Does anyone play Chess?
This past week, I've taken the time out to actually play a few games of Chess with an online friend of mine (he's not on MyO, so I can't link to him), and wow was I surprised at how poorly I played. I hadn't played a real person in at least four or five years, and I used to be good, but I can tell I really need a lot of practice. Playing against a computer game (which I do once in a while, and found a decent free one online to work with) is very different than playing against a real opponent, and I guess I've lost my edge while playing the PC and not a person. Needless to say, my record from this past week is remarkably similar to when I first joined a Ches Club in Junior High school, and that, was very bad for me.
But what does that have to do with my art?
Absolutely nothing, but it's necessary to take some time away from important things, to rest the mind, and challenge it in other ways. I relax and soothe my mind while training it to think creatively by playing Chess. With that done, I think I can say mid week next week, I should have something ready for posting, but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself right now.
Comments:
Mamma Vash:
I know, I know, it's not really clear in practice who's right or wrong, but I choose to err on the side of caution, for my own sanity.
As near as I can tell, file size is dependant upon many things, and digital art can be just as immense as an analog image scan in if it's not done right. When scanning an image in, reduce the quality as low as possible, (my scanner's lowest setting is 200 DPI) and when saving the image, save it as a JPEG, reduce the color depth, reduce the quality from 100% down as low as you can without distorting the image too much (you probably will see some artifacting, but they haven't made a clean compression tool for JPEGs yet that I am aware of), and lastly, reduce the image size in little bits, that combination of things will give you reasonable results with your images (tweak the sharpness to bring back a little clarity to the image while resizing if necessary). I always recommend saving an uncompressed, unedited version of the picture before making any potentially damaging changes to it, that way you can start over if you don't like the results you get. It's a trial and error thing that you have to learn from experience. Digital art does in most cases have a "cleaner" look to it, but I'm more impressed by someone who can still use a pencil and produce out of this world art, probably because I'm still having trouble learning how to do digital art myself.
I would appreciate it if you could tell me one thing about the song, Which episode(or episodes) of Cowboy Bebop is Waltz for Zizi heard in? I'm sure if I knew which episode it was in, I'd know the tune, but right now I can't think of what it is.
I've made my share of CDs for listening on the road and at home, some of them "gray hat" so I can't detail anything content wise on those discs. I will say that I'm in love with the error correction that's built into of all things Windows Media Player 10 (It's free, and can rip in MP3 format, who can complain about that?). I had a Simon and Garfunkel CD that was scratched beyond the point it was usable, so I ripped the whole disc onto my laptop and the scratched tracks were "repaired", I burned off a copy of the disc and use that copy for my own purposes. Lately though, I've been playing around with Sony's MD format (If you don't know my brother and his wife gave me a MD deck - they got it from one of her relatives and didn't know what to do with it, since Im the family audiophile, they passed it on to me), and I've had fun recording the the themes from movies and the anime I watch, which is fine by me, I like to have access to those songs without having to mess with the DVDs. I do still intend to get the soundtrack CDs for each and every property I've ripped music from, that's only right. I should point out that I don't file share, so my ripped music stays with me. :-P
Thank you for the suggestion, but I have issues when it comes to the government as it is, and I don't think I would have the stomach to work for them. Now this part is for everyone: I'm not saying any more than what I already have because I can't be flamed for opinions that aren't expressed. Don't even ask me to explain this issue, I will not under any circumstances answer questions on my opinions of the US government, this is an animé fan site after all, not a political debate one (PMs are included, I won't answer PMs about political views either).
Now that my rant to everyone is over, I can get on with this. I will honor the spirit of your suggestion and investigate the link though, but I have my doubts that I would qualify for anything they have to offer. It's not like they need an amaxophobic, paranoid, character artist, sci-fi writer, effects make-up artist, and all around dreamer in any part of the government.
I still haven't been able to try biscotti yet, but I'm working on it.
Caprice
I was using the Random Fan art link (it was still up when I was using it the other night), and I actually came across an artist I'd seen before. It was kind of nostalgic for me, because I hadn't seen that user's artwork in about a year I think. I will try to keep my eye on artists that show potential, because people did that for me way back when I started here (though none of those pictures are still being hosted), and I think it's the best way to promote the growth of good artists. If you see any that you think I'd be interested in, be sure to point them out to me.
Well, I'm done the research element of two of the character images, I have my reference sheets for them, and I'm working on the art portions of those characters right now. I still need to screencap and make the ref sheet for two of the other pictures but I'll do that this weekend. Sorry, I can't tell you which ones I'm closer to being done, you'll know they're done when when you see me mention them here. In addition to the three pictures I'm doing for you guys here, I've been asked to draw Hojo from InuYasha for a friend who's not on MyO so I can't link to him.
Outlaw Melfina:
Well, that happens, it's nothing big. I haven't been getting around to my usual sites like I should be, but I am trying to keep up.
The only time I'm very clear and specific about what I'm going to do is when I'm mad about something and I want to make sure the people involved know I'm not going to let them walk all over me. Granted I get into more trouble by doing that, but it's an effective way to make sure people know I don't roll over for anyone. In my expereince though, being cryptic about how I'm going to handle a situation is always harder on the people who create it, and it's sadistically fun to watch them try to worm out of my wrath, not knowing how or what I plan to do next.
In my case, I like the drama of more well known potent words than using my own. Nothing works the mind quite like telling someone you know they're lying by quoting
MacBeth: "False face must hide what the false heart doth know." When I'm feeling especially creative, I'll use my own words, which usually go over everyon'es heads, and I end up having to explain what I meant which reduces the effect the statement had in the first place.
BlackMagicianGrl
Thank you for noticing, I try to keep things in order for my own benefit, but it seems to help everyone who visits my site too. There's one feature that I don't put into every post, my
Editorial section which usually goes at the end of my post after the comments. I use that to express my serious opinions about things mostly. Actually the format of responding to commets in post like this is one I borrowed from others on site here, and put my own variation to it. It's easier for me to keep track of whom I've responded to on what topics by doing it this way.
I should point out to Mamma Vash that you're one of the users here who provided me with the tips I mentioned in my response to her today. Those tips along with I've found out from my own experience has been very helpful, so I try to pass on what I know to others who need it.
Random Fact About Me:
Of all the animé I currently own, I have not one single soundtrack CD, because no store in my area even stocks them, and I can't shop online yet. Needless to say I'm
(-.-#) about it.
Editorial:
Just this week I was able to acquire "Princess Mononoke", and I have to say I've never been let down by a Studio Ghibli film yet. I don't like to spoil things, but I will say it's a wonderful piece visually, and the story is something too. If you haven't seen it yet, do try, you won't be sorry.
Anime Dreams
| Picture Requests |
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| Currently Working | Cataloged for Later | Finished Work |
- Melfina (Outlaw Star), for Outlaw Melfina
- Duo Maxwell (Gundam Wing), for kout3uka
- Sanosuke (Rurouni Kenshin), for Caprice
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