The Great Come Back (I Hope)

Barring the "under construction" post I made on December 22nd 2016, this blog has not been updated in over a year. There are a lot of reasons, but I'll try to keep them at summary length.

#1: I finally started a full-time job after being unemployed for seven months. And yes, I spent that entire seven months searching. I love my job, but it is full time. This cuts into art-making hours.

#2: I stopped doing the webcomic that I had been posting various pages and other content for on this blog. The labor of love became labor without love. In fact it became labor of near contempt, so I stopped. But I personally think that carrying on with a weekly comic for almost a year and a half is impressive. I'm not at all sad to stop working on it either.

#3: While I was still doing said webcomic, I had no time or energy to draw anything else. I stopped last July-ish, and having done that is so, so freeing. My inspiration, style, and even my skill level were suffering greatly. Now that I'm back to sketching on paper and doing whatever I want, I'm improving again.

#4: Other dampers on my creativity were the numerous mood disorders I'd been dealing with for years that were coming to an ugly head. But I finally found the medical help I needed, and after months of trial and error I am (mostly) on a blend of medication that works properly.

#5: Lastly I just plain forgot I had this. But since I've remembered it and finally have myself and my creativity back, I decided that I should have this back, too. It's the only way a lot of people see my drawings since my other social media do not intersect where this one does and I want to keep it that way.

Thanks for sitting through all that with me! The art will return next post, which will be tomorrow.

Week 22: Goodnight Sweet Prince

Somehow this week I didn't get around to posting any progress, but it's done now.

Near the beginning of May my brother's 17 year old cat, Sonic, passed away. I wasn't there and don't live close enough to pay my respects in person, so I did it in my own way. He was part of my life for several years while our family still lived together and I'm going to miss him.

Sonic always looked unimpressed, as I suppose life in general did not impress him unless there was a tuna can being opened or a ball of aluminum foil on the floor. Even laser pointers bored him.

He was also not especially social, but he wasn't mean either. He was indifferent to the existence of most humans save for my brother. Being graced with his presence on your lap was a big deal, especially if you got him to purr. Unless, again, you were my brother. Because my brother was his favorite thing.

I always enjoyed his aloof passive-aggression, and enjoyed picking him up just to annoy him with belly rubs. Seriously he had the fluffiest spotted tummy. And it was irresistibly round. It demanded rubbing.

Week 20: Ventilation

It's tempting to get all philosophical here about life and how it likes to knock you over and kick you when you're down, but I'll resist. Simply put, last weekend brought awful news with it and I used art to cope. This is the result and now I'm ready to get on with my life.

Week 8 Wants to Stay in Bed

I'm still not operating at 100% after returning from my trip, and I've been home for almost a week. I can't explain it or fix it, so I'm just rolling with it and trying to fall back into routine in hopes that my body and brain get the hint.

One of the things I really can't seem to focus on is drawing when it requires me to get past the sketching phase. But I am trying, darn it all, so we'll see what happens.

Week 20 is a Beginning and an Ending

I did not do much sleeping the night of the accident. I kept feeling that strange inner wobbling that happens when you've been on a boat all day or obsessively using a tire swing. I also kept re-seeing the blur of the world as my car tumbled into the median and hearing Mom wailing, both of which would rob anyone of sleep. But Mom and I were sharing a bed, which helped, and Starz was feeling as snuggly as usual. The latter calmed all my fears that the cat was bleeding internally and could randomly die.

The trauma made me exempt from driving the next day, so my brother handled about seven hours of travel as we followed Mom to Casper, Wyoming. We also met some family for lunch who were headed in the opposite direction, oddly enough. The Mexican restaurant we met at was dubious and when I first arrived I thought a really short waitress whom I thought was someone's kid. I feel kinda bad for that part. Not that bad though, because their burnt bacon messed up the roof of my mouth. Besides being exhausted and sore I couldn't eat anything crunchy without pain for two days.

The day after that I had regained enough courage to drive a bit, so between my brother and I we made it to Kansas (Kaweeney or something) and drove about 11 hours. All this time Starz was back to being dramatic despite the lack of carrier. We had some cat pheromone spray to calm her down but it took a good thirty minutes to kick in and she can be more than obnoxious in that time span.

