Happy Thanksgiving!

Fresh-brewed tea, rice krispies, and warm jammies. Just a few of the things that I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving. This holiday is all about giving thanks for the people and things that you are thankful for. My "thankful" list has been expanding as of late. I think it's easy enough to overlook the things we should be grateful for, but this day has a way of reminding me, and everyone, of just how important it is to be grateful.

So, to start with, I want to thank God in particular for helping me through the last two weeks. They have been some of the most stressful and exhausting that I've had to deal with, but he took me by the hand and led me through. Several papers, a speech and two tests later, I am done with all of that and am currently relaxing at home with my family (most of whom are asleep right now).

Which brings me to the second thing: family. I love every single one of my family members, and I don't know where I would be without them. I could go on a huge spiel about all the things that they've done, but that...would be a very long blogpost. Safe to say, they're totally awesome-sauce and I love them like a gamer loves his console. <---Which is a lot, by the way.

Then, of course, comes my friends. I don't have to name you all; you know who you are. I love all of you oodles, and you make getting up in the morning worth it (usually!). To the friends that I've had for years, thanks for putting up with all of my crap, and I do mean all. And for those of you that I've only just met this semester of college, thanks for getting to know me. I've enjoyed cultivating those relationships, and you've really been an encouragement to me. I hope that we get to be closer friends in the future.

And, finally, there's everything else. Hah! I'm too lazy to go through all of the other things that I'm thankful for. There's a lot to be sure. God has been faithful in providing the things that I need.

I hope that this Thanksgiving, you also are taking stock of all the things that you're grateful for too. It's good to stop and be reminded of everything that you have. May your Thanksgiving be enjoyable and your bellies stuffed.

Flying Fingers

I have a huge appreciation for people who can do things I can't...and do them well. There's so many things I wish I could do: crochet, ride a unicycle, juggle, kidnap David Tennant and keep him in my basement forever and ever.

Hehehe. *cough* Tonight in my Fine Arts class, I was reminded of one of the things I wish I could do: play an instrument. A long time ago (farther back than I'd care to remember), I took piano lessons. I decided pretty quickly that I had more important things to devote my time to, aka go outside and play. I regret, now, not sticking with those lessons. While I believe I never would have had the talent to play the piano well, I still would have liked to have the ability. Because I can't play, though, I think I have a better appreciation for those who can play an instrument. That being said, I want to share a video that my professor showed us in class. It's a recording of an accordion player performing "The Flight of the Bumblebee." You may think you've not heard the piece before, but I'm sure you'll recognize it once it starts. More importantly, watch the man's fingers...

 It's intense, isn't it? I can't even imagine the practice that was required for him to be able to perform the piece so rapidly. That's dedication!

I suppose what I'm trying to get at here, is that finding and utilizing your God-given talents is very crucial in forming the person you will be for the rest of your life. I'm still on the journey to discovering mine. I only hope I'll be as dedicated and talented as this man in my own area.

Under Pressure

I'm sitting here in front of my computer feeling like I have something to say but not knowing how to put it. These last few weeks have been some of the most difficult ones I've ever faced. In fact, the last few months have been a struggle. I've had to deal with financial insecurities, a failed relationship, changes in friendships and severe stress brought on by college life. I kept looking up to the sky, begging God to explain why I've felt like he's abandoned me. I've been drifting, trying to avoid confronting a lot of my problems, but still expecting God to take care of them. But at some point, I mentally sat myself down and said, "You need to do something, not just expect God to take care of everything for you."

Now, before you start think I'm being sacrilegious or something, I'm not saying God isn't capable of taking care of us. Not at all. What I am saying is that God, at some point, expects us to accept his help. I was so busy running away from my problems that I kept missing his helping hand. And it was always there, if I had only looked closer.

What I'm trying to get at here, is that God provides, no matter what. After I got myself back in the right mindset, I accepted his help and started putting the pieces of my life back together. It's hard, and there are nights I still cry myself to sleep, but I know that if I keep praying and seeking His will, I'll be fine. He's proven to me that if I ask for His help, he's willing and able to provide it.

With each problem, God has stepped up to fulfill that need. Financial problems? God has provided me with several jobs.  Relationship issues? I'm still following his guidance. Changes in friendships? He's helping me sort them out. Severe stress? I've gotten back on track and am managing my time better. At each point, he's been faithful and been there for me. So, I will continue to pray and follow his will.

When I got back from Fall Break, this is basically what went down...

Haha! Jo was still looking for a job, and she said, "I'm not going to be happy for you until I get a job too!" Teehee :D You have to understand our relationship to get why this is so hilarious.

Planes, Trains and...

...Superheros? Yeah, doesn't make sense to me either.

Well, hello there! It's been a few weeks since I've had the chance to breathe, let alone update my blog! I know you all missed me very, very much.

No?

I suppose that's okay too. Getting to the nitty gritty here: I've put a bit of a hold on my fanart for ThunderCats. Now that I'm back at college, Kyle and I have been talking about getting started on those Marvel redesigns. He's officially sent me a list of the different characters with descriptions of what he wants each one to look like. I was squeeing during most of it. There's no doubt I'm going to thoroughly enjoy myself during this project.

