Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Cosmic Q and A

Before I begin, an important note. I will be discussing many things, animé included. Please understand that in the course of answering a question, I may provide advanced plot or character information, known as "spoilers" in my attempt to explain an animé citation. Read on at your own risk. Also, I'll be including resource references where possible, and will set the links up to open in new windows as best I can. Random Anime Quote Time: "Screw your stupid chivalry! SCREW IT!!! - Lavie, Last Exile Outlaw Melfina: I call attention to my "rants" for a number of reasons. Usually when I'm very upset over something, I'll write up a lengthy post or PM about it, and not really make a whole lot of sense with what I say. If I am coherent, the things I'm so loudly protesting in print are usually nuisance things that most people would find easy to brush off without the slightest annoyance. The way I write CSG (Customer Service Grievance) letters is the same. I'll say some nasty, or just plain rude things that I shouldn't say in those Grievances. Things I can't take back no matter how much I'd like to be able to do it. I'm not being hard on myself about the rants, I'm actually doing everyone a Public Service by sort of warning you all that I can and do get a little hot under the collar and post things without thinking about the consequences of my post sometimes. To be honest, I'm surprised I haven't offended anyone here yet, considering I've been on for two years, and posted some very harsh things. In my profiles on message boards, Yahoo! and here, I say I'm on Gaea, which those of you who've seen Escaflowne (the series) will know is the world on which Van Fanel lives as the king of Fanalia. It hangs close in the sky to our moon, yet we can't see it, but from it, one can see the "Mystic Moon", our very own earth. In my fantasy world maybe. In reality, I'm in the North Eastern United States, in the small (by land area) state of West Virginia. If you've even seen the movie The Mothman Prophecies it was based on a book written about some very strange occurances in a small town to the south of me called Point Pleasant. Now the movie was horribly off base of the book and they filmed up in Pennsylvania, so enough about that. There are a few famous people who came from West Virginia, but the only one I can remember off hand is Chuck Yeager, the man that broke the sound barrier. John Denver wrote the song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" about West Virginia, George Washington surveyed and owned some land here, and Aaron Burr is believed to have sought the financial backing of a rich WV socialite, Harmen Blennerhassett, to assist him in overthrowing the government (I have my doubts). Our state quarter depicts the New River Gorge Bridge, the one that it is perfectly legal to throw yourself off of one day every year, that being the third Saturday in October, called Bridge Day, and for the record, no I'm not stupid enough to do that, with bungee or parachute. I don't remember ever fully losing my voice, but I did come close to it several times in high school. Luckily for me, I wasn't acting at the time and could afford the vocal downtime anyway, but it never happened. Mostly it was my own fault for not taking care of myself in the bitter cold (talking wind chills near zero when other sane school systems shut down) winter weather. Mamma Vash: Funny you should ask me about my thing for . . . Image removed due to Imageshack dragons Normally I don't like to talk about it (why, I don't really know anymore), but I promised, so here goes. It sounds good for me to say it was Escaflowne that got me hooked on the creatures, but that's only partly true. While the references to Van (not the Escaflowne) being "the dragon" did sort of leave their mark on me, they are not the deciding factor. Part of what goes with that "deep thinker" in me is an avidly active imagination, and a whimsical dreamer of the highest degree. I'm the kind of person who believes Nessie is out there somewhere along with Sasquatch, Champ, and extraterrestrials. Fantasy creatures like dragons hold a special place in my heart because, well, they physically represent my personality. I'm a very rough somewhat frightening person to look at, but you get to know me, and you find I'm loyal to my friends, honorable to (most) enemies, I try to share my wisdom when appropriate to do so, and I will fight fang and claw (not to mention fire breath) to defend what I believe is right, my friends and my family. Dragons are also symbols of good luck, which I don't have a lot of these days, but I think dragon luck isn't quite what most people think of when I say the word luck. It's more of a Zen luck, a timeless cohesion with the universe and deeper understanding of the way things are flowing around you rather than winning the lottery or landing that promotion at work. So you don't get the wrong idea by the picture, I do not have a dragon tattoo (yet), but I have a dragon ring, three earrings with dragons on them, three necklaces with dragons, a dress shirt, two ties, and a wallet all with dragons on them, and that's just the stuff I wear. My pastimes other than animé, tankôbon (graphic novels), and any other Japanophile stuff I've picked up from animé and tankôbon are: Astronomy (the universe doesn't seem like quite such a big place when you see the rings of Saturn through a telescope in your own back yard), Cooking (love the stir-fry especially), Drawing (I did an oil painting once, had about as much paint on me as the canvas), Digital image editing (once I found Pixia, I really got into it), Photography (If you haven't seen my pictures of the Mothman Statue in Point Pleasant WV yet, go here - if that doesn't work, try Here, Here, And Here), Reading (Anything from Jules Verne to Shakespeare, but Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman, is my all time favorite book), writing (sci-fi/fantasy short stories mostly), Listening to music (I can sing on key only in Japanese though), Playing music (I'm trying to learn to play the recorder, I'm great with a Kazoo though), Meditation, Technology, Internet (I'm working on a web site, but it's a long way from being what I want it to be), Audio recording (something I liked from theatre), Special effects make-up (I can give anyone a black eye in under two minutes the hard way - that's an accomplishment for FX makeup in high school theatre), and Learning. I think that covers just about everything. Brief Statement: This was my first Cosmic Q&A session, it will also be my last. I thought doing this would be a fun way for the people who frequent my blog to get to know me better. I did not do this with the idea that it would spur "follow-up questions" to be handled in my next post, this session was always intended to be a single event. I guess I can't help it if people don't want to get to know me, just remember, that kind of thing works both ways. My next post will be my thoughts on Porco Rosso. Animé Dreams one and all. Thank you for your time, no more questions. Exeunt

