Digital Painting

I've always been so precise when drawing... that's why it would take me several hours to do each comic back when I was actively drawing my old webcomic.

It wasn't until I started studying the loose line style of Jhonen Vasquez's comic Johnny The Homicidal Maniac and assimilating it into my own style that I began to get loose with my line work. Less precise. Less perfect. For better art.

The casual, imprecise digital painting style has always eluded me. Tonight I did some researching online and read a few tutorials, and examined some digital painting works. Then I tried my hand (and my Wacom tablet of course) at the loose style of digital painting.

Basically it's all about low opacity & low flow brushes. The tablet takes care of the flow by pen pressure, so boiled down it's all about using low opacity brushes and overlaying strokes.

Here's a marble I made ;P

Rockin' & Rollin'

She wants to go out for drinks & night life afterward.

Heh.

I don't think she realizes how exhausted we might be.

Well, we always were. I guess the physical exertion Saturday night won't be quite at the level the few of us got used to a couple of years ago. Then again, we aren't nearly in as good a shape as back then. Heh, or as young. ;P


On a related note, I shared the 3 swing dance jams videos of me & my ex with some of my co-workers and my supervisor (she dances). That was uncharacteristic of me, and I wouldn't have shown off except the topic came up about me dancing & Glen Echo & such, and they were intrigued that there were videos of me dancing online. Compliments came my way, and I'm glad they enjoyed the vids.
I watch those vids with a heavy critiquing eye nowadays -- certain things never had the form they should have had (the start of the pretzel makes me cringe every time!) -- but we had the spirit. I endeavor to get better this time.
I want to do it with Lindy Hop.

Dancing to me is a celebration... of music, of life, of happiness.

Heard about sex but not enough / Found you can dance and still look tough, anyway, / Oh yes I did.
[Billy Joel, Keeping The Faith]

Life is good. =)

(It just had to be stated.)

Reflection on 2009

19 days later than I intended (took a while to remember everything/most of it), here's my reflection on 2009 list.

Instead of trite New Years Resolutions I make a list of all the good & positive experiences & events & jazz from the previous year. This way I can see all the wonderful things that comprised my life, and be thankful for.
This isn't everything (not all of it goes public, hehe)...

*Got a full-time career!
*Got myself my own apartment!
*Got a new desktop computer, quad-core.
*Installed a car stereo into my Saturn, with lots of help from my bro-in-law
*Went to new clubs/bars in Baltimore
*Stayed in bars/clubs till nearly-dawn, after hours parties (Russian and otherwise)
*Had a crush on a girl and felt like a schoolboy again.
*Went to Manhattan, for the first time in many years, with Stevo
*Did sound for Cirque du Soleil at Illusions
*Saw No Doubt in concert with my sister
*Had Sara over on 4th of July, with my Aunt & Uncle and sis & bro-in-law... then she & I spontaneously went to DC and just missed the fireworks
*Went to the beach with Stevo, stayed at his friend Corey's place
*Moved my website from the now-defunct Geocities to Angelfire
*Learned about my synesthesia
*New cell phone: Samsung Rogue
*An Autumn afternoon in Georgetown
*Tried new (foreign) foods -- yes, me, really
*Did a show with Spencer & Jerry in Binghamton, NY -- magic road trip!
*Saw my Uncle Dan whom I haven't seen in 6-7 years at a big Fam party (Mom's side)
*Freed myself of a "ball & chain" ;P
*I blushed, in public
*Made new friends
*Made new drinks
*Got lots of hugs
*And a few kisses from strangers :-*

Cooking!

Everyone knows I love creating things: art, stories, music, Lego models.

After 2 nights of actually cooking in my apartment for myself I've discovered I get the same satisfaction from cooking as I do when creating art, or music & such.


I have a big wok, and that's perfect for cooking chopped up chicken breasts with other "stuff".
Last night I mixed in dried chili peppers with some sweet-&-sour sauce, then canned pineapple chunks at the last minute (so they didn't cook much). Yum.

Tonight I added stir fry sauce, soy sauce, chili powder, a bit of lime juice, and a little sweet-&-sour sauce -- yum! It was just missing a bed of rice. I soaked up the extra sauciness on my plate with raw baby carrots. ^_^

Next I need to work on making more than 1 dish at a time. ;P

Rockin' & Rollin'

I'm now rockin' dual monitors on my desk!
I bought the DVI cable this morning so I could use that for my fancy 20" wide-screen flat-panel LCD, and the standard VGA monitor cable for the standard 15" flat-panel LCD that used to be my sister's.
Then I downloaded a program called DisplayFusion to have different wallpapers for each monitor.
I can finally have an entire (and wide) screen for Photoshop's canvas space, and all of the toolbars/palettes/layers & history lists on the other monitor. And of course I can play games (WoW) and have other programs (Firefox!) up on the other monitor. ;P


Had a mostly successful trip to Ikea today with my sis & bro-in-law. I got a 2 drawer "nightstand" for next to my desk, to hold office supplies. I also got the big square-with-swirl metal edges mirror for over my dresser, and 3 tall skinny wavy mirrors for my "hallway" (the wall just inside the door).
I intended to buy a largish bookshelf, but they were out of stock.

I'm decorating and converting my bathroom as a Steampunk style. For a birthday present Sara's making me a Steampunk-y shower curtain (we picked out fabrics Fri night). I have some ideas for decorating with gears in there... >8:-]

Also, I made the perfect Kraft mac & cheese tonight. I love having a gas stove & range. ^_^


And yes, I am a bit of a bookworm. I've been reading a whole lot more since I got into my apartment -- having the solitude [when I'm not out with friends] and a comfortable place to lay & read [my cushy leather couch] is a good set up for reading books instead of the monitor [monitors now!].
By the time I own a house, I want one whole room to be lined with bookshelves, all full of books I've read.
A trip to The Book Thing of Baltimore, a free book "store" (more like small warehouse actually), is in store for my near future. Perhaps this weekend.

My Apartment

Yes I'm "here ...at my apartment."
It's stocked: dishes & glasses, pots & pans, utensils & all the necessary kitchen stuff -- a new large bed with the perfect mattress for me & new dresser & nightstand all from Ikea -- a big comfy leather couch for a perfect price -- other necessary furniture including a 1950's diner style kitchen table with stools.
I really only need bookshelves now... and I have lots of books.

On Jan 1st I fully moved into my apartment, sleeping there & all.
The next day my cousin Joe came down from NJ on his route back to NC (Sunday) and spent the night. Stevo also came over as I hosted a "World of Warcraft" party. The intent was to geek out and play WoW all night... and we did play plenty of WoW. I also had several movies playing: Ghostbusters, Spaceballs, Hook, Something-something Darkside, etc...
As party favors, I was planning on making WoW Hearthstones from clay and painting a swirl in 'em but I just did not get the time beforehand, so the idea is still in my head, waiting for some free time.


My commute has gone from 35-55 [variable, the worst part] minutes down to ~10 minutes, and that has done my psyche lots of good. Baltimore's beltway traffic is just as stressful and annoying as any major city's -- even despite that fact that I can keep it cool. The only thing I miss about the time is having that time to sing & be isolated, although going to and from work isn't any enjoyable time for that.
I do very much enjoy the long (4.5 hours, now 5) trips to/from NC when I visit Joe. That kind of traveling on the open road with the music playing and nothing to do but enjoy the easy drive, sing, and get lost in my thoughts is very enjoyable.


I started my annual list of good things that happened to me/I experienced from the previous year, but getting a full-time career job and my own apartment overshadows just about all of everything else that happened in 2009... stay tuned for the list.