Sunday, September 3, 2006

One, Two, Test, Test

If you notice anything odd about this post, or the next few posts, please let me know. I'm in the process of testing some code I learned while the site was down. Yes, I finally went over and read a few things about CSS, and I think I've got a handle on it enough to try a few things here. You may have already noticed that my BG no longer scrolls with the page, I managed to get that piece of code up earlier, now I have a few others I want to add just to make my formatting a little less hairy on the source end. I've tested this code already, but that doesn't mean it'll work here. I will be testing it here ironing out any unforseen difficulties as they arise. Anyone who knows CSS is encouraged to provide assistance on those efforts. With that out of the way, You all probably noticed that the whole site was down this weekend, and if you haven't checked the TheO front page, here's what was happening. Adam, the site's founder and Massin, one of the programmers, began to notice some problems all over the site on Friday, I think it was while they were working out the thumbnail kinks on a new server, but I'm not sure. To make a long story short the primary hard drive for this site failed, but content up to a week ago (Aug 28) was backed up. Any submissions after that date will have to be resent, but as Adam said "It could have been infinitely worse." If you get the time, stop over on Adam's page, or get out to the TheO main page and post a message of thanks to the staff here for working their hardest to get the site back up and running as quickly as possible. I can't speak for everyone, but I'm understanding of situations that aren't in anyone's control. Comments: Chabichou Let me tell you, I miss the journeys to school on autumn mornings (had to get up at 6 to catch the bus), but I don't miss the schooling one bit. I can still see warm afternoon sunlight cascading through the bright orange, yellow, and red leaves as I'm getting off the bus, and smelling that damp air coming out of the woods, if I'm not all stopped up in the head. I don't mind the cold, as long as there's plenty of the white stuff out there to make it worthwhile, otherwise, I hate it too. Yensid Lucky for me after sixteen years of living here, I'm sort of becoming imune to the things that physically crippled me my first year in the state. I've never had things that bad though, so I guess I'm lucky there. Hope you get to feeling better soon. I hear that, I'm one of those (of Celtic coloring) myself. My firey red har may mean I've got a temper, but like a vampire the sun and I don't get along too well. The fall is just so tranquil, and you get some really wonderful pictures, which reminds me I've got to get out and do some shooting soon. That's good to hear. I've been told I can come off a bit abrasive when I'm trying to explain something (especially so when I'm tired). At least we know Word is the most likely culpret in the matter now, since I'm not the only one who's brought up the possibility. That must have been a disaster to fix all those punctuation errors. I've seen that around the web several places, so you're not the only one it's happened to. I think I have it figured out. In using the float function for an image you can specify the margins top left right and bottom, you have to use a number of pixels, but you should be able to set it up so that the words aren't butting the image. I'm using 5px for this picture here and of course I'm floating it to the right not left. You're wanting something a little more like this rather than my first test image over there. I haven't come across the hspace code yet so I can't help with it, but on the float code for CSS, just use the margin code. You want your image floating code to look something like this: .leftfloat{ float: left; margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 5px; margin-bottom: 5px; } See how the margins are specified? You can do that with each margin to force the text away from the image without using a table. I use 5 pixels, but you can add more or less to your liking. Of course you can use your own class name (the .leftfloat part before the bracket) I did that so I would know what I expect to happen when I use the class for an image or something. It tell me without a note, or my having to look it up in my ref sheet. If you're wanting something more advanced than that, I can't help yet, I just started learning this stuff. I can offer this from my own testing though, look for line breaks in your code. Sometimes those stop the code from working, like here on MyO, user inserted CSS code can't have any line breaks in it at all. Try taking out all the line breaks in your code, and if it doesn't solve your issue, let me know. I'll also have to do some digging into the hspace code and see what I can come up with for you. Well, Theatre is a performing art, so I guess you could just use that, though I imagine breaking a pencil (for artists in that medium like myself) would be worse than breaking a leg. Spilling paint would be a nightmare for painters, crushing chalk for chalk artists, I could go on coming up with these things, hope I inspired a winning phrase out of you. No worries on the picture, I'll worry about that on my end. I probably should do a test run just to see how things go and to make sure nothing goes wonky on us. Maybe later I'll do that. Photoshop Elements 2 and Corel Painter Essentials 2 came with my tablet, but I use the program Pixia for 95% of my digital image editing needs anyway. Anime Dreams!