Originally I had planned to do this entire project with traditional media, namely, pen and colored pencils. Instead, I received a graphics tablet from one of my close friends, Chris, and after fiddling around with it, I've decided to do digital paintings of the characters. I'm hoping that this project will help me increase my ability with the tablet, as well as learn knew ways to use Photoshop. Just in the past few days I've learned so much about the difference between just editing photos and actually creating digital artwork. It's insane how much Photoshop can do. I would marry it if I could!

Alright, perhaps not.

I'm ridiculously excited for this whole thing, though. The chance to better my artwork in the areas I'm lacking is making me a little crazy-happy. So here's the first piece! Spider-Man redesigned! (This is just the front of the suit. There will be more to follow of the suit and Peter Parker.)

I'm also being challenged in my 3D Design Class. I've found that my brain works in a very two-dimensional manner, which makes this class a bit of a pain. Literally. In some ways it physically hurts to try and work through a project that has to be three-dimensional. But I've found that I have other people in the class that help me work through processes and ideas. We're all learning together and attempting to help the others along. That's a spectacular aspect of IWU: the small classes and tight community allow for that kind of professional fellowship.

We've already done one project in the class and we're well into the second. The requirements for this one is unit forms (which is going to be some sort of shape we create or find) and repetition of that form. I already have an idea for what I want to do, but getting the materials for it is going to be a challenge. One of the major downfalls of being an art major is the extra strain on your budget for art supplies.

One last thing! I promised that I would add pictures of the air force museum! I'll feature of few of them here, but to see the rest you'll have to follow the link to my deviantART gallery: Pretty Planes! (They're worth looking at! The planes are gorgeous.)

Cat Fight

Well, I'm back from my mini-vacation to Dayton, Ohio. Nate, Dave and I went to visit the National Air Force Museum there. I ran off with Nate's camera and took hundreds of pictures before he got it back. I'm hoping to get a hold of them soon for you guys to see! The planes are absolutely gorgeous. I was having a heyday running around snapping the shutter. I thought Nate was going to break my fingers for taking pictures of him too. He wasn't the best model, that's for sure. Still, I managed to get some decent shots, and I'll have them up here as soon as possible.

The Lion-O picture is finished! *happy dance* It took the better part of forever, but I finished the background. There are parts of it that I'm still not satisfied with, but for now, the piece is being put aside for the other requests I have. I'll be working on the Panthro piece while I can, but because of my classes at IWU starting it's going to be difficult to find the time. Whenever I actually get my homework done, I will attempt to cram drawing time in.

For now I will show you the final Lion-O piece. From there, we'll see when the next update will be. I do apologize for another late update, but for now the Monday art update is suspended indefinitely. I'll try to update whenever I can for those of you who actually read this.

Snerdy Time!

Sorry for the late update (yet again D: ) There were some "technical issues" with my camera. For now it's out of commission, and so I had to find time to wrestle with my Mum's scanner. Tonight, though, I was able to go and celebrate my Grandma's birthday with her, so while that also caused a delay, you'll have to deal! Haha!

The Lion-O drawing is nearly finished at this point. I still have yet to do the background, but I've been looking up pictures of stormy skies to use as references. I think you'll all like the ideas I have for it. It's still a little sketchy at this point, so I'm only going to show you the picture I took prior to that stuff being added. Other than the background, there is just the lightning and lighting (confusing, right?) issues. I still don't know the best way to do that, because I kind of want the bolts to look semi-transparent. I'll be looking up some techniques on that, but depending on my success I may scrap the idea.

On another note, though, one of my friends from the WU has asked me to help with some designs. Specifically character redesigns to go with his own Marvel continuity. I'm snerding (our own term "super nerding") it up with all of my ideas, but at the same idea I'm terrified about whether I can make a decent redesign or not! That and it'll be my first time stepping into superhero genre in my work. Still, I'm bouncing around with excitement and I can't wait to get started on it. I still have that Panthro piece to work on for the dA (deviantART) person that I've been talking to. But after that I'll be in the position to devote my time to the redesigns. (I have it on good authority that the first redesign will be Spider-Man.) <--- :D

Here is the newest picture of the Lion-O drawing. Enjoy!

Tired of ThunderCats?

I'm not!

*Trumpet fanfare* Thank you, thank you! I love you all! And...now, the moment you've all been waiting for! *drumroll* This Monday's Art Update!! *crowd cheers*

Okay, okay. I'm done being silly. Still, thank you so much for reading this blog! I appreciate any and all feedback (unless it's mean, in which case, poo on you!) Currently I'm working on ThunderCats fanart. I've decided to pull out all (okay, most) of the stops on this next piece. It's taking awhile to color. I've been picking away at it whenever I've had time this past week, but it's still going rather slowly. I'm trying to really take my time and try to make it look the best that I can. I'm going to post a couple step by step pictures for you guys to see, just so you know where I am at this point. So, enjoy!

At this point I was struggling to get the Lion-O on the left's face to look right. Whether I accomplished that or not is debatable, but I just ran with it. (Trust me, at some points it looked much, much worse.)







Here I had managed to get everything drawn the way I wanted (...alright, close to how I wanted) so I inked in the drawing and started to add color.

This is where I am at right now.  Later on when I start adding in the glow from the lightning, the color will change slightly on the arms. I'm planning on making the lightning a purple-blue color, so I'll add shades of that to anywhere the light hits them.


And there you go! Hope you didn't get too bored!
Lain