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Wednesday, December 7, 2005

Ask Me No Questions, I'll Tell You No Lies. . .

Since I'm running out of content ideas at the moment, I thought I'd do something out of character for me, and turn over control of my next post's content to the people who read my blog and put up with my rantings. Think of it as a way to get to know a fellow Otaku who's usually cryptic about himself while posting here. Here's the deal: You all ask me a question about anything at all (keep it clean please *^_^* ), and I will answer as honestly as I am able. Go through my archives, look at my art, check out my web page, try to find the comments I've posted to other people's blogs here, even read through my "friends" list for inspiration if necessary. Since today is Wednesday, I'll let this post sit all week, and next Wednesday, I'll post my answers in the format I've been using to respond to comments. Questions asked via PM will be responded to here publicly, username and all, with all the rest, and not via PM, so don't be shy about your questions. This is the time of year I'll be giving straight answers for once, take advantage of it. With that all said and done, on to other things. Comments: Kout3uka: I've been a bit under the weather this week, so I haven't tried the dragon head again, but it's good to know I'm not the only one who has to use big paper to get it right sometimes. I was thinking about getting an even larger sketch book, 18x24 or larger, but money doesn't grow on trees where I live (in my fantasy world it does, but that's a whole other story), so I have to wait on that too. Random Anime Quote Time: "Obnoxious frog." Spike, Cowboy Bebop I look forward to a challenging session next week, Anime Dreams!