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Saturday, September 2, 2006

Early Fall, and Dancing Memories

I've noticed a lot of members here have been observing an early chill in the air, particualrly our neighbors to the north (for those of us in the US). I suppose an early fall is on the way, but that's not all bad, I love the fall season, there's so much wrapped up in it, so many good times I've had were in the fall. My best moments and memories surround things that I did when leaves were turning colors and drifting offthe trees one by one. Watching nature get herself ready for a time of rest usually inspires me to take a look at myself, ready my mind and body for a rest, and take the time to do it. It's in this slight chill air that many of my stories were born, on the way to school, going home from school, or just enjoying the day sitting on the back porch. Tea goes from iced to hot, with lemon and honey, winter clothes come out, and heaters get checked for use in the coming cooler months. This is good hot cider weather, and it's a time of great peace in my heart. It's also time I got out the camera and started chasing those brilliant leaves so I can share them with the rest of you. Normally I don't get all senitmental, but here's something to think about. What are your fondest memories of the fall season? Me, I just enjoyed being out in the chilly air, even when I was so sick with allergies, just to have fun. That was ages ago (maybe 10 years or more). I enjoyed soaking in the cool dampness of the woods, the crisp blue of the sky, and the dreams of youthful fancy. Comments: Yensid I enjoy cooking, especially for people who enjoy eating what I make. The people my sister's friend has these cookouts for suffer from things like anxiety or depression, so I'll do what I can to help them have a great time for a change, if that means staying up all night to make ten plus pounds of potato salad, I'll do it in a heartbeat. It's not volunteering in the traditional sense, I don't go out there and actually help with the main part of the cookout or anything, but I'm willing to contribute what I can. Thank you very much for the offer. All I have right now are the barely discernable rough outs, so it's not ready for a critique just yet. As long as my Photoshop Elements 2 (I can't afford a full version of Photoshop) opens normal Photoshop documents, I'll take you up on that, when it's ready for evaluation. My teacher taught us critique over criticism my first year in theatre class, and I've kept it in mind all this time. I also use that same mindset when I read comments about my art, to see who's offering help, and who's just venting after a bad day. I can try to find one of the evaluations we used in Theatre and adapt it for use here, I do that in my head now, but I can't write it out from memory. Back in early August 2003 when I clicked the "post" button to submit my question on how to learn to draw animé style to a message board, I told myself that I would always, always accept helpful information, and use it to the best of my ability to improve my art. Three years later, I'm still accepting tips, and suggestions, and I'm more aware of what area I need to improve in my art, and I know I need to practice a whole lot more. I'm not here on MyO to do everything, know everyone, and be at the top of the list, I'm here because this is where I can talk to others about animé art, and other things in ways that other communities shy away from. I don't need a number to tell me that I belong somewhere, the experience with other members tells me that, and I know I belong here. I know I came off a bit grouchy with the HTML stuff, sorry for that tone, I was having issues on my end and well, that's no excuse for taking it out on others. Please pardon a stubborn, young, inexperienced, and impatient dragon his faults of temper. Rudeness is never intentional. Word does have the ability to make Web pages, in File ([ALT] > F) you have three save options (After clicking that little double arrow at the bottom that's hiding half the menu - I hate that thing): Save ([ALT] > F > S), Save As ([ALT] > F > A), and Save As Web Page ([ALT] > F> G). Saving as a web page though is what generates bad coding. Actually all of the word processing programs I've tried do bad code saving that way, OpenOffice.Org Writer, Word, and Works Word Processor. For some reason, none of them seem to know how to do the simple things the right way. I do the same thing, I have the code I use drafted up and I just insert the new material where it needs to go, then copy([CTRL] + A > [CTRL] + C) and paste ([CTRL] + V) the finished post into the text box in the backroom here or whereever (Except for Geocities, their software is buggy about doing things right) and I'm done. If it's there to simplify creating a document type, then it's a template in my book. Word does have a way to do text conversion, but I like the Old School myself, I just save the document in text format: [ALT] > F > A. Choose a name, then click the dropdown with all the different file types listed and find "Plain Text" and save it. It should then open in Notepad by default, but could be opened in Word as well (Check MRUD list or Open [CTRL] + O, browse for the file and open it from there). Inserting pictures into a text body is hard. The only way I know how to do an image with a nice wordwrap around it (so there's no gaps in text content) is to "nest" tables which is frowned upon by the newer HTML standards, and just really complicated to keep track of with all the coding involved, not to mention a lot of it is on the "depreciated" list of the W3C. It also doesn't quite render correctly, you'll note it's not flush to the margin because of the table border to cushion the text a little. There are CSS ways to do it too, which are supposed to be cleaner and easier to use, but I don't know enough about it to suggest anything in that area. Do a search on "wrap text around embedded images", and you'll find some resources that show the CSS code for "floating" an image on a page. It's supposed to wrap text and do some other things too, but I won't know till I learn CSS and do some testing on my own. For now though, if you want, go ahead and copy my code for the table right up there and use it till you find something better, and more efficient. I can't figure out why links work without the quotes (test) when they're not really supposed to, and don't when you do them right. I wouldn't doubt Word is doing something weird on you. I did some testing and found out that the Arial font doesn't render smart quotes on the web, that's why my last post (which I fixed now by changing my page font, it's now Times New Roman) didn't show them correctly. I also found out that by default, Word AutoCorrects typed URLs, and turns them into hyperlinks. Here's how to stop if from doing that, select the Tools menu. Now, you may have click the double down arrow at the bottom of the menu to make the whole menu visible, then find AutoCorrect Options. You'll get a pop up that has several tabs on it, find the tab "Auto Format As You Type" and select it. From there, find the heading "Replace as you type" (should be the first one if you're using Word 2002) and look for "Internet and Network paths with hyperlinks" Uncheck that, click okay and see if doing that fixes things. If it does, let me know, if it doesn't, let me know as well so I can look at other things that might be at issue. I don't always get things right the first time. If that alone doesn't help, repeat the steps, but uncheck " "straight quotes" with “smart quotes”" and see if that helps too. Again I really apologize for my tone with the whole HTML thing. I won't excuse it, it wasn't appropriate. I didn't mean for it to come out accusatory or even remotely implicative, but I posted before proofreading and sometimes, no, all the time, that's not good to do. HTML was hard for me at first too, now I can do the basic stuff okay, but I really need to get cracking on CSS if I want to be standards compliant. There's a lot of stuff I've seen people do with CSS that I would love to be able to do myself. I'm the same way sometimes with things I want to know and don't, I get really frustrated when I can't do something, or when a problem comes my way that I can't figure out in less than a few minutes. I always like to joke with people about this: Never say "good luck" to a theatre man, that bad luck. We say "Break a leg" instead. Anyway, I put my heart into everything I do, and try my best, that's all the luck I need, I make it myself in the process. alphonse13 That's all right, I was a bit long winded anyway. If you really want to read all that, Here you go. Anime Dreams!

