I got my Complaint-Free World bracelet in the mail today! I'm so happy, I put it on right away. For those of you who don't know, here's a brief explanation: A minister named Bill Owen felt that there was too much complaining and mental pollution in the world, so he came up with this great idea. Basically, you wear a purple bracelet on one hand, and every time you complain, criticize, or gossip, you have to take the bracelet off and wear it on the opposite hand. (Most people are usually surprised by how many times they have to switch hands in one day!) The goal is to not have to change hands--meaning no complaining--for 21 days straight. It took him five months to do it successfully, and by now over 6 million other people have given it a try. This definitely benefits the people around you, but I think the biggest gift is to yourself because you will become much more positive and happy.

http://www.acomplaintfreeworld.org/

Hello. It's always awkward to post here when I haven't updated in a long time...like ten months lol. I actually keep up with my friends list, but never know what to post myself. My personal life can be pretty blahhh. *_* Anyway, I visited my family in Iran for the entire summer, and now I'm back at LCAD for my second year in studying animation. (It's taking all my free time!) This semester is especially cool because my schedule is filled with random electives I just felt like taking: Rendering, Watercolor and Gouache, Art as Brand, Animal Anatomy, History of Video Games, and Animation 2.

My favorite class of all is Art as Brand. The teacher is Greg Spalenka, an amazing illustrator whose done concept work for the Narnia movies, The Golden Compass, Ant Bully, and some others. It's his first year back at school and he's inspired to teach students how to see themselves as a "brand" and market themselves accordingly. He's really supportive of the progress I've been with Carli in Fresh Baked and the whole convention scene. I'm totally pumped to work on new comics and illustrations, and my goal for the class is to complete my first original doujinshi. Fandoms are still awesome and I'm still going to continue that, but I want my main work to be based on my own stories and characters. It's also so much more satisfying to do.

Also, our teachers and classmates are always sending us emails related to animation. Today I received a link to these videos with the text: "THIS IS THE BEST ANIMATION EVER MADE BY ANYONE ANYWHERE EVER, THIS QUALITY OF ANIMATION IS WHAT ALL TRUE ANIMATORS STRIVE FORRRrrr."


There's a 30 second intro, and then the magic happens. I have to remember to reference this the next time I draw animal walk cycles. It's as close to the real thing as you can get.



I've already seen this but thought I'd share anyway. Make sure you skip to 1:35, it's the best part! Link is such a hottie in this picture...they just really nailed his character--I mean, if he could speak.

And here's a quick oekaki I just did. Posts are better with art, yes. Oh, and you guys should draw at my board sometime, help me make it not dead. http://pallid.unixdaemons.com/Oekaki


p.s. Hi Christine. :B

Hello everyone! I know I have been nonexistent on the internets (yeah you hear that all the time from just about everyone) but don't you worry about me because I am doing totally fine. I used to be online all the damn time a couple years back, but that is because I really had nothing better to do. *sniff* Well, this year really changed all that.

Quick recap of my life in '08:
I completed my last semester at community college this Spring with an amazing semester abroad in Paris. When I got back in May I attended 3 conventions back to back and then moved into my own apartment, all in the same month! And then...my parents made a quick decision to go to Iran for the summer so I got stuck taking care of my adorable but evil 7-year old brother AKA satan for two months. At the same time I got accepted to my dream school: Laguna College of Art and Design. And so this is what has been consuming my life for the past few months, and I feel amazing and productive and just happy and thankful to be where I am. Going to this school is one of the best decisions I've ever made, and being surrounded by artists of every geeky stereotype you can imagine is totally awesome!!



( The 4 things consuming my life right now. )

The con was a blast. It was the most business-like and least fun con I've been to though. Normally I have a friend helping me so I get more chances to take breaks and walk around, but because I was alone I pretty much spent 12+ hours just sitting at my table, with only restroom breaks. I am also taking care of my younger brother this summer while my parents are on a trip, and so every free moment I had consisted of taking him to the video game room. >__> Poor guy. Also, last year the yaoi panel was one of my favorite events at Otakon, but I couldn't go this year because I needed to stay with him. *sniffle*

The quality of the alley was amazing this year. I am pretty embarrassed that I didn't walk around the alley even ONCE, but I did see a lot of work just walking through and was really impressed. And yes, I did walk past "shiny desu" many times on the way to the restroom, and I have to say, the AA community is AWESOME for being so vocal about this issue. I was of course annoyed like everyone else, but I didn't think their was much that could be done about it. I respect everyone who voiced their concerns, I think this will really lead to a better alley for the future.