I don't know how many of you have seen “A Goofy Movie”, or have both seen and remember it, but when we arrived I kept thinking of the final scene in the movie. Let me recap:

Goofy and his son Max, after a crazy vacation of father-son bonding, Sasquatch sighting, waterfall adventures, and a concert, arrive back in their home town at the house of Max's crush. When they stop, their already battered car loses a few more pieces, including the back bumper.

While “Ivan” was still functional and did not drop his bumper, I couldn't help making a comparison. Also the chunk of plastic in the back window that holds up his top break light fell off.

And here I sit in the lobby of my mom's apartment complex (which is a very fancy place. Pool, rec room, and all) waiting for her to arrive from work and offer me a ride back to our apartment. It's not far but it's rainy and I don't want to walk.

To end things well, have a photo of Starz bird watching out the balcony door, her new obsession:

Week 20: I Guess This Counts and Progress 01

I am a country bumpkin to my core. I may have been born near Seattle (Bremerton Naval Hospital, actually), but 90% of my life has been spent in Idaho, an 80% in the Northern part of the state. This may seem like an unnecessary distinction, but considering the different landscape and density in population, they might as well be two different states.

About two years ago, due to the poor economy in the area, my mom moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to live with her brother for a while until she was able to take care of herself financially again. Her roots lie in Northern Idaho even more than mine do, and since my brother and I both stayed where we were, I imagine it was incredibly difficult for her to stay here when my brother and I boarded the plane home without her. I know it was difficult for me at least.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I was finishing up school at the University of Idaho and eager to move back to Coeur d' Alene, the place that my heart considers home. My family, childhood friends, and everything familiar to me are there. I started looking for a place to live and a job back in April, but it became more and more apparent that there was nowhere for my cat and I to go.

My family is huge and awesome and generous, so please don't make any bad assumptions there. If any of them had the space and financial security and the space for my cat they all would have jumped at the opportunity to provide shelter while I found a job and saved money for my own place. The idea of joining Mom half way across the country had occurred to me, but I had snubbed it because Tulsa is large, confusing, miserably hot and a humid, and about 1800 miles from “home”. As finals week drew ever nearer, however, I finally stopped being stubborn and had to admit that Mom and my cousins down in Tulsa had a point. I could go there. So I did.

So last Sunday, the morning after a glorious graduation party put on my by aunt, my mother and I set out for Tulsa with my brother along for a temporary trip. My Dodge Durango (affectionately dubbed “Ivan”) was full to the brim with things I wanted to bring, though they were strategically placed so I could see out my back window. My cat rode with me (shotgun after whining in her carrier and drowning out my music for two hours – she quieted down after being out of it), and my mother and younger brother either leading or following in her sedan.

We first passed into Montana, which is a beautiful state. My favorite part of the drive was the gently rolling and fading hills as we passed out of the Rockies and into flatter lands. I would have photos of these had my camera not rebelled and lost them forever.

About five hours into the drive was when this trip, quite bluntly, began to suck.

It was raining and cold and nasty in Montana on the road towards Billings. This made stopping for gas and potty breaks uncomfortable, but while inside my car I had no issue with the weather...until a point. This point came when I rose over the top of the hill and quite suddenly there was stopped traffic in front of me for some reason. I had a millisecond to assume it was an accident before I realized that I could not stop.

I was in the passing lane and figured I'd just turn, slide into the median, and then motor my way back out once the coast was clear. No collision, no muss, no fuss. Except not.

Perhaps the bank was more slick than I anticipated, perhaps it was more steep, perhaps both. Whatever caused it, the next instant up was down and the reverse was true, and my car came to a heavy stop on its wheels in the grass and mud and several of my belongings were scattered nearby, growing muddier and soggier by the second. It was at this point that I realized my car had just done a barrel roll and landed perpendicular to both sides of I-90.

By some Divine intervention (and I truly believe that), I was not injured. No blood anywhere, and if I was hurt internally I couldn't feel it yet. My panic-stricken but quiet brain was busy realizing that my cat was no longer in the seat beside me and I needed to find her. I shoved open my door to the sound of my mother in hysterics rushing towards me from my car and several strangers gathering around to ask what happened and lovingly gather my belongings from the mud. Starz (the cat) was in the back seat looking the most confused I have ever seen a living thing. I pulled her out and herded her into her carrier, then closed it. Or I assume I did that. I remember picking her up and her hissing because she was scared, but the action of securing her isn't really in my memory.

