(Page 3) My gift to you~*

I saw page three come sailing in, 

Come sailing, come sailing in. 

I saw page three come sailing in, 

On Christmas day in the morning!

       How are you all on this wondrous morning?  Good, I hope!  ...Well, I'm glad to hear it.  Oh, and since I didn't get you anything this year, I thought that it might be worth the while to do a little something:  

Here's page three!
       I wanted to have something to send out on the net for the twenty-fifth, but I couldn't seem to find out just what.  Then, I remembered... "I still haven't posted the third page to my blog!"  So, here it is.
       I don't really know what has kept me from posting this one and I hadn't really stopped that to think about it all that long.  I guess that I just wasn't as excited about this page as I was with the rest, but now I've come to find myself in a good bout of inspiration and I plan to get a lot done towards my comic and to what you folks see on the net (because you don't get to see very much of what I have at all!) during the next two weeks that I am at home.  'Two weeks!' isn't it great!!!

There were a couple of boo-boos made with Page 3, I know.
Just in case their not all that obvious to you, I decided that I would point them out:

  Here is what the page looks like when you scan it in black and white.  The black in the background is far more solid when you do it this way and it really strengthens the lines in the details of the cloud and rock. 

  When I went to fill in the solid black myself, I experimented some in using two different kinds of black to see which would work better.  

  Bottom line: Do not attempt to shade things in two shades of black, using different markers, when planing to scan things in colour!  

The results from mixing "Copics with Faber-Castell" can be messy... 

You've been warned. 

Even when I compare it to 'Grayscale' things begin to look different.  

It's good to know your scanner and your scanner's settings well so that you can use that knowledge to your advantage.  

I myself, plan to scan everything in colour when doing the prologue that I am working on now.  And, although I am only using all of the blacks and grays that I have in the Faber-Castell: Pitt Pen series, I find that the variations between the warm gays and the cool grays comes out better when I scan things in colour.  

It's just helpful to be able to identify what it is you are looking for from your artwork, to then be able to choose the right scanner settings that best suit your style's needs.  

________

Okay, so I know that it wasn't exactly Christmas Day when I posted this, but in my mind I had hoped to have it posted for that day.  However, it is a hustle and bustle kind of season, Christmas, and you must understand that I am a busy man.  

                                                                                                                       -No hard feelings, Right? 

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That's All Folks!

We are now down to... umm, 5 days before Christmas everyone!
I just wanted to take the opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas just in case I didn't get to post something again before the big day.  I hope that I will, but you can never be too sure with those kind of things.

My table's set-up:
Above is a painting that I made a while back, I think that it was sometime last winter.  Anyhow, it was one of the pieces of artwork that I took with me when I went to that Christmas event at one of the high schools in my district on December 7th, and was probably one of my works that received the most comments.

There was such a rush for me to get everything gathered together that night, even after two to three weeks of preparation, that I was literally just throwing things into a book bag, zippering it up and leaving the house, not knowing if I had remembered to pack everything I needed or not.  Luckily for me, I had.


There were some interesting remarks made about my artwork, and some rather awkward and intriguing reactions:
       Some walked around my table as though in a hurry, some approached, stood there for a bit, said nothing and then walked away as though they had seen nothing or had nothing to say, others startled me by tiptoeing there way shyly over to my table as though they were trying not to wake a sleeping giant or otherwise planing to do something illegal, and then piped up suddenly by yelling "Gee sir! These paintings are real swell!" almost knocking me out of my chair mind you.  A group of young girls came along and bickered over which frame they thought was better, which I didn't mind besides for the headache it gave me.  There were I couple of people who asked "if I knew so-and-so, even though it was highly unlikely that I would ever know so-and-so, but they thought that it would be good just to ask if I knew so-and-so, because that particular so-and-so knew another so-and-so who did art", meh... I just said "no?"  Some were actually really helpful though and gave me a good insight as to where I need to improve my art.  There was a lady there who had worked with my mother before, and knew her quite well, that recommended that I get in touch with an old neighbor of hers who moved to somewhere in Ontario and was a well known Canadian artist for his colourful and highly visual narrative paintings.  This, I liked.

I had a bit of trouble in trying to get people to take a handout with them as they went, so I had to put my sign-making skills to the test rate on the spot.  This is what I came up with.  It was a long sheet of paper that was looped and folded on the back so that it sat in a shape of a triangle; until I had made this, I had virtually no takers.  Of the ones I cut out and stapled together, only four were left.  Yet, I still managed to print too much by having seven sheets of them, both in colour and in black and white, to take home with me when I left.  Oh, darn!  I hate feeling wasteful, but I do suppose that it is better than having too little to give.

Things went by so quickly, but, IT WAS GREAT!!  The fact that it went by so fast was partially my fault, having shown up so late, yet I can't held but to seek for more satisfaction.  This surely will not be my last exhibition of my art, so I can look forward to doing something like again, by all means.  I will also have a better understanding of what to expect for next time.

If anything, this was a major confidence booster.  It helped to affirm my ability in art and self reliance to both me and my parents, and we are very grateful for all of the lovely comments we received.
Thanks to all who came~!

It's funny, actually, how the number of Russian views I get has taken a jump.  It's all because of me mentioning there being a town in Kosovo bearing the same name as one of the main settings in my comic.  Maybe I should consider adding Russian to the list of languages I want to learn to write and speak before I die?  Hmm, who knows when that may come in handy?!

Speaking about death, I just realized something!  A year and one day from now, the sun is said to explode...!  Hmm, perhaps that dampens the mood a little too much... Umm, "Marry Christmas! Hoho-haha-ahum" [coughs] ...Yeah.  

Trouble in La La Land

Blogging is therapeutic; that's what it is, therapeutic.  

My life seems to have been taking on the 'upsy-downsy' trend quite recently, and this week was just one of those low parts.  Everything was such a downer.  But hey! I blog when I'm happy, I blog when I'm sad, and in the end, everything seems to level itself out. (only that you hope to find that happy-o-meter more towards the full side of the spectrum.  Which I always do!)

Made this myself, no lies!
Reference image is from here.

