no direction

my compass needle changes direction so fast.  my mind jumps from 1 thing to the next.  i feel like i have no focus. 

sites like deviantart.com & etsy.com are awesome to inspire, but it can also make you feel like you really suck & have a looooooong way to go in your creative endeavors. 

:(

SOMEONE, TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!!

superman celebration 2012 & 10yr anniversary

2 things happened over this past weekend.

the 1st was superman celebration. 

each & every summer we look forward to attending superman celebration in metropolis, il (or as 1 friend calls it, "the trop".  seriously.).  this yr was no different, except...it was...different.  this time, the boy came w/ us!  (dun dun duuuuunnnnn!!!)

because of this, i had to trade in most of the MAW Productions booth time for mommy duties.  which was ok, except for the times anakin got a little too excited &, well, let's just say he got into more trouble this past weekend than in the whole 3 yrs of his life.  :/  but it's ok.  he's only 3 & has the attention span of a cat.  there were times i had to take him away from the celebration & go to a park down the street so he could run around & get it all out of his system.  as long as he had fun, rt?  rt!

but we were all happy to see old friends & hang out & eat deliciously bad consession stand food & appreciate all the cool costumes & get sunburns.  let's take a gander @ the festivities, shall we?

the boy & i @ lambert's, on the way to "the trop".

outside lambert's. put more quarters in it! it'll go faster.

an updated pic on the horsey. in 2009, anakin was on this same horse. i'll have to find that pic...

yeah, i don't know either...

the riley's w/ george perez.  gotta love his seizure inducing shirts.

richard, superman, & Turra.  1 of these things is not like the others...

Super Mule!!!  in front of the MAW Productions booth.

marco, choppin it up.

kevin & a sketch for a fan.

eating artery clogging consession stand pizza. mmmmm.

w/ wonder woman (margie cox) & green lantern (michael cox).

w/ green arrow.  this guy's the BEST green arrow i've ever seen.

you know we had to be in front of the huge superman statue.

& what about the 2nd thing that happened?

antone & i celebrated 10yrs of marital bliss.  that's rt.  on june 8th, 2002, @ around 2:30 pm, me & the flavor o' my life sealed the deal in a hot church (ac broke down) in front of family & friends.

& how did we celebrate?  on june 8th, 2012, at around 2:30pm, my husband & i were performing in a Super Mule puppet show w/ the guy who should've been the best man 10yrs ago, kevin williams.  that may sound corny & strange to some, but i thought it was perfect.  we were together (how many couples can even boast THAT, huh?), we were happy, we were doing something we liked doing, & we were w/ friends.  & bam, there ya go.

06.08.02 - "i promise to love, honor, cherish, & ink whatever it is you pencil."

children of ang-kor

"children of ang-kor" progressions, from pencil sketches, to inks, to photoshopped colors & shading.

my tcat oc's (yes, i was obsessed).  done in 2007, when the NEW tcat show was but a rumor whispered in  secret hallways of the internetz...

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!!!

so aside from may 5th being cinco de mayo, it was also what's known in the realm of comic books as FREE COMIC BOOK DAY.  yes, that magical time of year where comic book fans bumrush their local comic book shops & score free books, maybe meet an artist or 2, & make geeky purchases.  :)  it's almost like christmas, except there's not pesky wrapping paper to keep you from your stuff.

mr. wade & i were invited to lexington's collectibles etc for their fcbd event.  we got to hang out w/ Action Lab Comics' very own shawn pryor (always fun) & met w/ some awesome fans.  well, here, i'll let the pix do the talking...

the cool kids' table.

princeless!!!  i <3 this series.  :)

free cd w/ 200+ pgs of previews from Action Lab

they had cake!

we had a staring contest.  i won when i ate him.

dawww!

young & spry cap'n.

tressa bowling & her Jetta chibi sketch.

packed!

aayla in vegas

things i'd miss about memphis if i moved to vegas:

• color. everything in vegas is the color of sand.
• memphis' delicious water. seriously, it rivals desani coming straight from the tap.
• trees. vegas has trees, but they're all skinny & small. yes, i know this is because vegas in in the middle of the desert.

things i would NOT miss about memphis if i moved to vegas:

• the humidity. it was 85+ in vegas w/ a breeze & i hardly felt it. if it was 85+ in memphis? you know we'd be swimming w/ how thick the air is.

i took a week to visit my little sister, sharon, in vegas.  she's a mommy now.  little aayla arrived 02.07.12, but it was only now in mid-april that i got a chance to see the lil dumpling.  :)

aayla quinn dumer

anakin NEVER slept like this.

nomnomnom!

unfortunately, the very day i arrived was also the very day sharon's materity leave ran out & had to go back to work @ the vet hospital.  so i wasn't able to spend as much time hanging out w/ her as i would've liked.  but that's ok.  i was still kept occupied.  got to hang w/ the bro-in-law, feed/change/play w/ aayla, hem some pants (sharon requested it), & watch the entire 1st season of "game of thrones".

when sharon finally did have a day off, we went to all all you can eat sushi buffet (oh em gee!!!), the casinos (just to sight see, i have terrible luck @ gamling), & watched the 1st 3 episodes of seaon 2 "game of thrones".

star wars slotgame that caught sharon's eye.  i let her borrow $1 to play...