I do remember mom's continued screaming, clinging, my brother being the cool cucumber as always, people asking what happened, police men, and some Army personnel in uniforms helping out, one of whom insisted that I sit down and grab a blanket from the back of my car because I was probably in shock. I think that was a fair assumption. I was stubborn for a bit and didn't get back in the car, but I finally obeyed. Thinking back I wonder if he would have sat me down himself and shut me in the car. I wouldn't blame him.

At some point an ambulance showed up to check me out. I was... impressively coherent and still not in pain. I even noticed the paramedic writing the wrong birth year on my documentation.

I don't like thinking about this event to begin with, mostly because it costs me sleep. Beside that, the rest of the day was very technical and I spent it in a stupor. My car was towed to the nearby tiny town of Big Timber, we stayed in a Super 8, I had a shower and was the most hungry I had been in a while after a couple of hours. The soreness also started about an hour after the fact, but that part wasn't surprising. I was in a far less serious collision almost two years ago (not my fault), and once the shock wore off everything hurt due to the tension in my body from the shock of the accident and the lack of control of my car. Except more things hurt this time because I'd been on an unwanted roller coaster ride.

At the moment he's parked outside my mom's apartment sporting plastic sheets held over said windows with duct tape.

That's right, my car was still drive-able, also by Divine intervention. Mom drove it the rest of the way while my brother and I took turns piloting her car, but it held together for the rest of the journey and is still in (more or less) one piece. I drove it out shopping today.

This seems more than enough for one entry, so tomorrow (or soon after) there will be more.

Week 20 Will Be a Painting in Words

As I warned last week with the crafts for my updates, life turned crazy as I was uprooting and moving halfway across the country. But I'm not going into detail now. It's a very long story covering about five days, four of which were spent travelling. So Week 20 will be something of a generic blog entry, mostly text but with personally taken photos to try and spice it up. I've tried to avoid that with this blog, but stories are also an art form, and this one happens to be a great deal more complex and traumatic than I planned or anticipated when I left my beloved Idaho.

Stick around, though. Week 21 will be back to your regularly scheduled drawings.

Week 19 Gets Crafty

Due to the current chaos of moving half-way across the country and most of my art supplies being packed (those that I did not give away), I feel like Week 19 being simple is not only understandable but unavoidable. I also finished these days ago, before everything I own was in boxes, but they were gifts for people who see this blog and I didn't want to ruin any surprises.

This one I finished first. It's a gift for my cousin who runs the Gurgle Burp blog and loves Octopi. She also loves the box! And somehow Chrome does not recognize that plural of "octopus" as a word.

This next box was a birthday gift for my mother, which was yesterday. It's made to match the awesome bedspread in her new apartment, with an accent of her favorite color. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

I actually have one more to finish, which I hope will be today. I'm staying with aforementioned cousin and there's a ton of craft supplies here that they're cool with me borrowing.

Week Four: I'm Tired

Yes, yes I am. So sorry, not much to say about it other than that the tattoos and scars are next. And the hair. The hair will be fun. The tattoos and scars might not.

It Rolls In

It's incredibly belated, but a Merry Christmas/Happy New Year/Happy Any Other Holiday to my readers. I just returned from a long trip down to Tulsa, OK to spend Christmas with my mother, aunt, uncle, and cousins. It was wonderful and I hope everyone else's holidays were too.

Though it didn't occur to me until just now, and perhaps it's the left-over holiday Spirit, my finished painting above could very well have a sort of Christmas-like theme to it. Either way, it's completed and I consider it a final studio piece worth being proud of.

This year I intend for Weekly Art to return and to have another attempt to see how far into the year I make it. School assignments will definitely count, as I have two studios. One of those is Figure Drawing, so some artistic/tasteful nudity will be involved up until the middle of May when Spring semester ends.

Now to finish unpacking and figure out what this week's undertaking will be.

Oh, Hi There Midterms

That's right, it's midterm week at my school, but compared to many students my load isn't that horrible. I only have two classes with the traditional sort of "exam", though I did have to have a frame for my last painting constructed by yesterday. I would gladly trade that process for a written test any day. I am not eager to do it three more times by the semester's end.

Now that the complaining is out of the way, here's the start of my next painting assignment. It's actually had a good deal done to it since this photo was taken, but I was side-tracked yesterday after class and forgot to take one.
This time the assignment was to bring items from home, which had to include some form of background fabric, one reflective object, some perishable good (fruit, vegetable, plant, etc.), and one small, one medium, and one large object. The still life has to be removed at the end of each class and then re-positioned at the start of the next. Yes, that's as big a pain as it sounds like, and also the reason I don't have a photo of the set-up; it's not allowed.