Where I find myself standing in the grand scheme of things, I do not know.  Although I am more sure of myself in the present than I had been prior to now within this week, things are still a bit cloudy as this great fog of gloom begins to pass.  If you be a friend, then worry you not! there is no need for panic just yet!  I may not have been as happy and attentive to you all this week, but there lies a good reason and a root to all these grievances of mine: bus trouble!  But, nay, not so much the yellow steed itself, as the riders that commute upon it.  And that is all that need be said on that matter.

However, I am past that now, and every time something like this happens, I gain a seance of pride for having survived it.  Not unharmed, mind you, but my wounds and my battle scars add to my character and will someday make me a stronger, better man.  One cannot fight a war without gaining some new knowledge of life and its complex inner workings, ever if it does hurt at the time.  Not ever!

After careful thought, I have decided to succeed in spite of things and those around me.  Life will continually try to challenge you and strip you of your dreams, but as long as I live I WILL NEVER LET IT HOLD ME DOWN!!!  Revenge is not the most desirable trait but neither is a soft foot on the soils of all to that in which you believe or give cause and reason to.  I may be on the defensive end and the one that has to receive the most hardest blows, but I most certainly do not want to be the 'push over' in the lot.  I can dodge all I want, but ever so often I must take a hit!  To me, the greatest vengeance in life can be won through your own pursuits, and not by dampening the pursuits of others.  That is, love your neighbor, even when love is not mutual, and maybe someday, when you have grown and since surpassed them and their league, they will regret not accepting the love you gave and the possibility of friendship or acquaintanceship they had with you that is long since gone, and the grievance and jealousy will be a most heavy burden on them and none on you.

The ability you have to succeed in life is the best possible weapon you have against those who challenge you in the present.  Use it! for success is the greatest source of vengeance you have to pin against the chest of all foes!~

Ahhhh... It feels good letting that all out.
____________
Edit: My philosophy for this is best stated here:  ~Mother Teresa's "do it anyway!"

Christmas At The Lobby

Hey! Glad you could make it! (whoever you are?) ...Gosh, this is exciting, isn't it?
Just to let you know, I haven't really ever invited anyone else to come and see my blog, personally that is, besides a couple of my close friends, so this is definitely a new venture for me.  It's kind of like my first exterior viewing of my blog in a sense, and it truly is this great and wondrous feeling.
Everything feels so peachy for me now; just rate fine and dandy, you know what I mean?

It's been a busy past two weeks, but it looks like I've finally made it here!  This is my first time having my art on display, ever, so if I seem a little nervous, that's because I probably am!  I may not look it, seemingly calm and collected as I am, but I'm probably screaming inside!
     "Oh-gosh, oh-my-gosh! What am I doing here? ....And with all these people?! Why did I ever think that this would be a good idea? Why did I bother coming...?"
     Ha-ha, yeah, that sort of thing.  But, don't get me wrong!  Maybe I won't get that way, but just to worn you, I have been known to do that in the past, so be gentle, okay?!


I am apologizing to you in advance about the little amount of stuff I brought here tonight.  I could have arranged to gather some more, but with such short notice... eh, I couldn't be bothered.  "This is all you get!"
It's kind of funny, actually.  I just reminded myself there of that one famous moment in 'Oliver Twist' when the little boy is like "please sir, can I have some more?" and the older man at the cauldron is like "More? You say you want more?!"  I feel bad now. You're still enjoying this though, right?

For all of my school friends and others who have been to my site before, you may have noticed somewhat of a change in the overall structure of my blog from the last time you visited.  I decided to form a list of the more noticeable ones in this post, just so that you have a general idea about what's going on, and so that you don't get lost in all of its "newness."

List of Changes:

• Added a "Labels Display" blogger gadget to the side bar. 
• Minor changes to my profile information. 
• Swapped profile pictures. 

Here is the imaged I used as my old Profile Picture. Would you believe me if I told you That I had drawn this?  This was actually from around two years ago, back when I was in grade 9.  That was back before I even knew about copic markers or inking pens and I think that this was probably done using a simple package of fine-tipped markers from Steadler and just your regular a black ballpoint pen.  I surprised myself when I looked at the date that was marked on this one.  It said that it was from March 31st of 2010, and that's just the date the printer placed on it after it was scanned.  I don't think that I could draw an eye that looked quite as well if I tried here today.  I'm a little bit out of practice in drawing eyes with such detail in this way, and I can remember watching a lot of YouTube videos while doing studying this particular kind of art style in order to own my skills.  Long-story-short, I made this, yet, I don't know how?!

Hmm... It seem to me that there was one other little change. Now, what was that?  O-Oh, yeah...

• I RENAMED MY WEB-LOG!!!!!

For all of you newcomers and soon-to-be fans, the title of my blog (that's short for 'web-log') prior to now was just the name of my comic project I am currently piecing together, called "Knight's of Mamus'sa" (Pronounced: MAH-moos-sah.) Yes, yes, I know that's a tongue twister, but it is very original, and as far as I know, nobody anywhere is using that name.
{unless you consider that little Turkish town of 'Mamusa' in the rural parts of the Kosovo, and I don't think that the town of 5,513 people care to much.  Trust me on this, okay?  I even Wikipedia'ed it and everything!} Hahaha!

But seriously, 'Lonely Totem Pole', so much of a better name!  Plus, it's way easier to pronounce.
Pronunciation wasn't the only factor that lead me into deciding this, it also has more of a symbolic meaning to me as well.  It suits my website for its purpose more so than having my comic's title there.  Originally, I was only going to post things pertaining to 'Knights of Mamus'sa' on here, but then as time past I found that to only be a slender portion to the entire make-up of my blog.  There are so many different sections of my blog devoted to almost everything I do, so it just didn't seem as 'fitting' anymore.
(I also hear that it is a good idea to have a single pictorial representation of your enterprise, from a selling point of view, because it makes your products more commercially viable...)  I'm rambling on again, aren't I?

On another note...  

This little strip of paper is probably what most of you are holding in your hands rate now.  (and if you  don't have one then grab one now!) It's your personal invitation to my blog!  The address and everything is rate on there, so as long as you have a working computer, connection to the internet, and hands, then getting onto my blog should be a cinch!  (no excuses people!)  



