The dream begins with me walking into my room, which is messy, just like it is now. I walk in and there’s all these bugs all over the place! One my bed, there was a praying Mantis, a giant black and blue stick bug, and several other smaller bugs I didn’t recognize. In my bookbag, there was a large black widow spider. I went and grabbed a red can of Raid and began spraying everything in my room in hopes of killing the bugs. I slam the door, and I’m panicked. I can feel my heart racing and I’m all grossed out. So, I walk out to the living room so I can return to my senses.

When I go out into the living room, there’s a baby duck. I pick him up and his feet are all sticky like suction cups. I walk up to my mom and show her the duck, and she tells me to give him back to the mother so she doesn’t reject him. I hand back to the mamma duck, but he keeps following me, peeping away. Then, he opens his mouth, and an egg pops out. The mom duck eats the egg and gives birth to a new baby duck. So now there’s two peeping baby ducks.

I go in my room to check on the bug status, and there’s more! Now there’s grey and black roach-like bugs on my rug, so I spray more bug spray. Then my mom and my niece came into my room and tried to help me eradicate the bugs. I decided to wash my sheets and quilt, so I rip them off my bed and go downstairs to the washer.

When I got downstairs, all the lights went out and I panic. Then, a loud booming voice over starts speaking (kinda like Darth Vader): “HOW DARE YOU LEAVE ME BY MYSELF! PEEP PEEP!” I start looking around scared, and I heard it again: “PEEP PEEP! NOW YOU WILL DIE! PEEP PEEP!” I try escaping the basement, but I can’t; the door is locked, but I got it opened somehow, and run upstairs. It’s dark upstairs, too, and it’s now storming. I run down the hall, and standing there at the end of the hallway was the baby duck I picked up earlier. So he starts talking in his Darth Vader voice: “THIS IS GEMETTO! HOW DARE YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!” Then a gust of wind blows me into the bathroom and I’m locked in there. I just keep hearing the baby duck laughing at me going “PEEP PEEP! YOU LEFT GEMETTO ALL BY HIMSELF! YOU WILL DIE NOW!!!” Then I heard the sound of a saw coming down from the ceiling, and I could the blades coming closer with the baby duck still laughing hysterically…

Then I woke up.

Again, let me begin by saying that I apologize for my lack of posts. I am still without a scanner and a desktop computer, but eventually, the money will be there for both. I’ve also been bogged down with articles for Demand Studios, but I’m starting to get faster with those. Once I get $70 together, I’ll be back and posting regularly. I promise.

Today, I’m going to stray off topic a little because I need to vent. I, personally, feel that people suck. I’m not talking about you, our viewers, but others that I know in non-Internet life and from forums that I frequent. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I am a regular poster on the AMC forum, where, for the most part, I thought was a great place. I met several wonderful people there (or so I thought), and I made some friends. Well, friendship is disposable and people are cruel. Over the past few weeks, there has been several trolls on AMCF who have made people’s lives a living Hell. And for what? A few chuckles at people’s expense? Things like that make me wonder about people’s wellbeings. What kind of person would poke fun at a sick person? What type of person would keep tearing people down, making them feel lower than a worm’s stomach? What pleasure is derived from this? And to constantly go to the jugular… people are sick.

Because of the above people, this world is f—ed up, pardon my language. There’s no kindness, no goodwill toward men, and definitely no greater good for humanity. People need to wake up, simple as that. Doesn’t anyone realize that with cruelty, nothing in this world will ever be right? How about a little kindness?

Frankly, I’m very sick of people, and I’ve had enough. Sometimes, I think living the hermit life sounds good. Just live alone, me and my dog, and screw everything else. Anymore, that sounds best.

With that, here are some pieces I’m working on that will eventually be posted as tutorials. I hope you enjoy.

“Wedding Dance”

The light and dark is a good mix. I

An image featuring my and Alex’s characters Kitana and Ikura. They’re dancing at their weather, which really, is just Kitana’s distant dream.

“Tsuyoi”

This is the picture I’m using for my inking tutorial. The pose is from an anime book, but I liked it, so I used it.

“Catch Me If I Fall”

Kitana being kicked out of Heaven by God, falling gracefully into the crystal, icy waters of Hell. The calm water is meant to be deceiving. In a way, it’s based on Milton’s Paradise Lost.

This will be used for water effects tutorials.

