Internet Addiction

I have been struggling through a week-long bout of flu(?)/all kinds of stupid illnesses rolled up into one. And I've been less productive than a hibernating sea turtle.

I've realised that a lot of my unproductivity is due to my internet addiction. Even after I have recovered from said illnesses, the time I took off to rest seemed to have set my body to vacation-mode 2 weeks too early, and I haven't gotten much work done AND I haven't left the house at all because I was glued to the computer. I would like to go into more details about it but that would defeat the purpose of the save-ashling-from-the-internet-by-cutting-her-off-NOW-plan. *rubs bloodshot eyes* Don't get me wrong, I love the internet and still think it's the best thing since triple chocolate cheesecake, with whipped cream and all that, but damn if I'm not going to deal with this, especially since it's starting to affect my work/health. After I have figured out an appropriate solution, as well as completed the alarmingly lengthy list of assignments I have somehow neglected over the past week, I will be back and rolling.

If you don't hear from me and want to send me love letters or hate mail or free chocolate cheesecake, try my email! If I reply within 15 minutes, you have permission to shoot me.

Scribbles: head exploration

Head exploration for new character design assignment. Mainly different features, or same faces with different hairstyles, most of the face shapes remain the same, since I knew from the start what kind of shape I want. For a while I keep thinking that I am not "pushing" my stuff enough, and I am not exploring enough outside my comfort zone. It's true, I'm comfortable where I am, but I realise that I've also been moving forward (albeit slowly) and evolving my style even if I haven't completely gone "bugs bunny" (aka. extremely cartoony.) I think I will stop thinking about pushing my style and just go with the flow. I believe that when the time comes I will be able to move steadily out of my comfort zone and explore new areas. Perhaps I haven't been able to do so because I haven't completely explored where I am right now. And truth be told, I can't put my heart into my drawings when I don't really love my character and their appearance. So I will just stop forcing it or whining about it and just draw what I want. But I know things won't stay the same forever, and I look forward to the time when I will be inspired to experiment with different styles.

I know I've been talking about this "challenge" for the past couple of weeks, and I STILL haven't been able to put a post up about it. I'm really excited about it though and I can only promise that I -will- for sure begin it as soon as I am able to catch a breath from assignments.

For anyone interested, I have edited the previous post about the Perfect World MMORPG with a quick review and a couple more screen shots.

Perfect World mmorpg

YES! finally a new mmo worth checking out. (Thanks storyteller! I hope he's pretty enough for now, I'll play around a bit more and see what else I can make =D) The level of customization on the characters are awesome, the graphics look cool, but the constant lag/disconnecting is a bit annoying. I love how we can move using the w,a,s,d keys, most asian mmo uses the stupid click n run method.

So much for quitting mmo's for life =P but I can handle this. I will just play occasionally for leisure, in between my assignments. (And no I'm not in denial! not yet anyway XD)

ps: I've changed the chara's name since this screenshot, it's so hard to find an available one so I randomly picked one from a list, but I like the new name better~ <3

[EDITD] First Impressions/Review

pros:

- Great graphics, comparable to Guild Wars and Lineage
- Gameplay a lot better than rappelz and flyff, etc. With further development, the gameplay may just reach the level of WoW. A -lot- of further development though.

Cons:

- One huge problem I have with it is the lag and disconnecting, because they don't have a server here in North America. It's frustrating and takes away from the experience.
- repetitive music.
- makes me want to get facial reconstruction. How come one can't be as pretty in the REAL WORLD?!

Anyhow, I've only played on and off for a day, and I don't plan to get too serious about it (for now.) It's shocking even for me, but I've discovered that I don't find much fun in the whole MMO experience anymore, ie. the grind, quest, etc. I guess it'd still be a lot of fun to run instances with friends or party on quests with them, but solo-ing just doesn't do it for me. I feel like I'm wasting time (and it's true!) and as pretty as the graphics are, I have the urge to see the real thing. The most fun I had was making the characters. Speaking of which, d'yall like my new profile pic? I used a mirror, but it's still a lot prettier than me. XD I tried to make her as close to my features as possible. I've never played a game that gives you so much control over how your character looks, it's quite refreshing, and I hope other games follow this excellent example.