...& i got 10cents back.  wow.  she should never EVER gamble.  ever.

exciting stuff, yeah?  whatever.  i didn't go to sight-see or be a tourist.  i went to see my sister, hang out, w/ her & her fam, & hold the lil sweet pea.  so, mission accomplished.  :)

learn to sew, dammit!!!

whilst sewing up a pair of slit sleeves on an old duster/sweater (you know, the 1s that were in style in 2000?), i had a thought...  when the boy gets a little older, say 7 or 8, i'm gonna teach him how to work a needle & thread.  oh yes, i can already hear the laughter.  that's ok.  yuck it up.  i'm about to put you in your place.

i don't know why it is that certain tasks are seen as for men & others are seen to be strictly for women.  now, if you're pregnant & about to give birth, then yes, i'd say let a woman handle that.  but things like changing a light bulb?  shit, if you have a brain & a fresh light bulb, change it!  or laundry.  men wear clothes & grime them up just like the women folk, rt?  then a man better be able to turn the knob on a washing machine & dump in some detergent just like a woman.  or cooking.  don't we all need to eat?  yeah, you better get in the kitchen & learn to make a sandwich, instant ramen noodles, or some scrambled eggs, or you starve.  if the zombie apocalypse were to happen tomorrow a pesky spider were on the wall, would you wait on a man to handle it?  you better get a shotgun/an ax/ bludgeoning device shoe & take care of business, ma'am.

all these things make a person self-sufficient.  i cannot STAND a person who plays helpless & will stand aside to let some1 else do what they could do themselves.  i also cannot STAND a person who thinks they're too good to do something & will let who they think is a 'lesser person' do it for them.  not cool.

sewing is the same thing.  i'm not talking about making patterns & selecting fabrics & making a whole outfit.  no no.  basic sewing; simple stuff.  if you have a button pop off a dress shirt, it doesn't take but a min to sew that sucker back on & be done w/.  what's the alternative?  take it to the cleaners & have them do it for $5?  or buy another shirt for $20-50???  really?

at my day job, i encounter so many ladies who admit they don't know how to sew & quite a few will almost proudly say they DON'T sew.  but they are more than happy to let their own mothers do the sewing.  not knowing how is 1 thing, but not even attempting to learn is another.  & i just can't tell you how the latter group makes me feel ill.

the boy will be proficient in sewing (buttons or holes), cooking (breakfast foods because he LURVES him some breakfast),  & will take on zombies do his own laundry like a pro.  yes, he will be a self-sufficient man.  the lady he marries will be glad that they can BOTH do chores & keep the household running smoothly as a team.

give a man a fish, & he'll eat for a day.  teach him how to fish & he'll eat forever. 

i have such dreams & aspirations for him, don't i?

now excuse me.  i need to youtube some 'how to' videos on putting up your own fence...

vector pin up tutorial - lum-chaaaaaaaan!!!

i love animation of all forms.  2d, stop motion, rotoscope, cgi.  i've always been fascinated by how an inanimate picture/object becomes animated.  traditional 2d cel animation is my favorite.  my vector style art is heavily influenced by the look of a cel, w/ the defined outlines & wide washes of solid colors.

i spent my early childhood growing up on an air force base in okinawa, japan.  there was 1 english speaking channel run by the base which ran from 7am - midnight.  after that, you got to stare @ a boring test pattern.  the rest of the stations were straight japanese gold.  it was here that i became aquainted w/ what is now known as anime.  after dinner, my little sister & i would take our baths & wind down for the evening.  1 of the shows we watched before bed was "urusei yatsura" but we didn't speak a lick of japanese, so we just called it the cartoon w/ the green-haired girl.  it wasn't until i was in my 20s that i found out the actual name of the show & the green-haired girl.  her name was lum.

what was it about lum that i loved?  she was pretty, & what girl doesn't idolize a pretty character?  i mean, disney makes a killing on little girls looking up to pretty princesses, rt?  lum had so much confidence, she'd walk around in a friggin tiger-stripped bikini & go-go boots.  oh yeah, & she could fly & shoot lightning from her fingers.  hell yeah.

so you can see why i chose lum as the subject of this tutorial.  anime = animation = cel art = vectors. & lum = tiger-stripped bikini = pinups.  see the connections?  great!  well ok, here we go!  

step 1...i do a quick sketch of what it is i want to render. i even add swipes of tones & shading. scan it & take the sketch into adobe illustrator & keep it locked on the bottom most layer. 

lum sketchy sketch

step 2...i start breaking up the image into shapes & use the pen tool to create the shapes' outlines. everything is a shape. the hair, the body, even the little horns & the pupils of her eyes. i arrange the shapes in separate layers, 1 on top of the next, according to what shape appears at the forefront. for instance, lum's body is 1 whole shape, & her boots are shapes themselves that go on top of her body. you gotta think of it kind of like a paper doll w/ different outfits or hairstyles you can place on top of a template body. it's kind of tricky to do, but once you start thinking of things as shapes & layers, you begin to get the hang of it. **i was lazy so i used brush strokes for the tiger stripes.

now you don't want too many layers because that can the file too big to work on, so it might be easier to tackle 1 thing @ a time. like rendering her eyes on separate layers (the blue eyeshadow, the whites of the eye, the green iris, the black pupil, the black eyeliner & eyelashes). once you've got that done you can group these objects together & keep them on a single layer

outlines, outlines, & oh yeah, outlines.

step 3...add in the shading.  remember, even the shading can be seen as shapes.  you can either fill the shade w/ black & lower the opacity or pick a darker shade of the base tone.

shading outlines done.

step 4...pick your palette to fill your shapes & color your outlines.

yay, colorz!

i know this was a VERY simplified tutorial.  & i know you probably still have TONS of questions on how to do a vector piece.  i wanted to give an overview of how i render.  i'll be going into more detail w/ the different adobe illustrator tools is use, how to use them, complete w/ screenshots & all.  so stay tuned...