I haven’t been posting how to draw tutorials lately, and I apologize. As many readers must know, once warmer weather approaches, as does yard work. I’ve been busy planting flowers, weeding, and cutting grass, so time to myself is very rare. Besides yard work, I’ve been working really hard writing articles for other websites, and I’ve been busy with research for the Milton course Alex and I are taking this summer for graduate school.

Speaking of school, the head of the English department contacted me this morning and informed me that I should be considering the beginning aspects of my thesis if I plan on graduating very soon. Nyah? Already?! I have to choose an overseer this week, and that professor and I need to sit down and create an outline for my thesis. Frankly, I’m not ready yet. Simply put, I don’t have a concrete topic yet. Furthermore, I’m terrified! I’ve been having a panic attack today and trying to contact Alex to talk me down, but he’s difficult to get a hold of because his phone is always OFF! I always hope I never need him to save my life, because if I did, I’d be dead before he’d even know I called him. Seriously, trying to contact him is that bad.

During my hiatus, I’ve developed several projects and how to draw tutorials that I am going to post on Sketching House, however, I seem to have several problems. My desktop computer is out of commission, first of all. The tower still works and everything, but the stupid flat screen monitor died. This is the second time that screen died and it’s EXPENSIVE to fix. The first flat screen I had luckily died BEFORE the warranty ran out, so I sent it to Texas for a new screen. Unfortunately, this screen’s warranty did run out. The screen dying is bad because my gimpy 12-year old scanner is attached to that stupid computer. Without a screen, I can’t tell if I’m scanning. My printer is also attached to that computer. That computer runs on Windows XP still, as does my scanner and printer. My laptop, unfortunately, is Windows Vista, meaning that my scanner and printer are not compatible with my system, meaning, tough luck– I can’t scan and print! Why? The companies are not developing drivers for the printer or scanner that would make them compatible with Vista. Doesn’t that just suck? My only hope is my old laptop–my Acer. That laptop still has Windows XP, but the backlight for the stupid LSD screen is shot, so the colors on the darn thing are green and red (the laptop is 6 years old). Again, this is also expensive to fix, and quite frankly, given this economy and Obamanomics, I’m short on cash flow. Hoohaa! Life is great! NOT!

How I wish to live in another country.

Anyway, until I discover a solution or fall into a money pit, there’s going to be a delay in tutorials from me. I can create a bunch of digital art-based tutorials, but in a way, I feel Sketching House is weighing too heavily on digital art tutorials, thus, leaving traditional artists out in the cold. Many of the tutorials I developed are saturated in the traditional art medium, especially since that medium is my first love and passion over digital art. So please, bare with me while I find a solution to my ever-amounting technological problems.

Until I get all that settled, I have two digital drawing how-tos to post. One is how to ink a scanned drawing; the other is another coloring tutorial using skin texture brushes. Here are the drawings:

This is Ten'on and Tsuyoi, the subjects of my skin texture tutorial.

This is Tsuyoi; she's going to be subject to my inking tutorial.

So, once my Photo Shop stops freezing (yet, another issue), I will have these posted. Until next time, happy creating!

Marisol

For once, I actually realized my own mortality tonight.

It’s really hard to articulate what I am truly feeling right now, especially since the feelings came suddenly. As many of you know, I post on a soap opera forum, and according to my profile, I’ve been posting there since June 12, 2008. For some reason, I don’t remember posting that long, but that is besides the point. Throughout my time on the forum, I have met several great people who I am honored to call “friends.” Each person has his/her own quirks, obsessions, and stories, and I find it great that many of the people are willing to share their life struggles. Many of the women I’ve talked to are cancer survivors or are trying to beat the disease right now. At first, I would read their stories and comment with kind words, meaning every bit of encouragement I offered. For awhile, some of these women were just words and a screen name, but the more I talked to them and saw the people beneath the text, I realized how real each person was. For me, their words became words of wisdom; words to ponder. One lady who’ve I’ve spoken to the past few weeks has really caught my attention. To me, she seems so strong and courageous, even when the stakes are down. I admire how she uses humor and her good nature to explain her feelings and her pain, and I’ve come to look forward to posting with her. However, while taking a shower tonight, my thoughts wandered to the soap opera board and my heart suddenly ached and tears fell from my eyes like a sweeping shower. The possibility of “what if she’s no longer here” crossed my mind and I felt so sad for her, her family, and all of us who have grown to love her. I hate that line of thinking– what if– but it crashed upon me so hard that I couldn’t help but feel anguish for thinking that way and for wondering that. I felt a huge void, one I haven’t felt since my sister passed away fourteen years ago. Except, the difference between now and fourteen years ago is that now, I realize the importance of life and how short life really is.