My mother was generous enough to let me use her computer in displaying my blog here tonight.  So, if you don't mind, please stay within the bounds of my 'Lonely Totem Pole' blog and its pages here tonight.
"Don't go bustin' up me mum's PC, ya hear?!"

Also, feel free to check out the rest of my pages on my blog (just don't go hogging my mother's computer!)
To get started with your journey of touring 'Lonely Totem Pole', just click on the little collection of Labels in various sizes that I posted to the right.

*If you have any questions about my artwork, blog, or other things, I shouldn't be all that far away.  Finding me in crowd of people can sometimes be a bit challenging, as my mother can tell you, but keep an eye out for the one that looks like he's trying to hide, and the one who resembles the little character I use as my profile picture at the top of this page, chances are, it's me.  

Tag, You're It!

     This has been a very busy week for me, and I won't go into the specifics with what all went down like I usually do, but I will tell you that I was very tired when it came to Thursday's end ("Hurrah" for there not being any school this Friday!) and, although I am proud that I took some leadership in organizing and coordinating the grade 11 classes at my school, I do hope that I never have to do it for something so tragic as this ever again.

     Anyways, to get to the main point of things.  It is no real shocker to you all that Christmas is soon on its way, and so too are all of its corresponding festivities: Decorating, cooking and all of that 'fun stuff'.  But, what would Christmas be without its Concert Gatherings!  If you know me, you know that I am not much of a stage performer myself, or at least not as much as others from my school.  However, as you were informed in my last post (and if you haven't read it, then you should go and check it out!), I told you all that I was interested in showcasing some of my artwork at a local Christmas event, and, good news is, I got accepted!

{Hurrah for that, too!}

     It was kind of funny how it all happened, actually; I kind of got myself signed onto this on a whim.  My mother had told me about it a number of weeks back, and it really hadn't crossed my mind again until just two weeks ago.  

     I was like "Mom, do you know if they're still doing that Christmas thing at the high school this year?" 

     And her response was, "As far as I know, yes?" 

     Then I told her that I was still thinking about signing up for it and that I would like to know more about it before I went, so that I would know what to bring, how to bring it... Blah b-blah b-blah.  She told me that she would look into it for me, and come back to me when she knew more about it.  As it turned out though, when she finally did find the rest of the information online and got back to me, registration for it, she told me that morning, ended at 3 o'clock that day!  

     The rest of that my Friday was spent scrambling around my school asking teachers to recommend me, and for my mother, it was spent exchanging emails with representatives and people in charge of the program.  But, in the end, I did get accepted, and everything fine. (only now I need to scramble around trying to get things ready for the big show, December 2nd, and I only have a couple of things ready to bring!  Yeash!) 

     I will let you guys know a little bit more on it latter, but for now, I think that's good enough.  

     You are probably wondering what 'Tags' have to do with Christmas concerts, so let me explain.  In order for me to feel confident enough to let a lobby full of people probe around my site, I decided that I have a little bit of 'tidying up' to do.  I wanted to make my site more user friendly in order it to handle the mass influx of people that will be visiting it from the community, and placing Labels on all of my posts is one of the best ways I know how.  Here are the first batch of labels you will see floating around my site:

• Comic
• Holidays 
• Inking/Colouring
• Life Stories
• Notifications/Updates
• Pages
• Seasons
• Sketches
• Thoughts
• Video Games

     On another note, I have tons and tons of more content getting towards finished on my comic.  Some of such content includes Page 3 of my prologue to 'Knights of Mamus'sa'.  That will be heading your way real soon, once I get finished with this Christmas event of mine.  You can also expect to see some slight aesthetic changes to my website (leading up to/after) the 7th of December, so let's keep an eye out for those as well.

     Thank you for taking your time to visit my blog and I hope to see you all at Wednesday's big show! 

Too Late for Halloween?

       Okay, so I know that it's nearing the end of November and all, but I really wanted to share this little image I did specifically for my website and comic with you all before it got too late:

       I decided to do something a little "holiday-themed" for my blog, and I guess this was the result.  I just wasn't feeling enough in the Halloween Spirit (if there is such a thing?) and I find now that doing something art related usually helps.
       This was my first real educated and purposeful event in using copic markers (I had to consult our overlord YouTube for some assistance) but, I think that I pulled things off quite nicely.  Don`t you think?
       My particular interest in doing this image was how I would preform and go about doing all of the shading and the lines of the pumpkin; I think that in the end, the pumpkin has become the real centerpiece and focus point of the drawing.  You see, pumpkins were always a challenge for me to draw in elementary.  I mean, most of the other students in my class, they would just try and draw them completely round, like circles, but I would never stand for just that.  It use to drive me up the wall!  I knew, because I was always such an observant boy, that pumpkins are not perfectly round at all.  They'er not just circles! There is much more to a pumpkin than that!  Heck, I'd even go as far as to say that they were rectangular and square-shaped when you take their dimensions when copied onto a flat sheet of paper into account.  But I think what really got to me the most were the lines; those individual bands of creamcicle-orange, oh! They seemed to scream out and taunt at me above all the rest of the physical features that make the pumpkin such a mind-boggling and strenuous task to draw.
       I think what present me knows and what past me didn't, is perspective.  Once you understand how to apply perspective and viewpoint to a pumpkin, drawing it becomes a much simpler task.  Just ask any good artist, and they'll tell you that perspective is "key" and plays quite a vital role in many forms of art.

       Here, I was going to write some kind of story of how my Halloween went this year, but I think that it's too far behind me now to even bother.  It's not like anything particularly exciting happened to me this Halloween anyhow.  I suppose that I could have used some of my excellent story telling skills to whip something up that would scare the past off ya! ...But I think that I will save that for next year.

       The only thing that's really scaring me now is the sound of my voice!  My throat hasn't been so good this week and I actually end up spending a day at home, away from school, because of it.  I went to a local community college on a field trip this Monday and I have to admit it was pretty pathetic how much I had to strain my voice in order to ask questions.  This really wasn't any sort of a guided tour, more of a free-range sort of thing, which I found to be very neat by the way, (WHILST OTHERS ABUSED THIS! you tell me, since when has it been that the pizza restaurant across the street has become part of the university?! hmm?) ''XP  and even though me and my friend I was touring with didn't get to visit all of the places we wanted to, we still learned a lot of information on the courses available to us through our local option.