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Friday, September 1, 2006

Tired Eyes

Tired Eyes Upon the Sleepy Sands I read the comments on my artwork, I really appreciate them. I tell people that I can't learn if people don't tell what I need to improve. I do know I still have a way to go in a few areas, but the feedback is a great help. I'll do more personalized responses to your comments if you all want me to, otherwise thank you very much for helping me improve my art. I'm so worn out right now, making potato salad is very intense work (when you're making 10 lbs. of it). It's for a good cause though, I friend of my sister's has a cookout once in a while for some people he knows who really deserve to have a good time. I don't mind doing it for that, it's fun for me anyway, I love to cook. I really should go if I want to work on that other picture. I really want it to turn out right. Comments: Yensid Well, I hope not, she hasn't seen the picture she asked me to draw for her yet. While it works to link that way, without the quotes, don't be teaching it that way. The proper way is to put the URL (and any other attributes) in straight quotes[ " " ] (Not "smart" or "typographical" quotes [ “ ” ] Should work, but isn't, I'll link a sample later, I'm too [Censored] tired right now to make this page [Censored] work). If you're using a program like Word to generate your HTML, please don't. It doesn't do it right most of the time. I'll point out that I use the quotes on all my links, you can check my source code. You don't want to encourage shortcuts that go against the new HTML standards, because those things are a real pain to unlearn later. I can't really comment on CSS, I still know too little about it, but I know that clean code makes a page load nice and fast and doesn't crash the browser. My family thinks I'm vicious with complaint letters, but I know different. Some companies will not respond well to a simple polite letter, it takes a firm hand once in a while to command the attention of some compnaies. I know how to do that kind of thing, be firm and direct, without going too far. Have I gone too far with my letters? Yes I have, I won't discuss that because I don't want to teach others how to be spitefully nasty when they shouldn't be. Most of the time I do like to let myself cool off before over reacting, but I draft up a letter in the heat of the moment, cool myself down, look at what I wrote, change a lot of things, then send it off usually. Oh, I've done that before, about Napster. Thing is, this situation, this company, is different. Now I'm in that awkward position of having to explain this and I'm not sure I can do that without revealing the company's identity. It's not an issue of a rip-off, that was never the case, it was more of a thumbed nose type gesture from the company regarding a product they were offering on a limited basis. It just hit me the wrong way that the company indicated this product will not be offered again. It was something I really wanted the chance to get, but couldn't during this limited run which was exclusively for online payers. Not having a credit card myself, I had hoped for a future opportunity to come my way. I chose not to make a big deal out of the limited run being restricted to online purchase options because I thought this was a test run, that they'll be offering this thing again. When I heard that's not going to happen, I didn't like it. The company has done other things before, and done them well, that's why this situation is a little bitter, like cider vinegar, to the taste for me. I did send a little note, nothing elaborate or fancy, to the head of the company, but I doubt it will be understood the way I want it to be. I didn't say much in it at all, just made it clear that I wasn't happy with the news of no future runs for the product. I should have spoken out when I first saw the payment options, I won't make that mistake again. I don't hold my anger in, I record audio journals on MiniDisc. Funny you should put it that way, this situation is a lot like telling the big boss to go [Censored] himself. I can't say any more without putting myself at undue risk so that's all you get from me on that. Sure thing, glad to help out. Hope all goes well for you there, you take care of yourself. Shireishou Being a theatre person, I know what you mean. There's quite a difference between a ctriticism and a critique. A critique is what directors use, telling an actor where he needs to improve, and offering advice on how to do it. A criticism is just someone out to get their jollies being rude to other people, saying only negative things and offering nothing positive. Adam has said he's planning on revamping the rating system here on TheO, I hope that means that the artists will get more information on why a picture is or isn't liked. I'm guilty of not posting comments to artwork I vote on myself, maybe I should get in the habit of actually saying why I like something (or don't, but I rarely don't like artwork). I'll be fine, I always bounce back from these little things. I did promise I would try, and we can both be sure I certainly did my best. CSS is the way the web standards are going. I need to really get off my butt (well, I have to sit at the computer) and learn CSS myself so I can be standards compliant too. Supporting newer members is something anyone who's been here a while should do once in a while. You make a friend in the process, and start someone off on the right foot with how things are done, what's not permissible, and other key points that new members aren't going to know right away. I was glad to do it, and if I could do things over, I'd support you just the same. It'll be two years already? Wow, time really flies around here doesn't it? I hope you keep on coming back and make those two year the start of a lifetime here. alphonse13 I'd never willingly leave this community, so if I ever disappear from here, you know it's not by my choice. Sorry I didn't link to the image directly, a lot hit me at once and when that happens my fingers don't like to type too much. Anime Dreams!