One thing I’ve learned by posting on the forum is how precious life is. From the various prayer boards, I saw that there are people who have much tougher problems than a lot of people do every day. The other day, I was upset because I caught my pinky toe on something and ripped the toe nail off. It hurt like an SOB, but when put into perspective, that was super minor than a person’s pain who is suffering through cancer, AIDS, or any other terrible disease. Next time you want to whine about an innocent booboo, think about the fact that someone else somewhere in this world is hurting worse than you because they are trying to win a battle that no one should have to face EVER.

I’ve also discovered that many people take a lot for granted. Have you ever stopped and really looked at nature? There’s so much beauty and art located in it; there’s so much life. We, as people, destroy this life by building inatimate objects in life’s place. Why? How many shopping centers do we need?

I don’t think people realize how precious life is anymore. So, in closing, I’m going to ask a favor of you all. Shut your laptop lid, turn off the computers, Blackberries, and cell phones. Go sit outside or take a walk and take everything in. Take a breath and stop letting life pass you by. Don’t regret missing out on life.

Furthermore, at 10pm Eastern time tonight (June 2, 2009), please stop whatever you’re doing and say a prayer for for a friend of mine, Connie. She really needs a miracle right now in helping to defeat her cancer so she can be there for her daughters. Please stop and say a prayer and join many others who are doing the same. Also, for our U.S viewers, if you could, if you could reply to this post with links to liver specialists so we can all join together to help this dear woman, that would be the nicest thing you could do right now. Thank you so much.

Mari

P.S: This is Connie’s post from the soap forum we’re apart of. Please help.

I know I can count on you to help me.  #1 tonight there will be a prayer chain started by one of my friends here.  At 10:00 my time, which is eastern, please hit your knees and we will all be praying together.  I don’t care what you are doing, even on the toilet, I think s e x could be postponed for a few minutes wink wink, and we ALL pray together at the same time.  I know God hears us, but maybe if we aggravate him just a little bit lol.  And yet another favor if you’re in the southeast general area.  Check your local hospitals, especially if they have a cancer specialist, find one that specializes in liver cancer.  We are going to compile these, background check them and get to work.  I WANT THE BEST CAUSE I’M NOT LEAVING MY BABIES.  I have my “self-referral” into m.d. Anderson but I won’t hear from them for 48 hours and that’s a long time right now.  Anyway, we are finding the best of the best!!!  I would extend it past southeast but y’all know I’m afraid of flying…but I guess at this point that really shouldn’t matter huh.  I hate to beg like this in cyberspace, but please I need help and I can’t do this alone!!!!  Connie

Hopefully, these images aren’t as blurry as they appear.

Hello everyone! Mari here. Boy, have I been busy! Between cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning (as well as yard work), I haven’t had time to breathe, let alone post anything. However, the past two weeks, I have been working on the above two images in order to show you what effects you can achieve by using downloadable Photoshop brushes. The majority of the brushes used were found on My Photoshop Brushes, a site I mentioned in a previous post. As I mentioned before, I love unique brushes simply because the default brushes are dull and don’t have much leeway when it comes to creating awesome images. For instance, if you want flower petals floating around, there isn’t a default brush for that. For example, there’s a grass brush in the default brushes, but it faces one direction or comes out in a string of multi-colored clumps that look like confetti at a parade. By searching a brush database, you can find a grass brush that suits your needs if the default brushes don’t work for you when learning how to draw.

Now, I’m not totally dissing the default brushes, since some of them are great. For instance, with my skies, I often use the Maple Leaf brush (default 74), which is great for creating Milky Ways and dark tones. I love the mottled effect of the maple leaf brush and how each stroke goes all over. This brush is great for creating POPS of color in the sky. However, when it comes to creating actual tree leaves, I’m not a fan of this brush simply because the leaves sometimes go in places you odon’t want leaves. So there is an instance of pros and cons for the default brushes.

With the downloadable brushes, the creators seem to know many of the frustrations that digital artists have, so many of the designers seem to cater to these issues by creating brushes that create streams of petals and leaves, and grass clumps that occur in multiple colors and unnatural groupings. My personal favorites are the water brushes, which really help with making realistic oceans, lakes and rivers. The only complaint I have with those is the fact that they are square brushes, so you have to use the eraser tool in order to get the brush’s effect to fit the particular portion you’re filling. Yes, it is a minor nitpicky thing, but I am critiquing after all. I used the water brushes in both of the above images, but I think the effect is more clear in the image on the right (which happens to be one of my most favorite images I’ve created).