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Monday, December 5, 2005

Must Have Exact Fare

Here's an odd question for all the artists who look at my page: is it easier for you to learn a new style or technique by using a larger piece of paper? See, I was working through that dragon head reference I've mentioned numerous times, and I discovered that it's harder to do on smaller paper. I was using a 6x9 sketch book that I keep for the rough outs I do when a pose doesn't look right or I'm experimenting with how to draw something I've never done before. I'll try again later with the big guns, my 11x14 sketch book. Hopefully I'll get it right (or at least look better) on the larger paper. I've been thinking about my poor luck finding work this year. I'm beginning to realize that if I can't get someone else to hire me, I have make myself work, doing something that people need (or just want) and I enjoy doing. I haven't quite figured what that is yet, but I will, eventually. The only things I enjoy doing anymore are my art, and effects make-up, neither of which are a big demand item where I live. Oh well, the drawing board is full of rough sketches at the moment, maybe one of them will pan out. Random Anime Quote Time: "If you make money from war, you're scum. But if you can't make money from bounty hunting you're an idiot." -Unnamed(I could find one anywhere for him) gun maker, Porco Rosso Comments: Outlaw Melfina: *^_^* I haven't been over there lately, but I popped in this morning to look at what you sent me. Normally I don't condone "creatively acquiring" any content on or offline, but since they are yours, I'll comment on the pictures here too. I know I only said I liked the first one "especially" in the PM, but with me, art is one of those things that I have to think about it a while before I know for sure if I like it or not. After thinking about it, and considering my favorite painting of all time is a surreal one (Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory), I came to realize I like the second one "especially" too. All of them are very good though. snow fox: Welcome out to my little corner of the internet universe, please don't be a stranger. I sent you a comment follow up in PM because I didn't think I would be posting here so soon, and wouldn't you know I was long-winded with it too! Basically I'll try to recap the finer points of my response for the benefit of the curious, and I promise I'll try to keep it short this time. I think I will be able to get something out of the full version of Art of Otaku(AoO) from having only seen the Sampler. That's why I'm interested in AoO. The "low-intermediate" experience "title" I've adopted for myself is just a safety net. With it, I'm saying "I'm good at what I do, but don't expect me not to mess up royally once in a while." It gives me the freedom to continue learning without the pressure of being "advanced" where everyone expects all of your pictures to be flawless. You can look at the first picture I ever drew back in 2003, you'll see how I've come in my art. I managed to get it posted here recently with the helpful tips of another member. It's a Jim Hawking picture from a screenshot in the Outlaw Star archives on theOtaku.com. If you compare it with the other, more recent, pictues I've posted, I'm sure you'll notice a small, but appreciable level of improvement between the pictures (I'm especially proud of my InuYasha screenshot picture, probably the best one I have posted here). As I said in my lengthy comment and PM: As artists, we have to keep learning too. It's amusing to me that you use the very guide you've helped to write, but if it helps, why not? It's embarrassing for me to admit, but I'm a stubborn and difficult student, so it's hard to find a willing teacher who can put up with that to walk me through every little step. The reference sheets I found are helpful (posted by MyO member whtdragon), and will take me a long way, but I'd kind of like to have some more direct hands on type training for that, because dragons aren't so easy to draw as they look. Every time I try to draw one it comes out Peter Paul and Mary song cute and cartoony, that's not what I want to draw when it comes to dragons. I hope I didn't go overboard this time. Anime Dreams one and all.

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Saturday, December 3, 2005

Put Your Title Here!