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Thursday, August 31, 2006

Blank Stare, A Whisper Across the Desert Sands

Sitting here, I just realized that the untamed pen of the internet makes it all too easy to lash out at someone we feel has wronged us. It's easy to say harsh, critical things about companies, products, even people with a certain measure of impunity. Sometimes those things are based in truth, other times, they are just the rants of people so blinded by their own wounded pride that they cross from being legitimate complaints into being delusional rants with no purpose other than to tear at the hearts of those we feel have committed us some wrong. That would be the easy route for me to take right now. I could write a heartfelt criticism of something that came at me hard just today, but I won't do that. In looking over my thoughts on the whole situation, I've asked myself the question I brought up here before: "Is it worth the effort?" I also asked: "Will anything be accomplished besides hurting myself and others with this issue only I think is serious?" Retrospect tells me an emphatic "NO". While it would make me feel better, it would do more harm than good to everyone involved if I went off on that self gratifying tangent. I'm taking the high road this time, the honorable path and choosing not to even indentify any slight inkling of the source for my own bruised ego. It's just not worth the frustration, ther's nothing I can do to change things, and one voice in the darkness doesn't always stir others to sing along and disrupt the silence. At least I have bit of good news. Last I checked, the one piece of artwork was up, I haven't finished the second one I wanted up yet, so it'll be delayed. I'm too tired and annoyed to direct link the image, but that's what the portfolio is for anyway. Comments: beyblader I'll drink to that, got a Mountain Dew behind me. I'm going to throw some technical terms at you, sorry about that. My laptop is an idiot when it comes to the ethernet card. See, MY ISP uses PPPoE (Point-to-Point Protocal over Ethernet) for it's DSL, now, they use what's called the WAN Miniport, I guess that's a function of the ethernet card, anyway, I can use the net with the LAN capability of the ethernet card disabled on my desktop computer, but not on my laptop, I have to have LAN enabled to connect to the net. Both the desktop and laptop run Windows XP, but maybe that's a hardware specific setting to the card in the desktop. My last major mess up with the desktop computer though was updating Napster (if you don't count the time I overheated the thing!). Being the tech person in a family has it's downsides. Yensid Just words from the heart like always, but thanks for saying so. I don't know or associate with all of the staff here, but I do talk with a couple of them, and regularly visit Panda and Adam (the site's founder see friends list). It's a policy of mine to know someone on staff on the important places I go online, though at times I'd bet they'd like to not know me. I think that would be best, further discussion of this matter should be moved to PM. I took a look over on your artluvr site, and I know some of those links. That tells me I've got good friends recommending great resources. One site you could add to the HTML section is Caprice's tutorial site that she built here on MyO (on-a-whim in my friend's list). Some of the HTML is a little out of date, but she's got good basic CSS coverage there. Naturally, I always dream in animé format. MilleniumChaos Thank you, a belated Happy Anniversary to you as well, looks like you've been on almost a month longer than I have. Only those who were directly affected by it, or knew someone directly affected by it would have known anything was really going on. This phantom lurks in the catwalks of the site, staring down at the packed house with his piercing golden eyes, studying with emotionless silence those below. He seeks the weaker souls easily preyed upon to seize as his own, or for his own perverted amusment. Being a man of the shadows myself, I know how that phantom demon works all too well. Anything more said is best left to PM, I can feel that phantom's cold eyes on me, right now, gazing out from the darkness of the wings, waiting till I'm alone on stage to make his move. That reminds me I need to archive everything again. Once in a while I go through save out all the messages I have and clear my folders on site here. I've been a bum about a lot of things too so call us even in that department. By all means do so, that is, if you don't mind my returning the favor and bugging you every time you update! :P I almost complimented the bubbles or balloons on you BG image when I signed your guestbook, but given your page's theme, I think (hold it, strike that, reverse it), I know, I would have been grossly incorrect if I'd actually said that in the guestbook. It's a nice and colorful BG image, and it fits the page nicely. Shireishou Thank you as well. I know, that's what keeps me coming back. While there have been a few members who've behaved poorly, and an incident or two that no site should be proud of, overall the site is very welcoming and very friendly toward people. Actually a vacation sounds like a good idea, too bad I can't take one right now. It's always important to rest the mind from routine things once in a while. To be honest, I should be apologizing to you anyway since it's been well over a month since my last visit to your page. I really like what you've done with it now, the layout is really nice, and I'm happy to see that tagboard coding isn't troubling you anymore. Sorry I couldn't do more to help out with that too. Just come by when you can, that's all I expect of anyone. To address your comment on my art, thank you, but I didn't really design him. I gave the friend who asked me to draw him a guideline (I'll post the one I use another day) and had him fill that out, so that's pretty much all his design work communicated well enough for me to execute it. He's not very secure in his art ability yet, so he asked me to draw his role play character for him, at least I think that's why he asked me to draw it for him. I'm not really good at telling when he's joking or serious. alphonse13 I know, it's scary that I can recall what the old layout was like (check the archived sites for Outlaw Star, InuYasha, and a few others) when that was used. But at the same time it doesn't feel like three years has gone by already. I used to be in that routine myself, but I'm still in the process of actually fighting my addiction to the internet so I want to try to limit my time online but still use that time productively. I usually pop on, copy the comments from the comment manager, and answer them offline when I can, draft up my main content (precedes the comment answers) then I'm just basically doing a copy and paste post when I get online again. If i see updated posts when I'm on, I go comment on those too. So do I, fanart is fun. I did manage to get one of the pictures up (check my portfolio), the other wasn't so lucky. Give me a few more days and I'll try to have it up too. I want to make sure I'm doing it right because it's my first real parody piece and it's using an existing character so the whole structure has to be just so (that and my sister will pound me flat if I don't make it look good, she's the one who requested it). Anime Dreams!