       I am thinking about doing some wintery scenes soon.  There is a local Christmas event coming up that I would really like to take part in, and I am not going to say much about it just yet, only that I am seriously taking it into consideration, and that you can expect to see some major-minor tidying up of my blog over the next two weeks before this thing gets underway.  However, I will tell you this;

Upcoming posts are going to be about something really neat!

"I guess not..."

That rainbow lied.  It told me that it was going to be a good week, and it lied.
Well, for the first part of the week, it was right; my days were grand!  But for the second part of the week, not so...
You see, I had a huge project to do on Napoleon Bonaparte that week, and I really seemed to let the workload get to me.  My judgement of the situation was off, and I didn't assess things properly.  This stress felt as though it was fueling something in me, perhaps it was my determination to get things done, but it overcame reality and blinded me from seeing the truth.  I had convinced myself of that project being the most important thing in the world for me to have done, and nothing else seemed to even matter.

As this happened though, I began to blame myself for the things that happened around me, and then,  I started to accuse the things around me for causing my own personal troubles.
I even started to blame the 3DS for lowering my level of productivity, yet, how can a machine ever know the difference anyhow?  "I'm sorry 3DS... (sobbed)" :)

Anyhow, I was really lost with that one assignment, and really wanted to please my teacher by having it handed in on time; it had been two years since I had her as a teacher, and I really wanted to show her how much I had grown, but that decision ending up costing me a whole lot of other problems in the end.  I went all out that one Thursday night, neglecting to do any of my other schoolwork, and maxing out on history and running on very little sleep from the night before.  BAD DECISION.  I became to tired to finish it, and had a Healthy Living & Nutrition test the next day that I was suppose to have studied for, but hadn't because it was too much for me to take in that late at night.  I had failed...

So, here I was, trapped in my own little hole I dug for myself.  What could I possibly do to get myself out of this predicament?  I wrote a letter; one to my history teacher.  Without knowing where or how to start, I wrote a letter that seemed to derive from the deepest parts of my mind where the answers to all life's toughest questions lay.  As I wrote, I seemed to pore the words out.  I didn't think, I just typed; typing without thought.  And in the end, I had written down the equation and solution for all my homework problems!  It was long, very long.  The computer's clock was reading 2am by the time I was finished, but I was happy the moment that I hit send.  I knew what it was I needed to do now to prevent that sort of thing from happening again.

I stayed home the next day, needless to say.  But, I awoke with a much different attitude towards life.  I noticed the puffs of fog whisking up the side of my house, and decided to go out walking in the mist, seeking the simple beauty and quietness of the world.  It felt good; everything was nice and swell.  I felt better~
---

These posts were first thought up a month ago, and I feel like I'm jumping all over the place with them, but it felt good to let them out.  It is pretty neat though, to go back and look at how my mood warped and changed within the context of a couple of weeks.  I am really finding this to be a very defining year in my life, and I am witnessing changes in myself and in my level of comfort and attitude towards certain things, that I could only have hoped to achieved when I thought about them last year.
This will be the last post in the series I did on Procrastination, Schoolwork, and my 3DS and from now on my focus is going to shift to more import things that may interest you,
Such as:
My Comic (Knights of Mamus'sa), the various Sketches and Artwork that I do, and simple tales from my life in general.

[No more sob-stories, I PROMISE!!!!!]

As I was reviewing my last post, I noticed that the paragraph stating the fact that I am making an effort to tighten the belt on on my blog posts to be a lie, and thus I feel the need to reword that to you:
"I am not bringing an end to all lengthy posts, I am trying to eliminate the amount of wordy posts I make."
There, that feels more correct. (My last post was just as long as any other post I made, so it kind of was defeating the purpose of having mentioned that.) But, there is a strong difference between a longer post and one that is wordy.

Oh, I almost forgot! I got my first comment this weekend! ^-^ ~"Yays!"
Here is what it says: 

Anonymous said...

very interesting content. Keep up the good work!

18 November, 2011 1:24 AM

I also feel really bad for not having posted anything about my comic for the last little bit, so I just felt it was right to give you guys this to feast on:

Her name is Éneil (That's 'Ay-NEE-ul' with a French e accent aigu, or just 'Awn-yell & EE-neel' if you're English and don't like pronouncing things any other way.) :p  You are going to see her first introduced in my little legend/prologue thing I am doing now, and her importance will become much greater as the main story progresses and evolves.  

Good news! (not that you'd really care, but...) I started learning some German this week! Wanna' hear...?  Oh, yeah, forgot... Ahh, the limitations of my currant blog are so grand~  It just means that I have that to look forward to in the future- I mean, with my YouTube and all.  That is, if I actually do get to make it to YouTube? Which I know I will.  All in good time, Len, all in good time.

Previous

Liven Things Up

I guess I spoke too soon!  This week has drawn many people to my blog; most of them have come from Canada, but others have viewed my posts from places as far away as Malaysia! (and I really want to thank you for traveling such a long distance just to see me! hehe)  But in all seriousness, I'm touched. I really am.

You may have already noticed this if you are a frequent visitor to my blog, which I doubt that many of you are, and are interested in viewing any of my older posts, I have now added new pictures to some of the ones that would otherwise be too "blan" without them. Here's a couple of posts with changes made:

1. 3DS: Now that's Progress?
2. 3DS: Progress (Part 2)
3. Story of my 3DS: (Part 3) A Trip to Town!

I also want to issue a notice to you that all lengthy post shall come to an end.  I am challenging myself to make my jottings more 'short and sweet' after I finish the serious of posts I am working on about my slip ups in school life, my struggles with procrastination, and the 3DS.  Those stories are almost becoming a thing of the past, so I may have some difficulty in remembering some of the facts. (HEY, I rhymed~!)  But I guess that is maybe a good thing for me because it means that I will have to force myself to stick to what's really important about what happened, rather than ramble on an extra 250 words and have you all bored to death!

Remembrance Day may have come and gone, but I still care enough to make a post about it.  I had a pretty important possition this year at my school's yearly assembly for the holiday; laying the wreath and representing my class was really empowering, and everyone present said that I did a very good job at it.  I feel that doing this has somehow made my deceased grandfather proud, and I am very honored.