Since I don't really have much else to put up here today, I'll go through a basic progress report. In the past few days, I did manage to get a couple pictures posted here, they aren't much, but each and every one that actually makes it to my portfolio is something I have to celebrate. Also, I've been asking about dragon art, and the people who can draw those wonderfully mystic creatures so well. So everyone knows the reasoning behind my quest, I'm looking for someone who can draw dragons especially well, who also has the time and patience to teach me how to draw them well myself. I don't want to have to rely on someone else to produce the various images of dragon art I need for a project I'm working on. That brings me to my next point. I'm in the process of putting together a personal website, and I'd like to be able to do some of my own centerpiece dragon art for it. I'm sure it doesn't look like I've done much here, but I've been hiding in my backroom taking care of a few PMs, posting an occasional comment, and trying my hardest to keep out of trouble. I've also been doing my best to wait patiently for the Art of Otaku CD, which is supposed to be out this month. I did a review of the free Sampler a couple days ago, it's in my archive for anyone who wants a look at it. Basically, not a lot of productive work the past few days, maybe I'll do something important this week. Oh, I was going through the "Original Anime" fanart section, and came across a relatively new member here, whtdragon. One particular image that stuck out to me was her reference image for drawing a dragon's head. It's not much, but for me, it's a very good start. Comments: Mamma Vash: No, not a lot going on in my world lately. As much as I may try to have you all believe otherwise, I'm usually bored from lack of anything to do. *^_^* I got the PM, thanks for that bit of info. Escaflowne was the first anime I ever saw, so I'm going to be biased when I tell you it's a great series. You really should see it sometime, but don't try to watch all 26 episodes in one sitting just because the mechanical animation director says he does it all the time. Trust me, I was stupid enough to try that once, Never again! I could go on and on about Spirited Away too, but my siter said it best: "You get lost in that film, you forget your watching a movie". It's mostly cold where I am now, little bits of snow to the north, south and East of me (in the mountains), but none where I am, and I'll thank Mother Nature not to spite me with the white stuff this year because I can't stand the cold as it is. Give me one of my sister's oatmeal raisin cookies over biscotti any day of the week (My sister makes the best oatmeal raisin cookies, always soft, raisins in every one, so good). Outlaw Melfina: That's all right, not much was going on for me the day before yesterday, so you didn't miss out by not posting a comment. It happens to me a lot actually, I'll hit a spell when I don't have postworthy material, so things get boring around here. I do try to answer my comments though, even when I've got nothing to headline with. As I mentioned in my post up there, I have been working on a website of my own. In fact, I just got the link up in my menu sidebar. It's probably the only non routine thing of interest I've done on my page here recently. It is still a work in progress though, so it's kind of sloppy looking at the moment. At some point I do intend to turn it into a portal for my photography hobby, as well as using it to suppliment my art portfolio here. What I mean by that is, I'll be hosting the artwork that I can't host on theotaku.com be it file size issues, off topic (non anime related or styled), or those that just dodn't make the cut. So ends another trek across the Toxic Desert, hope you don't get lost out there on your own. Anime Dreams

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Friday, December 2, 2005

Untitled

I've got nothing today. Comments: Kout3uka: Doctors and Psychologists are finding out that the lower UV levels, and a bunch of other stuff to do with light, in winter months may actually cause certain people to feel more depressed then than in the summer. Maybe I've got that (there's a word for it, I just can't remember it right now). Maybe I'm just finally wearing down after trying and failing way too often to get a job, I don't even care if it's a decent one anymore, I just need the income. Can't afford to go to college myself, best of luck to you. James: I sent the bulk of my response to you via PM already, and I do apologize over and over again for the tone I used, please don't think any less of me for my callousness. If you haven't read it yet, you'll understand why I sent that to you privately rather than posting it here, if you have read it already, I don't need to say anymore do I? With that said, welcome to my little corner of the internet universe! You were hospitable and friendly in welcoming my comments on your page, please allow me to extend you the very same courtesy here. Don't be a stranger now, my corner's always open, though you may find yourself in the midst of a wildly raging tempest from time to time. The chaos usually dies down in a day or two, and I'm back to my abnormally weird self. I didn't get to this in the PM, but schedules and deadlines can really be a headache can't they? Mamma Vash: Thanks for the tip about the dragon, I stopped by to look at it and wow was I impressed. I don't want to bother Caprice though, it looks like she's got her hands full with a lot of other things to need the extra pressure of one person wanting to request a few dragon drawings. I have this tendancy to be an ungreatful little demon about things. I can refer you to several people who can attest to my difficult nature, and I use the term difficult very loosely. A lot of Yoko Kanno's music has an outerworldly beauty to it that I like, I'm talking not just from Bebop, but Escaflowne, and Wolf's Rain too. There are indeed too many soundtracks on my list of wants, Both Last Exile Soundtracks, and not the soundtrack, but the Character Song album for Spirited Away, there's a song on it Shiroi Ryuu (White Dragon), the Character song for Haku that I heard once and fell in love with, but that would require importing the album as it's not sold at all domestically. I lost my cable in September or October, I can't remember which now. I haven't seen Second Gig of Ghost in the Shell, not even seen promos, comercials, or anything for it so I can't comment on that one at all, sorry. I did catch the first, maybe three episodes of Naruto and I liked it, Samurai Champloo is hilarious to me (saw that when they were running it a while back), so I like that one as well. I guess I should add getting my cable back to my wish. Yeah, it's weird, but so is my mind. The thing is I didn't even know I started posting "Anime Dreams" as a signature until someone back on the now defunct Tech TV message boards asked me why I signed out like that every night. I had apparently been doing it for a week and not even noticed doing it myself. Guess the message in the dream was more subconsciously planted that I realized. I hope I get a job too, I really do. Having to rely on others for even the basics of living is a very heavy weight to carry, and one I hope no one else has to suffer. That's all the comments from yesterday. Anime Dreams