What I have is a purple cloak as the background, a glass red, shiny tub as my reflective, and though it's not in the picture yet, my perishable item is a lemon. Also in the painting are a stuffed Care Bear sheep that I've had since I was little, a candle, an upside-down flashlight, and a wall-hanging cameo of a girl (which I set in the tub).

Last Friday was also another art therapy session with another unplanned outcome. I like the previous one better, but this one definitely has its strengths. I am, however, making a mental note to put my canvas paper under a stack of books next time to get the crinkles out.

And lastly, a smattering of sketches that have been accumulating:

Happy Long Weekend!

Hello Friday of Labor Day weekend. A few stresses going on to start my three days of chilling, but I'm not letting them bother me much. And hey, I've got some art to upload!

Maybe I've been vague about it, but since Kessie asked, allow me to explain. The painting and the digital project art two totally separate classes and not connected in any way. Speaking of, here's an update on the painting:
I've grown braver about laying the paint on thick, but having trouble blending the colors on the canvas (well, gesso-covered paper in this case).

Also! My first model car. It was easy to put together, though I ended up gluing bits into place because they'd fall off while I was doing something else. I also painted the interior black. It was white by default, which was totally unsuited to the rest of the car, I thought. I had a lot of fun, though! I think eventually I'll invest in another one.
Here's the commission, scanned better.
And last, the other commission that I need to work on. This will be the last for quite a while. Work, school, and homework mean that any non-curricular drawing I do will be for myself.
So here's to a long weekend! Hope everyone enjoys it!

Impact

Six days have come and gone since the last update, and what a busy six days they have been. I started a job at the school that earns me 25 hours a week and graciously works around my class schedule. My co-workers are pretty awesome as well.

I did start painting class, but it's one of things that starts slowly. We started an exercise on Thursday, but I didn't take a photo. Instead behold the new toys I bought for the class:
Brushes thankfully were not necessary as I already owned all the required sizes. I realize any old hand soap would have done, but I forgot it last time and was in the book store already, so just picked that bar up. Also, palette knives baffle me. It's been too long since my days of watching Bob Ross obsessively as a kid. And yes, we have to stretch our own canvases for this course. What a pain.

While I didn't take a photo of the horror that I started in class, I did experiment with the left-over pigment from that session so as not to waste paint.
It's not especially exciting or well-done, but again I was just playing around. I think I'm having issues mentally transitioning from knowing how to use watercolors or acrylics to figuring out oils, which are a whole new battleground.

Also, I have two commissions that need completed, but thankfully I know both the clients well and they are patient. Being at the school either in class or working from 9 - 5 every day does cut into my creative time a bit.

This one's Hetalia, Australia and Wy, having a father and daughter moment (or they will once they have bodies):
Lastly, on something of a whim I bought a car model kit. Well, not exactly a whim, but explaining would take too long. No photos yet, however, as I'm not allowing myself to open it until after I've done some homework.

Stuff's Happening

Yes, it truly is. It's also not happening, which is problematic. Despite all my applications I still have no work, and therefore no work hours during the last week. This is going to make paying rent at the beginning of next month painful enough, so hopefully something will hire and start me this coming week, which is also the first week of school.

Lack of work being the case, however, some sketching was still done. I finished a couple of commissions:

Started working on another one (today):
And did some Hetalia-related scribbles in pen for myself:

I also have another commission to work on after the current one is finished. Something else I've done lately that makes using my tablet easier is watching other artists streaming live while they work. I've picked up some little tricks that make it more fun and save me some work. Sure I could have read a tutorial, but actually watching it happen does more for me. Visual learner and all that.

Dreaming In Color...ish.

How is it that I was better at coloring in the lines when I was ten than I am now? Well, either way, here's the coloring progress. Thank God for Photoshop, but I decided to not apply any touch-ups with it until I'm actually done.

I haven't finished with the shading because I wanted something to do to take breaks from the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of dots I have yet to add. Once again, this is the dress I'm drawing.

I'll probably finish this today because I'm in a bit of a pinch. My car is out of gas and my bank account is out of money, so I can't get to work. So uh... if anyone wants to throw a commission my way? That'd be nice. My next pay day isn't until the 22nd.