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Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Toxic Nonsense, The Three Year Point

It seems like just yesterday that I signed up on a community dedicated to one of my interests. I joined because I liked what I saw, the chance to share my opinions on fanart and other things was new to me, and I felt it was a place I could call home, a place I would belong. Three years later, I've seen the site go through server troubles, problems with it's web host, upgrades and changes, yet it still feels just like it did back when I typed in my username and password to register an account. I've met a lot of people, I've seen great artists and close friends bullied off the site by members, I've lost touch with others, I've renewed friendships along the way too. I've submitted some of my work, voted on a lot of of others' works, and shared a lot about myself with the people. There were times when I got under the staff's skin too I'm sure, but they put up with me all the same. I've seen the site do ambitious things as well, and look forward to se more. The site was MyOtaku.com, right here where I am now. It's the first real animé community I ever belonged to, the only one where I really feel at home. This post is dedicated to the members and staff of Myotaku.com and TheOtaku.com. For welcoming me to the community, putting up with me when I was a thorn in your sides, and continuing to encourage and inspire me in my art, and life, the words "thank you" aren't nearly enough. Let's try to make those three years the start of a lifetime, because they are just the beginning. Comments: Juz Cuz By all means keep getting excited about posting, whether it's first or not. Every time you post a comment you're sharing your opinion, what you know, and a little of who you are with the rest of the members here. Always get excited about that, especially so if you're the first to post (~_^), some people use that as a benchmark to make their own posts from. Consider it a promise on my part, I'll do the best I can to keep in touch. I will, that's a promise too, because I like sharing my artwork with others. alphonse13 I keep telling myself I want to make a regular weekly thing of this blog at least, just to get myself into a routine. Now I'm posting when I feel like it which kind of hinders my focus. As I said just up there a little bit, I love to share my art with friends(even strangers), so I'll try to get the stuff up here soon. Mamma Vash: Thank you for saying so, I appreciate the sentiment. You're comments are always something I look forward to as well (this goes to all my friends online here), I really appreciate the varying levels of wisdom and experience I get from everyone I talk to on here. I know I don't say it enough, but it's the truth, I'd be a lot different if I didn't have friends like everyone here to keep encouraging me, and offering me advice, so thank you. In terms of my comments, I try to impart what wisdom I can in the most effective manner possible. sometimes they're funny, sometimes they're serious, but they're always from the heart. You and me both. I'd be satisfied enough with something, even temporary, just to set up my financial situation in such a way that will get me through, and let me provide for myself. No, there's nothing difficult about the situations I face, they're routine things to most people. I'm just cursed with anxiety which prevents me from being able to do some routine things in the same effective manner that others can easily handle. In thinking about it, your right, though I like to claim I'm just stubborn, I think there has to be some underlying strength to that stubborness, otherwise, I wouldn't keep at things like I do. Balancing strength and creativity isn't hard, the two work well together. People tell me I'm smart, and I think it's that which conflicts with creativity some times, not strength. Yensid Yeah, and it's called the "Flying Dutchman". In my case I'm opening my eyes to see the possibility of a "marketable asset" in terms of what could I offer a company, or what could I offer the general public. I'm realistic about a lot of things, this being one of them. I know it's a one in infinity chance of actually making a living from creativity, I'm not deluding myself into thinking I'll get anywhere at all. I'm just thinking that if I could earn even a little bit from one or two of the photos I took, from one or two of the stories I wrote, from something I produced with my two hands that didn't cost me anything to make, that I can save what I get, and let it build up over time. Then, when I have something to my name, be able to take care of those things which plague me now. I know, and I'm doing my best with that, taking what I can access and make it work for me. If I were any better, I'd do the same thing myself, becuase I have this belief that a person who knows something, should teach it in the best way they can. I'd offer, but there are many things wrong with that so I'll just wish you luck with the project. There are POD (Publishing on demand) options to look into if you don't want to risk the big publishing houses not accepting your work. Anime Dreams!

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Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Quick Session