Another thing I use the downloadable brushes for is for my own tutorial purposes. I admit, there are PLENTY of things I do not know about art, and there are many things that I am still learning. For instance, I cannot draw a moon to save my soul, so I downloaded moon brushes. I used the moon brush on the righthand image, but on the left, I learned how to create my own moon without the brush by paying attention to the contours and grooves of the actual moon brush. So for me, and maybe for others, the downloadable brushes are learning tools. For the aforementioned, I would like to thank the brush artists for creating their brushes and for sharing their skills with us fellow digital artists.

As you can see, there are many great uses for downloadable as well as default brushes. However, for digital artists, downloadable brushes make our job considerably easier. When you create a work of art though using these brushes, just make sure you give the creators credit. So without further ado, I would like to thank

Obsidian Dawn for the Sakura petal brushes.

Midnightstouch for the Grass Brushes

and

Keepwaiting for the skin tone brushes

Thank you so much for visiting, folks! Have a great day!

Mari

I like to point out someone who, at first, didn’t really do a lot of drawing when I asked him. He spent five hours just coloring something, and though his coloring was good for cell shading, he wanted to do much more. ^-^ He knows how to use Photoshop and outline with the pen tool, but when he got this new program to help with poses and proportions, and blending with photoshop brushes, his artistic talent just grew!

I have always believed that, he could really have potential to draw, even if it does take him a long time, and even if it isn’t his MAIN hobby, when I look at his most recent works, I’m completely astound at what he’s accomplished along his way. One of the main programs that has helped him however is called DAZ studio. This is a great program that uses 3D models which you can move and bend to your will for ANY desired pose. It has other uses, but for an artist who needs a visual aid, this could not be more helpful.

It takes some getting used to, but once you have the basics, everything that falls after should be a piece of cake. Perhaps in my next tutorial, I will show how to use that.

Till next time, this is Tala and I’m off!

Now that it’s summer, I’m happy to say that I can draw daily. I’m in my element once again; woohoo! I haven’t done a lot of traditional art recently simply because I haven’t found my groove with that yet (I lost it over the LONG semester). However, digital art hasn’t been much of an issue, especially since the image is literally right in front of me instead of flat on a table. For those who don’t use a Wacom tablet, believe me, there is a world of difference. Especially when learning how to draw. Sometimes, stores like Best Buy offer a “Try Before You Buy” deal if you ask the sales associate (the hardware is hooked up to one of the in-store computers); if you’re curious, try this.

Anywho, but most of us use programs like Paint.net, GIMP, or Photoshop to create digital art. However, a lot of the default brushes, I find, are not as helpful as one may hope. Personally, I do like the airbrushes because of the soft colors and the softened look to the images, but sometimes, I need a little more than default brushes. Now, occassionally, I use Paint.net and GIMP, but I haven’t in awhile. So today, I’m going to focus mainly on Photoshop. So, Photoshop users, are you tired of default brushes? I am; so I’m going to show you some of the best places to find brushes for Photoshop. Here are my top three.

Obsidian Dawn

Obsidian Dawn is, by far, my most favorite place to go for Photoshop brushes. Not only does she have Photoshop brushes, but GIMP brushes as well, so digital artists of all types will be happy on her site. Obsidian Dawn carries brushes in many Photoshop medians–airbrush, hard brush, and design– and covers several needs and genres–fantasy, nature, clothing, makeup, and shapes. Recently, the Obsidian Dawn site has grown quite large and even includes a request board; so if there’s a brush you’re looking for but can’t find, a brush can be customized for you. Some of my favorite brushes are: glittery swirls, dandelions, eyelashes, light beams, and glitter. Obsidian Dawn also has some new brushes for grass, butterflies, and grunge. However, I could not test these brushes out because the site was down for maintenance as of 1:45AM May 19, 2009.

My Photoshop Brushes

A small sample of My Photoshop Brushes.

With My Photoshop Brushes, I would venture to say, is one of the best on the web. The selection on the website is large, and there are enough brushes here to appeal to anyone’s senses. For those who are into the Punk motif and skulls, check out the skull and punk brush sets. There are brushes for wings, flowers, hearts, lights, stars, handwriting, trees, shoes, swirls, lace, vines, and buildings to name a few. To be honest, there are so many brushes on here, you may find it great just to download them all and play with them. I spent a good two hours on this site just searching through brushes, and I gotta say, I’m not done playing around yet. This site is FANTASTIC! I HIGHLY recommend My Photoshop Brushes is for any digital artist from the beginner to the advanced artists.