Above is a finished picture I had originally sketched on Remembrance Day.  I was feeling very inspired that day and wanted to capture those deep emotions I felt by focusing them into a single image.  I think I did well.  R.I.P grand dad...
When I first had did the sketch for this flower, I never would have imagined it to turn out like this! Wow!  My sister had a couple of university friends over this weekend and they asked if they could see some of the artwork I do, since my sister often mentions it to them that I really love to draw.  They were really impressed with all of the sketches I had shown them, but their favourite one out of all of them was this.  It wasn't finished at the time that I had showed them it, having only the inking stage complete, and they really wanted to see what it would look like once it was done.  Sadly, the left before I had a chance to colour it.

Reference images used: 

http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q=poppies#/d3jkprs
http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q=flanders+fields#/d2saffj

I never noticed the sheer beauty of it until I had scanned the image into the computer, and then at that moment I realized what a masterpiece it was; to me, it represents so much~
My Grandfather traveled overseas to serve our country in WWII and I'm sure that he is cracking a smile and shedding a tear in his grave rate now because of this.

Wha' happin?

So, I get home later than usual, it has been an unbelievably inspirational day, and so I decide to end off all the excitement of the perfect day by checking my blog... and the results are somewhat displeasing.  As I quickly flip to the little graph page that tracks the amount of views you have gotten, I realize that over the past four days I have only had two people visit my website.  Huhhhh... Then I ask myself, "what am I doing wrong?"
The answer to that is, of course, that I am doing nothing wrong; I can't go around blaming myself for everything that goes wrong, now can I?  I mean, not that I do now or anything, or at least not as much.  Lately though I just seem to be posting just to satisfy myself, hoping that whatever I post will suffice, but I can't do that and still expect to keep my views.  Posting too soon ruins the novelty of it all, and placing post too close to one another doesn't give the first post justice.  I need to think quality and stop fretting over the content or getting things posted 'on-time'.  Being timely is good, but being overclocked can lead to despair.  There is something about hitting that post button and knowing that within that very minute, your creation is being born in the eyes of others for the first time.  I should try doing that more often, but not more than often.  


What cha think?

Procrastination Sets-In

       So, for the past three weeks I had no part of my comic ready for me to work on. Bad Plan. Very bad plan!  I have come to realize that the only real reason that I have actually managed to survive my third year of high school was that I had something else to tie me down.  I need to have something else that I am striding to achieve, otherwise my academical goals take over, and become the only thing that I can seem to focus on.  For some people, that seems just fine! (Good grades are important! What is there to be complaining about?!)  Well, since you don't know me, you wouldn't know just how unhealthy it is for me to do that, and how much time I would spend on academic work outside of school if you'd let me.
       IT WAS HORRIBLE, absolutely terrible, how much I neglected all that was important to me.  It was to the point where that dreading feeling form middle school and earlier high school came creeping back on me.  The dreading feeling I am talking about is the feeling I get when I know that there is something that I need to do, but can't seem to come past the fact that the mere thought of it makes me sick.  You see, up until the second semester of last year, I had a homework problem.  Yes, a homework problem, and a serious one at that.  I just couldn't seem to shake it; it was bread into me through habit, and there didn't seem to be any chances for escape.  I was scared, horrified that the amount of stress involved with things at school this year would finally come to consume me, and that there would be no end to the amount of nights I would spend at home wishing for some strange phenomena or an act of god to close school for me the next day.

       In reality, I knew that would never happen.  So if I wanted something to be done about it, I knew that I would have to take things into my own hands!  I needed to be the one, independently and unquestionably in charge of my life, and so this summer I made that my main initiative: To make things better for my final two years of high school, and to kick start my life!  Yet, these past to weeks have become a slip-up.  They almost brought me to a complete halt as far as life goes, and it was to the point where it made me sick!
       Test after test was bringing me down.  I thought that because I had made it into October, that I had the whole groove of grade 11 down pat... but I guess not.  It wasn't like there was any extra work at the start of this little bout, it was only that I had nothing to work on in the evenings besides homework, and thus found myself wasting time on the computer or overexerting myself on little projects and things that really didn't need half of as much effort.  But then the real trouble came the following week, when I found myself up to my armpits in novel studies, complicated math and physics equations and a number of different projects that really got me down.  I began to feel trapped, but in the end, optimism won-out. Thank God!

       The Friday of the second week, I decided to take in my first two pages of the comic I am working on.  I thought that it would lighten my spirit, and it really did the trick!  Two of my friends, who have high-speed internet have been following my blog all the way through from the time I first started it in the beginning of September, were quite impressed with what I had shown them now that they had got to see the actual page up close, but my other friend's reaction was the best of all.  He has dial-up and so has never really understood what my comic thing is about, but when he saw my drafts and finished works, his face at that instant I opened my carrying folder was priceless!  He sat the silent with wide eyes for a couple of moments, then all he could do was sit swear to himself silently.  (Damn that's good!!!)

       [Yeah, they all thought it was pretty professional.]  

       At that moment, I began to regain my willpower.  I was so ecstatic when a couple of the girls sitting at the other corner of the room whispered across, asking if they could have a look at it after the class was done (because this was at the beginning of third-period history, but I just couldn't help myself.)  They loved my work to, and said that they were really impressed.  I don't care if my friends thought I was "picking up," I was happy.

       There was tons done that weekend to improve myself.  I found myself being quite social at the grocery store, striking up a conversation with some people that I knew from school.  (I love how people actually look to talk with me now. If it were last year, there just would have been no way.)  As if it were a sign from god, a fantastic double-rainbow appeared in the sky after a big rain storm we had that weekend.  I saw it as a sign of my achievements and my growth that week, but nothing could have prepared me for what was to come after it...

*This story shall continue in my next post.

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Story of my 3DS: (Part 3) A Trip to Town!

     It was Thanksgiving Sunday (October 9th) when we decided to make a special trip into town to buy the 3DS.  Of course that wasn't the only reason that we went to town on a usually quiet and respectful holiday, my mother had forgotten something very important that she had left at the grocery store and couldn't wait until Tuesday to make sure that it was safe.  It somehow didn't feel like a typical Thanksgiving to me this year, but it is probably because my sister wasn't home to have dinner at my grandmother's this time around.

