charity shop and got a trial to start, and I turned to the golden age of 20. I had a lovely birthday on Wednesday...
Me, mum, my sisters and Carla's boyfriend all went to London for shopping and stuff. I wanted to look in Forbidden Planet first, which took us about an hour just to find and I didn't even buy anything from there. Then we took a bus over to Harrods to meet Dean the boyfriend's sister, and that's where I bought a Mr Krabs plush in the toy department, along with pissing about with display toys.
Lastly I had a good look in Virgin Megastores and HMV for a bunch of CDs I wanted, but only came out with two - Lesiem's Auracle and Enya's Day Without Rain, which made good use of the gift voucher Danielle got me. I also opened up to a new SpongeBob bag and socks, a Once Upon the Forest DVD [used to love that film as a kid], and a nice new 160GB external harddrive. Cool eh?
As for art, well at first I didn't do much, felt rather uninspired. But yesterday I bought some new dip pens and nibs and an A6 sketchbook [for whenever I go out]. I wasn't too happy with the former at first and I ended up breaking the feeder on one of them, but I soon got used to one of them. So far the one I like best is slightly better than my 4-year-old calligraphy one.
I also finished a commission while I was away, which will be on DeviantART shortly.
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