I'm just going to cut to the comments today so I can hurry off to finish what I was supposed to have done yesterday. Comments: Yensid August 25 Post The comment manger in the backroom is a wonderful addition to the site, it lets me see comments posted to older entries sometimes, so if I see it, I'll respond to it. I hear that, though I've never been one to have a whole lot of friends, and I've never gone out of my way to travel to meet with them (I couldn't afford it anyway). I feel I belong here on MyOtaku, at least here my interests are respected and encouraged, unlike my real-life situation. You tell an interviewer your into art and they automatically assume you can't do a good day's work. West Virginians are by far the most ignorant people I've met in my life, that's based on my experience, I mean no offense to anyone. While I do enjoy the ocassional drink, it's never in a "medicinal" sense. The best reference I can think of the one episode of M*A*S*H, and that when I think I need something like that, I know I really don't. My art, Zen Garden, and meditation are my medicinal retreats from anxiety. I'm a little tech savvy, but easily frustrated with it too. I've tried looking for a telecommute position, but most of what you find online in that field are bogus scams trying to rip people (namely you the "employee" off. I've even applied at hotels for housekeeping jobs (though that job is murder on the back) which I could do, going back to my previous job, but it seems impossible to get that kind of work even. I'll tough it out because I can't afford not to, I have to have an income source soon, otherwise I'll be in serious trouble. Naturally, I hang in because I'm too stubborn to know when to quit. My art has been anime/manga inspired for three years now, so I post what I can here, but I keep some thing to myself. August 27 Post Not serious enough, I have a lot to learn about CSS if I want to do things right by the new HTML standard. Reading source code isn't hard if you know even basic html coding. I don't have luck with Word, so I do things my way, but Caprice is a lot better than me at that technical web stuff like HTML and CSS. I have no formal art training, I got my start on the Tech TV Anime Unleashed Big Board, their main general topic message board for the anime related programing that was being run till G4 hijacked the channel. I dont think I'll be able to afford formal art training of any kind, and there aren't any schools that I know of which remotely cover the styles I want to be able to draw, so I have to put together my own course, then teach myself everything. Granted I won't have a piece ornamental bathroom tissue to hang on a wall that says "I'm an Artist" but then again, I'll let my style and art speak for itself. I cut the ones that were over a year old, and some others that weren't going anywhere. Actually, less than half the people I had on that list even knew they were there. I was using that as a sort of bookmark thing so I could keep my eye on certain pages the easy way. I'm glad to have done it, and I've stirred up a couple "new" contacts that I'm keeping up with as regularly as I can which is fun for me. I'm sure they could do a different system, that popularity rank is the leading cause of the site's bog downs every time they put it back up, so it's not working on technical level and needs to be scrapped for something better (That and I'd be happy not to see ranking at all, I hate popularity contests with a passion). Since I don't know how to write code (this probably goes into MySQL territory which is way above me). That's quite all right, I like seeing that I'm not the only one who's not afraid to use the keyboard when online. I'll let you know about the pictures, that's a promise. Juz Cuz When I was relatively new here on site myself, I always loved to be the first to comment on someone's page too. As long as I make the effort to stay in touch, I'm sure we'll be friends for a while. I envy anyone who can get hyper, since I can't myself. I suppose that's a good thing, but it has its drawbacks too. Hopefully those pictures will be up this week if I can help it, the one I have to ask my friend about first, since I am drawing his Role Play character (message board role playing), I should probably get his okay to post it here before I actually do. The other one I hope is a good attempt at being funny (I'm rarely funny in my art), my sister came up with the idea but she commissioned me to draw it out. I 'd say more but where's the fun in that? I'll be sure to post a message when the pictures are up. Mamma Vash: The Bebop chibis are an offline thing, they won't be put up here at all. As soon as I get them done they go to my sister for whatever she has in mind for them. If I was really tired, I'd take that the wrong way, but since I'm rested I know what you mean. I just speak from the heart, and sometimes it doesn't know when to stop talking. That shows a passion for the subject I'm speaking about usually. I don't know anything above basic HTML yet, I really wish I could learn some CSS and maybe a little javascript to do some more things with my page here. I'm committed to improving my art so I'll do a little bit every day, and right now a lot so I can get all these pics that piled up finished. I don't post a lot here yet, that's becuase most of my daily stuff is just messing around and practicing stuff that I don't really want to share with anyone. I have to get batteries for the digital camera before I can take some more pictures. The one rose bush has new buds on it that I want to shoot sometime. Well, I don't have steel toed boots for nothing you know! I'll keep kicking butts as long as they get in my way. alphonse13 I'm trying anyway. I may not get to update every day, but I will try to be at least once a week with my updates. I will do my best to let everyone know when my pictures go up. The questions promote communication, because sometimes people like me don't really have a lot to say about a topic in the post, but when we see something beijg asked of us, it's an encouragement for us to open up about things. kout3uka Well not really new, I've just reacquainted myself with some of the people I met here, something I should have done a long time ago. All's well with me, I'm getting things done. I get those inside the house here, but that Texas Flyswatter takes care of them! Don't study too hard it'll make your brain hurt. Anime Dreams!

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Sunday, August 27, 2006

Just Popping In

Not a lot to say today, but I don't want to get impossibly behind on updating so I'm dropping a line to let everyone know I'm still kicking butt and loving it. Still got those pictures to finish, I hope to get them all done by Tuesday afternoon, there are two that I'll try to submit here when they're done the others are just Bebop chibis I'm doing for my sister so they don't really need to be put here. Comments: alphonse13 You're still on my list, I like your style. I don't get enough visits to do a question session like you do at the end of your posts, but I like the concept and may incorporate it into my blog later on, when things do start hopping around here (Not that I'm in a hurry for that mind you). To be honest, my general criteria actually had a lot to do with the last update posted, ¾ of my old list hadn't updated since early 2005 at least, there were even a few with 2003 dates on them, that's almost as long as I've been a member here. As I said before, if anyone sees that I've taken a name off the list and wants it back, just let me know, and think of it as step toward getting reacquainted as we dialogue about my slow-wittedness. It happens all the time, priorities, perspectives, a lot of things change over time and sometimes the people you meet in passing sort of get lost along the way. I'm notorious for not getting around to the sites of friends like I should do more often, part of the process I've gone through in cutting my list down is to make it easy for me to get to the friends I do talk with on a semi-regular basis, and to actually see who those people I get to regularly (or almost regularly) are with more clarity. If you do go to tweak your list, save the source code for your backroom page first (I saved out just the friends list table coding as an HTML file so I can pop it while I'm the site here or check it offline), that way you'll have the complete list (with the correct hyperlink coding) if you need to go back and verify something in it later. I'm just a nut about keeping uncut backups. Anime Dreams!