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Thursday, December 1, 2005

So. . .Very . . Tired. . .

It's been one of those weeks. I went through the Art of Otaku Sampler (see my archives for the review), managed to get a couple pictures posted here, and have been busy working on a few other projects that I want to have done. I'm feeling the added pressure of the holiday season creeping up on me. I wouldn't be so worried if I could do for my family even a fraction of what I'd like to be able to do, but when one is unemployed, it's hard to do anything, even on the holidays. I've done the best I could this year, applied to countless jobs, got a few interviews, but applications and interviews don't put money in the pocket. If my art were remotely decent, I could probably sell it, but then again, there isn't a high demand for anime style art in the foothills of Appalachia. I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to handle the holiday situation this year, maybe if I sleep on it I'll come up with that golden answer. The holiday wish list is a bit of a tradition in my family, I still find myself writing one up every year, even though I'm usually the only person who ever sees it anymore. This year, I've got my eye on a few things, namely the rest of the Last Exile DVDs, InuYasha Season 2 is out in box set I think, then there's the "lengthy list of listening leisure" otherwise known as "the soundtrack to just about every anime I've seen since I knew what anime was" list which is too long to list here right now. What are some of your top anime (or not, but keep it clean folks) wants and wishes? Comments: x_x, No Comments yesterday? Oh Well, Anime Dreams!

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Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Review - Sampler Version - Art of Otaku

I promised a review of the Art of Otaku Sampler version. Bear in mind that this is only for the eight tutorials provided in the free download on the Art of Otaku web site, no other content, comments, or versions are being evaluated here. Overall, I'm very impressed with the content. While it not extremely high end professional material, it provides enough guidance for a beginning to low-intermediate artist. I classify myself a low-intermediate artist. The visible layout was very easy to follow, even with a few minor technical inconsistencies (more on those later), and presented in a neat, organized fashion, which I certainly hope is the standard for the full version when it comes out on CD. Most of the tutorials were very easy to follow from start to finish, and I have to compliment the artist who wrote thm for that. I did have some difficulty with the Snow Fox tutorial provided in the Sampler, but that problem was me rather than the tutorial itself. There are a few minor technical issues with the Sampler, but they don't detract from the overall presentation too much. The introductory pages to a few of the tutorials had a nice breakdown with the images in a little table, but not all of them had that. the page count is off by one if you actually noticed, it skips in numbering from 19 to 21, and one of the tutorials was missing the step count box. Like I said, the technical stuff is minor, and does not affect the function of the guide itself. A somewhat nuisance technical issue would have to be that some of the images are a bit light. What I mean is some of the key lines that are mentioned in the tutorial text are barely visible in several of the tutorials' images, I didn't have any issue figuring out where those lines were supposed to be however, and the finished works turned out all right in my opinion. Several of the tutorials also had materials lists that didn't match with the text of the tutorial, but that may have been the result of the editing for space that was done to make the Sampler. It wasn't a prominent issue, but when a pen for inking is listed, I kind of like to see in mentioned in the steps somewhere to use the pen to start inking. A knit-pick thing for me I guess. I do want to thank the eight artists for their hard work and dedication to the project: Snow Fox Rodbere Milky Cat Karen Lyon Sarah Maeder Ranefea Chibi Jazine GTK Thank you guys for making the anime drawing experience so much easier for those of us who still have trouble (referring to myself alone) getting it right. After seeing the Sampler version, I'm more convinced that my decision to buy the guide is a sound one. Now, for the Comments: Outlaw Melfina, That's all right, every time I try to draw one it comes out cartoony, and I'm not trying to draw a Peter, Paul, and Mary song cutsie dragon, I want to draw something a little more serious. Mamma Vash, I'm not really surprised, I guess there aren't too many people who can do them well, or know anyone who can do them well that get out to my little corner of the internet universe. I can keep on trying though, but not on OtakuBoards. I used to be on them as Cosmic but I'm no longer a member there on principle alone. After one board upgrade back in 2004, my new computer decided to be an idiot about logging me out whenever I tried to navigate the boards. I sent a few e-mails and didn't really get any help for my effort, so I made the promise that I wouldn't rejoin OtakuBoards after that mess was "resolved", and I haven't been on there since, nor will I go back there. You can ask around on there for me if you want, but I'll only be able to humor e-mails and PMs from people through here. Anime Dreams.