     We spent a while searching around for the right place to but the thing, but in the end, we figured EB Games was our best bet.  I was a little worried that they might not of had the one in red because Staples didn't have any left when my mother checked, perhaps they just didn't have any in stock, but it turned out that EB Games did and I was very glad.
     I bought the system myself while my dad was out in the car.  I had told him that I was just going in to check to see if they had it in red, but where they had it rate there, I decided to buy it myself.  I personally think that it was better that way, for it is a great source of empowerment to know that you have gotten something so valuable to yourself on your own.  The only thing was, I was 25 cents short!  (Apparently I had miscalculated the cost before I left the house, but you have to admit, I was pretty close.)  I stood there half-embarrassed for a couple of moments while I witnessed the numbers ringing through.  "Umm... I don't quite have enough" were the only words I could manage to say.  Needless to say, I was a little nervous.  My next words were "My parents are just outside, do you mind?"
     I was lucky that the cashier was good humored and only grind at me when I said this.  "No, not at all!" was his response.  It only then occurred to me as I walk out the door, I have no idea where dad parked the car!  I managed to somehow spot our vehicle out and brisk-fully made my way toward it.  "You got a quarter?... Thanks!"  My father had the window rolled down, so the process went fairly smooth.  Only a couple of moments latter was I back in the car with my long awaited prize resting on my lap.  Inside, I was as glee as a hunter after getting their first catch of the season.  Success! 

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3DS: Progress? (Part 2)

I am a lot better today, and am feeling generous enough to give you Part 2 of my ongoing story about my quest in obtaining the 3DS.  Enjoy!
___________
And so, the inquiring of my parents began.  I say inquiring with a purpose, because, unlike most children, I do not interrogate my parents when there is something I am asking of them.  For me, that is far too bold and way out of my style.  I merely mention in to them, you know, as a simple passing thought, one that just crossed my mind.  I rarely ever want something so bad that I will ask for it, but I guess the 3DS was pretty high up there on my list.
When it gets to this point, I usually go out and get the thing myself, but I really wanted my parents to know what it was I was purchasing before I did.  And so, after a quick visit to the Nintendo's main website, and a couple of videos shown to them on YouTube, my parents were convinced that it would be a good buy and that it was indeed time to upgrade from my graying DS lite.

Over the past few months and after carefully thought sorting and planing, I have managed to accumulate a hefty stack of video games that I see little point in keeping and need to pass on.  I think I would feel much better if I knew they were in the hands of some little child who actually had the time to play them.  Most of them are DS games that I sorta' bought on impulse, the rest are for the Game Cube and two-three are for the Wii.
Also, being the frugal Canadian that I am, I collect Canadian Tire money form my parents every time they buy something from the hardware store.  (If you are American and don't know what Tire money money is, you should! Because it's Canada's official currency, don't you know?... eh, I can't even attempt to be funny tonight for some odd reason.)  Over time, the wad of CT money I possessed had grown to the point where it almost reached the full size and circumference of the cylindrical case I had stored it in.  My father, remembering this, decided to strike up a deal with me, a trade; 'all the money in that jar, for its actual worth in cash' my father said.  He was planning on buying a small saw from Canadian Tire some time soon, and he really wanted to see me get that game system.  Sadly though, CT money is hard to judge.  It comes in frequency ranging from 5cents to 2dollars, and all of them in bills!  It makes you think that you have more money than you actually do, and that seemed to be the case with dad.  I counted:

     ($3.50 worth in 50cents, $1 in 1dollars, $3.00 in 25cents, $5.60 in 10cents and $1.35 in 5cents.)

I was totaling all of this up while sitting on my stair steps, and by the time I was finished, a good three rows were covered in various sheets of coloured paper, all arranged in their individual piles based on value alone.
All of this, and only $14.45 ?
My father, being very generous as he is, still gave me twenty dollars for the little amount that I gave him.  I protested, saying that he should not have to give me more than I gave him, but there was just no chance in me ever swaying him any other way.

--------
Part 3- Coming your way this weekend!


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3DS: Now that's Progress?

Last week had really been a rocky week.  I had kept coming down hard on myself for being so hesitant with getting work done and I almost felt as though I wasn't the one in control.
"Control" had been the central thing I was trying to achieve this past summer.  Control of myself and my life.
 Telling myself "no more taking the back seat", that kind of thing, you know? And I had actually managed to reach my goal of self control by the end of the summer, but this week, it had somehow started to creep back up on me.  (Although not to the full extent that it had been before.)

I guess that the whole thing started on Thanksgiving weekend, when the final plans for one of my projects came into play.  I'm not talking about my comic project here, this is more of an example of a life project,and something that I had been readying myself for since the summer.  I had decide that I wanted to purchase a 3DS, and not just any kind of a 3DS, I had my eyes set on the sleek, new flame red 3DS, and in my opinion, the good kind; and so, I did.
My first interest in Nintendo's latest hardware peeked the moment it was announced.  Being the HUGE Nintendo fan I am (and a bit of a nerd), I was watching the live-streamed video of that years E3 conference via the internet when Nintendo made its first announced step into the world of 3D gaming, and I have to say, my jaw dropped when I heard the big news.  The first thought that ran through my head after that started me laughing inside.  Seeing the 3DS brought me back only but a couple of months earlier to when I was having a conversation with my friends about the controversy that had begun to spread about the existence of a new portable gaming console, shortly after the release of the Nintendo DSi.  I could remember bits of the conversation where I said "How could Nintendo possibly go any higher? What more can they add to gaming than cameras?" and we all agreed that Nintendo was stalling time by just releasing a bigger version of the DSi in order to satisfy their consumers with a new product.
One of my friends, who is a big PlayStation fan by the way, and is by no-means caught up in the whole Nintendo fandom realm of gaming, had jokingly said "What next, gaming in the 3rd dimension?" and we all laughed at such a ludicrous idea.  "What would that even be called? the 3DS?" "No way, man! How would that even be possible?" ...It was as though we thought the whole thing up ourselves, and the first words from my lips as I sat at my computer watching Mr. Iwata speak, was "How is this even possible...?" the same words spoken by my friends a few months back.  Crazy, right?
(Did I just get goosebumps?  I think I just got goosebumps?)
...
Sorry guys for not posting anything in a while.  I know that technically they say that it isn't very professional to inform everyone that you are sorry for not posting anything because it only annoys your viewers, but I got to say, I really am sorry.  If not to you, than at least to myself.