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Friday, August 25, 2006

Those Rumbles Aren't Thunder, They're Me Snoring

I did some cleaning house in my backroom today, you'll notice my friends list is a lot shorter as a result. I cleared out a whole host of pages that hadn't been updated in over a year, and a few other criteria. If your name used to be there but is gone now and you want it back, let me know, I'll take care of it. I did keep a complete list of who I had on my friends list so it won't be hard to fix. Still got a couple pictures to handle for someone, I wanted to work on them today, but just fell out of that artsy groove I like to be in when I'm doing something for another person. I'll do them this weekend, and with any luck get them posted here (they are anime related pictures). I'd also like some input from artists specializing in mecha. Mecha is another one of the key topics left out of Art of Otaku which I'd like to direct my attention towards now, but I have no clue where to even begin. Mecha not only refers to things like Gundam-esque robots, but things like Ed's Automail, space ships, vehicles et.c. Any tips, tricks, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Comments: Yensid First off, welcome to my little corner of the MyOtaku universe, please keep your head, arms, legs, tails, and/or any other extremities inside the ride at all times. The safety harness is for your protection, not only does it hold you in your seat when we loop upside down over the moons, but it's coated with vapire, werewolf and zombie repellant for all the nasties out there (friendly ones are not repulsed). Refreshments will be served halfway through the ride on the scenic rings of Auster's second moon, no spitting pumpkin seeds at Auster please, its atmosphere is pure nitro glycerin. In the event of an emergency you will be automatically ejected back to reality, please remember to cushion your head so the collision with your ceiling doesn't hurt (much). Thank you, please enjoy this ride we call, Toxic Nonsense. Guilty as charged, I regularly visit both Caprice and Mamma Vash's sites (when they're updated), though I don't always post comments. It's a quirk of mine to know the topic before I comment on it. I write and draw a lot, but don't have much up here to show for it (just too lazy to upload pictures I guess), and I've seen some of your work, very nicely done stuff. It took a hard knock just this year to get though my stubborn head that things are rarely fair to lesser fortunate people, and that some battles just aren't worth fighting (being intelligent and trying to explain something serious to an ignorant is tiring and difficult). For me to be able to get a traditional credit card, I have to pay off over $1,000 in debt, but I can't pay off a debt when I have no income. I've busted my back the past six years just trying to get a job to cover my debts, and be able to do some things I want to do, but smart people aren't in demand here in the Foothills of He- I mean West Virginia. Only one employer had the sense to tell me why I wasn't going to be hired. He told me that my timid nature was his only issue with hiring me, which I can sort of understand given the job description. I have horror stories from just about every interview I've been on in the past year, my favorite is still the Bob Evans manager telling me "This job is not rocket science" then in the same breath "we look for experience first". It's either hard or it's not, make up your mind (it was a busser job). Since life hasn't been the fairest to me of late, I figure why bother letting it get to me, I'll just keep on pushing till something goes my way, I'm stubborn like that. Yeah, people are turning to the net more for communication which is kind of sad. On the bright side it promotes literacy in that you have to be able to read to communicate that way, and thinking skills when you have to translate into normal speech all that netspeak (U R gr8, ! liek ur art, O B4 ! go, will U B my friend?) that some people should be banned from using. The down side is traditional things go by the way side. I'm probably one of few people who remember that it was once common to draw all over your envelopes before sending letters to friends (never do it for a busniess letter). Envelope art is dying off slowly too. Businesses on the other hand hate to correspond in any written form. I send complaints to companies when things don't work like they should, and they always tell me "call [insert toll free number here] so that one of our representatives can assist you" which translates to call us so we can insult you and you'll have no record of it. I can't do that, I'm a very rude person when I'm frustrated so talking to someone in person would just be a bad idea anyway, and I tell companies that it would be far more pleasant for everyone if we correspond via e-mail or snail mail. Personally, I could do without the telephone, I don't have many local friends, and I don't talk on the phone at all really, except to follow up for job interviews and that worthless chat I had with the Senator's staff assistant about Workforce West Virginia being discriminatory garbage earlier this year. That would be, only four or five times this year that I've used a phone, but that's just me. I'll take sending a card (I make my own with Hallmark Card Studio and my own artwork) over making a phone call any day of the week. Anime Dreams!

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Thursday, August 24, 2006

Aauuugh!

There are times when a person reacts to something and wants to make a really big stand and draw a lot of attention to what he things is a wrong when he has to ask himself: "Is it worth the effort? Is generating a lot of noise about something worth the emotional wounds to self and others?" I was in that situation, just today, a few minutes ago in fact. I decided the answer to that was "no" To me, it's not worth damaging myself emotionally to let certain things bother me, it's not worth the possibility of offending others to publicly berate something just because I can't pay for it online like others can. Of course, the heat of the moment tends to generate an "it's not fair" sentiment, but every time I think that, or hear someone else say it, I recall the line from Oliver and Company "Fairs are for tourists." and let the feeling go. Some things just aren't worth the stress of worrying about how fair it is for things to cater to credit cards and Paypal accounts. The world needs to open it's eyes and see that there is a customer base who doesn't have access to digital finances. Why is our money not as good as those with good credit? Last I checked my money was greener than that piece of plastic in someone else's wallet, and available right away, no merchant account fees deducted from the store's profits by the bank. I guess logic got lost when the digital revolution came. Sure it's just easier to take credit cards, and Paypal, but is it right not to allow others equal opportunity to purchase the items being sold, just because the company doesn't want to handle snail mail orders. I say no, it's not right, but since I'm just one grain of sand on the beach and can't convince the grains of sand around me to speak out too, there's nothing I can do about it, so I'll just let it go. But just what on this green and blue earth am I talking about? What product has gotten under my skin this time? Well, since I've decided it wasn't worth the effort to ridicule the product right now, I'm not going to identify it yet. When I can talk without influencing its sales (I don't want to adversely affect those), then I will, but for now, my lips are sealed and my fingers won't do the typing. Anime Dreams!