Dabbling

During my continued semi-Hiatus until school starts and I post work from the painting studio I'm taking I've still been sketching. It's mostly fan work, but d the day I cease to draw what I enjoy is the day that I throw away all my art supplies.

To my credit, however, there's a few life scribbles in here too, and an odd sort of gift for a friend. His character, Shane the world's angriest Scot, as a Rabbit from Kung Fu Panda. It's... a long story.
Did these in church. Made the mistake of not having coffee before the service, so that's why there's only half a page. It was a good message, though, about the older brother in the Prodigal Son parable.
And finally, some sketches for a Hetalia fanfic I hope to complete some day (which won't happen. Never does.) It's an Alternate Universe story with Ivan as a noble, Lien as his newest harem-girl, and Rasputin as Ivan's dad's advisor who wants said harem-girl when she's not up for grabs.

Week 25: Redux

Normally the trends among my fellow artists are something to be avoided due to my mentality of "if everyone else has done it, then my contribution wouldn't make much difference" or "everyone else is doing it, I want to be different." A recent trend I've noticed, however, is that of artists re-doing old works for comparison's sake, and probably for a self-esteem boost as well. As an artist, I find any sort of self-esteem boost too good an opportunity to pass up. So I found something well over a year old in my DeviantArt gallery and decided to re-create it.

Behold, "Delivery" . It's old and it's awful and it begs for me to try again. This time my aim is to have a believable background, characters that are proportionate to one another, and improved anatomy. A more dynamic angle wouldn't hurt, either. It'd be wonderful to do this in traditional media, but a combination is most likely at this point since my marker collection is still dwindling.

Also, to help pass time and hopefully earn a little more income due to work being slow, I've joined a couple of paid journalism sites and taken on a few assignments. I've been discouraged with writing of late, however, so hopefully my trip to the library in about ten minutes will cure that. On top of that, I'm searching for a second job to take on in order to make sure bills are paid.

Hello stress. I did not miss you while I was on vacation.

Week 24: Starting Fresh

As any individual will ascertain, whether they are an artist or not, plans often don't come through how said individual would have preferred. In the case of this individual, that failed plan would be Week 23's project, which was the water department building near my house. Not only did I fail to bring a drafting ruler with me on the trip (can you imagine taking that onto the return flight as carry-on? I sure can't), but failed to even open the larger sketchbook with the actual Work In Progress inside.

Casual sketching was something I mustered a little energy for, but nothing amazing resulted. My current solution is to take a deep breath, accept some form of defeat (nothing finished, but at least I didn't ignore more artistic needs completely) and simply pick up where I left off. Why not?

As of now, "Art Weeks" start Monday rather than Saturday, but as long as seven days to finish something are involved there's no real sacrifice here.

Now... what in the world am I going to draw this week?

Week 22: Life Bites

And when life bites, it bites hard. It's like a dog who's found someone to play tug-o-war with them and it sinks its teeth into the rope toy without intent of letting go for love or doggy treat and then snaps said toy around to induce whiplash that only the Man of Steel could possibly survive. Right now, I could very well be one of those rope toys.

That said, I'm giving myself a week extension for this Week's project. It's true that next week will involve a lot of traveling, but down-times and stops at diners and hotels will happen, plus Sunday should be relatively open for me. Also, as may have been mentioned, my laptop and tablet ensemble are coming along, so various things can be done digitally.

I won't, however, leave you without anything to look at for this entry dear readers, and so for your enjoyment:

Week 21: Less

Yesterday was uneventful and went by quickly, which is always acceptable for a first day of work. Today went by even quicker still and I was finished by 1:30 (or 13:30, for you military time people). The above sketches were done before work yesterday, since I arrived early. There's a coffee stand right in the office's parking lot that I am certain to become a regular at before summer ends.

I also did some sketching on the commission and aim to have it finished by Monday evening. Ah, bank holidays are wonderful things.
This week of sketching and breathing was great. I do believe another one of these will happen before the year's end, maybe even a couple of times.

Next week (As in, the one that starts this Sunday) and the weekend following will be a bit insane. As mentioned, I have Monday off, but will be working through the rest of the week and then moving in with my new roommate over the weekend. Then after that, my family is leaving for a trip. I intend to take the tablet-compatible laptop with me and my sketching supplies. We'll see what happens with that. I will, however, be attempting to complete Week 22 during this upcoming madness. Bottoms up!