My elven priest (he can fly!) and he's really pretty, I spent a lot of time on his face....too much time. -_-;;



the customizing interface, you can literally change anything in the face. I made this face up for another character but wasn't able to use it because I got disconnected.

Life drawing - fillers

I was so out of it during the two seminars we got on arm muscles that all the info flew right over my head =( I can only hope it'll all somehow sink in. #3 is weak but I like the attitude, #4 is floating (stupid box -_-) #5 was using a "cutting" approach for the lines instead of working from inside out.

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Scribbles: first paintchat session

I have such uncreative titles for my posts. -_- My first experience using paintchat with a few friends in my class! It was a lot of fun, but I can't post their sections of it because they first tried to sabotage my lovely generic anime heads, and then they drew a totally blasphemous image of Sasuke. Not cool peoples, not cool at all. =p

I miss doing fanart.

Sometime within the next day, I'll be starting the personal challenge I mentioned a few posts ago. It's gonna be fuuun~

Character Design - Sara and Terry

My final characters for an assignment. I'm pretty happy with the poses and the general design, but not as content with the rushed coloring. During the critique it was pointed out that Terry's pose in the middle is a bit obscene, but I swear I didn't do it on purpose! His hand just landed in an awkward place! >_____<

I'm still trying to move away from the "anime" style, hopefully I'll be able to do something fresh and new for the next project. =)

Digital Painting - Untitled

This is the painting I've been working on for class. I've learned quite a bit from it, and even though it's not perfect, I think I can happily move on to another project. =D

To Rei and Ju-monjie: it's a girl haha.

Click for full views~



Detail of the face. I've touched it up a bit since the last post.

Life - update

I apologize for my lack of updates over the past few days. School's really kicking my butt, despite me being on top of things just a couple of weeks back! Ever since I set my New Year Goals, I've been trying my best to follow a schedule every day, some weeks I am able to, and some weeks I completely screw up. On my successful days, I wake up at around 5AM, giving me a few hours to do homework or other leisurely activities before school begins. I've grown to cherish those hours, and sometimes it seems like my day is split into two different days, the "before-school" and the "school." Early mornings seem to have a special type of magic.

It was during one of these mornings when I stumbled upon a few blogs and livejournals that belong to my favourite novelists. I was really excited to find out how accessible they are. I've always had immense respect for these people: they are the creative souls shining brightly in the sky, the stars I hope to one day land among. Of course they are still up there, but to be able to read their thoughts, snippets of writing, struggles and process, and to ask questions of my own, that's just amazing! And it's by chance that I found out that a sequel will be released in June for one of my favourite book series: "Nightrunner" by Lynn Flewelling. I've even made a new livejournal, after 4 years of abandoning my old one. I'm not sure what to do with the LJ, maybe I will start writing again, or merely use it to comment in communities and such. I'll figure something out.

Sometime this week, I will be starting a challenge for myself. I'm not completely sure about the rules, but if all goes well, this challenge will involve daily posts of artwork for a certain period of time. Hopefully the next post will mark its beginning!

Digital Painting: face

Learning my lesson from the last assignment, I have chosen a more simple composition to work with for our second and final painting. Therefore, I have more time to work on the face (my favourite part to do.) I'm sad that there are no more digital painting assignments for the term, because it's a really fun subject.

On another note, it's blizzard-ing AGAIN. This is getting ridiculous. T__T

Life Drawing - More Muscles

I felt great during today's class, and I'm starting to get the grasp of all the muscles we've learnt so far. The names are quite fun to memorize because they're all so funny. My favourite so far is the Gastrocnemius, it sounds like a fancy fireball attack, followed by the Sternocleidomastoid and the Tibialis Anterior. *thumbs up*

Click for better views~ =)

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I like doing expressive pieces in between studies, despite my constant jabs at abstract art and OCAD. You can barely tell what's going on in #5 and 6 hahaha I love it!

Soon to be posted - animation assignments, digital painting