With the exception of shiny desu drama, I really loved the artist alley. Not only was the art awesome, but the attendees were a real pleasure and super friendly. I had a lot of great conversations and friendly feedback. That kind of support helps motivate me to work harder on my art.

( Some awesome commissions I took. )

Our next con is NYAF and I'm really excited because I've never been to New York. Although I never really check out the cities when I go to out of state cons, I think this time I will definitely make time to walk around. Can't wait!! *_*

For now I'm really nervous about school starting. Our orientation is in less than two weeks...I still have a lot of excitement mixed with fears and anxieties about starting art school, I hope it all works out *crosses fingers* >__<.

( my thoughts on Avatar finale. )
Even though Bar and I are still finishing up our Ouran doujinshi project, we've planned to make our next doujinshi on Avatar. We've been wanting to do an Avatar fanbook forever, but now it's perfect timing with the season finale. It will, of course, be gag/parody for the most part, and damn there is just so much good stuff in here to poke fun at. I'm looking forward to it. But... I hope I can pull off drawing a bald kid.

Carli and I are working hard on our next doujinshi, Ouran High School Host Club! Our goal is to get it printed in time for Otakon, this August. We were wondering if anyone was interested in submitting guest work??? (4komas, illustrations, etc.) The doujin is pretty much our usual gag/parody/crack work, so anything in that field is greatly appreciated. So yes, if you are on my watch list, I think your work is sexy, and I want you in our doujin. Plz consider it!!

Tech. info to be mentioned later. For now, doujin is standard size. (7.17x10.07")
Deadline is July 26th

Sooo I'm being bad and taking a break from working on con prints. *_* I'm totally excited for this year's AX, I think it will be the best EVAR. <3 I've been looking at guests and panels, and it was interesting to see DA finally making a presence. I have mixed feelings about that site but it's a fact that they're the best source to get your work noticed online. I was kind of interested in their poster contest but I knew I had no time to enter. And yet...after seeing the results, I was totally reminded of why I absolutely HATE art contests, especially online ones. *_* I almost always disagree with the winning entries. Instead of being based on skill/creativity/execution, the winner gets picked by some random whack judge who can't identify GOOD art. Out of so many cool entries, they pick THIS one. And even better, after the winner was announced, everyone found out it was copied and pasted from official art haha. I personally would have voted for one of these: 1 2 3

I also reread Toukaidou Hisame/Kagerou this week. Man I love this manga!! T_T It's not like epic spectacular or anything, but it's just a nice feel good manga that makes me smile every few pages, the characters are just too cute. I totally recommend it! It's a historical/fantasy piece with light bl fluff added in. So yeah, check it out if you haven't already.

Oh yeah, and as for AX table assignments, Bar and I can be found somewhere between D01-04. This is weird but I'm kind of looking forward to AX being over too, just so I can start on FB's next doujinshi. We have been postponing it too much because of all these conventions, and we definitely want to get it done for Otakon!! (It will be Ouran Host Club with the usual gag/crack/parody goodness.) Okay, I don't have much else to say tonight..back to work. *_*

I went to the doctor this week to check my lab results. Last week was my first visit to the doctor's office in seven years so I was paranoid and expecting to have all kinds of problems like worms in my stomache lol. He ordered like a dozen different blood tests and it turns out I'm incredibly healthy!? He said he would have believed me if I said I ran five miles a day, which is so sad because I don't even walk five minutes!! =[ Oh, and protein levels were great too so my mom can stop worrying about the side effects of being vegetarian. Now that I know I'm fine, I'm more motivated to take better care of myself and start to exercise. I've been drawing so much at my desk lately that I keep getting cramps and back pain. >__> Oh..the pain of productivity...

Well, I finally finished my first illustration for the week. My goal was one every two days but it took four >__<. I'm going to try to work faster. I want to have a couple new prints for AX.

I've decided to stop running away from the internet and get back into communities and such. My disappearance was definitely a much needed break, but I'm ready to go back to updating and posting lots of art! So many awesome and new things coming up this year like beginning art school, starting a webcomic (finally!), and creating many new doujinshis with Carli. <3 I'm so pumped to be as productive as possible this summer. I already spent this entire last weekend drawing...it was tiring but I feel so good about it. *_*