As I watch this blog post grow and morph, I see it becoming a longer story than what I had anticipated.  So, seeing how it is as lengthy as it is, I have made the decision to break it up into a couple of posts that will appear on my blog spanning the period of the next 7-8days.
This has really been a rotten couple week for me, my apologies for not being so active and cheerful as I usually am.

Part 2 coming soon!~

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Summer Falls

     I can't believe the change in the colours of the leaves this week here in Atlantic Canada! (Yes, and I do mean colours and not colors; and for all of my American viewers out there, the proper Canadian spelling for the word is actually that.)  It really is an eventful thing when the leaves begin to change, isn't it?  I think that I would really miss it if I were living someplace else in the world where the changing of the seasons did not include the bright yellows, the vibrant oranges and the deep reds that cover the landscape every fall.

    On top of the lovely scenery that we had this weekend, we were also blessed with fine weather.  Temperature in the twenties for Thanksgiving?! What kind of trick of the senses is this?  In any case, this presented me with the perfect opportunity to get some good sketching done; and so I did:

     For this one I hauled a folding lawn chair across our back yard and plopped it down so that it was facing the field and the forest behind my house.  I was actually a little saddened at first with the way how this one turned-out after I looked at how it appeared on the computer screen after I had scanned it, but now that I see it miniaturized in my post, I don't feel as bad about it and am actually quite content.
     When I sketch, often times the pencil marks are so light that a great deal of them don't get picked up by the scanner.  This is an example where that kind of thing happens to the image, but a simple change in the images resolution may just do the trick.

     A funny thing happened while I was making this picture, my dog, who is sometimes at my side when I am doing these kind of drawings, suddenly got the notion that it would be a good Idea to sniff-out the largest pile of animal droppings in the field... and ROLL IN IT!!!!! Yipes!  Yeah, I know, hilarious... but it wasn't for me at the time.  It still cracks me up a little when I picture myself sitting peacefully in my lawn chair, thinking about how nice of a day it was, when all of a sudden... zoom!  She didn't even gave me enough time to grab her before she began diving her way into it. (I swear it was large enough for her to do the back stroke through it!)
    Chloe is a small dog, so it didn't take much for her to make it seen as though she were in a state of complete and total mess, and she wasn't aloud back inside of the house for a while, or at least until she was cleaned.  My father and I gave her a bath, which is a routine thing for us now on the occasions that we let the dog run around the yard without the use of her tether.  But, man! Was she ever smelly!

     I had a good thanksgiving though, did you?  I managed to keep myself busy with all of the family-visiting, trips to town and whatnot, but I wish I could say the same about my comic.  I am a little stalled at the moment, that is not to say that nothing is getting done to it (I have worked out much of the plots beyond the pre-story legend that I am publishing to the internet now), but I usually have a page readily available to work on in the evenings after I come home from school.  This week so far, no such page exists and I feel as though a massive void of discomfort has been added to my day.  I should now make an initiative to empty that void of all its stresses and fill it full of the thing I feel most good about doing rate now, my comic.
_
*Just a little side-note, here.  Although most Americans celebrate Thanksgiving on the forth Thursday in November, us Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving on a different date, the second Monday in October!  Neat hun?  I think that it has something to do with fact that Canada is further away from the equator than the United States, and thus the harvest are more earlier in the year.
When I think of November, I don't picture pumpkins and scarecrows.  For me, and many other Canadians, November means freshly fallen snow and the first taste of winter.

I sometimes find it interesting how the slight distance in our surroundings can change the way that we perceive common things in the world...

2nd Page

Yippee! IT'S DONE! My second page is complete, and what a great feeling it is. Voila!:

The DPI settings with this one is a little higher than my first one, so it actually to a little bit longer to upload.  (DPI= dots per inch, for those of you who don't know.)  Oh, well. It just means that you get to witness all of the second page's glory in its original size if you wish.
Now that I am looking at this on a smaller computer screen, I realize what a great sense of depth I put into these three panels, especially the first one.  All of them somehow look like you're peering through a window or something.  Hmm.. weird? But, I love it all the same.

There are significant improvements here from my first page.  The boarder is a bit simpler in this one, making it less distracting, but equally attractive.  The Idea with the boarder is to make it feel ancient and religious, and I hope that I have managed to capture that essence in this one.  The more I do this; the better I feel about it and the happier I get.  I can actual feel this thing begin to take off, which is an emotion I have been waiting a long time to have felt.

I hope that you are enjoying this as much as I am, and I'm sure to keep you updated on what is to happen next.  This is an awesome feeling, it really is!
   ___________
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Things to Come

     Good news people!  Guess who has finished his second page?  I did!  (mumble mumble, weeks after the first one, mumble mumble) Nonetheless, it's done!  It took me a far amount of effort to work my way through this one, but I can assure you that the amount of self-satisfaction I had received after having completed it was well worth it.  The only question is, was it worth the wait for you guys? Silly Len, of course it was! (it's not like you have any real followers yet anyway...)  I needn't remind myself about that now, do I?
     While me and my parents have been able to have the joy of witnessing the completed second page in my comic, Knights of Mamus'sa, you people here on the internet community won't get to see the product until tomorrow.  I'm sorry, but that's just the way things go.
     On another note, I do plan on changing the process in which I complete my pages soon.  Once I finally see that I am getting used to the system of work I have now, and become confident enough with the ink pens, I am moving foreword with my comic and will be advancing/quickening the amount of time it takes for me to produce a single page.  My current way of working is to do things page by page; framing, penciling and inking, with sub-steps in-between.  In the future, I have hopes of doing things in suits; drafting several pages, penciling several pages and inking several pages, but I can expect it to be I while before I am doing anything like that yet.