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Sunday, August 20, 2006

One Soreness Down

Got through the bike trip on Friday, I wish I had taken the better camera, I would have pictures of three tunnels (inculding a "bad luck" tunnel #13 - there was a passenger train wreck just outside this tunnel in 1956 - when I can shoot the plaque I'll have the details for you), an abandoned church camp, numerous old houses, a couple bridges, other railroad relics, my idiot brother almost getting himself stung by wasps, and so much other fun stuff from the trail, but I took the crap camera and got 25 blurry pixelated shots of garbage so I won't waste time posting them. Now I really have to finish that front sidewalk so I can completely devote my time to my art like I want to do, so I'll be sore all week, but at least I'll be going the right direction. Comments: Outlaw Melfina That kind of thing happens, the internet should take a back seat to the more important things every time. The questions were a little more complex than my presentation here, but by all means sit down and ask yourself those things, you'll be surprised at what you'll learn if you let yourself respond without inhibition. It's easier to get through life if you know where you're going, that much I know from experience. My art is my passion, and I know I where I want to take it, so I'm going to make the time for it even if it means I'm doodling on napkins, I'll draw at least once a day so that I can mark my progress over time. That is one of my high priorities right now. My brother wanted to bike a section of this 70 mile state park trail, so I was getting my biking legs back, turns out the bike is rustier than I am, but it got the job done. I don't have a bell on mine, I rarely ride on streets anyway, but I used to be able to work the horn that I had on a bike back when I was much younger. I don't know why, but I'm a timid person, though my stint in the theatre did help me along a bit, I think I need another three years to help me along more, but I'm trying on my own. I write better than I speak, that's probably the biggest help for me online. I'm more expressive in the written word, and it's easier for me to explain misunderstood statements because I can see the context I put it in and not have to rebuild it from memory. It's just a picture, I scanned it into my computer first so it's not like I don't have a reference of it, and it wasn't completely original anyway, but I didn't tell the ignorant that when I went four hours out of my way to meet him to sign up for the art course. The best money I ever spent for art education was the near $30.00 on Art of Otaku, I'm still impressed with that product and I'm still working out the logistics of getting it to the international market. It's a great product that should reach out to all who want it. There may be a POD solution for it that I haven't investigated yet, it's worth a look. I got lucky, my passion for art came after I got out of school, so I don't have to worry about that, but I do need to get another binder and more page protectors because my first one is full. I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to my art though, I do more damage to it than anything else, which is something else I'm going to change about me too. Mamma Vash: I'm terribly sorry for this bad joke, but at least I know they're happy cows. If that doesn't make any sense, there's a set of commercial spots out here (The Dairy Association or something like that puts them out) that end with the tagline "Happy cows come from California" or something like that. Anyway, I did say it was a bad joke, so I'll let it go now. I asked Where are you now? Where do you see yourself in the future? And, how do you plan to get there? but I forgot to ask the fourth question which is very important, Where have you been? The past is an essential part of the future, where a person decides to go is based on where he's been, what he's accomplished that he's proud of, and the experiences he's been through that he'd rather not talk about. So in reflecting, don't forget to look back before looking ahead. I could touch on some of the material I missed from that area, but I think it's best left in the dark for now, most of my experiences for the past year are posted here anyway, so I don't really need to revisit them on my own yet. In my teens I was just trying to make it through school, I wasn't social, and was a bit of a doormat type student so I wasn't really all chatty about what my dreams were at the time. In thinking back though, I was a dreamer in school, seeing not what was in front of me, but worlds of my own design, actually I was a lot like the kid Ginta from MÄR, only not so popular with others, and not so outgoing. I probably thought about creative writing of some sort, and did a few poems of my own through Junior High and High school. Back then I also dreamed of travelling the country, driving down the older highways and backroads just to see what's around the next corner Of course that was before I knew about my amaxophobia which put a stop to that dream really fast. The biggest irony of this conversation is that I was born in California, but I was too young to remember anything when we moved. As for West Virginia, I've lived here sixteen years and never really felt like I belong, or am welcome, here, so I'd leave her behind in a heartbeat if I could, just to go to that place where I'm not an outcast. That's a goal of mine, to get out of WV and find a more welcoming place for me to settle down and hopefully call home. Art is extremely powerful, it can stop a person cold and make him think with just one look. It can motivate people to action, it ease people's fears, there's so much art can do with so little. I thought I was in a dry spell myself, but it turns out that even a dry spell can produce something worthwhile. Even if you don't feel like it, draw, take pictures, do whatever creative thing strikes your fancy, you will be surprised at your results. It's times when you don't feel like creating that your mind will create all the more. I think I'll actually sit down and do a complete sketch rather than my usual tap-dance over the fundamentals, in fact I'll make that my everyday assignment, do more thorough work. Observing nature is a wonderful way to relax, my favorite natural spot has to be the ocean, but it's about ten hours away from me so I don't get there a whole lot. The experience of being at the beach, the smell of seaweed sand, salt, fish and seafood, the warm sun, the cool air, the sounds of gulls, waves, boats, buoys, and foghorns, the sight of the pale blue-gray water, waves capped with white foam, it's all too much to describe here, but the ocean is a place I feel comfortable, and at home. I've taken the table down since it's kind of redundant now that I've finished the request project. It's not hard to pop into my portfolio and find the fanart submissions I've made from there. The space is better used for other things as needed anyway. Anime Dreams!

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