Brusheezy

This site is okay for some different brushes, but there’s nothing special here that cannot be found at Obsidian Dawn or MPSB. However, I am a fan of the skin texture brushes because they sure make images of people not so flat. Check out the aurora borealis and handprint brushes, too.

Next time, I will cover where to find great brushes for GIMP. I really hope you  enjoy these sites as much as I do.

Until next time, this is Marisol saying goodnight and good luck!

all in all, it was alright.

Before I show this, I’m going to explain a bit of what goes on here. It’s just supposed to be a teaser trailer for Temptation, the Manga I’ve been meaning to work more on with Mari, X_X but life happens and we’ve hardly had any chance to see eachother and talk about it. I’m hoping the summer may prove more promising and the future changes so we can have time to build on each of our dreams, Alex, Marisol and myself. ^-^ Well, without further adeu, here it is!

PS, It’s in a link because the file wouldn’t open, so to see it, just click this link!

http://kotou.artician.com/portfolio/Temptation-animation-project/

Alex and I posing in front of a funhouse mirror.

Upon the first impression, the Richard Driehaus museum was just a small dark room, but the entire conference hall was filled with the stained glass pieces. For those who don’t know, Richard Driehaus is a philanthropist from Chicago. His museum features Tiffany glass wall art, chandeliers, and windows. Most, if not all, of these pieces are from Driehaus’ personal collection (thank you for sharing!). Most of the pieces Alex and I saw were breathtakingly beautiful. Here are some of the images from our trip.

This was one of the images that Alex said he liked. I like it, too, but frankly, a picture doesn’t really capture the beauty of this piece, or any of the pieces we took pictures of. I love this pose and the colors–all of which were very soft. I love the veil of secrecy, almost like she’s fleeing from someone in the dead of night. To me, she looks like a woman who is in a bad marriage; she was unhappy, abused. Her husband fell asleep early one night–maybe alcohol-induced and after he forced her to have sex–and she saw her chance to run away. She left with nothing, only the sheet because it is dead of winter. She looks back toward her home one last time before it fades out of sight, grateful that she is leaving her dreadful life behind.  What do you guys see?

This next image Alex also liked. Again, I did too. To me, this woman has another story. Do you see her seductive “come-hither” look? To me, she kinda reminds me of a past-day prostitute, yet, there’s some melancholy in her eyes and despair is written in her posture. Deep down, this girl wants to be loved and cared for. Although she puts on a sex-laden act night-after-night, a part of her wishes for stability and a sense of home. However, she cannot escape the life of a nightwalker, nor the mindset. Maybe if the right man comes along…

This image is really cool, but again, a picture doesn’t do it justice. Hopefully, you guys can see that it’s 3-D. This image was incredible because inside the face was several images, and when you moved, the images moved too due to the holographic effect. What this picture doesn’t show are the images of Martin Luther King Jr and other prominent African-American leaders. If I could bring that to life for you, I would. I’m sad that I cannot.

The following image was my favorite out of the museum. The emotion in the image alone says a lot. According to the description near the image, the angel is guiding the woman to Heaven. I think there’s a romantic appeal here, too (I’m always in the mood for romance). When I look at this image, I would say that the woman’s lover (the angel) died long ago, and he waited for her in order to guide her to God. Can you see the love in their faces? I love this image and the emotion it portrays (even if I prescribe my own stories and beliefs on it).

The rest of the images speak for themselves. The majority of the pieces in the Richard Driehaus Museum were religious in nature, so no description is needed. For me, the emotion in the images speak for themselves. Here are some of the other images from our trip:

[[Show as slideshow]]

Thanks for visiting and looking!

Love Always,

Mari

In other news, we are still working on updating the site, so please be patient. Changes will come sooner than you think, so keep your eyes open. We’re still also looking for suggestions for updates, so please send us some. The suggestions can include anything from what you would like to see on our site or ideas as to how we can make our site more user friendly. Anything goes! Please help us out; this site is here for you!

There’s a brief update for now. Tonight, hopefully my scanner will work. Enjoy your days!

Mari

P.S: Alex, if you’re floating around here somewhere, I’ve been trying to get ahold of you all day (since 11 this morning; it’s now 7:30). Please gimme a call!