I know that I don't have a picture included with this post, but I did have much to say to you today.
Besides, you'll be getting something even better tomorrow! 


Edit: Now posted! (View the results here!!! )

Cucumber Alive

This past Monday, I thought I would take a break from my usual work; something that I like to do often.  It keeps my ideas feeling fresh, and helps to break units of time into comprehensible dates through my artwork.  (I can remember when I had drawn an image, better that I can with just the date alone.)  It was after I had just eaten supper, and 20 minutes gave me this:

I always enjoy doing still-life and scenery work. Who knows, you may even see me use this as reference later in my comic for when I go to do foliage...

There's kind of a story behind this as to why one of the cucumber plants, shown here, is dead and the other alive.  It is my fathers doing.  My mother said jokingly, that 'he couldn't have killed it better if he had strapped it to a pair of skis and sent it over the side of Mt.Washington', which is practically what he did when he left them on top of the slanted lid of our gardening tools' wooden storage box.  Haha! (didn't see that one coming now did we?)

As I was thinking of a title for this blog post, I couldn't help but think of that one show from my childhood, Mummies Alive, I think it was called... Gosh I miss those days when cartoons were the center of my Saturday morning rituals.  Now I can't even find the time to sit and watch even half of the ones that appear on television, nor do I even seem to want to.  I mean, some of the modern-day cartoons' pacing is terrible!  Not to say that I myself could do any better, but I would give the pacing a serious thought.  It feels as though the lead writers and story-board artists are trying to cram too much into a short, 15min episode.  It's nuts!  Even Sponge Bob has fallen ill to this new trend, don't you find?  Ah, what do I know anyway?  It's probably just my change in prospective, that's all.  I am no longer looking it over from a child's point of view, but as the view of someone who spends the vast majority of his time devoted to art.  ...I started to sound like my own grandfather there for a second.  phwoo! wouldn't want that, now, would we?!

...Bakugan is all the rage now a days, isn't it?  Man, I really need to get with the times!

Edit: Oops! So sorry guys!  I have just been informed by my mother that the plant in the second picture, titled 'alive', is actually a strawberry bush and not a thing of cucumbers.  I hope that I haven't offended anyone who is particularly sensitive about their plants... Wait? WHA-?! :S (confused face)

See? No Lies.

     I wasn't kidding when I said that I was going to give my blog a face-lift, and I have to agree, 'I love the new look!' (^.^) It's got some richer background colours than before, and I've actually enabled commenting. (yay...) I'm sorry about not having comments turned on before, but I guess that Blogger's default setting for its comments is not to allow anyone but blogger users to send them (or perhaps to not allow anyone to send them at all, I forget which one it is...)  Anyhow, everything is looking well; everything is feeling better!  I'm feeling a little better about this whole blog thing... all is well!  "W-w-wait! Did you forget to mention something,... perhaps about my comic... you know, the one that basically this whole blog is supposedly about!"

     Errr... umm, yeah! That thing.  Well, let's just say it could be faring better.  It's not that its not going to happen, because it will!  It's just taking me a lot more time than what I had been hoping for.  But, It's not really my fault, because I am a grade eleven student and my homework is a little much.  But not to worry! Because I am beginning to manage it better than I had before, and improvements to my quality of school-life are appearing upon me every day.  ~Life is Good.

Harvest Moon Boosts Production! -100%!!!! (not really)

  As I sat working at my desk the other night, I couldn't help but feel inspired.  My bedroom (which has now been converted into my own personal office and work-space) is situated at the back side of my house, and its window faces the Eastern portion of the sky.  On a normal night, the view from my second story window provides an excellent view of the celestial bodies (a perfect atmosphere for inventive and creative thinking), but this night was an extra special night, and I couldn't miss a chance like that to get my creative juices flowing.

  For those of you that don't know very much about the moon or it's fazes, us space-savvy people could tell you that the moon of two nights ago was more than just the full moon, it was also a very special kind of moon, the harvest moon, and a beautiful one at that! 

  As a self-taught, young, aspiring artists, I tend to seek inspiration in the simplest of things.  From the way that a leaf floats across a gentle moving stream, to the shadow that is created by a tree in a park; true artists must come to identify the simple mechanics and principles that make our world tick, and one of the biggest of those inspirations for me is the night sky! 

  As you tour around my site, I am sure you will find that my love of space sometimes shines through in my artwork, and I am positive that this won't be the last time I mention of this.  Anyway, the whole purpose of me telling you this is so that I could convey to you just how inspired I am, and to tell you that future work to my comic is underway!  My second page is looking considerably better than my first and I would like to have it posted somewhere towards the end of this weekend.  On average, I want to rev-up my production to one page-per-week, but still no promises on that.  I am beginning to gauge my own production speed for the time being, so that I can learn how to increase it as I move along.  You can also expect to see my blog get a well-deserved face lift in the next couple of days, probably after my second page is posted, so there are lots of stuff going-on here indeed!  I'm sorry that I couldn't post my 2nd page sooner than what you would be hoping for, but for now you are just going to have to deal with my lengthy and long-winded pages of text.  

  But,Cheer Up! (there's more to come.)

(Yes, I am well aware that the image I used in this post comes from Akira Himekawa's manga adaptation of 'The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask', but it is my own version of her drawing and it was the only image that I found on my computer that best fits the content of this page.  PLEASE FORGIVE ME NINTENDO! I mean you no harm...-.-") 

1st Page-Done!

I am finally finished inking the first page!  I am very happy with the overall results, and am proud of myself for reaching this milestone in my pre-graduate years of high school.  I had promised myself that I would have posted at least this here by the end of summer vacation, and it looks as though I followed through and kept to my word.

Anyway, to save you from having to hear me rant about all the things I could have done differently with this, my first comics page (yay!), I would rather hear you comment about it yourselves.

Just leave a little message for me at the bottom of the page saying all of the things you either liked or disliked about this particular segment, and I will make sure to listen tentatively to what you have to say so that I can incorporate all of your thoughts and ideas into my next piece.

(*So... Much... BOARDER INKING!  It is far too cluttered for my liking. My poor hands yearn to weep!)

"Oh well, Len! Just live and learn, live and learn~"

EDIT: View my second page here!