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Monday, November 28, 2005

   A Request

I'm looking for someone who can really, really, draw dragons (if you can't tell I have a thing for them) to either handle a couple projects for me, or teach me (preferred) how to do it myself. Wish I could pay (in real money) but I can't. I'll come up with something since I doubt I could use my art as a trade. Anyone interested, or know of someone who might be interested, send me PM. Oh, I'll want to see an example or two of the dragon art, but those details can be worked out later too.

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Sunday, November 27, 2005

Dragons, Dreams, and the Threatre

I was going through my stories recently, and discovered I have several themes to what I write. I write a lot about dragons, many of my stories are also set as dreams, and I seem to also have a soft spot for the theatre in what I've written. I know anime has influenced the subject matter of my writing more so than I can probably admit to, and I think it's allowed me to open up and see more possibilities to how my stories should play out. While they are hardly post or print worthy, I like my stories, they give me a sense of peace. Art of Otaku has a Sampler version out, finding the page for it isn't hard, I don't have a link for it. Since I have to wait for the full version, I'll be taking a very thorough look at the sampler in the next few days. Don't worry, I'm always fair in my evaluations. Oh, there's a bit of a technical bug going around with comments, it seems to have hit me now. I may or may not be able to read comments posted on my page here (so far the only comments I can't access are those on my own page when I'm logged in) for a while. With that in mind, expect delays in my answering comments until this bug is squashed. Anime Dreams

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Sunday, November 20, 2005

Boo-Be-Ba

"I'm sorry, the mind you have dialed is out of the service area or has been temporarily disconnected, please hang up. . . . . .NOW!" I've said it before that the Art of Otaku project is a thorn in my side, and while I'd like to retract that statement, I can't just yet. I think the Fates have conspired to spite me with it. Maybe it's Karmic payback for my harsh comments back in May when the project was announced. I've already admitted that I was critical of the announcement and the project itself, but that must not be enough to appease the Fates to the point they'll give me a break. Oh well, I'm too tired to care anymore. This rant is the result of the additional delay in the official release of the CD version of Art of Otaku, which has an unspecified December release date at the time of publishing this statement. On that note: "All calls are monitored and recorded for quality assurance." I'll be taking some time off from the majority of my activity here. That basically covers my blog, guestbook, and PMs. I will regularly comment where I have been commenting, but that's about it. When I'm feeling better, I'll post again, hopefully with something positive. I'm not hard to find if it's important. Anime Dreams.

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